#as all the people who live on the islands above leave for new lands

[jellyfishvibes]

Poked my Fi design as a brain break and now I'm thinking bout a design of her at the end of wind waker, where she's been abandoned at the bottom of the sea

[innerfare]

Random Beckman Headcanons 

Summary: a random collection of Benn Beckman headcanons

CW: None // SFW

———

Beckman mends the holes in Shanks’ shirts because otherwise, he has to listen to Shanks complaining about pricking his only thumb, followed by a barrage of one-arm jokes Beckman has heard a million times by now. 

Though his captain and crew prefer a summer island with large swathes of beach on which to lay about, Beckman prefers a peaceful fall/autumn island. His favorite activity is sitting in the crisp, quiet air, chain-smoking cigarettes and watching the breeze carry away the smoke. He might clean his gun or read the newspaper while he does. 

His father was a good man, and they had a close relationship, but he died when Beckman was twelve, leaving him to take care of his grieving mother, who passed just a few years later. His father is the man who taught him how to shoot, and Beck hasn’t missed a shot since he died. 

Is the best poker player on the crew, better even than Shanks. Doesn’t play outsiders without the crew there to back him up because his clean sweeps usually end in another pirate player claiming he cheated and starting a fight with him. 

That’s actually how he and Shanks met. Shanks had started a fight on one end of the bar by hitting on the wrong man’s girlfriend, and Beckman had started a fight on the other end after winning a pirate captain’s ship, the Red Force, in an illegal card game. They ended up back to back in the middle and fought their way out together. 

Super intelligent. Is actually very well read, comes from a fairly good family, received a good education from an expensive school, and joined the navy as soon as he came of age. Though he quickly gained a strong reputation as a marine, he was disturbed by some of the things he saw (served under a certain Sakazuki) and deserted. 

Went on the run, considered joining the Revolutionary Army but didn’t want to be a soldier anymore, started gambling as a means to make money under the table. Had a few close calls with the government but was otherwise fine on his own- until the night he met Shanks. 

Shanks saved his life in that bar and proposed they combine his experience with Beckman’s new ship and start a pirate crew. They did just that and never looked back, though there have been a few hangovers that made Beckman momentarily regret his decision. 

Isn’t just typically intelligent, though. He’s actually very high in emotional intelligence, far more emotionally intelligent than the average pirate. It really works to his advantage as a first mate, as he’s able to better predict how people will react to Shanks’ various schemes and plan around that. The crew thinks he’s some sort of psychic or possesses a secret, fourth form of Haki. It’s really just above average listening skills. 

Something of a gentle giant. A bit sensitive. Always the first to realize when one of his captain’s jokes didn’t quite land and might have caused offense. 

That being said, isn’t as good a guy as everyone thinks. The only reason he doesn’t cheat at poker is because he doesn’t have to, and he definitely fights dirty. 

Speaking of fighting, Beckman is a bulldog. Lives for a good fight. Loves boxing, doesn’t hesitate to climb into a ring. The man is a perfect shot but doesn’t fire a bullet unless absolutely necessary, not because he’s particularly frugal but because he loves getting his knuckles bruised and bloody. 

Such a smooth talker it's unreal. Does his best work without a wing man. Despite being tough as nails, manages to strike women as the sensitive type. Does very well with the ladies.

After all this time, doesn’t know all the particulars of Shanks’ relationship with the Clown. Is a little worried about those particulars so he simply doesn’t ask. 

———

Hope you enjoyed it! If you want more, you can check out my masterlist here!

[skeine]

Orym didn't come out of the Wildmother's vision feeling like he had any answers, but I thought there was some pretty important information for him buried in her vision.

First is that touching Predathos's mind will almost certainly overwhelm and destroy a mortal mind that tries to contain it. Ludinus's plan seems to be to siphon Predathos's essence into Exaltant(s) who will carry it through the Divine Gate. This would leave Predathos's body entombed, the Ruidis population alive and the Gate intact to keep any surviving Betrayer Gods out. But if so we already know this won't play out as planned from Evontravir's divinations; it forsees Predathos shattering the Gate if Ludinus isn't stopped. So this is corroboration from another source (if biased) that the Vessel will likely be overcome and Predathos will take over the game completely.

But her vision of the fight against Predathos also showed how laser focused it is on the gods. They gathered on an Exandrian island and it came directly after them. They brokered a deal with the Primordials who entombed it along with the island residents. But the children of those island residents still live on Ruidis and have for thousands of years, which means Predathos just simply doesn't see people as food. Puppets? Yes. Food? Apparently not. Its hunger seems hyper focused on the gods only, corroborating Evontravir's prediction that it would chase after them and leave Exandria alone.

Third is the cold and diminished life of the glade that revived under Orym’s hands. She's outright showing him here that if the gods are driven away, life on Exandria will be diminished in some unclear way, but—most importantly—it will continue.

And by letting him know she only works through his hands and by showing the land thriving under them, I think she's also telling him that if the worst case happens he (and by extension the Ashari) can and must become the new custodians of her lands, rejuvenating and watching over them.

All of which is a far cry from the extinction event some of the BH are currently afraid of.

The last touches on Ludinus's other goal, one everyone suspects he has but no one knows much about yet. He's gone off more than once now about the gods bleeding Exandria dry through mortal souls passing on to the gods' realms. What he plans to do about it is up in the air but. I think it's pretty significant that the Wildmother chose to remind Orym about Will, whose soul resides along with the rest of the dead in the gods' realms. This is a fine bit of manipulation (imho, ymmv obv) but I think it's also more than that. There's a connection there that she knows of and she's reminding him what his stakes are.

So how screwed are the Bells Hells if they fail to stop the Vessel or even throw the fight and let it happen? I think Matt always meant releasing Predathos to be a viable option if they wanted to go there and I feel like the above bears that out. The consequences look like they'll be mostly social and political, with Issylra obviously devastated but the rest of the world, with far less reliance on churches for their government and stability, much less affected.

But as they say, no well laid plan ever survives encounter with the enemy. So I expect some great twists before they hit the end. I can't wait.

[melkyt]

Switching it up lol.

Immortal!Law/Seraphim!Luffy - Major character death

The king of the pirates achieved his goal, lived a good life surrounded by those that he cared for, and in time, he passed away.

Law thought that he would follow him soon, but the immortality surgery happened to be something that one has to give away. Until then, they will live forever. Law lost his chance to give it to the man he loved and never said, nobody else ever seemed worthy to give his life for. Which is the prerequisite of being able to use the surgery, *devotion*. So he wanders for a long time, helping people, curing diseases, making sure the world Luffy left behind is safe.

He sometimes visits islands that is under the strawhats protection, even after Luffy's death, his fleet, his friends still keep a presence. Zoro is set on keeping order as long as he can. Law's next stop is egghead, after the events that happened there, it is slowly being fixed up and getting back to what it was. He likes hearing the stories of what the strawhats pulled here decades ago.

Law is sitting at the bar, talking to someone who recognized him, and was around back then. Its a peaceful, quiet chat. Law doesnt quite pay attention as he sips from his drink and lets his mind slow down for once.

That is when he sees a form across the crowded street. Familar curls, eyes filled with joy, laughter that rungs above everyone elses.

"Luffy!" Law is up and shouting his name before he can think, striding closer.

And they turn, looking a little confused, large wings fluttering as they open. There is a flash of memory in the seraphims eyes, or maybe Law imagines it. This close, he can see that they are differences, no scar, the smile more hesitant at the corners of his mouth, the stark white hair of the Nika form.

The one next to him is a seraphim version of Zoro, ofcourse he wouldn't leave his captain, even in a situation like this.

"My mistake" Law takes a deep, steadying breath. It's not Luffy. It is one of the clones that have been stirring trouble the last few years. If he paid more attention to the news, he wouldn't be caught unaware now.

S-Luffy blinks, tilting his head. "Wait, you're Trafalgar Law!I wanna ask you things!"

Law flinches, Luffy only called him by his name once or twice, when they were arguing. It brings back memories he doesn't want to face. He shouldn't have shouted, it is time to leave.

The seraphim moves faster than him, flying over the crowd and landing with a heavy thud of machinery that sustains his body. "Don't run, I just wanna talk about previous me!"

"No" Law turns and walks in a different direction. It is too much to see Luffy there as a different man, one he can't hold and whisper how much Law missed him.

The clone cant take no for answer, just like the original Luffy. Genetic memory goes hard in this case.

He follows after with a million questions and never stops talking. It eventually works as Law's determination and resistance falters in the light of Luffy's enthusiasm as it always does. He sits down in some back alley and starts answering them.

They talk well into the night and for days after. Neither have to sleep, eat, or drink if they dont want to. Law wants to spend as much time as he can get before forgetting that the clone exists. it's not his Luffy.

After S-Luffy runs out of questions to ask, he doesnt want to leave Law either, and he wont.

Que S-Luffy coming up with random reasons, random things for Law to do as a doctor and a lover of information, until he has a house on egghead and doesn't even think of leaving. Domestic shenanigans ensue as the two immortals try to figure out where they stand with the memory of the original Luffy being the thing that connects them and a standard that is impossible to match up to. Law finds that his love for S-Luffy is different, built in moments of peace, and cant be blamed on adrenaline which is what he did all those years ago when he did not want to face his feelings.

-end-

Check out The Lawlu Whumptober Event I'm Hosting

[kirislovelygf]

cove of lovers (kiri x fem! metkayina reader)

contents: flirting, meeting for the first time, kiri being shy in the beginning, love at first sight, friends to lovers, wlw fluff <33

wrd count: 2.5k

+.*.｡❀

the sound of the horn took y/n’s attention from my sister, tsireya. we were relaxed on the rocks of the edge of the reef, gossiping like always.

and these flying giant bird creatures had approached the island. she saw them circle around, looking for a place to land before finally landing on the beach.

“i’ve never seen those animals before.” tsireya said.

“me neither. let’s go see who they are.” y/n replied to her. the girls dove into the water and clicked, calling their ilu over before mounting them.

they swam to the beach where many more villagers had gathered around to see the new people.

tsireya started walking ahead of her sister once they reached the shallow water before the beach.

y/n found a couple of her friends and started asking them about the newcomers, but they had just as little idea as she did.

they circled around the blue-skinned family wearing leaves and string and crystals and flowers, items you’d find in the forest.

“look at how strong the father is..” one chuckled.

“aw the little one is so cute!”

“the boys are even cuter..” another continued.

they giggled amongst themselves, and y/n stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes landed on kiri. she made her friends bump into her, all complaining.

kiri was putting on a brave face when really she was nervous. especially when she glanced and saw y/n staring dead at her.

her friends noticed and started giggling even more.

“someone caught your eye?” one of them laughed. y/n shushed them and shoved them away.

“you’ll scare her away!” she hissed.

