#but oceanic white tipped sharks are quite large so

[marigoldendragon]

I wanted to draw my self-inserts mer form, and it was also a good excuse to draw my boy Hawley :D

And here's the map of her pattern. I wanted to to give her just fully tits out nipples showing because it's mildly annoying that female merfolk have to censor their titties, like they live underwater and don't wear clothes most of the time why would they care about nudity. But I also wanted to be able to post art of her without having to add annoying censors all the time. So I gave her a 'scale bra' that barely covers her nips. I kind of like the scales running up her side anyway so *shrug* it's fine I guess. I'll probably fine tune her patterning if I ever draw her again in this form so I'm not really that fussed on exact placement.

[tagsecretsanta]

From @cookidoughlilac

From @cookidoughlilac to @fishladishere

Ikea shark –

"There's fish on the wrapping paper, so this must be yours, Gordie! Looks like Santa got you a big gift this year!”

Gordon's eyes twinkled as Jeff manoeuvred himself under the tree, delicate wrapping paper crinkling under his hand as he pulled a large, squishy present from the pile.

True to his father's words, deep blue paper with little colourful fish appeared from under the tree skirt, complete with a snow-tipped name tag and Gordon's name in swirly red lettering. He reached out to take the present from Jeff, giggling at its size as he hugged it against himself. Despite its wrapped nature, Gordon could tell that it was soft. And big. Gordon had always thought himself to be quite tall for his age, but the mysterious gift was easily longer than him! 

Santa must have really liked his effort at being good this year. A present this grand would have been reserved for children on the nice list, after all, just like his brothers. They were always good, and Gordon wanted to be just like them.

"Would you look at that? The present's as tall as you, kiddo - what do you think it is?" 

Gordon turned to his grandmother, giving her the biggest grin as she took a picture of him. As keen as he was to open his gift, he couldn’t resist posing for a photo or two.

But what could it be? Gordon felt as though he was at a loss. He racked his little brain as best as he could, but his thinking on what was big and soft came up blank. He shook his head and shrugged, hugging the wrapped gift tighter to his chest.

"Why don’t you open it? Jeff asked, chuckling at his second youngest’s actions, “that way, you can hug it properly, no?”

Well, he didn’t need telling twice.

Gordon eagerly tore open the fish themed wrapping paper, practically squealing in delight as plush blue and white fabric peeked from underneath. Further unwrapping revealed the mysterious gift: a soft, and oh so big, shark, sporting the words ‘blåhaj’ on a label by the tail.

“Daddy! Daddy! Look!” Gordon exclaimed, spinning himself around from Sally so he could face Jeff, holding the shark high above his head, “Santa got me a shark! A real life shark!”

Gordon heard his brothers, Grandma and parents chuckle in amusement, but in that moment, all he felt was sheer excitement for his new favourite item in the whole, wide world. He bounced in excitement, grinning wildly as he hugged the shark against himself.

Best Christmas ever!

Beach Christmas –

Gordon regarded the endless expanse of ocean before him. Even though the sun was barely peeking up over the horizon, it was warm. Uncharacteristically so for December… or rather, by his standards. Decembers were usually cold, perfect for curling up by the fireplace with a thick blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. He was used to seeing snow gently pile up outside frosted windows, blanketing the world in a brilliant white that glistened in the moonlight. He was used to shoving freezing hands into warm pockets, face half obscured by a chunky scarf, mist visible with every breath.

He was used to the wintery Decembers of the northern hemisphere. The place he’d called home for his entire life.

This, though? The whole ‘standing on a beach at 6am in 25ºC heat with swimming trunks on and a towel draped over the shoulders’ thing? This was different.

There was a gentle breeze in the air, warm and inviting, gently swaying palm trees and colourful flowers in an almost hypnotic rhythm. The sound of water lapping at the shore seemed to lull the world – the island – into a peaceful sense of tranquillity. As though nothing bad could reach the shores of the oasis he found himself living in.

He wriggled his toes in the sand beneath him. It was soft, warmed by the sun, though not yet to the extent of burning skin. The heat was enough to spread warmth throughout his body in ways that melted stress and tension from tired muscles. If he hadn’t already been set on going for a morning swim, Gordon would have felt overcome with the need to curl up for a nap under the palm trees.

It was different, yes. But magical.

