#BASICALLY i think he's been in the world of the ocean king for seven years

[waywardsalt]

also do u think Linebeck is originally from the World of the Ocean King or from the Great Sea?

I think he's from the Great Sea. This is mainly just because in-game there isn't a whole lot of evidence to the contrary? (There isn't much evidence that he's from the great sea either but there's more for that than the other thing and I'll take what I can get)

I'll just go ahead and list out my fairly simple reasons why I think this just to streamline this away from being a block of text.

1: In the loz encyclopedia, on page 39, the text associated with the little picture of linebeck (its the one labeled '3') says 'captain linebeck, one of the people lured into the world of the ocean king' and i do not care if that's a mistranslation or whatever but i am taking it and RUNNING WITH IT.

2: unlike in the manga he never wishes to go to link's world, but i imagine he didn't know for sure that he and link were from the same world, but he ends up there anyways good for him

3: when oshus initially introduces that link and tetra (and linebeck) are from a different world he says that the ghost ship will not longer haunt 'your' world, not specifying just link and tetra but possibly also including linebeck in that statement. when everyone talks about the door to the other world opening and all of that shit they never specify that it's just link and tetra's world, they just call it 'your world' and whatever, and when neri talks about being a part of oshus's world, she never explicitly includes linebeck in that grouping, and i would assume that she would know if he's a part of the same world as her or not. she also thanks both link AND linebeck, further suggesting that he's automatically going to be leaving with link. plus, the way the spirits talk to him and say goodbye very heavily imply that he's from the same world as link and will automatically be leaving with him. also i imagine that he shows up out of nowhere with his ship afterwards is possibly because he got lured in through a different method than link and tetra, possibly causing his ship to get dragged in with him, most likely in a way that he didn't actually fully notice.

4: if he's not originally from the great sea why send him there if he doesn't ask to??? you can argue why he'd be tossed out with them but just based on wording in the game and stuff it makes a lot more sense if he was also from the same world as link and co. just got dragged in a different way, at a different point in time. i have a convoluted headcanon all about him getting dragged in and for how long and how and all of that but i'll leave that in the tags.

5: i like him being from the great sea more bc it works for my purposes also i just like it better. that simple.

[thehumanwiki]

hi and welcome to

✨bullshit that has ACTUALLY happened somewhere in the Pokémon franchise✨

-a teenaged boy runs away from home because of his abusive mom only to join a crime gang funded by his abusive mom.

-the player character is given a smartphone by and with direct contact to God.

-a man cosplaying God (the same God you got a phone from) attacks you with a demon banished to another dimension.

-a suicide cult led by an evil snowflake kills like one hundred other protagonists.

-there is an entire elemental typing consisting of abused and evil Pokémon that is super effective against everything else.

-the player falls into an alternate world and one of their friends is immediately arrested for playing sports.

-in the thrilling sequel, a bunch of ghosts kidnap children in their amusement park in the Shadow Realm.

-now that I think about it there are like three different games where the player character starts by falling from the sky.

-the protagonist of the TV adaptation has died like seven times, been crucified in Paris, watched several apocalypses, and has watched SO many people die in front of him, and I don’t think he’s brought it up like, ever.

-in one game, you can go on a crusade to brutally conquer the entire continent.

-the player of one game is part of a time loop caused by a magic turtle that indirectly kills one of their friend’s mother. Or father. Depends on the version.

-the player’s adoptive father is possessed by the personification of hate and sends them directly to Hell, then tries to do it again when they get out.

-the mafia’s plan for getting their boss back after he left is to violently hijack a radio station and ask really nicely.

-a space agency’s plan for stopping a meteor form colliding with the earth is to open a wormhole to another dimension. this plan is stopped by a woman in a torn cape who destroys their equipment and robs them.

-the protagonist’s father had a godlike clone fuse his consciousness with a mouse, and fights a man who fused his own consciousness with an alien.

-the one a cult leader chose to be king of his new religion is an abused autistic boy with green hair and wearing a baseball cap.

-you literally rob people’s Pokémon in one game and you’re still the good guy. …is there a gender neutral version of “good guy?”

And now for a BONUS ROUND!

✨shit that has gone down in the Pokémon manga adaptation alone!✨

-terrorists blow up an ENTIRE port city!

-one protagonist spent two years trapped in a Dream Realm™.

-you think that’s bad? TWO protagonists are trapped in the depths of space for like six months!

-you think THAT’S bad?! FIVE protagonists are turned into stone for an indefinite time period!

-a little orphan girl is hypnotized and trapped in a suit of armor.

-they crucify the gym leaders???

-one boy is whipped in the face with a chain used to subjugate the Gods Of Time And Space and he’s literally fine.

-a father punches his son in the face and hurls him down a staircase. The American translation censors this as a lightning strike.

-this same son fell into the ocean because of an earthquake like five chapters after he was introduced.

-one of the current protagonists is basically Wednesday Addams.

-two protagonists were kidnapped by birds and raised by a supervillain.

-two villains try to destroy the environment of an entire country, cause an apocalypse, and are stopped by being trapped in a flying car which crashes.

-a mysterious supervillain saves them— SOMEHOW— and makes them fight to the death for a suit of armor. The one that survives causes the apocalypse AGAIN but dies.

-they both get brought back from Hell to save the world, and after that’s over, they turn to dust and go back to Hell.

-the supervillain who saved them the first time also summons like ten gods and dips out, never to be seen again.

In other words Pokémon is weird (affectionate).

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: "I got you breakfast. I know it's just a bowl of cereal, but it's the only thing I can't burn." / "Would it be alright if I borrowed your sweater? It smells like you."

♡ pairing: percy jackson x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / I was listening to Theme from New York, New York by Frank Sinatra and felt like it fit Percy so well. I feel like all of Percy's vibe just screams Frank Sinatra in some way.

you always found it odd that so many kids from the Aphrodite cabin had told you that they felt you and Percy were bound to be together. at the time, you found it almost offensive considering he was dating Annabeth but a few months after, you along with everyone else heard that they had broken up.

you felt like you weren't within your rights to ask why they broke up, even if he was your close friend, and just waited until he told you himself. you found it surprising. everyone in the camp felt as though Annabeth and Percy were going to make it all the way to marriage but when he told you that they had fallen out of love, you sat in shock.

it had been a few months since then and while they remained friends, you could tell Annabeth was already going on a few dates herself, to which you felt happy for her. all the while, Percy hadn't seemed interested in anyone. you knew a lot of people would fall at the knees to date him but you couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't accepted any.

"whatcha doin'?" you heard Percy ask, practically barging into your room. you looked up from your notebook, shaking your head, "not much, why?" you asked. he pulled something out of his pocket, "my mom, Paul, and I are going to watch the Yankee's game and we have a spare ticket. wanna come along?"

you smiled, immediately getting up and pushing your chair in.

"hell yeah I want to go! lets go Jackson," you said, kicking him in the back of the leg as he passed you the ticket. you saw the time and stood confused, "the tickets say seven and it's only three?" you asked. he pushed you along as the two of you walked out of the camp.

"my mom wants to catch pizza before the game. she claims we haven't spent enough time together lately."

you giggled, "please, that's so sweet. being the daughter of Ares, it's not exactly something he'd want to do....ever," Percy shoved you but didn't press it any longer. he knew your dad was an asshole and so were all your siblings and he meant that in the most respectful way possible.

the subway ride to Percy's mom's place was filled with you and Percy talking about anything and everything. you knew Percy could've told any of the boys to come along so you found it a bit endearing to know that he picked you to come along. you were also meeting his mom for the first time so you were a bit nervous on that end.

"my sister should be awake. she's usually up and trying to crawl around this time." your eyes widened realizing he was talking about Estelle. you knew she was only a few months old and meant that she was not walking yet, "oh my god, a baby!" you clapped happily as you walked up the stairs.

Sally's apartment stood at the very top of the building and you heard giggles coming from the other side of the door. Percy practically barged into the apartment, seeing Estelle on the ground as Sally tried fixing her onesie.

"hey mom!" he said bending down to grab Estelle as Sally stood up, " you must be ( your name ), nice to meet you," she said excitedly as she brought you in for a hug. you were taken back by the sudden hug but returned it, "nice to meet you as well. is that your daughter?" you asked, the itching feeling to wanting to hold her creeping up.

she nodded, grabbing Estelle and handing her over to you, "oh my god, you're precious. Percy, she's adorable!" you exclaimed, instantly making her jump in your arms. Percy gave you a smile as you looked to Sally, "is she attending the game? looks like she's ready with her little gear," you asked as you saw the Yankee's onesie on her.

Sally agreed, saying that she didn't want to separate from Estelle from too long. you helped Sally put Estelle's jacket and hat on as Percy and Paul spoke with each other, "she's so cute, I can't handle it," you tried not to squeal as Sally laughed, "fan of babies?" she asked.

you shrugged, "I wouldn't say fan but infants are just so cute," you gushed, squishing Estelle's cheeks. all of you walked out as you had her in your arms while Percy tried making her laugh.

Paul and Sally watched as they smiled to each other, "they'd make great parents," Paul murmured as Sally agreed, "not right now but in five years, I wouldn't mind seeing grandkids," you were paying no mind as you and Percy were in your own little world with his sister.

the ride to Yankee stadium was a short one as everyone was crowded around each other. all of you got quickly scanned in and sat towards the front of the crowd. you sat in between Percy and Sally as you had Estelle on your leg. you knew Paul and Percy were the bigger fans as you and Sally went along for the fun time. you knew the basics of baseball but you like Sally were confused on some parts.

the rivalry ran deep as the Yankee's were playing the Red Sox's and you could tell both of the boys were getting extremely into the game. Paul and Percy screaming to a few Sox's fans with words you were surprised that Percy even said in front of his mom. you looked over to Sally and started laughing as you heard both of the heavy New York accents coming out of them.

"I don't think I've ever seen Percy this invested in anything....ever," you murmured to Sally as she agreed, "he was a fan when he was a child but he was never like this," she replied as Percy stood up again, screaming at the top of his lungs that a player was safe.

both you and Sally remained talking amongst each other, briefly getting up to get drinks for the other two. you had offered to feed Estelle her bottle as Sally sipped on a glass of wine. you knew caring for an infant was hard but you knew that she birthed Percy, someone who was probably ten times harder to deal with as a baby.

"we should get going but the two of you should stay for the rest of the game. who knows when's the next time you'll get a chance to see a game," Paul and Sally told the two of you a bit later on. you nodded understandingly, "of course, thank you inviting me," you whispered as you gave Sally a hug.

she smiled, placing a kiss on your cheek, "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around a lot more so I'll see you later," you wondered what she meant by as she turned to tell Percy goodbye. you didn't bother to ask as you felt the New York breeze start to get colder. Percy could tell as you turned over to him, "would it be alright if I borrowed your sweater? It probably smells like you," you asked.

Percy didn't hesitate to take off his hoodie, placing it on your lap as you quickly put it on. you were drowning it as you smelled Percy's cologne right away. he had a ocean and wood smell to him. the game was in its eighth inning, the Yankee's leading the score with 10-8. you knew Chiron would want all of you back at camp before midnight and the ride back to the camp would be long.

"wanna head back, I can tell you're getting sleepy," you heard Percy whisper in your ear. you nodded, lifting your head from his shoulder as the two of walked out of the stadium. the stars littered the sky as there was no cloud in sight, "tonight was fun. your family is so cute," you told Percy.

he smiled, "I know, it took a long time to get us here," he murmured. you gave him a smile as you felt Percy slowly slip his hand in yours. you gave him a look as he tried to hide his blush, "aw, it's Theme from New York New York by Frank Sinatra," you told him as you squeezed his hand in approval.

you heard fans drunkenly singing along to the song on the subway as you and Percy laughed, "I want to be apart of it...NEW YORK, NEW YORK," both you and Percy sang, giggling with each other. Percy was holding your side as the subway was in complete shambles with everyone singing.

"If I can make it there, I'll make it practically anywhere, It's up to you, New York, New York!"

you looked up to Percy who was already staring down at you lovingly. you felt him bend down a bit, placing a kiss on your lips as you instantly returned it.

"And find that I'm number one, Top of the list, King of the hill."

the crowd continued to sing as you gave Percy a smile and snuggled closer to him. you heard the subway ding off the stop as you and Percy hopped off. you remained in Percy's side embrace as the two of you entered the camp. most of the campers were asleep as only a few scarce campers were still awake.

Percy dropped you off at the door of the Ares cabin, "thank you for today," you whispered, giving him a kiss on the cheek. he nodded, placing one back on yours as he grabbed your hand and gave it a quick squeeze, "we should do it again," he whispered back.

you agreed, opening the door and blowing him a kiss in return before shutting it. Percy stood in place for a moment before jumping in Breakfast Club style. he walked back to his cabin, a smile plastered on his face as he fell into bed, as happy as ever.

+

you woke up the next morning, all of your siblings already gone as you heard a knock on your door. you had fell asleep with Percy's sweater on and a pair of shorts as you released a yawn of sleepiness. you walked over to the door and laughed tiredly, seeing as it was Percy.

"I got you breakfast. I know it's just a bowl of cereal, but it's the only thing I can't burn," you saw the bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and laughed as you grabbed it and sat on the steps of your cabin, "I appreciate it," you said, placing a kiss on his cheek, making his blush again.

[theclockworkmonk]

Taller

Written for @kataang-week

Day 1: Height Difference

Words: 1,546

Read on AO3

Readon FF.net

******

Despite the ever-present cold, Katara wiped sweat from her brow as she stood back to look proudly at the building made of ice she had just finished. The Southern Water Tribe was swelling faster than anyone had anticipated, and now looked much more like its northern counterpart, with actual streets, canals, and buildings carved with waterbending, instead of the hodgepodge of tents and igloos that Katara had grown up in.

A large part of it had been personally built by Katara herself, and if she was being honest with herself it had long since become unnecessary. A migration of people from the Northern Tribe had come to help rebuilding, swelling the population, and even some Earth Kingdom natives had taken up residence, hoping to establish trade between the two nations for the first time in a hundred years, but they still weren't enough to compare to the population of a proper major city, so large sections of the construction Katara had been working on would remain empty for the foreseeable future.

She knew why she kept going, though. It took her mind off how much she missed Aang.

They had gotten a few months together in peaceful, laugh-filled bliss. But ironically, the same newfound peace that had allowed her to finally slow down and sort out her feelings for Aang, was also what made her finally realize how homesick she was. She had been running all over the world for close to a year, never really having time to think about Gran Gran or all the other people she had left, but as happy as she was in her new daily routine, it still didn't feel like home. Plus, her father had been away from home even longer than she had, and she wanted to make up for lost time. So when he had told Katara and Sokka that he was about to make the journey south, they had both known that they had to join him.

But the world still needed their Avatar, and they needed him in the thick of things, not at the bottom of the world. A hundred years of tension and hostility between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom hadn't vanished overnight, and new fighting threatened to break out every day, even if it wasn't being ordered by the Earth King or Fire Lord, so Aang had his hands full with his duty as peacekeeper and mediator. He couldn't go home with her.

It had broken her heart, and she hadn't known how to tell him she was leaving, but of course she hadn't needed to. With a smile, her sweet boyfriend had been the one to bring it up, insisting that she needed to go with her family, or Sokka would surely cause some kind of catastrophe without her there to look after him, and promised that he would follow her as soon as he could.

That had been seven months ago, and while the pain of missing Aang wasn't as sharp anymore, there were still multiple times a day when she thought about looking down into his gray eyes, or how nicely he fit curled up against her as they lounged on sofas or grassy hillsides.

And her inability to get Aang off her mind certainly wasn't helped by the fact that everyone in the tribe was constantly teasing her about being the Avatar's girlfriend. Every time she would walk past a group of younger girls, they would giggle loudly with each other and, if they were feeling bold, ask if the Avatar was a good kisser. Even Sokka was still coming up with new immature jokes every day; one would think he would get tired of it by now.

So here she was, enjoying her rare piece of solitude on the outskirts of the ever-growing ice city, making it even bigger.

"You know, the basic idea of going home to your family is to actually spend time with your family." Sokka's voice from behind her made her jump.

"Only if Gran Gran stops making wedding plans for both of us," she answered over her shoulder with a laugh.

"You're in luck, it's actually far worse than that," Sokka sighed, putting an arm around his sister's shoulder. "Her target has shifted, now she's of the opinion that it's time for Dad to find another wife."

Katara spun away from him to face him and her mouth gaped open. "WHAT!?" she shrieked so loudly it echoed off of the surrounding ice.

"Yeah, so stop being a loner and come back with me, we need a united front to squash this," said Sokka, and Katara was more than willing to start following him back towards the center of the settlement.

They were approaching their family's hut, right near the edge of the ice shelf where most of the villagers were still clustered, when something made both of them stop dead in their tracks.

To the north, across the water, she heard the distant sound of a loud, low roar. The unique sound of the roar of a sky bison.

Katara and Sokka looked at each other and their faces split into wide grins. They forgot their current familial crisis and ran towards the edge of the ice, waving frantically at the dark dot growing bigger in the distance. Katara was jumping up and down by the time Appa came in for a landing and she could make out Aang's beaming face. The bison's feet hadn't even touched snow yet when Aang leapt off his head and landed in front of Katara, and they both threw their arms around each other and shared a passionate kiss, trying to pour seven months worth of affection into it.

Katara felt like she was floating. She couldn't stop a very girly giggle rising up from her throat as she pulled Aang's face down to kiss him harder—

Wait. Down?

Her eyes snapped open and she suddenly pushed him away to arm's length.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked up and down at her boyfriend. No, she hadn't imagined it. He now had a few inches on her. He had shot up so far so fast that he looked like he had been stretched like taffy, his build skinnier than ever and lanky.

Aang frowned in confusion at her reaction. "What's wrong?"

"You're taller," said Katara, like this was a grave betrayal on his part.

"Than what?"

"Than me."

"I've always been taller than you!"

She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him to say, Really? But Aang maintained his completely straight face. "Aang, everyone knows, I'm the tall, intimidating waterbending master, you're my tiny, adorable squirrelmunk of a boyfriend."

"What? NO!" Sokka's voice called from Appa's side.

Katara and Aang turned to see Sokka's look of despair. He had finally noticed Aang's change after helping a very grumpy and now-actually-blind Toph down from Appa's back and onto the ice.

"Ugh, I know, right?" grumbled Toph. "I've had to switch from short jokes to skinny jokes, which aren't nearly as fun."

"But I've got seven months worth of short jokes I've been sitting on!" Sokka whined pitifully. He, Toph, and Zuko had greatly enjoyed making fun of Aang for being shorter than his girlfriend.

Katara looked triumphantly back at Aang, daring him to keep the charade up, but he couldn't keep it in anymore and his face broke out into a mischievous grin, and soon he was laughing heartily, which Katara joined him in, despite her best efforts.

"Okay, you got me," said Aang. "But in my defense, I never expected you to get this….upset about it? I actually thought you'd be impressed, and maybe more than a little attracted. Is it really a bad thing that I'm taller than you?"

"Well I don't know….maybe," she said with a pout she hoped looked cute. "You were the perfect height for me to kiss you on the forehead. Now I have to pull you down." She did exactly that and planted a kiss in the center of his arrow. "See? Far too much effort."

"You're right, I'll miss that," admitted Aang. "However, if I may make a counterpoint," he pulled her close and easily planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hmmm," Katara hummed in contentment, closing her eyes and smiling. "I suppose we can make due with that."

Their romantic moment was interrupted by Sokka and Toph doing a loud duet of simulated vomiting noises.

"Oh, like you wouldn't be doing the same thing if Suki were here!" said Katara nastily.

"Yeah, sorry Sokka, but the Kyoshi Warriors are providing additional security for Zuko," said Aang more kindly.

Sokka's face fell, and he sighed. But then, his face lit up and he gave a wicked smile that Katara didn't like at all. "Well, there is one upside to that. That means all the attention will be on you two."

"What attention?" asked Aang.

Leading Toph with one hand, Sokka placed his other one on Katara's shoulder and started leading her back to their family hut.

"Come on, sister, with the Tribe's biggest golden couple reunited again, it won't be Dad's love life that Gran Gran is sticking her nose into."

Katara groaned and considered jumping into the ocean.

[hazelcephalopod]

The Eye of the World Ch 29-30

This is just whump at this point. I could give a more dignified description, but I think that both captures the plot and spirit of the chapters. But specifically it’s Perrin Egwene whump.

Disclaimer: this is my first read thru but I’ve watched all of the show this far and been spoiled on some book things. So… I’m going to lean into that. Enjoy figuring out what I know, and what I think I know, and what I just don’t. Also s/x I add commentary when I edit.

Spoilers for the first book and up to the most recent episode under the cut. Potential spoilers for latter books.

Ch 29

Perrin POV

And we are back running. And running as fast and stealthily as possible. Tho, stealth may indeed do nothing for them

Bud. Accept the gift of the wolves.

Taking off his hat. That’s really smart actually

Honestly? Rarely been more nervous about birds. (Possible before in fiction. Once irl with some seagulls)

“A misshapen lump of torn fur marked what had been the fox.” (Perrin) seeing a flock of ravens take down a fox.

Go Egwene!

That’s no mist (?) (it’s the birds)

“Think, if you want to stay alive. Fear will kill you if you don’t control it.” -Elyas to Egwene and Perrin as the hide from the ravens. (‘Fear is the mind killer…’)

Damn and it’s only now midday. That is grueling.

Ohhh. Ohh. Oh no. I’m not going to describe that but that’s pretty bad even if it’s just a rabbit. Mmm. That’s some Birds shit right there

Ok. Yup. Ravens bad. Got it.

Didn’t need that image in my head.

So this and new powers angst? All the angst. All of it

I mean the wolves did and you’re people. With axes. And slings. Mainly axes tho

How is this worse than the Trollocs…? I guess an Aes Sedai really makes a big difference huh?

Ohhh noooo. Just the worse decision right there

The plot? Do I hear mercy from the plot? (Mm not really. Life yes)

“I feel as if I lost something.” -Egwene after Perrin feels something odd and Elyas looks like he knows something good(?).