“no you will. if you keep staring.” one of them chuckled. the friends dispersed and left y/n alone.

she went and found her sister and brother to stand by but y/n never stopped looking at kiri.

no na’vi has ever caught her attention like this before. y/n didn’t believe in love at first sight but this might be where she changes her mind.

she zoned out until she saw her mother hissing at the other woman, neytiri, and got overwhelmingly embarrassed. she zoned out again until her father said her name.

“my daughter, tsireya, y/n, and my son, ao’nung will show your children what to do.” he said.

“huh?” she mumbled.

he looked at his daughter confused before he argued with ao’nung.

“oh- come! we’ll show you our village.” y/n said eagerly.

jake sully’s family went to take their things from the ikran they flew in on and y/n immediately went to greet her new crush.

“here, let me help you with this.” she said, catching a bag that kiri almost dropped.

kiri smiled. “thank you.” she nodded.

“of course.” she shrugged. y/n carried the bag while kiri picked up another.

“what is your name?” she asked her.

“oh, my name is kiri. it’s nice to meet you.” she nodded.

“you too. this shawl..” she picked up the net that cling to kiri’s shoulders. “it’s very pretty.”

“aw, thank you. i made it myself.” kiri smiled.

“well, i’d love it if you could show me how to make one.” y/n said.

“yeah, of course.” she nodded. the girls walked across the beach, following kiri’s family to their empty marui.

“we will be together tomorrow but for now, you all can relax and get settled into your new home.” she said to kiri as they were about to enter.

“okay.” kiri nodded. y/n’s smile faded when she saw kiri was frowning.

“i know the new environment must be intimidating.” she said softly.

kiri looked at the girl. “it’s very different from the forest.”

“i can imagine. but i’m here to help you. the sea and the reef is a wonderful place to live, i think you’ll fall in love with it quickly.” she smiled.

kiri looked around the maruis that hung above the clear blue water. then she looked up at y/n.

“yeah.. i hope so. thank you for your kindness, y/n.” she said. she put her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it for a moment before walking inside.

“bye.” y/n smiled. she waved to the rest of the family and walked away with her sister.

“someone has a crush.” tsireya teased.

“make fun of me all you want, i don’t care.” y/n laughed.

the next day comes around and kiri’s and y/n meet up with the rest of the kids and they dove into the water to explore the reef.

y/n and kiri mostly swam together and she was patient with the forest girl. she’d follow her every time she needed to come up for air and would dove back in constantly.

“i’m sorry if i’m getting annoying.” kiri laughed after gasping for a moment.

“don’t worry. i wouldn’t expect you to be able to hold your breath for a long time right as you arrive.” y/n laughed.

“i don’t know how you do it. can you breathe underwater?” she asked.

“no, i’m not a fish.” y/n chuckled. kiri laughs along.

“i’ll teach you later how to hold your breath. it takes some practice.” y/n nodded.

kiri nodded and the girls dove back in to explore the shallow reefs where the coral sprouted out from the soft ocean floors.

fish and creatures of all kinds of colors and shapes swam gracefully in front of them.

y/n encouraged kiri to touch the fish gently and watched as kiri’s fingers hesitantly went to touch the scales of a fish.

she jolted back when the fish suddenly swam away. they both laughed at the occurrence.

y/n watched kiri with admiration as she watched the sea life around her.

her eyes were filled with curiosity and love for the life in front of her.

the girls went back up for air and they waited on the shore for the others to come back.

“after this, i’ll teach you to ride ilu.” she said to kiri as she picked up seashells.

“is that like riding an ikran?” kiri asked.

“uhm, no. ilu can’t fly. but they’re very fast, so you have to hold on tight and have good form.” she said to her.

“oh.. seems easy enough.” kiri shrugged.

the other kids found them on the shore and led them to the ilu pen. it was a large shallow pool guarded by boulders so they couldn’t get out and leave the reef.

y/n and her siblings called them out, enough for the teenagers to ride on.

tuk was old enough to ride her own but she still enjoyed petting them.

“okay, kiri. this is xilana. she’s calm but can get excited.” y/n said, letting the head of a dark green ilu with crystal blue stripes.

“okay..” kids said, her voice wavering a bit.

y/n laughed slightly. “here, jump on.” she patted the saddle and kiri jumps on, pulling her braid over her shoulder.

“okay.. now make the bond.” i held up the ilu’s kuru, where she would attach her queue.

“when we ride ilu..” i watched as he started breathing heavily in fear as the ilu started thrashing around slightly.

“..and make the bond with them, they share their breath with us. so we can hold our breath for longer underwater.” she explained.

“okay.. okay.” kiri said, trying to take deep breaths.

“relax.. feel her breath. match it. then tell her to go.” y/n said. she stepped back as kiri nodded.

“oh! also, she is really fast, so hold on very tight.” y/n said.

“okay.. go?” she said hesitantly. the ilu squealed and dove into the water.

kiri took a quick deep breath and they dove into the water, hailing speed the farther they went.

“hold on, kiri!” y/n called out, forgetting she can’t hear under the water.

she ducked her head under the water and watched as kiri held on tight. she got xilana to turn around and swim back toward the.

y/n smiled and rose back up, cheeeing for kiri.

“you did it!! on the first try, kiri!” she yelled out as kiri popped up from the water.

she laughed out and was still trying to catch her breath.

tsireya and kiri’s siblings were cheering for her too while ao’nung and his friends just watched.

they didn’t master ilu riding on the first try.

kiri jumped off, gently took her queue and went to y/n.

“you weren’t joking about how fast she was.” she laughed while wringing the water from her hair.

“but you did so well! xilana trusts you now.” y/n told her, as the ilu swam over.

she squealed in excitement, flapping one of her fins and splashing water on them.

as everyone else practiced riding the ilu, which took multiple attempts, y/n and kiri went to practice ilu riding in the deeper areas of the reef where they could dove freely.

y/n jumped on her ilu while kiri nervouldy mounted xilana.

“you still nervous, forest girl?” y/n teased.

“nervous? i’m excited. excited to beat you.” kiri chuckled.

“oh sure. ready?” y/n nodded.

kiri took hold of the saddle and got into position. y/n chuckled slightly.

“3… 2,1, go!” y/n rushed to count down and dove sooner than kiri.

“hey, you cheater!” kiri dove in quickly after her and the two raced together in the deep reef past animals and coral, around rocks, all while smiling widely.

the two girls swam in circles together until finally reaching their finishing line, entrance of the cove of ancestors.

y/n breathed out as she broke the surface, looking around for kiri.

the girl caught up to her a moment later, laughing while wiping the water from her face.

“you cheated! you have yourself a head start!” kiri yelled out.

“uh- no! you lost fairly.” y/n shrugged like she didn’t absolutely cheat.

kiri nods. “fine. don’t expect to win when we race home.”

y/n giggled with her as the two floated together. kiri’s gaze fell to the giant cove.

“what’s this place you said? cove of what?” kiri asked.

“the cove of ancestors. we hold many ceremonies here, it’s our most sacred place.” y/n said.

“wow.. it’s so beautiful. are we allowed in?” she asked.

“no, my mother would kill me if she found out i was messing around here.” y/n said to her.

“well.. we don’t have to tell her.” kiri said in a song-song tone. she smiled at y/n trying to convince her.

“hmmm..”

“come on. just for a little bit.” kiri continued.

y/n looks at her and couldn’t deny. the way kiri pleaded with her eyes made y/n fall head over heels.

“fine. okay, but don’t tell your siblings!” y/n grumbled.

“i promise i won’t say a thing.” kiri said. they swam into the cove and swam toward the shore where they could walk around.

“what kind of ceremonies do you guys do here?” kirk asked as they walked together on the sand.

“weddings… first communions.. funerals.. uhm, coronations. my parents’ coronations were here when they became olo’eyktan and tsahík.” y/n told her.

“oouu, cool. so when you become tsahík, you’ll have the ceremony here.” kiri asked.

“well, no. my brother will be the olo’eyktan and then my sister will be tsahík. unless he marries a woman and she takes the position.” y/n said.

kiri turned to face her and started walking slowly backwards to talk to y/n.

“why wouldn’t you be next in line?”

y/n shrugs. “it’s not something i would be fit to do. my sister is much more prepared for that than i ever could be.”

“hm.. well, i don’t know you that well, but i think you could do an amazing job.” kiri smiled.

y/n blushed and smiled, looking down to avoid eye contact.

“thank you. uhm..”

“don’t tell me i make you nervous.” kiri teased again.

“i’m not- you don’t- wh- okay, wait-“ she starts to stutter and stumble over words and kiri just giggled, making it harder.

“stop making me stutter. it’s not funny, it’s embarrassing!” y/n laughed out.

“it’s not just funny..” kiri takes. a strand of y/n’s hair and gently brushes it away from her face.

“it’s cute.” she smiled. kiri walked ahead, leaving y/n in shock.

the girls walked around a while longer until they realized it was time to get home before they started sending out search parties.

kiri was rambling on about her home in the forest. her friends, her home, her favorite things to do, everything.

y/n just sat and listened to her talk about everything she loved.

“can i ask you something?” y/n spoke as the girls floated together.

they were just then entering the reef together after swimming and talking for a bit.

“sure.” kiri shrugs.

“why did your family come here? from how you talk about the forest, it sounds like there wasn’t any reason to leave.” y/n shrugged.

“oh.. yeah. my dad, well.. it’s a long story. but these sky people, dreamwalkers, they tried to hurt me and my siblings. and my friend, spider.” kiri explained.

“aw..”

“and my parents said it wasn’t safe, so we left to someplace far away where they couldn’t hurt us.” kiri shrugged.

“were you hurt?” y/n asked. “not extremely, no.” kiri replied.

“wow.. i heard stories about dreamwalkers. sky people that lived as na’vi. but they can’t all be bad.” y/n shrugged.

“you’re right. they’re not.” kiri said.

“cause you’re one… right?”

“what? no, no. my dad was an avatar, but he gave up his human form to live as a na’vi. same with my mom, but she passed away.” kiri said.

y/n’s face was… well beyond confused.

“but.. your mother’s... over there.” y/n pointed to neytiri and ronal on ilu doing their own training session.

“ohh.. no, i meant my biological mother. i’m adopted” kiri

“see? that makes much more sense.”

“yeah, sorry.” kiri laughs.

they paused for a moment and y/n watched kiri’s smile fade.

“i miss home. nobody there treated me like i was different.” kiri spoke softly.

y/n swam a bit closer, close enough to touch her.

she then looks up at her. “except you. you’ve been nothing but kind.” kiri sighed.

“why would i treat you any differently than anyone else?” y/n shrugged.

kiri watched her expression. had her skin always glowed up like that?

“uhm..”

“y/n! kiri! we’re gonna go eat, come on!” lo’ak yelled out from afar.

“okay!” kiri yelled back.

she looked back at y/n. “race you?”

“sure.”

“great, let’s go.” kiri dove in without even counting down, which was worse than what y/n did.

