#ah whale we'll get there

[salemssimblr]

Feeling burnt out on just about everything lately so here's a random wip (:

[captain-k8kat]

I'm still not over this btw

[harunayuuka2060]

Twst Unveil Event Part 3

Philomela: I hope everyone had a good night's sleep!

NRC, NBC, and RSA: YES!

Philomela: Great! Because you all are going to experience some body pain today!

The students: ...

Epel: Haha... Not everyone seems excited now.

Yuurin: She's never good in motivating anyone.

Malleus: How come she became your mentor?

Yuurin: My mother.

Malleus: Oh.

Philomela: I'll be explaining to you the mechanics now!

Philomela: Today will be the elimination round! You are free to attack anyone you please! And you have all the permission to use any type of moves even magic to your own advantage!

NBC student A: Eh? Isn't this a wrestling event?

NBC student B: If magic is involved, then we'll have better chances of winning.

RSA student A: Won't it be fair to not use any magic at all?

RSA student B: Yes. It feels wrong.

Philomela: Ha! Why? Do you think you can win just because you use magic?

The students: ...

Rook: Madame is right! There are many factors we need to consider!

Ruggie: Hm. Yuurin, you never used magic in any of your wrestling competitions, did you?

Yuurin: No.

Jack: I see. Does that mean...

Yuurin: Philomela is not impressed to any of them. That's why she's willing to give them a leverage to make this match worthwhile.

Floyd: Ne~ Mrs. Whale~ What other things we should remember for this elimination round?

Philomela: Nothing much, except that you have 30 minutes to fight anyone.

Floyd: Yay~!

Jade: Oh dear... *chuckles*

Epel: Can't I really join?

Rook: You'll get yourself hurt, Monsieur Crabapple.

Epel: *pouts*

Sebek: I promise to win this round, Waka-sama!

Silver: This is only an elimination round, Sebek.

Malleus: Do your best, Sebek, Silver.

Sebek/Silver: Yes, Waka-sama!/Malleus.

Ruggie: I guess this is the part where we start recording—

Philomela: Spectators! There is a designated room for us!

Malleus, Ruggie, Jack, Jade, and Epel: Huh?

Philomela: *leads them to a room that offers a panoptic view of the locations in the Kingdom of Heroes*

Epel: Whoa... *in amazement*

Philomela: Sick, isn't it?

Jade: Indeed. I've never been to such place before.

Jack: Ah! I can see everyone clearly!

Philomela: *laughs* Yes! This room will cater to your needs! Foods, drinks, and a good entertainment!

Rollo: *looks displeased*

Neige: This is great! Principal Ambrose will surely love this place!

Epel: Neige Le Blanche?!

Neige: Hello~!

Malleus and Ruggie: Flamme/Rollo.

Rollo: ...

Rollo: It's a pleasure to meet you again, mages.

Malleus and Ruggie: *smirks*

Jack and Jade: ???

Philomela: Everyone! Take your seats!

Epel: Um... But there are no seats— *a seat in front of him appears*

Epel: ...

Philomela: This room will cater to your needs. *smiles proudly*

Epel: Neat!

The students: *listening to Philomela's voice*

Philomela: BOYS! ARE YOU READY?

Floyd: Can we do a war cry~?

Philomela: *laughs* YES!

The students except Yuurin and Silver: RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Yuurin and Silver: ...

Silver: Good luck to you, Yuurin.

Yuurin: *nods* You too, Silver.

Epel: Wow... Just wow...

Jade: That's Floyd for you.

*Floyd unleashed a flurry of clothesline strikes, taking out multiple students simultaneously with each powerful swing.*

Ruggie: Poor NBC and RSA students.

Malleus: Sebek and Silver are doing well.

*Sebek asserts his dominance by executing his running bulldog move; swiftly seizing his opponents by the head and driving them face-first into the ground with decisive force.*

*Silver expertly wraps his arm around the neck of each approaching opponent, applying precise pressure to cut off their air supply and induce unconsciousness.*

Epel: Wow... Everyone is amazing— Wait. Where's Rook?

*Rook's grin widens as he expertly locks his poor opponent into the sharpshooter.*

Epel and Ruggie: ...

Ruggie: That savage.

Jack: Ruggie-senpai! Look! Some of the students are attacking Yuurin!

Philomela: *smiles*

*Yuurin remains composed as everyone closes in on her. Then, she swiftly grabs one attacker, lifts them, and slams them to the ground with a powerful spinebuster move. With each opponent, she repeats this action, using their momentum against them to quickly take them down, one by one.*

Epel, Jack, and Ruggie: ...

Ruggie: Oh shit, wait— I need to document this.

Floyd: Whoo-hoo~! This feels great~!

The students he defeated: *groaning in pain*

Sebek: Ha! I've defeated 25 students!

Rook: Oh! That's impressive, Monsieur Crocodile!

Silver: Should we be counting?

Sebek: How about you, Yuurin?! Bet you didn't—

Yuurin: *students piled up like a mountain beside her*

Yuurin: It seems we're the only remaining ones.

Floyd, Sebek, Silver, and Rook: ...

Sebek: WHAT THE HELL?!

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Leona Kingscholar - Playful Dress Vignette

"Once we got it started"

[Playful Land – Expedition Whale]

Trey: Really now… All the first years are just filled with energy.

Leona: Seriously. They ran around like crazy during the show, and they're still trying to drag me to all the attractions.

Leona: This is just as exhausting as when my nephew tries to tag after me. I've had more than enough.

Trey: Haha… Yeah, this also reminds me of how it is whenever I got to amusement parks with my siblings.

Leona: Thought I'd take a nap on a bench somewhere, but… There's nowhere with a decent amount of shade.

Leona: There's gotta be some place indoors I can relax… Hm?

Leona: This attraction they got here on the map… It doesn't look too terrible. Hey, Trey. Come with me for a bit.

Trey: Eh, me!? I mean, I don't really have any plans, so it's fine, but…

Leona: Good, it's settled. Follow me.

Trey: What in the world… Leona's actually inviting me somewhere!?

[Playful Land – Cue Sports Lounge]

Trey: Oh, this is the billiards hall.

Leona: Yep, this is good. The air conditioner works, and it's quiet and cozy. Just as I thought, it's the perfect spot to chill.

Trey: Ah, I see… You just needed a partner so you could hang here in the sports lounge.

Leona: So, how well do you know the rules of billiards?

Trey: Let me think… I've only played a couple times, but I have a general understanding of the rules.

Leona: Good. That makes my life easier.

Leona: Then… Let's go with the "rotation" variant.

Trey: Rotation…? What's the rules to that? Is that different from "eightball"?

Leona: In rotation pool, you score points based on the number on the ball pocketed.

Leona: The 1 ball scores you 1 point, the 15 ball scores you 15 points… And so on.

Leona: To win, we both try striking the balls and try to reach the points value determined beforehand. That's all.

Trey: Okay… That sounds a tad more difficult than the eightball game I know, where you just have to get the 8 ball in, but it sounds interesting.

Leona: Ordinarily, I'd set the target value to somewhere around 180 points… But it's a pain to try to calculate everything.

Leona: Let's keep this game simple and see who can get the most points in the first rack of 15 balls.

Leona: If you're good, we'll start.

Leona: So, I'm first up. Similar to eightball, we begin with the break shot, but…

Leona: Before I do that, I'll tell you an interesting tidbit about rotation pool.

Trey: Tidbit…?

Leona: Just like eightball, with rotation rules, the balls must be struck in order from the lowest number.

Leona: In other words, in the first half of the game, when there's more balls on the table and it's more difficult, you score less points, and in the later half, when there's less balls and it's easier, you can score higher.

Leona: Even if you have a bad first half, you can still turn things around later, and even if you're winning in the first half, you can lose it all in the end.

Leona: Basically means that even beginners have a shot at winning. Not a bad rule, huh?

Trey: Yeah. Except… Why did you decide to tell me that just now?

Leona: It'd be a pain if you thought I was being unfair just because I got a huge lead in the beginning without explaining everything.

Leona: I'm puttin' in the effort to make it fun for you amateur, too. Be grateful.

Leona: Number 15, left rear pocket.

[clack!!]

[thwump]

Leona: Hm, some of the balls were awkwardly placed, but I made it through somehow.

Trey: Urgh… Y-You won again…!

Leona: Ah, my bad. I completely forgot you were here too. Sorry I was neglecting you.

Trey: Based on how you were talking about it all, I assumed you were pretty good from the get go, but…

Trey: I couldn't keep up with you at all. It ended before I could get in a single point…

Leona: You had me a bit worried that I could lose midway through the game, but once we got it started, it was a complete blowout. Ah, yeah, that was a good game.

Trey: You were worried? Yeah right! You were yawning every time it was my turn.

Leona: So, what do you say, wanna play another round? I can give you a handicap.

Trey: Well, I can't stand for being shown up like this...

Trey: Play one more game with me, Leona. Only… You don't have to give me a handicap.

Leona: Perfect. Alright, we'll set up the break shot.

[Playful Land – Cue Sports Lounge]

Trey: Play one more game with me, Leona. Only… You don't have to give me a handicap.

Leona: Perfect. Alright, we'll set up the break shot.

Leona: Number 8, left rear pocket.

[clack!!]

[thwump]

Leona: Hm, the location of the 8 ball was in a difficult spot, but I got it somehow.

Trey: The score stands at 36 to 0… Even if I still have a chance to turn things around it's still a huge gap. Maybe he'll just carry it all to the end again…

Leona: Safety.

Trey: What's "safety"...?

Leona: It's a call that lets you drive the targeted ball to somewhere other than a pocket, instead of having to change up players.

Trey: I see, so you can move the ball safely without having to make a crazy shot… That's a good strategy.

[clack!!]

Leona: Okay, it's your turn. Make this fun for me, Trey.

Trey: Next… Number 10, right rear pocket.

[clack!!]

[thwump]

Trey: Nice, I sunk the 10 ball as well as the 9 ball. That makes it 36 to 19. You starting to sweat a bit?

Leona: Oh, man, yeah. You've caught up so fast, that I'm sweating like crazy. I might lose, whatever should I do?

Trey: Haha, you're not fooling me, saying it like that while you just lounge in your chair like a king… Number 11, left rear pocket.

[clack!!]

Leona: …That one ain't goin' in.

[thup, thup…]

Trey: Urgh, just like you said. But how did you know it wouldn't go in before you even saw where it was going?

Leona: Hey, come on, now, I may be me, but I still lead the magical shift club, y'know. Seems like you're underestimating what I can do.

Leona: It's easy to tell just by seeing the angle you hit the cue ball with.

Leona: I can figure out which way the ball will go, what it'll hit, and where it'd stop…

Leona: In a game, you always have to stay two moves ahead, lil' Clover. …Now it's my turn.

[clack!! thwump]

Leona: Game and match. Final score is 87 to 33, that's my win.

Trey: I knew it would be like this, but you definitely had me by the tail the whole time. How long have you been playing billiards, Leona?

Leona: Basically since I was a kid. The family chamberlain taught it to me so I wouldn't embarrass myself in social settings. Well...

Leona: Thanks to that, I got pretty good, but back before I enrolled here, I really couldn't enjoy any heated competition.

Leona: Even now, the only one that'll play with me is a bird-brained old man. Nowhere near satisfying.

Trey: A commoner like me can only possibly imagine…

Trey: But with how good you are, I can see how you'd have to hold back in certain gatherings so as to not sour the atmosphere.

Leona: There ain't nothing more boring and annoying than a game where I gotta hold back for my opponent's sake.

Leona: It ends up feeling like my hands and feet have strings tying them down, it's frustrating. Kind of like a puppet.

Trey: …Yeah, I bet. …Then, I'll make sure that I'll become a much better player before the next time we play.

Leona: Hah! The next time we play? Even though you got a beat down by someone who was just trying to pass the time? You're a sucker for punishment.

Trey: Next time, let's invite the other third years. Don't you think Vil or Lilia might be good competition for you?

Leona: Who knows. …But hey, if you think that'll be the case, I'll be eagerly awaiting.

Leona: Eagerly awaiting for the joyful moment where I can watch how you all'd dance for me in your frustrations when you get beaten to a pulp, that is.

Requested by Anonymous.

[hywenhywen]

0.03 light - kang haerin

synopsis - moon gazing and sneaking out turns out to be a quite enjoyable activity.

warnings / notes - loosely based off of light by wave to earth, cautious haerin + careless reader, haerin doesn't smile very often, reader would give up anything to see haerin smile more, reader likes buying small things for haerin, they're a little awkward at times but it's cute

wc - 2.0k

“are you sure about this?” haerin asked.

“you said you wanted to go see the moon,” you said, stretching your hand out for her to grab. “and i just want to see you happy.”

“what if we get caught?” the cat-eyed girl said. “we'd be grounded, for a long time.”

“but what if we don't?” you rebutted. “it's supposed to be a full moon today.”

after one final worried glance towards her door, haerin agreed. “fine.”

“i have everything we need for tonight.” you said, patting your school bag.

“shhh, we'll get caught.” haerin hushed you.

you mimicked zipping and locking your lips. you carefully walked on the roof and made your way back to the tree you climbed up a few minutes earlier.

