#She can call me her partner

[imconfusedbutok]

is it too much to ask for a chubby girlfriend with fluffy hair I can play with and a cute smile and stomach rolls and a kind heart and a downturned smile :(

[theposhperyton]

All evidence suggests yes

[faaun]

pls i need to provide updates

[gutsfics]

FINALLY I DRAW SOMETHING!!!!!!!

some Joseph, both young (around 1980 i'd say, when he was traveling w Stan a few years before the portal incident) and old (~2017, now an art teacher at Westchester High). i like to think the first one is a picture Stan took of him while they were traveling and the second one is his staff photo at WH. the more things change the more they stay the same. i might give em backgrounds and foregrounds to look like that

he's had that jacket since the 70s. real leather will last you.

no glasses alts + the first sketch below

[carefulfears]

perhaps the most objectively hilarious txf dynamic is scully and krycek hating each other so fucking much while narratively fulfilling the exact same role. scully baby are you mad because he's you with longer eyelashes

[softquietsteadylove]

Can you do another spicy story with this AU but it's him tying her up instead. Like i need this to be SPICY like one of the spiciest, filthiest story you've ever made. I need the teasing, dirty talk, begging, maybe some overstimulation if you feel like it😅 Also I know being rough isn't Gilgamesh whole thing but I feel like for this Thena did something that set him off and brought something out of him maybe? I love you and all your work!

Thena keened as he tugged at the lace, making sure it was secure around her precious little wrists. He gave her backside a gentle pat. "Good, girl."

She whined faintly. Her teeth were dug into the plump of her lower lip, their fullness pushing against them.

"Easy," he growled, giving her a slightly firmer spank before moving around her. He hovered close, letting his eyes take in the exquisite feast that was his wife (to be). "Pink is a good colour on you, Princess."

She trembled before him, the pink he had just left on the round of her bum matching the pink in her cheeks now travelling down to her chest. Her breath heaved, forcing her breasts up and down in a hypnotising rhythm.

"And whose are you?"

"Yours," she gasped out as he rolled up his sleeves. He flexed his right hand, even slipped his engagement ring off. She eyed it as he approached her again.

"Good," he purred, holding up the ring. He toyed with it in his fingers a few times before pressing it to her lips. "Whose princess are you?"

"Yours," she panted, watching as he slipped his ring onto the other hand, freeing his right to be unburdened as he slipped it up her thigh.

"And whose," he paused, pressing his thumb at the right angle to open her just slightly. He ran his tongue over her, making her body tremor again. He held her other thigh steady, "is this?"

"All yours," she moaned as he pressed his tongue to her again. She wiggled against her binds, trying to press her hips to him. But he held her more solidly, commanding how far she was able to move and to what timing. "Please, Gil."

"Hm," he hummed directly against her clit. She made a positively guttural sound and he knew she had thrown her head back with pleasure. He let his tongue trace around the edges of her lips, testing out his territory. "Ask again."

"Please, baby, please," she whined, even trying to hook one of her legs around his shoulder, but he held her firmly. Her hips knocked against him.

"Ask nicely," he growled, even biting down on the firmness of her adductor longus (he needed anatomy knowledge for business, but pleasing his fiance was a pleasant bonus). He left reddish teeth marks, furthering the overall rouge of her pale skin sheened with sweat. He ran his palm over it, on his way to pushing two fingers into her, "like a good girl."

"Please, Tyrant King, please fuck me."

He buried his satisfaction in the crook of her thigh, right at the socket of her hip. He dragged his teeth over her soft skin there as he pumped his fingers mercilessly. Without his ring on, he could push up until his fingers met her pelvic bone.

"Gil!" Thena shrieked, but he kept moving. He had never gone so deep, so fast, so hard. He usually warmed her up more gently, even before they were joined. But he was powering on relentlessly. "Gil, Gil, fuck--it's too much!"

She came almost immediately, and he was pleased with the results. But he kept moving. He let his rhythm change slightly, pulling his fingers out just to his first knuckles each time. "Come on, Sweetness."

Her knees buckled but he held her up, still driving her towards her second orgasm in rapid succession.

"Fuck, Gil, I-I can't-!" She screamed again as she came a second time, her senses completely drowning in him. Her hips jerked as she squirted, her legs letting go of all semblance of strength.