“hey!” y/n laughed before driving in after her.

the girls raced back to the village and ate with their friends for an hour or two before heading home.

kiri and y/n couldn’t wait to hang out together again.

+.*.｡❀

[riyadhdm]

My Journey to Saint Martin and What I Learned

I remember the first time I heard about Saint Martin—it was from a friend who couldn't stop talking about the crystal-clear waters and serene beaches. At that moment, I was hooked. The idea of visiting a paradise like that was something I couldn’t shake. Months passed, but the thought lingered, and finally, I decided to pack my bags and head to the island for an experience that would stay with me forever.

The Challenge: Taking the Leap

Traveling, for me, wasn’t new, but Saint Martin was unlike any place I had ever been. It's a small island with two nations sharing the same land—French Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten. It wasn’t just the stunning beauty I was after, but also the culture, the food, and the sense of adventure I had longed for during the last few months of mundane routines. The challenge wasn’t the travel logistics—it was taking the leap. I was in the middle of balancing work, responsibilities, and personal life. But something inside urged me to break the monotony, step away from the familiar, and embrace the unknown.

The island seemed to promise more than just a vacation. For me, it was an opportunity to refresh and reconnect with a side of myself that had been buried under work deadlines and responsibilities. But still, leaving behind the familiar for a solo journey felt intimidating.

The Journey: Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

The journey to Saint Martin was not just about getting on a plane. It was about stepping out of my comfort zone and facing the inevitable uncertainties that come with solo travel. The flight from my city to the island was long, but once I stepped off the plane and felt the warm tropical breeze, the anxiety began to melt away. It wasn’t just the landscape that was welcoming—the locals were friendly, always smiling, and offering help even before I asked.

I checked into a small beachside hotel on the Dutch side of the island. It wasn’t the fanciest place, but it had its charm—simple, clean, and a stone’s throw away from the beach. Each morning, I woke up to the sound of the waves and the sight of the sun rising over the ocean. The sense of peace and fulfillment I felt in those moments was something beyond any material value.

The days that followed were filled with exploration. I hiked through lush green hills, visited the local markets, and indulged in Creole and French cuisine that made me rethink everything I knew about food. The island had its quirks—roads that were a bit bumpy, sudden rain showers—but these were all part of the charm.

I remember one specific moment during a boat tour around the island. We were nearing the famous Maho Beach, where planes land just a few meters above your head. As I stood on the deck, watching the massive aircraft approach, I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom and connection to the world around me. That single moment reminded me of how small we are in the grand scheme of things and how important it is to embrace life’s unpredictability.

The Outcome: Lessons Learned

My trip to Saint Martin was more than just a break from routine; it was a reminder of what life could be when we let go of control and embrace the journey. The island’s beauty was undeniable, but it was the experiences, the small moments of connection with nature and people, that made it meaningful.

Here’s what I learned from my journey to Saint Martin:

It’s Okay to Take a Break: Often, we get so caught up in our daily lives that we forget to take time for ourselves. The trip reminded me that it’s okay to pause and recharge. The world won’t fall apart if you step away for a while.

Embrace the Unknown: Traveling solo was daunting at first, but it pushed me to be more open to new experiences. It taught me that the most rewarding moments often come from the unexpected.

Nature is the Best Therapy: There's something incredibly healing about being close to nature, whether it's watching the waves, hiking through a forest, or just breathing in fresh air. It gives you perspective, calms your mind, and makes you feel more connected to the world.

People Make the Place: While the island was beautiful, it was the kindness of the locals that made my experience unforgettable. Their warmth, generosity, and openness reminded me of the importance of human connection.

Adventure is Everywhere: You don’t need to climb mountains or jump out of airplanes to find adventure. Sometimes, adventure is just about trying something new, meeting new people, or seeing a place with fresh eyes.

Conclusion: Reflecting on the Experience

Looking back, I realize that my journey to Saint Martin wasn’t just a vacation—it was a personal transformation. It allowed me to break free from the routines that had been holding me back and to rediscover a sense of wonder. The experience reminded me that life is meant to be lived fully, without hesitation, and that sometimes, all we need is a change of scenery to reset our minds and souls.

If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone reading this, it would be this: Don’t wait for the perfect moment to take that leap. Whether it’s traveling to a new place or trying something you’ve always wanted to do—just go for it. The lessons you’ll learn and the experiences you’ll have will be worth more than anything you could have imagined.

[sillypiratelife]

BASIC EXPLANATION OF THE PLOT + THE STRAW HATS ROLES IN THE FAKE PRINCE ZORO AU :

* please use this other post as a guide for places and character names.

— THE PLOT (SUMMARIZED?)

A storm belt catches the Going Merry during its descent from Skypiea, the strong winds roughly landing the ship into the bay of an autumn island.

Since they need supplies and Luffy is hungry for adventure, the crew disembarks. If the people of the island are surprised to see them, well... it's not everyday that a ship falls from the sky!

Reality quickly settles in when they are informed that the storm belt and the sharp rock formations around the island make it impossible for them to leave, even less with how damage the Merry is. If they want to survive, they'll have to wait a week for the storm to calm down and the tide to work on their favor.

Not everything is bad news, tho.

When the captain of the royal guard welcomes to their castle and presents their kingdom as Miria, the neverending light of Altus, he does it as if he's receiving a blessing from the heavens. Someone has kidnapped the royal family to sabotage the upcoming meeting or kingdoms. Only the King's still at home, worried sick about his family. Him and the mysterious son of the king, who should have returned by now, so chances are he must be delayed by the Grand Line.

Captain Ocher explains that the other kingdoms are coming from a spring island near them and that they agreed to one chance only. If they lose the opportunity to establish an alliance, there's no saying when a meeting could be set again.

It's all or never for the people of Miria.

Ocher begs for their help. They can let their crisis show to the other kingdoms and they can't wait until the meeting is over to search for the royals. The captain of the royal guard suspects such foul play has other meanings; he worries someone is planning to attack them while they are vulnerable.

To that, Luffy proposes finding the bastard and kicking his ass. Yet, it's never that easy, is it?

Here's the actual plan:

— Captain Ocher will stay with the King to protect the land in case of an attack. He will guide and coordinate most moves behind curtains, allowing the King to focus on the kingdom meeting and reassuring his people as much as he can.

— Zoro, Robin and Usopp would work undercover who's behind it all: if an enemy from within Miria or a person from another kingdom. To do so, Zoro would pretend to be the mysterious prince who just returned from the Grand Line, Robin would fake to be his personal royal advisor and Usopp his loyal childhood friend. They must keep their visitors distracted and help Captain Ocher fight and protect the city, in case things come to worst.

— Luffy and Nami would search for the royal family in the forest. Luffy can defeat anyone and Nami can figure out the landscape of almost any place. They must be careful though, since they'll be in the territory of the many creatures that live in the forest and claim it as their own. They must not drag attention to themselves (ha!), until the royal family is safe and sound within the castle.

— Sanji will assist Luffy and Nami, but he'll also return to the city at least once a day to inform the others about their progress. He must avoid being identified as one working with the royal guards, so he can pretend to be a farmer who sells his things at the market.

— Chopper will stay in wait, hidden in the farmer village near the forest. In case of an attack, he'll help the people evacuate to the forest and away from the chaos and battling. He'll also be the one to tend to the royal family after their rescue, in case they were injured or sick.

And so the straw hats being their new adventure, unaware (as always...) of the real danger looming above their heads.

— THE STRAW HATS ROLES

SEARCH TEAM

Luffy: 1/4 of the search team. His official job is to deal with the creatures of the forest, protect his team and fight any and all threats. His unofficial job is to bargain with the little folk and translate their economic system to Nami and Sanji, since their currency is bugs.

Nami: 1/4 of the search team. Her official job is to safely guide her team through the forest and find where the royal family is. Her other job is to keep the fools in line, obliterate the treasure hunting game of the little folk and steal every bit of gold she can find.

Chopper: 1/4 of the search team. He's job is to stay safe, wait for the search team to bring back the royal family so he can heal them and protect the farmer village in case of an attack. Unofficially he's the magical reindeer of the village and the amazing best friend of every child in town lol.

Sanji: 1/4 of the search team. The backup of both teams, the secret informer and the one making sure the search team doesn't starve during their adventure. Sanji is also the fake farmer who tends the new favorite stall of the captain of the royal guard in the market and the newest regular visitor of the witch near the forest bridge.

UNDERCOVER TEAM

Zoro: 1/3 of the undercover team. He must pretend to be Esmer Guillemot, the prince of Miria who sailed to the Grand Line at 12 years old and only now returned home. His job is to keep the other kingdoms clueless about the current crisis and to find the one responsible for the kidnapping of the royal family. Zoro's unaware that he's also a distraction for the people of Miria, who are having the time of their lives with the theatrics of it all.

Robin: 1/3 of the undercover team. Officially, she should be the one keeping the team in line and focused. In truth she's also having a lot of fun, both by the shenanigans of her nakamas and the terror she causes in others when she analyzes them in silence. Her other other job is checking Miria's library and later uncovering the real history of Altus and the kingdom across the mountains.

Usopp: 1/3 of the undercover team. He was born for this job because all he has to do is lie and lie until he can't anymore. They need the prince to be mysterious enough for the other kingdoms to be concerned with him and only him, right? Meaning Usopp has free reign to invent childhood anecdotes and Grand Line adventures that make Zoro uh, Prince Esmer sound appealing and undecipherable.

This is not everything there is to know about the Fake Prince Zoro au, but it's a headstart. I hope everyone who voted to know about the plot and the straw hats roles in it like this <3

If you have any more questions or if you're curious about a specific thing or want to know more 'bout what happens: come talk to me, send me asks or comments (both here and in AO3)!!!! I love to talk about this and I can't wait for a chance to do so!!!!

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group J Round 3: #J8 vs #J2

#J8: Teenage girls find a random guy in a river, adventure ensues

#J2: Two girls wander the post-apocalyptic world

Details and poll under the cut!

#J8: Kemurikusa (TV)

Summary:

A few young girls with strange powers and a tree that has grown through a railcar cling onto life in a desolate land, searching for its last reservoirs of water. Their routine struggle to survive is interrupted by the arrival of Wakaba, a boy with no memory beyond his own name.

The girls and their new companion commit to a perilous journey across seas of burning red fog—all in order to find what they need to sustain themselves on the more distant, dangerous islands swarming with robotic bugs. Their ultimate fate will be decided by their own strength, along with Wakaba's curious ability to understand the Kemurikusa: mysterious glowing leaves with wondrous powers. Besides the girls, Wakaba, and the hordes of ravenous bugs, the Kemurikusa are the last sparks of life surviving in this land. How did things end up this way? Why are there so many empty buildings with no one to live in them? Wakaba and the girls lack the answers to these questions, which means the truth can only be found within the Kemurikusa.