“The One Power won’t work here; they can’t touch the True Source. Can’t even feel the Source, like it vanished. Makes them itch inside, that does. Gives them the shakes like a seven day drunk.” -Elyas on why neither Ravens who spy for the Dark One, nor any Trollocs, Fades, nor Aes Sedai would follow them where he’s led them.

Ah. It’s a stedding.

Ogier! (I later learn there aren’t any here. Disappointment…)

Yup. Gotta eat.

Oh. Don’t linger on that. Don’t need to answer that now.

“Artur Hawkwing’s eye. The eye of the High King himself. This is what his power and glory came to in the end.” -Elyas on the stone that was a statue -or marker?- they’ve made their fire against for the night.

Lore time!

Highlights of the lore- High King Artur “Hawkwing” Paendrag Tanreal united most of the Westland’s and some lands beyond the Aiel wastes. Sent armies across the Aryth. Ruled enough of the world it might as well have been all of it for Westlanders. And under it the common folk had peace and justice. Paid for by the sword, and with no mercy for lawbreakers or enemies of the state. Enemies of the state included Aes Sedai of Tar Valon, whom he warred against:”; also putting a price on their heads, 1k gold each. But the people loved him for the peace.

“An Aes Sedai healer could have saved him when he took sick… Be wouldn’t let one near him…” -Elyas (paraphrased) on Artur Hawkwing and Aes Sedai. Sounds familiar. (Much like a story from a shadow in the shadows.)

So yea it’s a statue. The people raised money for it. Because he was going to build a city in that stedding. But the city was never built because he died the day the statue was raised and his empire descended into chaos.

“…the last of the Hawkwing’s blood vanished from the earth — except maybe for some of those who went over the Aryth Ocean.” -Elyas on the fall of Hawkwing’s empire.

Ah. So the War of the Hundred Years basically The Dark Ages. That’s when the statue was pulled down (allegedly)

Ah. Right. Teens, nuance is a learned thing usually I suppose. It can always be both Egwene.

And on the lovely (/s) note of comparing the stone eye to a ravens the chapter ends.

Ch 30: Children of the Shadow

A sun! Odd considering the chapter name. (I later learn why. Not good why. But apt)

Still Perrin POV

Hey dude. Maybe. Now that you have the time. Perhaps, ask her? Hmm?

“… as long as you hate using it, you will use it more wisely than most men would. Wait. If ever you don’t hate it any longer, then will be the time to throw it as far as you can and run the other way.” -Elyas advising Perrin on keeping his axe and when to put it down.

What the hell is happening? That’s what I call dissociating but there’s wolf magic so..??

Oh no. Separating always goes poorly. (I later learn I was right)

Oh it’s people.

“Dapple says they smell wrong. It’s sort of the way a rabid dog smells wrong.” -Elyas on those people. Don’t like that. Somehow doubt it’s rabies and also wish it was rabies instead. (Even wolves hate WCs)

Love, why does anyone bother you? Yup. It’s sucks. They suck that’s why.

I’m sry. Wolf brothers get night vision? That’s pretty damn cool!

“I felt the rock.” -Perrin lied. To Egwene.

Oh it’s fucking Whitecloaks? Ugh.

“I told you somebody could hide in that? Isn’t that a horse?” -some Whitecloak pointing to Bela while she and Egwene and Perrin hide in the hand of a statue. Hilarious.

/Lol at my brother saying Perrins powers have no downsides. I mean mostly true honestly? So far so good. He’s just scared of it. I assume some people might be asshole. But for sure he’s got the least downsides of the rest of the TR crew. Right?/

Oh no.

Oh Hopper lost an eye. And killed a dude, sorta with Perrin

Wait… did Hopper fucking die?!

Oh no

Oh crap the coin!

BS Byar. You killed one of three

Yup. Sure. Totally that’s over

Bornhold. Truly. You may be the smartest Whitecloak ever. It’s a pretty low bar. And you are still mostly wrong.

And fuck off plz

Still an utter asshole of course

Well this is going poorly. But… doubt it could ever go well

Shocking that the Whitecloaks suck at their own damn mission /s. Though I suppose when everyone is dead there won’t be anymore Darkfriends.

Oh shit. They’re gonna kill Perrin

Tbh Whitecloaks suck worse than basically any enemy so far. It’s the banality of evil thing. Like these dudes have just existed, so I hate them more.

[bigkyle990]

A Witchy Pirate part 6

Links!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Back to things calming down for a bit and setting into the meet up with Amity (which I only have a partial idea of what I want to do with)

A short time after the attempted raid by the Emperor’s Coven, the three women found themselves back in the living room. Most of the mess that Luz had made while she was injured was cleaned off of the couch. 

Lilith had come in with some drinks for them and Luz was now wearing a shirt lent to her by Eda. “You finally got these printed huh?” Luz asked with an amused tone as she looked down at the “Bad Girls Coven” shirt. “Of course, there was no way I was canceling that t-shirt order.” Eda shrugged before taking a sip of her drink. “Now, you have some explaining to do, what happened to you and how are you able to use magic that effectively? Did you somehow get a bile sack?” 

Lilith took a seat next to her sister and nodded. “Yes, I’m curious about that myself, along with that glyph you used to heal yourself. I’ve never seen a spell quite like that before.”

Luz leaned back and nodded. “It’s one I came up with after a fight with a guy called Blackbeard, he had a power that allowed him to control darkness as well as absorb things into it and then cast them back out. Normally I use the Siphoning Glyph to take in attacks and reuse the energy right away, but if I want, I can combine a new one into it and have the energy used for that. It’s handy, and probably will be hell for the Witches around here.”

“Okay, guy controlling darkness, you making new glyphs… That’s all well and good, but you still haven’t actually explained what’s going on with you? What did the human world go nuts in the last seven years?” Eda asked, wanting to get to the meaty stuffy. Luz shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been there in the last seven years.” Both women looked at her incredulously. “No seriously.” She held up a hand. “I don’t know what happened with Belos’s machine, but it didn’t send me home. When I got pulled through it, I ended up on a completely different world. There were humans there, but along with them there were giants, fishmen, minks… All kinds of different races of people. Along with plenty of monsters and other strange things. See basically…” Luz began explaining the last few years of her as a pirate. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. Afterwards, Eda leaned back in her seat, looking like she was trying to even believe half of what Luz had told her. “Okay, so your power comes from this Devil Fruit thing? It gave you a bile sack?” “Well, I wouldn’t say it gave a bile sack, rather it gave me an actual magical core. A center of energy within myself that I can manipulate in anyway I want. Bella couldn’t find anything attached to my heart whenever she did a medical exam.” Luz did her best to explain, honestly even after all this time, she didn’t have a complete understanding of how her own devil fruit worked. 

“Still, it’s hard to believe that such a power can be granted just by eating one of those fruits... “ Lilith stated, attempting to wrap her own mind around things. “There must be some kind of draw back to it though, correct?” Luz nodded. “Yeah, it probably won’t be a major problem around here, but eating one causes the sea to turn it’s back on you.” “And that means…?” Eda raised an eyebrow. 

Luz giggled, waving her hand a bit. “Sorry, I have to remember that most people aren’t going to even know a small amount about them now. Basically it means I can’t swim anymore.” The sisters looked at her with widened eyes. “Wait, it made you forget how to swim!? I mean you could just learn how to again, right?” Eda asked, looking oddly at Luz as she laughed. “No, I remember how to swim, I just can’t. See, if I was to fall into any kind of standing water, a lake, the ocean, a tub of water...  It would completely sap all my strength and keep me from using my powers, on top of that I’d start sinking like a rock.” “So we keep you away from large bodies of water, understood.” Lilith said with a nod, before noticing the young woman looking to her right hand every now and then. “Is there something wrong?” Luz jumped a bit, thinking she had been subtle about it and sighed. “Sort of, like I told you before, our crew was in the middle of a war just before I ended up back here.” She saw both nod and continued. “Well, I don’t know what’s happened to the others… If they’re alive, if they made it back to their own world and families. I’m worried.” “You cared about them.” Eda stated. “Of course!” Luz shot up, surprising them a bit. “They were like family to me, we went through hell and back together and I didn’t even get to say goodbye, again!” Luz was tearing up a bit thinking about the others. This wasn’t some little war like it had been with the Payback War or even like the war of Wano the Straw Hats had started against Kaido and Big Mom. This one had quite literally set the world on fire. The Straw Hats and those backing them taking on the world to make Luffy the King of the Pirates, their own flag thrown in with the Rubber Man as well, going up against the World Government and its own secrets.  Add in the remains of the Beast Pirates and Big Mom Pirates, and you had yourself a war that was going to turn everything on its head, no matter who won. And the thought that she’d left her own behind was eating at her. That was, until she heard Eda speak up. “Hey Kiddo, what’s that on your arm?” She asked, pointing to Luz’s right hand. Said young woman blinked and looked down, only for her eyes to shoot wide as she fell back. There, forming on her arm was a marking that only looked familiar to herself. She felt her eyes well up as she traced a hand over it, hoping it wasn’t some fake. Her fingers traced over a dark purple dragon like design that started about her mid forearm and wrapped around till it’s head was on the back of her palm, mouth open and trying to bite down on a green gem like design. “Luz, Luz, Boiling Isles to Luz!” Eda called, snapping her fingers to get her attention. “Huh, wha!?” Luz blinked looking at her. “What is that?” She asked again. “Right right, sorry... “ She wiped some tears away and held up the arm. “It’s a Hoard Mark, something that my crewmate Spike gave all the commanders, and since it’s here… it means he’s got to be alive still!” She grinned and then got a look of realization. “Oh! This means I can change clothes! I know I put away some spares for sure…” Luz mumbled as she suddenly reached into her pocket and seemed to start digging around in it. 

“Uh, Kid, I don’t think you’ll fi-” Eda started to try and reason with her former student, only to pause and eyes go wide as not only did Luz’s arm go deeper into her pocket, but she started pulling out large objects. “No… No… Not there…” She mumbled, pulling out a few large pieces of treasure, a massive anchor that shook the house when she set it down, there was a moment when an elephant's head popped out of her pocket and was shoved back in. “I swear, Spike would steal anything…” She mumbled before her eyes lit up. “There it is!” She called out, pulling out a large clothing trunk from her pocket, it was marked with her name. She set it to the side as both sisters looked curiously at the trunk, which she popped open, showing that the inside had a large number of clothes inside. “Okay… Um, how did you do that?” Even Eda’s hair couldn’t store that many things away, certainly not as large. “Huh? Isn’t this Adora’s…” Luz mumbled as she pulled out a red jacket, before shrugging and putting it away. “Like I said, it's the Hoard Mark. See, Spike ate the Hoard Hoard Fruit, which made him a hoarding person. He could take anything he wanted and store it away into a separate pocket dimension for his personal use later.” She explained while looking over a shirt that held the Crew’s Jolly Roger on it, it was a dark purple color. “Hmmm, maybe… Anyway, he was able to develop his powers to let him give other people a special mark that gave them access to the storage space as well, just have to have it active and reach into some kind of container. Can be a bag, a pocket, box… Anything like that and it always expands to fit whatever you’re getting.” She pulled out a dark purple dress shirt and held it over her chest. “Think I should go formal? I am planning on meeting up with Amity tonight.” She smirked, giving a bit of a mischievous look. “You’d slay her for sure kid.” Eda laughed. Lilith giggled a bit and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure she’d love it, but try not to get your hopes too high, it may not be the same now.” She tried to warn her. 

Luz started getting a few other things, a pair of black dress pants, black tie, and a black blazer to go over everything else, and nodded. “Oh I’m sure, I know that I certainly had my fair share of relationships over the last seven years. At least two serious ones, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try and see if anyone is in the way.” She smirked, grabbing one last thing and closing up the trunk to put away. “Guess I’ll go get ready, it’s nearly time for our meet up.” She said, heading to go get a shower.

[alarriefantasy]

                                 Halloween Fic Rec 2019

Demon

Trade Mistakes by ifancylou, Taayjaay

Words: 3k

Harry summons a crossroads demon without realizing that he'd be giving up his soul in exchange for the deal. He offers the demon something a little different instead.

Demons by CarlyLovesLarry

Words: 4k

or where Harry is a demon and Louis is a hunter, and Harry fuck Louis into oblivion  

Sealed With A Kiss by ty_madison

Words: 6k

Harry has been having dreams about a boy, every night since he turned sixteen and everytime he has opened his eyes in the past the boy has disappeared. But now he is awake, the boy is here and he has a deal to make with the innocent Harry.

Paper Planes by cathedralhearts

Words: 7k

Louis sold his soul to the Devil when he was sixteen, tear-stained and miserable, grief wracking his body as the doctors told him his mother had days to live. Lucifer prefers to go by the name Harry, wears Louis’ soul around his neck as a pendant, and spends the next five years following him around.

Shadow Holding Me Hostage by scribblewrite

Words: 26k

Harry's a demon, basically the king of hell and the source of all evil, and he needs an heir. Louis's a normal human, unsuspecting of what's in store for him.

The Devil's Angel by lilacsweaters_ivorylilies

Words: 86k

Ezekiel 28:13 - For Lucifer has been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was his covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of his tabrets and of his pipes was prepared in him in the day that he was created. 

Fantasy/Supernatural

got me losing every breath (i'm latching onto you) by kissingiscool

Words: 14k

(or an au where louis is a fairy with a fear of thunderstorms and a talent of knitting and harry is a vet with three cats and a lot of love.)

A Love So True You Don't Have To Be Afraid by homosociallyyours

Words: 14k

In a world long ago but not so far away, where true love is valued above all else, Louis and Harry have already found one another. Their lives are shaken by the arrival of Simon, whose heart is more than a bit shit, and who longs to sow unhappiness.

When Louis is changed into a dragon and Harry is the knight meant to vanquish him, it would appear that Simon has succeeded. But love wins, every time.

Waiting For Someone Who Needs Me by graceling_in_a_suit

Words: 17k

AU: Harry is a genie, and Louis doesn't think he needs anything.

The Prince Of Light by jacaranda_bloom

Words: 35k

Louis was found abandoned at a hospital at six months old and adopted by an older couple who raised him. Now twenty, he studies by night and by day works as a live-in au pair for a family with three little girls. One of the girls, Holly, swears there is a Garden Fairy coming and eating treats she leaves out in the cubby house each night.

When the family goes away for a two week holiday, Louis is secretly tasked with feeding the Fairy. While laying out the food one night he falls from the cubby house and is found by Harry. Harry is different and Louis is fascinated. But as Louis learns how different Harry really is, he discovers his own true home and a very surprising past he never knew.

Cue badgers, bananas and cookies, soulmates, a whole other world, and a future he’d never imagined.

like cabbages and kings by you_explode

Words: 60k

When Louis was a kid, he had a series of very vivid dreams about a place called Wonderland. There were rabbits wearing waistcoats and talking cats and ridiculous tea parties, and amidst all the absurdity, there was a boy. A boy with dimples, big green eyes and the sweetest soul Louis has ever known. Louis has always kept a place in his heart for that boy and for his funny dreamworld, and when he’s twenty-five and his life falls apart, it turns out Wonderland might not be so imaginary after all.

there's no fair in farewell by we_are_the_same

Words: 218k

When Harry and Louis, two Cupids who have been bringing people together for decades, are tasked with making Soulmates Liam and Zayn fall in love, it proves to be much harder than expected. But maybe, just maybe, that isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Ghost

The Haunting of Louis Tomlinson by HelloAmHere

Words: 31k

OR: Louis is a plucky Gothic Heroine, Harry is a Mournful Spirit, and Big Country Houses are full of mystery and suspense, as Big Country Houses ever are!

Close to Nowhere by angelichl

Words: 34k

Louis and Harry are psychics who kind of hate each other. They go to Tennessee to investigate a haunting.

you look so good in blue by patdkitten

Words: 20k

Or: Harry Styles hears about a perfect flat from his roommate Zayn's boyfriends and decides to sign the lease. The only problem is: the flat has a reputation for being haunted. It certainly doesn't help that Harry's cat is seeing things as soon as they move in...

The Case Of The (Definitely Not Haunted) Styles Mansion by BriaMaria

Words: 40k

Or the Nancy Drew AU where Marcel is a man of logic, Louis is a private detective who believes in ghosts, and the Styles Mansion is definitely, absolutely, positively *not* haunted.

Tied to Fate by littlelouishiccups

Words: 52k

After his estranged father’s death, Harry inherits a castle in England that has belonged to his family for generations and he knows nothing about. When he breaks up with his boyfriend, Harry decides England is the perfect place for a small vacation. He isn’t prepared to meet Louis Tomlinson, a ghost who once lived in the castle and has haunted it for over five hundred years. He’s even more unprepared to fall in love with him.

Through Eerie Chaos by MediaWhore

Words: 102k

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process

Halloween Themed

Trick-or-Treat (Cheer Up) by writingstylinson 

Words: 2k

Louis Tomlinson is the single father of a little girl named Finnley, and they’ve been living in Holmes Chapel for a year. This Halloween is the first one they will be celebrating without Louis’ younger siblings or his own mother. It’s because of this that his daughter, who is usually outgoing and fearless, starts to have some worries about going trick-or-treating alone with her father.

Then Louis comes up with the perfect solution.

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene by allwaswell16

Words: 2k

When Louis takes his son trick-or-treating in a stormtrooper costume, little does he know by the end of the night he will end up gaining a Luke Skywalker, a Chewbacca, and a Rey. He doesn't mind the additions, and if Rey's very hot dad wants to come along as well, he doesn't mind that too much either.

this kitten's got your tongue tied in knots by ballsdeepinjesus

Words: 3k

[it's halloween, harry is a kitten in a tree and louis is a (fake) firefighter.]

A gold and green Halloween by Tita

Words: 8k

Harry and Louis are strangers who, dressed as Drarry, compete on a Halloween couple's costume contest. It's exactly as much of a mess as it sounds.

Black Cats Steal Hearts, Not Souls by SLD24

Words: 9k

Harry finds a kitten in a pumpkin patch the day before Halloween but it turns out not to be a kitten at all.

Horror

All The Songs That You Sing In The Dark by pukeandcry

Words: 10k

What happened was that first people got sick.

What happened after that was that they died.

But the worst thing was what happened after that. After they died, they came back.

The Skeleton Key by photo41

Words: 18k

Harry Styles, a good-natured nurse living in Manchester, quits his job at a hospice to work for Violet Winston, an elderly woman whose husband, Ben, is in poor health following a stroke.

When Harry begins to explore the couple's rundown mansion, he discovers strange artifacts and learns the house has a mysterious past. As he continues to investigate, he realizes that Violet is keeping a sinister secret about the cause of Ben's illness- and tries to convince the Winston's estate lawyer, Louis Tomlinson, that he really isn't going insane.

Loosely based off the movie of the same name.

Insane by prideinlou

Words: 20k

Or in which Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles are two dim-witted, drunk teenage boys that take a Halloween night dare too far, and end up in a life or death situation in the clutches of a haunted mental asylum.

Will they make it out alive... or will they go insane?

Mermaid

seaside improvisation by tinyweirdloves

Words: 6k

[harry is a mermaid who has lost his tail and he lives in louis's bathtub for a month.]

at least as deep as the pacific ocean (i wanna be yours) by writtensoul 

Words: 9k

louis is the very entitled prince of the seven seas!! harry is a goofy sailor boy!!! a lot of hijinks ensue involving slippery mermaid tails and happy fun little sea creatures!!

Define Dancing by asphodelknox 

Words: 20k

Death has a way of making certain things crystal clear. After Jay’s death, Louis returns to the summer cottage he always considered home. Unbeknownst to him, he’s also returning to the merman who has been his best friend through everything and finds that maybe there’s a chance for more.

Don't Let the Tide Come and Take Me by kiwikero

Words: 28k

Or, the one where Louis decides to set a merman free and ends up finding his own freedom along the way.

Still Deep In Us by graceling_in_a_suit

Words: 41k

AU. The village Harry has called home his entire life sits on six shaky legs, held aloft from the ocean which claimed the entire world twenty years ago. Harry's just a grieving tinkerer trying to do his best, and Louis is a mermaid that ruins The Village's delicate balance of power (and perhaps, just maybe, wins the heart of a boy).

Pirates

Captain Harry Styles... And The Faerie by spaceboyharry

Words: 8k

“You have today been defeated. Remember this forever as the day you were bested by Captain Harry Styles.” Louis zoomed past, shouting “AND THE FAERIE!” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “And the bloody faerie.”

must be something in the water by hattalove

Words: 3k

They all remember, somewhere deep down, why they gave up everything they had for the Mermaid.

The last vestiges of kindness and bravery and everything that is good in the world are on board that ship. Louis’s heart is on it, moored by some nameless jetty.

In Your Black Heart (Is Where You'll Find Me) by graceling_in_a_suit

Words: 35k

Louis Tomlinson has been lying for five years. His crew sees him as a pirate, a Captain, and an alpha; only two of those are the truth. He was content to let the illusion go on forever, but an omega named Harry Styles just had to join his crew and get his warm-vanilla stink all over Louis' best laid plans.Or: the story of The Captain and The Carpenter.

Si Pudiera Volar by messofgorgeouschaos

Words: 68k

When Harry’s fiancé leaves him for his cousin, he looks the other way for the sake of his happiness. He’ll do anything to forget about him, including joining a monastery. It isn’t until his cousin’s former lover, a pirate, appears that he realizes everything is not as it appears, and an honest pirate might be the only person worthy of his heart.

Or, a fic loosely based on Corazon Salvaje.

Vampire

Call Me the End of Your World by captainsftlouis

Words: 3k

or, the vampire AU where Louis is addicted to vampire venom, and Harry is addicted to Louis.

Waiting On You: A Christmas Drabble by emma1234

Words: 5k

On their first Christmas Eve as a couple, Louis and Harry decide it would be a great idea to exchange one special gift with one another to mark a new tradition. Of course, things never go as smoothly as they planned.

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You by lesbianphrodite

Words: 7k

Harry goes to his favorite pub with the intention to drink and feel bad for himself after a terrible break-up. Instead, he ends up hitting it off with a handsome vampire.