He held her, not willing to let her fall to her knees no matter the agenda he had planned for them. Her whole body shook and her knees were twitching in a charming way. He rubbed her back as he helped her lean back against his desk. "Easy."

Thena panted, leaning as heavily as she could against her clasped fists between the desk edge and her bare back. Her lips attempted to form words, but all that happened were a series of kittenish sounds implying satisfaction.

Gil kept his chuckle to himself; he could relish in his ridiculous male pride later. He started at her ankle, pulling it up to rest it on his shoulder. "What a mess."

Thena gasped again, regaining her senses from the bottom up as he licked up the evidence of her bone-deep pleasure. "Gil?"

"It's okay, Princess," he whispered against her skin, trailing his tongue along her the way he would like a million dollar plate. He massaged the inside of her other thigh as he did. "I don't want to waste this."

Thena barely had the mind to breathe as he continued his journey up her thighs. He stopped just short of her core. Her hips quivered as he let himself puff a breath of warm air against her wetness. "M-More?"

"Is that a question?" he grinned against her skin, just below her bellybutton. He trailed his tongue over the scar leftover from when she'd had her procedure. She whined at him--she didn't like him paying it special attention. He gave her another light spank.

She yelped.

"Who's in control here," he rose from kneeling to look into her eyes again. She looked delirious, in a delicious kind of way. "Ice?"

"You are," she breathed, swaying on the spot as he moved closer. She let herself lean against him, her breasts finding refuge against his chest. She even tried to rise up onto her toes to kiss him. "You are."

If only it were always so easy.

He granted her a little kiss, although she tried to follow as he pulled back. "Ah-ah-ah, Ice--wait."

Her spine straightened at the command.

He undid the buttons of his shirt slowly, pulling it off with a sense of luxury he had denied her. She eyed him hungrily, some of his usual lionhearted Ice Queen emerging. He rolled his shoulders, showing off the tattoos covering his arms. She liked them.

She tried to move forward again, pulling faintly at her lace.

He undid his belt with a single hand, pulling it out and tossing it away with one motion. He inhaled as he pulled himself from his trousers. "This what you want?"

She nodded, still battling against remaining still and pulling forward.

He closed the distance, lessening her need to move in. He pressed her back towards the desk, even gripping her thigh to help her just high enough to lean back against it practically and comfortably. He dashed his eyes down between them.

The pink in her chest deepened, overtaking her like a rose blooming.

He kept his eyes focused as she obeyed his commands even without the words. She raised her leg further, showing her readiness to take him in. He held himself in position. "Good girl."

Thena moaned, literally dripping ready for him. "Please."

"Go on," he encouraged under his breath. He all but held still as she aligned them, trying to take in the head of him with only her hips to guide her. She whimpered as he finally slipped into her. "Good girl."

Thena moaned as she finally managed to slide him into her. She truly was wound up, her muscles undulating around him, at a loss after being teased so thoroughly.

"Move."

She met his eyes, although the lids of hers were heavy. Her pupils were blown, her eyes a dark, dark green. She started, as he asked, bouncing on his cock, pinned between him and a hard place.

"Good" he growled, moving back to whisper right in her ears. The closer angle let them move more easily. He kept his participation minimal, just enough for them to continue while she did the bulk of the work. "Just like that."

She whimpered, pulling at her binds again. "Gil, please."

He loved hearing that. He leaned forward. She used the friction of their naked fronts to appease her need to stimulate her breasts. He reached behind her, in a semblance of holding her like she liked, or even of undoing her restraints.

She let out another sound of pure pleasure as he yanked her back, exposing her to the open air again.

"Getting greedy, Ice," he chastised her before nipping at the shell of her ear. He left light but visible bite marks all along the delicate but brightly flushed part of her until he could trail down to her neck. He latched on there, pulling her thigh up higher until he could seat her on the desk. Only there could he truly complete his task. "Who's in control, here?"

"You are."

He pulled out of her completely, admiring how visibly she missed him, only to push in again in one clean stroke. They both shuddered. His throat clenched,

Thena hunched all the way forward, desperate to feel some part of him closer aside from just what connected them. "Gil!"

"That's it," he cooed as he started moving. This was a better angle. He let go of her high, locking her knee up around his arm as he gripped the edge of the desk. The heavy, bolted-to-the-floor desk, moaned from the pressure of their bodies writhing together.