He knew his brothers, father and Grandmother wouldn't be awake for another few hours, which was perfect. It gave him plenty of time to go for a swim and dry off on the beach before the festivities of the day began.

He removed his towel from his shoulders and placed it over a palm trunk that had grown sideways over time, giving the wood a light push for good measure to watch it sway. Once satisfied with its swingability, Gordon turned back to face the ocean, pausing only momentarily to take in a deep breath. The smell of the sea was undoubtedly alluring – perhaps he’d suggest for the Christmas barbeque to move from the patio to the beach…

Gordon was quick to wade and submerge himself into the ocean, the feeling of water lapping over his skin immediately comforting. This was where he felt most alive – in a body of water with not a care in the world. The sun, still steadily climbing in the sky, cast mesmerising patterns across the water and ocean bed below, each colour more vibrant than the last.

He moved to float on his back, letting the sun warm his face as he closed his eyes. He let the water ebb and flow around him, gently drifting in peace.

Perhaps he could get used to hot Christmases. Naturally, the move to Tracy Island and the start of a new venture masterfully envisioned by his father meant that Christmas was unlikely to ever be normal again, but so long as he had his family and the ocean… perhaps it would all be alright.

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

(totally not suspicious) hey what fish/sea creature do you think gonta would be? or have characteristics of?

Okay I thought about this for a bit, and at first I was looking at marine arthropods (because. bugs) like the Giant Tiger Prawn but then I realized that even when thinking about non-marine fursona designs I wouldnt go for a bug for gonta but rather a large mammal??

So consider a shark of some kind: Sharks are seen as intimidating and dangerous but most are actually pretty gentle. I'm biased towards Whale Sharks because theyre just so big and pretty, but they're filter feeders which maybe doesn't fit as much. I also think oceanic white tipped sharks are another good choice because they're a nice brown/bronze colour and aren't filter feeders, but they are quite a bit smaller.

[obaewankenope]

@aahsokaatano: Wasn't part of the inspiration for Jaws a story about a Bull Shark in the early 1900s who was hanging out in a river, miles and miles away from the ocean and scaring the shit out of people?

~-~

The inspiration for Jaws is usually thought to have its roots in shark attacks in 1916 off the Jersey Shore when an attack occurred off the coast of Beach Haven, New Jersey.

A 25 year old died after being bitten and pulled from the water by a lifeguard on July 1st. Five days later, another attack occurred in Spring Lake, just 45 miles north of Beach Haven.

The shark travelled a further 30 miles north, up to Matawan Creek and on July 12th, an 11 year old boy was attacked and died.

The Creek was 16 miles inland.

Half an hour after the attack on the 11 year old boy, another person was attacked but survived.

Whether these attacks were the real inspiration for Peter Benchley's Jaws book, isn't quite known. He did say they were in an interview at one point, then corrected himself and said they weren't.

In fact, Benchley actually insisted that it was the capture of a Great White in 1964 that inspired him to write Jaws. A fisherman by the name of Frank Mundus caught a Great White weighing in at 45000 pounds off the coast of Long Island. Benchley thought at the time of reading the newspaper article about Mundus' catch, of how a resort would handle a shark that size hanging around terrorising the tourists.

Benchley also said he was inspired by his childhood experiences of finding sharks in the waters on vacations when his family went swordfishing in Nantucket.

So no, Jaws wasn't inspired by the 1916 summer of shark attacks along New Jersey's coast, but the knowledge of them likely helped Benchley in his delivery of the Jaws book, and Spielberg's Jaws movie.

What is true, about Jaws, however, is that the speech Frank gives about the USS Indianapolis is largely true and accurate. In 1945, the Indianapolis was returning from a secret mission to deliver the Hiroshima A-Bomb and was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the waters between Guam and the Philippines. 300 crew members went down with the ship out of a total of 1195. The Indianapolis sank on 30th July and no one knew until 3 days later when survivors were seen in the open waters by an aircraft on a routine patrol.

The total number of survivors out of the almost 900 that survived the initial sinking was 316. The amount that died from shark attacks varies between a few dozen to 150, with the rest dying from starvation, dehydration, exposure, hypothermia, delirium and hallucinations that caused survivors to harm themselves.

The sharks most likely responsible for the attacks on the Indianapolis crew were either Oceanic White Tips or Tiger Sharks. White Tips tend to be found in groups, Tigers more often separate. But many would have been drawn in by the distress of the crew and the ships sinking, regardless of their natural habits.

