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errriiie · 21 days ago

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Right now you're mine

shauna shipman x fem!reader minors DNI, all characters are 18 y.o

TW: smut, shauna shipman, jealousy, co-dependent relationships (?), dubcon extra tags: fem!reader, y/n mentions, porn with so-little-plot, jealous sex, degrading, possessiveness, fingering (r! receiving), dark themes, knife play word count: 3k not proofread english is not writer's first language!

Shadows dancing on the sheets If you obey I might give you a treat. There's something weird about you with Shauna. She's kind to you, then mean, but you never talk about it. She gives you mixed signals every damn day, and you're not quite sure what to make of it. You've been hanging out with Lottie lately because you thought it was okay. Shauna didn't like it. She made that clear. And she just wanted to wipe your nose and wipe the smug smirk off your face the way she knew how to do it best. (Also, you're a little like Mari here)

Your team won the treasure hunt. You were good at running - it was something natural, something that couldn't be taken away. You and the other girls were jumping up and down in a big happy ball, hooting happily, knowing that all day long you would finally be able to rest for at least a day from all this work for the good of your little camp. You tried not to bother anyone, although when Mari or Gen teased one of the losers once again, you did not try to hold back your smile. You finally felt some semblance of dominance, having fun with your friends and also letting off some arrogant comments. You knew that Shauna lost to you, being on the opposite team. Really, you did. But you tried to ignore her unreadable glances, from which her frown and disfavor towards you were given away only by her eyebrows, drawn together to the point of transference, when she snorted and whispered something in the ear of Melissa, who had so inopportunely formed around her.

It pricked your heart, but you couldn’t quite say why. There had never been anything formal or complete between you and Shauna one way or another. There had been some strange looks, awkward touches, but nothing serious, especially since the end of this winter, when the cabin had burned down. Shauna scared the shit out of you, but you couldn't bring it up. There was just something unnerving about her all-encompassing hatred and the way she separated herself from everyone. From you included. Well, it wasn't like you were friends or anything more. You dressed in the rags that Lottie, with whom you had grown a little closer in the last couple of weeks, called "sacred and appropriate" and proudly sat at a chair with the others. You were having a feast, followed by a ritual for those who had died in the winter. You shared grins with your team, cheerfully tapping your fingers on the table, unaware that Shauna was the one bringing you your food. You felt her presence twenty centimeters from your body as she came close. Everyone was busy with each other. In her hands was a deep bowl with something obviously tasty, and even if not, in your circumstances, you had no choice. You looked into her eyes - she looked into yours and, spat, sent a wad of saliva straight into your stew.

"Bon appetit." She placed it in front of you. You did not understand what had just happened. Your eyes widened while Shauna did not even think to move from her place. Then the realization of the disgusting gesture came. The desire to fight for justice followed.

"What the fuck, Shauna? Why did you just spit in my food?" you didn't expect your voice, fueled by the feeling of offense, to become loud enough for others to hear.

"Me? No. I'm not." The look she gave you sent shivers down your spine. She sounded like it was the most natural response, and it almost made you feel like you were the crazy one here.

"Fuck, Shauna, did you spit in her food? Seriously?" Natalie's tired and genuinely confused voice came from your side as she stood up. For some reason, you stood up too.

"No, and the mere suggestion offends me." she replied. Oh, you just got angrier. Apparently no one believed her. But Shauna didn't look like she needed it at all. "You should eat, y/n. I worked hard on this food."

You weren't going to swallow that. Not with so many curious eyes on you and Shauna. You grabbed the cup and pointedly, with one swift movement of your hand, dumped the entire contents on the ground. Shauna was furious because she clearly expected there to be no fight. She thought she knew you well. She thought you would bend to her will. The lack of the desired reaction was like the safety catch being released. Shauna leaned forward, grabbed your hair, tangling her strong fingers in the tangled mass and literally bent you over, smashing your cheek into what was left of the spilled stew. Not the smartest way to dispose of food. "I told you to eat, bitch!" she screams, letting you whine in humiliation and the efforts you make in vain to get out before the girls pull you apart. "Okay, I've had enough!" Natalie is pissed, and she's the queen, she's the leader of your little group, and you look completely confused as you try to wipe the dirt and stew off your face. "Both of you. House arrest. And no arguments. Don't ruin our evening with your bullshit." But you're hurt. You're literally the victim, you've done nothing to Shauna fucking Shipman, and you've definitely never wished her any harm, so why the fuck did she humiliate you in front of everyone and make you look so pathetic? You wrenched yourself free of the girl who was holding you and screamed furiously. "Fuck you all, this is bullshit!" you turned on your heels, trying to pick up the remains of your battered, pathetic pride and walked in the direction your tear-stained eyes were looking. Your back was literally catching sympathetic glances, especially Lottie's, and this only made you look smaller in this whole situation.

You clung to a tree, staring at the green crown of the spruce above your head. Damn Nat, who decided to punish you too. Damn everyone who decided not to intervene in time. Damn Shauna, who... the crunch of branches made you shudder and look around. You turned around, seeing a familiar figure in ordinary clothes. Dirty flannel, jeans stained with what looked like old blood, a knife... a knife? You look scared now. You stares at Shauna, takes a warning step back. "Whatever you're going to do to me, don't you fucking dare. Everyone will know." Your voice is menacing, and your eyes are watching the knife a dozen times more than they are watching Shauna's expression and intentions. "What the fuck have I ever done to you, Shipman? I didn't harm you in any way!" you try to defend yourself. Shauna's knife hand twitches at the word harm, moonlight catching the blade's serrated edge as she takes three slow steps forward. Her flannel clings to sweat-damp shoulders, that same earthy musk from pinning your face into the dirt still clinging to her knuckles.

"Done to me?" A bark of laughter scrapes her throat raw. She taps the knife's flat side against the pale line bisecting her left eyebrow—the scar from when you "accidentally" elbowed her during that stupid lake ice fight last winter. "You breathe. That's what you do."

The blade drifts lower, cold steel brushing the hollow of your throat. Shauna's other hand snakes out to fist in that infuriatingly soft shirt, yanking you close enough to smell the forest rot clinging to your hair. Her breath hitches—just once—when your noses almost touch.

Fourteen days ago. Midnight watch shift. Your laugh carrying from the tree line, leaning into Lottie's shoulder like you hadn't spent last Thursday letting Shauna braid wolfsbane into your hair.

"You wanna know what I'm gonna do?" Shauna murmurs, thumb swiping through the mud still smeared on your cheekbone. You presses yourself against the damn pine tree—or fir, it doesn't matter. You look wary, scared, and you trying to control your breathing so as not to show your fear to Shauna. Your head shoots up almost instinctively because you want to press youself against the tree trunk, just so Shauna doesn't slit your throat. "I... I actually hope you don't do anything," you says uncertainly, not knowing on what you supposed to be looking at: Shauna’s knife or Shauna’s face. "You know it'll cost you dearly if you kill me." The blade trembles—just enough to nick skin—as Shauna's mouth twists into something bitter and hungry. Pine resin sticks to your back, sharp and medicinal, mingling with the iron tang blooming at your throat.

"Cost me?" Shauna drags the knife downward, popping the first button of your shirt with surgical precision. "You think Nat gives a shit if I skin you like a rabbit?" You winces as a thin, shallow cut, small but bleeding, blooms across your throat. You can't even see it, and fear overwhelms you. You always thought this would be a rush of adrenaline, but your body just doesn't move as you mercilessly endures Shauna apparently undressing you.

"You're fucked if you kill me, I mean it," you voice is more of a tremor and a terrified bleat than anything else. The cougar bares its teeth even when cornered by a bear. "You know it's true, don't play with me."

Shauna's knife hand goes still when your breath hitches. The second button parts with a snick of steel through thread, exposing a sliver of collarbone that glows blue-white in the moonlight. Her free hand digs into your hip hard enough to bruise, pinning you against sticky bark.

"Cost," she repeats, dragging the blade lower to trace the curve of a breast through thin cotton. "You still think we're debating philosophy in the Literature class? That Becky MacCoy is gonna tattle to mr. Devis?"

The knife tip finds the third button. "They'll thank me." Cold metal slips between fabric folds, grazing nipple. "Burn your clothes for kindling. Use your bones for broth." Her knee jams between your thighs, pressing up hard. "But you?" The blade retreats, comes to rest against your lower lip. "You'll just be... inconvenient."

You whimpers as Shauna's knee presses so nastily—and so good—on your clit. Fuck, you doesn't even know what's happening. Your mind is all mixed up with the holy and the sinful, and you doesn't understand who Shauna is to you, or if you going to die today. Or if you going to cum, either.

"W-why are you saying all this? Why are you doing all this?" you asks, looking worriedly at the knife on your bottom lip, but you has to admit, you looking into Shauna's dark eyes more often. "I don't even... hate you. Why the hell are you doing this to me, you fucking sadist?"

Shauna's thumb presses the blade flat against your tongue, metallic bitterness flooding both their mouths. Her knee grinds harder, friction burning through denim as she leans in until their foreheads touch. Sweat-damp strands of hair cling to your temple—you smells like fear and elderberries, Shauna notes with vicious satisfaction.

"Sadist?" She twists the knife handle, making light catch the saliva-slick steel. "You begged for this when you let Lottie braid those fucking daisies in your hair last week." The accusation comes out hoarse, unexpected. Her free hand snakes under your shirt, nails biting into soft belly flesh.

That afternoon by the creek. Your head in Lottie's lap, flower crowns and shared jerky. Shauna gutting rabbits twenty feet away, blood dripping hotter with each peal of laughter.

The knife withdraws. Shauna licks a stripe up the column of your throat, tasting copper and pine sap. "You want reasons?" Her teeth close around an earlobe, biting just shy of breaking skin. "I'm the butcher. You're the meat." You lets out a low moan in Shauna's ear, because it's hard not to. But your head is a storm, and you itching to defend yourself. You've always been quite the fighter. Maybe that's why Shauna wanted to break you so much. "I will be the last one to be meat. I'm the meat if I ever draw the queen card. But right now, I'm not meat at all," you mutters in Shauna's ear.

"You want to know why I was hitting on Lottie a week ago? Why I had daisies and wolfberry and sea buckthorn leaves in my hair? Because I wanted to fucking suck up to Lottie a little. I don't need her at all, if you're wondering." you speak with surprising clarity, as if there's no lie in your words. "Are you jealous of me, Shipman? Or are you jealous of her? I think if you were jealous of her, I'd be a fucking corpse right now."

Shauna's blade slips between the fourth and fifth buttons, parting fabric with a sound like cracking ice. The knife tip traces the valley between your breasts—too sharp, too precise to draw blood unless she wants to. Her other hand fists in your hair, yanking your head back against the tree.

"You think I care about your pathetic games?" The blade dips lower, slicing through waistband elastic. Cold night air hits bare skin as denim pools around your ankles. Shauna's palm slams against the tree beside your head, forearm flexing as she crowds into your space. "Jealousy's for people who don't know how to take what's theirs."

Her teeth find the juncture of neck and shoulder, biting down hard enough to bloom a bruise. You twitch in pain, but to Shauna's satisfaction, you have nothing to counteract. The knife clatters to the forest floor as Shauna's hand replaces it between your thighs, fingers pressing ruthless circles through damp cotton panties. "You don't get to be meat," she breathes against the fresh bite, "until I say you're meat."

It's too much for you. You twitches, and damn Shauna for being so fucking strong compared to you. Even in the past, you had always been known for your speed and tact, but not for your strength, which Shauna had in abundance.

You moans, softly and loudly, haltingly, trying to say something but unable to start a new sentence. You whine, and feels your teeth wound ache. You see the blood from the bite mark on Shauna's lips and leans forward, kissing them and biting her bottom lip before Shipman can say anything. You didn't understand what you were doing, but you really wanted to save your life. You already understood that Shauna had no intention of killing you. Yet. Fucking you was probably more interesting. You had fantasized about it a couple of times when you had to press yourself closer to Shauna's body in the winter because you had no choice and had to endure this forced closeness. You didn't remember when exactly you started liking it. Shauna freezes when your teeth catch her lip—a split-second of stillness where the forest holds its breath. Then her hand flies to the back of your neck, fingers tangling in sweat-damp hair to crush their mouths together properly. The taste of her own blood blooms between them, metallic and primal, as she licks into your mouth with the same ruthlessness she uses to field-dress deer. The kiss tastes like violence.

Her free hand rips the remaining buttons off your shirt, nails raking down pale ribs. The abandoned knife lies forgotten between pine needles as Shauna shoves her knee higher, denim seam grinding against soaked underwear. "Still think you're not meat?" she growls against swollen lips, biting the question into your jaw. Her thumb finds the hollow beneath your ear—that spot she'd mapped weeks ago during forced proximity—and presses hard enough to make your eyes roll back.