“be careful with this branch!” you whisper-shouted. “it's very weak.”

haerin nodded her head and continued down the tree, carefully testing every step she took. after about three minutes you were both on ground level and heading towards the bus stop.

“did you bring some change?” you asked, nudging haerin lightly.

“for what?” she asked, tilting her head a bit.

“the bus fare.” you responded.

“oh.” she said, her eyes widening slightly. “i forgot.”

“you're lucky i work at my parents shop.” you said, shaking your money pouch.

“it's a whale..?” haerin said, observing your money pouch.

“yes, but no.” you said. “it's a shark.”

“then how is it a whale?” she asked.

“it's called a whale shark.” you said. “so just based off of the name, it could be a whale.”

“oh.” she said, stretching out the word.

“it's cute right?” you asked.

“it's nice.” she replied.

you nodded and continued your walk towards the bus. silence fell upon you two, it wasn't awkward, it was pleasant. you could hear grasshoppers chirping and the occasional car drive by.

“girlfriend.” you said, facing haerin.

“hm?” she hummed, turning to face you.

“are you excited to see the moon?” you asked, watching how her face slowly lit up.

“of course i am.” haerin said. “we've been talking about this for a while.”

“oh!” you exclaimed suddenly causing haerin to jump at the loud noise. “sorry, i have something to give you.”

you rummaged through your bag a little, opening and closing zippers. your hand finally stopped once you grabbed the item.

“it's a money pouch.” you said, handing haerin the frog shaped pouch. “i wasn't sure if you'd like that one or the cat one, so i got both.”

your other hand popped out from the side and you placed the cat shaped pouch in her other hand.

“one can be for school and the other for other occasions.” you said, smiling from ear to ear. “they reminded me of you.”

“thank you.” she said, turning her head to smile at you. “i'll take care of them.”

“don't move, don't move!” you said, getting your phone out from your pocket. “let me take a picture!”

haerin giggled at your excitement over her smile, she knew how much it meant to you. she always did her best to smile more often.

“ah, you're so cute!” you said, bouncing from place to place. “how'd i get so lucky?”

you continued smiling from ear to ear like a fool. you calmed down after you got around 12 pictures of her smile. you grabbed her hand gently and turned to look at her.

“we should hurry, the sun’s going to set soon.” you said while checking your phone.

you picked up the pace and haerin followed suit. after a bit, you reached the bus stop and waited a bit before the next bus came. you had spent a few weeks finding routes for the perfect spot to observe the moon. the bus driver greeted you as you and haerin got on. you led haerin towards a row for two people, near the middle of the bus.

“wanna listen to music?” you asked, extending an earbud for her to take.

she nodded gently and took the earbud from you. you scrolled through your playlist, haerin looked over every once in a while. you took turns choosing songs to play. haerin rested her head on your shoulder and in response, you rested your head on hers. you two remained like that until you reached your stop.

quickly paying the fare and thanking the driver, you and haerin rushed to the spot. only having a few minutes left until the sun fully set. you reached the spot in record time and had just enough time to set everything up. you laid down a picnic blanket and set down a small lantern. you set up small pillows so your heads didn't rest on the rocks and uneven ground.

you set your bag aside and sat down with haerin. you observed the sunset in silence, basking in each other's presence. you reached over to grab her hand, giving it a soft squeeze. she turned to face you and gave you another smile. you smiled as well, grinning from ear to ear.

“i'm glad i get to do this with you.” haerin said, breaking the silence. “it was worth the risk.”

“i'm glad i get to do this with you too.” you said. “you're always worth the risk.”

you both turned to face the now rising moon. it shined brightly, the way it illuminated the area amazed you. it felt almost as if time had slowed down. it was just you and haerin in this moment, nothing else mattered. all the scoldings and punishments would be worth this moment.

you turned to face haerin. she looked ethereal, the moonlight gleamed perfectly on her features. her eyes seemed to hold all the answers to your problems. she was beyond beautiful in this moment. this sensation surpassed all of your previous expectations.

nothing would even feel the same. this moment was perfect. you had seen a beautiful sight, with a bright glow. she was your sea, your sunshine, your star, your moon. she was your everything.

in that moment, she turned to face you. she smiled from ear to ear, a smile that one could only dream of being lucky enough to observe. you truly had met your everything. your heart skipped a beat, your mind had gone blank. in that moment you knew that kang haerin was your first love.

“thank you for this y/n.” she said, still smiling. “i'll remember this forever.”

“no,” you said. “i should say thank you.”

“why?” haerin asked.

“cause i get to spend this moment with you.” you said. “i'm glad we're here, together.”

“i'm glad too.” she replied. “i really enjoyed this.”

“we'll do this more when we grow up.” you said. “there's a whole universe to see.”

you looked back at the moon. “one day, we'll hold the moon in our arms.”

“i’ll look forward to that day.” she said, looking intently at the moon.

in that moment, kang haerin was shining. you knew she always had you, and she always would. although you were young, your love for kang haerin would never change. it was like the moon, even in the the clouds, it still shined. it always would. you promised you would do whatever it took to make her smile everyday.

after about two hours in the moonlight, fatigue finally hit you. the school day caught up with you both and had begun taking effect. sleepily, you and haerin picked everything up and began your trip back home. you offered haerin some mint gum to help keep her awake. you made your way to the bus stop and waited for the bus, which seemed to be taking forever.

after what seemed to be an eternity, it finally arrived. you boarded the bus and did your best to stay awake as haerin occasionally dozed off. your heart was at ease, seemingly you had forgotten that it was nearly midnight. you looked out the window, the town was dimly lit by old lampposts and the windows of some shops. you began to tap haerin’s shoulder realizing you were reaching your stop.

she woke up and you helped her get off the bus, paying the fare and thanking the driver, you began your walk home. your house was closer to the bus stop than haerin’s house. betraying your better judgment, you took haerin to your house, unlocking the door and stepping in quietly. your parents weren't home tonight due to a delay in their flight, so you were home alone. you led haerin up to your room and let her sleep on your bed, you quickly changed in the bathroom and went to sleep on the couch.

“y/n wake up.” you heard someone say.

“l/n y/n!” the person shouted.

your mind quickly registered it as your mom’s voice. you shot up from the couch and sheepishly smiled at your mom.

“hi mom..?” you said.

“why are you sleeping on the couch?” she said, raising a brow at you.

“uh,” you said. “i felt like it, nice change of pace.” you chuckled awkwardly.

“don't lie to me.”

“fine.” you sighed in defeat. “i took haerin to go see the moon yesterday and we stayed too late. she was tired and her house was still half a mile down the road!”

“so you're telling me that you stayed up past curfew, left home without permission, and snuck haerin out of her house?!” your mom asked.

“how'd you know i snuck her out?” you asked.

“her parents called me asking if i knew where she was.” she said, tapping her foot on the floor.

“i’ll go wake her up. i’ll walk her home too.” you said, lowering your head.

“we're gonna have a serious talk later.” she said as she walked away.

you stood up from the couch and made your way up the stairs towards your room. once in front of your door, you knocked twice to see if haerin was already awake. taking the silence as a no, you carefully opened the door. you walked over to the side of the bed and lightly tapped haerin.

“haerin.” you mumbled, tapping her repeatedly. “wake up, i need to take you home.”

haerin slowly stirred from her sleep, turning to face you.

“good morning.” she whispered.

“morning.” you replied, “c’mon get up, i need to take you home.”

she opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the brightness. rubbing her eyes and stretching, she sat up and yawned.

“what time is it?” she asked, reaching for her phone.

“it's 10 in the morning.”

“10?!” haerin said, her eyes going wide. “my parents are definitely going to ground me now.”

“then hurry and come with me, i’ll take you home and explain to your parents.” you grabbed her hand and gently pulled her along, out the door and out of the house.

“so you snuck haerin out through the window and took her to go see the moon?” haerin's dad asked.

“yes sir, i'm so sorry.” you said, your head hanging low.

“if you girls wanted to go out i would've let you.” he said. “you're still going to be grounded because you snuck out, so next time, just ask.”

“really sir?!” you asked, shocked at his response. “my mom and dad would've never let me out that late.”

“i typically wouldn't allow haerin out that late either, but since she'd be with you i suppose it would be fine.” he explained.

you chatted a bit with haerin's dad about the moon, explaining every detail to him. he told you about how he proposed to haerin’s mom, how it all happened on a date to go observe the moon. you talked for a while before telling him that you had to go back home. you went to go see haerin in her room.

“rin..?” you said, pushing the slightly ajar door open. “i have to go home.”

“we should go see the moon more often.” she said. “maybe one of these days you'll propose.” she joked.

“hey, don't tempt me. i’ll buy you a ring pop.” you said. “i'll see you at school, since i don't think i'll be allowed out for a while.”

“ok, text me when you get home. don't do anything careless.” haerin reminded you. “bye girlfriend.” she said while waving at you.

“bye girlfriend.” you said, grinning from ear to ear. “i’ll see you in about two days.”

you left haerin's room and walked out of her house. you hummed a soft tune while walking back to your house. you should really go moon gazing more often.

back to shore | 0.04

[greypetrel]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much @pinayelf ! 💜 For the tag and for keeping me in time x°D

On more finished pieces, I am working on stuff I can't show yet... But I doodled a couple of short comics on a Moby Dick-inspired AU that @shivunin (ah! You're tagged!) launched at me. (I'm not going for a full faithful AU because ok getting characters through the horrors but those are TOO MANY horrors, nothing I would feel comfortable or am remotely prepared to write anyway. We'll keep Nantucket, the whales, a shipwreck, a random person fangirling about whales *looks at Melville*)

Cullen has been a whaler, until he survived a shipwreck caused by a whale. Aisling found him and assisted him when he eventually was washed ashore. She's also a zoologist there to study sperm Whales... And a little too enthusiastic about them (and not on penguins). (thank you @ndostairlyrium -you're tagged too if you want!- for the on point news of above) (and if you were wondering about Cacciucco...)

Tagging, beside the two above: @salsedinepicta @melisusthewee @dungeons-and-dragon-age @star--nymph @brother-genitivi @raflesia65 @blarrghe @heniareth @daggerbeanart and YOU!

[taptrial2]

I don't know if you've explained it before (im a relatively new follower), but may I ask why you don't like agit?

okay, just for you im gonna reread it and bitch about everything that comes up that i hate. fair warning this ended up like 1000 words at LEAST. i have a lot of thoughts about agit.

EDIT: put it in google docs for a word count, its 2000 words. this is an essay

"uh yeah thats me youre probably wondering how i got into this situation.."

tucker as an influencer pisses me off so bad. tucker is a TECH geek. he likes tinkering with hardware and software. he is proud of those things. yes, he does hunger for money, but he doesn't go about it by trying to climb the social ladder, which is inherently what "influencing" is about. i don't think he'd want an audience, he's too busy coding mario 64 from scratch in his free time. he never shows serious interest in climbing the social ladder. why would he be a social media nut. i hate it.

on that note i strongly dislike the "modernization" in agit. the comic is supposed to take place very shortly after phantom planet, and suddenly everyone has iphones now. vlad's old beige whale computer is made fun of, is a punchline. a huge part of danny phantom for me that i genuinely love is the 2000s-ness of it all, the PDAs and mp3 players. it's a shame to see all that stuff go, especially when you're keeping the characters and timeline otherwise the same. it feels jarring.

i have a lot of problems with the timeline in agit, actually. we'll get there when we get there

AH yeah, the reality jumps or whatever. i keep forgetting about them because they're so nothing. so much of agit feels like padding and the cowboy cutaway + aztec cutaway feel just like that: cutaways. all the time jumps are filler and a waste of time. very little is accomplished narratively, and they eat up far too much page space. the little narrative value they do have could have been given in a quarter of the amount of pages they actually take up.

ALSO omg this is just a nitpick but sometimes pages and pages go by without proper backgrounds, just characters on solid color background fills. it makes the whole thing feel cheap and the characters feel like they're talking to each other in the void instead of a Place. once you take notice of it you can't unsee it. what backgrounds ARE present are painfully simplistic and feel claustrophobic, they feel like they have no depth or width and are trapped in the panels.

i liked vlad's appearance at first, and he does have some family guy funny moments but i hate how he's handled overall. we'll get to it

dan fusing with clockwork is pretty sick though. that's pretty cool i like that. it's neat

sam and tucker are already pretty nothing in the show, but they're even more nothing in agit, ESPECIALLY sam. they feel almost interchangeable. sam has had all of her rough edges sanded away. she needs to be Cool and Likeable so they just made her completely bland. there is no friction to be had between friends, they don't bicker, they just go YOOO at each other and have no other real chemistry. the whole time she's just cardboard.