Forever And Always by jacaranda_bloom 

Words: 25k

OR the one where Harry’s neighbour is a crotchety old witch who hates vampires, Niall is the unsuspecting human who ends up inhabiting Harry’s body, and Louis is the caseworker who is assigned to swap them back. How it ends up a love story is anyone’s guess.

we should open up (before it's all too much) by disgruntledkittenface

Words: 43k

Struggling with grieving and depression since his dad died, Harry has never felt so alone. It’s too much to cope with on his own, but he feels like a burden when he tries to open up with people.

Then he meets Louis.

For You I'd Bleed Myself Dry by amomentoflove

Words: 49k

Harry is cold. His bones ache. Every movement draws a whimper from his cracked lips. The stone underneath him is practically like ice. He’s numb, but can clearly feel the sharp pains on his neck every timeHe visits him. Below the icy cold, the achy bones, and the pain on his neck, Harry Styles is pissed. There’s a fire burning in his mind and the anger for the man who keeps him imprisoned is the fuel. He despises him, the man who feeds from him and is a daily reminder that Harry’s suffering won’t end. The man who keeps Harry so weak that he can barely move most days. Harry’s waiting for the day when his owner will go too far and finally kill him. Death must be better than this cold hell he is in.

It won’t happen, though. He has a way of keeping Harry’s heart beating. So for now, all Harry can do is wait for death to come.

He’s been waiting for years.

Witches

what's inside your imagination (is as real as anything else) by suspendrs

Words: 3k

Or, Harry's a witch who likes to pretend he's a human pretending he's a witch, and Louis's the human in a not-so-clever costume that keeps catching his eye.

A Kind Of Magic by mellagreens

Words: 12k

Louis feels the urge to tell Harry he's in love with him.

Spellbound by lovelarry10

Words: 22k

Louis’ a shifter. Harry’s a witch. The only problem is, they’re hiding those things from each other.Will they be able to keep their secrets hidden at the most spooky time of year?

Call It True by abrighteryellow

Words: 48k

With dreams of being a successful novelist, Harry’s been working so hard that he almost doesn’t notice the smoothie shop that just opened down the street. But he can’t miss the mysterious, irresistible boy who works there, nor the strange but entirely positive effect his drinks seem to have. Harry needs to know what’s going on and he wants to get close to Louis, though not necessarily in that order.

A Spell and A Spark by dinosaursmate

Words: 73k

Louis is a teenage witch, living and attending university among mortals. He has to keep his secret whilst studying on both his degree and his witch's licence. His friends don't suspect a thing, even as spell after spell goes awry.

Our Place By The Moon by PearlyDewdrops

Words: 108k/WIP

Or: a late 90's urban fantasy AU in which Louis wants to befriend the strange boy next door, Harry is just trying to keep his family together, and falling in love is most inconvenient for a witch that may have accidentally reignited a centuries old curseꟷone that kinda messes with that.

[grimelords]

My August playlist is finished and while it does unfortunately begin with Tool it also has two of Elvis’ gospel songs on it so please believe me when I say it takes a turn! Everything you could ever want over three hours of music from 70s christian hippie cult music to a funky remix of Also Sprach Zarathustra to Ante Up.

If you’re interested in getting these emailed to you instead of having them mysteriously appear and clog up your dash, I’ve started a tinyletter you can subscrine to at tinyletter.com/grimelords

but in the meantime,

listen here

Lateralus - Tool: Tool is on streaming now and they've got a new album out and so it's a very nice time to reinterrogate a band that meant a lot to teenaged me that i have almost completely exorcised from my life since. What's interesting firstly is how much better it is to consume their music digitally than it ever was in any physical format. They apparently resisted making it available for so long for nebulous reasons of artistic control and intention, wanting a say in how their music is listened to - they design these long and overwrought albums to be experienced as a whole. My contention is that as a whole album, start-to-finish, is one of the worst ways to listen to this band. Tool have maybe 12 great songs across four albums and every single album is around 70-80 minutes, pushing the limit of the CD. Which means for every great song there's at least two ambient interludes, Bill Hicks samples, 90s alt comedy bits (Die Eir Von Satan is just menacing music and a menacing voice reading out a weed cookie recipe in german, now that's what I call comedy) that really add nothing to the experience of the album on a casual listen. Being actually able to listen to these songs on their own, and playlist them and pull them apart from the mire is so refreshing and makes experiencing this extremely exhausting band actually pleasant for once. That's not to say ambient interludes and sketches and whatever aren't worth it, I absolutely love that shit and a lot of my favourite albums are absolutely chock full of that sort of thing - just like, don't make me do it every time. Their new album seems to reflect this at least a little bit, with the more overarching themes and arcs of the previous albums replaced by more singular and self-contained long songs interspersed with dedicated 2 minute interlude tracks. The runtime blows out to an hour and a half unrestrained by physical limits but it seems to contain more actual music and less funny than any other Tool album which is a welcome change. I'm still lukewarm on the album itself, it seems to just be a complete rehashing of the ideas on 10,000 Days (to the point of almost note-for-note repetition of some old riffs and themes) which is a bit disappointing considering how long they've apparently been working on it. I'll give it more time because Tool albums always unfold over multiple listens but for now they kind of just sound like the dad-rock version of a once extremely edgy 90s band - which I guess they are now so that makes sense. As for Lateralus, I think it's their best song. The perfect combination of Joe Rogan spirit science woo-woo sacred geometry fibonacci sequence 'open your mind' bullshit and good old fashioned riffs, it's the best of both halves of Tool and great starting point if you've never listened to this band and are interested in becoming insufferable.

Mars For The Rich - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: This album is so good and it's finally converted me to being a full time King Gizz guy so look out for a lot more of that in the future. It's a thrash metal concept album about ecological collapse forcing the rich to flee to mars and the poor to flee to venus where they lose their minds and fly into the fire. I spent a little while the other day obsessing over the insane vocal leap in this absolutely incredible song when he jumps down an 11th on 'mars for the riiiiiiich' somehow effortlessly.

Pattern Walks - Cloud Nothings: The interplay between Cloud Nothings second and third albums is something I think about a lot. Attack On Memory is a visceral experience of depression and living in your own head where Here And Nowhere Else is about being able to finally move past it, and living with it. There's a good quote from the singer on the Genius page for this song where he says "It was almost a response to “Wasted Days” on the last record. It ends with “I thought I would be more than this” over and over and this one ends with “I thought” over a beautiful bit of music which is an easy way to explain the way I was thinking when I was writing this record. I wasn’t as depressed as I was when I was making the last album. Before, I felt like nobody liked the band and I was doing it for three years. I was not in a good place. Now, I had more time to think about why I felt that way. It’s a positive song."

M.E. - Metz: Metz put out a B-sides and rarities album a couple of weeks ago and then they put out this Gary Numan cover on it's own for some reason. It's very very good! I love just putting a generally harder edge on it without taking anything away from the spirit of the original. I also, somehow, didn't realise that Where's Your Head At by Basement Jaxx was a Gary Numan sample until I heard this cover so we're all learning every day.

The Ocean And The  Sun - The Sound Of Animals Fighting: Here's what's good: having the last third of your song just be a monotone voice reading from a CrimethInc anarchist zine over swirling guitar ambience. The drums are so good in this, Chris Tsagakis makes me want to muscle through the ska and listen to RX Bandits more, he’s just that good. The extremely crunchy part in the chorus especially, it switches through like three different distortions and sounds absolutely great. I’m a big fan of anyone that can make a very straightforward groove like the main one here really work just by absolutely leaning into it.

Uzbekistan - The Sound Of Animals Fighting: Uzbekistan is the most out-there and wild song on this album which was sort of mostly a way back into post-hardcore for TSOAF after Lover, The Lord Has Left Us.. which was perhaps a little too-out there for most. (seven minute closing track of a guy singing John Cage's Experimental Music essay over formless tabla and mandolin). The drums alone in this are worth it. The way they transition in and out of the super distorted electronic parts is so good. This song fortunately also has a section where someone recites poetry over electronic noise and a second voice whispers 'who holds your strings? wake up..." over the top near the end. I will love and defend dum-dum pretentious music until the day I die.

Gangsta - Tune-Yards: I love Tune-Yards and I'm incredibly interested in the way she interrogates whiteness. It's a complicated thing to get into in this playlist post but when she first turned up, a lot of people assumed she was african american just by the sound of her voice and music - it reaches and pulls from a lot of african music in a very postmodern sort of way and when people found out she was white, straight, cis and from New England it kind of felt like a betrayal for some people. On her 2018 album I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life she digs into it a lot in a way that becomes almost uncomfortable for what is ostensibly a pop album. An NPR article about it at the time said "Ever the student, the Smith-educated Garbus, who writes most of Tune-Yards' lyrics, designed an anti-racist curriculum for herself. She attended a six-month anti-racist workshop at the East Bay Meditation Center. She read the work of noted anti-racist educator Tim Wise and explored the activism of Standing Up for Racial Justice, a nationwide, progressive activism network dedicated to "moving white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority.". That's a lot. This song, Gangsta, from her 2011 album when all the hype was fresh feels like a pretty early look into the mindset she'd later fully fledge out of interrogating white identity and cultural appropriation while also participating in it. The lyrics are simple but they get to a simple point, "What's a boy to do if he'll never be a rasta?" is basically making the same point as Ras Trent by The Lonely Island except it's asking where else does Ras Trent fit? Can a white guy participate in anything like that in a way that's not cultural appropriation, and how can a culture like that participate in the larger world without being appropriated? It's 2013 tumblr discourse but it's still churning for a reason I suppose.

Ante Up (feat. Busta Rhymes, Teflon & Remi Martin) - M.O.P: An all time great Violence Song, in the same genre as Knuck If Ya Buck and X Gon Give It To Ya. Opening with "'this shit feel like a whole entire world collapsed" is such an insane way to open a song but the absolute whirlwind of threats that follows makes it feel warranted. "Fuck hip-hop, rip pockets, snatch jewels" is sooo good. I don't even care about this song I am just straight up robbing you. The absolute power in the rhythm of the overlapping getemGETEMgetem hitemHITEMhitem part is just so, so strong. It's like a VR experience of being fucking robbed.

Awake (feat. JPEGMAFIA) - Tkay Maidza: It seems like Tkay is finally nailing down her sound and she’s absolutely killing it. She’s been through a few different styles since she started out and now she’s really hit on something that’s very distinctly her with this and her other new song Flexin and I cannot wait for the album.

Big Head - Ms. Jade: Ms Jade had one album in 2002 and then basically disappeared which is a shame because she's got a very interesting approach. The star of the show is as usual, Timbaland. The man is a singular voice somehow making the tabla and a wikiwiki noise his signature sound. I love the drone of the raps interspersed with the vocal spikes and I love the chorus as the gospel vocals surge up from underneath. This whole song is just completely bizzare in its construction in a way that works perfectly and feels strangely.

Titanium 2 Step - Battles: Battles are finally back and I’m fucking bouncing off the walls. They’re a two piece now and it does not seem to have slowed them down at all which is very exciting. I can’t think of any band that has ever continued with only half of their original members and also moved forward radically every time. Everything about this song is great: the super strength drums, the hypercolour guitar and the vocals that are just screaming absolutely whatever you like whenever you like. It feels closest to Ice Cream, and Gloss Drop in general more than La Di Da Di but i’m so excited to see how the new album sounds - and how they adapt their old material live now that there’s only two of them.

Dancing Is The Best Revenge - !!!: I’ve never actively listened to !!! for no good reason, but plenty of times in my life I’ve heard a song playing and been like damn what the FUCK is THIS?! and it always turns out to be !!!. This is yet another example.

Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix) - Scenario Rock: The first clap in this is one of the best sounds ever. Right after 'so you think you've seen and heard it all' everything drops out of the mix for this one very comedy clap and it makes me smile every time. The rhythm of the Disco!... Disco! Disco! part near the end is one of those things that's just always playing in the back of my mind, which as far as constant reminders go it's not the worst. I've also over the last week or so been a big fan of this 11 year old youtube video I found of some guy covering the bass on this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0DLAUaV3f8

16:56 - Danger: Danger had a new album this year that I don't think I gave enough attention to because I relistened and it's very good. He spends the majority of it refining his original sound but it's such a distinct and original niche that it works out great. The songs are so densely layered and frankly just sound so beautiful! Which is a strange thing to say about 80s inspired electro but it just does. The strings and timpani in this about halfway through are just a gift as well, I love it.

Also Sprach Zarathustra - Deodato: As part of my ‘thinking about Elvis’ I was looking up a live album of his called Aloha From Hawaii Via Sattelite which has a very good cover which doubles as an illustration of how my proposed international peacekeeping satellite will function, projecting an immense Elvis themed blanket of darkness over ‘troublemaker’ regions to immerse them in an eternal freezing night until they’ve settled down. Anyway his entrance music for this this concert in Hawaii is Also Sprach Zarathustra, which is a very very funny thing to do and I think gives an appropriate measure of his status at the time. When I told my girlfriend about this she directed me to this bonkers jazz funk version of it by Deodato which deservingly won a grammy in 1974 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings - Father John Misty: I’ve resisted listening to Father John Misty for a long time because he just seems like a real asshole. A big brain man genius that saw what Lana Del Rey was doing and thought “what if.. me?”. But I can’t deny this song, it’s absolutely magical and as far as songs about fucking in a cemetery go it’s definitely one of the most singable.

Remember / Medicine Man - Yma Sumac: In reading about the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and who was buried there, I learned about Yma Sumac. Yma Sumac was a Peruvian soprano with one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard who was an absolutely huge deal in the 50s when Americans were clamouring for the exotic, real or imagined. She made extremely good mambo music and claimed to be descended from the last Incan emperor. Her popularity faded after the 50s and then for an unknown reson in 1971, ten years since her last album, she made this rock album. It is insane. It's the best example of 'voice as an instrument' that I've ever heard. She is making every kind of sound possible with a human voice and her range seems completely limitless. She's just as comfortable in a piercingly high whistle register as she is in deep guttural growls. About 2 minutes into Remember she just straight up jumps four octaves in a row just to flex. She also sings in a way in the second verse of Medicine Man that I've never heard before that sounds like she's blowing out her cheeks and then singing with her mouth almost closed. It's absolutey bizzare and I love it so much.

This Thing - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: Listening to the other album that King Gizzard put out this year is really making me appreciate how much of 180 Infest The Rats Nest was for them. This album is basically a Black Keys album of groovy fun songs about fishing for fishies with fantastic harmonica work and it makes it look even more like they just snapped when they did the next one.

The Warrior (feat. Patty Smyth) - Scandal: I've been very passively watching GLOW since the second half of season 2 and now I'm very passively watching season 3 and this song was the opening credits theme for the first episode. It fucking rocks I don't know why they don't just make it the theme song all the time. This sort of 80s hard-rock pop is very good when it's good and extremely bad when it's bad and I wonder if we'll ever see any sort of revival of it once 80s nostalgia nostalgia takes hold in 2030. Being a singer named Patty Smyth is very funny also. She's billed as a feature even though she was in the band because she left to try a solo career as soon as it was released, possibly even before. She is also John McEnroe's wife I just found out. What a life.

A Girl Called Johnny - The Waterboys: I found this song because I was googling to see if it's possibly to get a random album from spotify and instead foumd a guy on rateyourmusic who was generating random rym album pages and then listening to whatever came up if it was on spotify - which seems just as good. This was one of the albums he talked about and he seemed to like it so I listened and I did as well. Sometimes the best way to find new music is throw dice on the internet and see what comes up.

New Year's Eve - City Calm Down: The new City Calm Down is one hundred percent great and I have such admiration for them for making a complete left turn with their sound and sounding like a completely different band since their last album but being equally as great in both forms. It's very inspiring and it's also the second song of the month I've heard for the first time while walking around Richmond that's mentioned Richmond. Very spooky.

Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift: It's fucked up how good Lover is when ME! and You Need To Calm Down were so bad. It feels like they changed direction at the last minute and changed the tracklist dramatically because those two songs seem sort of wildly out of place, along with London Boy. It's so uneven it's basically two albums in one but when it's good it's extremely good. This song is fucking powerful. The way she straight up screams "he looks so pretty like a devil"? Amazing. What a crazy thing to shout. If you're interested I also resequenced Lover and took London Boy off it and it's a far better album in my opinion https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3LN1uAhp8BS8Ms4bgmHiVP

Kelly - Van She: I have no idea why but this is in the opening paragraph of Van She's wiki page: "Their label introduced them as a "new band from Sydney fresh on ideas, fresher than Flavor Flav, fresh like coriander, fresher than the Fresh Prince, fresher than fresh eggs."[2] Despite these claims, the band began with a sound very much rooted in the 1980s, heavy on synthesizer." which really makes me laugh. Van She had a very specific mid-2000s indietronica thing going that was really good as this song proves but they also did a bunch of remixes under the name Van She Tech that are very out there and completely different to the main band. Their remix of UFO by Sneaky Sound System I'm sure I've yelled about in these posts before, it's absolutely phenomenal. Anyway I guess what I'm saying is get you a band that can do both.

Shadow - Wild Nothing: Somehow I missed Wild Nothing back when they were a big thing and only listened to them this month. I listened to this whole album while I was doing housework and when it finished I though 'that was nice' and could not remember a single thing about it. That's the beauty of shoegaze! I had to listen to it about five more times for it to stick and now I'm getting more and more out of it every time, I love it.

Heaven's On Fire - The Radio Dept.: Years ago when I was having a major 'depressive episode' for about a fucking year I listened to this album Constantly and as a result for a very long time I couldn't listen to it without inviting megawatts of bad vibes back into my brain. Thankfully through hard work and time passing it appears I've fully healed my assosciations with this album which is fantastic news because it is delightful start to finish and worth getting obsessed with again.

Crystalised - The xx: It's nice to see news articles posted almost every day about which albums are turning ten years old. It makes me feel one million years old and viewing the world from a television in my hermit's cave. It feels hard to overstate just how much quiet influence the xx have had over the music landscape since 2009. Without The xx we don't have Royals and without Royals we don't have You Need To Calm Down, so. Something beautiful of theirs that I think is sad hasn't caught on in the intervening years is the idea of writing romantic duets when duets had been out of fashion for so long. They wrote a whole album of them and continue to! There's a beautiful contextual depth to it, in that it's two queer people singing not exactly to each other but with each other. In an interview they've called it 'singing past each other' which is a very nice way to put it.

Aspirin - Tropical Fuck Storm: I really appreciate the continual development of the guitars in Tropical Fuck Storm where they sound so pencil-necked and reedy in these angular little melodies and then sometimes explode into thick cacophanous howls, but what's especially good is in songs like this when they don't explode and instead just sort of sprout tendrils and crawl around each other. They're really drilling down on a very singular and very unsettling sound and I really love it. It is also a very interesting feeling to be walking around Richmond listening to this album for the first time and having him mention Richmond. Spooky even.

Pasta - Angie McMahon: "My bedroom is a disaster / my dog has got kidney failure" is an all-time great opening lyric for me. I love the way this song kicks up from the doldrums, like forcing yourself to do something just so you've done something today. Angie McMahon is so great and I'm getting more and more out of her album every time.

If I Had A Hammer - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash: The way this song is performed here is so fucking cool. The guitar tone, June's voice and the general energy of it is just absolutely electric. It feels like Highway 61 Bob Dylan where it's still folk but it's got this massive power in it. The solo fucking rips in that very old fashioned way and when it finishes and that riff comes back in by itself it's just great.

Elvis Presley Blues - Gillian Welch: I was thinking about this song because I too was thinking about Elvis. I thought for a long time that the lyrics to this were ‘didn’t he die?’ and not ‘day that he died’ and I think I prefer mine more. Idly thinking about Elvis like “whatever happened to that guy? Must be old now. Wait, didn't he die? No way to know I suppose.”

Everything Is Free - Sylvan Esso: Rolling Stone had a very good article and interview about how this song about napster has had a resurgence and remained relevant through the streaming era which is a very good read. I love the original and really this version is very similar except for the one key difference where they really dig into the anger and frustration at the heart of it in the 'fucking sing it yourself' line.  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/gillian-welch-everything-is-free-courtney-barnett-father-john-misty-725135/

It's Nice To Have A Friend - Taylor Swift: This is the strangest song on Lover and one of the best, I absolutely love it. It's a very old fashioned kind of Taylor Swift Love Story type song but it also has a a fucking trumpet reveille in the middle, so that really spices it up a bit. I also keep accidentally listening to this backwards - there's a few phrases like when she sings 'it's nice to have a friend' where the 'friend' lands on the offbeat but is accented like it should be ON the beat and because of the way the music is in this where it's just the steady pulse it's hard to tell whether the chime is supposed to be on the beat or on the offbeat. It feels like it sort of slides back and forth throughout the song depending on what everything else is doing around it. I don't know if that's intentional or not but it's a very interesting effect. This song is also, in my estimation, about a woman and is detailing a fantasy Taylor Swift is having where she can come out to the world with no fuss and enjoy a simple fairytale love story as a gay woman.

Psalm 42 / Chant For Pentecost - The Trees Community: I have a mental list of albums I google every few months to see if they've been added to streaming and by the grace of god one of them finally has been. Years ago I used to listen to this almost every night to fall asleep and I think it brainwashed me slightly in a delightful way, and now I finally have it back again! This is proper hippie music: a bunch of long haired new york christians who drove around the country in the early 70s in a school bus playing their elaborate and beautiful music for anyone who wanted to hear it. The multilayered, multi-movement construction of these songs is completely entrancing to me. It's not a hollow beauty, but one that brings new meaning to old words in the way they stretch and snap and waver throughout the song, moving past each other and through each other as it moves forward. I absolutey love it. Chant For Pentecost is a good illustration of the other side of them, a short song that starts sweet and turns almost maniacal. There's a wild-eyed feeling to the harmonies and the way this melody sits on a single tone for such long stretches before the frankly scary conclusion.

In My Father's House / Working On The Building - Elvis Presley: The backing vocals in these, and especially the bass vocals are so incredible. The way they work in the second verse of Working On The Building is so great, Elvis is the lead vocal but the middle harmony and somehow it just works perfectly. The harmonies is In My Father's House are amazing. The bass solo is mind blowing and the part about halfway through where Elvis swallows the mic and says "jesus died upon the cross [VRRMER] sorrow" is very funny. It's got it all.