Thena's gasps fluttered continually upward and outward. She moaned, higher and louder with every stroke. "Fuck, I'm gonna come again!"

That was certainly his goal. He wanted a mess of her. He wanted a complete feast of the woman he loved, piled on his desk like a cornucopia. He wanted to be able to lick up her melted remains off the varnished oak top.

"Fuck, please," she panted. She had unfurled her fists, angling her hands to hold her up against his pounding. Her buttocks were creating a mass around which their sweat and other fluids could collect in an incriminatingly round formation.

"Who do you come for?" he growled, determined to bring their current mood to its conclusion. He reached behind her again, tugging at the end of the lace around her wrists and pulling her back further. He eyed the enticing bounce of her breasts, offbeat from the slapping of their hips meeting.

"You, only you," she responded oh-so obediently. She was a fast learner, his Ice Queen. If she wanted to come, she would play his game. "It can only be you."

"Damn right," he snarled, pulling up on the edge of the desk until he heard the legs groaning in protest. He could hear - and see - the wetness running from between her legs and now over the edge of the desk. That vision would be with him for the rest of his life.

"Gil, Gil, oh fuck, right there, I-!" Thena stopped mid-sentence, if not mid-word. Her head went all the way back and her legs jerked up and in. Her toes splayed out and then curled in.

He threw himself against her, their hips creating the perfect crater for one another in their release. He could feel the mess they were making, and it was incredible. Only now did he let himself lean his weight down over her, their hearts beating wildly, but somehow alike. The weight of him helped her to stop shaking.

Thena's body was completely slick with sweat, now glowing, and tinged pink all over. Her usual pallor had given way, particularly from her chest upward. Some of her perfect blonde hair was even stuck to her cheeks in their heated tangle of bodies.

Gil grunted as he pulled himself from her. He was tired, and he couldn't imagine how she was feeling. He looked down as the evidence of them trailed after him and flowed freely from Thena. He reached for his suit jacket.

Thena flinched as he ran his handkerchief over her bare lips.

"Sorry," he whispered, being as gentle as he could knowing she was probably still on fire within her own nervous system.

Again, she tried to form words, but nothing came out.

Gil collected her into his arms, undoing her lace just as easily as he had tied it. Her arms hung limply by her sides as he pulled her against his chest. "Easy, Princess."

She mumbled something, but he couldn't make out what it was. He just patted her back, helping her off the desk so he could hold her properly. Her head was limp against his shoulder, as if she were barely conscious.

"Thena?" he cooed, hoping he hadn't taken it too far. He turned, carrying her to his office couch and pulling his shirt over her.

"Hm," she managed, just barely. But her completely dazed expression did feature a sated - and dare he say cute - little smile on her perfect lips.

"Nothing, sweetheart, I'll wake you later," he promised, pressing a gentle kiss to those lips as comfortably and freely as he would speak her name.

Thena seemed aware enough to accept the promise, snuggling against him as she gave in to her exhaustion.

Indeed, he would. He would let her rest, run a cool cloth over her body until she was refreshed, pull her dress back on for her. He would have her favourites delivered, and hand feed her, if that was what she wanted. They had both had their needs more than fulfilled, after all.

Although he had to admit, he liked being the one to tie her up this time. And despite his security in knowing that Thena had no interest in the new business associates all throwing themselves at her feet, begging and drooling like unfixed dogs, he liked asserting that fact. He liked hearing for himself that she was only his, that her body was only his as his was hers. And he liked having her beg for him, just a little bit.

[sokovianfortune]

hi not to eternal bloodlines-post again but it’s kind of insane to me that one of the creators is quoted as saying that saskia and eve’s team-up is a “not a friendship, just a partnership of necessity” when both versions of the maze end with the latter dragging the former’s body presumably across several european countries from romania to amsterdam so that she can be properly entombed with her family

[shiningstarr15]

Alright I’ve seen enough takes on this and while I understand everyone’s viewpoint and validate it I want to give mine bc mine is probably a very niche perspective.

When it comes to the relationship between Gregory and Vanessa, I do view them as siblings. And no not in the umbrella way, not in the “this is the only thing that makes the most sense” sort of way, I mean they have sibling energy period. And I’ll tell you why.