CINEMASINS DING the first time danny puts the specter deflector on vlad in the show it does NOT depower him completely and he can push through it for an impressively long time, but in agit he's instantly de-ghosted. DING. im just biased because i hate this shit but still

OH MY GOD. OKAY. I JUST GOT TO A PART THAT PISSES ME OFF SO BAD OK SO sam asks vlad how many countries he could have fed to build his stupid secret football field lair (said affectionately) and he says "thirteen. i am who i am." I AM WHO I AM. THAT'S A SPECIAL TOOL THAT WILL HELP US LATER.

the cowboy cutaway lasts SEVERAL pages and adds NOTHING of value. NOTHING. its literally just "oops dropped the infimap ok picked it up now back to the important conversation we were having before". its so nothing. and it goes on. for ten pages.

i like that valerie is given something to do, but it's not much. at least she's more interesting than everyone else in the novel. it's kind of boring that she just... had her beliefs that all ghosts are evil reaffirmed... but i assume it's setup for the next graphic novel, which has me worried.

the characterization in agit overall is bland. danny is too nice, vlad is too self-aware, sam and tucker are nothing, and valerie is... badass? and i find dan being secretly a scared softie all along rather trite. i worry that the two-dimensional characterization will lead to a valerie that is villainized and stripped of her nuance. i worry about that very much.

i hate how much agit brings up vlad liking football. can we get a new joke please.

ok. let's address the "ghosts are emotions" thing. there IS something there that i can appreciate. when there is no physical body that remains, what is there to go off of but consciousness, the "soul"? what happens when your mind becomes warped over years of existence, your consciousness decaying more and more over time until you're nothing but a blob of ectoplasm that could dissolve into the ether any minute? it's interesting.

however, a glitch in time decrees the entire ghost zone to be a realm of emotion, and for ghosts to be made of emotions, and that every ghost has a Primary Emotion that they are made up of. which is stupid. and i hate it.

nobody, no matter how melted their mind is for some reason or another, is the embodiment of one specific thing, and the simplification of the human soul to just one feeling or purpose is a disservice to the complexity of what it means to be a human being. it's odious to me, a betrayal of everything people are made of, our multitudes. i have been boiled down to someone "angry" far too many times to be able to appreciate someone's entire state of being as existing for only one particular thing.

also, they cherrypick the ghosts for the explanation of the emotions thing. what emotion is the box ghost. greed is not an emotion. liking boxes is not an emotion. the box ghost, god love him, is not just one thing; even a ghost like him contains multitudes, multiple desires.

the idea of a singular purpose also makes me sincerely worried for the people reading this novel and trying to embody it. as a teenager, trying to embody characters i idolized in cartoons only took a toll on my mental health and made it more difficult to navigate relationships. i understand not everyone is a sponge in this way, but as someone who was raised by tv instead of people, i cannot overemphasize the importance of fiction in an adolescent's life. it helps construct their worldview. especially for someone who is isolated from the outside world and has to construct their reality from the media they consume, like i had to as a child.

danny fenton is a 14 year old boy. he is a child. we have many pieces of fiction exploring how playing hero as a teenage boy and shouldering the emotional burdens of other people over your own is fundamentally damaging to your ability to navigate life in a healthy way (adventure time is an example of this that does it really well, steven universe is an example of this that i hate for unrelated reasons). i, as a 14 year old myself at some point, felt my responsibility was to other people above myself. that is treated as heroic in the narrative. it is not heroic. it is damaging.

danny was allowed to be of many minds in the show. he desired a lot of different things, fought for a lot of different reasons. to give this child the sole responsibility of healing two worlds and treating it as sweet, as something to be celebrated, instead of something horrifying that no child should ever have to shoulder... is odd.

speaking of, i have watched danny phantom all the way through not too long ago. i have a fresh pair of eyes not tainted by 20-odd years of fandom fermentation. the danny i know in the show is sweet and heroic, yes. but he's selfish and immature, he picks fights and throws the first punch, insults people to their face unprovoked, and is generally a little shit. and he's a misogynist, lest we forget.

i truly believe our danny would not want to shoulder this responsibility. he does not have the emotional maturity to do so. he refuses fights when he can, but does demonstrably find it thrilling to fight when it does come to blows. he's a person, he contains reasonable contradictions to have, especially when youre 14.

danny has very little sympathy for ghosts. he doesn't much care about their emotional wellbeing or their interests. he has very black and white thinking - he is the hero, they are the villains, he beats the bad guys. to have him suddenly say "yes, i not only have the capacity to help these people, but it is my duty to help them" is absolute gibberish. that's not danny.

not to mention that most of these ghosts are ADULTS who have been dead for decades. for him to take on the responsibility of helping ghosts, he is shouldering the trauma of death and some subjects he simply does not have the worldly experience to understand, let alone help with. that's fucking ridiculous.

i also feel like "i'm gonna heal the rift between worlds" would lead to a star vs the forces of evil series finale situation that causes WAY more problems and raises WAY more questions than it solves. the ghost zone and the human world are complimentary forces, the spiritual and the physical, and i find it much more interesting when they ARE seperate and were never as one in the first place. it gives more room for lore expansion, more room for stories. in my opinion.

let's talk about vlad. i HATE how vlad is handled in agit.

this is, again, supposed to take place right after phantom planet. i know the fandom hates talking about phantom planet, but let's fucking talk about phantom planet. it's canon. we cannot ignore it. it is part of the show.

in phantom planet, vlad conspires to nearly destroy the world to get what he wants. he squeezes the world's politicians for billions of dollars and wants to be considered the hero on top of it all, the one who saves the day. he is selfish and uncaring.

so you expect me, the audience, to accept that very soon after phantom planet, vlad is self aware enough to realize that he is the source of his own misery.

BULL.

SHIT.

vlad is not emotionally mature enough to have this revelation. in canon, it took him a decade of hiding in a cave without his ghost powers and with everyone he cared about long dead for him to realize he had done anything wrong. even then, he did not have the energy to do anything, to mobilize himself. all he could do was hunker down and wallow.

thusly, vlad realizing he has pushed everyone away himself after one fight with a time god makes no sense. it does not align with anything we have seen of him, pre-s3 flanderization or post. he still has other people he can blame, other things he can try. he still has plenty of walls and he can still deflect. this is not a situation in which someone's years and years of arrested development and denial can be crumbled.

i feel many think this is an earned moment because of the real life time that has passed between the end of the show and now, but in the chronological timeline, it is abrupt, inconsistent, and puzzling.

vlad dedicating himself to making amends with everyone he's hurt after one fight is stupid and i hate it. it was not earned. it's fanservice. it's pandering.

i also find the odd backpedaling on dan himself odd. his depiction in tue is very much one embracing his lack of humanity and caring. to add in that he actually does miss his family and his whole deal in that episode was just a mask feels disingenuous to me. it feels very "forgiving white diamond"-y to me, and for context, i fucking hate how steven universe handled the diamonds on every conceivable level, so it bringing to mind steven universe makes me want to turn my skin inside out

"oooo im secretly so lonely actuallyyy" this is so boring. this is so boring.

also, vlad abruptly deciding hes nice now is definitely a plot device to get dan a temporary body for some goddamn reason. him disintegrating because of something something quantum time mechanics is also arbitrary.

also its so funny that at the end they were like "turns out ghosts are feelings and stuff! anyway time to kick the notoriously harmless box ghost's ass" like come on man. fuck you.

anyway i hate the steven universe-ification of danny phantom that agit presents and i reject it thoroughly. thank you for coming to the hater conference

[nevadas-night-time-novelist]

can u please do 2bdamned x reader but they have the same music taste? sorry for bad english!! :3

Your English is fine :]

Doc x Reader - tunes n chillin (in other words, yall gonna like MY MUSIC TASTE lol)

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the background of the morgue.

The base was relatively empty, everyone else off doing who knows what, killing who knows who, leaving you plenty of space to zone out into your own world, music on in the living room while you doodled away in an old sketchbook. A ballpoint pen was the only tool you had on hand now, but the deep black strokes added weight and character to your art.

The unsuspecting victim, of darkness in the valley. We can live like Jack and Sally if we want, where you can always find me.

Scrawling what came to mind, the song inspired you to roughly doodle the main Nightmare Before Christmas characters, the gaunt and oddly handsome Jack Skellington, and his sweet patchwork lover Sally. Oh to have a romance like theirs would be a dream.

And we'll have Halloween on Christmas, and in the night we'll wish this never ends -

"We'll wish this never ends." You looked up from your art, seeing Doc nodding his head along to the music. "Hey, it's a good song." He shrugs when he notices you watching him.

Some weeks later you were in your room, exhausted from dragging around some guy whom Sanford was currently torturing information out of. To drown out the noise, you'd placed a CD into the player and flicked through an old manga, something about a cosmic horror planet coming to devour the earth.

I'm just a normal boy who sank when I fell overboard. My ship would leave the country, but I'd rather swim ashore. Without a life vest, I'd be stuck again. Wish I was much more masculine, maybe then I could learn to swim like fourteen miles away.

Your door was currently non-existent, Hank had ripped out part of the hydraulic seal during a half-MAG rage, so currently only a curtain served as your privacy. Privacy which was often ignored by the lads.

The curtain swayed as Doc stormed in, he wasn't wearing his mask and his displeasure was evident. "Trying to break passed some firewalls is incredibly difficult with all that fucking noise Sanford is making. I'm used to some level but his current toy hasn't stopped screaming his lungs out for two hours straight. I can't even think right now!"

You looked up from your lounging position. "Yeah, that's why I put music on. It's not like I can shut the door." Doc sat on your bed, going back to debugging and unencrypting.

"I'll get it sorted when I have the parts, I promise." You knew why he'd come to your room, it was the furthest from Sanford's makeshift torture chamber in the storage room. Well, that was half of why he'd come. In truth, the old dog had grown rather fond of your company.

You two had a few bits in common, music taste for one, and the differences were good talking points, clashing viewpoints being a discussion rather than an argument. It was nice, yes, he enjoyed being around you.

Now floating up and down, I spin, colliding into sound, like whales beneath me, diving down. I'm sinking to the bottom of my- Everything that freaks me out, the lighthouse beam has just gone out. I'm cold as cold as cold can be... Be...

As you flipped through the gruesome pages of your manga, you paid little attention to your surroundings, the music and all else just melting into background noise.

I wanna swim away but don't know how-

"Sometimes it just feels just like I'm fallin in the ocean." And there it was again, just barely above a whisper, Doc's voice mixing with the vocals.

You couldn't help but smile, his rugged voice was rather lovely when singing, Deimos was right. Dei secretly admitted to you that Doc used to sing him to sleep when he was young, it was nice to finally get to hear it.

"You sing pretty well Doc."

"Hm? Ah." You could see his cheeks turn red, his gaze averting from you. "Thanks. You wanna know something funny? Your playlist seems to have a lot in common with mine. Rather a lot in common."

"Really?" You smiled at him, he seemed to shift uncomfortably under your watchful eyes, his cold exterior slowly giving way to a hidden sweetness. "You'll have to share it with me sometime, we can just listen together for a while."

"Hm," Doc rubbed the back of his neck, giving you a shy smile. "I think I'd like that."

[violetjedisylveon]

Ahsoka Series, But Kaeden Is There, Again

Featuring a gay Sabine, a very confused Baylan and episode 4 spoilers

Baylan: "kills" Ahsoka

Sabine:

Kaeden:

😑

Baylan & Sabine: ?

Kaeden, still 😑: what?

Baylan: I thought you'd be more upset since she's, you know, your wife.

Kaeden: oh please, this isn't the first times this has happened.

Baylan: it's not...?

Kaeden: nope! This isn't even the worst one, Malachor was way more deadly than falling. Seriously? Your plan to kill Ahsoka the-has-died-before-and-come-back-like-nothing-happened Tano was to push her off a cliff? A fucking cliff? C'mon, Maul got cut in half and fell down a pit and he was fine. And Ahsoka is way better than Maul. Do you have any idea of who you are dealing with?!

Baylan: ...well shit...

Kaeden: yeah, I give it a day, three at max and she'll be back.

Shin who just got there: the fuck is going on?

. . .

*Sabine gives Baylan the map*

Sabine, to Kaeden: you're not objecting?

Kaeden, chilling by the cliff on a space phone waiting for her wife to get resurrected for the third time: nah, we'll just take the space whales once Ahsoka comes back.

Shin: your mom is weird.

. . .

Kaeden, as Sabine gets on the ship: Have fun sweety! Don't get too rough with your new "friend"!

Sabine & Shin: 😳 then 😡

Shin: I'm gonna kill your mom.

Sabine: over my dead fucking body!

*gay fighting/flirting sounds*

Kaeden: ah, young love.

Baylan: ... What...?

. . .

*when Ahsoka comes back cause she's obviously going too, nobody gets to kill Ahsoka Tano but Ahsoka Tano*

Ahsoka: where's Sabine?! What happened to the map? What day is it?!?!

Kaeden: Finally, sure took you a while this time.

Ahsoka: -_- what happened?

Kaeden: Oh, Baylan manipulated Sabien into trusting him with the map and they took her with them cause they're gonna go get Ezra. They got the coordinates, destroyed the map and left, Sabine's with them and I think she's got a girlfriend now.

Ahsoka: wait-

Kaeden: speaking of which, we gotta go soon if we wanna catch up to them. Don't worry about how to get there, Morai hooked us up with some space whales.

*Purgil materialize out of nothing cause magic whales*

Ahsoka: I literally just got resurrected, for the 3rd time, so yeah, let's go!

Also funky lil meme:

After Sabine's family dies

They would 10000000% adopt her, fucking fight me.

[strawberrymilk-sunshine]

His song

So like... this is a long one. Hope you like it!

Warning(s): possessive yandere Jade, implied death, implied eating of human flesh, mind control(?), isolation

No fish have been biting today. What a tragedy. You had hoped you'd get at least a nibble on your bait, but... you had no such luck.