Propaganda:

Here’s ONE bit of propaganda for you: Kemurikusa is made by Tatsuki, the extremely talented director behind the original Kemono Friends anime by Yaoyorozu. This time, Tatsuki’s really stepped up his game: not only is this an improvement from his original short by the same name, this is also both an animation improvement and a writing improvement from the Yaoyorozu made Kemono Friends.

With Tatsuki’s skill as a writer to tell tight, medium-paced stories centering girls and the apocalypse, Kemurikusa focuses on both the emotions of Rin, Rina, and Ritsu, as well as fleshing out Wakaba to be more than just a simple sidekick, but the heart of the series, providing a very typically feminine role of comfort, care, and nurturing. The subversion of typical masculine and feminine roles in the story, especially from a male director, as well as the well-written, well-developed female characters (of which there are about 7, including a spoiler character), is a bonus for people who don’t like stereotypical “cool tough male character/generic nice boring female character who doesn’t do anything” stories.

The concept of a world sapped of resources by technology is also fascinating. [Admin: this part of the propaganda has been cut out due to possible spoilers.] Sadly, I can’t find a trailer, as this anime is SUPER obscure, but I linked the opening video to show another strength as well: the music. Just listen to it: this song is a total banger.

Trigger Warnings: Flashing lights, Child death (in reference to the characters’ motivation to find water)

#J2: Girls’ Last Tour (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou)

Summary:

Amid the desolate remains of a once-thriving city, only the rumbling of a motorbike breaks the cold winter silence. Its riders, Chito and Yuuri, are the last survivors in the war-torn city. Scavenging old military sites for food and parts, the two girls explore the wastelands and speculate about the old world to pass the time. Chito and Yuuri each occasionally struggle with the looming solitude, but when they have each other, sharing the weight of being two of the last humans becomes a bit more bearable. Between Yuuri’s clumsy excitement and Chito’s calm composure, their dark days get a little brighter with shooting practice, new books, and snowball fights on the frozen battlefield.

Propaganda:

Above everything else, this is a show about how human life and curiosity will continue to exist even in terrible circumstances. The two main characters are super charming, so following them around is fun, but even beyond that it’s just a gorgeous show. The scenery is often awe-inspiring and beautiful, as is the soundtrack. Despite the show taking place after the end of the world, it can be surprisingly uplifting as the girls (and the audience!) find wonder and joy in the world around them. Definitely a show more people should watch!

Trigger Warnings: There are some flashbacks that depict the war that ended the world, but they are not graphic. Some blood is shown, but not much else. Main characters own guns, though they don’t use them on other people.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[mayhem-moth]

SECOND OLD HORROR STORY (QUALITY MAY NOT BE GOOD)(MADE THIS FOR A CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT SEVERAL YEARS AGO)

April 1st 1980,

I have this dream every night, it always starts with an island. It has nothing but sand beaten by the sun with overlapping waves touching it. There is nothing on it, not even a single seashell or creature . Nothing but a single, huge willow tree looming above the island. nothing dared to go near it, nothing but the ship that passes by.

A ferry passes by full of people expecting a fun trip overseas, however, unaware of what's about to happen next.The captain suddenly jerks the boat in the direction of the island, in some type of trance. Everyone is confused. Why were they headed away from the current destination? Then everyone starts screaming once they realize their ultimate demise. They were going to crash. They stop screaming, for they died with the boat. Suddenly as if by the speed of light, the boat disappears.

That’s when I wake up in my bed, and I think no, am certain the same thing happened to my grandfather.

April 2nd 1980,

“It’s only for a couple of months,” said my grandfather. He had warm, blue eyes and a gentle smile. He also had thinning gray hair that had aged with time. He was a captain of a decently sized, black boat called the Lily. Named after grandma's favorite flower. He always loved exploring new islands with his crewmates, for he was determined to discover new, habitable land.

He’s been gone for six years, which is why I'm going to go on an expedition to find that mysterious island that was in my dreams all these years.

December 20th 1980,

It took several months, but I have finally found it! I can see the tree and the small barren island surrounding it. It definitely attracts you, much like the captain from my dreams, but I'm not going down like that, I'm going because of my own sheer will.

December 27th 1980,

I am on the island now. I have made my tent and campfire, and I should be able to live off of fish while i'm here, so far everything is turning out fine.

January 31st 1980,

I hear voices sometimes, they're very faint and I know they're not real. It’s just easy to get paranoid out here.

February 17th 1981,

I haven’t found grandpa. I don’t know what could have happened to him. His boat was one of the best in the world! I have a feeling that he's dead and the birds got to him or he’s floating in the ocean, but I don’t want to think like that… I’m not ready to.

April ,

The voices are louder but I know they're not real they couldn’t be… right?

June perhaps?,

I keep seeing eyes on the tree. I think i'm going insane… I know I should probably leave but not without grandpa… not when i’ve gotten so far. I’ve planned this ever since I found out he was missing.

Summer,

I keep hearing voices and seeing the eyes on the tree but better than I have before, and that's not a good thing! I keep hearing grandpa's voice now too! AM I GOING INSANE!?

Everything in my mind is all jumbled up and confusing. I just don’t understand… Why did it have to be this way? I can’t leave even if i wanted to know anyways, the boat disappeared and now i'm stuck here.

A warmer season,

I keep forgetting important things like my name, who I am, why I'm here. I don’t know how long it's going to be until i'm gone entirely.

A warmer time of the year,

I only remember what's in this journal. The journal keeps me the slightest bit myself.

A cold day,

The pages are gone! They are ripped out! Gone!

Another cold day,

I don’t remember anything anymore, the only thing I could hold onto was my name on the front cover “ Harold”.

Very cold,

IT'S THE TREES FAULT!! THE TREE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!!! WITH ITS BEADY EYES AND MOCKING VOICES!! I'M CHOPPING THAT THING DOWN TONIGHT!!!

Nighttime,

I couldn’t kill it… it won’t let me… the axe is broken instead of the tree… It should have been the tree…

Too cold,

The eyes keep staring… mocking me with their voices… The voices…

Warmer,

The tree, the tree, the tree, the tree, the tree, the tree, the tree, the tree, the tree

???,

MERCY

???,

PLEASE

help

[thelostjournals]

Today I said goodbye

Today I said goodbye.

When I was a hungry child on the city streets, and later, when we traveled Europe and Madame made me do seance after seance, I used to wake up exhausted and in pain every day. I would get up when screamed at, and go through the day, every second another drop of hopelessness.

This isn't the case anymore. Now when I wake up feeling unwell, I can tend to myself and that's what I planned to do today. After making sure the beacon would shine for the next few hours, taking my pill, treating the wound with the ointment, and eating a good breakfast, I went to the shore with a book and a jug of mint tea.

I decided to finish Hans's tales. I had no wish of pretending I was happy or comforting myself. I yearned for sad stories that would match my sadness, for salt in the wind to match salt in my tears.

There is a tree sitting on a small cliff on the northern side of the island, and I sat under it for a good hour before a seagull landed on a branch above my head and screamed, startling me and making me drop the book into the ocean.

I cursed and run to the beach, hoping that the book would wash ashore, but when I stopped on the wet sand, unsure what to do, the waves left something else at my feet.

It's a shining, bronze disc, the size of the palm of my hand, pleasantly heavy. I think it's a pendant or a scientific instrument. It was done with great care and has beautiful, intricate engravings on it. I decided to take a look at it back at the observatory, especially since my shoes and skirt were wet from the seawater.

I can't open it. I used to be good with locks, but this is either broken beyond repair or way more complicated than anything I saw. Or maybe I just need more time. After all, I was interrupted.

I saw the light in the fog two hours before sunset I think, and went to the pier.

It was beautiful to witness Nathaniel's boat emerging from the mist, lean, sleek, noiseless. It smells of wax and grease, and, as with all his inventions has a lot of beautifully made gears. Two of the masts are in odd places, and the sails have strange, beautiful writings on them. Nathaniel says the doesn't know that alphabet, he woke up one night having painted the letters on the silk he brought from China.

I watched it in awe for a good while, and in the end, it was Nathaniel who greeted me. And then proceeded to ask if I would go on that boat with him.

I didn't understand at first and it took him a moment to explain to me that he decided to heed the call that we had both heard since we were children the call that was the foundation of our friendship. That he was asking if I was also willing to answer it.

Without a lighthouse keeper people will die at the sea, I told him. He entrusted me with this lighthouse, with this service. I had a responsibility. A storm is coming.

"Someone will replace you", Nathaniel said. There are strange lands to be visited, there are mysteries and songs and sights that only we can see.

There are also sailors trusting that a beacon will warn them of dangers.

And Maria.

Dead unlover. Living friend. Countless souls believing in someone keeping the light.

I asked Nathaniel to wait and went back to the lighthouse.

I took out the carapace. Sweetened it with honey and my own blood.

I took the morphine pill, so I didn't know if it worked up until the carapace flared with silver light.

I went to the beacon, kissed Maria's new cage goodbye, and placed it between the beacon's mirrors.

We left the island half a night ago, but I still see the pulsing light.

At dawn, a storm will come.

I didn't plan for the Keeper to leave, before the storm, but when I read the prompt I knew that she needed to go on that boat.

I didn't plan for the Keeper to leave, before the storm, but when I read the prompt I knew that she needed to go on that boat.

I have a lot of thoughts - on this game on where to go next, on what I'm getting out of this writing, on what this game gave me, but they're still in flux. I'll probably try to catch them in a future post (I might have already started writing it).

For now - the Keeper leaves. There will be one more entry, the one about the storm, and then another adventure begins.

This unexpectedly lyrical journey is my playthrough of You Are a Beacon, which you can find here: https://radiantfracture.itch.io/you-are-a-beacon.

[ebrublg]

Once upon a time, the world was a place with three continents: Pangea, Lithuania and Gondwana.

Pangea took a neutral side while Lithuania and Gondwana were at war. and it has become a gateway for some trade deals. There have been many migrations from Lithuania to Pangea. Merin Kruelde is one of these nomads. He came here after losing his family in the Lithuanian wars. His sister was taken by the enemy and his mother died giving birth to him. Even as a child he never liked the idea of fighting. So when his village decided to fight back, he ran away. Unfortunately, he forgot that there are no borders on a map; people can't just run off where they want to go. Now he's stuck on this island, far away from everything else.

Merin spends most of his days fishing or looking out over the sea trying to find new islands to add to his collection. Occasionally he tries to make friends but so far none of them worked out. The other residents live simple lives filled with hard work. They're very protective of their homes, even though all of them are practically identical. Maybe that's why the inhabitants call this place "The Isle." It's almost like it's named after the island, which makes sense since it used to be a part of it before being ripped apart from the rest.