Bc I do not view them as being immediate found family. At all. They have too much trauma both independently and with each other. I don’t even think they’d like each other very much at first. I feel like their initial relationship would be more of a ”you saved me so I’ll return the favor by helping you out” way.

Personally. I don’t think relationships with strong bonds should immediately go into something romantic or familial (maybe it’s cuz I’m raging aroace and very platonic/queerplatonic bc I know that’s an unpopular opinion) but in my eyes, you NEED TO BUILD A FRIENDSHIP FIRST. and I think that’s exactly what they’re gonna do.

They’re gonna slowly and gradually form a friendship, one that most people would think is strange and unusual bc it’s an adult and a child but let’s be fr neither of them are what you’d consider “typical” (yes I personally hc them both being ND. Again, this is my opinion). I also don’t think they don’t really give af what people think. So why would they bother putting a label that they don’t really agree with on them? No imo they won’t do that unless they truly do mean it.

Again, this could very well be projecting. But I am personally someone that doesn’t like being given a “sister” label unless it’s actually meant. Maybe it’s my extreme sibling complex. But I don’t think I’m wrong for feeling that way. And imo, I think overtime they would view each other in the way best friends view each other as siblings. I don’t even think there would even need to be anything legal. But if there was, she would be a legal guardian at best. Bc it still gives the freedom to identify how they choose. And to me, it’s very similar to Lilo and Nani from “Lilo and Stitch.”

Bc I think two things can be true at the same time. Vanessa can be a caregiver, and have some responsibilities when it comes to making sure Gregory is ok and kept safe. But also, she herself needs someone to take care of her. Bc she can’t. And while I do like the idea of Freddy taking care of them both, I also like them taking care of each other.

She definitely has aspects that could be seen as maternal, but I don’t view her as essentially parental. She simply isn’t ready. There’s too much trauma and a bit of emotional immaturity (again not a bad thing, she’s very childlike imo). I think she sees him more equal than that. Not someone that is helpless and needs to be watched 24/7. But someone that needs a little guidance every now and then. And that’s where I think looking up to her in an older sibling kinda way comes in.

She’s like a combined playmate and caregiver. An equal partner but also someone that takes on the worst of the burden so he doesn’t have to. Even though he will do so anyway bc he cares that much about her.

So yea, that’s my take on their relationship. Again, it’s just my opinion, and I understand people not agreeing and wanting something else for them. But this is how I choose to view them, and I don’t think that it’s wrong ❤️

[autisticlee]

i'm aroace, sex repulsed and don't get traditional romance or find the need for it, but I still often think how it would be neat to have a gf/partner for other purposes that arent romance and sexual. but it seems impossible to make someone want to date you if you take out those things????

sometimes I think it would be nice to have a gf to do cute gay cosplay photoshoots with. there would be mouth smooching and you usually can't do that with a friend and I don't really want to either, so a gf would be useful for that.

then there's hating showers because they exhaust me and it would be nice to have a gf to wash my hair and stuff for me??? can't call up a friend to do this every time I need to shower. that won't work and I doubt they'd want to/be comfortable doing that.

most friends will end up putting all their priority into their partner and/or family they create. I want someone that will make me their priority and not run off with someone else they start dating and abandon me??? something like that. their priority is cleaning our home together, hanging out together, going shopping and other domestic/partner stuff. they don't do that with someone else or use me temporarily until they can find a partner. so it's essentially dating/being partners. but it looks different from your typical expected romance and partnership.

doesn't matter how aroace I am, I have accepted that a relationship is beneficial in many ways and there's certain things that you can't expect friends to cover and they can't fill. but I have zero interest in looking for a partner in traditional ways that requires small talk/flirting/dates/etc. so that makes me realize i'll most likely not trick someone into partnering with me lmao

the internet seems to call this kind of thing "queer platonic relationship" (did I remember it right?) and you just need to find another sroace person to do it with. but either way, there's no textbook to study for how to get that and where to find these people. it seems harder than the puzzle that is regular dating tbh.

there's that saying "there's other fish in the sea" but i'm a worm in a puddle the other worms got out before they drowned. there's no fish here lmao. my options are so limited that I haven't met a single option yet in my life. there's barely any chance the first aroace person I meet irl will be compatible, or the first compatible person will accept a relationship with an aroace. you know what I mean? any other aroace that's interested in some kind of relationship/partnership and feel like you don't get that whole sea to choose from like everyone else and only have a dried up puddle? 😅

[glindyupland]

I just think it’s silly that so many people complain about Villain Amaya as “wasted potential” and that “we were robbed” like-

My pals, post canon fan fiction is right there. The desire to free her husband is right there. Either by touching an evil book while being too eager to remember the obsidian oil, or being possessed by contact (ie what she believes is true loves kiss) when trying to reason with him in the dungeon.