Ultimately, Benchley's inspiration for Jaws was probably a bit of fascination at the idea of a Big Scary Shark in water, found near an area of tourism and population, and the What If kind of scenario people sometimes have.

What happened to the Indianapolis was public knowledge eventually, with the Navy covering their arses for failures to even register the Indianapolis had sunk and even going so far as to court-martial the Captain of the ship for not zigzagging to avoid submarine attacks (even though he had not been told of any possible submarines in the area and told to manoeuvre how he saw fit at the time).

So. There you go.

Jaws wasn't inspired by any sort of shark attack in the early 1900s but instead by a newspaper article in 1964, some childhood fishing trips, and what was likely a public knowledge of the Indianapolis at the time of Benchley's writing.

Of course, after the success of the movie in 1975 and the shark-mania that followed, Benchley became a life-long shark conservationist and regrets writing the book because of the demonisation of sharks as a result of it.

[r4zzberry]

🐦

OH OKAY SO I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT ZORA YOU HAVE NO IDEA!

ok so like,, i love the idea that that theres different sub species of zora, like deep sea, swamp, river, reef, ect ect.

the zora we normally see in most games are reef/open ocean zora, where as the zora in the downfall timeline are river, swamp, lake, just fresh water zora, but we mostly see swamp zora as theyre more aggressive. also depending on the type of zora they can be based around different aquatic life!

for example river and lake zora could have gold fish, turtle, koi, bass themes and stuff- oh and out of all the fresh water zora the swamp are the most aggressive and territorial, none of them are inherently “evil” and stuff, its just like- instincts and stuff because of how they’ve evolved, they’re intelligent but very wary of outsiders.

BUT LIKE ALSO BACK TO THE ZORA BEING BASED AROUND DIFFERENT AQUATIC LIFE! swamp zora could be based around gators and crocodiles, eels, cod, mudskippers, and all that fun stuff.

now reef zora are where it gets super fun, because reef aquatic life is so diverse! i love it, now with zora we normally think fish but i say lets go bonkers, Crab zora! they’re more rare, and often stay within the water, not travelling to hylian settlements. also the type of reef zora really depend on the climate of the area, like real life- and all that, cause there could be axolotl zora but theyre only in special areas, due to climate stuff, and are almost never seen in hyrule.  more common reef zora are sharks, rays, jellyfish, and all that jazz!

more open water zora are often bigger compared to most reef zora, for example the kings in most games i would like to say are some kind of whale zora, as we see this more in botw, but also they can be sharks, unlike reef shark zora, open sea shark zora are much larger (think of a black tip reef shark compared to a great white). jellyfish zora also are open sea! but theyre normally larger, most open sea zora are quite large compared to others.

DEEP SEA ZORA! something i LOVE! very very rare to surface, but these zora are either absolutely beautiful or terrifying. now a vast majority of deep sea zora are quiet small, as they dont have much food to go on, like real deepsea life they live on dead plankton that has sunk, other zora/deep sea fish, and fecal pellets produced by zooplankton, (think marine snow).

so we have these absolutely tiny zora, (tiny like as in,,,child zora botw size) who can come in the most extravagant patterns and stuff! some of them are see through, glowy, all that jazz! and they often dont talk, unlike the zora who live closer to the surface, these zora dont have the energy to speak and make as many sounds, so they use their glowy patters to communicate!

NOW,, the more spooky deep sea zora are like, goblin sharks, anglerfish, Psychrolutes marcidus (not calling it blobfish, it was named that because of how it looks after its insides where turned to outsides), vampire squid ect ect- they normally eat smaller deepsea fish, and sometimes even young zora who are left unguarded.

the deepsea kingdoms are ruled by a few kinds of zora, mainly giant squid zora and sperm whale zora, there are 2 kingdoms, ech ruled by one of these, and they’re constantly at war. based on how giant squids and sperm whales often fight, i thought it;d be funky.