One day the sky begins to darken and a storm rages around the lighthouse. Lightning strikes nearby and sparks fill the air. That night a strange creature emerges from its lair underneath the lighthouse. It has green scales and glowing eyes. It attacks a villager who comes outside to fetch water. The villagers flee, leaving the stranger alone on the beach. It runs towards the sea. As it does, another wave rises up behind it and pushes it down into the ocean. Its body disappears beneath the waves without any trace left behind. Nobody knows what happened to the stranger and for several days, nobody goes near the shore. On the third day, a young man is seen wandering about the town. He tells everyone he's going to swim out to see if he can find anything. This doesn't sit well with the other residents because of how dangerous the seas are. But Merin takes pity on him and says that if anyone wants to come along they're more than welcome. They don't have much choice anyway as there isn't anywhere else to go. Just before sunset they set off in two boats.

Merin sits at the front of one boat watching anxiously as his friends row towards land. He thinks about his sister who was taken away by the enemy forces years ago. There had been no end in sight until she was finally killed during an attack on their village. Now that war between Lithuania and Gondwana has ceased, maybe now is her chance to return home. His thoughts are interrupted when the boats get too close to shore. One lands next to him while the other gets tossed back out into the sea. A few people jump over to the stranded vessel and try to save those still inside but it soon becomes clear this wasn't something planned for them. The sailors began fighting amongst themselves as their boat crashed onto the rocky beach.

"We should leave!" Merin shouts. "The others might need our help." Everyone looks around uncertainly. Some of them agree with Merin; some do not. Then they hear a sound like thunder coming from below the lighthouse. Their attention turns downwards. It's a strange creature that seems to be made up of hundreds of wriggling tentacles all attached to the head. Its mouth glows red. Another wave rises above the beast and crashes down upon it. Only one tentacle remains before it disintegrates. In its place a human hand emerges before disappearing beneath the water once again.

[that-one-sketch]

I have this really cool cross over idea that has already been tried in the Fossil Fighter Amino, but hear me out. I will touch on that later.

Fossil Figher X Undertale

I got 3 things I am going to talk about here

1: How I see this working

2: The basic plot line (that's the long bit)

3: Who uses what Vivosaurs and side quests

I will touch on the AU that as been made already. It's called Fossiltale, but doesn't really feel like the name 'Fossiltale' to me. It gives me more of a 'Vivotale' due to all the characters just being in Vivosuar form rather than using the core functionality of both games. But I can understand that I didn't coin the name first, so if someone can come up with a better name for this AU, feel free to make a suggestion. I will make a poll if there are some really good ones. For now, I am going to call this AU Fossiltale Above.

1: How I see this working

Plot should be the starting part of this AU, but I want to get this out first. The humans and dinaurians live together. For those of you who have played Fossil Fighters, this means this is taking place after the First game, and before the second.

I see the two games as existing in the same time line, but maybe with some time in between. Maybe a life time or two from the first game. And a hand full before the second.

So we may hear mentions of The first game's heros and characters but never meet them. Dr. Diggings, Hunter, Rosy, Duna, to name a few.

There is a map in Fossil Fighters that I do hope I can redraw. We will see.

2: The basic plot

Prolog-

After Hunter saved the world from the world eating monster, Guhnash. The world welcomed a new kind of people to live among them. The dinosaur shifting race Dinaurian. They quickly formed an alliance with humans. With Dr.Diggings being their ambassador/negotiator.

As the two races worked together, the two races soon saw their world grow with a new set of impressive technology and Vivosaur discoveries.

They built great sky ships, and amazing water diving technology. Along with Dr.Diggings' time travel machine, the world was heading to a better place.

That was 20 years ago.

-The start of Fossiltale-

[Note from Sketch: If this was the title screen of Deltarune, you can choose to be Human or Dinaurian in this AU. ]

Aircrafts had started disappearing in the lower hemisphere. Some reporting a strange fog, then all contact would cut off.

Expeditions reformed to find these missing crafts. Above water, below water, as well as the waters surface near the last locations.

However most of these were spoty. As the locational trackers on the aircrafts would jump all over the place.

One evening, however. The fog was spotted from the air and reported in. A group of scientists where sent to see the fog in person.

However, it would seem the only way in was from the air, as the fog would confuse instruments that was on surface level. Leaving most to be turned around. Back from where they started.

Under the water surface was no better. As underwater volcanic activity would make it near impossible to get through.

The group had tryed to see of satellite scans could help them see beyond the fog. Maybe even how big the area was.

Not much could be seen from the scans images. But the size of the area was condeinced to 3 Islands. With one small one, a med sized mass and a large Cresent shape with a large dip near its center.

So the only way to see this new location was a death sentence. That being, fly into the fog.

Some information on this land was found through an sncient story, found at the Digadigamid on Vivosaur Island.

The legend goes as follows:

Humans and monsters once lived together on the earth. However, monsters welded magic. Making the humans feel scared and weak.

Till one day, humans found a way to revive dinosaurs. Humans found this as a way to protect themselves from monsters.

And then a war broke out when a human and monster was killed.

Humans soon found a place to seal the monsters away, on an island. They had revived a legendary Ocean Vivosaur.

With it's power put an end to the war. They had the ocean split a huge circle around a secluded batch of islands, and a great fog was crafted to keep anyone away from the monsters. To prevent them from being released. As well as keep them in.

The Monsters were never thought of again.

After the story was found, most of the scientists found it as hoopla. Nothing more than some crazy thing that could only be found in a village like the Digadigs.

However, alas, thatbwas their only lead to what could be happening on this small part of the world.

The group of scientists had given up on seeing this new place on the map. All except three.

The three gather the materials and funding. Even after being told this was a suicide mission countless times. The three set off to chart the new world.

The plane last seen flying into the foggy abyss.

-Character selection-

[Character selection includes the choose to be a human or a Dinaurian. You don't get to customize them. Your customization comes with whatever Vivosaur you end up choosing.]

[(If human)Your 5 Vivosaurs to choose from. Spinax(air), Onyx(water), Ourano(earth), Stygi(fire), and Tophis(neutral)]

[(If Dinaurian) You get asked a questionnaire based off your likes and dislikes. Dose not include favorite typing, that gets choosen from the questionnaire. Along with what range and size your Dinaurian can transform into.]

-In game-

After the plan made a rough landing on the smallest island, one of the group of three [the Dinaurian aid] hangs back to see if they can fix the craft. As its not damaged, and can still fly. While two [the player and the human aid] set out to look around. Maybe dig up some fossils and back them back to clean.

(Add a joke about none of you thinking to bring more than one Vivosaur here)

Lucky for you all, there are a lot of earth and fire type fossils there. Most of them being ones that have been discovered, only two that haven't been.

A great break through for all of you. You have found Vivosaurs that have yet to be found. However, the ship is still down, but short range commission still works for the ship and your guys radios.

The Dinaurian, chooses to stay on the ship. Keeping a log incase something happens to everyone. As well as a place to be transferred back to if anyone gets knocked out or hurt from anything in the island.

(Insert of the human aid making a joke about monsters here)

As the player character and human aid travels they meet a Flower monster going as, Flowey the Flower. They look like a white Marigold.

Flowey wants to make sure you can survive in the ruins of 'New Home'. So He shows you how to battle.

[The same battling system from Fossil Fighters Champions is here. However, there is a safe zone still. But this time, you can swap out one Vivosaur.]

[You can choose obe of the waiting Vivosaur from your green side bar. Your opponent can not see this side bar, and ether can you see theirs]

So when you knock out all of Floweys team, he sends out a level 20 and wipes the floor with your level 1-4 Vivosaurs. The human aid also dose not stand a chance.

As Flowey goes on some speal about taking your soul to be come stronger they are blasted away by Toriel and Maia.

Toriel dose a line about how bad of a creature Flowey is and helps you all. Shows you the ruins and awsners questions the human aid asks.

At some point of you leveling up and getting more Vivosaurs. The human aid asks Toriel if there is a way to leave the small island to get to the other islands. Or even if their is away out of the fog.

Toriel goes quiet and runs off. Before you go rushing the Dinaurian aid saids they have the ship up and running. But only for a little bit, as the system will go back off at some point.

So as the player and the human aid travel back to the ship, they are confronted by Toriel.

Toriel launches a fossil battle, saying something about asgore wanting your SOUL's and technology.

However Toriel is beaten. And as such let's the party leave the small island.

As the aircraft gets into the, it soon shuts off, and crashes on to the mid sized island.

The human aid requests to stay in the ship as this land is much too cold for them, and they don't have a third jacket.

The player and the Dinaurian aid travel, but end up getting lost in a sudden blizzard. The short range radio cuts off during the storm.

As you make your away through it, it seems to die down, as the player character wonders down the snowy trail. The player dose in counter some stick breaking, and strange flapping sounds.

[There are no fossils to find during this moment, and there is no way back due to the storm that is behind you]

You find a strange bridge with a large open tooth gate. The player character founds there is someone behind them and asks them to turn around and shake their hand.

A short interaction plays, and the player is introduced to Sans the Skeleton. He tells them that he is to lazy to fight a human in a fossil battle; as that's something his brother wants to do.

Hearing some snow crunching a head, Sans dose ask if the player character is willing to lose to him.

The player can't hit the option fast enough as a larger skeleton in knight attire starts an interaction.

After some small punning from Sans, and the playing finding the large skelly's name is Papyrus. The large bone man ops to leave you alone for now, as he is to frustrated to fight. But he would like to train against the player in a Fossil battle so he can be ready for the Fossil Tournament that 'Mettaton' is hosting.

With that Papyrus Neh heh heheh's away.

Sans shrugs, says something about the storm getting ready to change directions, and something about 'helping out an old friend'.

When the player character's hears the Dinaurian side down the trail from where they came from, as well as some static from the radio.

Sans is gone when the play turns to see him again.

This is alot of open time to find some neutral, water, and air types to add. [The Air typing is the harder one to find]

Also, side quest are open here. As well as some og Undertale battles. [As some are too young to have Vivosaurs, or just refuse to use them. But there is a lot of excited talk about this tournament that will happening in a few days]

[After the player is ready to move forward] the player gets stuck in a snowstorm. And Papyrus requests to battle them. He states that he wants a 'real battle' and 'not to hold back'.

Papyrus starts the battle.

[If you loose three times to Papyrus. He will let you go. (Passive route from UT.]

The player defets Papyrus, and you move on to find a water Marsh.

[More side quests here and the earth type Fossils turn rare here. Air is still rare. But there are a bunch of new water types here.]

You and the Dinaurian aid soon meet Undyne who starts with an OG Undertale battle. Making it way to hard to get away from her. With the help of the Dinaurian aid being a raptor, you both get away from her.

[After some more side quest and a battle with Muffet as she is out for a vacation in 'Waterfall'. So mini boss battle]

Undyne starts the bridge chase, this time she riding on Futabi to keep up with the Dinaurian aid's raptor form.

When Undyne has you cornered, a stray yellow whale comes out of of the water and bites the platform.

After some goofy side quest to get out of the while named 'Bonehemoth'. You and the Dinaurian find yourselves in a dump area. And after finding some makeshift, and old, cleaning/revivel area, you find the bridge back is broken for now.