The Greatest - Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell is an absolute masterpiece and this is the best song on it. Lana has always had a knack for this apocalyptic feeling but this is a whole other level.  https://www.stereogum.com/2056565/lana-del-rey-norman-fucking-rockwell-review/franchises/premature-evaluation/ The Stereogum writeup for this album was really great, and really nailed my opinion of her whole character thing as well, but he described this song as her version of that video that Ted Turner commissioned for CNN to play at the end of the world and it's really a perfect description. The part at the end where she says 'Kanye West is blonde and gone' is so chilling to me. Like Kanye losing the plot makes sense because he's only a few months ahead of the rest of us. He’s been a thought and culture leader for so long and it only makes sense that he’s spun off into space in these last days before it all wraps up.

listen here

[fuckedupamericangirl]

All That is Love

Ocean Master X Reader 

I’m too lazy to make this a full-fledged story so I’m just going to do that thing where writers just outline the main aspect of the story and their personal headcanons.

~ Imagine being part of the extended Xebelian royal family and being sent to Atlantis with Mera at a young age as her companion because you're her favorite cousin.

~Meeting Prince Orm at the Conservatory of Magic and instantly becoming friends. You, Orm, and Mera were constantly training and practicing with each other. Mera learned to control her hydrokinesis while you learned to control your Chlorokinesis (the ability to control plants). You also took an interest in healing spells, charms, and potions because as good of a warrior as Prince Orm is today he didn’t start off that way and was constantly getting cuts and bruises while training.

~Orm always going to you when he got hurt because he trusted you not to judge him in his weakened state.  

~Orm tutoring you in combat training while you tutored him in magic so you’d be able to stay in the same classes.

~Imagine being there emotionally for Prince Orm when his mother gets sacrificed to the Trench. Telling him that second born or not he was still a Prince of Atlantis and as worthy to be on the throne as his brother.

~After years of being best friends Orm realizes that he loves you, but he doesn’t tell you anything because he knows his father would disapprove of a relationship between the two of you.

~Having your first kiss during a sparring session and avoiding each other afterward because the future king of Atlantis shouldn't be kissing what Orms father considered a low born Xebelian witch.

~Mera forcing the two of you to talk because she can't handle choosing between her two best friends. 

~Working it out and starting a secret relationship...eventually Mera finds out and she helps keep the secret. She always knew the two of you were made for each other.

~Constantly sneaking out of Atlantis and meeting up in a deserted island on the surface or sunken ships in the middle of nowhere to truly be together.

~Eventually your father and uncle arrange a marriage between you and a high born Xebelian scientist so you have to go back to Xebel.

~Being torn between your duty and your love for Orm.

~Orm offering to marry you so you wouldn’t leave, but you both know that has never been and will never be a possibility for the two of you.

~King Orm having two reasons for becoming Ocean Master: Stopping your wedding and Brining the wrath of the seven seas to the surface world. 

~Having that plan slightly backfire on him because King Nereus won't join his side unless he marries Mera.

~You end up marrying the Xebelian scientist slightly before Orms first fight with his brother. You end up not going back to Atlantis until after the battle because your father wants you to get to know your husband

~Your husband died during the battle with The Brine. He was aboard one of the Xebelian battleships because he designed and created most of the weapons on the ship.

~Queen Atlanta remembered your friendship and influence on Orm so she asks Arthur to let you visit Orm in jail. He agrees and you start visiting him almost daily.

~Orm asks if your husband knows you visit him almost every day and you realize you never told Orm your husband had died. Orm dropped the subject almost as soon as he brought it up because he noticed your reaction.

~One day Orm tells you that when he first found out about his older brother he couldn’t help but love him because his mother loved Arthur and how could he hate someone his mother loved so dearly.

~So he trained harder and focused more so that one day he could save his big brother from the surface world and bring him home to their mother.

~But his father found out and had his mom basically executed and that unconditional love slowly turned into unconditional hatred at his brother and the surface world for condemning his mother to death.

~Eventually Orm asks about your husband again and this time you tell him. 

~Orm apologizes and asks you to leave because A. you’re single and B. he basically killed your husband. He has to think about how he wants to approach the future of your relationship.

~Orm finally has that talk with his brother. 

~He renounced his claim to the throne in exchange for his freedom and the chance to marry you.

~Arthur tells him he can grant him his freedom, but anything concerning you wasn’t up to him.

~You end up not showing up to visit Orm after he asked you to leave.

~Mera eventually went to look for you so that she could ask why you hadn’t been visiting.

~She finally found you on a deserted Island named Ogygia alone walking along the seashore.

~When you asked her how she knew where you where she told you that she had followed you and Orm to this Island back when you two first started to sneaking around.

~Out of nowhere Arthur and Orm show up on the beach.

~It was a poetic irony that they chose to meet up on the island where Calypso, the daughter of Titans, was imprisoned and cursed for choosing her duty to her family instead of doing what was right. She was destined to fall in love with men who would always choose their duty over her. 

~Mera looked over at Arthur and then back at you and told you to talk to Orm.

~After Mera and Arthur leave Orm makes his way to you and for the first time in weeks your standing face to face.

“Do you regret loving me?”

“Orm...Love is something I could never regret.”

“How about me? Do you regret me?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“I renounced my claim to the throne so I could be with you.” 

THIS IS MY SECOND READER INSERT SO BE GENTLE GUYS AND I HOPE YALL LIKE IT.

[whatisthisnonsense]

Okay you know what I am gonna talk shit in a proper well-thought-out manner because I’m salty and stressed and I may as well channel it into something fun like yelling about anime in an over the top display of angery as befitting this cesspool of a social media platform. This being said I’m gonna do it under a read-more ‘cause most of ya’ll ain’t got time for no negative nonsense and some of you genuinely enjoy Tri, and you know what, I respect you, you’re valid.

Okay so to explain how much I want to throw Bandai into a dumpster, we first need to go back and explain Adventure and the fiasco that was 02.

Digimon Adventure came out in 1999 (March 6th in japan and August 14th in the states, which coincidentally means this show came out exactly on my sixth birthday!) and lasted for about a year, with 54 episodes. The plot was simple; seven punkass grade schoolers turned out to have been chosen by fate to defend the Digital World, an alternate plane of reality created by various forms of digital information (the wee baby internet of the era, for example), mostly to kind of justify Bandai’s V-Pet (Tamogatchis but they’re gross and can FIGHT) and sell toys. So like, Transformers but with more human characters and kickass monsters and sometimes a lesson about the Power Of Friendship. Later, they find out they were chosen because they saw their neighborhood get wrecked by two monsters and Inexplicably Forgot This, as well as the fact there’s actually a missing member of their group (which less than surprisingly turned out to be the leader character’s little sister, who had already been seen in a prior episode and had also been involved in that early monster attack). It was hokey, the english dub generally bordered on that of a proto-abridged series if not aggressively sanitizing things (turning sake into green chili sauce, for example) and it was just good dumb fun and in the end everyone was crying anyway because dammit, while it was dumb fun you still cared about these characters and loved how they grew up. And then came 02.

Hoo boy. Digimon 02 came out in 2000 (April 2nd in japan and August 19th in the states) and lasted for another year or so. While sometimes listed as a second season, in truth it was a sequel series and it had...some interesting ideas, lets say. And I mean that sincerely! They did have some good ideas! But it was pretty clear from the lack of direction and the constant roller coaster of serious and stupid that it was being a sequel for the sake of being a sequel. For example, a whole new super secret crest turned up out of nowhere, which brings up a lot of questions in the lore but is mostly used to prove Ken isn’t irredeemable because he’s a Chosen Child ,as well as the questions about how this Crest is still present and useable and then literally gets no use. No Ultimate Form Wormmon for you, folks, NORMAL digivolution is out! I think I and @yunisverse have made our opinion on how to use that crest better clear while we’re being salty over Wizardmon, ha People have said that it’s big draw was that it had a heavier focus on character development and...yes and no? On the one hand, Ken and Cody’s arcs were genuinely enjoyable, Kindness shenanigans aside, as was occasionally exploring TK and Kari’s trauma, something often brushed over in the original series. On the other hand, more or less the whole of Adventure centered AROUND character growth where in 02 it’s...sporadic. Sometimes even random. However the main two reasons everyone was mad at 02 were these;

The original digidestined that were not Kari or TK got shunted onto the backburner, usually using excuses as they had given up their crest powers sometime between Our War Game and the present (despite that A) this is otherwise disregarding the fact they were supposedly not able to enter the digital world again until 02 and B) the power is literally inside them as part of their core, not something the digiworld actually gave to them, and while it could be diminished it could never actually be removed) or that it was the New Kids turn, often with wildly out of character personality developments. (Looking at you, Sora’s new docileness and Mimi’s lack of involvement in most of the plot period.)

The epilogue, which not only gave everyone really weird future jobs (why is Matt an astronaut?!) but also seemed pretty much out to be as aggressively Happily Ever After without actually stopping to think about any implications or actual lead-ups.

02 usually gets a pass from riding on the Adventure coattails, but everyone still tended to be at least disappointed in what had occurred. Also, more serious takes on Digimon, such as Tamers and some of the games, had been growing in popularity.

Thus Bandai, in it’s infinite wisdom, decided to cash back in on Nostalgia by focusing on the Adventure kids, making them closer to 02 so they’re older and they can therefore do more serious mature takes like Tamers, while also trying to rectify how they would even begin to come around to their epilogue jobs. They do this by killing the 02 cast in the first two minutes.

Welcome to Tri folks! Okay, so the 02 cast isn’t actually dead, but we don’t know where they are for six movies. Six movies!! The most we know for a few years is Ken, for some reason, has reverted to evil! And he has Imperialdramon, which implies Davis is brainwashed too!

He is basically doing this most of the series (which was initially going to be a mini-series before becoming a series of movies which then proceed to often be cut up into episodes, which that alone should tell you the problems BEHIND the scenes much less on screen) and we find out what he is (not actually Ken but an evil Gennai clone which is also out of nowhere) and what he’s doing (apparently bringing Yggdrasil, long time lore big bad of various digimon continuities and also god, into the Adventure storyline) not by efforts of the kids. Oh no. They’re too busy playing with their new friend Mei!

God I wish I was joking. The original squad literally shows no concern for where the 02 gang is until halfway through, and it’s a handwave at best and quickly moved on from. Hell, they barely react to “Ken” and CHEER on defeating Imperialdramon! More gravitas was given to having to kill the plot coupon of the day, Meicoonmon, than someone they actually know and should be upset about. Also making Tai NOT want to rush into a fight (what?), Turns Out Homeostatis Is Also Evil Or At Least Amoral (why), a reveal one of the backstory five original digidestined went mad with grief (no), and also I guess for some reason the kids and digimon were separated again given their reactions despite 02′s ending? That’s. That’s not even keeping your own continuity. Why are you like this. Also connecting to the epilogue just seem to be on a whim (not metaphor, Matt decides to be an astronaut on a whim), the general lack of gravitas in most moments followed by moments of SEVERE gravitas (which is the 02 problem but Worse), and bad jokes. I don’t mean Good Bad Jokes like Adventure, just really not funny jokes. And the real bitch of the matter? It had a few things that should’ve made it AWESOME! Like listen, I miss these idiot kids a lot, and the concept of a virus forcing a reboot on the digiworld and thus having to explore, finally, the digimon as characters and what they would be like without the kids? That’s cool! The idea of undoing all the Perma Digideaths (like WIZARDMON goddammit, and in this own show friggin’ Leomon again) with said reboot and thus having a pretty legitimate reason to allow it? Also cool! Worldbuilding about the previous five digidestined? Neat! And lets be real, you all cried at the cast version of Butter-Fly. You know you did. But the thing is they didn’t DO anything with most of this, or did it in a sloppy way. Example; the virus was basically a means to an end for waking up Yggdrasil (I’m not calling him King Drasil, that’s stupid), right? Why? When the Adventure-verse, often to it’s own detriment, is actively tied to the Milleniumon mythos, you could just pull in that eldritch horror and finally have Ryo make sense everywhere not japan. Or heck, the Dark Ocean! Remember the Dark Ocean? Where literally cthulu is and also Daemon now? Apparently neither do the script writers since that would’ve been a golden opportunity.  Of course, this would be asking for continuity, which Tri has issues with within its own narrative. Remember when I said the reboot should’ve undone all permadeaths? Yeah, Wizardmon still shows up as a ghost later to lead Kari out of trouble. No lines or anything, just pops up facing away from the audience and leads her out, and then vanishes, despite the fact that according to the rules they made up for the reboot, he should be a cute little Mokumon in Primary Village at the moment who remembers nothing. Also it kind of low-key has the vibe that growing up is terrible and results in having to make awful decisions? Which I’m not sure is what they meant to do, but it does pretty much have that end result. And that sucks! Even Tamers didn’t do that! Growing up is HARD, sure, but there are GOOD things about it too, and being Adventure one would think that would be the main focus! Nope. I just. This should have been good and when it was announced I was super excited and now I’m pretty much exasperated by its mere existence. And now we’re getting a sequel after ANOTHER timeskip.

Bandai if this is how you give us a nostalgia feels trip, do us a favor and let Adventure die. You’re just making the sugary memories of childhood have a bitter aftertaste. Or, if you must, just do a proper reboot. Tie up things that actually WERE wrong with the original series and do some clean ups but otherwise leave it untouched. We all know you’re trying to capture the magic twice, guys, you’re not even trying to hide it now. TL;DR, The only parts I like about Tri are Butter-Fly (cast version) and the fact Tai and Matt are gayer than ever

[dcmiiniic]

hi, it me, mini from the block --- bringing you another muse, and he is my lil bb. also @maddisvn’s brother bc i love lia. so uh, read the intro (srry if its a bit long), like this and I WILL mssge you for plots and threads. the messier the better, bc im a messy biiih. ily.

❛ new york’s very own Dominic Parker was spotted on broadway street in  Off-White White 3.0 Off-Court Sneakers. your resemblance to Reece King is unreal. according to tmz, you just had your twenty third birthday bash. while living in new york, you’ve been labeled as being impatient, but also idealistic. i guess being a sagittarius explains that. three things that would paint a better picture of you would be reading a book by the beach, torn up runners, and neon highlighters & ( cismale & he/him )

Basic Information

Full Name: Dominic Omar Parker

Nickname(s): d, dom

Age: 23

Date of Birth: December 20th 1995

Zodiac sign: sagittarius

Hogwarts house: ravenclaw

Ethnicity: african-american/white

Nationality: american

Gender: cis male

Pronouns: he/him

Orientation: bisexual

Religion: agnostic

Language(s) Spoken: english 

Accent: american

Favourites

Weather: summer

Colour: green

Music: logic, big sean, etc.

Movies: the lion king

Sport: track + field, basketball

Beverage: hennessy or red label

Food: doubles! and plantains with cheese.

Animal: sea lions + turtles

Family

Father: henderson parker

Mother: cassandra parker

Sibling(s): maddison parker + older bro (WC)

Children:  aaliyah strawberry parker, 1 yr. (stormi webster fc)

Pet(s): a turtle named franklin

BIOGRAPHY

dominic grew up in san francisco, california. his favorite thing growing up was hanging out at pier 39 and just watching the sea lions chill all day on top of the boards. regardless of the smell. he loved the fact that it didn’t rain or snow, the weather was just ideal. it allowed him to thrive when things were constant with minor changes.

dominic feels most at home by the ocean. he finds it peaceful since it’s calm and quiet besides the sounds of the water crashing together.

@ 15, dominic and the rest of the parkers moved over to NYC cos their dad got a job there and tb he hated it. 

he had to be the new kid, at a new school, in a new city but, dominic is the type of person to blend in so making a whole new life barely came with challenges. he was able to work a room, and he was smart to figure things out easily. 

he made a lot of friends, went to the randomest of parties, all while maintaining a high average in school and keeping A1 appearances.

FAMILY

since the parkers were well off, dominic didn’t have to work for anything when it came to getting things he wanted - but what he did have to work for was getting his father’s approval on almost every part of his life.

being one of the only two boys, there was a lot riding on them to do things. going to school, getting the best grades, making sure you’re always presentable - and bc dominic just wanted to please his dad, he did everything he could. he studied a lot, he did a lot of volunteer work and thankfully for him he liked to study, so studying a lot wasn’t a problem.

dominic rlly struggled being the middle child, but don’t get him wrong, he loves his siblings. believe it or not, he still loves his dad, and he’s a big time momma’s boy. 

even while his dad talks a lot of smack about him, dominic still attends family events, dinners and the works, to please his dad and so it wouldn’t be stressful on his mom. 

CAREER 

dominic is a nerd, a smartass. his grades were always high, especially when it came to liberal arts.

it wasn’t really his choice if he went into university, it was expected. dominic didn’t think much of it besides that he had to do it. 

he went to columbia university for law, and he got his degree in that, and he was doing his graduate legal studies until he got scouted by the New York Knicks.

he grew up with a lot of stress riding on his back, and being the middle child really sucked when you had to have as much of responsibility as the oldest, still be looked at as the younger sibling but at the same time having to take care of the youngest. 

what he did on his past time was run. whether it was around the block, or around the track, dominic found it peaceful just to be by himself where his heart rate went up to the point he couldn’t breathe and he’d fall onto the ground. years of doing so earned him a spot on the track + field team, and because he was good at it, his dad put him in on basketball teams since he was fast enough to make home runs - multiple times.

Basketball was never his first choice at anything, if he could, dominic would do track and field but as far as his dad was concerned, basketball was the better path between the two. so that’s what he did to please his dad. 

dropping out of columbia though, that was dominic’s choice. he figured, he already got his degree, his masters could be put on hold while he played basketball. 

it seemed like a good idea to him, but since then he has a pretty rocky relationship with his dad.

he was never meant to be the black sheep of the family. he was supposed to have this picture perfect image, probably be the next Barack Obama - but that didn’t work out. 

Being an athlete wasn’t the same as being an academic. it took a lot of work physically, and at the end of the games he was left with such a rush. it was a completely different kind of satisfaction.

PERSONAL LIFE

for once dominic didn’t have to worry about hitting the books or the next test. his main focus was basketball and keeping an image that was easier to maintain. this came with a lot of partying and a lot of - accidents.

one night, when he was too drunk to function, he woke up the next day in a random girl’s bed. not that that was anything special but it definitely was when he got a call saying she was pregnant. so 9 months later, aaliyah strawberry parker came into this world. she is currently 1 year and a few months, and that little babe added a light into dominic’s life. 

he was never prepared to be a dad DILF, but he’s a damn good one! he keeps his life separate when he’s with his daughter.

he’s not with his baby momma, but they have a solid relationship, sometimes rocky, sometimes not but y’know. it happens. 

so far, dominic hasn’t introduce aaliyah to any of his family members except maddison. it’s not a secret, it’s just something he doesn’t want to do considering the rocky relationship he has with his dad. 

currently, besides being a baskeball player and a dad, dominic is just figuring things out as he goes. he loves to read, and paint, and sometimes when he’s bored he’ll take a class on something just to feel mentally stimulated. 

he’s always curious, and loves to travel to wherever he can. 

he’s a mfng fuckboy. just bcos he had a kid, doesn’t mean it’s gonna stop him from messing around. he’s just extra careful with it. 

even tho he’s not talking with his dad, and he’s doing his own thing, he rlly still hopes in a way he’s making his dad proud. 

he gets emo sometimes bc he didn’t turn out the way his parents wanted him to, and cos he doesn’t have the best relationship with them - but that’s why, at the very least he has close friends and siblings. 

he lives by himself in a fairly decent apartment with his turtle that he named franklin, bc he can’t own a sea lion. 

PERSONALITY

dominic is always fun. he was the one in the group of friends that made the jokes, and made everyone feel comfortable. he was always out there hugging his friends and chilling, laying around.

this was the guy that brought a textbook to a party bc he wanted to get lit but also had a test the next day to study for.

he’s been given so many expectations his whole life, he really doesn’t like it now. he just wants to be free and do his own thing.

he cares a lot about people, sometimes he’s too nice and doesn’t see the way it’ll back fire on him.

he’s smart in a lot of other ways. take him to a museum and it’s like returning an alien to the mothership. 

he believes in positive thinking, his mind is always open, and is never one to judge - or he tries not to judge bc he grew up judging other people that he doesn’t want to do that anymore.

he loves to be outdoors and walking around barefoot on the grass. 

a lot of things come easy to him. he’s sociable and charming, and loves adventure.