Then, you felt a tug on the line.

You excitedly began to reel in your catch, feeling a strong amount of resistance. You continued using all your strength to reel in the fish, despite the resistance, and then-!

It was pulled out of water, and it landed on the soft sand of the beach. Except, it wasn't a fish, not entirely. The top half of it's body seemed to be human, though the skin was shades of cyan, there were fins on it's back and arms... you'd reeled in a merman!

"Oh! Um! I-I'm sorry about that!" You said, walking towards him. You placed a hand on his face to try and remove the hook from his cheek, but he dove back into the sea before you could, taking your fishing rod with you.

"Aw... that was my favourite rod, too..." You sighed.

It's a peaceful morning, under the sea. An eel and an octopus sit alone, having a conversation. All is peaceful... until another eel enters the scene.

"Jade! Azul! I almost died!"

"That's nice, Floyd." Azul continues looking over over his latest contract.

"No, really! I was almost eaten! Sick, right?!"

"What was it? A shark? Whale? Lionfish?" Jade tilts his head.

"It was one o' those huuuuuuumans!"

After that is said, Jade and Azul freeze.

"Floyd, did you just say it was a human?" Jade asks his brother.

"Yeah. Look, I even have their hook in my mouth still!"

"Ugh. Come here, I'll get it out." Azul offers.

"Ooooooookkkk... just be gentle! I might just decide to chomp down on one of those tasty looking tentacles of yours if not!"

"You do realize I'm venomous, right?" Azul asks. "I could just as easily bite and paralyze you."

"Whatever. It did really hurt though... ohhhhhhhh, if only I had a sibling who could mind control humans with his singing... alas, no such sibling exists..."

"I was already planning on doing so." Jade smiles. "Azul, Floyd, we'll be having human for dinner."

"Yaaaay!!"

"Must the two of you solve everything with violence...?"

You walked along the shoreline as the moon reflected on the water.

You're not sure why you were doing it. Maybe you wanted to apologize to that merman you caught earlier, or maybe you wanted to get your fishing rod back, or maybe...

...someone is singing.

Someone is singing a song... a beautiful song you've never heard before... you were almost entranced by it.

Whoever was singing had a powerful voice. It was as if he were purposefully singing loud enough for you to hear, but quiet enough for nobody else to.

You needed to find this person.

You continued walking along the shore for what felt like forever, until eventually... you saw someone- or something- sitting on a rock. His top half looked human, but his skin was shades of cyan... he had fins on his back, arms, and where his ears should be...

Wait a second... that's the merman you accidentally reeled in earlier!

"Hey! You!" You yelled to him. He turned around, looking surprised to see you. "I-I'm sorry for what happened this morning! I didn't mean to scare you, I was just trying to get the hook out of your mouth."

"Hm? What are you talking about?" He asked. "Ah... you must be thinking of my twin brother. I suppose that would be confusing for you."

"Um... were you the one singing?" You asked.

"Why yes, I was."

"It sounded really nice!" You told him. "What's your name?"

"My, my... carefree, aren't you?" He asked, amused. "I suppose I may indulge you. My name is Jade Leech, and you are...?"

"(Y/N)!"

"What a lovely name." Jade said, smiling. "(Y/N)... could you come closer? I'd like to see your face."

You did as he asked. You stepped into the water, towards the rock Jade was sat upon. He grabbed your face with his wet hands, observing every little detail of your face. In turn, that allowed you to better see his face as well. His eyes were an olive colour on the right, and a vibrant yellow on the left. His hair was turquoise, with a long strip of darker hair on the same side as his yellow eye. He had markings beneath his eyes, and on his shoulders... he was beautiful.

"You look quite lovely, (Y/N)." Jade told you. "...for someone with legs, that is." He looked away from you.

"Thanks, Jade...!" You said. "It's getting really late, though... I should get going. Could we meet again tomorrow night? I'd like to get to know you!"

"Oh my-! Um, yes, of course, (Y/N)."

"Thanks! See you tomorrow!"

As Jade watched you run off, he couldn't stop thinking about the conversation he had with you.

"Why... why didn't I drown them...?" He asked himself.

When Jade returned, Floyd was quite disappointed he didn't get to eat a human.

Over the next nights, you and Jade would continue meeting each other. He would bring you many gifts; seashells, sunken treasures, and even the fishing rod you lost!

Jade seemed to like you. He really seemed to like you. You, on the other hand... you just saw him as a weird friend. So, one night, you told Jade that you were dating someone. And, the next night...

"Ah, (Y/N), apologies for being late! You must understand, I was taking care of some very important business."

Jade's face was covered in blood... and you could see bits of flesh stuck in his teeth.

"Wha... w-what did you do...?" You asked, terrified.

"Oh, how rude of me, to not clean myself before our meeting." He said, creepily smiling, showing off all of his bloodstained teeth. "Well, you see, you told me you were seeing someone other than me, and... mhm, I simply couldn't have that!"

"Y-you're a monster!" You yelled.

"Indeed I am, (Y/N)~"

You stumbled backwards in fear, and then... you ran. Jade wasn't too worried about that, though.

He began singing once more...

And in that very instant, everything stopped.

The only thing you could hear was his song... and the only thing you wanted to do was to return to him.

And that was exactly what you did. You walked back to him, you walked into the sea, into Jade's arms. He trapped you in a tight hug.

"Humans are such simple creatures." He told you as he stroked the back of your head. "All I need is to sing to your kind and they throw themselves into the water. It's impressive how easy it is to manipulate their minds, wouldn't you agree?"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" You tried pushing him away, but he kept a tight grip on you.

"(Y/N). Why are you trying to leave?" Jade asked. He dug his claws into your back, causing you to wince in pain. "It's a kill or be killed world, where I come from. I could never knowingly take you into my world... so we must make a compromise."

With a tight grip on you, he swam away from the shore. You were held under the water while he swam, the freezing cold water.

Before you knew it, you were above the surface again. You were in a cave on an island far away from your home. You were shivering, and coughing up the water that you swallowed.

"Now, (Y/N), please stay here. For your safety." Jade said. "I'll return here tomorrow morning. I'm planning on introducing you to my family."

"N-no-! Please, d-don't leave m-me here...!" You cried.

"Ah..." He reached his hand out of the water, placing it on your cheek. "You're quite cute when you're scared, (Y/N)."

"I d-don't want to b-be alone here..." You begged, shaking both from fear and the cold. Yes, you were scared of Jade... he was a monster that killed and presumbly ate your partner... but you knew him. He was the only thing you knew here.

"...fine." Jade smirked. "I suppose I could stay with you the night." He crawled out of the water, and wrapped his arms around you once again. "I'll keep you warm. And I'll keep you safe, (Y/N). I love you so much... isn't it wonderful, this life we'll live together?"

Even if you wanted to escape, you can't. Your home is too far away, you can't swim that far...

You can't survive in his world. So, soon enough, you will rely on Jade entirely.

"Would you like me to sing you to sleep, (Y/N)?"

He will keep you safe no matter what. You're his perfect little human, the love of his life...

You're his, now and forever.

"Good night, (Y/N)."

As you srifted off to sleep, the only thing you heard was his song.

[finoalcielo]

PSEUDO SUMMER COLLECTION 2023

KAI: 𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛 has been announced!! We'll use Koyori-sensei's styling! IKU: Kai-san! We, thinking it was summer! wanted to play! with all our might!! but the styling of the others are much cooler than what we expected!! KAI: It's okay, no problem

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Mutsuki Hajime & Yayoi Haru (Six Gravity) HAJIME: After eating this, let's take another swim. Let's go, Haru. HARU: Understood! ...Ah~~ So good~~🍦

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Uduki Arata & Satsuki Aoi (Six Gravity) ARATA: Super Special Summer Attack!! 🍉 AOI: Here, a toss. ARATA: Aoi-kun, don't just receive it so easily. AOI: Hahaha

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Shiwasu Kakeru & Kisaragi Koi (Six Gravity) KAKERU: The hot summer has started (meaning: I've begun eating the chilled Chinese noodles) KOI: A slightly dangerous summer has started (meaning: My tongue is colored in a slightly dangerous color)

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Shimotsuki Shun & Fuduki Kai (Procellarum) SHUN: Fuu... Watching the graceful Hajime in the corner there✨ KAI: Normally, you should be watching the whales or dolphins. SHUN: I'm fired up and my visual acuity is a 7.0 KAI: Listen (ww)

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Haduki You & Nagatsuki Yoru (Procellarum) YOU: Whoa! I'll bet my juice, it's a challenge, Yoru! YORU: OK, I won't lose? I acted out as a sniper in a drama, you know!

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

━🐬🌴🏄‍♀️✨Enjoy the summer‼️✨🍉🍨🌊━ ▷Minaduki Rui & Kannaduki Iku (Procellarum) RUI: Fufufu.... I, one is in charge of June, will forge a deep connection with water. IKU: Even though your last name literally means 'the month without water'? (laughs) Ha~, just floating around feels good! T/N: Rui's last name is 水無月 where 水 is water, 無 is without, 月 is month, which literally translates to 'month without water' .

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 Only you, I see 』 ▷Mutsuki Hajime (Six Gravity) HAJIME: Want some ice-cream? ＊＊＊ KAI: He's so cool, but that's ice-cream... IKU: Don't bring Hajime-san in this pseudo collection (www) Thank you for your coorperation!!

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 A place hotter than the sun 』 ▷Haduki You (Procellarum) YOU: Yahooー! My sunshine! Let's get wet together!! ＊＊＊ KAI: Isn't this cool?? IKU: He's going through the pseudo collection (www)

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 The you like a child, I fell in love with 』 ▷Uduki Arata (Six Gravity) ARATA: Super Special Summer Attack!!🍉 ＊＊＊ IKU: Exactly as it says. KAI: The serialization ended just like that

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 That gaze sears in my heart 』 ▷Shimotsuki Shun (Procellarum) SHUN: Watching with sharp eyes💜 ＊＊＊ IKU: That's just terrible. KAI: It's okay, he's been reported. IKU: That's not okay either (ww)

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 Summer is finally here! 』 ▷Nagatsuki Yoru (Procellarum) YORU: Shall we go~?! Be careful to not get wet! ＊＊＊ KAI: This may be a pseudo collection, but this is fine (so cute) IKU: This should be okay (so cute)

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 Summer is finally here! 』 ▷Shiwasu Kakeru (Six Gravity) KAKERU: ...! ......!!! (munch munch) ＊＊＊ KAI: One more from Gravi! IKU: The freshly looking chilled Chinese noodles are gushing out (www) Looks really tasty!!!

#Midsummer 2023

𝕋𝕊𝕌𝕂𝕀ℙℝ𝕆 (pseudo) 𝕊𝕌𝕄𝕄𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕃𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

『 I'm drowning in my thoughts of you 』 ▷Kannaduki Iku (Procellarum) IKU: Don't worry, the lifeguard will help!! ＊＊＊ KAI: This was the last one. IKU: Don't use me as the punchline (ww) The meaning of the subtitle is different!

#Midsummer 2023

[countrymusiclover]

44 - Love is the most powerful magic of all

His Golden Princess

Thank you all for reading ❤️ This is the end of Astrid and Rumple's story

@fanficismydrug @misskitty1912-blog @icefrye19 @lover-of-books-and-tea

Shooting awake up in the bed holding my stomach with my hands tightly. Frantically looking around I gasped. Fumbling over to my nightstand I dialed the first phone number I could think of. “Em, ah! I need your help. The baby…”

“Ast, what’s wrong?” Even though she wasn’t happy I used the sword to save her life and made her a Dark One she still cared about me.

It had been a few months since I had told her and Rumple the truth. Throwing my head back against the pillows I gripped the phone in my hand. “I think the baby’s coming. I….ohhh. I need Rumple.”

“I’ll come get you.” She said quickly.

Biting my lip I drew blood feeling contractions. My heart was beating faster. “Emma, there’s no need. I can just magic there….ah what the hell?” Looking down to my arm I gasped seeing some dark veins rising up through my veins.

“Astrid, tell me. What’s going on!” My sister declared through the phone hearing the panic in my voice. We could always tell the difference in the other person's voice when we were terrified. Before she gave birth to Henry I visited her in jail and could see she was horrified.

Tossing the covers aside I stumbled out of the bed. Standing on my feet I winced holding a hand over my heart feeling it burning in pain. "Emma, I need Rumple. Ohhh! Call - call Ella…call Ashley. Whoever she's going by. Cinderella!"

"Okay I'm calling her right now." Emma hung up where I stumbled down the stairs in my sleep clothes trying to not panic. Leaning against the wall I knew that Ashly or Ella would be there for me just like my sister.

Walking into Ashly’s hospital room Emma said I should be the one to tell her we convince Gold to let her keep her child. Shutting the door behind me I smiled seeing her holding her daughter. “Hey, how’s she doing. What’s her name?”

“Alexandra. Sean came to see her.” Her smile dropped thinking back to Gold and their deal. “Will he be taking her from me now?”

Sitting down on the edge of her bed I placed a hand on her leg. “Nope. Emma and I got him to let you keep her. My sister will owe him a favor but it doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy.”

“Thank you, thank you both so much.” She began crying, bouncing her baby girl in her arms.