Good news though! The human Aid was able to fix the teleaporter. The player and the Dinaurian request teleaport. [When ready of course.]

After some talking, and goofy side quest with dating Papyrus later, you all get the air craft waterborn. Making all of your guys lifes easier.

As the ship drifts down tword the dump area, the Dinaurian wants to fix the bridge that connected the two spots of the middle island.

After some side questing to getting bridge stuff later. The three manage to fix the broken bridge. Much to the monsters delight.

You were all about to move on to the large Cresent shaped island, however Undyne gets on top of the ship, and demands a battle.

The player character gets on top and is about to start an true battle when someone [Papyurs] says something about battling honorably with Vivosaurs.

Reluctantly, Undyne starts a fossil battle. Saying something about wiping the floor with the player character.

After Undyne's epic battle, she saids she can help you get over to the Cresent island.

So Undyne joins your party, and comes onto the ship.

As you all travel, the party starts to ask Undyne someone questions. Undyne has a few of her own.

[Long story short, questions on SOUL's, LV, HP. The missing aircrafts and their pilots. While Undyne's questions are about Dinaurians, technology, and... anime?]

However, at some point you some in contact with a large thunderstorm. Forcing the aircraft to become a submarine for a bit.

And the ocean floor was very calm and, somehow, illuminated with soft blue glow. However, it was all short lived as underwater currents became to treacherous for the not suited water craft.

Undyne points the group off to a cave and the group finds a small cavern full of blue flowers and glowing lights. Undyne joins the player in walking around the area. Reading monster history and talking to the local monsters.

[Side quests and Fossil digging goes, the newest fossil found here, are the starter ones. These ones are considered rare in the foggy region.]

Soon enough, the player character and Undyne locate an elevator shaft. The player goes to report it in when the ground suddenly shakes. The walls open and lava starts to spew out of walls.

The player trys to seal the walls with rocks to buy time for the en habitats to ether get in the makeshift submarine, or dive into the ocean. [Most are water monsters, so they are built for it]

With most on board or in the water, the crew make their way up to the sea's surface. Where, with the help of the local monsters, managed to get past the thunder storm.

The crew of three manage to make it to the Cresent island. The local cave dwellers thank you for helping them. And leave to live in the, suddenly hot climate.

Undyne decides to leave too. And leaves with a 'thanks'. And disappears on Futabi in the oceans murky deaths.

The group turns to look at what is a head of them. The Dinaurian looks over the ship one last time, saying it dose not have enough energy to fly without a strong enough power source.

And so. The player and the Human aid travel the new area. And this Volcanically active, and metal covered plan is riddled with fire type Vivosaurs.

[Side questing some more, and og Undertale and Fossil battles]

The two soon find a Lab next to the volcano. And some how, the rock it is on is levitating.

Entering will lead to the encounter with a yellow lizard who saids they have been watching the three of you and your journey through out the Fog Regions. [That is what these islands are called. That you Asgore]

After talking to the lizard named Alphys. A boxy lookubg cleaning bot named Mettaton starts a quiz on the players knowledge of Vivosaurs, as well as the Fog Regions.

[Making sure your paying attention ;)]

After Alphys interruption on Kissy Cutie, Mettaton blasts off, leaving a hole in the Lab's roof.

The human aid asks if there is some kind of power source that is strong enough for an aircraft, in the Fog Regions.

[Long story short. Achievement: Core idea unlocked with the combined effort of the Dinaurian aid, Alphys, and mysterious notes]

Alphys, is willing to help make a mini power source for the aircraft. However, the only draw back is that you will have to run some errands for her.

[Mettaton puzzles here, fossil digging there and some items exchanges over yonder]

All Alphys is missing to make your aircraft an aircraft again is back in the dump, that is located in Waterfall. For now, the ship works for water again.

As you all ready to head back to the ship. Mettaton blocks your path in a show room and starts a Fossil battle.

[Mettaton tells you about this being his mock battle fottage for the big championship he will be hosting in a few days.]

Once defeated, Mettaton let's the player go. Thanking them for show.

Diving back underwater, the three plus Alphys head toward the dump.

[After doing a battle and item exchange quest from the mad dummy. The power core was fixed. Also shipping moment happens here for Undyne and Alphys. Though, it is a side quest]

Alphys and Undyne tell the group that if they want to leave, they will have to talk to king Asgore. However, they will have to walk to his kingdom.

[Some really long walking later, optional side quest, and Fossil digging to the castle. Most of the fossils being air, and neutral types.]

The three arrive to the kingdom of Stone Fort. (It was a fort in the beginning.) There are some trading, shops, and inns here.

[Okay so two things can happen here. 1 thing being if you completed all the side quests up to this point the player can go talk to Asgore out right. If the player has not completed the side quests, the guardsmen at the door will just tell the player a watered down verson of what Asgore would tell them, but for this, we will assume the side quests were completed]

The guard grants you access as the three show off 5 diffrent ore based medals.

The group pass a yellow hallway to into the kings chamber, that is filled with diffrent colored marigolds.

The group request to leave the islands and to tell the world of their discovery of the Fog Regions. Asgore refuses, but is willing to make a bet for how admit the group is.

If, they they becomes the champions in the Fossil Tournament. He will let all of them leave unharmed. If only one of them becomes champion, then he will the winner choose only one to leave with them.

The group seemed unsure, but in their mind. If two of them gets out, they can come back and get the other. They end up agreeing.

[After some time to do some digging, side questing [True lab, and snail race], leveling, and Vivosaur group testing]

The championship has arrived. [Its very much a reference to OG Fossil Fighters] everyone is ready for battle

[Order goes how you want it to, its more or less in the air. Everyone is here, from some random guy in Snowdin, to Undyne, but its up to how you played, is who you fight. There is no Sans battle here, and if there was, he didn't put effort in. He would also be your first opponent, if it was a neutral route(there is no Geno route in this one, due to the 2 extras). But the last battle has to be Mettaton. As this is the glamer show, where his arms fall off and he dose the 'ask the audience thing']

The player is the only one who wins out of the group, as the player had to fight the other two to get to the winners spot. (Asgore knew they had to fight each other. He felt pity and let the option of, 'take a friend with you back out')

Your friends choose to stay behind, and take a breather, while the player goes to talk to Asgore.

However, the player is stopped by Sans. He goes on about how he is the Judge and that he was watching the three of them all while they went. [Based on how you played, Sans will tell you through dialog if it was a Passive or Neutral play though]

After that Sans leaves, by walking twords the door the player needs to walk through. The talk with Asgore goes as expected.

He didn't plan on any of you leaving. That he needs your SOUL's to free his people, so they can see the beauties of the world, and the stairs they can barely see at night. [Thr fog covers the sky, its really hard to see things]

Asgore will you choose a fossil battle or a True battle. [Fossil Fighters or Undertale system]

Both are difficult. [With Asgors's Fossil battle being on the same level of BS as King Dynal at the end of the OG Fossil Fighters game]

After defeating Asgore, you are free to leave. With the others only getting there at the end of the battle.

As all three are getting ready to leave. Flowey returns. Taking both support characters in vines. Flowey goes on a rant, and force the Player to choose who they favor more. The human or the Dinaurian.

Whatever chose is made, the two fight off again Omega Flowey as he absorbs the 7 SOUL's that have been collected.

[A fossil battle against Omega Flowey and the other Aids Vivosaurs become corrupted by Omega Flowey.And you get to use the Dinaurian's Dino form, or the human aids main lead in your battle.]

After Omega Flowey is defeated, and the other side character saved. The whole undertale crew comes to help. But only helps to form the worse and hardest battle yet as Flowey trys one more time to take the SOUL's. But this time. Its everyone's SOUL.

Asriel Dreemurr challenges the three to a True Vivosaur fight.

[A battle where its still Fossil Fighters battle system but has the player forced to ride their Vivosaur around on the field to escape Asriel's attacks. And when all the Vivosaurs LP hits zero, the only Vivosaur that is still standing is the player's ]

Asriel goes on his speal, and when he downs the player and their Vivosaur, they just keep on refusing. Making Asriel lose his patience and is defeated. [The ending of UT]

When the player meets younger Asriel, they tell them their dream to be the best Fossil Fighter with their sibling, and wanting to go see them in the ruins before the fog is lifted.

[Some soft stuff happens, feel free to fill this blank]

The fog is gone and monsters can see the sun for the first time in centuries.

And the player gets a call on their long distance radio.

-- Epilog--

Monsters are living amongst humans and Dinaurians. All learning off if each other.

Vivosaurs have only gotten strong after being introduced to Monsaurs [I will touch on this in 3]

The scientists who found the monster as crazy, have no choose but to believe in monsters (even though Dinosaurs breath in their world)

[Add some side quests and seeing how everyone is doing. Even meet some human and Dinaurian characters]

The group of three have one last night together before one leaves [the one you didn't choose in the flowey fight]

The player and the other side stay there, gazing at the stairs as the end pops on screen.

[That took a whole day to write. I don't want to go back over that. Bite me. And if you made it this far. THANKS FOR READING, ALL OF THAT. No, really. Thanks! If you want to put your own spin on it, go for it!]

3: Who uses what Vivosaurs, and side quests

Perhaps you have picked up on it, but most of the base UT plot is side quest, or filler. Mainly because, that's all stuff I would love to be a love letter to thoughs who want to see their favorite characters own small plot.

Now I will touch the Monsaurs thing. In the Fog Regions, the monsters didn't have access to the technology that the humams did. They had some blue prints, rough ideas, and magic. So the Vivosaurs came out, less like projections and more like the monsters that made them.

So the Monsaurs (Vivosaurs but more magic and monster looking) will look, act, and live like their Monster owners.

The bone Brothers have Boneysaurs (not exactly like Fossil Fighters Champions Boneysaurs, but close. Maybe even their inspiration for the Boneysaurs)

Undyne's Vivosaurs are rough, and armor.

Mettaton has Robosaurs

The Royals, have more mammalian like Vivosaurs. (Not saying the ones that exist already, I mean like T-rex looking like it got fused with a goat if you wanted)

Ect. To the others.

Who uses what Vivosaurs is more up to the person, as their are a lot of new discoveries made in the paleo world. So I will give a rough idea on everyone's preferences on typing.

Flowey - Neutral in the beginning, Air at the end

Toriel - Fire

Papyrus - Earth and Air

Undyne - Water

Mettaton - Air and Fire

Muffet - Earth

Asgore - Neutral all the way around (and still a BS level fight)

As for Sans, if you manage to get this lazy ass to fight you. (Which I don't see happening). He will have a stacked team with a Legend Monsaur being a Fire type, while the others are Neutral.

I see the battle with Sans as a small chance of winning. As his only weak link would be that Legendary Monsaur that looks like his blaster in T-Rex form, or even Neo. (If it is Neo your choosing as the base for this Legend Monsaur. Neo is A Neutral type Vivosaur. This will make Sans impossible to defeat.)