OKAY SO, i can go on for ages and i have other subspecies ideas like arctic, cove, wetlands, Estuaries, marsh, bogs- ALL THAT GOOD STUFF! but i’ll stop my insane rambles for now, but if yall want me to go on i can and will

[selinakidreams]

pairing: merman! dabi x gn reader

warnings: nameless character deaths, a singular mention of nausea + throwing up, unfortunately a lot of blood mentions, near death experiences, SHARK! THERES A SHARK IN THE WATER ! (I SWEAR this is supposed to be pretty but the warnings make it seem otherwise) slight soulmate au?, dabi had a SINGULAR moment of softness.

a/n: guys I don’t even know what this is and it’s unedited,, but welcome to my contribution to mermay ! I had two scenes plain as day STUCK in my head and I just needed to get them out,,, honestly this was just supposed to be a short lil thing but I’m invested,, so here this is

ps, though this may not be edited... I would like to thank all my monster fucking moots who helped me to piece together the perfect mer version of dabi— I love you guys so so so much.

looking out into the darkness of the night, unable to locate the horizon from your position at the edge of the ship- you lift your gaze to the sky with a small sigh.

an unimaginable amount of stars litter the atmosphere, the clear view above could never be tiresome.

the city was no place for you; too crowded, full of men who were trying to court you for your fathers money and your beauty, not enough adventure. the ocean offered a type of freedom land could never- granted, the ship wasn’t much different from the bustling towns in the sense that all the soldiers would eye you like you’re a slab of meat.

the only difference given at sea is that you’re able to put those undesirable fuckers in their place. given your ranking, your power obsessed father wasn’t completely useless.

escaping to the empty deck had been your big feat today; everyone below was gulping down wine by the barrel when you managed to slip out. it was much colder out here, the chill of the salty wind was refreshing, sobering you up quite a bit- but still mentally fuzzy enough to tempt yourself into discarding edict and loosening up your tighter garments.

your drunken attention span shifted from fiddling with your bow in the back to the inky deep water...

what was that?

ripples were quietly dancing on the surface, the warm light reflections coming from the ship’s sconces moved along with them.

it had been really fast, so fast that you were almost left to wonder if you had actually imagined the most vibrant blue eyes you had ever seen... bobbing in the ocean.

two days. it had been two days since you had first “spotted” them and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. the sailors still went about uglily gawking at you, your captain of a father was still behind the wheel, barking orders at everyone, while you went about your business. Sighing, the image of the eyes still fresh in your mind, you prepared to be lowered into the shallower sea.

upon hearing that there was a small island not too far from your current coordinates, you commanded a stop be made, needing to take some time away from the close knit quarters you constantly share with those horrific pigs. thankfully, no arguments surfaced and you headed straight for the dinghy. it had been surprisingly easy.

the trip wasn’t too long; you patiently waited for the tip of the boat to breach the soft sand, excited for what awaited you. it was such a lovely sunny day, big puffy white clouds dotted the expansive blue sky while the palm trees at the base of the beach greeted you with a steady sway.

once your boots sunk into the wet sand, you turned to the two other men who had escorted you and informed them that you were not to be followed- but to wait right there- which in retrospect, was not a good idea. that was too much trust and responsibility that was placed in their incapable hands.

you wasted no time trudging through the lush greenery to get to the other side of the island, wanting to be as far away from the crew members as possible. 

it couldn’t have taken you more than two hours for you to reach an elaborate array of tide pools sporadically placed on a flat uneven rocky surface, some being lapped over by waves while others sat calmly- living in their own little world.

you had to look in each and every one of them.

wide eyes and mouth open, looking at all the lives in the crystal clear pools was an absolute marvel. some only held a few small sea anemones of different colors while others not only held the soft flowery plant but also housed fighting crabs of all sizes, large chunky starfish, and even a fish or two!

you took careful steps towards the end of the rocks, towards the ones where the waves were constantly restocking the pools with new life, your heart flipping in your chest at the colors of the crashing waves.

peering down into one of the deeper ones, you found it hard to take your sights away from the glistening sun streaks that cut through the water; a small gateway to the open ocean was at the bottom of this pool. it’s like you were hypnotized. making yourself comfortable, you laid yourself down next to the glistening water and began to break the calm surface with your finger tips, eyes trained on the tiny ripples.