Sending her a grin I tilted my head sensing she had more to say. “What is it, Ashly?”

“I noticed Emma, your sister said she had a kid. But you don’t. I just thought that if you ever have children I’ll be there for you.” The blonde grinned and we would later learn she was Cinderella. “You and Emma gave me a chance to raise my child. And that is something I will never forget.”

Sniffing through tears I didn’t expect that from the single mother. “Awe thank you, Ashly. I will remember that. You have my word.”

The blonde princess pulled up outside my house and her husband Thomas came inside seeing that I was holding my stomach. Throwing my head back I winced sharply. “Sean!”

“Did someone call a prince to the rescue? Come on, we'll get you to the hospital.” He wrapped his arms around my waist lifting me up bridal style carrying me out to his truck.

Ashly was in the front passenger seat holding her daughter in her lap. But she reached behind the seat taking my hand in hers. “It’s going to be okay. Emma said she is going to get Rumple.”

“Okay…” I nodded, biting my lip, shutting my eyes as we flee to the hospital which thankfully wasn’t far in the small formerly cursed town. Once we were there her prince came back with a wheelchair and the nurse got a room ready.

Laying in the bed I gasped seeing the dark veins making their way through my whole arm. I didn't know why it was happening but it had to be the reason I collapsed and saw my daughter in a future vision. “Ah Mrs. Gold. I am praying that this pregnancy I perform is actually normal this time.” Dr. Whale came into the room with a set of nurses.

“You and I both…urgh!” I bared my teeth down before the lights in the room flickered off and on like crazy. I had a blood pressure cuff on tracing my vitals that started sounding off like crazy.

Whale came over reading the level my heart was going. “Woah, that isn’t good. Your heart rate is way too low.”

“It probably has something to do with these.” Holding my forearm upwards he caught sight of the dark veins. I coughed some blood on my shirt when the door burst open and I saw my sister and husband. “Emma - Rumple!”

My husband rushed over to my bedside as quickly as he could with the limp and cane. He takes my hand in tracing his thumb over the veins that were growing my palms now. “Astrid, I’m sorry. There shouldn’t be this much stress on the baby. But don’t worry I’ll fix it.”

“Rumple ... .no you take the power back.” I gasped through tears seeing him draw the Dark One dagger from inside his suit jacket.

He shook his head clutching the dagger handle tightly in his hands. He began crying heavily where I could see his brown eyes welling with tears. “I can’t let the darkness kill you and our daughter. You are too important to me, lass. You are my heart and soul. If you die then I won’t have my happy ending. You have changed me to be a better man and know love when I didn’t think I deserved it. So let me take the power back please.”

“But if you take it back it will kill you, Rumple. That’s the whole reason why I took it from you….I don’t want to lose the man I love.” I sobbed heavily through tears clutching the bedsheets in my fingers. “Please don’t leave me, Rumple. I need you….you are my life!”

He placed the dagger in my right wrapping his hand around mine where he winced shaking through the pain feeling how stronger the darkness had become in my bloodstream. “Then we will split the power between us. Together we share a heart. So we can share the power too.”

“How…I thought only one person could be the Dark One.” I croaked, squeezing his hand in mine beginning to feel more scared than before.

Emma stepped forward taking the dagger in her hands raising it up to the two of us all the while Dr. Whale was jumping standing there watching. “I found a way to control my light magic over the darkness that is keeping me alive. I know what to do. You have to each have light and dark magic inside of you.” She focused sternly on us before the dagger glows brightly and we both gasped.

Shifting my gaze to Rumple I saw he was watching me too. Suddenly the dark magic came outside of me and split into two separate strands. The magic shot back into our hearts and the same thing happened with my golden light magic. “That should work….oh my gosh.” My sister sighed with a smile.

“It worked, Rumple.” Leaning my head against his chest I sighed in relief intertwining my hand with his gently. His brown eyes watched the darkness veins disappear from my arms a few seconds after.

Dr. Whale looked at my screen showing the baby getting my legs up and open to push. “Now that your heart is good we need to get this baby out for ya.”

Rumple moved around to the side of the bed so I could hold onto his hand. The contractions started coming closer together when I gave my first few pushes. My heart started banging against my chest and I already felt tired. "It's starting to come out, Astrid. Just a few more big pushes." Dr. Whale said back.

Rumple winced sharply when I squeezed his hand even tighter. My freehand was turning white while I gripped the handle of the dagger. Sweat was sticking to my forehead with the white hair falling over my shoulders appearing to be a mess. "I can't do this, Rumple…I can’t!"

"Yes you can. Astrid. I've seen you overcome things that have been much harder than this. So I know you can do this." He replied, squeezing my hand in his even though I had nearly broken his hand at this point.

Nodding my head slowly I bared my teeth doing one final push that took the last of my energy that I had left. An infant's cry filled the room where I threw my head back onto the pillows. Gulping a lump down my throat I slowly controlled my breathing while the nurse wrapped the baby in a blanket handing them to me once I had sat up again. "Congratulations, you have a baby girl. Have you thought of a name?"

“No….ah what the hell!” I gasped, feeling more contractions breaking through my body.

Emma whipped her head around in panic. “Whale, what is happening to my sister?”

“It’s okay. Uh….she has another baby coming.” He dropped down in his rolling chair frantically getting prepared again telling me to push again. “You have to start pushing again, Mrs. Gold.”

Sucking in a breath Rumple squeezed my hand tightly knowing that I was beginning to panic rapidly. He pushed hair out of my face when I started pushing as much as I could. “Ahhh!”

“There it is. Congratulations again you two. You have a baby boy now too.” Dr. Whale held up the baby in his arms, handing it to the other nurse.

The nurses handed the girl to me and the baby boy to Rumple. He sent me a teary grin and I chuckled, not expecting that we would have two kids at once. “Rumple, I know the name for the daughter. Marigold Ella Stilskin. But you can name the boy.”

“Gideon Baefire Stilskin.” He declares leaning forward kissing me gently. Leaning into the kiss I smiled when he whispered back. “I love you, Astrid. I always will. You are my golden princess.”

Breaking the kiss we both stared down at the infants in our arms. No matter what we had faced, these little joys were all worth it. “I love you too, Rumple. You are my dark prince.” I would never forget that Henry bringing us here to break a curse changed everything for the better.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[enkisstories]

It would have been easy to blame the chain dating for what happened next, but truth was, it was on Armitage and Rose.

They still hadn't fully transistioned from life on a supply ship respectively a small mining town to the reality of commercial whaling. Even long after they had understood the schedule, their bodies still would protest against it, because a shift on the Skywalker of the same length as on a Weller Bros. ship was way more taxing.

And so one day Rose slept through the last two hours of her watch.

My rules say to dock the sim that dozes off during their watch some money at the end of the journey. But that's not what will happen in the story.

Armitage: "Wake up! You can't sleep in the snow! Let's get you belowdecks and hope that Poe doesn't see us."

Rose: "Why not? You're not carrying me in an indecent way."

Armitage: "Because if we don't get spotted, we may escape the whip! There. I said it. I'm dodging a rule and don't even feel too bad about it..."

Rose: "Whipping? For a nap that wasn't even voluntary? Poe would never do that!"

Armitage: "But he HAS to! The more dangerous a journey, the stricter the order on a ship needs to be maintained."

That stood to reson, right? Except that whip lashes were not particularly suited to teaching a person to stay awake. Not after that one had already dozed off anyway.

A minute BEFORE, maybe? But then you'd have a tired AND hurting sailor, what was even less desirable than just a tired one.

Poe: *yawns* "'morning, Armi. Rose already hit the hay?"

Armitage: "Er, yes!"

Poe: "Anything to report?"

Armitage: "No whales..."

Finn: "Anything else?"

Armitage: "No...?"

Finn: "Oh, well, we'll see what exactly you two broke in a minute."

Armitage: "What makes you think we broke something?"

Poe: "For real, man, what are you hiding from us?"

Armitage: *yawns*

Poe: "Ah, I see. You think there may have been whales, after all, but you overlooked them while blinking in the wrong moment. If ever you find yourself this tired again, find a spot to nap for an hour or so! Better a whale less than a crewmember less."

Armitage: "C... co... m a... gain?!"

Poe: "Go sleep already! I'll try to get through to you when you're coherent again. On second thought, I better call a full meeting to lecture you guys on workplace safety."

[auriel187]

The More Things Change. (S1 E6)

Word Count: 4233

Series Masterlist

A/N: If anyone doesn't like the fact that the oc is black, go away.

I was sketching on a blank sheet of paper, not paying much attention to the world around me as I filled the paper with seashells. Shawn and I have been swapping our papers every few minutes so I was making an effort to add mathematical and scientific information into my drawings. He just looks at me weird before he uses my notes to solve the equations. Then he adds to the drawing.

"I have graded your book reports from last Friday and after I pass them out, we'll discuss them." Our teacher said before he saw Cory looking at Shawn with a clown nose on his face. I started adding Clown Cory to my paper. "Ah, Mr. Matthews. Shall I express my usual disappointment or just ask you to guide my sleigh tonight?" Mr. Feeny looked over at the three of us with disappointment in his eyes. I shrank in my seat.

"Uh, wrong holiday, Mr. Feeny. See, Halloween's coming up and I was just test driving my clown nose." Cory explained, taking off the large red nose.

"Then I insist you stay in the driver's seat. Put the nose back on... for the rest of the morning." Was I mean? I laughed at that? "Mr. Minkus, excellent work as usual. I particularly enjoyed your haiku on Captain Ahab's obsession with the great white whale." Mr. Feeny said as he handed the small boy his book report.

"The calm blue ocean. Sun lights up the monster's eye. He sees me... whale food." He recited dramatically.

"It works on so many levels." Feeny praised him and I rolled my eyes. Give him a bigger head.

"Brown-noser." Shawn muttered.

"Troglodyte." Minkus replied. That made me mad.

"Sanctimonious twit." Minkus looked over at me with a glare, which I readily returned.

"Mr. Lewis, very good work. Mr. Matthews, not one of your better efforts. Mr. Hunter, there you are. Ms. Archer, bravo." Mr. Feeny handed our book reports back.

"Hey, this isn't fair. Rick and I both got Cs. How come you tell him he did good work and you tell me it wasn't one of my better efforts?" Cory bellowed. I swapped my paper with Shawn again.

"Would Bozo please come to the center ring? Mr. Lewis worked very hard to get his C... and I respect him for that. You, on the other hand, waste your efforts... on being the class clown." I mean, he had a point.

"How come you always pick on me, Mr. Feeny? How come you never pick on Minkus? Or Raven?" I looked up at Cory. He looked back at me and quickly turned back to our teacher.

"Have you taken a blow to the head, Mr. Matthews? Stuart Minkus gets nothing but As. If there was a letter before "A," he would get that. Ms. Archer has had perfect grades since she transferred here and she barely says three words in class." Mr. Feeny exclaimed.

"I guess that's why they get away with so much." Cory slumped away.

"And just what do they get away with?" Mr. Feeny asked.

"How come when she draws in class and goofs around with Shawn, she's allowed to but when I do it I get in trouble?" He pointed to his clown nose. Mr. Feeny did the come hither motion.

"Ms. Archer has an anxiety disorder . Extremely severe anxiety disorder by the looks of it. She also needs multiple forms of intellectual stimuli. I can condone her drawing and her 'goofing around' with Mr. Hunter because I noticed that she can get him to focus on school for more than ten seconds." Shawn looked over at me and smiled.

"Well, how come when I make paper airplanes, I get detention, and he doesn't?" I looked over at Minkus who was making a realistic paper plane. "I withdraw the question."

+=+=+=+=+

I sat in front of our classroom with my chemistry book (technically Jazmyne's old book) open on my lap as the seconds ticked by on the clock just above me. I jumped when I felt something poke my back. "Hello, my little ray of Sunshine." Shawn pulled me up and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Hi Puppy. How was detention?"

"Boring. Thanks for this though." He held up my periodic table, which he coloured in with my coloured pencils.

"No problem." I replied as he hugged me and continued to read over my shoulder.

"You guys are gross." Cory said exiting the class. He looked between Shawn and I. "You guys waited for me?"

"Am I not your best friend?" Shawn said coolly. I rolled my eyes.

"You had detention, too, didn't you?" Cory smiled, knowingly.

"Oh, yeah. Mrs. Engles nailed him. How'd you get detention in art?" I asked, picking up my stuff off the floor.

Shawn lifted me off the ground, spinning me. "Well, that's what makes me one of the greats." Cory looked so sick with us.

"It's what makes you a dingus!" I poked him as he put me down.

"You two make me sick." Cory groaned in disgust. I don't know what his problem is, Shawn and I are just being friendly. It's not like we just started acting like this. This has been us since we became best friends. Shawn rolled his eyes and tossed his drink in the trash. Then he peered into it like a weirdo.

"Hey. Check this out, answers to a test." He spoke excitedly.

"We can't be looking at test answers. That's major cheating, detention for life." Cory stared in shock.

"Shawn, first of all, Eww. Second of all, put that down!" I smacked his arm repeatedly. He just kept reading the sheet. "Puppy, this will be the end of your educational life! That means no school, no field trips, no sports!"

"I can just do that at home, my field trips will be better because I can bring my bed and my TV." He bumped me with his hip.