You moans hoarsely, your hips jerking against Shauna's knee between your legs. You need more, you want more, and you both so turned on right now. "Sh-shut up..." you moans, your cheek pressed against Shauna's for a second before your hands slide under Shauna's flannel and t-shirt, your nails raking painful lines down her back. You're such a fucking mess. Both of you. "P-please, do something. Give me your fingers back." You almost begs, biting you own bottom lip. Her knee isn't enough.

Shauna's laugh comes out ragged, more breath than sound, as she drags her bloodied lip across your cheekbone. "Begging already?" Her teeth catch the shell of your ear, biting down just hard enough to make you gasp. The hand at your neck slides much lower, calloused fingers hooking into the waistband of those ruined panties.

With a sharp tug, Shauna tears the cotton aside. Her middle finger slides through slick heat in one brutal thrust, curling upward on the retreat. "This what you wanted?" she rasps, palm slapping against clit with each punishing stroke. Her other hand clamps over your mouth, muffling the sounds she'd die before admitting she's memorized. "Or you need me to carve the answer out of you?"

The forest floor swallows yours mingled breaths—pine needles crunching under shifting weight, distant owl cries drowned out by the wet slap of skin. Shauna presses her forehead to yours, brown eyes gone feral in the moonlight. "You'll take what I give," she growls, adding a second finger that stretches tight muscle, "and fucking thank me for it." You look at Shauna blurrily, your eyes unable to find focus, so bright and blue usually, so enchantingly deep now, looking so faded with sexual arousal. You moans in mild pain - it's been a long time since anyone has stretched you from the inside, and you feel sick from the unfamiliarity. That nice, fucking good feeling down there becomes clearer as you whispers. "I'm going to c-cum," you doesn't know why you warning Shauna about this, leaning almost all your entire body on her. One of your hands falls from Shauna's neck and lazily tries to pull Shauna's jeans down, but they won't budge. Of course. They're fucking buttoned. Shauna catches your wandering hand mid-hip, slamming it back against the tree with enough force to dislodge bark. "You don't touch," she snarls, the knife suddenly reappearing in her periphery—plucked from the forest floor and pressed sideways against your heaving stomach. Her fingers never stop moving inside you, the heel of her palm grinding relentless circles as sweat drips from her jaw onto exposed collarbones. "Think I'd let you sully these?" Shauna jerks her hips forward, denim-clad thigh rubbing against your bare one. The blade traces lazy patterns over damp skin without breaking it—this time. "These hands skin bears. Butcher does the taking."

Her thrusts turn jagged, knuckles whitening with the effort of keeping you pinned. The knife falls again, forgotten as Shauna's teeth find purchase on a peaked nipple through torn fabric. "Cum then," she demands against salt-damp skin, voice cracking like dry kindling. "Prove you're more than Lottie's fucking lapdog. More than just another dumb bitch who's content with her measly victory."

Moonlight catches the wild glint in brown eyes as Shauna watches—always watching—the exact moment your body betrays you. Her free hand digs into the soft flesh of your thigh, blunt nails leaving crescent promises that'll outlast dawn. You shudders, whimpers, and as if on cue, cums all over Shauna's fingers with a soft moan. Your head snaps back and hits the tree trunk. You hisses in pain, but it doesn't matter as you recovers from the intense orgasm. You doesn't even look at Shauna, simply because you afraid to look her in the eye after that.

"Was that all necessary?" you mutters, but not with aggression or irritation. It sounds like a strange question. Shauna withdraws her fingers slowly, deliberately, watching yours body twitch with oversensitivity. She brings glistening digits to her mouth, tongue swiping through the mess with a predator's grin. "Necessary?" The word drips with mockery as she steps back, adjusting her flannel with hands that don't quite steady.

She stoops to retrieve her blade, thumb wiping pine resin off the hilt. The night air bites at sweat-slick skin as she turns toward the tree line, shoulders rigid. "Don't flatter yourself." The words hang between them like a noose. "Just needed to shut you up before the coyotes came."

Her retreating footsteps crunch through underbrush, leaving you half-dressed against the pine. Dawn's first light catches the blood drying on Shauna's collar—proof of teeth marks she'll spend tomorrow's watch shift tracing with her tongue. She leaves you alone. Confused and half-naked. You awkwardly pull up your wet underwear, dress as best you can - your clothes aren't in the best condition, and you knew it was unwise to lose them like that. You came, but was it worth it?

You swallow your resentment as you slip into your hut. You just want to sleep.

#yellowjackets #x reader #shauna shipman x reader #x reader smut #female reader #shauna shipman x you #headcanons

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heyitspapayaontop · 12 days ago

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Just Like You

In the quiet of a sunny afternoon in Monaco, the Verstappen-Piquet household was peaceful.

Too peaceful.

Max was on a team debrief in the kitchen, Kelly was on the balcony sipping her iced coffee, and the sim room—Max’s sacred, high-tech, strictly-off-limits man cave—sat unguarded.

Which meant exactly one thing.

An 8 year old Penelope, peeked around the corner with a conspiratorial grin. Behind her, Y/N—barely 4, dressed in a too-big Red Bull hoodie and gripping a half-eaten stroopwafel—tiptoed with intense determination.

“You ready?” P whispered.

Y/N nodded. “Ready.”

“Remember, you do the wheel. I do the petals.”

“Okay. I be fast.”

“No, we be fast.”

The two girls quietly pushed the slightly ajar door open, the glow from the sim rig blinking like a magical treasure chest.

They slipped inside.

Penelope clambered into the rig like a pro—Max had let her look at it before, but never touch. She slipped her feet toward the pedals, eyes wide with reverence. “I’m gonna press the gas like crazy.”

Y/N nodded and wiggled up onto P's lap, gripping the steering wheel like she knew how to win a championship. “I turn bigggg.”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Penelope tapped the ignition key and Y/N dramatically twisted the wheel left and right. “Vroom! VROOOOM!”

And suddenly—it was all very real.

Penelope stomped a pedal. “GOOOOO!”

Y/N shrieked in delight, spinning the wheel. “We winning!! GO GO GO!!”

From the kitchen, Max frowned.

“Wait. What’s that noise?”

Kelly froze mid-sip. “…No.”

Max took off running. “Oh no.”

When he threw the door open, he found:

—His two daughters —In his prized sim seat —Y/N steering like a madwoman, —Penelope mashing pedals like it was Whac-a-Mole —And both of them dead serious.

“GIRLS—!”

Penelope’s head snapped up. “PAPAAA!”

Y/N gasped. “OH-OH.”

Max rushed over, scooping Y/N up as she giggled wildly in his arms. “Wat zijn jullie aan het doen?!“ (“What are you two doing?!“)

“We were racingggg!” Y/N cheered, throwing her arms up.

Penelope climbed down, all smug. “I was the gas. She was the wheel. We were a team.”

Max stared at them, torn between horror and pure dad-melt mode.

“Mijn kleine gans,” (“My little goose,”) he muttered, kissing Y/N’s cheek. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Y/N squished his cheeks. “I go vroom like you!”

“And you, kleine eend,” (“And you, little duck,”) he said to Penelope. “You’re too clever for your own good.”

Penelope grinned. “You always say racing is teamwork.”

Max looked at Kelly, now filming in the doorway, completely losing it.

“I meant in real cars, not in my €40,000 simulator.”

Y/N leaned into his chest, eyes sparkling. “Can we race again tomorrow?”

Max groaned.

“…Only if I’m on your team next time.”

Penelope grinned. “Then you press the gas, Papa.”

Kelly zoomed in, whispering, “Caption: Verstappen's girls steal the sim, win Monaco Grand Prix.”

Max shook his head with a sigh, bouncing Y/N in his arms. “My little goose and little duck are too dangerous.”

But deep down?

He was just a little bit proud.

A/N: loved this one sm. Not requested!

#f1 x reader #f1 drivers as fathers #max verstappen #red bull racing #dad!max verstappen #kid!reader #formula 1 #f1

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sinful-lanterns · 1 month ago

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Wait, hear me out.

CW: Potential ooc writing for Lysandra, threesome, smut, angry sex, fingering

So Korryn’s attire is her as a treasure hunter and Lysandra appears to be some kind of ruins explorer. SO, imagine if these two meet and you’re caught up in the middle of it. Maybe you’re the cute little sidekick adventurer that tags along with Lysandra on her mission, and you two encounter the silver-tongued, flirtatious treasure hunter Korryn who immediately takes an interest in you.

Lysandra is extremely protective of you and skeptical when Korryn joins your little adventure. But the three of you end up becoming a great team of ragtag adventurers that eventually make it to the middle of the temple. While Lysandra’s goal is to just study the temple’s treasures, Korryn being the scammer that she is, yoinks the sacred treasure and books it out of there, triggering the traps.

Tensions are high as you and Lysandra chase her out of the crumbling temple, but when you accidentally slip through the rubble and Lysandra struggles to get you free, Korryn can’t stop herself from running back and saving you too. When you both make it back to camp, Lysandra is angrily shouting at Korryn for putting your life in danger for some stupid idol. They’re both cursing each other out and damn near close to fighting each other, but something shifts when you try to break up the fight, and soon the attention is on you.

From the adrenaline of narrowly escaping with your lives, to seeing the way your shirt is ripped open and exposing your pretty skin, Korryn and Lysandra can’t stop themselves from pressing you between them and trying to comfort your scared little head. Poor thing, you must’ve been so terrified when you thought the ruins were going to crumble on you! Lysandra wants to take you back to her tent to comfort you in her own way, while Korryn tugs you back to “apologize” for deceiving you and making you cry.

This back and forth tug of anger, annoyance and lust causes you to be sandwiched by these two ladies, and soon you find your shorts pulled down to your ankles with their fingers eagerly groping your most intimate areas. They’re still very clearly mad at each other, judging from how brutal their thrusts are as they plunge their fingers into your cunt at the same time. But they cease their curses for now and put their mouths to work at kissing and marking you. They’ll settle their arguments later, right now their cute little sidekick needs some love and attention from her two partners <3

#⛓️ mbcc lovepost #korryn smut #ptn korryn smut #lysandra smut #ptn lysandra smut #ptn smut

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ollieolliewrld · 1 year ago

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HSR Men in Relationships (SFW)

1.5k words

Argenti ♡This man worships you. ♡He searches for beauty and to now have the very definition of that in his arm, he cannot believe it ♡Ever since you two met he questions if this is reality as you are too good to be true ♡Argenti does his best to make time for you while getting his knightly duties done

♡You will constantly have fresh flowers ♡He believes that you deserve to have constant beauty surrounding you ♡Wherever he goes he brings something back for you ♡His phone is filled with pictures of you ♡You are his model and he will start a photoshoot anywhere ♡If the light is right he will immediately pull you his phone to capture the moment ♡Whether you are posing or he catches you off guard every picture is perfect

Blade ♡He is not a man of many words but when he does speak it is to show you his care ♡When he first saw you he was entranced ♡It was only for a moment but he could remember every detail ♡After that, he would sneak away from the other Stellaron Hunters to be around you casually ♡He would never start the initial conversation so you were the one to say ‘Hello’ ♡Blade finds comfort in your presence ♡All of the pain he feels can be dulled by having your head on his shoulder ♡He’s the kind of man who would see you struggling to open a jar and without saying a word take the jar and open it for you ♡He makes sure you are taken care of ♡Nothing is going to happen to you while he’s around

Dan Heng ♡Dan loves that you are as interested in learning as he is ♡Every time he finds something new to add to his database you are the first to know ♡Your eyes lighting up when he shares information with you makes his heart skip a beat ♡Early mornings when he makes you tea ♡Then lays with you just talking ♡He can relax with you ♡Conversations between you two let him be himself ♡With you, he doesn't have to worry ♡You can handle yourself and he appreciates that ♡He is there to support you always but has a lot on his plate ♡Time with you is sacred and he wants to know you inside and out ♡You are his partner, his equal, you are treasured and he makes sure that you know this

Dr. Ratio ♡Veritas Ratio is a picky man ♡He knows exactly what he wants and refuses to settle ♡Never did he think that he would find someone that met his standards ♡When you walked in he had met his match ♡At first, he’s very skeptical as you are just too good to be true ♡With time he settles in and enjoys your company ♡You don’t need to match his intellect ♡That’s not what he’s looking for ♡He has grown cold to normal emotion and is drawn in by your humanity ♡Your care for yourself and others around you that’s what he loves ♡Ratio enjoys doing your hobbies with you ♡He may already know everything about it ♡But he wants to know what it means to you ♡You are his final lesson and he will spend his life learning you

Gepard ♡Very much a golden retriever ♡Gepard is just happy to have you around ♡No matter what you’re doing his heart swells when he looks over and sees you ♡He has worked his whole life and you are the missing piece ♡Goes out of his way to make sure everything is done for you ♡He’s an early riser because of his duties and regardless of how early he wakes up Gepard makes sure to have your coffee/tea ready with a small note ♡When he’s stationed away from you he writes you letters ♡He never wants to be away from you but knows that he needs to keep you safe ♡Likes to keep a picture of you in his wallet ♡No matter how cold it gets you keep him warm ♡You are his endgame and even though he’s very comfortable with and around you he never stops putting effort in ♡The two of you work as a team making sure the other stays happy