We don’t need a rewrite, we can have a continuation. Both can be true. Amaya is a complex character, she can handle it.

[cuteniaarts]

Wine stains on porcelain

(Alternatively: @katkastrofa and I have created 5 OCs in 3 days and I suffer from chronic “I wanna draw the little guysssssss” disease)

[fredwardrawn]

POV: THEY'RE JUDGING YOU

[faaun]

the forest looks like heaven today i woke up feeling the heaviest weight at the top of my heart

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Omg...... Like Mother, Like Daughter is doomed Yuri (half yuri? One sided yuri?). TT0TT Sol doesn't feel the same way I'm pretty sure (sadly), but Som is DEF down bad. TT0TT And Som's not exactly the most mentally stable jakfjdksalfj (I think she has a bit of a "Sol's my pet" vibe going on as well. Som means well but she is NOT healthy either jfakslfj oh this is just going to be a fucking wreck I'm ready let's GO!)

(spoilers under cut, also under cut cause length and pictures)

Like she saw the boy Sol is hanging out with and was just ">:("

*sobbing* She is SO DONE when she finds out they are dating TT0TT

*sobs* ahhhh! klasjfdk OhmyGOAD SHE is tREMBLING as Sol tells her how she got with the guy TT0TT

She is literally SULLEN that Sol and guy have been dating FOR A MONTH! she looks os SICK TT0TT

My poor girl is literally doing the Arthur fist clench with her fist TT0TT

Som! Som! Girlie! I don't think this is just a friendship for you anymore.

LKFJDASKLFJKLAJFKL WAIT

"Anyone can see at first glance that he's good for nothing. But how does she not see that?"

OHHHHH MY GOD SHE'S LIEK 'HE SMELLY. HE STANK. HE POOR. HE BROKE. HE TOO NORMAL FOR HER." GURL! GET OFF THE FLOOOOOR!

"To be honest, I wish they'd break up" NO YOU DON'T SAY???? nEVER WOULD'VE GUESS!

Oh I was just here for the matricide but I've been blessed with more angst! Let's goooooo!!!!!!!!!

[softquietsteadylove]

could we possibly get a little angsty mermaid au action? missing that one! thank you for continuing to share your masterpieces with us!

I almost didn't recognise you, it's been so long.

Thena blinked, the only time needed for her friend to go from being a speck in the distance to right in front of her. She sighed, bubbles rising from her mouth. Sorry.

What's wrong? Makkari asked, despite her feelings about Thena spending more time on land than in the water, these days. She swam around her friend, resting on a sandbank like a beached whale. It must be bad for you to leave your precious human.

Thena snarled her lips, letting her fangs poke out. She turned over in the sand, her tail dusting it up around them. "Leave it alone."

Makkari swam around to her other side, though, real concern on her face now. Hey, it was a joke. Is there something I should know?

Thena's lip wobbled. If she were on land, her eyes would be pouring salt. They had done so a few times, like when she was sick, or when she watched a heartbreaking movie with Gil that felt very much like how they had come to fall in love.

But underwater, the vacuum of it swallowed her sorrows. Her gills expanded and contracted with her heavy heart. "We are quarrelling."

You and the land walker? Makkari tilted her head a few times, the gold charms she liked on the ends of her hair floating with the motion. What did he do?

Thena swiped at her eyes, another human habit she had picked up. She sighed again, adjusting herself on her sand bed. He didn't do anything. I...I learned something.

Makkari - against any mer's instincts and natural inclination - also settled herself on the sand. She rested her chin on her arms folded in front of her, the red sparkle of her scales reflecting on the beautiful tone of her skin. She raised her brows.

Thena smiled at her friend. There was nothing about the ocean she missed quite so much as Makkari. We were out walking in town. A woman approached Gil, and he knew who she was. They spoke for some time, and he introduced me. She seemed nice.

Makkari nodded along with her very factual recounting of the story. She was used to it with her, after all. She would ask her questions as they came.