"Do you think Jefferson or Brianna will let me speak to you if you do this?" I countered and his demeanour cracked. Good.

"The control you have over him confuses me so much." Cory whispered to me.

"These aren't for a real test. They're for that stupid lQ exam we're taking tomorrow." I let out a sigh of relief when he started to crumple it to throw it away.

"Wait a minute. Let me take a look at this. Wow. The person who knows these answers gets a perfect score." I shook my head and tried to grab it from him.

"On a test that doesn't even count for a grade. Why bother?" Shawn asked. Good!

"Are you kidding? This is my one ticket to get Feeny off my back. If Feeny thinks I'm a genius... he'll treat me just as good as he treats Minkus." I shook my head at him. I was about to say something when Shawn beat me to it.

"Hey, Cory, do yourself a favor. Crumple the paper up, throw it away in the trash. Don't complicate your life." I have no idea what got into him but I was so proud.

"I could kiss you right now!" I turned to the blue eyed boy, who had this look on his face as blush crept over his entire face. He giggled awkwardly but I turned my attention back to Cory when he began to smooth out the paper.

"You know, that makes a lot of sense... and if I was a smarter person, I'd probably listen to you... except I'm not a smarter person... But tomorrow, I'm going to be a genius." Cory smirked, I smacked upside the head. This is gonna backfire on him. You don't need to be a genius to know that.

+=+=+=+=+

It was Thursday. We still hadn't heard anything about the tests yet but I know that the reason it was taking so long was all because of Cory. "I have in my hands the results of Tuesday's lQ test... and one person here deserves special mention. This person achieved not only the highest score in the class, not only the highest score in the school but a score so high as to give rise to the question... "ls there, in fact, a ceiling on human intelligence?"" I looked at our teacher in shock. He can't possibly believe that!

"Please, Mr. Feeny, you're embarrassing me." Minkus let out, confidently. The only plus about all this is that his ego gets to be knocked down a peg.

"Mr. Minkus, you technically came in third." Mr. Feeny deadpanned and the class fell silent.

"Third?" Minkus sounded dumbfounded. Serves him right.

"Uh-huh. Well, in all honesty you got tied with the second person in terms of your responses."

"As in the context of not first? Someone scored higher than I did on the lQ test?"

"That is typically how being third works." I mumbled more to myself than to anyone else.

"Oh, one blew you out of the academic water. The other demonstrated an extensive knowledge of complex mathematical inquiries as well as artistic prowess. And both of them are sitting in this room...Someone in this very classroom is a junior Kierkegaard." Mr. Feeny was preaching.

"A what?" Cory asked. I smacked my hand on my forehead.

"A great mind, Cor." I whispered boredly.

"She's correct, Mr. Matthews... just like yours. I have clearly underrated you, and I bow to your genius. Come on. Bravo." Mr. Feeny applauded and I thought he was actually buying all of this.

"It's no big thing, Mr. Feeny."

"On the contrary, Mr. Matthews, it is a big thing. It is a very big thing."

"Uh-oh." I heard Cory mumble as Shawn raised his hand.

"Mr. Hunter?" Mr. Feeny looked about as confused as the rest of us did.

"Who got the other high score?" He asked, side eyeing me slightly. But Mr. Feeny didn't say anything.

+=+=+=+=+

I walked up the walkway behind Cory and Shawn. I smiled when I saw Amy, Eric and Morgan leaving the house. "Oh, hi." Amy said as the boys sprinted upstairs.

"Can't talk, mom, lots of homework. Got to go." Cory said halfway to his room.

"Yeah. What he said." Shawn yelled in agreement. I stopped to greet the three of them properly.

"Something terrible?" Amy asked as I hugged her.

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely." I replied, lifting up Morgan.

Eric grabbed me and lifted me up when I let go of Morgan. "You gonna set them straight, Pigeon?" I nodded, saluting them before I whipped off my shoes and sprinted up the stairs to see Cory in the middle of a major freak out.

"Feeny knows. Somehow he knows, and he's going to get me." He paced while I took a seat next to Shawn on one of the beds.

"You're wrong." Shawn tried, and failed, to defuse the spiraling curly haired boy.

"You think he's just sending a thank you note to my parents? "Thank you for bringing up your son. He's a genius. He's smarter than Captain Kirkaguard.""

"It's Kierkegaard, Dingus." I mumbled laying on the bed. "Besides, Mr. Feeny gave me one for Jefferson and Brianna too. Stop being dramatic." As I said that, Shawn just grabbed the letter and ripped the envelope open.

"What are you doing? That's a sealed envelope addressed to my parents. Now they're going to know I opened it." Cory exclaimed, making me sit up to stare at him.

"Cory, do your parents ever write letters to anyone?" I asked, he couldn't possibly be this dense.

"Yeah." He affirmed.

"And when they do, what do they put the letters in?" Shawn continued my thought.

"Envelopes. Just like this one." Cory caught on.

"So we could read the note." Shawn started leaving room for Cory to jump in.

"And seal it back up in a new white envelope. Ha! I love how we think. What's it say?" Cory finished excitedly.

"Uh-oh. He's bringing in the S.E.A." Shawn read, but I knew he was lying just to mess with Cory.

"What?" Cory looked baffled.

"The State Education Authority." Shawn answered. He's a good actor. Mischievous and sneaky but good.

"They have special field agents who handle intelligence fraud." I joined in. I buried my face in the crook of Shawn's neck. I knew if I looked at Cory, I'd bust a gut.

"I'm cooked! I'm cooked, Shawn! For the first time in my life, I'm in real trouble. Raven, you're smart! Help me out here! I'm cooked!" Cory started pacing frantically.

"Not if we're making all this up." Shawn said tauntingly.

"Are you?" Cory asked hopefully.

"No." Shawn snatched all hope away from him.

"I'm cooked!" Cory screamed.

"Relax, of course I'm making it up. He just wants to talk to your parents." Shawn said while I was clutching my side, nearly rolling off the bed in a fit of laughter.

"What if he tells them he doesn't think I'm a genius?" Cory whined.

"Who cares if Feeny doesn't think you're brilliant? As long as the test says so." Shawn waved it off. I rolled my eyes, about to tell them that was wrong but when did that ever stop them?

"But I'm not, and my parents know I'm not." Cory sighed heavily.

"Then you'll have to make them think you are." Shawn said, smirking back at Cory.

"How do I do that?" Cory asked, watching as Shawn turned to me, then back to him.

"Get with the program, Cory. It's Halloween, and this year you're going as a genius. Now," Shawn turned to me and smiled brightly. "Sunshine, what do you have in your magic bag that can help Cory?" He asked all wide eyed.

"Absolutely nothing because this is going to blow up in his face." I pointed at Cory.

"Come on, Ray. You know nobody's smarter than you." Shawn moved closer to me and Cory leaned away, starting to get grossed out.

"A lot of people are smarter than me and all of them say this is a bad idea." I countered.

"Please." Shawn moved even closer and Cory stared wide eyed. "Help us, Rae Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope." Shawn put his forehead on mine and I felt myself smiling like an idiot.

"I..." I started, ready to flat out deny them both but they both sat in front of me giving me puppy stares. "....I have a Beethoven CD in my bag." They both looked at me like I was a weirdo. "I can let you boys deal with this on your own."

"You wouldn't do that, you love us too much." Cory exclaimed, pulling me in for a hug before he fell onto the bed.

+=+=+=+=+

"I'm home." I said as I removed my shoes and ran into the living room, where Jefferson and Adam were sitting on the couch as Rochelle, Brianna, Jazmyne, Tamara and Mariah sat on the floor doing one another's hair. I hung up my coat, noticing some boxes from the attic were seated by the stairs.

"It's little Vinny! Hi, kid." Adam seemed happy as Jefferson got up so I could sit. He took a seat on his lazy boy. I waved at all of them. That's when Jefferson noticed the envelope in my hand.

"Uh oh, Rae Rae got a letter for us." Jefferson said teasingly as he read it. "Well, well, well...Rae -over here- 's teacher has some concerns. I stared wide eyed. I never got in trouble with Mr. Feeny before.

Brianna looked about as panicked as I felt. "Pardon me?" She asked in a way that wasn't really asking.

"Well apparently, A Mr. George Feeny is concerned with her class work due to a test they did on Tuesday." Jefferson explained. I could feel my stomach begging to get tight until I remembered that we didn't do any real tests on Tuesday. Just the IQ test.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"What? Does she need help? I can tutor her if she'd like?" Tamara offered, looking worried. Jazmyne didn't. I assume it's because her father liked to mess with people similar to what Shawn did to Cory earlier.

"According to Mr. Feeny: Raven-Anniya Amberhide is an incredible and highly gifted student. Though she struggles with severe anxiety, she still manages to be at the top of her class with ease and without much hesitation. My only worry is that this class may be too simple for a student of her intellect.

Typically, an IQ such as her could be cause for an advanced student placement, however given that she does suffer from anxiety and seems the most secure and comfortable when immersed in conversations with Cory A. Matthews and Shawn P. Hunter, I've advised the school to not separate them.

You should be very proud." Jefferson recited clearly.

"So...What'd she get?" Jazmyne asked. I could see her buzzing with excitement and it must've been contagious.

"187! She has an IQ of 187!" Brianna boasted once she read the letter herself. She was so happy she practically suffocated me.

+=+=+=+=+

I wasn't surprised when Cory was complaining about this whole situation. He had a good heart. He can't lie to people he cares about.

"Shawn, this whole thing is getting out of hand." He looked so sad. I simply rested my head on Cory's shoulder.

"Relax. Everybody thinks you're brilliant. You should enjoy it." Shawn said nonchalantly. He peered down at my sketchbook whilst I was drawing.

"When it was just Feeny, I could enjoy it. But now my parents are involved, and I don't like lying to them." Cory mumbled.

"You don't?" Shawn looked up in confusion. Cory simply shook his head. "'Cause it gives me a little rush. Besides, you didn't tell them you were a genius, Feeny did." I looked up at them like they were crazy.

"And I didn't tell Feeny I'm a genius." Cory smiled and I knew my boys were gonna start ping ponging off each other.

"The test did. And you didn't ask to take the test." Shawn said.

"They gave it to me. And you wouldn't have even seen the answers..." Cory went, get lost on his train of thought.

"If they didn't give us..." Shawn caught on instantly.

"Detention." They said together.

"We're innocent victims." Shawn smiled proudly.

"Nothing we do is actually our fault." Cory sounded like he was having an epiphany.

"It's good to be kids." Shawn held his hand out and Cory gave him a very loud high five. I smiled at them. They're such lovable nimrods.

"I don't get it." Minkus spoke, petulantly.

"What?" Shawn didn't have any form of patience in his tone.

"If you're smarter than I am... how come you're always trying to copy from my paper?" Minkus asked, which caused Cory to stammer.

"He's not copying, Minkus. He's just glancing over to admire... the work of a fellow genius." I jumped in, internally berating myself for getting further involved in this.

"You are?" Minkus asked Cory.

"He is." Shawn nodded in agreement.

"I am." Cory smiled stiffly.

"Oh, well, that's oK. In fact, from now on I'll kind of tip my test papers up so you can admire the answers even easier." Minkus said with a plastered smile on his face.

"Would you do that?" Cory asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No." The blond says and walks away.

"Genius envy." Shawn reasoned before looking over at me. "Where'd you come up with that lie?" He asked before the bell rang and Mr. Feeny walked in with a tall Asian woman.

"Class, this is Miss Chin. She'll be with you for the first half hour... while I have a word with Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny said. The class 'ohh ed' as Cory walked out of the room.

"Tell my mom I went out like a man." The curly haired boy said as Miss Chin told the class to take out our workbooks and complete lessons 8 through 12. I had already finished the chapter so I turned to Shawn.

"Five minutes before I hand in my tests, I look to see where everyone else is." I admitted and went into my sketchbook, doodling until Mr. Feeny came back. Cory walked into the class and slumped into his seat. I could see the little pout he had on his face and decided to move my seat and help him with his work. I chuckled when he passed a note to the blue eyed boy and turned back to his work. When he was finished I turned to help Shawn.

+=+=+=+=+

"OK, we're here. What's the big emergency?" Shawn asked when we entered the room. We didn't expect Cory to start shooting us. Shawn pushed me behind the desk before he almost went through the window. "Hey! What are you trying to do, kill us?" Shawn exclaimed, pushing me behind him in case Cory tried to shoot us again.

"Kill you? I'll tell you about killed? How about what you did to me?" Cory whined.

"What'd we do?" I asked. This better not be about the stupid IQ test.

"Where are you spending your next recess? Playground? Shooting hoops? Playing ball? Drooling over Raven-Anniya?" Well, that last one was a little out of left field but alright.

"So?" Shawn completely ignored the last one.

"So let me tell you what I'm doing. I'm searching for Bobby Fischer!" Cory screamed.

"That's such a good movie." I muttered. I saw the two of them look at me like I was nuts. "...I like Joe Mantenga and Lawrence Fishburn." I shrank back behind Shawn.

"What are you talking about?"

"Geniuses go to a special school. Did you know that? You killed me. I'm going to be in a class full of Minkuses. Wait a minute. What am I talking about? These kids make Minkus look like Fabio."