Jing Yuan ♡Jing Yuan is a relaxed man ♡Enjoys to take you to work with him ♡As long as nothing dangerous is going on he sees no problem with having you on his arm ♡At times he will send Yanqing your way to keep him occupied ♡Takes you to see the most beautiful parts of the Luofu ♡He wants to share everything with you, being together for everything ♡Surprisingly a very good cook ♡At least once a week he makes sure to clear time to cook a beautiful dinner for the two of you ♡Making sure you are taken care of includes making sure you are eating well ♡Seeing you smiling and eating the food he has prepared for you makes him fall for you more and more ♡A protective lover as he has seen all that can go wrong and happen ♡Above all else, he will keep you safe

Luocha ♡This man is very smooth ♡You thought he was a bit of a player at first ♡He only has eyes for you though and you saw this ♡As he is constantly on the move he hopes to bring you with him ♡He has you as a lover and partner ♡Luocha takes great care in listening to your thoughts and ideas ♡You see things slightly differently than him and he uses that to build new ideas ♡Big on slow dancing with you whether it be in the kitchen or under the moonlight he enjoys holding you close and moving in sync ♡He likes to leave small notes around when you aren’t looking ♡No matter how many you find you always get a certain look on your face as you read them that makes Luocha a happy man

Welt ♡Welt enjoys a more relaxed relationship ♡He wants to spend time with you doing things like taking walks or holding you while he works ♡Most of his time is spent working and making sure all things on the ♡Express are going smoothly so when he is with you he wants to take some time to get his mind off of that ♡There have been times when the two of you had something planned and it was interrupted by work ♡But he always makes it up to you and you know that it is not his fault ♡You sometimes take it upon yourself to try to help with the work ♡While he appreciates the thought he would much rather have your head on his shoulder or on his lap while he does what needs to be done ♡Welt goes the extra mile to show you that he cares ♡He never forgets an anniversary or birthday and makes sure that those days are for you and him with no interruptions ♡Solo time for you two is rare but when the moment comes Welt has it all elaborately planned

Luka ♡Luka is ecstatic to have a lover ♡He is so focused on fighting that he almost forgot about a relationship ♡You showing up to one of his fights one day changed that ♡Seeing you in the crowd ignited the spark inside of him and he knew he had to win so he could talk to you after ♡He is not cocky but he's sure of himself ♡Conversation between you two flows effortlessly and your energy levels match up ♡He spends a lot of time training so he likes to have you there whether you are also active or just there for him ♡He considers you his lucky charm, as long as you are there he can’t lose ♡It makes him feel so loved that you are there after every fight to clean him up and give him affection ♡The care you show him is returned to you as Luka makes sure he is there for you no matter what keeping you happy

Sampo ♡Sampo did not have faith that you would stay ♡With his line of work, he couldn’t imagine anyone would actually want to stay by his side and love him ♡But he loves you and he wasn’t going anywhere ♡He likes to bring you gifts (most of which are stolen) ♡He has never been in a relationship before and is unsure of how to approach it ♡But he is a good lover and makes sure your needs are met ♡Sampo makes sure he spends time with you, that you feel loved and safe, and that no matter what happens he doesn’t go to jail ♡Before you jail just meant being behind bars and dealing with the guards ♡Now it means being away from his light and that is not an option ♡He still lives life on the edge but he does so having his love standing with him every step of the way

Author's Note: There are a few characters I left out (Adventurine, Gallagher, etc) if you would like a post with any other characters just send me an ask and I will get right on it! Also, if anyone would like a post with the women of HSR I would love to write that as well! <3<3

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moeitsu · 3 months ago

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The Dark Tide Siren!Arthur Morgan x Reader Modern AU Ch 6 - Caught Between Two Worlds Summary: Hosea gathers the team for a meeting to bring everyone up to speed on the facility’s newest resident. But when the discussion turns to Arthur’s behavior, all eyes land on you. How do you explain what you’ve seen—what you’ve felt—without revealing just how deeply involved you’ve become? wc: 8.4k tw: none! Swim Back! ↞ ﹏𓊝﹏ ↠ Sail Ahead!

AN: Get ready for some info dumping about Arthur's biology. Reader is about to discover that he's a whole lot more complicated than meets the eye...

tag list: @photo1030 @v3lv3tf0x @ireallyhonestlydontcare @shygamergirl01 @cloudywithachanceofcrisis @sevikaspuertoricanwife @abducted-cowz @bomdada

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I received the group text from Hosea this morning about an emergency team meeting before doors opened at 8 a.m., but still, my heart raced with worry. No matter how much I tried to prepare myself, the weight of it all just kept pressing in, suffocating. This is real. Soon, the entire facility would know about Arthur—his existence, his pain, his torment. They would want to study him, question him, prod at the mystery of what he was. He was an enigma even to the most renowned scientists, and now, he was no longer a secret.

And he would no longer be mine.

What the hell am I even thinking? Arthur isn’t some kind of pet.

I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting at the thought. Arthur was never mine to begin with. He wasn’t something to be kept, to be held onto. He had spent his life running from chains, from being owned, from being a specimen in a tank just like this. And yet, despite all logic, despite every warning in my mind, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted between us this morning.

His words echoed in my mind with every step I took down the long corridor toward the conference room.

The space is nice, bigger than what I had before.

He had said it so simply, so matter-of-factly. But beneath those words was an unspoken truth. It’s still a cage. No walls of glass, no simulated ocean could change that. He didn’t belong here. He should be out there, in the vast, endless blue, moving freely as the tide pulled and pushed him wherever he pleased. He should be collecting treasures and trinkets, hoarding them away in whatever place he called home.

He should be with his own people. If he even knew where to find them.

The way he looked at me—like my gift meant more to him than just a token of my apology, like it was something sacred—it made my chest ache with an emotion I wasn’t ready to acknowledge. I love it, he had said, and I’d never seen his eyes so bright, so full of gratitude and something else—something warm.

But it wasn’t just the shell.

I had a sinking feeling that the shell I gave him was the first and only gift he had ever received. Judging by his reaction, it wasn’t just a trinket to him. He didn’t look at me like I had handed him a scrap of debris washed ashore, something forgotten and discarded by the tide. No, he looked at me like I had just breathed life into his gills after he had spent a lifetime suffocating. Like I had given him something he didn’t know he was allowed to have.

I was opening doors for him that will never close again.

Those crystalline blue eyes—so filled with sorrow and pain—had glimmered, however briefly, with true happiness. Real, unfiltered joy. I just wanted to dive into the water, uncaring if I drowned, and wrap my arms around him. Hold him the way he had never been held before, with a tenderness that he had been denied for too long. To press my cheek to his and whisper the words I knew he had never heard but desperately needed.

You’re safe. You’re free. You’re worthy of love.

But that wasn’t my job.

No, my job was to rescue, rehabilitate, and release. And Arthur was not mine to keep.

Not mine to love.

The weight of that truth pressed heavy in my chest as I forced myself to swallow my nerves, inhaling deeply to steady the storm raging inside me. I could already hear the loud chatter echoing from beyond the glass door, the energy buzzing in the air like static before a storm. It was going to be one hell of a meeting. Not only were we about to confirm that, yes, magical sea creatures—ones that looked half-man, half-fish—actually existed, but more than that, we had one right here in our facility.

And that I had, more than once, drifted too close to him—touched him so intimately that even the tides would whisper of it.

Shaking the thoughts from my head—or at least trying to—I pushed open the door and slipped into the conference room, sliding into a seat beside John.

“This is already shaping up to be a dumpster fire,” John muttered under his breath, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “You ready for it?”

I let out a slow sigh. “Do I have a choice? You’re the one who dragged me into this mess to begin with.”

John only grinned, shaking his head.

My heart was still hammering against my ribs, but I forced myself to sit tall, to appear unaffected. Normal. Like I hadn’t spent the last twenty-four hours tangled up in something far bigger than myself.

Like I hadn’t spent the night replaying every stolen touch, every lingering glance—fantasizing about his rugged face, the powerful lines of his body, and all the ways I could explore him further—Stop.

I needed to stop. But the more I tried to push him from my mind, the deeper he sank into me, like saltwater soaking into my very bones.

At the front of the room, Charles and Lenny stood beside a double-sided whiteboard, stacks of textbooks and research papers scattered across the table. Lenny had a dry erase marker in his hand, a few more tucked into his breast pocket. He was speaking quietly to Charles, likely bracing himself for the moment he would drop the news of his findings on the rest of the team.

The room quieted as Hosea and Sadie made their way inside, the air shifting with an unspoken gravity. Sadie took a seat opposite me, offering a polite smile and a small tip of her hat. I returned the gesture with a nod and a quick wave, though the anticipation buzzing in the room made it hard to focus on pleasantries.

I swallowed hard, my fingers curling into the fabric of my pants beneath the table. Here we go.

Hosea cleared his throat, resting his hands on the back of an empty chair as he looked around the room. His gaze was warm, familiar—like a father addressing his family.

“Mornin’, everyone. I hope you all got a strong cup of coffee in you because today’s gonna be a big one.” He let out a small chuckle, shaking his head. “I know I ask a lot from you, but that’s because I know what we’re capable of when we pull together as a team. If there’s anyone who can handle a crisis like this one, it’s the people in this room.”

Hosea straightened, his presence commanding yet reassuring as he met each of our gazes, his voice carrying a weight that settled deep in our chests. It wasn’t just a speech—it was a call to action.

“We’ve got ourselves a new resident. And he’s gonna need us—all of us.”

* ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ *

I had to hand it to Lenny—he gave it to us straight. No sugarcoating, no easing us into the reality of it. Hosea had just dropped the bombshell that our new resident wasn’t like anything we’d ever encountered before. Not just a rare specimen or an undocumented creature, but something entirely new, something that defied the limits of scientific research. There was no guidebook for this. No precedent. Just theories, speculation, and a desperate need to understand.

And that was where Lenny came in.

Charles’ bright young intern had spent the last day and a half buried in textbooks, research papers, mythology records—anything that could shed light on what we were dealing with. He had scoured articles, cross-referenced folklore with science, searching for even the smallest thread of truth woven through centuries of legend.

He pulled together everything he thought would be useful for us to know. But even after all his research, even after countless hours spent dissecting old stories and fragmented knowledge, there was still so much we didn’t know. Because this wasn’t just a new discovery. It was the unraveling of something ancient, something hidden beneath the waves for longer than humans had been searching.

One thing, however, was certain.

Our new resident was only half human. And while we had yet to understand the full extent of his biology, there was no denying the truth Lenny had uncovered. He was, without a doubt, part of a species long spoken of in myths and whispered about in sailor’s tales.

A siren, part of a clan of merfolk.

To my surprise, I found myself completely enraptured by what Lenny had uncovered—every piece of information another thread weaving together the mystery of Arthur. It wasn’t just what Lenny had learned that held my attention, but how much of it I had already seen firsthand. Arthur’s ability to breathe both on land and in water, his dual hearts working in tandem to circulate blood through his gills and body, the mesmerizing bioluminescence that pulsed beneath his skin—things I had experienced up close but hadn’t fully understood.

Then Lenny mentioned something that made my breath hitch. The scale colors and patterns, he explained, weren't universal amongst all sirens. It was specific to certain demographics, a unique adaptation belonging only to particular species. That revelation sent my mind racing—where exactly did Arthur come from? What did that make him? How rare was he, even among his own kind?

And then came the detail that sent murmurs rippling through the room.

“From everything I’ve been able to piece together,” Lenny said, flipping through his notes, “it appears that sirens, at least most—are naturally intersex. Meaning they can reproduce in more than one way.”

Lenny turned the whiteboard around, revealing detailed diagrams and scattered notes. As the board came into view, my breath caught in my throat—this wasn’t just a casual briefing; this was an entire body of research, as if he’d been putting together a puzzle with pieces that shouldn’t fit, but somehow did.

I heard the sharp intake of breath from a few people, the hushed whispers as some struggled to process it. As if that, of all things, was the strangest part about him. I had to bite my tongue to keep from rolling my eyes. They were still trying to grasp the enormity of what was being thrown at them, still coming to terms with the fact that a living, breathing myth was swimming in our tank.

I, on the other hand, had already had the privilege of knowing him—of seeing the depth in those ocean-blue eyes, of hearing the warmth in his voice, of feeling the raw vulnerability he had only ever shown to me. Arthur was so much more than the sum of his strange and wondrous biology.