I asked Gil who she was when we got back to the boat. Thena blinked, laying her head on the sand again like a pathetic guppy lost in a strange reef. She was his mate.

Makkari shot up again, her tail swishing and her hands poised as if she had the human man's throat there for the strangling. His what?!

Thena nodded, feeling the rush of foolishness and resentment and anger and envy all over again. Humans don't mate for life. Apparently, it is not uncommon for them to have numerous partners.

It wasn't that it was impossible for mers to have multiple mates. Sometimes things didn't work out, that wasn't so incomprehensible. But it wasn't something taken lightly, to become bound mates at all. Certainly it wasn't common to encounter someone's past mate and strike up pleasantries.

She nuzzled the sand, pressing her temple to it in a poor substitute for the soft but firm feeling of Gil's chest under her. He said it was a long time ago. That they had been young and parted amicably. That they were 'still friends'.

Makkari watched the way she punctuated his verbatim statement. She lifted her lips around her fangs. That sounds like a clown who wants more than one anemone.

She agreed. It was hard to communicate that to him, though, when all she had felt was rage. Anger with him for smiling at his past mate wit her right there, on his arm no less! How dare he greet this woman so normally as if they hadn't been entangled from the inside out?!

She knew it was normal for them. She knew Gil didn't mean to hurt her and she knew that she shouldn't have thrown herself right over the side of the boat to avoid him. But just the sight of him made her want to shatter coral right off his thick skull.

Humans actually had very thin skulls compared to theirs, Sersi said.

What else did he say?

Thena shook her head. The sun moved above them, or a cloud did, and she lost her comforting warm spot. She let herself drift off the sand and listlessly ride the currents around them.

Hey, Makkari nudged her arm as she began swimming next to her. I never thought I'd see the day you were limping around because of some bull.

Nor did she, in all honesty. But she had never felt quite like this, either. She let herself drift down and down until some shelves of coral made themselves known. Her tail flopped limply after her; the tail Gil said was so beautiful.

Makkari swam to face her again. Now I'm really worried.

"Sorry," Thena squeaked out. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be in a bed and to tug the covers up over her head. She wanted to run a hot bath and fold herself up in it, letting just her tail hang out in the open air.

Okay, Makkari also sighed, moving to lean against the edge of her coral refuge. I may not be the biggest admirer of your...human. But I know how much you care about him. Are you going to go back to him?

Of course--of course she would. She just came to get out her feelings. The question of going back or not was not even an option. But maybe that was part of the problem. Thena looked at her oldest and dearest friend in all the seas. Kari, I can't leave him. We're...

Makkari's eyes widened. Perhaps she'd had some inkling of things, but this was a damning admission nonetheless. She waved her fingers. You, and him, you're...you mated with him?!

Thena pursed her lips, tempted to roll over again as if she were in bed at home. "You don't have to make that face."

How is that...how? Makkari concluded, rather mildly all things considered.

How humans do it, Thena sufficed to say. She didn't have to go over the gruesome details.

To her credit, Makkari restrained herself from further reaction. She crossed her arms again. Do you feel different?

She did, but she also didn't. She had never taken a mate of her own kind, but she had never even desired to. With Gil...it had happened so naturally, come of natural events. Perhaps she had experienced new mate-hood, in which she had become so infatuated that she had nary desired to leave Gil's side.

But then she thought of the human woman again, of her hanging on Gil's arm, and kissing him and eating his food. And it made her stomach clench like when she had fallen ill with a human 'bug'.

Thena blinked as she felt the touch of a hand on her arm. Makkari gave her a sympathetic look. Mers were not the type to exchange physical gestures meaninglessly, and they in particular were not partial to it. But she smiled, "thanks."

Makkari patted her arm before fiddling with the gold on her fingers (also stolen little trinkets). Well, you'll go back, you said. When?

She was asking if Thena would stay in the water for some time. But she hadn't considered it. For all she had done to storm off and leave poor Gil all alone in the small motorboat, she hadn't considered staying past the height of the moon. For how miserable she was feeling, she still wanted to return to his arms to sleep.

How foolish mating with a partner made someone.

I don't know, Thena answered more properly. She at least lifted herself from the coral. I wanted time to think clearly.

Makkari shrugged. Bulls--what can be done about them?