"Wait a minute. They're putting you in another school?" Shawn looked back at me. He looked at me like I was leaving too.

"Yes. The lady is going to be here in a half an hour and they're going to give me another genius test and then they're going to take me away. So I just called you up to say good-bye. Or as geniuses say, good-bye in Latin."

"You do realize that this is your fault, right? Shawn and I told you to put the answer sheet back in the garbage and your exact words were 'You know, that makes a lot of sense... and if I was a smarter person, I'd probably listen to you... except I'm not a smarter person... But tomorrow, I'm going to be a genius' remember? So please tell me how we killed you?" I said.

"You're the smart one! Why didn't you tell me that geniuses get sent to genius school?" Cory bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at me. I smacked it.

"Because they don't. Mr. Feeny probably suggested it to catch you in your lie." I shrugged.

"Well, they're coming to send me to the fancy school so I guess his plan failed!" Cory whined.

"Hey, idiot." Shawn spoke.

"What?" Cory mumbled.

"Are you a genius?" The blue eyed boy asked.

"No." The brown eyed boy answered.

"Do you have the answers to this test?" The brown haired boy asked.

"No." The curly haired boy responded.

"You kind of see where he's going with this?" I say, leaning towards Cory.

"You want me to throw the test?" Cory looked between the two of us.

"Oh, no, no. I want you to take the test to the best of your ability. And no guessing. I wouldn't want you to stumble onto a right answer." Shawn said as he pulled me towards the door.

"Vale, Cornelius!" I screamed as Shawn pulled me down the stairs. "Bye, Matthews!"

+=+=+=+=+

I linked up with Eli and Mariah just around the corner of Cory's street. Mariah was a princess and Elijah was a vampire. We were waiting for Cory and Shawn to get here. Which is weird because we were on Cory's street.

"Boo!" I heard someone scream behind me as I was lifted off the ground.

I smacked Shawn in the arm as Cory approached with a goblin mask. He looked over at my pseudo cousins. "Cor, this is Elijah and Mariah. Mariah is just hearing impaired, she can hear you." I say quickly as they all shake hands.

Jefferson was standing by a lamppost dressed as a mad scientist. "Looks like you guys are all here, so how about a nice Halloween picture before you go torture your teacher?" It was a unanimous yes. The flash was quick and blinding. Tonight was already getting chaotic.

We were about to walk up to Mr. Feeny's house when we noticed him running to Cory's. "This is gonna be good." Mariah whispered. I took her hand.

Cory rang the doorbell and the boys pulled down their masks. I hoped my make was enough of a disguise. "Trick or treat!" We all said and much to our joy, Mr. Feeny answered the door.

"The candy's on its way." He replied, not recognizing anyone.

"Hey, aren't you that Feeny guy from school?" Shawn said looking up at our teacher. That was Elijah's signal.

"I'm Mr. Feeny, yes."

Eli took a step forward. "My brother's friend Cory Matthews said I'm going to have you as a teacher next year. He said you're the best teacher in the whole school." He crushed it!

"Oh, please, Mr. Matthews. I wasn't born yesterda..." he lifted up the mask to reveal that it was in fact not Cory. "I'm terribly sorry. Happy Halloween. Here, have a ruler. Have all the rulers." I suppressed my laughter as he dumped all his 'treats' into Eli's bag.

When Amy called Mr. Feeny from the kitchen, he smiled awkwardly at us and ran away. "And they say I'm not a genius!" Cory laughed proudly after removing his mask.

"So, Frankenstein? Where's the big candy bar house on this street?" Mariah asked, looking up at Shawn.

He pushed me forward. "Our Dragon Queen usually leads." And with that we s made our way from house to house getting so much candy we'd be sick for a week!

I love Halloween!

[eveandtheturtles]

Donnie and a mermaid

Idk, I wanted a cute Little Mermaid-esque story, half way through the direction kind of derailed? Originally I was going to make it more violent and creepy but in the end that changed as well. Just weird shit going down in my brain. I don't think I like it but I'm still gonna post it, so.... Enjoy?

Uuuh, also I drew the mermaid, she's at the bottom of the fic.

Rating: Uh, I'll give it a strong T? Like be wary of the warning below but- yeah?

Warning: mind control.

tagging: @madammuffins @turtle-babe83 @thelaundrybitch @pheradream15 @dilucsflame33 @sharpwindow

What happened was just pure luck. They were patrolling the harbor. Making sure no Foot Clan wannabes were trying to move in.

The night was quiet though. It seemed no serious crime was going to happen that night. Donnie was somewhat relieved. He had some games and a project to get back to.

Suddenly they all heard a high pitched cry. It was not human though. If Donnie was to guess what it was it was closer to a whale.

"What was that?" Leo was immediately alerted.

"I think some whale got beached. I'll go check it out and alert the correct authorities," Donnie replied calmly.

"Alright, let us know if it's anything more serious," Leo agreed. "We'll probably be slowly heading out once you get back. The area looks clear."

Donnie nodded and jumped from a cargo container to cargo container trying to pin point the spot the poor animal was. It let out one more cry for help and that helped him finally find it.

But when he got there it wasn't a whale he saw. Humanoid from waist up and fish from waist down, barely reaching 5 feet in total lenght. It was green in colour from the top of its bald head to the tip of its tail. Gills on its neck and over the ribcage. Wiry arms with webbed hands, yellow eyes and sharp teeth. The tail could belong to a leopard shark species. It was beautiful in a way. There was a spear sticking out of it and the creature was wrapped in a fishing net.

"A mermaid," he whispered.

It's- her? His? Pointy, fin like ears twitched and the mermaid (or merman) looked up at him and hissed in warning, baring their teeth.

"It's okay, it's okay," Donnie said calmly as he carefully walked closer. He had his arms up. No weapon in sight. He hoped that it was universal enough of a sign that he meant no harm. "I want to help you." He hoped they knew human speech.

The mer-creature blinked slowly, confused with what they were seeing. They knew humans but this? This was new.

Donnie noted the nictitating membrane. Fascinating. Anyway. Task at hand. He decided to start first with the spear. The fishing net restraining them was probably better left on for now.

"I'm going to break this, okay?" He said out loud for the merperson to understand.

They tilted their head a little. They saw the hands reaching to the spear and the questioning expression on the strange land creature's face. They nodded. It still didn't make the pain less blinding when the turtle broke the shaft off.

The mer cried out and trashed a little, snapping it's jaw in Donnie's direction. He jumped back in time though. The mer creature made keening noises and his heart was breaking just a little for it. Them.

"It's alright," he tried to reach to them and comfort them.

She calmed down, shaking a little. She blinked slowly. He was helping her, he seemed sturdy and... kind. She opened her mouth and a song flew out of it. A sweet melody that soothed his mind.

He smiled. "Wow, that's magical..." He moved closer to her, entrance by the music.

Suddenly, Donnie's comm went off.

"Donnie, is everything all right over there, you have been gone for a while now!" Leo's worried voice broke through the tense silence.

The purple terrapin jumped up. He fumbled with the intercom, almost dropping it. "Yeah! Everything is fine! I'm good. I ah- am doing a bit of a rescue mission by myself," he replied.

"With a whale? Do you need help?"

"No, no! You don't have to! I got it! It's like a shark of sorts. Much smaller. It's just tied up on nets," he started explaining, trying to keep his brothers away. "You all should go home. I got this." He heard himself say.

Weird. He didn't want anyone else to know about them... Her. He looked at the mermaid. She was humming now, the music just for him. He knew it. It was so beautiful.

"I'll free you now," he said.

The mermaid stilled for him and he cut all the ropes. Once her binds were gone she rubbed her wrists. She looked at him, her big, fully yellow eyes drew him further in. There was a connection between them, he could feel it. Such a wonderful being she was.

He took her cold, webbed hands and marvelled at how smooth and soft they were. How small and perfect they were in his. "You're going to be safe", he assured her, "I'll protect you."

She hummed that beautiful sound again and he swore he couldn't be happier.

The next day Leo did a head count and was down one. He wasn't too concerned as Donnie tended to oversleep for various reasons (experiments, streams, working on gadgets). That was until he saw that neither the bed or the spot in the lab were occupied by the snoring purple turtle.

"Have you guys seen Donnie?" He turned to Mikey and Raph.

"Yeah, he was here for like five seconds," Mikey said, doing kickflips midair. "Grabbed a whole bunch of eggs and stuff from his lab. Said something about shark and then left."

"The nerd gonna open a full blown marine rescue at this point," Raph chortled. "I bet he's gonna install an acquarium right in the middle of the lair."

"Eugh, he better not," Leo sighed and pinched the bridge between his eyes. He let go of it now. Later he would come to regret that.

He didn't see Donnie for the next three days. Their dad was getting concerned. Leo expected this shit to happen with Raph or Mikey but Donnie? Logic driven Donnie? Like yeah even if he'd pull crazy shit (like jump out of an airplane with no shoot) he always calculated all the risks. His younger brother would never rush to things unprepared...

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Raph's yelling got him out of a morbid mood and his meditation.

"We all have been worried sick and you come back looking like a fucking ghost!!" Raph continued yelling.

Leo, with his heart in his throat went to see what the ruckus was about, although he already knew.

"Donnie," he said, relieved but also concerned and angry at the same time. "Where have you been? You turned off your locator."

"I'm fine," the tall terrapin mumbled.

Raph wasn't joking that Donnie looked like a ghost. He seemed exhausted, barely holding on his feet.

"I need to go back," he stumbled towards the kitchen. "Just get supplies," he droned out the words.

He looked sick, almost delirious. "I need to get back to her..."

"Her?"

"The fuck you do!" Raph placed his heavy hand on Donnie's shoulder trying to stop him but Donnie easily flipped him over on his back and knocked his lights out.

"Donnie-" Leo tried to say something but the cattleprod right in front of his face stopped him.

"I have to go back," Donnie repeated. "She needs me."

"Okay, okay." Leo raised his arms up. Something was so very wrong with Donnie. They needed to help him out. "You will go back. We just want to help, we are brothers. We help each other. That's what family does, remember?" He spoke softly trying to her his brother to calm down.

It was a wonder how did Donnie even got strenght to fight off Raph, while his arms trembled under the weight of his bō staff.

The purple brother hesitated. Okay, he was getting to him.

"You can trust us," Leo continued. The cattleprod was lowered. The eldest sighed relieved. "We're out of eggs so I'll call April and we can go all with you, okay?" Leo was talking as if to a toddler. Or Mikey. What a day.

He was lying though, they did stock up on the eggs when Donnie basically took everything with him. But if he could get Donnie to sit down and maybe nap a little maybe they could get some common sense and information out of him.

"I can't leave her..." Donnie's eyes watered up. "She's alone without me. What if something hurts her! I have to go back!" He spun on his heel, panic in his voice rising.

"Hey, hey, Donnie, Donnie!" Leo jumped to block his path but Donnie immediately jabbed him in his throat. "Donnie!" Leo choked and coughed. Damn, that was annoying. "It's broad daylight! Humans will see you." He managed to still grab him by the wrist.

"I don't care Leo! She is singing... I just have to go." Donnie tried to escape.

Who the fuck- Leo was so pissed off at whoever did this to his lil bro.

Unfortunately for Leo, Donnie had his bō staff, while he himself had nothing but his bare hands. He tried to find an opening in his brainwashed brother's defense but this was still Donnie. It was very hard and it seemed the Fearless Leader might lose.

Suddenly, something flew down and Donnie was knocked out unconscious.

"10 points to Michealangelo, whoohoo!!" Mikey spun around victoriously.

"Good job, Mikey," Leo praised him catching his breath. "Now help me tie him up."

Donnie woke up later with a splitting headache. When he tried to reach his hands up to cradle his poor noggin he found out he was tied up.

"What..." He whispered confused. Everything was so blurry and painful.

"Hey there genius."

Donnie looked up. April. She was standing in front of him holding a glass of water.

"Here, drink some. You look dehydrated," she said offering him the drink with a straw in.

The sight of it made him realize just how much of an Arizona desert was his mouth. That first sip had him almost moan in relief. He never knew water could taste so good.

April waited until he drank at least a half of the glass and took a break to catch his breath. "What do you remember so far?" She asked.

"I- ah," his browridge furrowed as he tried to recall what the fuck was going on. "The last thing I remember was... The docks. There was this animal," the last word he said almost like a question. A vague shape was forming in his mind. "A shark..."

Something was trying to break at the front of his mind. Something important. Something....

"It... She- she was hurt.." Suddenly everything hit him like a ton of bricks. "She needs me. I- I need to go!" He started fighting against the binds.

"Donnie, Donnie!" She tried to call back to him but the look he gave her was nearly feral. So she did the only thing she could. She slapped him. "Stay with me!" She commanded him.

There was a shock on his face as he struggled to keep his mind clear. Panic was rising in him and the irrational need to leave was trying to get a hold of him again.

"April... I- I can't-"

"Tell me, what is happening with you? Who is 'she'?." She tried to get as much information as she could while he was still aware.

"A mermaid," he blurted out. "There's a mermaid. She's hurt. I wanted to help." He spoke quickly but it was clear he was slipping again. "She needs me."

A mermaid? What? Then again she was talking to a mutated turtle... "I know," April said cradling his face between her hands. "I'll help you." She promised. "But I want to go with you, okay?"