“Alright, let’s go over the basics,” Lenny began, his voice steady and matter-of-fact, the excitement still hanging in his words. “First, we’ve confirmed that Arthur’s anatomy fits the general description of sirens from several ancient texts and reports. We’ve got a few key details that we still don’t fully understand, but we’re working on it. As long as he’s willing to work with us.”

He pointed to the large diagram of a siren’s anatomy. There were labeled sections showing gills, heart chambers, and the unique structure of their reproductive organs. “As you can see here,” he said, “sirens generally have two penises—yes, two—and they can use them in different ways depending on the situation. One for reproduction, and one that’s used in mating displays, though it’s not entirely clear what triggers which.” He glanced up at the room, letting the words sink in before moving on.

This revelation earned a sarcastic remark from our diver, Sean—delivered with his usual smirk—only for him to be swiftly silenced by a sharp swat from his wife, Karen, our ever-graceful receptionist and greeter. With a pointed look that spoke volumes, she reminded him to keep his quips in check.

I could feel my pulse quicken as I processed the information, knowing this was only the beginning. It wasn’t until he pointed to a section labeled ‘Egg Carrying’ that I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Here’s where it gets interesting,” Lenny continued. “Sirens aren’t exactly mammals. They carry eggs internally, which is how they produce offspring. But given Arthur’s half-human biology, this part of his anatomy is still unconfirmed. We can’t say for sure if he has the ability to reproduce the same way. Though, judging by some traits in the more traditional sirens, it’s entirely possible.”

Lenny uncapped his marker and circled a spot near the siren diagram’s abdomen, where a uterus would typically be. “This is where the eggs are carried, and according to some texts, if they aren’t fertilized during the mating period, the body expels them.” He hesitated for a moment, glancing around the room before adding, “So, uh… basically, they have a menstrual cycle.”

Holy shit. Maybe Arthur and I were more alike than I had ever realized.

The revelation hit me like a tidal wave, dragging me under as my thoughts spiraled. Arthur had told me about his son, but he had spared the details of how he came to be. I had assumed self-fertilization, a clinical, detached process—something he had endured without much choice. But now, hearing that sirens could carry eggs internally, my perception shifted.

Had his body gone through the slow, grueling process of carrying life? Or was it something entirely different, something beyond human comprehension? Did he suffer through the same hormonal shifts, the same aches and exhaustion? Did he experience cramps? Did he bleed? What do siren eggs even look like? Or siren babies?

I was morbidly fascinated by all of it.

But the more I tried to piece it together, the deeper my sympathy for him grew. Reproduction, no matter the species, was taxing—sometimes dangerous, even fatal. And Arthur had done it alone. No support. No comfort. No one to share the weight of it. I swallowed hard, my chest tightening with something heavy and familiar.

What else had he endured in silence?

The more I learned, the more I was filled with unanswered questions and layers of suffering that were beyond my comprehension. My heart ached for Arthur, for the pain he had carried alone and the weight of everything he still bore.

“Now,” he said, tapping the board with a marker. “I want to talk about courtship before we get to the main event. This part is particularly fascinating.” He turned back to the diagram, showing what looked like faint patterns across the skin that followed the nervous system. “This bioluminescence plays a huge part in their mating rituals. It’s used to signal attraction and readiness, much like a bird flashing its feathers. And the patterns and brightness can change based on mood, emotions, or desire.”

I thought back to Arthur, the way his lights had flickered when he was near me, when I touched him, how they pulsed in time with his heartbeat. My breath caught in my throat. He hadn’t just been reacting to the environment—

He’d been reacting to me.

“Then there’s the purring,” Lenny added, tapping the board again on the chest region of his diagram. “Sirens, like most marine creatures, have a complex system of vocalizations, but purring in this context isn’t just a sign of contentment. It’s also an expression of affection, a way of signaling comfort and safety. It seems to be most common in pairs who are actively courting. The sound can be low, almost subsonic, and is used to build intimacy and trust.”

I thought back to the moments when Arthur’s purring reverberated in the water, the sensation so deep and primal it sent a shiver through me, like a current running beneath my skin. I could still feel it, the vibrating hum, echoing in my chest, stirring something inside me.

Had I truly made him feel safe enough to express it? The thought warmed my heart. But then again, how much of it had been instinctual? Had I been too naïve to recognize the signs?

Gods, everything I had found so utterly fascinating, so enchanting about him, turned out to be a part of a mating ritual. My heart twisted as I realized how blind I had been. He’d told me—Arthur had literally told me—that he was struggling to control his lights, that it was mating season for him, that his body was flooding with hormones and urges he was trying so desperately to tame.

I felt like an idiot. I should have put the pieces together sooner. Instead, I had been mesmerized by his allure, consumed by an attraction that now seemed to carry so much more weight than I had ever fully understood.

“Finally,” Lenny said, his voice softening, pulling me from my thoughts. “There’s the tradition of gift-giving.”

I felt a pair of eyes burning into me, and when I glanced around the room, I saw Charles standing by the door. He was leaning casually against the frame, as if he was still absorbed in Lenny’s lesson, but his eyes—those warm, steady eyes—were fixed directly on me.

Heat crept up my neck and flooded my cheeks as I met his gaze, and I could feel the weight of everything unspoken between us. The things we hadn’t addressed, the unacknowledged tension. Charles had seen it all—he had witnessed the way Arthur’s lights had flickered with intensity when he was losing control in the exam room. And more than that, he had seen the way Arthur responded to me, to my touch.

The connection that neither of us had been able to fully understand or express.

It felt like there was something unsaid hanging in the air, a heaviness that pressed down on my chest, suffocating in its silence. I didn’t know if he was concerned, or if it was something else—something neither of us wanted to confront. I couldn’t deny the pull I felt toward Arthur, nor the conflicting emotions that surged through me every time I thought of him.

But having Charles watch me like this, with that knowing look in his eyes, made it feel like there was nowhere for me to hide this secret.

And that scared me more than I cared to admit.

“In many of the texts, siren culture places a lot of emphasis on actions rather than words. Since most typically aren't capable of human speech. Giving an offering is their way of accepting courtship, of sharing mutual desire. Letting their partner know they wish to mate.”

The abalone shell.

I had found it yesterday at Clemens Cove with Charles, sharing the familiar rhythm of one of our walks along the beach. Grounding me in a moment of comfort amidst uncertainty. But when I picked it up, something in me shifted. It reminded me of Arthur. I wanted to give it to him as a peace offering, an apology for what had transpired between us.

The words had slipped out before I even had time to question them.

Charles had been there when I found it, and when I told him my intention, his eyes never left mine. His silence spoke volumes, and I realized then that I had made things more complicated than I intended. Without another word, I knew I had dug myself into a deep grave—one that would be harder to climb out of than I ever imagined.

* ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ *

The room erupted in a flood of chaos the moment Lenny opened the floor for questions.

“I mean, this is absolutely insane,” Mary-Beth breathed, practically vibrating in her seat. “But c’mon guys…a real siren, here? Like, in our facility? This is history in the making! We could be famous for this discovery! I can’t wait to see him in person, when do we get to meet him!?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Tilly interjected, her expression thoughtful as she tapped her pen against her notebook. “I want to know more about his biology. How much of him is human, and how much is—well, not?” She scribbled something onto the page, “we don’t even know where he comes from. What he’s capable of.”

Mary-Beth and Tilly were part of the same internship program as Lenny, fresh-faced college students eager to make their mark in the marine biology world. Their primary focus was in the nursery, caring for orphaned animals and tending to eggs that had been abandoned or rescued. While their work was vastly different from mine, their passion for marine life was undeniable.

Mary-Beth, ever the optimist, had an almost childlike wonder for every creature she encountered—she fell in love with every baby animal that came through our doors and had a tendency to get attached to them before we could even determine if they’d stay.

Tilly, on the other hand, was more analytical, fascinated by behavioral psychology and genetics. While Mary-Beth was eager to meet Arthur, Tilly was more intrigued by what made him tick. I could already see the gears turning in her mind as she scraped her pen against her notebook, likely running through all the questions she wanted to ask, theories she wanted to test. If anyone in this facility was going to deep-dive into his instincts, it was her.

Across the table, Kieran shifted uncomfortably in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh—hate to be the one to ask, but, is he…dangerous?” His voice was quieter than the rest, but the weight of the question settled over the group like a net. “I mean, I know we’re all excited, but the guy’s got sharp claws and even sharper teeth. And from what I’ve heard he’s big. Do we know exactly what we’re dealing with here?”

“Big’s an understatement,” Sean chimed in, leaning back in his chair with an easy grin. “Lad’s probably built like a goddamn shipwreck with a grudge. No offense, but if he decides he don’t like us, we’re all just chum in the water.”

Kieran was the facility’s fisherman, a quiet and steady presence who kept our patients well-fed. Whether he was out on his boat catching fresh fish himself or working with local fisheries to secure a steady supply, he took pride in his work and ensured that every animal in our care had exactly what they needed to thrive. He wasn’t much of a talker, often preferring the solitude of the open water to the chatter of the breakroom, but when he did speak, it was always with careful consideration.

His concern now was understandable—he had seen firsthand what some of our more predatory rescues were capable of, and Arthur was unlike anything we had ever encountered.

Sean, on the other hand, was Kieran’s polar opposite. As the facility’s diver, he spent most of his time underwater, handling cleanings, repairs, and the occasional rescue operation. He also had a flair for showmanship, leading live demonstrations where visitors could watch him feed the larger fish up close. While Kieran kept his worries close to his chest, Sean wasn’t afraid to voice his own—with a sharp tongue and a grin that often landed him in trouble. He had never met a situation he couldn’t joke his way out of, but there was an edge to his words now, an undercurrent of truth beneath the humor.

“Sean.” Karen shot her husband a pointed look, swatting his arm. “You’re not helping.”

He smirked but held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just sayin’! You all saw those diagrams—two hearts, sharp teeth, glowing like the bloody deep sea. Fascinatin’ sure, but let’s not pretend we aren’t one bad day away from a Discovery Channel special.”

Karen was essentially the glue that held this facility together. Officially, she was the receptionist and greeter, the first warm smile visitors saw when they walked through our doors. But in reality, she was so much more than that. She handled everything from scheduling meetings and coordinating tours to reaching out to local news outlets to spread the word about our latest rescues. She even ran the facility’s social media accounts, curating updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses that helped connect our work to the outside world.

She was a force to be reckoned with. With a sharp mind and an even sharper tongue, especially when it came to keeping Sean in line. While her husband had a tendency to run his mouth, Karen had mastered the art of keeping him just reined in enough to avoid disaster—most of the time. Even now, as Sean leaned back in his chair with a smirk, adding fuel to the fire of Kieran’s concerns, Karen was the one to keep things balanced.

Karen rolled her eyes before turning back to Lenny. “Okay, but seriously—what does he eat? Is Kieran gonna have to go out there and wrestle a shark for him or what?”

Kieran paled. “W-wait, what?”

The room roared with voices once again, each one trying to speak over the other.

“Nobody’s going to be feeding him any sharks,” The room quieted as Charles' steady voice cut through the noise, silencing the lingering tension in the air. Kieran relaxed, exhaling slowly as the weight of his concerns seemed to lift. Charles gave a small nod, as if reassuring him and everyone else in the room.

“As for his behavior and temperament,” he continued, gaze sweeping over the group, “there’s still a lot we don’t know. He could be dangerous, but so far he’s given us no reason to believe he wants to cause any harm.”

There was a brief pause, and then Charles turned to face me, his eyes locking with mine. I blinked, a sudden wave of unease crashing over me.

“And as for the interaction we’ve been having with him,” he followed with my name, his voice now directed at me. “You seem to be the only one he trusts right now. How is he responding to you? Have you seen any signs of aggression that we need to be aware of?”

I froze. What the fuck, Charles?

The question hit me like a jolt of electricity, and for a split second, I was completely blindsided. I hadn’t prepared for this—not in the slightest. The thought of speaking to the entire team about my interactions with Arthur hadn’t even crossed my mind. They hadn’t told me I would be briefing everyone on the strange, quiet bond I was forming with him.

Was he asking about his outburst from last night? How was I even supposed to answer this? What could I possibly say without overstepping, without sounding...too involved?

The room seemed to tilt just slightly as all eyes turned toward me. I could feel the weight of their stares like a physical force, pressing down on me, and my throat constricted, making it harder to breathe.

Was Charles expecting me to share everything? To expose every detail of what had happened between Arthur and me? Did he want me to explain how Arthur had only seemed to trust me, how he responded to my voice with such... desperate hope? How he allowed me to touch him without flinching, like my hands had some kind of soothing magic he hadn’t known before? The thought of explaining those moments—the raw, intimate pieces of his existence that I was now learning to navigate—made me freeze even further.

I wasn't ready to voice all this out loud in front of everyone.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I fumbled for the right words, the right tone. I wanted to be honest, to tell them what I had seen—but how much should I reveal? How much was too much? I hadn’t fully processed how much Arthur’s behavior affected me, how much his actions had been stirring something deep inside my heart. It wasn’t just about him being a ‘new species’—it was about the trust he had shown me despite everything he’d been through.