But that is what I have in mind for Fossiltale. I will make some drawings, and small story bits. It may go nowhere, but I wanted to share this. And see what y'all think about this.

Is it dumb? Is it a good idea?

You tell me. And if you made this far. Have a good night. And thanks for reading ALL OF THAT. I know my Dyslexia hit me a lot in this post. But I am tired to go back and fix rn.

-Sketch

[seabreeze2022]

2023 Bahama Cruise, Part 8. March 17. Summit Perry’s Peak, Lee Stocking Island

We summited Perry’s Peak!

At 127 feet high, it is one of the tallest hills in the Exumas. No base camp, no Oxygen bottles, no Sherpas. We just powered through in a single climb. The photo above is looking down the south side of the bank towards the settlement of Barretarre, Great Exuma. Our boat, Sea Breeze is in the far right of the frame.

Still floating!

Something you always check on after leaving your boat or dinghy. Is it still anchored in the same spot? Is it still floating? Get around the next hill or bend in the trail, and check again.

This is a view looking north on Lee Stocking Island, down island.

Nancy and I on the summit of Perry’s Peak.

Nancy is hiking back downhill, the view is towards the west. The tug and barge are on the horizon at the far left. Norman’s Pond Cay is at the horizon far right.

Sunrise at Lee Stocking Island, with Adventure Crews, YouTubers in the foreground. There had been a solo sailor leaving the anchorage this morning. His anchor was dragging in the water to wash off the sand. But being solo he forgot to raise and secure it. I hailed him multiple times with no answer. Cole from AdventureCrews YouTube channel explained, the guy leaving was a solo sailor and probably busy. I told Cole we had a photo of his boat at sunrise. So he said he would stop by later. He asked, “Which Catamaran are you on?”

Nancy and I laughed while I worked up the reply, “Sorry Cole, we are on the monohull directly astern of you”.

Our mentor Capt. Bill Cullen had met these new YouTubers when they first started out in Boca Grande, Fl. Small world!

So Cole and their dog, Dixie, stopped by for a chat on the way to the beach. Dixie is kind enough to only use the beach for her business.

I was able to raise the solo sailor before he got in the “Rage” at Adderly Cut with 5-7 ft. standing waves, while his anchor was swinging under the boat.

Safe travels, “Kojones”. ( means: Captain, Great, or Graceful)

Before we summited, I used an electric cutting wheel to cut off the top of the heavy conch to make a horn.

A distinctive land snail found throughout much of the Caribbean is Cerion. The genus name comes from the Latin “ceri-“ meaning “wax”, in reference to the beehive shape of shells in mid-ontogeny. These are thick on tree trunks on many islands but not very abundant on others. Originally in the Florida Keys, only Indian Key had populations of these. They have made their way to Key Largo and other islands of the Florida Keys now.

This is another tree snail on the island, sticking to the roots of an invasive Australian Pine.

There are groups of muzzles along the beach. Sorry Nancy they are only along about 3/8” long and not worth eating.

All along the beach, are Conch shells that were discarded after breaking a hole in the top and cutting the Conch out of the shell.

Here are old conch that have been on the rocks for years. They have turned black over the years. Now just part of the landscape.

Our dinghy floating off shore with two anchors holding it secure.

Unfortunately some thoughtless cruiser, left old conch shells on the beach where people land their inflatable dinghies and walk barefoot. Pulled these two conch up and threw them back in the bush line.

View while laying on a palm frond on the beach waiting for Nancy to come back from her “walk-about”. Yes I checked, no coconuts ready to fall.

She brought me back a live Scotch Bonnet. After a quick photo she returned it back to the ocean. Having helped release whales and porpoises into the ocean. I like to say, “That I have friends who live in the ocean”. This is a small friend, but still a friend. The Scotch bonnet, scientific name Semicassis granulata, is a medium-sized to large species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the subfamily Cassinae, the helmet shells and bonnet shells. The common name "Scotch bonnet" alludes to the general outline and color pattern of the shell, which vaguely resemble a tam o' shanter, a traditional Scottish bonnet or cap.

Nancy had crossed the island by trail, this is the beach looking south.

This is the Lee Stocking beach looking north.

Picture perfect end to the day. Nancy fixed pan seared filet mignon, mashed potatoes and the last of the salad. Sounding the Conch while the sun sets. Another sailor answers back with their Conch horn.

S/V Sea Breeze, Lee Stocking Island, Exuma, Bahama.

[meanderful]

Wonder and Splendour in Alor

The Calor of Alor

After we disembarked from the Komodo liveaboard boat, we spent a few days in the national park’s port town of Labuan Bajo, sorting out various logistics. Sam went to a doctor to check whether there was any progress with his ears (improving but still not right) and we lost a whole day to booking onward flights because the airline’s website made it near impossible to book flights within 48 hours of leaving. Eventually, we had to book the flights at the airport itself a few hours before departure—having previously joked about who on earth ever just turns up to the airport without a ticket!

We had selected the remote Alor Archipelago as our next destination, 750km east of Labuan Bajo. We had heard tell that because of a lack of tourism infrastructure and therefore few visitors, the diving there was knockout. Two short flights and one night transiting in a different city later and we were touching down on the island of Alor itself.

Photo Above: an aerial shot of the gorgeous land, islands, atolls, and reef

An hour’s taxi ride took us from the airport along a coastal road that ran alongside the large Kalabahi bay, until we reached the village of Alor Kecil. From there, it was a five-minute boat ride across a short stretch of water to reach Kepa, the very small island where our accommodation was located.

Photo Above: the boat ride over to Kepa island with our luggage

A moment for some wider context. The Alor Archipelago is made up of two larger islands (Alor and Pantar), five smaller, and numerous outcrops. The vast majority of the total 210,000 people of the archipelago live on the two larger islands. There is only one single town, on the island of Alor, and otherwise, all residents live in numerous villages dotted about the islands. A whopping 56 different languages are spoken across the archipelago, with 70% of its residents being Protestant and 20% Muslim. There barely any restaurants outside that one single town on Alor, very few accommodation options, and just six dive shops in total. The island we were staying on, Kepa, is home to 75 permanent residents only. We were staying at Marangki, a mini complex run by a lovely man called Harris, consisting of 4 bungalows and a dining hut. Our wooden bungalow had a wet room (with flushing toilet and shower, but no sink), bedroom (consisting of the bed with its mosquito net and a wardrobe), and veranda. The island has no electricity (so a generator was run for two hours each evening to allow us guests to charge electronics) or fresh water (every day, water was brought over in a number of large jerry cans from Alor on a boat and added to a huge water tank that fed our bathrooms).

Photo Above: our bungalow!

The view from our veranda was stunning, looking down a short slope with several Flamboyan trees in full, bright bloom (also called December trees because their gorgeous red flowers only appear for a couple of months a year, just when we were there), across the bay to Alor Kecil on the other side. Within ten minutes of arrival, we saw a pod of dolphins curving through the water right in front of us—an excellent welcome all round. We also realised that as boats are the far more common form of transport (what good are land-based vehicles in an archipelago??), there was always something to see and as it turned out, hear—most of the boats had a cheap type of engine that was so loud and choppy that it sounded exactly like a helicopter landing right on the banks next to us (at all times of the night too, oh joy!).

Photos Above: the view from our bungalow; the view from one of the seating shacks of the ocean and the village of Alor Kecil

We met Tamar and Nico that first day, the dive instructors and new owners of Lazy Turtle Diving. Having worked in the dive industry for years, they had bought the dive shop just six months previously, taking over from the previous management, and so were pretty new to the area. Over the next few days, I quickly learnt that Nico had worked in diving for a solid 15 years, had quite a number of predominantly marine animals tattoos, and in his spare time liked to unwind by crocheting (while we were there, his ongoing project was the creation of a pair of SOCKS in the shape of SHARKS. Need I say more). Tamar was really welcoming, had fantastic life anecdotes (including cycling half the world in just under five years…), and was a complete whiz at repurposing and upcycling all manner of materials via her own crafty solutions—bike tyre inner tubes became dive mask straps, a beach ball in the shape of a globe became a handbag, plastic washing up liquid sachets became mobile phone pouches and purses. Both of them were so completely in love with diving, and especially the underwater wildlife, that they made for a fantastic guiding team.

The Remote Life

Our days quickly fell into a pattern. We’d be eating breakfast by 7a.m.—all our meals were cooked for us, given that all food supplies had to be shipped from Alor. We ate with the other guests in the dining hut, but as we were there right at the end of the season, there were only ever a maximum of two other guests. At 7.30, Tamar, Nico, and Jimen (the captain), would be waiting for me in the Naughty Nudi (their excellently named dive boat) on the shore right in front of our bungalow. There were more than seventy dive sites within 20 minutes, so we were never short of choice. We would zip our way through the sea, tracking our way amid the islands to our dive site of choice, often right in front of a village on one of the small islands. All the villages seemed divided by religion, so there would either be a disproportionately large church or a disproportionately large mosque perched on the hill overlooking the water. Lazy Turtle Diving have an ethos of only diving in small groups so there were very rarely more than a couple of other customers besides myself. They also have a great ethos of finishing the dive based on air consumption and not time—it’s far more usual in the dive industry to finish a dive at 60 minutes (as long as you haven’t hit 25% or less of your tank beforehand), so because I have decent air consumption this meant we often had 70–90 minute dives. We would dive twice in the mornings, with an hour’s surface interval in-between, and then be back at Marangki in time for lunch at 1pm. I often went out for a third dive after lunch, which was always a “muck” dive—a type of diving on the sandy, rubbly bottom of the sea (as opposed to full blown reefs), usually at a very slow pace and with a torch to find the incredibly weird and wonderful critters. Then once back at Marangki after the third dive, I’d enjoy the dense heat of the afternoon and the consistently noisy “helicopter” boats passing by with a nice strong coffee from the dining hut, and hunker down to fill in my logbook (the record for all my dives), have a catch up call with friends or family from home, or do logistics planning with Sam for the next section of our trip. At 5.45pm, the calls to prayer from the mosques across the water in Alor Kecil would start up. The mosque that Sam and I fondly named “Disco Mosque” (due to its shiny silver dome and four smaller, rotating silver minaret domes) would always lead the way with a very melodic call, quickly joined by the call from the very large mosque a few minutes up the hill from disco mosque, which made up for an intense lack of tunefulness with its extremely loud and low-quality speakers. And finally, the third mosque, just along the coast, would join in to complete the clashing trio for the next 45 minutes. I loved the call to prayer, even including the 4a.m. round, which I was almost always awakened by and lay listening to in bed before drifting back off to sleep. Not long after the evening call to prayer, we would have dinner, relax a bit more by the water, and then be in bed by 9.30pm. Without a fan, the sizzling heat of our first few nights there made sleeping pretty difficult (I tell a lie—I found the heat pretty delightful, but all other guests seemed to have a hell of a job sleeping). Considering we were visiting right at the end of the season just as the rains were coming in, we got really lucky with the weather. We experienced a week of sizzling heat, then the odd occasional shower began to creep in, and then a full day of rain on my very last day out on the water.