He was reluctant and she didn't know how long it will take for him to listen to her. So she untied him. He almost raced down the corridors but at least he was going to where she usually was parking her car.

When Leo saw them leave the room they stashed Donnie in April just waved at him. There was no time and this had to be dealt with immediately.

She let Donnie drive, while she prepared to meet the Hitchcock's version of Ariel. She googled mermaids trying to find something useful. Nothing but she saw reference to sirens and that gave her a clue. These bird like creatures would sing and drive men to jump into the ocean. Not very Little Mermaid friendly. Apparently only way to survive a meeting with them was to stuff your ears with wax.

April didn't have wax but she had stoppers. One useful thing coming from Casey's snoring.

"We're here," Donnie said. April quickly got the stoppers into her ears, hoping they would somewhat protect her and followed the terrapin out of the car.

The walk to the cave the mermaid was wasn't easy. A lot of rocks, tricky passage and broken concrete and a lot of water. April had to waddle in knee deep water, following Donnie who seemed to be on autopilot.

"She's here," he said softly, full of awe as they entered. April barely could hear him. "...Stay back," he added as if just remembering she was there too.

The cave was dark with just enough light coming through the entrance. There still was water in there but much more shallow, with few dry spots here and there.

"Holy Shit," April breathed out as the creature came into view. It looked nothing like the Disney certified being. Petite but definitely inhuman. Bald, in a wilted green colour, with markings on her body. No seashells on the androgynous torso. No singing crabs either.

April watched as Donnie knelt next to the mermaid, stroking her face. She chirped happily nuzzling his hand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get you food," he whispered to her apologetically. "April," he called to her turning his head, "do you have food?"

The reporter was transfixed by the almost alien being, she barely missed the yell. It was so strange. The mermaid didn't seem hostile at all. Seemed young, but maybe it was due to her size. She hid behind Donnie as much as she could. April noted the bandages on the tail.

"I have a half a hot dog with me," she offered and pulled her uneaten lunch.

The mermaid looked at her warily but hungrily. Donnie took the food and handed it to her. She snatched it quickly, devouring it rather than simply eating.

In the meantime, Donnie went on to change the bandages on the tail and April winced. It was healing but the scarring would remain for the rest of the aquatic being's life.

April sat on a rock, closer to the entrance. She observed everything and realized the mermaid wasn't probably even aware she was harming Donnie. She seemed to have grown attached to him. She would follow Donnie with her eyes, want him close to her.

It only made April reel in disgust all the more considering that the responses from him were result of some strange mind control. It must have been the tune every now and then the mermaid would hum. It gave April headache.

Finally, the human stood up and walked up to the creature.

The sudden movement startled her, prompting Donnie to stand between them with his bō staff at the ready.

April tilted her head to look at the mermaid.

"I just want to talk with you," she told her.

A calming chirp and Donnie stepped to the side.

"Hi," April said. "I'm April." She put on her friendlies 'reporter' voice on. "I have never met a mermaid before."

The mermaid frowned. She didn't seem like trusting her a lot. April couldn't blame her for that considering the wound in her tail.

"I'm kind of Donnie's big sister," she told her. "Do you understand that? Sister? Family?"

A feeling of understanding washed over her. Ah, so that was how the mermaid was sentient and could communicate. Even if it was a bit dubious. The mind control must have been a form of self defense and probably a hunting method.

"Do you like Donnie?"

The mermaid looked at the turtle and a feeling of fondness reached April.

"That's what I thought," the human sighed. "You need to stop controlling him."

Alarm and fear.

April shook her head. "He offered his help freely did he?"

This time it was a nod.

"Why did you control him then?"

Frustration, uncertainty, pain, fear.

Ah. There was one more thing April was wondering about (there were more but those weren't urgent). "Can you read our emotions as well? Or thoughts?"

A negative headshake. So there was that. April sighed. Time to get to the main issue.

"You are hurting him, he needs his family, he needs rest. We can all help you better if you just let us. I know trust must be hard to come by but Donnie and his brothers protect people. I don't think they will hurt you if I explain everything and if you release Donnie."

The mermaid averted her eyes and was clearly thinking over what April said. She was obviously still on her guard but remained non hostile.

Finally she curled up in a ball, as if hiding and April a loud sound of a turtle collapsing to the ground. She turned around and Donnie was leaning heavily over the wall. His stomach grumbled loudly.

He blinked confused looking around. "April?"

April sighed with a smile. A victory.

It wasn't a surprise later that Donnie avoided the mermaid afterwards. They had her transported to the lair and she promised to not try anything. They all were wary of one another. Once everyone relaxed enough to realize no one meant anyone harm they started to try and get to know each other. Even started learning alphabet to communicate with them with more than just emotions. She was a surprisingly quick study and soon she was able to communicate with them through a whiteboard. They managed to even get a name for the being - Kara. She was very playful. Splashing water as pranks, swindling food from Mikey, and even trying to play shogi with Splinter. But every time someone walked in and it wasn't Donatello she looked disappointed and sad. She was recovering fast with proper care and was expected to be fully healed in two weeks.

April enjoyed coming over to talk with her. Kara liked telling April about her life in the ocean. The circumstances that got her to New York all the way from California. She wasn't going back there any time soon. She wanted to explore first.

Two days before her release Donnie finally came to visit her. At first he merely stood at the entrance to the room her tub was in. Then it seemed like he was about to leave, having changed his mind. She looked at him from over the rim of the tub. She didn't want him to leave.

"Ah!" She called. It was as far as she could go for spoken words. The whiteboard as in her hands and he paused. "I'm sorry." She wrote. "Do you hate me?"

"I... don't hate you." He walked up closer. "I wish you didn't force me to help you."

She nodded and tapped 'I'm sorry'. She felt like she might need it a lot. "I won't do it again."

"I know," he sighed.

"I'll bring you lots of fish," she offered and he snorted.

"Don't like fish, but thanks I guess."

She lowered herself into the water blowing guilty bubbles.

"You're doing the emotional bluetooth again," he said and the feelings stopped. "If it helps, I'm not angry at you either, it's not easy being around who manipulated your will like that. Do you understand?"

She looked like she wanted to understand and it was a start.

"Did April tell you about the concept of starting again?" He asked and she nodded.

He took a deep breath in. "My name is Donatello, Donnie for short," he offered her his hand.

Kara quickly recalled this human custom and extended her own hand. "Kara," she wrote then on the board. "Nice to meet you."

It was a better start.

Bonus!!

I drew her.

[joywindsong]

The Seductive Bandit Pt 3

"It's about damn time ye showed up! I told ye we set sail at dawn!"

Alyarus drops a box of engineering parts, including the laser gun that was pointed at her the night before, on the deck of the Great Blue Meg.

The pirate ship is ported off the shore between Ratchet and Northwatch hold at mid morning.

Alyarus is in full sailor's attire. A buccaneers shirt, belt, and cut off shorts with sailor's boots and gloves. She flips the hair from her face smiling after leaving the box of goods at Mad Whale's feet.

"I knew you wouldn't leave without me." She smirked.

Mad Whale rummaged through the box.

"I ain't seein-" Alyarus hands him a pump like device. "AGH! DAS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED FROM THE LIL MUNCHKIN! Thank ye Alyarus!"

"My pleasure captain."

Alyarus looks up at the deck and notices an unfamiliar, large, hooded figure. A man standing at well over 6 feet tall with broad shoulders wearing plate and chain mail armor. His features are difficult to make out from the brown bushy beard on his face. Alyarus puts a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"And who are you exactly?"

"Aye!" Mad Whale exclaims "This is why ye need to be showin up when I say!"

Mad Whale beckons the man over.

"Alyarus, meet yer new crewmate for the next few months at least. He'll be joining us on our way 'round the Eastern Kingdoms."

The man removes his hood to reveal wavy dark brown hair that curls down to his eyebrows. Despite his beard, his face looks relatively young, perhaps early to mid 20's.

"Vontez Cronart, formerly of Alterac Kingdom ma'am."

Alyarus gives Vontez a wild look.

"Alterac? That place still around?"

Vontez looks down. "No ma'am. Not as it once was. I spent my teen years as a refugee."

"Ah. Another refugee huh? Guess the deckhands around here are getting better than being creeps and scoundrels."

"Aye! Not a deckhand. A crewmate." Mad Whale chimes in. "Vontez was a student of the Argent Dawn. He be a very valuable combatant to our crew while he joins us! Which is why you be supervisin him!"

Alyarus looks shocked. "The Argent Dawn!? What kind of Paladin joins a pirate crew!?"

"One that's not particularly a fan of Kingdoms and is too proud to stow away." Vontez responds.

Alyarus sid-eyes the strange man. "I'm not so sure about this."

"Well I am!" Mad Whale exclaims. "Now raise anchor! We're already behind schedule! Set sail for Booty Bay!"

Deckhands adjust the sails and heave the anchor from the ocean floor. The ship leaves the shore out onto the Great Sea.

~

The moon lights the deck of the Meg. Vontez looks out at the water as the current voyage is nearing its end. The air is cold and breezy out on the water.

"I'm surprised your showing so much skin in this weather." Vontez remarks, noticing Alyarus stalking behind him.

"You get used to the ocean air after several years out here." She comes up next to him and leans on the railing.

"If you're part of the Argent Dawn shouldn't you be up in Northrend right about now?" Alyarus prods.

"I'm not part of the Argent Dawn necessarily. I was trained to harness the light by them, but their affiliation with the factions isn't my cup of tea."

"Would rather run around with pirates huh?" She jokes.

"Honestly, yes. I watched my life fall apart because of the Alliance. The Horde would never have a human like me, but I doubt they're much better. Pirates, at least the ones like Mad Whale, operate under some code of honor."

Alyarus stares off at the soft light on the deck.

"Well I wouldn't call what I did to get those parts honorable."

"Azeroth's oldest profession?" Vontez quips back.

Alyarus blushes "None of your business young man!"

Vontez laughs "Trust me. I find that to be much more honorable than what I've seen from the supposed 'high societies' of humanity."

"I didn't come up here to reflect on your past." Alyarus changes the subject. "We'll be at shore off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale tomorrow morning. About a mile north of Booty Bay."

"We're not porting at Booty Bay?" Vontez questions.

"We're not." Alyarus answers "The old man has a bounty on his head. Comes with the territory of captaining a pirate crew. That's where you and I come in."

Alyarus pulls out a map and motions for Vontez to move in closer to see her instructions.

"Our group will head in through this opening in the jungle by the Gurabashi arena. It will be you, myself, and our shipwright. Between the three of us we should have no issues making it to the roads. We don't look like we're aligned with a particular faction with a human, tauren and high elf, so hopefully we shouldn't be targeted by any Horde or Alliance passing through. There are beasts and forest trolls but they should pose no threat to us. Then we just follow the trail to Booty Bay and find our contact at the inn. Then we come back and set sail to our next destination."

Alyarus rerolls the map. "Should be an easy in and out."

Vontez looks confused "Then what do you need me for?"

"Have you been to Stranglethorn Vale? I may have downplayed it but saying 'should' doesn't mean absolute. There are hooligans and dangers all around that jungle. We need at least two to three competent arms to be sure we get in and out." Alyarus puts a finger to Vontez's chest. He's wearing simple clothes in place of his plate armor. "We haven't seen how capable you are yet. Moosehead is a pretty powerful Shaman but he's not exactly a fighter. So it will mostly be up to us to make sure no harm comes to him, because I know I won't understand a damn thing that comes out of our contact's mouth. Unless you have some expertise we don't know about, we'll need to keep him in one piece on the way into town."

Vontez looks off to the ocean. "Seems simple enough."

"It should be. Get some rest. We'll be on shore before you know it."

~

The ship reaches the shore of Stranglethorn Vale. The morning sun accompanies the sound of exotic bugs and birds singing in the wilderness. Alyarus, Vontez and Moosehead walk down the plank with Mad Whale giving parting words. Alyarus is wearing her regular garb with a cloak to cover up. Vontez is in his plate armor. Moosehead is wearing robes and ceremonial garb towering over his companions with a strange set of antlers unlike what you would find on most tauren.

"Alright crew! Just go into town, get what we need, and come back to the ship. If ye ain't back by sun down I'll be forced to come in after ye' and nobody wants that."

"Understood Captain." Alyarus salutes leading Moosehead and Vontez into the wild.

"Moose. You stay back a bit and report on the rear. Vontez and I will move forward and make sure anything in front of us is slain for a clear path."

"Aye aye Miss Alyarus."

The trio move into the cover of the trees. Cutting through foliage and covering ground. Alyarus puts a hand up to halt the group.

"What's wrong?" Vontez asks to a quick hush from Alyarus.

"We should have seen something by now." She whispers.

"Seen what!?" Vontez asks under his breathe.

"Something! A raptor, wild cat, gorilla, anything." Alyarus searches around and notices the skinned corpses of beasts around them in the bushes.

"DUCK!" Moosehead yells summoning the earth beneath them to knock Vontez and Alyarus off their feet.

A bolt of lightning cracks and bursts the trees around them.

"MOOSE WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING AT!?" Alyarus yells.

"I didn't shoot at anything." Moose says sternly pointing ahead at a heavily armored troll wearing a Horde military tabard.