WANTED CONNECTIONS 

some connections based off of muse posts :)

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

besides that, i’m down for anything !

unrequited connections

toxic relationship/friendship

brotps

give me a SQUAD

first loves

childhood friendships

sibling type friendships

exes on good and bad terms

all the fwb~ 

creative type friends

enemies plots pls

crossword puzzle friends pls

[bloojayoolie]

Fucking, Google, and Joker: File: black-manta-new-52.jpg (96 KB, 618x412) Damonashu 116 points 1 year ago ALEX DEGEN MAGIC SERPLE 2018 I'd like to imagine that Black Manta spends his time awake at night thinking of new ways to reminds Aquaman how he killed his son 0121121 >»90121140 >>90121185 >»90121418 >>90121437 >>90121471 Anonymous 02/22/17(Wed)05:43:49 No.90121094 @ADACTIVITY 90121568 »90121617 »90121781>»90122145 >>90122957 90123029 >90123691>90124826 >>90125587 >>90126898 Share Save What's his problem? Zarester 74 points 1 year ago The pacific ocean has 3.9 stars out of five on google maps MST KILL "Hey, Aquaman. Help me with this crossword. 17 across, seven letters, 'another phrase for a dead body'." "Cadaver?" Anonymous 02/22/17(Wed)05:45:30 No.90121140 "No. Has an O." >90121094 (OP) Aquaman "Uhm, A corpse?" Who the fuck is downvoting the ocean "Nnnnope. Doesn't work. Oh! I got it! "What is it?" TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK- I'M DOING IT OUT OF SIMPLE SPITE. Anonymous 02/22/17(Wed)05:50:22 No.90121286 "Your son!" >>90121264 Wow, he must really hate Aquaman Share Save Harhan Metal Gear Ray Romano 57 points 1 year ago "Hey Aqua Man, Knock knock." Anonymous 02/22/17(Wed)06:03:46 No.90121559 *sigh* "Whose there Black Manta?" The madman took over a terrorist organization that was on the verge of world domination just so he could use them to fuck with Aquaman. Manta is a man of "Not your son. 'Cus you know. I killed him." sheer will and limitless potential Share Save REALLY HATE YOUR GUTS, YOU KNOW... View Same Google iqdb Sauce NAO Aquaman_Vol_7_23.1_Black_Manta.jpg, 2MiB, 1920x2951 strips_of_serengeti Respect the Pipe 28 points 1 year ago I'm pretty sure Black Manta would just adopt an orphan and take it with him on his next nefarious plot, just so he could tell Aquaman that it's Take-Your-Son-To-Work Day, and rub in how great it is to be a father to a living child. PLAGKTA Anonymous Fri 24 Mar 2017 09:54:01 No.52342588 MANTS Report Quoted By: >5234421152356342 And he'd treat the kid well and make him super happy just to rub it in. >>52342483 >>52331311 >>52329634 Share Save Man, I love Black Manta. Especially his modern incarnation where he basically doesn't seem to have any personality at all except when fucking with Aquaman. He's basically Jason Vorhees or Mike Myers in terms of personality. And he's a member of the Legion of Doom. Can you imagine the poor schmuck that has to sit next to him in Legion meetings? Scarecrow's just sitting there, trying to have a nice conversation with Solomon Grundy (Born on a Wednesday), when Black Manta walks in and sits down and proceeds to just stare straight ahead, hands flat on the table, his only movement an occasional grinding of his teeth. HOWB THE WICE The Legion has supervillains and mad scientists and near-literal gods and demons, and Scarecrow is stuck next to a man, smelling vaguely of fish and blood, who mostly just wants to kill people close to Aquaman with whatever's on-hand at the time. But at least it's better than the one time he tried to be social. Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed)22:49:55 No.52440454 >52439850 > In the beginning there was a formless presence which cast its gaze onto the new born universe. > As it gained form millennia later it thought but one thing. >One thought randomly generated and with no outside influence. Fuck Aquaman. >"Uh...hey, Black Manta." >...Did you know that you can completely gut some species of fish, and if you put them back in the water, they'll keep on swimming?" >"..uh...no I didn't." >"...I must kill the sea." Anonymous 11/18/15(Wed)21:02:17 No.77559040 77566345 >>77566848 File: f338e5becd29807d401655ce8...). jpg (318 KB, 736x649) Anonymous 03/30/17(Thu)12:49:16 No.52448523 I could only dream of creating an enemy this autistic and hate fueled to throw at my players. Black Manta is a man that both philosophically and symbolically with his suit has encased himself in hate. He is the living manifestation of human hatred brought upon him by the cruel Poseidon like forces of wrathful nature, represented by the ocean. Black Manta has made himself into the very same pitiless, irrational and savage force of hate that the earth lays upon humanity from the seas. He is to Aquaman what a hurricane is to humanity, who he sees as responsible for taking this reckoning upon himself as Lord of the Anonymous 03/31/17(Fri)18:20:20 No.52471419 >52447826 52455734 Fucking perfect. I need to add something like this to a superhero campaign of my own >This guy is after you >You don't know why, or how, but he will do everything in his power to slowly destroy you and make you know it was him. >And his power is significant oceans. He has the same all consuming hatred for Aquaman that Captain Ahab had for the white whale The fact that his true origin is purposely obscured makes him even more striking as a shapeless force of nature Anonymous 03/30/17(Thu)14:43:07 No.52450280 >>52430715 Fuck man, Manta has given so many reasons that turned out to be lies to fuck with Aquaman that the real reason could very well be that Manta woke up one day, poured himself a bowl fish-o's, turned on the news, saw Aquaman, and thought, "Fuck that guy and everything he stands for." But really, the reason doesn't matter anymore because Manta doesn't need it. Manta isn't a man anymore. Asking why Manta hates Aquaman is like asking why the stars burn or why gravity exists. They just do. Manta has long ago stopped having a reason beyond the fact that Aquaman exists. Manta has long ago stopped being a man. Now? Now Manta is much like the sea he spends so much time in. You can see it in his eyes, the pitiless cold and the cruel indifference. Manta is a force of nature fueled by hate and spite that has long ago stopped having reason for existing beyond the fact that it does. Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed) 1 2:46:58 No.5243 1077 >>52430715 It's like the OP pic says. He just really, really fucking hates Aquaman. He's givien multiple conflicting backstories and motivations, several of which he admits he made up just to fuck with Aquaman. At this point even if he remembers his original reason he probably doesn't care about it anymore. His sole purpose in life is to screw with Aquaman in any and every way he can. There is no line he won't cross, no action too petty, so long as it hurts Aquaman. He has bent his entire being around making Arthur's life as miserable as possible and he will never stop, never falter, never give up. He is to the king of the ocean what the sea is to angry sailors, cruel, uncaring, and relentless. He's Captain Ahab as a comic book character and we love him for it. Anonymous 03/31/17(Fri)14:39:05 No.52467471 >>52430715 He literally just really fucking hates Aquaman. Everything he does is to fuck with Aquaman, any crimes he commits are purely either to fuck with Aquaman or to acquire funds to use to fuck with Aquaman. Not a day goes by in which he doesn't sit down and reflect on how much he fucking hates Aquaman Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed) 12:27:15 No.52430777 Anonymous 03/31/17(Fri)18:44:59 No.52471769 >52430577 Quite literally the only reason he didn't kill himself when Aquaman died was because of the off chance that he came back to life since Manta is genre savvy enough to realize that heroes do that often Is there ever a hour where Black Manta don't think about his hatred for Aquaman? Do he even sleep? Anonymous 03/31/17(Fri)18:50:27 No.52471853 Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed)12:29:34 No.52430813 >>52430715 There is conflicting stories about why he does. It really doesn't matter, because his place is a implacably, actually threatening counter to Aquaman. >>52471769 Well, physically at least, he is still human, so he has to sleep at some point. But he probably uses a form of self-hypnosis to ensure that when he dreams, he dreams about hurting Aquaman Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed)12:29:45 No.52430817 >52430758 Naw he was faking that. >52430715 He just fucking hates him. Maybe there is something deeper but its a mystery so far since he keeps faking out actual origin stories. Honestly, part of the appeal is that he is just raw anger towards the king of the sea wrapped in a calm, hate-oozing package. He's the Joker but without having been ruined of all character through numerous iterations. Anonymous 03/29/17(Wed)12:31:48 No.52430849 >52430758 Yes, well, I have students that are autisitic as fuck and none of them have tried to overthrow a PMC yet to fuel their crusade against me.

[keytextsfromkh]

Dream Drop Distance: Traverse Town

- I like how at this point, they're not even trying to pretend to be a fun and happy game. This is third act-Disney movie shit and two people are already dead.

- ...My name is...Bongo.

- No, I prefer Bongo. Sounds more fun and fancy free.

- And that's when you realized that everything up to this point was nothing more than a simulation on the "What if?" Machine. A man can dream...a man can dream.

- Yeah, when we're out in the middle of the ocean, we'll just call Aquaman and he'll save us...he's owned by Disney right?

- (Ursula’s Arrival) Sora, it has begun...it cannot be stopped.

- Wow, Riku's kind of a weakling, when /Sora's/ able to keep his footing and you're tossed overboard, that's pretty bad.

- It's ok Riku, that's just Hades releasing the Titans from...well, Hades. (Where were the Titans held prisoner in the movie?)

- That's got to be a low point in Ursula's career, when she's nothing more than a tutorial boss and doesn't really have story relavance.

- Now /this/ is the time when you should be asking if any of this is for real or not.

- And that question is: How do they get the little m's on the m&m's.

- I suppose that's an interesting question too...show off.

- If that were the case then the challenges of my past have just gave my darkness a huge advantage in /that/ battle.

- (Regarding Xehanort) He's basically Ganon, he'll always come back to fuck us over even if the plot doesn't call for it.

- Well I'm here to tell you that you're not to be cocky little shits and you'll be considered Keyblade Masters when /I/ tell you, you got that you little whippersnappers? God, I'm tired, Mickey, get my walking stick and Donald, get the liniment oil, you're going to be rubbing it into my creases all night.

- Well it is a mix between Disney and Final Fantasy, I'm sure flying colours won't be the strangest thing to appear.

- So Sora opens a keyhole and now he's what, flying through the subspace highway?

- I've had my clothes changed once before and yet I'm still freaked out that it's happened again.

- (Neku’s Arrival) Oh thank god, some much required emo cynicism.

- Maybe it's under his glove, have you thought of that.

- I'm so toally a player, I've been with all the bitches and I can do like 5 Fortnite dances flawlessly.

- This must be Neku's own personal hell, although considering his partner is (probably) Shiki, this is like double hell.

- I'm loving the music although I'm hating the controls, why isn't X jump, it seems kind of backwards.

- Wow, someone with an actual last name, you really aren't from this world are you?

- I mean if I can handle Pokemon, I think I can handle their Disney counterparts.

- And there's my dirty mind at work again. You're telling me that I have to "unlock" seven sleeping holes to gain a great power. It's a good thing I'm not easily offended/paranoid or I'd think that this game was secretly promoting date rape.

- A great wall keeping all the worlds seperate? Again, it's probably a good thing this game originally came out in 2012 or it would be quite suspect.

- (Young Xehanort pulls some sick parkour moves) You said specifically, no over the top acrobatics to prove how cool you are.

- Obstacles: Breakable except when they're not.

- Joshua: King of innuendos.

- Oh god, Joshua's about to spend an hour talking about the multiple worlds theory.

- He wants to find Rhyme but Riku wants to hear reason.

- (What Joshua spends his time dreaming of) And they all centre around one adorable little crankypants

- If Riku is a dreamer, would that make Joshua a dreamweaver and can he get Riku through the night, maybe even reach the morning light?

- At least they don't give you another tutorial.

- Who knew Beat required a self-esteem team and who knew they would be so cute and colourful.

- Ok, I'm calling it now, the Sleeping Worlds don't have oxygen, they have a constant atmosphere of xanax.

- In hindsight, considering the powers of the X-Blade and the requirements of it's construction, this could be seen as a very bad idea and those who came up with it should have been fired.

- So the moral of the story is: Piracy causes giant universe-shattering wars.

- So Riku was just using the keyblade for it's intended purpose, he really wasn't a villain, he was just doing what felt natural.

- Wait, so the letterbox is alive? What other things in this place are alive?

- So, this is the mail room from Monster's Inc.?

- Anyone else think "Ice Dream cone" sounds like an edible? Like it's laced with LSD?

- So it looks like we've entered the residential district of Traverse Town and considering the graffiti, the fact that part of it is obviously based on The World Ends With You and the idea of how Sleeping Worlds operate, I think this is a part of Disney that they want to ignore, it's a part of them that fell into Darkness and they want it to linger there, it's early 90s Disney. In this twisted town, we won't meet Goofy, we'll meet Max from Goof Troop, we won't see Huey,Dewey and Louie from DuckTales, it'll be their iterations from Quack Pack and I think I know who the final boss of this world will be. Someone who represents the 90s and all things EXTREME! Someone who's connected to Disney but is nothing more than a twisted, vulgar imiation of the real form. This final boss will be Dippy Fresh.

- I will say the new parts of Traverse Town look amazing, it's like they really get that mix of SE's anime stylings and Disney's wonder and magic.

- Again, as I've said before, Sora's just one huge OCD bubble.

- Where the fuck was Rhyme during Chain of Memories, she loses her memories and acts like it's no big deal and then starts talking in fortune cookie sayings.

- So Sora has teleporting powers now? Is that another little extra when in the sleeping worlds?

- Seriously, the music is really damn good in this, the boss music may be a lot more upbeat than in previous games but it has this carnival-like heroic vibe going for it.

- Well it still is Disney so I guess "friend" is the best we can do for now.

- We're pulling an Inception here Sora, please try to keep up.

- (Joshua’s a very humble person) I'm God, it's no biggie really.

- It's Xehanort: The Wonder Years

- (Regarding Shiki being saved by Riku) You could at least let me give you a blowjob as payment.

- I guess after Selphie pulled a #metoo on Tidus, Riku isn't taking any chances.

- Unless this is a Proud Mode thing, one major issue I'm already having with this game is that there are too many enemies. Like I know you can run into a pack of monsters every 5 steps but this is overdoing it just a tad. It doesn't help that we're already fighting some of the heavy hitters in the first world rather than waiting a world or two before bringing in the fat fuckers.

- Oh fuck, he turned her into a cat doll.

- (Beat knows when things are half-baked) If anyone would know anything about being baked, it's you.

- Speaking of which, where are the reapers? They could bring some much needed fun right about now.

- Now that's a smart idea, let's take a huge boss with huge arms and put the fight in a small room where it can grab shit and whack you with them.

- Now there's a missed opportunity, why do Sora and Riku get the same Keyblades, it would have been interesting if each one got their own unique keyblade based on how their story in that world plays out.

- So Joshua is Sin from Final Fantasy X?

- Ok, that spinning thing is kind of distracting and kind of dumb

- Joshua died on his way to his home planet.

- (Yen Sid can be really dick-ish sometimes) I'm kind of a dick that way.  

[brenli]

[28]

Tagged by: @goddamnitkastle​ (YAYAYAY ANOTHER ONE!)

1. how tall are you? 5′3″

2. what color and style is your hair? Dark brown. A couple of stray silver strands. When the light hits it right you can see natural auburn-y red highlights/tones in it, especially near the ends. I wear it long, down to my lower back, usually parted in the middle (sometimes on the left) and with bangs. Usually blunt-cut across my brows, but I'm not as good about trimming them as I ought to be so they usually end up growing out long enough that I need to brush them off to the right.

3. what color are your eyes? Brown

4. do you wear glasses? My cat-eye specs are basically part of my identity at this point.

5. do you wear braces? Nope

6. what is your fashion style? I have contempt for this question that likes of which you cannot believe. XD I guess in the most general sense it's rock-chic. Rock/metal girl elements mixed with glamorous or feminine elements/silhouettes. But this is MASSIVELY boiling down my massive wardrobe and I've certainly had moments of departure from the rock-chic umbrella depending on how I'm feeling. I dislike strictly adhering to specific style labels; I find it stifling.

7. full name? Brenda Lee Larson. My maiden name is cooler to be honest; I only changed it because I was more interested in sharing a surname with the Honey and I know I can still use my maiden name for other things.

8. when were you born? July 24, 1987

9. where are you from and where do you live now? Technically born in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, WA, USA and spent the first 4 years of my life bouncing around different naval stations because my family was about that Navy Life, but the majority of my formative years Spokane, WA, USA so my assumption is that would be more accurately where I'm "from." (Hawaii is where my heart wants to say I'm from though as that's where my earliest memories take place~) After some years spent CA (first in the Bay and then in LA), I'm currently living just south of Seattle, WA. So. Basically I've been wiggling around the West Coast my whole life, including going so far west I ditched the mainland for a spell.

10. what school do you go to? I WORK at a school currently, Cornish. Freelancing as a house manager for 3 of their 4 venues. The 4th one never seems to put on any events that require one of us from the house management roster, otherwise I'd work gigs at that one, too. XD

11. what kind of student are you? Some of you who make these questionnaires clearly cannot think beyond life-after-schooling and it shows. XD I was an above-average student for the vast majority of my years in schooling but I started falling off a little toward the end, largely because I was very keenly aware of what areas of study pertained to me and my interests/goals, and I had no patience for areas of study that did not. I left before it got too bad.

12. do you like school? I liked the parts of school that spoke to me~

13. what are your favorite school subjects? Literature/English was always the major go-to throughout all of my years of schooling. I was in Choir up until highschool; this was when Theatre became available to me and I wasn't able to participate in both, so I parted ways with Choir and focused on Theatre all the way up through my last years of schooling. Other subjects of interest, in highschool: Photography, Psychology, Forensic Science, World History. In college: Creative Writing, Journalism, Japanese.

14. favorite TV shows? The major ones have been racy period dramas The Tudors and The Borgias. I grew up on Star Trek TOS and as such it has a very dear place in my heart despite it not being a racy period drama. XD I also am quite invested in the Netflix MCU with Daredevil and The Punisher being my two favorite shows (Frank is my everything!). More currently I've been expanding my Sanada-san filmography-binge thanks in large part to @anagraves​; I recently finished the 1993 Koukou Kyoushi and am through episode 10 of Konna Koi no Hanashi. What I've been learning from this - Hiroyuki Sanada knows how to break hearts whether he's being soft and vulnerable to cold and cruel and anything in between, but that's exactly why I love him.

INB4 "you post Snow White everything so why isn't OUAT on here" I do enjoy OUAT a lot, but I don't know if I would consider it a favorite show overall. I'm more fond of the earlier seasons than the later seasons and it's that ambivalent feeling I have for the later seasons that make the show not a favorite - but still very good overall.

It's also at this point that I should probably explain what my blog description does not - my blog started running a Snow White-themed queue LARGELY as part of an inspiration-drive for a Snow White AU project that I haven't actually touched in a long time. I REALLY should do something about that; I just keep getting pulled in other directions and now it's years on and here I am with what's basically a Snow White queueblog. XD If I can ever get my dumb head in gear and FINISH what I've started, that would honestly result in the queue being mass-posted and then probably altered to suit whatever the next project would be. That's always been the intention, anyway.

15. favorite movies? While I'm still feeling the chilly gaze of my Snow White queue, my favorite Snow White movie thus far is Mirror Mirror. I think it's massively underrated and that makes me sad.

As far as Disney is concerned, while I have a HUGE amount of respect for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, my favorite film growing up was Beauty and the Beast (and my Rococo-loving ass does adore the live action remake). Surprise??? XD More recently, Moana is the film of my heart; it's the closest Disney has gotten to making a Princess culturally-relevant to me as a half-Filipina so my tropical islander ass is just utterly enamoured with Moana. ((Listen Disney if you ever decide to make a super fun colorful precolonial Philippine film THE PERFECT PRINCESS EXISTS FOR THAT, I submit for your consideration - Urduja!)

Because of my rather open-door childhood with regard to media, my earliest favorite movies are actually Nightmare on Elm Street and Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors. Freddy is my Nightmare King Murder Boyfriend and I'm prepared to face judgement for that. XD

Fondness for Star Trek TOS has resulted in an affection for the AOS movies~

But a movie that speaks to me very much is What Dreams May Come.

Currently I've gotten re-ensnared into The Last Samurai, in correlation with the most recent AU project. Because I am hopeless, Grumpy Samurai is Best Samurai, and I've been spending time manically fretting and pretending that because Ujio drops before the gatling guns are brought out, maybe he SOMEHOW managed to survive in SOME way and he can have tons of cool battle scars. Right? ... RIGHT???

16. favorite books? If manga counts then it's Angel Sanctuary. Hands down. No contest. It's easily woven itself into my life in the form of fanfic that is/was well-received within the fandom, and a weirdly HUGE list of AUs that somehow burst out of nowhere. (Currently all of it, AU work included, can be read via my FF.Net account under brenli. I have a placeholder page on AO3 that's currently empty but may end up holding all my content there as well, in time. If I can ever make the time.)

I was and am really into Sue Harrison's Ivory Carver series, particularly My Sister the Moon.

It was part of my middle school/junior high reading curriculum but I honestly DID really like The Diving Bell by Todd Strasser. Even if the cover art of Culca coming up out of the ocean looked A LOT like me and resulted in my class calling me Culca for the entirety of our unit on that book. It's fine. Culca is a badass queen of pearls and seawater so I'm happy to be associated with her~!

Every now and then I remember a book that clearly really resonated with my as a child if I still remember it, but the problem is that I don't remember the title or the author, or even any of the characters' names. It was about a Roma girl who lived in the American south - I wanna say Tennesee? - who was discovered for her talent playing guitar and singing country music. The book essentially details her struggle between her traditional roots as a Roma person, including the arrangement for her to be married young, and her interest in pursuing music as a career but feeling alienated by an industry and a society at large that is wealthier than her and has a different culture from her own. The book ends with her running away but it isn't made clear what her ultimate fate is. To this DAY it bothers me that I don't remember the title or the author because I honestly go through periods where I want to reread it. And yes, this was the kind of stuff I was reading as a child. XD I also read My Sister the Moon for the first time when I was like. 11 years old. If you're familiar with the content of that book then you're aware that certain scenes are really not 11-year-old friendly, but. If I can watch gratuitous 80's slasher horror at age 4 then I can read about a young woman surviving sexual abuse at age 11.

17. favorite pastime? Writing at this rate, honestly. Which probably speaks more to my inner tortured artist than anything else. XD

18. do you have any regrets? I feel like everybody has at least one regret and anyone who says otherwise is either very very young, or lying. XD It's not about whether you have regrets, it's about not letting them hold you in the past.

19. dream job? Telling stories, in any and every way attainable to me.

20. would you like to get married someday? I already am~

21. would you like to have kids someday? Absolutely not. I don't feel like my life is conducive to childrearing, and INB4 "you're never truly ready" and "you make it work" the key factor here is I'm not WILLING to become ready and I'm not WILLING to make it work. That's how I know my life is not conducive to childrearing. XD (I'm at that age where tons of people are asking me this and feeding me words meant to encourage me to consider and it's honestly EXHAUSTING by this point. I can't wait for when I'm menopausal maybe people will finally shut up about it because I'll be past my prime~)

23. do you like shopping? I mean, yes, but I usually avoid it because I'm aware of how impulsive I am.