Taking a steadying breath, I finally spoke, “Well for starters, his name is Arthur. And he is…unique. But from what I’ve seen, he’s not acting out of malice. He’s more… confused, conflicted—hurting.” I explained, finding my voice.

“He’s very slow to trust. There have been moments when he’s unsure of himself, especially when he’s around others or feels vulnerable. But there’s been no violence. I think we just need to give him time to adjust. To get to know us.”

I swallowed hard, my words feeling like they came from somewhere deeper than I had expected. “Arthur’s not a threat—at least not in the way we’re worried about. But he’s struggling, he’s running from something I’m still only beginning to understand. And I think...I think he’s just looking for a place to belong. There is humanity in him, and despite his looks he is deeply gentle. But he’s smart too, he feels things like any person would.”

“He’s got a smart mouth, that’s for sure,” John quipped with a grin, his sarcastic remark helping to ease some of my nerves. It was a relief to know I wasn’t the only one starting to grow fond of Arthur, that I wasn’t alone in building trust and a sense of friendship with him.

“He’s been held in captivity for so long, and hurt by some really bad people.” I continued, my gaze shifting between Hosea and Sadie. “Arthur’s truly something magnificent, and I hope you all get a chance to bond with him. But right now, he needs us to pull it together to keep him safe.”

I glanced around the room, meeting their gazes, trying to convey the sincerity of my words. There was a long silence before Charles nodded, his expression thoughtful but unreadable. He had a way of making you feel like you were being examined, dissected, even when he wasn’t saying anything at all.

“Thank you for that assessment,” he said finally, his voice softer. “We’ll take that into account moving forward. But keep us updated, alright? We can’t afford to overlook anything, not with all the unknowns.”

I nodded, grateful for his understanding, but still feeling the heavy responsibility weighing on me. I had to keep walking that fine line, between what was right for the team and what was right for Arthur—and for myself.

* ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ *

After Lenny stumbled through his answers to the team’s questions, trying his best to keep up with their curiosity and concern, it became clear that the facility couldn’t stay in limbo forever. Visitors were scheduled to arrive, and life needed to continue—so, everyone else returned to their duties, getting back to the normal rhythm of their work. Except for us.

We had to be careful about what we shared. The details of Arthur’s healing ability were kept under wraps for now, and we omitted the specifics about the man and group of scientists who had exploited and tortured him. It was already a lot for the team to process, and we didn’t need to send them into a full-blown panic before we had a better grasp on everything ourselves.

Sadie paced the room, her boots echoing in the quiet as she mentally ran through the details she’d gathered. Every fact and piece of evidence was a thread she was pulling together to form a clearer picture. She wasn’t one to speak lightly when it came to her investigations, and she needed to be thorough.

With a glance to the others—Hosea, John, Charles, and myself—she cleared her throat before continuing.

“I’ve dug into Dutch Van der Linde’s background. And let me tell you, he’s a slippery one. This man knows how to cover his tracks.” She paused for a beat, letting that sink in. “Most of what I’ve managed to dig up is several years old, but it paints a clear picture. Last we heard of him was out of a place called Blackwater. Authorities got a tip that he was running some kind of laboratory. A facility that used a lot of saltwater and electricity.”

Her gaze hardened, lips pressing into a tight line. “Now, you know as well as I do what that means when it comes to wildlife—hell, any kind of life. He was holding aquatic animals in conditions that were, to put it plainly, illegal. Overcrowded tanks, improper filtration, and not a single care about environmental regulations. One can only imagine how bad it got.”

I felt my stomach churn with nausea, the image of Arthur in those conditions was too much to bear.

Sadie went on, her voice sharp and focused. “Things went south in that lab. I can’t say for sure what exactly happened, but from what I’ve gathered, it was bad enough that people died. Authorities found broken glass, empty tanks, signs of a hasty cover-up. It looked like some kind of accident at first. But Dutch? He covered his tracks, moved his operation, and disappeared without a trace.”

She gave us a hard look. “We don’t know where he’s gone since, but one thing’s for sure—he’s not someone who’s gonna stop just because we’re onto him now.”

The room hung in tense silence, the weight of Sadie’s words settling over us like a thick fog. She laid out the stark reality of our situation, outlining the two paths we were facing. One was the faint hope that Dutch might just disappear—forget about Arthur and move on to exploit another poor creature, leaving us to breathe easy.

But the second option, the one that seemed far more likely given everything Arthur had shared about him, was more sinister. Dutch wouldn’t stop until he found Arthur, until he took back what he believed he had a right to possess.

“I’ve got my people keeping their eyes open,” Sadie continued, her tone steady, but her gaze never wavering from us. “But for now, you need to keep quiet about your new resident. Word travels fast, and the last thing we need is for this to reach the wrong ears.”

Hosea nodded, his face thoughtful. “Thank you for doing this, Sadie. We’re taking a great risk here, but it eases my mind to know you’re on our side.”

Sadie offered a polite smile, but before she could speak again, John abruptly stood up from his chair, his frustration boiling over. “So that’s it? We’re just supposed to sit here like sitting ducks, waiting for this psychopath to show up and demand his so-called pet back?” His voice was sharp.

Hosea, ever the calm mediator, began to speak, but John cut him off. His eyes flashed with a fire that came from more than just frustration—there was something raw and deeply personal in his voice. “I’m serious. What the hell do we do if this guy shows up at our doorstep? Are we supposed to just call PETA and have him tried for animal cruelty? Is Arthur supposed to testify in a court? Come on, what’s the plan here? Where exactly do we stand in this? I need to understand how your people will stop this from happening.”

His words echoed in the room, hitting each of us in a different way. For a moment, I felt the same heat in my chest, the urgency in John's voice igniting a similar fire in me. This wasn’t just about Arthur—his presence put everyone at risk. We were faced with a man who had no conscience, no moral compass, just an insatiable need to control and exploit.

I could see the tension in John’s stance, the way his hands gripped the back of his chair as if holding on to something solid. He wasn’t the type to back down, and I couldn’t help but admire his unwavering commitment to justice—even if it was the kind that burned with reckless abandon. I had no doubt that we would all fight, but the road ahead was far from clear.

Hosea sighed deeply, his voice steady but laced with the weight of everything he knew was at stake. “John’s right to be worried. We’re not equipped to handle this kind of threat. We don’t have the resources or manpower to go toe-to-toe with someone like Dutch. We’re a small facility, and this isn’t something any of us are used to. But we’ll figure it out. I’ll be damned if that poor boy has to suffer any longer” His gaze shifted to me, a silent understanding passing between us.

We both understood how much was on the line.

Sadie nodded, her expression softening but never losing its edge of professionalism. “I get it, Hosea. Believe me, I do. But sometimes, the best we can do is wait and watch, be prepared for when he shows up. I’m putting feelers out there—keeping an eye on the local networks, my contacts in the field. But Dutch is a ghost. He’s good at disappearing when he wants to. We can’t go running around in circles panicking until we have something concrete.”

I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “So you’re saying we just… wait? And pray he doesn’t come after Arthur?” My voice cracked slightly, but I didn’t care. “What happens if he does show up? We can’t just give up and let Dutch take him.”

Sadie’s eyes softened with something akin to sympathy, but her face remained hard with resolve. “You’re not wrong.” She paused, glancing at the others in the room, her eyes lingering on me for a moment longer. “What I can promise you is this—if Dutch comes for Arthur, if he makes a move, I’ll be here. We’ll all be here. You won’t be facing this alone.”

Hosea placed a hand on the table, leaning into it slightly, his voice firm. “We can’t risk making any rash decisions. Arthur's safety is our priority, we’ll keep him under wraps for now, and gather more information. As much as I hate waiting, it’s what we have to do. For his well being—and for ours.”

I nodded slowly, absorbing their words. I understood what they were trying to say. They were trying to protect Arthur in the only way they knew how. But there was still that gnawing feeling in my gut, the fear that Dutch might already be closer than we realized.

"Alright," I said, standing up from my seat. "But when the time comes, we act. No hesitation. We make sure that when Dutch shows up, we’re ready for him." The words felt strange in my mouth, but they were the truth.

“I made a promise to Arthur that he would never endure that kind of suffering again. And I will do whatever it takes to ensure that promise is kept.”

Sadie looked at me for a long moment before nodding, her expression tight with conviction "Undertsood."

* ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ *

As the last of the visitors trickled out and the automatic doors slid shut, a familiar exhaustion settled deep in my bones. But it wasn’t the same kind of exhaustion that had weighed me down in recent days. This was different—earned through hard work, the kind that came with purpose. A full day of routine tasks, keeping my hands busy, my mind occupied. And for what felt like the first time in days, my thoughts weren’t consumed by Arthur.

I moved through the motions—wiping down counters, locking up equipment, double-checking protocols—before making my way to the break room. My locker door creaked open, and as I grabbed my things, I fished my phone from my pocket. My fingers hovered over the screen for only a moment before I typed in one word.

Captain.

The familiar text thread popped to the top of my messages, and without hesitation, I typed:

Charles, we need to talk.

I hit send, pulling on my jacket and slinging my bag over my shoulder. I already knew where he was—likely in his office, finishing up for the night. So I waited, taking my time as I walked. My phone buzzed in my hand.

Meet in the tunnel? ~CS

A quiet sigh left my lips as I read the message. The tunnel. Of course.

Easily one of the most breathtaking parts of the facility, the tunnel was a curved, glass-walled corridor where guests could walk beneath the water. The sea life surrounded them on all sides, illuminated by the soft glow of artificial reef structures designed to mimic the ocean floor. Stingrays glided like silent phantoms through the currents, schools of fish shimmered in the dim light, and for a moment, stepping inside felt like being transported to another world.

See you there.

I tucked my phone away and started down the hall, feeling the weight of the conversation ahead settling on my shoulders.

Charles stood with an easy sort of stillness, hands tucked into his pockets, eyes trained on the glass where a pair of clownfish darted in and out of a pink anemone. The soft glow of the tunnel lights cast a faint shimmer against the water, reflecting off the corals in a wash of muted color. At the sound of my approaching footsteps, he turned slightly, his face lighting up with a small, familiar smile before his gaze flickered back to the fish.

“Did you know female clownfish leave the nest after they mate and lay their eggs? The male stays behind to guard them until they hatch,” he mused, his voice carrying the weight of thought rather than idle conversation. His eyes never left the tiny creatures, but I could tell his mind was somewhere else. Drifting beyond the glass, beyond the tunnel, caught in some invisible current of contemplation. “Sometimes I wonder what the advantage is in her leaving. Surely they’d be better off as a pair, keeping the young safe together.”

I stepped up beside him, folding my arms as I watched the fish weave through the anemone’s swaying tendrils, completely immune to its stinging nematocyst defenses.

“Well,” I started, mirroring his thoughtful tone, “maybe she just wasn’t ready for it. Eitherway, clownfish can change their sex. So—I guess if he really wanted to, he could become female and go find a new mate. Start over. Do things better than his traitorous ex-partner.”

A short chuckle left Charles’ lips, but there was something wry about it. “Until something bigger comes along and makes a meal out of them both.”

I smirked, though my chest felt heavy. “Ah, the circle of life. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

The words hung between us, lighthearted in tone but laced with something heavier, unspoken. Beneath the easy rhythm of our banter, something churned beneath the surface. Something neither of us were quite ready to say out loud.

We stood there in silence, the glow of the water casting shifting patterns across the floor, before I finally gave in to the question that had been gnawing at me all day.

“Charles, why’d you throw me into the flames like that during the meeting?”

His brow furrowed, caught off guard. “I—what? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be like that, you know what I’m talking about.” I sighed and dropped onto one of the viewing benches, rubbing my temples. “I already hate public speaking, and no one told me I’d have to stand up there and explain myself. I mean…I’ve hardly wrapped my head around this, Charles! I thought we were just there to go over the basics, get everyone up to speed on the whole… situation.” I waved a hand vaguely through the air, but we both knew exactly what I meant.

Charles hesitated for a fraction of a second, then shrugged. “You were there when he was found, you were there when I removed the harpoon tip. If anyone’s qualified to speak on this, it’s you.” He paused, then added, “Besides, you seem to be getting along pretty well with him.”

It wasn’t just a passing observation or a simple truth—I knew him better than that. He made a point to say it, not just to me, but to the entire team.

I let out a scoff, shaking my head. “So that’s why you called me out? Because I’ve been trying to be a friend to him?”

Charles turned to face me fully now, his expression unreadable but sharp with something I couldn’t quite place. “I wanted to remind you that it’s dangerous. We still have no idea what that thing’s capable of.”

A slow, seething heat crept up my neck. “Thing?”

His jaw tensed. “You know what I meant.”