Photos Above: the dining hut with one of the amazing spreads; disco mosque; the beautiful island of Kepa; a sunset over our bungalow

We were hopeful that Sam would be able to dive by the end of our eleven days in Alor, but it wasn’t to be—although his ears eventually began to feel a bit better right at the end, they were never good enough to dive. Instead, a wonderful thing happened for Sam. In being cut off from electricity, and with very little to do or achieve, he slowly settled into a very present and enjoyable kind of experience. He often did yoga on the veranda, joined us on the boat for a couple of mornings to snorkel, and took his camera out in the water right in front of our accommodation a few times too. But most of the time, he sat on one of the wooden seating “shacks”, as he called them, in front of the water and just watched the world go by—the boats passing, the numerous dolphin sightings, the water flowing with its heavy currents that changed constantly throughout the day.

Video Above: Sam managed to catch one of the dolphins (probably Spinner Dolphins) backflipping!

I found the diving around Alor completely incredible. The marine park contains easily the most pristine reefs I’ve ever seen, with such an incredible variety of corals, marine life, sponges, you name it—at several sites, I saw barrel sponges the size of cars and individual table corals (large, flat coral) far larger than a king’s size bed. Though the currents could be incredibly changeable and speedy at times, I also did plenty of dives with no current or only a very gentle current drifting us along slowly, so that we had plenty of time to peer at all the macro life on the reef. There was a great variety of diving, from shallow reef dives, to huge drop off walls that filled you with awe and wonder at the sheer topographical beauty, to fantastic muck diving. We did one dive where we saw volcanic gas bubbling out of the sea bed at just a few metres; on another, there was a vast wall that both rose out above the surface and dropped down underwater in dramatic curving swoops to who knows how deep and was teeming with so much life that I could barely take it all in.

Photos Above (all courtesy of Sam's camera skills while snorkelling): the volcanic gases bubbling up from the sea bed; the teeming reef; a hermit crab; our diving group below the water, just about to ascend (hence the neon red surface buoy); a shot of me just as I'm about to surface; a snorkelling selfie!

I also did a spectacular cavern dive that was particularly special. Tamar and I descended to the reefy bottom at about 12m and entered a cavern (the important distinction between a cave and cavern—with cavern diving, you can always see the light from the entrance). As it’s been more than two years since I last cavern dived, I’d forgotten the amazing feeling of being suspended within a cavern, perfectly held between the floor and ceiling by the water—plus I always love looking back at the entrance and seeing the black framing silhouette of the cave’s entrance surrounding an oval of vivid blue light. It’s always fascinating to see the creatures that live in a low light environment, from the brightly coloured coral (think neon pink stems with vivid yellow fronds) to a glowing orange sea cucumber. Tamar showed me these brown, almost leathery looking sacks hanging from the cave wall, each about the size of my palm and often several grouped together. She held her torch behind each one, careful not to touch it, and it glowed orange, showing the yolk within. A couple of the eggs even had something flickering around the yolk, undulating side by side in the classic movement of a fish spine—they were the tiny offspring of a bamboo shark!

We slowly made our way around the cavern and back out, then swam a short distance to another cavern. After we had swum a short way in, we did a safety stop (the diving practice of pausing at 5m for 3 minutes when ascending, to greatly minimise chance of decompression sickness), and then completely ascended, coming out in an air pocket—but when I say air pocket, I mean quite a large, cavernous space (though we kept our regulators in our mouth most of the time as the air quality may have been questionable). We spotted a Banded Sea Krait, a type of sea snake on the rocks close to the water’s edge, banded black and blue. After we’d peered at it for while, we descended back into the underwater section of the cavern and swam towards the back, then turning off our torches. The water around us lit up with flashes of blue from Flashlight Fish, which have bioluminescent stripes on their cheeks that they can turn on and off. I felt like a kid who just kept wanting to stare and stare. The whole dive felt like quite the adventure.

On one special morning, as we were travelling the open water between our two dives sites, we spotted a pod of dolphins. Our boat slowed and moved towards them, and they must have realised we were there because they surrounded us. They zipped through the water, following the bow of the boat, leaping fully out of the water in great curves around us and moving so fast that they were just wavering grey shapes in the blue. Another dive boat that was also passing joined us, and for a solid ten minutes, our two boats and the pod moved back and forth together, the entire pod of dolphins circling back around several times to keep moving alongside the boats. I tried getting a sense of how many individuals there were—definitely a minimum of 50, but probably nearer 100!

Besides Harris, Tamar, and Nico, we also met some great people in the other guests at Marangki. For our first few days, there was Jeannine, a 70-something American who has been diving all over the world for the last 40 years and spends at least 4 – 6 months of every year outside the States, travelling and diving. As you can imagine, she was a wealth of diving knowledge, and a flipping interesting person to boot. And then for our last few days, there was David (northern English) and Stu (Kiwi), two international school teachers who had lived in Indonesia for more than ten years and had a load of local knowledge and fascinating anecdotes.

It wasn’t all perfectly idyllic. On one dive, we heard several explosions that vibrated through our bodies and realised that it was illegal dynamite fishing. This is exactly as it sounds: lobbing dynamite in the water to kill everything within radius with one mega explosion, decimating the reef and indiscriminatingly killing all life. Though it must have been not all that close to us (if it takes place within 1km  underwater then apparently your whole body shakes) so we weren’t in any danger, but looking around at the reef, including sponges that were easily several hundred years old, it felt like a vast, painful loss.

And one day, when Harris was away visiting his family on Alor and Sam and I had been working on our laptops in the dining hut, I walked the one minute back to our bungalow to interrupt a man in our room who had, it became clear afterwards, just opened the wardrobe to start going through our things (my immediate thought was that he was obviously in there for a legitimate reason, such as fixing something in the room, so I actually exclaimed “oh, sorry!”). He immediately ran and I was left staring at the things he had been riffling through, which were RIGHT next to where our passports wallets, fully intact, were kept. Somehow, he had taken absolutely nothing. A sign from the universe that no matter how close we are to our room, we had to be better at always locking up.

But these were tiny downsides amid an incredible couple of weeks. Though we’d each had a very different experience of the place, we knew that we had found something really special. And given the tales we heard of developers buying up portions of land in the area, we suspect we got to experience the glory of Alor just in time.

[tenjin-no-shinja]

Chapter 2: Kami Shrines, Myths, and Rituals in Premodern Times

Early Shrine Cults

Perhaps the most common ancient prototype of today’s shrines was an open-air site of seasonal worship, located at the boundary between the human realm where crops were grown and the chaos beyond it…

…At the mountain entrance he planted a stick in a ditch as a mark, and he announced to the yato-no-kami: “We shall give the land above this stick to you, as the domain of the kami, but the land below it will be turned into rice fields for the people. I shall become a priest [hafuri] of the kami, and I shall revere and worship you in all eternity. I pray do not strike us; do not bear a grudge against us!” He set up a yashiro and did worship there for the first time.

(Hitachi-no-kuni fudoki, NKBT 2: 54-5)

This tale is recorded in a gazetteer (fudoki)… It depicts the kami as the original owners of the land. They are dangerous and violent and allow the people to live on the land only if soothed with offerings and prayers… By a combination of force and negotiation, Malachi conquered agricultural land from the kami… His worship of the kami at a sacred place, yelled a yashiro, makes it possible to grow the rice on which the people depend. This yashiro (a word that means “temporary shelter”) was not a permanent “shrine” inhabited by a kami; rather, it was a demarcated site where seasonal ceremonies took place. The kami dwelt in the natural world beyond the human realm, and were invited to this site on the border between these two worlds only for the duration of the offering ritual… the act of making offerings to the kami on behalf of “the people” was intimately linked with political leadership, and it served to validate “taxation” — control over the agricultural surplus by chieftains who acted a mediators between the community and the greater forces that threatened it from outside.

—Pages 24-26

…In the course of these centuries Japan slowly evolved into a centered political unit governed by the so-called Yamato dynasty… the expansion of that early state into the north of the main island Honshū… it is presented in terms of a confrontation between the primitive deities of the land and a much more powerful type of kami:

Maro of the Mibu-no-muraji took control over this valley… the yato-no-kami… would not leave. Maro raised his voice and demanded: “The purposed of this pond is to give life to the people. Are you heavenly deities or earthly deities, you who resist the imperial will?”… “Do not fear them.” Instantly, the ghostly snakes disappeared

(NKBT 2: 56-7)

Maro’s conquest of Hitachi revealed that the Yahazu were only as powerful as the deities they worshiped. As “earthly” deities, these “ghostly snakes” stood no chance when confronted with the heavenly might of the imperial court… they made sure that it conveyed a new message: the court does better at “giving life to the people” than the Yahtzee because imperial power is heavenly power.

—Pages 26-27

[the-firebird69]

There's a large number of people that are being unreasonable here and a drinks so we're going to go ahead and have her and now it's a few things

Thor Freya

First off I think that what they're doing is for me and it's angry and I want them out of here and they need to leave secondly I've seen this kind of thing before they keep on doing stuff like this and it's extremely rude and they need to stop it but they have decided not to so when I say is I'm going to help get them out it's been way too many requests by everybody.

-second we have a huge case here coming up on Monday and it's against John remillard it's for the rest of his land and Stan too they're kicking him out and they're going to pull them off the management company and someone's going to take over and it won't be Jason there's going to be a shake up here coming up pretty quick and it's big these people need out they won't do anything they don't want to be here my husband can't stand them and I can't they hate everybody so they should leave and people are trying to make them but we're going to make it happen now

-there's a huge number of people who can't get it he's more like her all dying you understand that you're dying pretty soon you'll be gone especially Macklemore you're idiots

-there's a few positives the fleet is completely destroyed off of Mars the fleet that is sitting there off of Earth is trying to go to Earth and they're not having much success living stopped so far 1 billion were lost so they're down to 3.5 billion and they're saying 4 billion and that the other half is being hit right now it will be out momentarily that's getting low after that they have to kind of go to Earth because they're going to be fighting over a lot of different things mostly the we'll find out that ships above are going after them and have to fight over the islands it'll be by force and then see ships attacking them on the islands and they're trying to get there but out of the whole fleet Trump has a very small amount now he's saying that they're losing ships but now they are and it was because of Mars and Saturn and the pseudo empire battle but really coming at me and Venus and for no reason they're just stupid right now he says here's the f****** idiot and they're probably going to start heating up and they are and it's another half a billion and they're saying that Trump is almost out and BJ says that he has better effects and that he intends to try and force his way to Venus so Trump will be gone and he's trying to get his other freaks out his last half of them so far it's good news for me there's other news coming up

Hera

That's great news and I just can't wait till it's gone and it's more to it but we have a lot of stuff because of it they are getting some positions too

Zues Hera

True too we have a lot of things because of it

Hera