24. what countries have you visited? I'm tempted to say that Hawaii should count because it's so far away from the mainland. XD But honestly I've never been outside of US territory. It's in the plans to try for Japan during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I'm not sure if we'll make that goal but if not, I figure it won't hurt to continue saving up anyway and making a Tokyo trip post-Olympics. Prices will be cheaper post-Olympics, anyway, so~

25. what’s the scariest nightmare you’ve ever had? At the risk of raising weird red flags I've gone through periods where I'll have reoccurring nightmares about being actively pursued by someone who very obviously intends to do harm. It happens often enough that the Honey wonders if I'm mentally suppressing something. XD I did have a standalone dream though, where me and the Honey were asleep in bed and then I become aware that someone's broken into the house and is approaching our bed. I'm walking through every possible option in my head with my eyes shut; if the Honey and I both lunged at the attacker we could possibly overpower them just because it would be two against one. But I know that I can't possibly wake up the Honey and make him aware of the situation without the attacker immediately acting and resulting in at least one of us being injured or killed. I realize that I have no choice but to try and take the attacker by surprise by myself and hope that is enough. I make peace with that. I can feel the attacker leaning over me. I suddenly lunge at them in full primal adrenaline-filled rage.

I wake up.

26. do you have any enemies? I guess that I have a few, yes, but honestly at this point I've gotten probably a little too used to being vilified. Barring physical assault or turning the animosity on innocent third parties in my life, I am prepared to weather the metaphorical lashes.

27. do you have an s/o? I have my Honey~

28. do you believe in miracles? I believe in miracles that aren't the overt surface-level wish-fulfillment-from-above which I think most people expect a miracle to be. I think that sometimes luck plays out via a slim-to-none chance and that can be a miracle. I think that sometimes a person works very hard at something or for something and when they achieve it, that can be a miracle. I think that the butterfly effect is a double-edged sword, but sometimes that little flutter of a butterfly's wings is a miracle.

Tagging: @yacky-jackie​ @halorecoil​ @anagraves​ @benevolentqueenofstars​ @lesbomancy​ @candybunnieholic​ @lemonedscream​ @tinathefish​

[shanastoryteller]

looking around here you think - sure, she's got everything

okay so as some of you know i wrote a trans little mermaid rewrite already. this is that same story, but with A LOT more content (haha 6k more aka almost twice as long as the first one) to hopefully be more true to real live trans girls’ experience, and not a magical world with shortcuts where everything is much, much easier

one million thanks and hearts and good things to @gemcuttlefish for all her helpful advice and ideas. this rewrite would not exist without her.

ok so here we go

~

when the mermaid athena marries king triton and becomes queen of the sea, there is a prophecy announced by the powerful sea witch ursula.

the king and queen will have seven daughters to represent the seven seas. athena names their daughters just then, her bridal crown still on her head. they will be named attina, alana, adella, aquata, arista, andrina, and ariel.

things do not go as planned.

the queen dies. ursula is banished and proclaimed a betrayer of the crown.

the seventh child is not quite as expected.

~

ariel is the youngest of triton’s children – the most treasured, the most coveted and protected.

ariel is triton’s only son, and the heir to the kingdom of the sea.

his mother had given him his name years before. the healers hadn’t had time to tell her that she had borne a son, not a daughter, before she died.

they all call him ari.

~

he is beloved. his eldest sister fawns over him, attina trying her best to be a mother to six children even though she’s barely a teenager. she may be queen on day – no one yet knows who will succeed her father, but she is the eldest, and clever, and not a bad hand at magic. she may be queen one day, and if she cannot comfort six mourning children, how will she rule a nation?

they have many nannies, people to make sure they are fed and dressed and bathed. but it is attina they turn to with their nightmares, their cries, and their hurts. it is attina who first forces ariel into their father’s hands. “he’s your son,” she says, desperately.

triton has been as affectionate as always with his girls, has embraced them and kissed their cheeks when they come to him sad and scared at the loss of their mother. but he has not yet picked up the child his wife died to give him. triton looks down at the small babe and says, “he has her hair.”

“and her eyes,” she says, “don’t you want to see mom’s eyes again? look into his, and you will.”

he heaves a great sigh and hold out his hands, something guarded and stony in his features. attina carefully places ari into them, anxiously watching as her baby brother breaks into a huge grin, grabs onto their father’s beard, and tugs.

she wants to scream. why couldn’t he have giggled or smiled or done something else adorable and lovable –

but triton’s whole face softens and he throws back his head and laughs, the first one she’s heard since their mother died. the sadness is still there, but as he gazes down at ariel, the first hints of true happiness peak through.

“he’s just like her,” he says, and when he looks up at her, she realizes she’s smiling too. she hadn’t done that since her mother died either.

~

ari is two years old, sitting in his father’s lap in the middle of a council meeting, when he topples forward and grabs onto the trident for balance.

“no!” triton yells, horrified, pulling him back even though it’s too late, even though one touch is all it takes.

but his son is unharmed. he’s not a pile of ash, he isn’t crying, there are no deep bloody wounds on him. instead ari reaches for the trident again, and this time no one tries to stop him. he bites it, liking the feel of cold metal on his sore gums as his teeth start to poke through. all that happens is a little spark of electricity travels up the trident.

the advisors are staring. triton has no choice but to make a public announcement.

prince ariel, the youngest of his children, is the chosen heir to the throne. there is no longer a question of succession.

the trident has spoken.

~

if this were normal circumstances, then the confirmation ceremony would commence immediately, and ariel would be named a regent.

but this is not normal circumstances. ari is not of age, is a baby who touched the trident by accident, who was named crown prince of the sea by accident. “we do not know how the trident will react to my daughters,” king triton objects, “perhaps it likes all my children equally, and it is simply ari who touched it first.”

“regardless, he has touched it and been declared worthy,” his councilman says, unimpressed. “let your daughters hold it then, and we shall know for sure.”

there’s a chilling fear up his spine, because if they are not so favored it may kill them. they are of the royal line and magic blood and it will not mean to, but there is a reason he himself did not hold the trident until he was a man.

this must all show on his face, because his councilman softens and says, “we shall move up the timetable from eighteen years old to ten years old. your two eldest daughters will attempt to hold the trident immediately, and each daughter shall attempt the same on her tenth birthday. then, if the trident chooses any or all of them, we shall know for sure who shall be declared regent on the day of their twentieth birthday.”

it’s a compromise, and one he doesn’t like, but one he must stomach. news of ariel using the trident as a teething toy has already spread even farther than the oceans, is being whispered about by the gods and spirits of the surface and the sky. “very well,” he says, pretending he has a choice in this at all.

attina manages a full five seconds with her hand on the trident before she releases it with a cry of pain, her palm coming away bloody. alana barely places her fingers against it before she pulls it back, shrieking, the skin where she touched it gone completely.

triton cleans their hands and heals them, kissing the wounds to comfort them. somehow, he’s feels like this is how each of his daughters will fair when the time comes.

he’s not wrong.

~

ari is slightly less beloved after that. it is unavoidable – he is a treasured, a crown prince when they are only princesses, and even as a child his talent with magic is obvious, his affinity for controlling the power of the ocean plain for all to see.

he spends long hours with tutors, with old men and women who teach him the basics of wielding power, and then even more when his talent and intellect demands it.

but he is still a child.

“this isn’t fair,” ari pouts, clinging to his sister’s hand as she tries to pull away, “i want to go to!”

“you’re too little,” aquata says, finally shaking him off, “father doesn’t want you leaving the castle.”

he runs to the window and calls out, “when can i leave?”

“when you’re older!” andrina answers, laughing. he watches his sisters’ tails create a rainbow as they all swim away from him.

andrina is only a year older than him. this doesn’t seem fair.

~

he is young still when he first realizes something is off, that perhaps he is not just like other boys. but he doesn’t know that many boys to compare himself against, so he tries not to dwell on it.

the way people call him prince, sir, brother, son – it doesn’t seem quite right. but he’s not sure what else it would be, so he keeps quiet.

~

ari has big blue eyes and hair a brighter red than anything else in the ocean. he looks like their mother, or so everyone tells him, and he wonders if that’s part of the reason their father doesn’t let him stray.

he grows his hair long, and it raises a few eyebrows, but not too many. triton has long hair, even if it’s not the current style. ari’s is different, though, and he knows it. his father’s hair is wild, more of a mane than a head of hair. ari’s isn’t like that, he spends longer than his sisters combing it each day, and loves its softness and it’s shine. he likes the weight of it on his head, something solid and grounding, and it’s a smooth and cared for as his sisters’ hair.

he’s swimming down the hall, trying to memorize a scroll of spells that his father is going to test him on tomorrow. he passes by as alana is complaining to arista, “i can’t get that knotted bun to sit right, it keeps getting loose and falling apart! i think i’m getting an arm cramp from redoing it so many times.”

“well don’t’ looke at me,” arista says, “last time i let you practice on my hair, attina had to spend twice as long trying to undo it and brush out all the knots.”

“that was one time!” alana says passionately, “come one, please?”

arista is already shaking her head when ari says, “you can practice on me.”

they both turn to him, surprised to see him next to them. he tries not to feel upset that they hadn’t noticed him before. “really?” arista asks eagerly.

“sure,” he shrugs, “i just have to sit there, right? i have some reading to get done anyway.”

“nerd,” arista says, but alana grabs his hand and is so excited she practically shoves him into their room. he loves his sisters’ room. as the only boy and crown prince, he has his own quarters, away from them. he wishes he didn’t. he feels separated from them enough as it is.

it’s bright and glittering, littered with jewelry and hair ornaments, with sparkly shell tops that he loves to touch. he likes things that sparkle, he’s discovered. but if he walks around wearing his crown, he looks like a jerk.

alana gets to undoing and brushing out his hair. he wears it in a long braid down his back because it gets in the way when he’s reading, when he struggles to summon the power his father uses so easily, when he’s trying to memorize spells and languages no one else in the kingdom will ever know.

there are other magic users in the kingdom, of course, but the extent to which they can utilize their power and effect the world, and the extent to which the ruler of the sea can do such things, are so far apart as to be laughable.

arista sits by them, “wow, his hair is the longest of us all. trying to look like a girl, ari?”

he rolls his eyes, but loses track of his thoughts hallway through. he supposes his long hair does kind of make him look like a girl. but he likes it – does it matter? there’s nothing wrong with looking like a girl. he likes girls. when his sisters aren’t being annoying or mean, they’re his favorite people.  

“be nice,” attina says absently, head buried in a book. “you’re just jealous because your hair keeps breaking midway down your back and you wish it was as long as ari’s.”

arista scoffs, but takes one of his hands, “here, brother, you should have the nails to match.”

he wants to protest that he needs his hands to read, but he can already tell she’s going to ignore him. so he uses a quick spell to make the scroll hover in front of him. it’s easier than trying to argue with her.

for the next hour arista polishes and shapes his nails before painting them the same shade as his tail. alana works at his hair, twisting his mass of red hair into several styles before finally mastering the knotted bun. She dots it through with pearls and abalone shells carved into floral shapes, which he doesn’t think is necessary. but they are shiny, and he likes shiny things, so he doesn’t say anything.

“this looks fun,” adella decides, and takes her own spot in front of ari. he officially gives up on getting anymore studying done. she brings over a set of pots and a couple delicate brushes, setting them out just so next to her. she swipes on eyeliner and paints his lips red, then grabs some of the expensive glittery green powder from that attina’s vanity.

attina sighs but doesn’t move to stop her. “that’s only for special occasions.”

“be quiet, it’s perfect,” adella says, using delicate fingers to smudge the powder onto his eyelids.

finished, they all lean back to look at him. his other sisters crowd in close, and even attina looks up from her book. “huh,” arista says, “it was meant to be funny, but – you look really pretty ari.”

he turns and finally allows himself to look into one of mirrors.

huh.

he raises a hand to his reflection, then lowers it. he – he does really look like a girl now. he likes it. he doesn’t know how to feel about the fact that he likes it. is it like his long hair, just something he likes? or is it something – else. “guess it’s time to take it all off,” he says, but doesn’t move to do so, only keeps staring at himself. he doesn’t want to look away. he doesn’t know why he doesn’t want to look away, which is the most concerning part.

no one says anything until attina snorts, “they spent so long making you look pretty, ari. you should at least keep it all on for the rest of the day.”

he snaps his neck around to look at her, but she’s already focused back on her book. “okay,” he says, and the wave of relief is – strange.  

“you might as well keep the pearls,” alana says, trying for nonchalant and failing miserably, “they look better on you than me.”

“i don’t know how to put them in,” he says, and winces. he should have said that he didn’t need them because he was a boy, and boys didn’t wear pearls in their hair. or, well, maybe some boys do, just like there are boys who like having long shiny hair. there’s more than one way to be a boy, right? he’s just a boy who likes looking like a girl.

right?

or maybe he’s not a boy at all. but he’s not a girl. he would know if he was a girl. wouldn’t he? if he’s questioning it, then he can’t be one. he would know if he were like Mistress Megara, his scary history tutor who used to look a lot different before a potions regimen and used to be called Master Markle.

“well,” alana says, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, “i guess i’ll just have to teach you then.”

he smiles back.

he has his sisters around him, all being nice for once, and a list of spells to master before tomorrow otherwise his father will give him one of those awful disappointed looks.

he has more important things to worry about.

~

“when can i use the trident for my spells?” ari asks hungrily, the dizzying power of having it so close crackling up his spine.

triton sighs, “only when you have progressed to the point where you do not need it.” 

what’s the point of being able to handle and use the trident if his father won’t let him? what’s the point of spending so much time cooped up in the castle, reading and learning and practicing, if he can neither explore with his sisters nor fully explore his magic?

“you have more important thing to do than your sisters do,” triton tells him, “you will be king one day, and you must study your magic. on your twentieth birthday, you will be tasked with proving your claim to the throne, and you must also be able to wield the trident.”

ari holds out a hand, and his father willingly passes him the trident. if anyone lacking great power attempts to hold it, if anyone deemed unworthy of being the ruler of the sea tried to use it, they would be killed.

that ari is able to hold it with nothing more than a spark of static electricity on his fingertips is the only sign of his rank and status of heir that matters. his sisters have all tried to hold it more than once, and it left angry, blistering welts on their hands. it did not kill them, but neither will the trident allow them to wield it.

it is ari, and ari alone, who will one day wield the trident of the seven seas.

~

when’s he’s fourteen, he masters illusions.

he leaves a double in his bed, and sneaks out past the palace grounds for the first time in his life. he’d feel guilty about sneaking out from his father’s watchful eyes, except –

he doesn’t know how anyone can expect him to rule a world that he does not know.

ari does this, night after night. he explores, visiting all the places his sisters talked about and he could never go. he goes down caverns and takes naps on the back of blue whales. he rides rip currents and plays tag with tiger sharks.

at night he has all the freedom that’s denied to him during the day.

~

ari figures he’s not a boy, because so much of a boy doesn’t feel right, doesn’t sit right on his skin. but he’s not a girl either, because he would know if he was girl, that’s not the type of thing he just wouldn’t notice. something like that would be obvious, and since it isn’t, he can’t be one.

so he’s whatever the space in between those two things is. something – else. he decides not to mention it, not to make a fuss. he’s not a boy, but he’s not girl, so he might as well keep responding to prince and be a he and a him. it’s just as good as anything else. it’s not right, but nothing is quite right, and he’d rather not make things unnecessarily difficult. there’s nothing wrong with being a boy.

he shoots up when he’s fourteen, and when he has to start looking down at attina it feels like something is curdling in the pit of his stomach. his voice cracks in the middle of lessons one day, and that night he has something that he doesn’t want to call a panic attack, because it seems dramatic, but is almost certainly a panic attack.

there are potions that will stop it. but he’d have to tell someone he wanted them in order to get them. he doesn’t want to have that conversation, not when has to go i’m something else, not quite what you think i am, but not quite like my sisters either. he barely understands what he is, what he wants. it’s not something he could articulate to anyone else. he can’t even really articulate it to himself.

instead of having that conversation, he sneaks into the library and spend the night searching for the spell that will do the same thing. there’s a spell for every potion, although not a potion for every spell.

mistress megara says potions are more reliable and stable, but master glaucus says that potions are only used by people who don’t have sufficient magic to cast their own spells. one of ari’s favorite things to do is start a discussion about it, because it inevitably ends in a mistress megara and master glaucus getting in a screaming match, and ari being able to sneak out of his lesson early.

(aquata says master glaucus has been in love with mistress megara since way back when she went by master markle. andrina claims they’re dating already, while adella insists master glaucus keeps asking mistress megara out, and she keeps rejecting him. ari would just prefer not to think of his tutors having any sort of love life at all.)

either way, he finds the spell that the potion is based off of. it’s not as strong as the potion – he’ll have to recast it every week, instead of taking a potion once a month. but it’s something he can do on his own, without having to talk to anyone about it, which is mostly all he wants.

~

things seem to even out after that. no one notices anything different. he continues to sneak out of the castle most nights. he explores the edges of the city and beyond, lets currents carry him farther from home than he should go.

one day, he will command the whole of the sea. how can he command what he does not know?

~

ari is minding his own business, swimming through the city when most of its inhabitants are asleep, when he sees a skinny boy a few years older than him with an oddly rounded blue and yellow patterned tail trying to break into a medical storage room. this is clearly none of his business, and nothing he should get involved in, but he can’t help it. he silently swims up behind the boy as he tries to pry a window open. “what are you doing?”

the boy spins around, arms raised in defense. he’s got short bright blonde hair and eyes as blue as ari’s own. “i’m not doing anything!”

he’s too skinny, ari realizes. no person should be that skinny. “do you need something in there?”

the boy crosses his arms. ari can count his ribs. “what’s it to you?”

the spell keeping the windows locked is advanced, and powerful. but ari is the crown prince of atlantica, he is one of two beings in the world who can hold the trident of the seven seas without getting burned. he undoes the locking spell with a flick of his wrist, and the window creaks open. “i’ll keep watch,” ari promises.

the boy is suspicious, but it’s too good an opportunity for him to pass up. he squeezes in through the window – being that malnourished is at least good for something – and is out only a few minutes later. he has a net full of bright red bottles with spidery handwriting on them. “blockers?” ari asks, surprised. he absently reapplies the spell to the window. it makes sense – the boy’s tail looks more like ari’s sisters’ than his. “aren’t you kinda old for these?”

which raises the point of how long he can use his magic to suppress his own changes. he has to stop, at some point. but the thought of his voice deepening and hair growing on his face is – wrong, somehow. he doesn’t want it.

the boy scowls and shrugs, “the substitution potions are a lot harder to make, and a lot more expensive. they’re locked up even better than these.”

“is it dangerous?” ari asks. especially since the boy is clearly not eating regularly, and likely any other number of things.

stuff like this is why ari should have been leaving the castle long before now. how can he help and lead his people if he doesn’t know how they’re struggling?

“guess i’ll find out,” the boy shrugs.

this isn’t right. it’s not just, and it’s not fair. people shouldn’t have to go ransacking medical storage sites just to get what they need. no one should be so thin that their ribs can be counted on sight alone. “let me help,” he blurts. “i’m studying magic. i deal mostly in enchantments, but i can probably figure out the potions.”

“it’s advanced magic,” the boy says, blank with surprise.

“i’m an advanced student,” ari answers.

“the ingredients are expensive,” he says, watching ari’s face carefully.

he shrugs, “we’ll just have to gather the ingredients ourselves instead of buying them. it’ll be an adventure!”

the boy’s face is slowly splitting into a large grin, “i like adventures.” he holds out a hand, “i’m flounder.”

“ari,” he says, almost giddy. a new friend and a new challenge and a whole new reason to go exploring the depths of the ocean.

it’s exciting.

~

flounder quickly becomes his best friend. granted, he’s ari’s only real friend, but that doesn’t matter. he can tell this is more than casual friends, knows when flounder follows him into a riptide current and darting through a whale skeleton that this is the type of friendship that defines a lifetime.

ari brews the potion. it would probably be easier for him to cast the spells, but flounder doesn’t know who he is. he hasn’t asked, and ari hasn’t told him. he knows he’s a magic student, that he comes from privilege, but that’s all. flounder knows he has secrets, but he doesn’t press ari to reveal them. not yet. if flounder knew he was powerful enough to cast those type of spells on his own, there would be no question to his identity.

so flounder takes the tinted blue potions that ari makes, and he changes. the potions combined with the regular meals that ari brings him, plus all the physically demanding adventures they go on - it’s slow, but it’s there. his voice deepens, the hair on his arms and chest thickens. he’s not skinny anymore, even has muscles that flex and shift when they play together. other smaller, subtler things that don’t mean that much apart, but together – he looks different, he looks his age. before he’d looked younger than ari, but now he looks like what he is – a nearly grown merman.

the potions also give him a horrible case of acne, which he moans and whines about until ari whips him up a paste that takes care of the worst of it.

ari gets used to not getting much sleep. his days are spent as they always have been, studying and learning and irritating his sisters. but his nights are spent laughing and exploring and doing all the things he can’t do when he’s confined to the castle. its spent going to the worst parts of atlantica, of the ocean, to the places where fishermen have picked it bare, to where merpeople are sick and hurt and hungry, to the places where people need help, need change.

ari doesn’t know how to fix these kinds of problems yet. he’s only fifteen. but he knows they exist, and knows they need fixing.

~

the things is – ari can’t keep performing the blocker spell on himself forever. his sisters have been teasing him for being a late bloomer for years already, and he can only get away with that for so much longer. but the thought of stopping the spells, of letting nature it’s course, of his body changing the way flounder’s body is changing –

it makes him sick. he can’t think of anything he wants less. and for so long he thought he didn’t want to be anything at all. he knew that he wasn’t a boy, but didn’t think that he was anything else either.

he may have miscalculated.

maybe he never would have figured it out, maybe he would have lived his whole life in that in-between, nothing exactly wrong, but nothing exactly right either. but seeing flounder, watching him change, resonating with so many things that he says and feels – it really only leads ari to one logical conclusion.

he’s a girl.

he didn’t think he could be a girl, because he thought something like that should be obvious, that it should be something he always knew. but it’s not, it can’t be, because it wasn’t. besides, he really should have known better from the beginning – mistress megara was far past what most people considered old when she became mistress megara, and she was still a girl. it didn’t matter that she’d gone by master markle for most her life, that she’d lived as a boy for longer than she’d lived as a girl. she was still a girl, and ari knew that, and if mistress megara could figure out she was a girl when she was an old woman, then ari should have known better than to think it would be that easy, that obvious.

but there’s a bigger problem here. there’s an issue that is particular to his situation.

ursula the sea witch prophesized that queen Athena would give birth to seven daughters.

she was right.

ari is the seventh daughter of queen athena and king triton. but this revelation brings up a whole new set of problems.

because he can’t be a girl.

he’s not a commoner, or a noble, a tutor, or anything else, anything where this wouldn’t matter. he’s the crown prince of atlantica, the heir to the seven seas.

the trident chose him over his sisters. him. over his sisters.

if he is a girl, if he takes the potions, if he asks everyone to treat him like a girl and call him by his full name, the name his mother intended for her seventh daughter, then what separates him from sisters?

what’s to stop the trident from rejecting him too?

if the trident rejects him, there will no longer be a clear heir to the throne, and the kingdom will weaken. triton’s rule is peaceful, but not uncontested. there are sea gods who seek to claim the oceans for their own, water spirits who would snatch it away at even the hint of opportunity.

if atlantica loses its crown prince, if there are signs of unrest in the kingdom, it will be as good as inviting war onto their doorstep.

he can’t be a girl.