“Do I?” My voice was quiet, but there was a bite to it. A challenge.

He didn’t back down. “He’s been here less than two days, and you look at him like—”

“Like he’s a damn person, Charles,” I cut him off, standing now, anger pushing me to my feet. “Not a thing, not a monster, not something dangerous. What’s dangerous is the people who captured him and tortured him for his entire life.” My breath was coming too fast, but I couldn’t stop. “Arthur has known nothing but pain and loneliness. If it’s against policy to make our patients feel safe, then call Hosea and tell him to fire me.”

Charles exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his hair, frustration etched into every line of his face. But beneath it—beneath the argument, beneath the fear and the worry—I saw it.

He meant well. And that was the most infuriating part.

“You think I don’t understand that?” Charles shot back, his voice tight with restraint. “You think I don’t see what’s been done to him? What he’s been through?” He took a step closer, his tone lowering, but no less intense. “I do. And that’s exactly why I’m worried.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he wasn’t done.

“You’re not just some observer in all of this—you’re in deep, deeper than you even realize,” Charles said, his voice heavy with something between frustration and concern. “I know your heart is in the right place, but damn it, you can’t act like you’re the only one who cares.” He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply as though struggling to rein in emotions he wasn’t ready to share. “I’m not telling you what to do, but I need you to see the bigger picture. I know you feel something for him, but this—this is far bigger than that.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but his words hung in the air, leaving me frozen. The weight of his tone cut deeper than I expected, and for the first time in a while, I wasn’t sure what to say. I had been so caught up in my own emotions, my own frustration, that I hadn’t stopped to see his.

“W-what feelings?” I stammered, feeling like I was losing ground. The way he looked at me—the understanding, the depth—made me feel exposed. Those brown eyes, usually warm, now felt like they were peeling back layers I didn’t want to confront.

Charles sighed, almost tenderly, as though he’d known this would be difficult. “You think I don’t know your heart? Know that look?” His voice softened as he said my name, but the words were weighted with something older, more painful. “I know you. And whether you like it or not, I care about you more than that damn fish. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

The sincerity in his voice hit me harder than I expected, the raw emotion underlying his words pulling at something inside me. His care, his concern—they were clear, and I could no longer pretend they didn’t matter.

Gathering his things, Charles turned to leave, his footsteps echoing faintly in the tunnel. "Just promise me you’ll be cautious about this. And if anything, anything happens that frightens you, you come to me about it first. Okay?" His words lingered in the air, heavy and unspoken.

I nodded without thinking, not sure if I meant it or if I was just too exhausted to argue anymore. As the door to the tunnel closed behind him, I leaned back on the bench, my eyes drifting to the vast tank before me. The room felt suddenly colder, emptier, and I let out a slow breath, closing my eyes.

The weight of everything—Charles’ warnings, my own confusion, Arthur’s presence—settled on my shoulders.

When I opened my eyes again, the room had darkened, a large shadow casting itself across the walls like the slow approach of a storm. Lifting my head, my breath caught in my throat as I saw him—Arthur—watching me just beyond the glass.

The world came to a standstill as I took in the sight of him, an otherworldly presence that seemed to dominate the space. He hovered there, still and silent, his powerful form fully illuminated by the dying light of the setting sun.

Beautiful didn’t even begin to describe him.

His body glistened in the dimming glow, long hair rippling ever so slightly with the water’s motion. The vibrant colors of his tail were like nothing I had ever seen before—rich blues and purples that shimmered against the darker water, pulsing with life that gave him the appearance of a phantom rising from the depths.

Arthur was the water, and the water was him. Like he was born to be exactly this, fierce and indescribable. Gills and fins delicately waving with each movement of the current, floating upright. He spanned almost the entire length of the glass, and seeing him like this I realized just how small and insignificant I was in comparison.

He is the ocean.

The golden orange light from the sun filtered through the water, casting an ethereal glow that made his form appear almost heavenly, like something from a legend. The intricate patterns of his scales caught the light, transforming him into a figure of pure elegance and power.

The glass between us felt like a thin barrier between two worlds. One human and one far beyond my understanding.

My heart raced as I sat there, rooted to the spot. His deep blue eyes, so full of life and yet so distant, never left mine. They spoke of something ancient, something vast, and in that moment, it was as if the entire world had narrowed down to just him and me.

His pull, my need, and everything unknown between us—pressed down on me like the ocean itself.

AN: Big shoutout to @photo1030 for giving me some devious ideas about Charles and the reader having a romantic history. I knew I wanted him to play a bigger role in this, but now I’m fully invested in him having some conflicted feelings about Arthur and the reader. Let me know what you guys think!

Oh! Also, I hope the egg-menses/double-dick thing isn’t too weird for some folks. It’s typical in a monster romance to have odd genitalia and means of reproducing. In my humble opinion, it’s what makes it so intriguing to read (and write!) As a biologist, I relate to the reader a lot, I too am morbidly fasciated by the limits of science.

We’ll see our sweet fish boy again in the next chapter, got some really sweet/hot scenes cooking 😋

#arthur morgan #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 fanfic #ao3 fanfic #arthur morgan x reader #red dead fandom #ao3 #monster x human #monster au #monster romance #arthur morgan x you #siren x reader #siren au #rdr2 modern au #charles smith #john marston

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thekingofmuses · 1 year ago

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Cool shades, part 2!

Source

#I found treasure. sacred treasure!#KOF #TEAM SACRED TREASURES #Kyo Kusanagi #Chizuru Kagura #Iori Yagami

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kanohivolitakk · 6 months ago

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Ok can we stop talking about the "gymbo inika were the reason love isn't canon"when there's stuff in the prototype plans that are far more insane and interesting including (but not limited to)

One of the earliest concepts for 06 was set in Mata nui where Toa nuva fought the morally gray Toa Rahna, who served as a more negative reflection of Toa. A major theme for this idea was exploring if toa could be evil.

While 08 always had bat themed villains, initially 08 was supposed to have army builder mooks instead of BoM Makuta. Also originally 08s villains were supposed to be Karda nui natives

That said, Makuta as a species and Brotherhood of Makuta were planned to by the story team as early as 2004, and were already considered to be the villains of 08. Though by this time only the titan sets.

There's at least two different concepts for aquatic villains that vastly differ from the Barraki. One of them were soldiers that were possibly army-builder villains, while the others were traders who weren't necessarily evil(?) Regardless both of them very were starkly different to the Barraki in canon, thoguh the soldier concept is far more align to with what we ended up getting.

The Piraka we know and love(?) seem to be a fusion of the two prototype concepts of 06 villains: A greedy brigand species who terrorize the locals called Hagalakh and the aforementioned Toa Rahna. The Piraka took the aesthetics/lore/culture of the Hagalakh and the "anti-toa team/ group of six individuals who served as evil disorted version of toa" concept from toa Rahna.

In the concept with the Hagalakh as 06's antagonists, their goal was to wake up Tren Krom who was supposed to be the final boss. Tren Krom in this version was supposed to be a dead giant whose corpse hosts a temple and the treasures the villains seek.

In some of the plans the hunt for mask of life started in 07, not 06. 06 instead had a different goal that depended on which version of the story plans wer'e talking about

Some plans had the toa Inika/Mahri be the main team for all three years, while some plans had the team change every year. The plan

Some of the plans indicate the "Matorans" were meant to be different species of beneveloent creatures, as they used different title than Matoran to describe them. These include the Rana and the Ihoian, though the Rana may have been Matoran

Lot of plans had the titan sets be either Rahi, or at least, other Rahi-like creatures and beasts. Many of 06 and 07s concepts had these beasts be protectors for sacred locations or the Mask of Life.

There were plans for character titans. One of the Haglak/TK concepts had the leader of Haglaks, Torak, while one of the prototype Barraki were meant to have their leader be a titan set

06 was designed a shakeup that would revitalized the brand by addressing major flaws the storyteam felt prevented new kids getting hooked. One of the bigger roadblocks was the lack of a main protagonist. This was corrected by introducing a new Matoran protagonist with a connection to Mask of Life who would act as the centerpiece of the Ignition trilogy and eventually become a Toa.

At the end of 06 the Toa of Fire (Jaller??) was supposed to die and be replaced by the aforementioned Matoran protagonist as the toa of fire

Mazeka was the name of a corridor in 06 plans

Takanuva was supposed to use Mask of Life at some point

Toa Mahri were called Toa Awkwa at one point

#kirika talks #bionicle #not sure if people have brought these up here yet #but if not I wanted to bring these up #since so far people have just went insane over love being canon and bad #when that's arguably the least interesting aspect of the scrapped story plans #and this is just the stuff we have available #apparently duckbricks and MoD plan to release more documents #including scrapped movie plans such as the Makuta origin story movie pitch nathan Furst mentioned years ago #suffice it to say #its really good time being into bonkles

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hearthandheathenry · 9 months ago

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All About Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh, also known as Lughnasa or Lúnasa, is the name given to the Gaelic festival that represents the beginning of the harvest season, which traditionally falls on August 1st in the northern hemisphere. The holiday is about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox, and is one of the 4 Gaelic seasonal festivals. Although it is traditionally Irish, many neopagans celebrate the holiday as well.

Traditionally named after the Irish God Lugh, Lughnasadh has been documented to be celebrated since at least the middle ages and involved great gatherings, ceremonies, athletic games like the Tailteann Games, feasting, horse racing, matchmaking, trading, and more, and were traditionally celebrated on top of hills and mountains. The festival remained widely celebrated until about the 20th century, where it seemed to be replaced by Christian counterparts.

Lugh, the God the festival is named after, is said to have founded the holiday as a funeral feast and funeral games to commemorate the death of an earth goddess. The Irish stories vary throughout regions and times, but it usually involves a woman who is stolen away or held against her will and dies of grief, shame, exhaustion, or unspecified causes. There is notable similarities to the Greek Persephone tale. According to a tale about the Lughnasadh festival site Tailtin, it is said to be a funeral for his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who was said to have died from exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. A tale about the Lughnasadh site Naas, says the festival was founded in the memory of his two wives, Nás and Bói. Another theory states it was a mourning for the end of summer.

Máire MacNeill, a folklorist, studied the later lore of the holiday and claims it is about a struggle for the harvest between Lugh and another god, often named Crom Dubh. In some stories Lugh must seize Crom Dubh's treasure of grain to give to all of mankind. In other stories, it's over a woman named Eithne who represents grain. Othertimes, its a battle of Lugh defeating a figure representing blight. There doesn't seem to be one agreed upon legend, other than it's revolving around the God Lugh.

As for ancient customs and traditions, they can vary region to region and have morphed throughout time. However, a big tradition was the gathering at Óenach Tailten, a type of olympic style games and gathering where kings declared truces during the entire festival in order to partake and compete against eachother. It included ritual athletic and sporting competitions, horse racing, music and storytelling, trading, law-making and settling legal disputes, creating contracts, and even matchmaking. A common matchmaking tradition was allowing couples to enter a trial marriage that lasted a year and a day by joining hands through a wooden door, after of which they could make permanent or break without consequences once the trial marriage was up. One gathering, called the Óenach Carmain, also consisted of a food and livestock market along with a market for foreign traders.

Other traditions also included a solemn cutting of the first corn to be offered to the deity by bringing it to a high place and burying it, a meal for everyone consisting of the new food and blueberries, a sacrifice and rituals involving a sacred bull, a ritual dance-play, reenactment of the lore, and closing ceremonies. Climbing hills and mountains were also a popular tradition, but has been rebranded overtime as Christian pilgrimages. At some gatherings, everyone wore flowers and climbed a hill, where they buried said flowers at the top to signify the ending of summer. At other gatherings, the first sheaf of harvest was buried instead.

A popular tradition up until about the 18th century were faction fights where young men fought eachother with sticks. One such game consisted of building towers of sod topped with a flag to defend from the other team's sabotaging. Bull sacrifices were also recorded into the 18th century, being used as offerings to various deities, along with special meals made from the first harvest. A special cake called the lunastain was also recorded. Visiting holy wells was also a very prominent tradition, just like during the other yearly festivals. Although bonfires were associated with Lughnasadh and the other main Celtic festivals, they were considered rare for this holiday, most likely due to the very warm summer temperatures.

Some traditions are still celebrated today in Ireland, with festivals being held in honor of Lughnasadh and re-enactors and historians reviving and teaching new generations old lore. There are still markets, traditional dancing, traditional storytelling, arts and craft workshops, feasting, and much more during these modern gatherings, keeping the traditions alive and well, even if they differ region to region. Some pagans and Wiccans also celebrate Lughnasadh, usually differing in their practices, but still using it as a signifier of the first harvest and summer's ending.