Thena offered a somewhat sardonic but genuine smile. She was inclined to agree, but she still wished to return to her bull in question. I promise I will return soon, and in better spirits.

Makkari followed her as she began swimming upward again. As soon as she had tossed herself from the boat, she had swam straight down, desiring nothing more than getting Gil out of her sight. Does Ikaris know?

Thena rolled her eyes. No, and he never can. I had to worry about him drowning Gil before they had even met. This will not help.

Fine, but I can't say I'm completely against it, Makkari offered neither her complete support nor condemnation. But it was support either way, and Thena appreciated it.

Thena eyed the bait that was hanging in the water. They weren't deep enough for mers yet, but it was deep enough that most wouldn't be fishing with a regular manual rod in such an odd spot.

Makkari beat her to it, of course, swimming right up to it. There's something tied around it.

Thena floated next to it, undoing the strip of cloth tied around the line. The ink was already being eaten at by the salt, but the sloth was scrawled with a very sad SORRY on it in horrific lettering. "Oh, Gil."

Has he just been sitting here? Makkari asked, looking up at the bottom of the boat.

That was exactly what he had been doing. Because that was Gil; he wouldn't have gone home without her. Even if she had, she would have discovered he wasn't back and come to find him. So he had stayed put, cast the line with a message for her to come back to him, unable to come after her properly.

Okay, fine, he's not bad for a human, Makkari conceded with minimal eye rolling. She gave Thena's fin a friendly smack with her own on her way past. Come back another time you don't want to just cry about your boyfriend and his legs?

Thena waved to her friend's swiftly retreating image before Makkari truly put her power into her tail and shot off with blinding speed. She did owe her more visits, and it was nice to truly swim completely uninhibited for a time.

She poked her head up slowly, the water lapping around her. It was dusk, and soon would be completely dark. She rose until she could peek over the side of the boat.

Gil was tearing another strip of fabric off his emergency canvas, writing the word over and over and over to get the ink to penetrate the cloth properly.

Oh, her sweet, sweet human man. Thena sighed, once again feeling the air in her lungs, even with her gills in her neck. She brought her hands up to the boat's edge, "Gil?"

"Th-Thena!" he startled, but his head whipped up to her. He had been crying. "Angelfish!"

The boat tipped dangerously as he rushed over to her. As much as she could get them back home, she wasn't strong enough to tip over a boat by herself. "Gil!"

He stopped his rush to hug her, or lift her out of the water and back onboard with him. His shoulders sagged, "oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. I should have explained more--a-about my ex. I didn't mean for you to find out that way."

She still didn't enjoy the concept of Gil and his ex-mate, doing mating things. But she pulled herself up and into the boat for herself, settling on the bench, still with her tail on. "I know you were put in a difficult position, Gil. I...I shouldn't have swam off."

He plunked himself back down to the other seat by the motor. "No, I don't blame you for being mad. I probably wouldn't want to find out about any ex of yours by running into him on a date."

Yes, exactly! She had her vindication, which did soothe the stubborn part of her. But she split her tail into legs again, leaning forward. "Gil."

He let her lift his chin, happy to accept her kiss. He slipped his fingers into her hair. "I'm sorry, Angelfish. I didn't want you to get hurt like that."

It had hurt, in an odd way. Humans had such interesting concepts of pain--so internal and self reflective. But Thena smiled, running her thumb over his cheek, "I know."

He accepted her acceptance. He wasn't forgiven, but he wasn't asking for that. He reached behind him, putting his jacket over her, "let's get home, okay?"

Thena nodded, pulling the jacket up and zipping it. It was cold in the air, even as the salt beaded off her skin. "I'm sorry, I don't know where the dress ended up."

"It's okay, Cuddlefish, we can get you another one," he smiled, eager to maintain their lifted spirits. He held his arm out, inviting her to sit next to him for the boat ride home.

She obliged him, settling herself in the crook of his arm. She pressed her temple to his chest, finally soothed after the sand failed where he was succeeding. "I want that seafood stew you make for dinner."

What he called 'Jjampong' was one of her favourites, not only for the seafood, but for the pleasant spiciness it possessed.

He kissed her hair, speeding ahead and back to their home, on the island, with Titania waiting for them at the dock. "Anything you want, Thena."

She wanted him to swear to be her one and only mate from now on. But dinner would suffice for now.

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

crippling anxiety hours let's go