~

ari spends about two days having an existential crisis, and going in circles with everything over and over in his head. then remembers that he has a best friend, and that best friends exist precisely for these type of things.

it comes tumbling out of him that night, everything about not knowing what he is, and what he thinks he is, and flounder sits and listens and doesn’t interrupt him once. “i kind of figured,” he admits with a smile. “it works differently for everyone. i knew i was a boy really young, but that’s just me. this is great! we can got hunting for the ingredients to make your version of my potion, and you already have so much practice making it for me that it should be easy for you!”

flounder is pleased and beaming, completely supportive, and ari kind of wants to hug him. but he’s not done yet.

“there’s a problem,” he says, “ari’s not my full name. it’s ariel.”

“like the prince?” flounder asks, and then he pales. ari watches several pieces come together for him all at once.

“yeah,” he says quietly, “like the prince.”

then he tells flounder everything else – what him being a girl would mean for the kingdom, how it could change how the trident reacts to him, all of it. “if atlantica loses an heir, we’re in trouble,” he says, “it’s not just that i wouldn’t be able to be king. it’s that everyone else will see the trident rejecting me as a sign of weakness in the kingdom.”

flounder’s arms are crossed and his lips are pressed into a tight line. “that’s tough,” he says at last. “but – you are a girl. if you don’t tell anyone, that’s your decision. if you don’t want to take the potions or change how you look, that’s your decision. if you go off the blockers and end up looking like me, then that’s your decision. but i don’t know if you can just decide not to be a girl. if it’s was possible to just decide that kind of thing, i would have done it. it’d have been a heck of lot easier than going without eating for a week so i could afford a blocker potion that month. so – it’s okay if you don’t want anyone to know, if you want to go through puberty the natural way without any potions – but i think you’ll always be a girl.”

ari swallows and says, “i am a girl.” it’s the first time he’s said it, and he flushes, he likes the way it feels on his – his – her tongue. “i am a girl. my name is ariel, and i’m a girl.”

flounder beams and grabs her hand to spin her in place until she’s giggling. “there we go! that’s the most important part, i think. we can figure out the rest as we go.”

ariel tackles him to the sea floor in a hug, and he returns it, laughing as he wraps his arms around her.

~

that night, she doesn’t go straight to bed as soon as she gets home. instead, she sneaks into her father’s room as he sleeps. the guards are diligent, but her magic is strong, and its easy not to be noticed as she slips into his room. she hovers over the trident, gleaming even in the darkness in the corner of his room. “i’m a girl,” she whispers, then again, fiercer, “i’m a girl!”

nothing happens.

she swallows her fear and places her hands on it, like she has so many times before. it heats up her touch, and for a moment she’s terrified that she’s ruined everything, that it will reject her and she’ll be left with nothing, having opened up her kingdom to attack through her selfishness.

but it cools after a moment, and it was uncomfortably hot, but it did not burn her, did not hurt her. it seems like a warning.

“okay,” she says, and it’s not perfect, it’s not what she wants, but she’ll make it be enough. her kingdom matters more. it has to matter more, otherwise she’s not fit to be any sort of regent. “i’m a girl. but it’ll be our little secret. well, and flounder’s.”

the trident doesn’t react, so ariel takes it as agreement. she puts it back in its stand and gives it an affectionate pat before leaving as silently as she’d came.

~

her studies advance. as her magical abilities grow, so does her connection with the sea. she knows when storms rage on the surface, when typhoons and hurricanes rip across the ocean. she can’t control the sea yet, but she can feel it, and that’s the first step.

“i was four times your age when i felt my first hurricane,” triton says, hand heavy on her shoulder and his approval making her feel light as a feather. “son, you’re doing amazing.”

“thank you,” she says, and forces her smile to stay on. he loves her, and he’s proud of her.

so what if he doesn’t know she’s a girl? no one else does.

~

now ariel does her hair and make up before going out to meet flounder each night, just like she’s learned from years growing up with her sisters. she likes how it softens her face, how it makes her look that much closer to what she wants to look like.

she lets her hair go free in waves down her back, dotted with the pearls that alana gave her so long ago, or pulls it up in a complicated bun when she’s worried about it getting in her way.

before, she only did it in the privacy of her room, or when her sisters would pull her into theirs and insist on letting them practice on her. before, it was something she liked, but it confused her – she wasn’t a girl, she just liked dressing up like one. except that’s not true anymore. she is a girl, and she likes how it makes her feel more like a girl. so now she does it whenever she leaves the confines of the castle, the only time she can without getting caught. flounder swings her around and pretends to be a noble and kisses her hand. “you look beautiful, crown princess ariel,” he says, first thing, every time he sees her, and if feels wonderful to have him know everything about her, that she’s a girl and that she’s the heir apparent.

“you’re my best friend,” she tells him, beaming.

his smile gets even wider and he kisses her on the cheek, “i better be, because you’re my best friend too.”

~

“i want to take the potions,” ariel tells flounder one night. “i’ll cast an illusion on myself when i’m in the palace, so no one can tell. but – i want to be able to tell. i want to change.” she’s a girl no matter what. but this is what she wants.

“whatever you want,” flounder tells her, “you need sea silk harvested under a full moon for that potion.”

“the full moon is tonight!” she says, looking up even though they’re too deep in the ocean to see the moon through its depths.

he swims away, calling over his shoulder, “we better hurry then!”

she scowls, because flounder is a much faster swimmer than she is. but with one well places wind spell, she’s shooting past him, laughing.

“cheater!” he howls, but only elbows her gently in the side when he eventually catches up.

~

if she had any doubts before, she doesn’t after taking the potions.

she’s young enough, has been taking the blockers long enough, that the changes come quickly. she’s also permanently irritated, and itchy all over, but luckily she’s at the age where it’s not exactly out of character.

three years in, she’s eighteen and the illusions she uses to make herself look like a boy are very necessary, which she adores. her tail will never be as round as her sisters’, but her hips curve slightly, giving her at least the illusion of a feminine tail at first glance. her skin is lighter, and softer, even if it itches something awful. when she first notices her face getting rounder, she has to poke at her jawbone to make sure nothing is missing. but it’s only that her cheeks are fleshier.

when her chest grows, and eventually gets big enough that she can wear the sea shell tops like her sisters, she’s ecstatic. her torso is too wide for it, and in size she’s definitely the smallest of her sisters. but she has breasts and she can finally wear the sparkly tops over them. she still loves things that sparkle.

when she goes up a size, she’s so excited she has to show flounder, who sputters and groans and slaps his hand over his eyes while saying he’s very happy for her, but will she please put her top back on?

ariel thinks she can live like this. everyone thinks she’s a boy, but she’s a girl, and maybe sometimes she fantasizes about being made queen of the sea, of being able to hang out with her sisters as their sister, of being able to pester mistress megara about her own changes – but, well, they’ll just have to remain fantasies.

the trident wants a king on the throne. which isn’t fair, because ariel is one of the most magically accomplished people in the ocean, and a girl, so clearly she’s qualified to be named queen.

but people still talk down to her sisters, as if they aren’t just as magically accomplished, just as educated, and just as powerful. they do it because they’re girls, so at least the trident isn’t alone in its prejudices.

~

attina knocks on her door one day, and her sisters almost never seek her out when she’s in her room. “yes?” she says, warily. attina has never played any tricks on her or teased her, but her sisters don’t usually bother her when she’s supposed to be studying, so there’s a first time for everything.

“ari,” her sister says, and she does her best not to wince. she actually likes her nickname. she just minds that everyone uses it only because they think she’s a boy. she likes being called ari, she thinks it sounds cute. she just doesn’t like people calling her ari if people are only saying it because they believe her to be a boy. which sounds confusing to her, in her own head, so she pushes the thought aside so she can focus on her sister. “i’m having trouble with this spell. can you help me?”

she takes the book from attina. it’s a spell that affects time, creating a time bubble around certain plants to promote years of growth in mere moments. it’s mostly used in times of famine, thanks to it being rather draining for the caster, and it only being able to be applied to a limited area. ariel’s been able to cast it since she was ten.

attina is thirteen years older than her. she’s a real adult, and it’s times like these that ariel understands the terrible power she has, how the scope of her abilities differs even from her own sisters, even from the people who are widely regarded as some of the best casters in the ocean.

“of course,” she says, instead of articulating any of that, “let’s practice in the garden.”

~

they’re swimming through a long abandoned shipwreck half sunk through the bottom of the ocean floor when flounder licks his lips and says, “your confirmation ceremony is coming up soon.”

that gets her attention. she looks up from the chess piece she’d been trying to dig out of the mud without breaking. “not for another two years,” she says crossly, “and it’s pointless anyway. i’m already the crown prince, and i touch the trident all the time. doing some magic with it won’t change anything.”

“representatives from all across the ocean will show up to witness you wield the instrument of the sea,” flounder says, “after that, it will be impossible for any to stand against you. you will no longer be the son – daughter – of the king of the sea, but a recognized regent in your own right.”

“it doesn’t change anything,” ariel repeats, shrugging. “i’m not taking the throne for a long, long time. and the regent stuff is just a bunch of paperwork, it doesn’t actually mean anything. i won’t be able to do anything that matters until i’m on the throne, or at least until i can convince all the stodgy old councilmen to listen to me.”

flounder rolls his eyes and sighs, “i’m only bringing this up because - when the time comes, don’t – wouldn’t you prefer to be named the crown princess of the sea, rather than the prince?”

ariel wishes she had the excuse of the potions to explain away her irritation, but her moods finally started to settle, for the most part, last year. and if anyone has the right to question her, it’s flounder. “i can’t. the only reason the trident doesn’t reject me is because everyone still thinks i’m a boy, because thanks to the glamour spell i look like one. if everyone knew i was a girl there’d be no confirmation ceremony, because i wouldn’t be able to wield the trident, and war would be brought to the doorstep of atlantica.”

“don’t you think you’re being a little over dramatic?” flounder asks, and he is so lucky that he’s her best friend. “you think you have great magical power because the trident chose you. how do you know the trident didn’t choose you because of your great magical power? maybe it doesn’t care if people know you’re a girl, because it chose you for your power, not your gender.”

ariel gives up on the chess piece. she has three more just like it, after all. “i know because all my sisters are talented with magic, all of them have things they excel at, are beautiful and personable. i know because attina studies, because she’s level headed and kind and smart. she would make an amazing queen. but she won’t be one, instead i’ll be king, and the only thing i have that they don’t, the only difference between us, is that i’m a boy and they’re not.”

“but you’re not a boy,” flounder says, “you’re a girl. you told the trident you were a girl, and it still lets you touch it.”

“it wants a king on the throne, not a queen,” she remembers the burn of it in her hand, the burn she’d never felt before. “i know i’m a girl, and you know i’m a girl, and it knows i’m a girl, and that’s as far as this can go,” she says, using her firm voice, the one she uses on tutors and ambassadors who have irritated her.

flounder sighs, unimpressed, but says, “all right, ariel. whatever you say.”

~

ariel goes to the surface more often than she should, but never close to shore. that’s how she catches sight of this particular ship, and usually she’d watch them talk and drink by firelight and let the ship be on it’s way, but – she sees a man on the ship, and there are many beautiful men in the sea, and she has seen her fair share of handsome humans on ships, but this one – she can’t explain it, but his smile makes her heart lodge in her throat. he’s got dark hair and eyes as perfectly blue as the water on a clear day, and she wants him in a way she’s wanted no other.

“he’s a human,” flounder points out, scowling disapprovingly even as he stays be her side and spies on them with her. “we shouldn’t get involved with humans.”

“he’s a human and a man, and i’m not some mermaid that can go around seducing sailors whenever i feel like it,” she says absently, “that doesn’t mean i can’t look.”

“what’s him being a man have to do with it?” flounder asks. “you like men. besides, even if you’re dad does think you’re a boy, alana has a girlfriend and he doesn’t have a problem with that.”

she knocks her shoulder into his, “don’t act dumb. i can’t marry a man because everyone thinks i’m a guy, and i’m to be king. i have to have a line of succession, which might be a little difficult if i take a husband. I can’t be known to like men for the same reason.”

“you have six sisters, five of whom like men,” flounder says, “i’m certain one of them will provide an heir or two. there’s no reason you can’t take a husband, besides the councilmen being bitchy about it. and from the way you talk about them, they’re going to bitch about everything anyway.”

that’s actually a good point.

she would much prefer to be with a man, although it would have to be one she trusted – the glamour charm can handle some touching without breaking, but not a lot. unless she plans to live a life celibacy, she’ll need to marry someone who knows she’s a girl.

she’s pretty sure kidnapping a human is out of the questions either way.

instead of answering him, ariel grabs onto flounder’s shoulders and pushes him under the water, both to get enough leverage to see better and to shut him up. he crosses his arms, but lets her continue to use him as a ledge.

~

most storms build. they take a long time to form, ariel can tell when one is coming two days out and her father can feel one a week in advance.

this is not one of those storms.

it seems like it takes only minutes for the sea to go from perfectly calm to intolerably rough. the humans try to control their ship, try to move it with the storm, but this sudden tempest makes it impossible, and soon the massive ship is capsizing.

“we have to go!” flounder yells in her ear, trying to tug on her arm, “we have to go back to the sea floor! we’ll be safe there!”

the humans have started scrambling into lifeboats, but ariel can feel the power of this storm, each massive wave makes her bones shake. this is a storm that plans to leave no survivors. “i have to help,” she says.

flounder yanks on her, managing to pull her a bit more into the sea. “ariel, you can’t! you don’t have the trident, you can’t control the sea! we need to go before it swallows us too.”

she shakes him off, “i am the heir to the sea. trident or no trident, i will control it. you need to go.”

“i’m not leaving you behind,” he says stubbornly, “this is crazy, come with me!”

the waves are larger than the men can handle, rocking and threatening to smash their small boats. “i’m really sorry about this,” she says earnestly.

his eyes widen and he grabs for her, his blunt nails digging into the skin of her shoulder, “no, don’t!”

she uses a spell to make him heavy, heavy enough that he’ll sink to the sea floor. he reaches for her as he’s pulled under, screaming for her, but she ignores it. the spell will wear off in a few hours. he’ll be fine, no matter what happens to her. “go to my sisters! tell them i’m okay!” even if this doesn’t kill her, it will leave her weak enough that it will take her days to make it back home.

she knows this is stupid. she’s the crown prince of the sea, and her life is more valuable than that any number of humanss. but that man, the one with dark hair and blue eyes – she doesn’t know why, but the thought of him dead is like a knife to her chest. she can’t stand it. he has to live, no matter what it costs her.

ariel has never tried to control a storm before. she’s not stupid enough to try to now, that’s something she doesn’t even know if her father can do. but the current – that she can command, probably. she thinks. she gather’s her magic to her, and concentrates. it’s hard, so much harder than anything else she’s ever done, but it’s working.

she controls the current under the boats, guiding them to safety and out of the way of the harsh waves that wish to claim the sailors for their own. she feels the heat of magic burning her from the inside out, but she doesn’t stop. she’s going to save these men’s lives.

but then the one man in particular she’s trying to save jumps into the ocean and climbs onto the ship that’s currently on fire.

she doesn’t understand how humans have survived at all if they’re all like this.

her foolish human succeeds in getting his dog onto the boat, but is pulled beneath the sea. ariel didn’t think she could do anymore, she thought that controlling the current so all the boats wouldn’t be torn apart and the sailors drowned was taking all of her magic and energy.

but she sees her human swallowed by the ocean, and she goes after him. she won’t allow the others to die just to save him, so she continues controlling the current even as she wraps her arms around his torso and pulls him to the surface. he’s unconscious, a nasty head wound bleeding sluggishly, but he’s alive. the boats are far ahead, but she ignores the ache of her body and pulls him onto her back, determined to see him to safety.

she rides the tail end of the current out of the storm, and as soon as they’re on calm seas she releases her control of the ocean. they’re sailors. they can get to the shore by themselves now.

all she wants to do it sink to the bottom of the ocean and find a cave to pass out in. but her human is still unconscious on her back, and she hasn’t gone through this much effort only for him to drown now. she’s exhausted and her body feels heavy, like she’s made of lead, but she keeps moving forward. she’ll get him to land, and then she can rest.

it’s the cool grey of almost-dawn by the time she gets them to shore. she drags him onto the sand, and collapses beside him, eyelids begging to shut. she’s never done this much magic before, has never swam so far before, especially not with a person on her back.

her hair had come undone at some point, and it splays out around her as she shifts onto her side, determined to get one last look at him. the wound on his head had stopped bleeding hours ago, and his breaths are coming out deep and even. she raises a hand, hesitates, but presses her thumb against his lips, then splays her hand so she’s cupping his cheek. he turns into her touch, and for a moment all her drowsiness disappears. she’s wide awake, heart pounding as she shifts forward enough that she’s looking down at him. he’s not awake, not yet, but he’s turning into the warmth of her hand, skin against skin, and she feels like she’s falling.

she leans down, oh so carefully, and presses her lips to the corner of his mouth.

“prince eric!” frantic voices call out, “prince eric! are you here? prince eric!”

she tries to drag herself back into the ocean, but all at once her exhaustion comes rolling over her. her magic has had time to recover, but her body hasn’t. her human’s beginning to wake, the voices are getting closer, and she can’t make herself move.

she closes her eyes, pulling at her magic. it should be weak and trembling, barely recovered, but it feels as strong as ever, stronger even. she doesn’t have time to question it. instead she uses it, performing a spell she’s never cast before, doing something she’s never done before – she turns herself human.

she barely has the time to see her human’s perfectly blue eyes open before her own slide shut.

~

she wakes up slowly. her first thought is that everything hurts. her second is that she’s – dry. she comes awake completely at that, gasping, and tries to push herself up but when she does sharp pain stabs her throughout her body. “miss, please, be still!” calloused hands push her back onto the bed, and she looks up at a woman staring down at her worriedly, “you’re bruised – well, all over,” she says, blushing. “not to worry dear, i’m the one who dressed your wounds and all that. i am carlotta, miss.” the woman hesitates, “it is miss, isn’t it? we – i thought so, but grimsby was uncertain, but i said i should be the one to care for you either way, what with me having four sons and all, it’d be better if i took care of you and grimsby was wrong than if he did and i was wrong.”

ariel takes a moment to untangle the mess of words, then says, “it is miss,” taking special care that her voice comes out lighter and higher, so that she sounds how like she thinks a miss should sound like.

“oh, good,” carlotta says, relieved. she instantly returns to her previous infectious cheer, “i am afraid you gave our young prince quite a show!” she winks at her, “i believe he would have been quite taken with you just for saving his life, but you’re such a pretty thing too!”

ariel has no idea what’s going on. “where am i?” how long has she been gone? there’s sunlight filtering in through the window. her father must have noticed she’s missing by now.

“the palace,” carlotta says, “the prince requested i get him right away when you got up. he wanted to wait with you so he’d be here when you woke up, but the poor dear’s a bit banged up himself!”

her human. “is he all right?” she asks urgently.

“just fine, just fine, nothing some food and rest won’t fix, thanks to you!” carlotta pats her knee. “now, he did say right away, but why don’t we get you all dressed up first?” she pulls out a beautiful pink gown from the closet. a gown, because ariel told this woman that she was a girl and she didn’t question it, even though she can already feel that the place between her thighs isn’t like most women on the surface have.

she should leave. even though her body is sore and weak, she’s never felt stronger in magic than she does right now, and she has a duty to the ocean, to the kingdom. she should run. she should run to the shore, leap into the sea, and never look back.

but a kind woman is holding out a pink gown for her to wear, and her human wants to see her.

“okay,” she says. her father has to have already noticed she’s missing. she might as well make his anger worthwhile.

~

carlotta bathes her and helps her into the dress, and she’s worried it won’t fit her right, that she’ll be too tall, her hips too narrow, her shoulders too wide, her breasts too small. but it fits, somehow it fits, and ariel thinks that carlotta must have some sort of magic all on her own.

she brushes ariel���s hair and attaches dangling pearls to her ears. then she’s brought into a grand ballroom, and her human is there waiting for her. he takes a step towards her, then pauses, unsure. he’s just as handsome as before, and he’s alive, and ariel runs to him before she can think better of it. “your face!” she cries, reaching up to delicately tilt his chin down. the cut on his forehead has closed, but it’s surrounded by a big angry bruise. she lightly runs her fingers over it and bites her lip. “does it hurt?”

he stares at her for a moment, stunned. ariel remembers that her human is supposedly a prince, and that if anyone ran up to her in her palace and started touching her face without permission, they’d be given a harsh punishment. before she can figure out whether she should apologize or not, he breaks out into a large grin. “i’ll live,” he says, taking both of her hands in his own so he can kiss the back of each one. “you saved my life. i don’t know how, or what you were doing in that sea by yourself. but – you saved my life.”

he’s holding her hands. he’d kissed her hands! “i like to swim,” she says, too distracted with looking at her prince to think of a better lie.

“i like you,” he says, painfully earnest, and ariel’s heart is in her throat. he saw her naked, and she’s standing in front of him in a pink dress, he has to know, has to have figured it all out, and he likes her still. “i’d like to get to know you better. will you stay here, in my palace, as my guest? just so we can get a chance to get to know each other. please.”

she can’t. she has a kingdom to return to, people who need her and depend on her. besides, even if she and her prince do fall in love, what then? she can’t keep her human form, and she can take a human husband to the ocean like she’s some sort of siren living outside of the laws of decent seafolk. this can only end in heartbreak. she has to tell him no, and go back home.