Lughnasadh Associations

Colors - yellow, orange, red, brown, green, gold, bronze

Food - blueberries, blackberries, grains, fruit, vegetables, bread, corn, beef, stews, lamb, wine, beer, cider, fruit drinks

Animals - bulls/cows, roosters, sheep

Items - scythes and harvest tools, grain/corn stalks

Crystals - citrine, aventurine, tigers eye, carnelian, topaz

Other - sporting/athletic competitive games, storytelling, matchmaking, cycle of life, harvest

Ways to celebrate:

gather blueberries or blackberries

enjoy grains or breads

make homemade bread

have a feast

climb a hill/take a pilgrimage

offer food to your deity(ies)

commit or recommit to your partner

harvest fresh food from your garden

visit a farmers market

complete a craft or make art

participate in an athletic competition or game

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fulgurbugs · 10 months ago

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What would the travelers Pokémon teams be?

I can totally see Alfyn having a Blissey. Therion seems like he’d have a Gengar, potentially.

ok. upon literally hours of deliberation and team building (i actually already had ones for the OT1 travelers but decided to revisit them and change a few picks) me and my bestie @snailcruncher have settled on some teams. i will be going in depth on reasonings for these so prepare for a long post lol. im gonna put it under a readmore because really im not joking about how long it is

we also came up with some ideas/lore for why some of these would be picked in a pokemon AU setting, so i’ll be explaining any of those thoughts if they’re relevant too.

Ophilia:

one of the only teams left untouched, I think this is a good batch for her. i’m imagining a scenario where the sacred flame takes the form of a pokemon, and it’s a lampent. frosmoth and togetic felt just like… the right vibe. Lapras and Ampharos both have associations with guiding, so they’re in. Audino is a notable healing pokemon, and it feels in line with her personality as well.

Cyrus:

Alakazam for mr high iq smart guy. duh. oranguru for his role as a teacher, and Runerigus would be a late acquisition to his team in his ch4. Flareon, Glaceon, and Jolteon for the 3 scholar spell types. i also think him having 3 eeveelutions could also be kind of like, they’re really good for demonstrations for single-type stuff, as well as being popular with others. people might come up to him and be like omg you have a flareon i love flareon pleaseeee tell me more (flirtily) which of course would go over his head and he would start telling you flareon facts. I feel like Cyrus would excel in double battles.

Tressa:

Meowth: the pay day signature pokemon. this is as close as i can replicate to tressa randomly finding money. Skwovet (she can now take her pet squirrel with her in a pokeball)

Gyrados for sure. one, she lives along an ocean, so she should definitely have a water type, two, i’m imagining a scenario where she buys a magikarp cheap, seeing the potential in it, then raises it into a real powerhouse. just like her!

carbink: really funny scenario me and the bestie came up with that instead of eldrite the treasure was diancieite. the carbink is from the same cave. tressa did try to evolve it with the diancieite. it didn’t work.

pidgeot… felt like she needed a flying type (wind magic rep) and i feel like she’d gravitate to the humbler normal types… doesn’t get much more straightforward than pidgeot. Dhelmise… maybe it used to be captain leons, maybe she fished it out of the harbor in rippletide herself. either way, she thinks it’s cool

Olberic:

Aegislash: sword form, shield form…. this pokemon itself is the unbending blade. obviously i have given him several other sword based pokemon, too.

gallade, escavalier, and sirfetch’d badically all fit this. they’re knight-like, so they feel fitting i think to him.

as for conkeldurr and garganacl, they feel kind of… solidly built. like him. ( ⬇️ garganacl pick lore)

Primrose:

almost all of her pokemon can learn some kind of dance though their level up. Oricorio is the obvious choice, dragonair reps dragon dance, beautifly reps quiver dance, and lilligant… well they can learn so fucking many. we couldn’t decide on which one to give her, so we ended up giving her both. they’re her backup dancers or whatever.

mawile just feels very primrose to me. its cute or pretty or whatever, and you might underestimate it… but watch out. it bites.

Alfyn:

he feels like a guy who loves a big fluffy dog. and stoutland has also been used in games for its ability to sniff out items, so it feels like it’d be a good pick for an apothecary looking to sniff out herbs and such. Comfey is an obvious pick, i mean its signature move is. floral healing. meganium also has mentioned in its dex entries its healing and calming properties. it’s also a cool as fuck dinosaur so i think alfyn would like it.

chatot. does this even need explanation

we also wanted to give him an ice type, and settled on cubchoo. it has a perpetually runny nose… even Alfyn can’t fix it, try as he might.

as for leavanny, we had some trouble picking the last slot on this team. we were looking through friendship evos, and leavanny caught my eye. it’s dex entries mention that it’s very gentle, it also shows no mercy to foes who target young pokemon. seems fitting… we decided alfyn got it as a swadloon (maybe it could be taught to use its sewing abilities to dress wounds?) and it evolved during his ch3.

Therion:

I think Krookodile, mimikyu, and klefki are quite obvious picks, so i won’t go too in on them. Ninjask and Shedinja…. Ninjask is super speedy, so it felt right to give one to therion, but also i feel like.. he’d keep the shedinja around. even with 1 hp and one billion weaknesses… it’s still a part of his team. it and ninjask were born from the same nincada. he couldn’t abandon it like that.

and applin lol. something about therion gives me “guy who’s going for a cool as fuck hydrapple and ends up with an appletun actually”

H’aanit:

If anyone’s allowed to have legendaries, it’s the hunters. Chien-pao is as close as we can get to a snow leopard. and yeah maybe it’s a little evil but H’aanit is built different. Decidueye feels like an obvious pick, and spirit shackle is a great signature move for the h’aanit vibe. trapinch for. leghold trap. kilowattrel is literally a thunderbird. and ariados… well, it has the ability sniper, to reference hunter’s crit boosting abilities, as well as having some trapping moves like webs. for the Hunters, I’ve left their last spot blank, but this just means like, a “flex” spot that would be different each time you battled them. H’aanits got boxes of options to choose from.

now, onto the OT2 ones!

Ochette:

I’m sure you can see what i’m going for here. it’s just the closest i could get to Akala/mahina and her 3 story beasts. and again, like H’aanit, the last spot is “flex” not empty, so imagine her bringing some different new bullshit to every battle.

Cassti:

i wanted to do a few things with Castti: obviously, give her some healing-y mons, but also a few oddball picks that might have you looking twice. picked Shiinotic because of its ominous dex entries, and then. toedscruel because i realize shiinotic actuallt doesn’t get spore i think? and i think castti “put em to sleep right in the street” florenz should have a mon with spore. (edit. i actually just cant read the bulbapedia tables and shiinotic does get spore. anyways she gets two spore mons i guess cuz what if she’s gotta knock out two people at the same time. or whatever. dustox emits toxic powder from its wings, which seems like it could be something castti would want to keep on hand for poison axe. these three might seem a little weird tho, and reinforce her bad first impression in canalbrine, even though i’m sure they’d all be very well behaved and nice. Blissey and Arboliva are straightforward healing picks. I feel like these would be common for apothecaries to have in general.

and then galar-slowking. poison-activated brain nonsense. i feel like she acquires this one post-amnesia. they feel a kinship with each other.

Throné

Throné’s team is half-blacksnakes dedicated, half catered to herself. Every blacksnake has a seviper or an ekans, as well as probably most of them also having other grunt-esque pokemon, like zubats and such. throné’s taken care of hers, though, and friendship evolved it into a crobat.

chose furfrou because i think throné would like a prissy little dog she can dress up cutely. milcery, which she’s waiting on evolving until she can figure out what alcremie form she wants, and a shade-cherrim.

oh, and zangoose, of course. the natural enemy of sevipers. one appeared to her right after she left new delsta. what a sign, right?

Osvald:

Osvald we had some interesting stuff to work with, I think. we decided that most of his pokemon were newly acquired after his prison escape- not on purpose. they seem to just take a liking to him and start following him around.

the avalugg helped get him out of the frozen water at cape cold, and then stuck with him.

the teddiursa.. also just stuck with him. we wanted to give him something that felt a little oddball for him… so this doesn’t evolve. it stays cute and unevolved forever.

the shuppet was found hovering around the ruins of Osvald’s house. he was reluctant to take it, but if it was formed out of some semblance of his desire for vengeance… he has to be responsible for it.

the Indeedee is the only one of osvalds old pokemon, out of this lineup. since indeedee are so helpful to people, it was kind of a family pokemon acquired after elena’s birth (dex mentions they’re good at babysitting.) Osvald could probably also trust it with simple lab assistant tasks like moving stuff around. was a very beloved pokemon within their family. anyways, following his sentencing, clarissa managed to get ahold of the indeedee and took care of it all this time. when osvald returns, it’s clear it wants him to take her with him.

the drampa was acquired after the events of montwise, having shown up and basically just forced itself to go with osvald. somehow it seems to know what’s going on and who it can trust…

and slowking.. well, smart guy needs a smart pokemon. it’s another one that took a shine to him, though at that point he was getting used to this happening.

Partitio:

Talonflame: partitio’s aptitude for fire magic and the “chickadee” nickname made this an obvious choice for an ace. I can imagine a young partitio’s first pokemon being a fletchling, for sure.

bramblegast. the funny tumbleweed. put it on the team immediately.

Milotic: Paritio picked up a feebas. having a knack for seeing the potential in pokemon, he wasn’t wrong, and now hes got this thing. it’s very popular with other people, though it seems an odd pick for partito at first glance to strangers.

armarouge: ok this one’s a little convoluted so i will explain it later. kind of vibes based pick tho lol. revavroom kind of. uhh. steam engine. (we can pretend)

there ain’t a more partitio pokemon out there than gholdengo. everyone say thank you scarvi for giving partitio most of his team.

Agnea:

hey, it’s another oricorio! i think you can guess why.

volcarona: learns fiery dance, but we thought up even more lore on this one. the larvesta was a family pokemon. mostly belonging to Garud (we ended up deciding that the Bristarnis had a lot of bug types, who help out with the sewing stuff and larvesta does give a little bit silkworm, lol..)

anyways, part of his blessing for sending agnea off was telling her to take the larvesta, who also turned out to be a dazzling star in the end too… after a lot of hard work.

altaria and leafeon rep dragon and swords dance. i just feel like they’re good picks for her energy, too. lunatone reps the moonstep. I’ve also opted to give her a sunny cherrim, which i think would be cute contrasted with Throné’s gloomy one.

Temenos:

temenos has quite the oddball lineup for a cleric. but hes kind of an oddball cleric so i think it works.

Absol. man. a lot of shit happens to temenos. this absol is stressed tf out 24 fucking 7. sorry man.

Clefable: felt like we had to give him a healer-adjacent pokemon and this one evolves with a moonstone. feels fitting for mr night-ability mistral tbh.

Lokix. alright. another scenario based pick. Temenos caught this thing on the pilgrims way as a nymble at like level 2. probably rustling in the metaphorical tall grass, crick is all “get behind me, it could be dangerous” and then. lvl 2. nymble. doesn’t even need to be fought to be caught. and then temenos is all hey crick, it’s a “crick”et pokemon! (we’ll ignore that the dex says grasshopper) he’d keep it just to mess with crick, but it ends up sticking around.

Houndoom. well, temenos is the pontiff’s hound, so we did need to pick a dog for him. it’s a houndour in the beginning, houndoom by the end. probably evolved in a moment of crisis (in ch4?) the yamask is from crackridge.

wooloo. this is actually Crick’s. it wasn’t helping with the little lamb allegations… after the events of stormhail, Temenos takes it in.

Hikari:

Kingambit: i mean. come on. gotta get a kingambit for the future king.

Gardevoirs dex entire mention that it is dedicated to its trainer/cause to the bitter end, and would do anything to protect it. perfect for Hikari.

Morpeko and Zweilous. some literally two-faced pokemon. (maybe he feels a little bit of a kinship with them in that way) i also really wanted to give Hikari a pseudo-legendary, and i think that his zweilous would probably evolve just in the nick of time to kick some ass against mugen. Hydreigons might be notoriously destructive, but something about the personalities merging into one brain in evolution seems to have mellowed Hikari’s out. it’s remarkably personable, for a hydreigon.

lucario: i really wanted to give him a pokemon that learns copycat, and lucario fits that bill. plus, he definitely needed a fighting type.

Cerudelge: formed from bitterness of old cursed armor, but also an extremely skilled sword fighter… one of hikari’s aces.