“yes,” she says. and only regrets it long enough for her prince to grab her waist and lift her up, spinning her above him as he laughs from pure joy.

she will go back –just in a couple of days. flounder will tell her family she’s fine, and if her father get impatient he can use the trident to find her. but until then, she can have her prince, and he can have her.

~

days stretch to weeks. eric and ariel spend almost all their time together from the time they wake up to when they fall asleep again. both of them skip the shy stage, and jump right to eric trying to teach ariel how to dance and laughing at her when she steps on his feet. she’s thankful her prince is tall, because so is she, and when they’re dancing they can look each other in the eyes. she’ll have to stick to the flat shoes, however, and not the dainty heels carlotta gets for her, if she doesn’t want to tower over him.

ariel lays claim to his library, devouring books as she curls up by the fireplace and eric goes over charts and nautical maps on the other side of the room, looking up and smiling at her every few minutes. she demands eric teach her chess, and as soon as she understands the rules she soundly beats him every game.

he takes her to town and buys her every strange and random object that catches her eye, and when she starts elbowing him in the ribs and telling him to stop it, he only laughs and does it anyway. “i don’t understand your fascination,” he says as he pays for a copper fork with a delicate flower carved up the side, “but i like how happy you look. i’d be willing to trade a lot more than gold to keep you happy, ariel.”

she rolls her eyes and scoffs but she can’t keep from smiling, which was his goal to begin with. she can’t help glancing at herself in every shop window they pass. on land, some things are more apparent than under water. carlotta had finally solved the mystery of her itchy skin by helping rub coconut oil all over herself, and it makes her skin even softer, gives her a subtle glow that she adores. the hair on her arms is lighter and thinner, and carlotta had showed her how to shave her legs. they’re usually covered by dresses anyway, but she likes how smooth and silky they feel when she rubs them together.

there are nights when ariel and eric look up at the stars, curled into each other’s arms, and just talk. he tells her of how his parents are dead, and how his whole country is merely waiting for him to get married to take the throne, of how the fear and pressure of being a prince is almost crippling. and she understands, of course she understands, she’s the child of a king too, she set to inherit her own throne. she doesn’t tell him any of this, but instead offers him the comfort and encouragement she wants for herself. he seems lighter, and kisses her hands, and says she’s the best friend he’s ever had.

they take long walks on the beach together, and are affectionate and kind to one another constantly, thoughtlessly. ariel didn’t expect it to be this easy, she didn’t know anything in life could be as easy and right as eric’s hand in hers.

it’s more than him, even though he’s wonderful and as close to a perfect as a real person can be, even though he makes her heart pound when he settles his hand on her waist, even though he’s carved a place for himself in her heart.

it’s that everyone knows she’s a girl here.

there’s no hiding, no pretending, no secrets. well, one secret, since no one knows she’s a mermaid. but carlotta treats her like a girl, so do the people in town, everyone. she thought that people would be against them, against her being with her prince, when she’s not the kind of woman who can ever give prince eric a child.

(“oh, don’t worry about that,” carlotta says when ariel brings it up, hoping she’s not being too presumptuous. “prince eric’s father was adopted by the queen after the king died because she refused to take a husband. there’s no reason you two can’t do the same!” she had sighed wistfully, “i do miss having children in the castle. perhaps you will adopt many children? just three or four, or five. no more than seven, i think.”

“seven is a good number,” she’d said, and had laughed when carlotta had lit up and clapped her hands in delight.)

it’s not just carlotta who has expectations. everyone talks. all the servants and townspeople believe eric will propose any moment now, it’s clear as day that he’s in love with her, and that she’s in love with him.

she’s in love with him.

he’s her soulmate, her friend, someone she wants to fall asleep with every night and wake up to every morning.

ariel loves him, and she cannot have him. staying was a mistake.

she still can’t force herself to leave.

~

she’s been there a over a month, and it’s the cool dawn of morning. she’s standing in front of her closet, trying to decide which dress to wear. she hadn’t been specific, of course, but she’d mentioned that she’d never had a chance to wear a lot of dresses or pretty things growing up. he’d responded by ordering the seamstress to go to market and get two dozen beautiful dresses, just for her.

(“you’re spoiling me,” she’d accused, trying to pretend like she wasn’t crying and failing miserably.

he’d leaned down to kiss her forehead. “you deserve to be spoiled.”)

she doesn’t know how she’ll ever live in any way but this. she’s a girl, and everyone knows she’s a girl. she feels freer than she ever has, even though no one knows she’s from the sea.

the first golden ray of sunlight has just passed through her window when there’s a pain in her chest. it starts out dull, but soon it’s to the point where she’s doubled over and gasping, each beat of her heart a new wave of agony.

something is wrong in atlantica.

she needs to return home.

she hurries. she doesn’t have time to question it. she runs from the palace to the shore, still wearing the clothes she slept in. “miss!” carlotta call out from where she’s hanging laundry, “miss! where are you going?”

“i’ll be back!” she calls out, and hopes it isn’t a lie, “tell him i’ll be back!”

she runs into the ocean, diving below as soon as it’s deep enough and releasing the spell, returning to her true form of a mermaid. she almost applies her customary illusion to make her look like a boy, but hesitates, and doesn’t do it. she tells herself it’s because she needs to preserve her magic. it’s a long swim back home, but she does just as she did before, and redirects the current, forces the water to take her back to atlantica faster than any fish or boat could take her.

she returns in the midst of a battle.

the great sea monsters cetus and lotan are attacking her home. her citizens are huddled in their homes, while their soldiers struggle to defend the city. her sisters are coordinating the attacks, acting as generals and mages to keep the monsters at bay.

her father is fighting ursula, the sea witch having transformed herself into a being of horrendous size. this shouldn’t be a battle, it should have been over and won but the time ariel got here. except that, for whatever reason, her father fights without the trident. his magic is strong, but so is ursula’s.

she swims, darting around cetus’s snapping jaws until she reaches her eldest sister’s side. “attina!” she cries, “what’s going on?”

attina whirls around to face her and her face goes slack in shock. she grabs her shoulders and pulls her into a fierce hug. “ari! you’re alive!”

“of course i’m alive,” she stares, “why would you think i wasn’t? didn’t – did flounder find you?” she thought for sure that flounder would be fine, but what if she was wrong, what if something had attacked him and hurt him while her heaviness spell was on him –

“your friend came to the palace,” attain says, and ariel’s shoulders drop in relief. “but he said you were trying to control the waves, and then the trident stopped working, so we thought for sure you were dead.”

“the trident stopped working?” she repeats in disbelief. is this her fault? did it stop working because she’d been living as girl with eric? that doesn’t make any sense, but neither does the trident simply breaking.

she puts the rest of the pieces together. the trident wasn’t working, so her father couldn’t find her like she’d thought he could. they thought she was dead, that the line of succession was unstable, and then if the trident had broken somehow, thanks to her – it’s no wonder that they’re at war. she’s shocked it’s just ursula here now, and not any of the other spirits and gods who are so eager to claim the sea for their own.

there’s a loud crash as lotan’s tail swings wildly and a tower comes tumbling to the ground. “no!” attina shouts, but there’s nothing she can do.

people scream as the rubble comes raining down, and ariel doesn’t even have to think, she whips around and moves the water, creating a barrier over her people so none of the rock falls on them. “move!” she yells, and they all scramble to get of the way. once it’s clear, she lets the broken tower fall to the sea floor. people are starting to notice her, her sisters yelling her name and people staring. “where’s the trident?” attina is wide eyed, and ariel resists the urge to shake her. “attina!”

“in the throne room,” she says.

ariel moves to go to the palace, but lotan snarls and comes barreling towards them. soldiers line up, but ariel is not interested in any of her people dying today. she spins in place, magic unfurling from her hands. a small hurricane appears within the water, capturing lotan in it’s grip and dragging him away. “i can’t leave,” she says grimly. her soldiers jaws are slack. “attina, i need you to get the trident for me. i know it burns–“

“i’ll do it,” she says immediately.

ariel uses her magic to slice off a foot of her bright red hair, and pushes it at attina. “here, use this to hold it. it will help.”

her sister nods and hurries to the castle. ariel takes up her post, magic gathering in her hands. lotan has escaped her hurricane and she send it tumbling back with another large wave. “adella!” she calls out to her sister who’s leading the defense on the other side of the castle. “send cetus my way!”

adella nods, and her soldiers marshal together, trying to push the monster toward the center of the battle line where ariel stands. cetus and lotan are beings of magic, and can only be killed by a tool of magic, like the trident. ariel can’t kill them on her own, but she can slow them down. cetus hisses at her, and she calls the power of thunderstorms down to them, sends a bolt of lightning that pins him to the sea floor. it glows and sizzles while cetus ineffectually tries to free himself from its grip.

this is more magic than she’s ever done, more than she’s ever seen her father do. it should be killing her, but instead it feels like it’s bringing her alive. it’s like the electricity of the lightning bolt is filling her, powering her.

ursula’s cackle surrounds them. ariel looks up in time to see triton fall limp to the ground with a thunderous boom. “father!” she cries. she wants to go to him, but she has to stay, has to defend her home. she looks to andrina and aquata and says, “help him.” they specialize in healing magic. if any of his daughters can save him, it will be them.

they don’t need to be told twice. they bolt to where their father has fallen, and soldiers line up in a path to protect them. ursula moves to stop her sisters, but ariel gathers another lightning bolt in her hand and throws it. it misses the sea witch, but it certainly gets her attention.

“so the prince isn’t dead after all,” she cackles, sauntering towards them. her soldiers raise spears and weapons, but don’t move to attack her, waiting for ariel’s command. she won’t give it. she’s not interested in any of her people dying today. “learn a few new tricks did you, boy? like your pathetic little illusion? if you think pretending to be a girl will save you, you are sorely mistaken.”

attina swims up beside her, holding the trident wrapped in ariel’s hair so it doesn’t burn her. “ariel, here, take it!”

she doesn’t. she’s furious, an anger as deep as the sea rising up within her. she shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t have come here without her illusion. but she had. it’s who she is, and she’s tired of pretending otherwise. the trident can reject her or not, she doesn’t care anymore. it’ll be harder to drive them all back without it, but her magic is just as powerful as her rage, and she can do it if she needs to.

“i,” she says, practically spitting she’s so angry, knowing the eyes and ears of all her people are on her and there’s no going back from this and not caring at all, “am not pretending to be a girl. i am ariel of the seven seas, crown princess to them all. i am the seventh daughter of king triton, and this is no trick. i am a girl. and this girl,” she finishes grimly, “is going to destroy you!”

she lifts the trident from attina’s hands.

it burns.

but not to hurt. it comes alive in her hands in a way it never has before, sparking and shining. for the first time fear flickers across usrula’s face as the sea swirls around ariel, her hair flying and her eyes glowing with power.

she picks up the trident, and she understands what happened, what has been happening.  when she controlled current, when she tamed the sea to her will, she did something that not even her father has done. when she commanded the sea to save eric, it knew. it knew that she had surpassed her father, and as such only she could wield the trident.

she’ll worry about that later.

what she’s not worried about anymore is the trident rejecting her. it never would have. the trident is always, always a reflection of who wields it. she doubted herself, and so it doubted her.

she doesn’t doubt herself anymore. she’s a girl, she’s powerful, and she will protect her land and her people as is expected of any future queen.

she slashes the trident down, and a deep cut opens across ursula’s shoulder, blood oozing and black. ursula presses her hand to it, howling as she sears it shut. “you think that just because you wield the trident you matter?” she pants, standing straight. “it means nothing.”

“you’re right,” ariel says, something her father said to her long ago surfacing in her mind and finally making sense. “being able to wield the trident means nothing, because only those who have no need of the trident’s power are able to wield it.” she lets it go, and it remains floating at her side. “if it will comfort you, sea witch, i will kill you with my own magic, and save the trident for your allies.”

ariel focuses, finds the sea witches heart with her magic, and squeezes. lightning runs up and down her arms and she flings every bit of it at usula, watches with grim satisfaction as the witch tries to move against her and finds she cannot move at all. ariel gathers a lightning bolt with the strength of a typhoon in her hands, and thrusts it through ursula’s heart.

her screams are cut off, and she’s reduced to nothing but ash. what’s left of her is carried away by the current.

ariel hold out her hand, and the trident obediently falls into it. she makes quick work of cetus and lotan, powerful stabs to the neck with the trident are all it takes for them to be reduced to nothing more than bad memories.

she takes a deep breath, centering herself for just a moment. then she goes swimming to the sea floor, where triton lays surrounded by her sisters.  everyone she passes bows to her, and she tries not to focus on it.

“father!” she says, and her sisters part for her so she can sit by his side. “daddy, look at me.”

he’s weak but alive, and turns to face her. he’s crying as he lifts up a trembling hand to her, and she clasps it in both of hers. “you’re alive,” he says, voice scratchy, “my beautiful daughter, you’re alive.”

she breaks completely at that, throwing her arms around him and bawling. “i’m so sorry, i didn’t mean to worry you so much, i didn’t mean for any of this!”

“it’s all right,” he tells her, “you’re alive, and you came back. all else can be forgiven, ariel.”

~

flounder finds her when everything calms dawn, and yells at her and then hugs her tightly for so long her arms go numb, but she only laughs and hugs him back. she formally introduces him to her family, and can’t help but notice the interested glances arista keeps sending him. by the flush on the back of his neck, flounder can’t help but notice either.

with some help from ariel, triton is back to full health in no time. he still can’t wield the trident.

ariel is having none of it. triton and her sisters look on amused as she glares at the trident, “i’m not ready to be queen,” she tells it sternly, “i’m much too young. you will obey my father until i take the throne, and you will like it!” she shakes it for good measure, and then holds it out to her father.

he picks it up, and after a stubborn moment it glows, becoming his once more. “thank you,” he tells her, amused, “i am willing to retire, you know.”

“no thanks,” she tells him, wrinkling her nose. then she rubs the back of her neck and says, “i – i was thinking, actually, that i should get some practice in being a queen first, before i take the throne.

“your human,” triton says, frowning. “is there no mermen you will be satisfied by? it must be him?”

“i love him,” she says helplessly, because she does, as truly and honestly as the first day she met him, but even more deeply.

he sighs, “then you shall have him.”

~

her family comes with her when she goes to him. he’s sitting on the beach, knees pulled to his chest as he stares out into the waves. “he’s looking for you,” attina says, nudging her. “go on.”

ariel takes a deep breath, then swims closer to shore. “eric!” she calls out.

his head snaps up, and he catches her eye instantly. “ariel!” he cries, running into the ocean, “ariel!”

she swims to meet him so he doesn’t drown trying to get to her, and he’s submerged to his waist when he grabs her and pulls her close. she wraps her arms around his neck and he presses his face into her neck. she can feel his shoulders shaking. “oh, eric, i’m so sorry.”

“where did you go?” he asks, but doesn’t pull back enough to look at her.  “carlotta told me you ran into the ocean, and no one could find you, and i thought – everyone thought – but now you’re here, and–” his arms around her waist graze lower, and he freezes.

“there’s something i have to tell you,” ariel says nervously,

he adjusts his grip and lifts her up in a bridal hold. she’s impressed he doesn’t drop her when she waves her tail at him. “i’m a mermaid. and a prince. well, a princess, obviously. i’m going to be queen of the seven seas one day.”

eric rubs his hand against her scales, eyes wide. “honey, you have a tail.”

“yes,” she says, “is that – is that a problem?”

he blinks and then smiles at her. “nothing about you is a problem.”

she throws herself at him, and he stumbles back and falls, soaking himself completely. she grabs his face and kisses him, the first kiss they’ve shared, and it feels warm, feels important, like the trident in her hands. “i love you.”

“i love you too,” he answers, smiling so wide it looks like his face will break in half. “would the future queen of the seven season consider taking a human prince as a husband?”

“yes,” she answers, and kisses him again because she can, because he knows all her secrets and loves her anyway.

there’s the cool sensation of magic that isn’t her own covering her, and when it’s gone she’s back in the shape of a human, in a blue dress that sparkles in the sunlight.

they look over to triton, eric flushing and inclining his head to him, since he can’t exactly bow with ariel in his lap. “this feels different,” she says, but she’s the same as she was when she transformed herself, same wide shoulders, same narrow hips. then she rubs her legs together, confused, because something is missing. she does it again, and she just stares at her father. it’s something that no amount of potions could give her.

“to help you look more like most of the other surface women.” his lips quirk up at the corners, “the legs are not permanent, of course.” he addresses the both of them, “when your time as monarchs of the land ends, you must both return to the sea. ariel will be made queen, and you her husband.”

“i love the sea,” eric says, looks down at her and a blush covers her face, “it will be my pleasure to stand at queen ariel’s side when the time comes.”

she kisses him again, because she can’t help herself. “as it will be mine to stand by your side while you are king.”

when they look back, her father and sisters are gone.

ariel isn’t worried. the magic and power of the sea still hums in her bones. she can simply transform back into a mermaid and visit them whenever she wishes. she’ll bring eric with her, so that he can know the place she grew up and he will one day call home.

eric and ariel walk out of the ocean onto the land, hands clasped and with a whole future together spread out before them.

[daggerandrose]

This month I decided to go over all of the WIPs I’m following. I know most of you don’t like them because it can be frustrating when authors don’t update or when there’s a cliffhanger. BUT all of these fics are written by such talented people are worth the wait. I know first hand how life/stress/mental health/etc. can get I the way of writing/updating… 

SO! Go read and leave a comment or kudos. Comment/kudos= warm fuzzy feelings for the authors which could encourage or inspire them to keep writing.

Enjoy!

cage me like an animal (a crown with gems and gold) by @emperorstyles

It’s 1903, and for the last 200 years, England has successfully roped off their werewolf population into a separate settlement on the outskirts of the Northern wilderness. Since their original separation, the human and wolf populations have remained in harmony, ruled by two separate monarchies.

Louis Tomlinson is the only human alive to have survived a wolf bite unturned and has acted as a liaison between the two Crowns since he was a teenager. However, the harmony of the kingdoms is threatened when the Wolf King Desmond dies under mysterious circumstances and the Crown Prince Harry must ascend the throne, forcing Louis to face a past he would rather forget.

There’s surprisingly not a lot of werewolf fics in this fandom. There’s a good amount of abo, but not just werewolf. This fic is a remedy for the werewolf au drought. Plus the mystery, historical, and royal aspects of this fic is so well done.

Christmas-ing With You by @haydolce

Two writers from Loving Heart Television, the premiere network for holiday romance films, find that, sometimes, love is not only in their works of fiction.

As well as being written by one of my favorite fic writers, this fic is such a slow burn that makes you want to yell “JUST KISS ALREADY” constantly.

Somewhere far away from here by @angelichl

Seven months ago, Harry was attacked by a faceless alpha and forcibly bonded. He lives every day in fear and subservience until four strangers detain the abusive alpha and rescue Harry. The following months contain the struggle and difficulty of recovering from a past so dark he’s afraid to let anyone get too close. That is, until Louis Tomlinson.

Angst, angst, angst. It also has nesting as an element which is something that I think needs to be in more fics tbh.

White Pages, White Lace, Big Hands, Pretty Face by @the-cheshire-pussy-cat

“He touches his sides, his neck, his lips, all the places Harry has just been, all the places that still tingle from Harry’s touch. Such a strange feeling Louis has, so unreal and nerve-racking. He can’t begin to describe what Harry has done to him, what about Harry makes Louis want to call him… Daddy.“

Or, a gratuitous Sugar Daddy!Harry and Student!Louis AU.

This fic is sooo steamy, hot, and addictive. If you love daddy kink, then you should 100% read this.

Throw me to the wolves (and I’ll return leading the pack) by happilylarry

Happilylarry is so good at angst and building tension. Plus is an abo which is one of my fave troupes. All of her other fics are amazing as well.

You Smell Like by mystic_believexx

For her part, Jay took everything in her stride, barely batting an eyelid when Louis came into the kitchen the night Harry left and said, “I seem to have accidentally become the pack’s Alpha”. Ever since Harry left town, Louis’ found himself with the role of pack Alpha, despite being human. So he can’t wait to hand over the reins when Harry returns. Except, it’s not quite that simple…OR The one where Louis is the Alpha’s mate and everyone is aware of it except for Louis and Harry. Go figure!

Werewolves, abo, magic, mystery… what more could you ask for in a fic?

Where You Lay by @ham-palpert

When Louis’s upcoming heat threatens his success at his new dream job, he asks the best (and only) person he can think of to help him through it: his best mates’ best mate, Harry Styles. Harry reluctantly accepts, and together the two navigate a strange friends with benefits relationship that quickly turns complicated.

Obviously, I have problem with abo fics. I’m addicted. I just recently found this one and fell in love. It’s one of those fics were you want to yell at H/L to get their shit together and just confess their feelings for each other already. I can’t get enough of abo fics.

Swam Across Oceans by @conscious--ramblings

Harry is in LA missing Louis. Louis is in London missing Harry.

Harry is already itchy with need, and there is a full week left until he sees Louis. That just gets worse when a mystery package arrives with a set of instructions that will set him even more on edge.

Louis thought it would be easy, teasing his boy from 5380 odd miles away, but it turns out it's harder than he ever imagined.

Long distance may be a bitch, but reunited sex is magical, especially after days of constant teasing.

This one is hot. Harry basically gets a sex box every day leading up to when Louis comes back home. It has a good balance of smut, fluff, and establish relationship.

Love’s Stories Written in Love’s Richest Book by @larrywitch

Born from a long line of witches, Louis Tomlinson works in a library that happens to hold some of the most powerful books in the world. From the time he was born, he dreams of a strange man with green eyes, always just out of reach.

Suddenly, his dreams get less foggy, and a stunning man named Harry Styles enters the library and turns Louis' life upside down.

Or: Louis is a witch, Harry is a witch, there's a lot of longing, sweet spells, reincarnation, and a rude cat named Shadow.

A (somewhat) Witches of East End AU

Soulmates, magic, familiars, and maybe a hint of enemies to lovers? Yes, please.