I also like to imagine that a lot of hikari’s pokemon are quite difficult to deal with (his ceruledge in particular is quite belligerent and mean) but they all have utmost respect for him as a trainer, once they’re on the battlefield. but onlookers sometimes worry… how the hell does he deal with it all?

other notes about some of the picks :

Partitio’s amarouge. Paritio picked up a. charcadet later on, and hikari personally warned him that it might be difficult to deal with. (his charcadet and later ceruledge were super hard to train for him) of course, partitio did end up in possession of the cool nice armor that evolved it into the better mannered and nobler armarouge… but honestly, even his charcadet was far better behaved.

paritio and tressa both get those shitty fish that get cool. must be because they both have an eye for a diamond in the rough.

agnea and throné’s cherrims are best friends. throné rarely got to see her cherrim sunny-form until she left new delsta… she wonders if maybe it was upset about being so nocturnal before, with the blacksnakes.

castti and osvald, team mom and team dad somehow both ended up with slowkings. everyone’s a little concerned about castti’s, though…

after the events of his story, Osvald leaves indeedee and teddiursa with clarissa and elena. the teddiursa and elena in particular take to each other very well… when osvald finally is able to return to elena’s life, the teddiursa is really much more her pokemon.

also. H’aanit and Ochette and far and away the best battlers of both groups. i know i only have them with one flex spot, but you can imagine that they’d swap out a lot more for whatever they need to do to build a good team. they’ve got loads more options than everyone else.

you know that thing about giving someone an applin in galar? therion did trade it over to alfyn at one point. but really they have joint custody of that thing. which definitely ended up as an appletun.

we also had some npc aces sprinkled in there, so here’s some other thoughts, just as bonus!

Malaya: Pawmot (revival blessing), rapidash.

Elena: Abra

Harvey: Hypno, Bacephalon

Pala: Kricketot (formerly belonged to her and agnea’s mom)

Roque: Metagross

Kazan: Husuian Braviary

Ori: Chatot

Trousseau: Glimmora

Cordelia: ….ferrothorn

Erhardt: Aegislash, Hisuian Samurott

Z’aanta: Zamazenta

Juvah: is literally a solgaleo

Darius: Scrafy/Pangoro

Simeon: Malamar

Esmeralda: Mismagius (wanted to give her something with perish song)

Mattias: drifblim? darkrai?

Lucia: Hatterene

Miguel: Grimmsnarl

Werner: spectrier

Mugen: Kingambit. mirror match with Hikari, but mugen’s has supreme overlord while Hikari’s has defiant.

Kaldena: we couldn’t pick but maybe she goes like lusamine mode and fuses with something.

Claude: Cradily. (uh. literally fossil pokemon)

Dolcinea: belive it or not, also an oricorio. also, solrock. but her oricorio is the prettiest.

veronica: she has somehow acquired the worlds first and only female gallade through the power of lesbianism.

Crick: … wooloo….

I do wanna make some drawings for these ideas, but this post was literally already one billion miles long and has way too many images, so it’ll probably be a separate post. thanks for the ask! and sorry for talking so much, but i fucking love making pokemon teams so much it’s insane.

and a big thank you again to my bestie @snailcruncher who helped me with a lot of these picks (and did basically all of the npc picks thank you so much i love you). tysm for pokemon octopath brainrotting with me for like 4 hours.

#octopath #octopath traveler #octopath traveler 2 #im not tagging every character. lol #pokemon #only tagging pkmn so i’ll be able to find this post again later.#anyways. feel free to yap at me about my picks i can and will talk about this forever.

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hervygervy · 2 months ago

Text

So Kid Icarus Uprising has been out for 10+ years and yet we're still reusing the same two jokes, huh... Well, recycling is a beautiful thing so why don't we talk about them today!

You guys know 'em, right? Of course you do! "Floor ice cream gives you health!" "I never learned how to read!" Ha! What knee-slappers. Now what if I told y'all that those lines were actually creative deviations from the localization team?

Let's go in order. First is the floor ice cream bit, which occurs in chapter 16 right after a hot spring:

That was probably the millionth time you had to listen to that conversation, so I hope you can forgive me. But hey, now you get to hear the Japanese version:

The punchline is entirely different. Here's how I'd translate it:

Palutena: There's a Float Ring.

Viridi: I wonder if this is also an Aurum copy.

Pit: Whether it's a hot spring or a vehicle, I'll use whatever I can! This is what it is to be an angel! This is the angel's way of life!!

Viridi: What are you getting all psyched for? Palutena, are you giving him enough pocket money?

Palutena: Ah, that's... I haven't thought about that.

Pit: I'm not crying or anything, I'm not!

Aww. Poor Pit doesn't get any allowance. That's to be expected, I think.

A couple notes: the "Float Ring" is just the Japanese name for the Aether Ring, although you probably figured that out. All the vehicles have different names, actually. The Exo Tank is called the Beetle, the Cherubot is called the Gigas, the Lightning Chariot is called the Chariot of Light, and the Great Sacred Treasure is called the True Three Sacred Treasures. So on and so forth.

Additionally, something I personally find interesting is Viridi's word choice in one of her lines. Japanese is a very grammatically complex language, and one of these complexities comes in the form of talking about giving and receiving. There are a bunch of words for "to give" that are used depending on the giver and receiver's social status. As an English speaker, it's a real headache. I guess this is what you call pragmatics. When talking about giving allowance to Pit, Viridi uses やっておる (yatteoru) which is a progressive form of やる (yaru). やる can mean a billion different things, but in this context, it means "to give." And this is the kind of "give" you say when talking about giving something to a dog or plant or the like. Make of that what you will!

Wow, I really got sidetracked. Anyway, I can't say I know the logic behind this change, because both versions evidently have the intention of being funny. But lately I've been coming to the conclusion that the English version tries to make an effort to be more blatantly funny for lack of a better word. Like, instances where there is no joke in the Japanese version will see a joke inserted in the English version, or in cases like these, they try to ham up the funny factor. The localizers pretty much had free reign over the English script per Sakurai's blessing, so I suppose such random changes are an inevitability. In future posts, I'll talk about plot changes and characterization differences so please stay tuned for those! Back to the topic at hand, personally I'd say I prefer the Japanese version of this conversation, it's funny and cute.

Moving on! Reading. You're doing it right now. Thank you for that, by the way. But poor Pit, he never learned how to read. We learn this near the end of the flight segment of chapter 17:

People seem to be really fixated on what was honestly meant to just be a totally unserious and funny line. Like there's a whole lotta fanart out there depicting Pit learning to read or whole essays on literacy headcanons. But who am I to talk, I'm also someone who would take all of this game's lines at face value.

And now, the Japanese:

And my translation:

Pit: M-my wings are getting hot!

Palutena: It's no good! We're already at the flight limit! I'll cut the miracle of flight!

Pit: Wahh!

Palutena: Pit! Pit!!

Pit: Mayday! Mayday!! All systems down! It's already come to this! Before I die, I wanted to eat until I was full!

Viridi: Is this the time to be saying such corny things? You should ride this!

Pit: N-Nachure!

Viridi: Carefully line yourself up with the floating island. If you land poorly, you understand what'll happen, right?!

Oh, right, Viridi is called Nachure in the Japanese version. As in "nature." Surprised that never came up until now. But yeah! As you can see, the Japanese version uses a more clichéd punchline. Something you'd expect in a shounen anime. Again, the localizers had free reign and they simply changed the line to be something funnier. I have to say, I think the English version wins. There is no better punchline than illiteracy. It's a terribly overdone joke at this point, but maybe for good reason. It got added into Super Smash Bros Ultimate, after all. Did you know Antony Del Rio had to rerecord that line just for that game? They didn't just reuse it!

...I can make this post longer, if you want. We can like, really dive into this literacy thing if you want. There are a couple more conversations to pick apart, in that case. Just take a gander below the cutoff if that's your fancy.

Alright, so there's this part in chapter 5 where you have to jump across a bunch of rotating floating platforms, right? One of these rings of platforms is fashioned into letters spelling "Pandora," if you remember.

A thoroughly enlightening spelling lesson. The way this conversation plays out implies that Pit couldn't read the platforms. It makes me wonder if the English script writers already had the "never learned how to read" joke locked in, thus making it a genuine piece of characterization the writers were going for, or if this is purely a coincidence and it just so happens to work out perfectly.

To be honest, this conversation is a little less interesting than I hoped it to be. I'll translate:

Palutena: Those yellow floors ahead look like letters, don't they?

Pit: Let's see...

Palutena: PA-N-DO-O-RA... is this place some kind of self-introduction?

Pit: How embarrassing.

Pandora: Hmph. What, can't manage it? This taste.

Palutena: Yeah. It's impossible. In every sense.

First of all, I like how the English version calls the platforms orange rather than yellow. Yeah girl... those are indeed orange. Second, when Palutena is spelling out the platforms, she spells it out as if it were written in Japanese. The game's subtitles use Roman letters to transcribe her spelling, but it has furigana above it for a Japanese reading. Here, I'll show you and hope Tumblr doesn't ruin the compression:

Quick Japanese lesson, writing is split into three scripts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is like the foundation of it all and each character represents a single syllable of sound. Every hiragana has a katakana equivalent, and their purpose is just to transcribe foreign words into the Japanese sound system. Kanji are more logographic, considering they're derived from Chinese characters. They make up most of the "content" of the language while hiragana makes up the "function." Every kanji can be converted back to hiragana, since that's how all the sounds are written, but since there are no spaces in Japanese, it'd be a mighty pain to read if everything was hiragana. And Japanese is already hard to read. All of that word salad just to tell you that "furigana" are hiragana or katakana characters written above kanji or other characters to indicate how to read them.

Now, the Roman letters can actually be written out in katakana. Spelling "Pandora" would look like ピー・エー・エヌ・ディー・オー・アール・エー (pii, ee, enu, dii, oo, aaru, ee). But instead Palutena pronounces it and spells it out in a Japanese way, which seems odd to me. Am I making sense?

All in all, it's pretty obvious the Japanese version doesn't really contain any of the implications the English version potentially has.

There's one more conversation I want to take a look at. It's one of those elusive random conversations:

That's right, we're starting with Japanese first this time! This one's gonna be interesting to translate:

Pit: There are various gods around the world, huh?

Palutena: That's right.

Pit: Does each god come with their own respective angel, I wonder?

Palutena: No, that's not necessarily the case.

Viridi: "Angel" is written from "heaven uses," you know.

Pit: What? Isn't it "heavenly messenger?"

Viridi: I pity you. Don't you even understand that it means you're just being pushed around?

Pit: Lady Palutena, please say something!

Palutena: ...huh?

Pit: Hey, wait, Lady Palutena!

Mmm that probably didn't make much sense. Alright, so the Japanese word for "angel" is 天使 (tenshi) which is made up of 天, meaning "heaven," and 使, which means "use." So, literally "heaven's tool." I'm going to come to the conclusion that the Japanese seem to understand what an angel is better than the average westerner. Anyway, Viridi's making the argument that the word is derived from 天が使う (ten ga tsukau) which would mean "heaven uses." Pit protests that the word comes from 天の使い (ten no tsukai) which is also just... another way to say "angel." It literally means "heaven's messenger." A Japanese dictionary will define "angel" as "a messenger from God" so Pit's probably more correct here. As you probably gathered, 使 was read differently depending on how it was used. This is par for the course for kanji. Since kanji are derived from Chinese characters, and Chinese as a language has changed over time (as languages do) and different regions of China have different ways of saying things (dialects and all that), Japanese naturally picked up on all these different pronunciations. Thus, any one kanji could have a dozen different readings.

So what does this all mean? It means we've got a case for literacy, ladies and gents. You'd have to be able to read at least a little bit to understand that "shi" and "tsuka" are derived from the same morpheme.

The Japanese version of the Pandora convo doesn't really tell us anything, so to tally it up, we're at two points for illiteracy and one point for literacy. I have one more trick up my sleeve... but we're going to have to venture outside of Kid Icarus Uprising.

In Super Smash Bros for Wii U and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, if you play as Pit on the Palutena's Temple stage, mashing down taunt will trigger a special conversation between some of the Kid Icarus Uprising cast. It's like an evolution of Snake's codec calls from Brawl. Anyway, I want to direct your attention to this part of Villager's conversation. I don't have any audio so I hope some screenshots will do:

"By the way, that name has an interesting secret."

"Oh oh! What is it?"

"The truth is, this is the first name in Smash to use hiragana!"

"W-what! I didn't realize!"

I dunno, this has gotta indicate some literacy, right? Gotta have some conception of hiragana for this to mean anything, right? Can we get half a point for team literacy at least?

...I guess we really didn't get anywhere in the end. Is Pit literate? Up to you, I suppose. What a thrilling conclusion. Let's close this off with the English version of the above convo because I like it lots. It's got a stupidly rare random chance of occurring in like, chapter 11 exclusively so perhaps you haven't even heard it.

Probably one of my favorite interactions in the game. "Errand spirit." Chef's kiss. Perfect. Sublime. Perhaps westerners understand angels after all. Secretary Pit is also awesome.

The English version evidently takes the angle of playing with the definition of the word, rather than the etymology. This is fair enough because the average English speaker probably knows jack about the etymology of "angel." Oh, and the type of joke the Japanese version wishes to convey wouldn't really work in English. For fun, "angel" comes from Greek "angelos" which means "messenger." ...I guess we've come full circle.

This post has gone on for way too long. This cutoff part is probably longer than the main point of this post. Maybe I'm the one who needs a coffee.

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #japanese #localization

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