“they left you, you know.”

you felt so at ease with the sound of the waves crashing around you, you almost didn’t hear it. it wasn’t until the nagging feeling that you weren’t alone hugged you in all the wrong places, that you looked up... only to be met with nothing.

scrunching your brow, the tranquility you were feeling before suddenly slipping through your fingers. you sat up, but not before you held a lingering glance at the glowing water once more. that’s an image that will stay in your mind; you almost wish you had your sketch book.

your mind went blank when you saw something block the light as it swam by... something big. the next few minutes happened in a blur. after scrambling up to get away from the pool, a huge body washed up on a nearby rock plateau and by no means was it graceful. your heart dropped to your stomach as you watched the lifeless body get smacked with harsh waves.

he was wearing your ship’s uniform, now drenched in blood.

nothing came up when you fell on your knees and lurched over, your eyes squeezing shut- the gruesome image of the crew member engrained in your mind.

“they got what they deserved.”

this time when you whipped your head up to follow the velvet voice, you fell into an almost trance. those breathtaking turquoise eyes you had seen a few days ago were now staring right at you, not too far away.

you couldn’t help the gasp that you inhaled as you fell back. looking at him in his entirety- you must have been hallucinating. growing up hearing the tales of deep sea monsters and nasty magical land creatures could never have prepared you for what laid in front of you.

it was such a drastic change; going from looking at something so appalling to something so... flawless... it was indescribable.

on display, your eyes followed the curled figure- wet white hair flopped against a pale forehead, the tips of his pointed finned-ears peaking out from the wet hair. there were deep dark purple markings starting underneath his eyes, slightly mimicking bags that then restarted at the bottom half of his face- all the way down his neck, ending at just the top of his chest. the markings then continued down his arms, right up to his knuckles contrasting the pale thin slightly webbed fingers that merged to sharp claws, gleaming in the sun. his toned chest eased into a pearly type of color around his hips before submerging into a black ragged tail- but it did the strangest thing. when the sun reflected off of it, a blue so royal- that you’ve only seen it on the most expensive of garments- came to life. the dorsal fin looked just as rugged as the tail did, but his odyssey fluke was splayed out so beautifully, you didn’t give it a second thought.

it wasn’t until you took a second glance that you noticed there was a red tint to his claws that you put into context what was said earlier.

“did you- di- you killed that man?”

his voice came out as smooth as silk, “I did.”

how could you be so dense? this was a creature that came from the sea- a ruthless underwater world. he was a predator. but wait-

“you can speak- you s-said.. did you kill them for me? are you going to-?”

“I killed those men because of all humans, the ones who betray others for their own greed serve no purpose.”

he didn’t tell you more than necessary in his opinion, but he was smart enough and old enough to know that you’re still going to ask more.

it seemed you were sitting on quite the pile of questions but he wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence. it was clear that you were mulling over what should be said first.

“was it you I saw at sea the other night?”

out of all the things you could ask, that was the only thing your mind had on repeat- the only thought present.

“and if it was?”

after receiving two similar vague reactions, something in you was screaming for something to happen. the interaction seemed to be going nowhere and here you were, in front of a creature that you’ve heard so much about but never actually met- a drastic change in interaction was calling, and who were you to ignore it?

in hindsight, it was a terrible idea.

one minute you were on land, next you were shedding your heavy, restrictive clothing- the mer watching with a slight smirk and a heavy gaze- then seconds later, were in the violent push and pull of the ocean. luckily you were far enough to be out of the rocky reach, but the current was too strong. you were being swayed back and forth with too much force.

if it had been your first time in the ocean, you would have been a goner- you would have washed right into the sharp jagged edges; a terribly painful way to go. but thankfully, flowing with the ocean had been your specialty since you were young. incredibly masculine and dirty, but you simply couldn’t stay away. the watery depths have lured you in and there was no escaping the spell it had casted on you all those years ago.

maybe that’s why you dove in. or maybe you wanted to see what the mer would do. whatever the case, there you were in the lull of the tide and running out of air. breaching the surface was your main goal, urging your arms and legs to snap out of the shock of the cold water.

eyes on the bubbles traveling upwards, you finally get your arms to push through the current almost missing the dark shadow swimming closer and closer to you, getting larger and larger.

a quick sideways glance in the clear water showed something large with many many rows of teeth out on display, heading toward you and gaining momentum.

a shark.

a... shark.

of all the ways you possibly thought you could go... this was not one of them. it’s almost ironic- the one way you thought you wouldn’t go would end up getting you.

breaking the surface, you gulp your last breath of air- painfully waiting for the horrifying moment when powerful jaws clamp around your body... but it never came. all you felt was a strong current zip past your feet, slightly pulling you along with it.

you’re heart was pounding; adrenaline coursing through your veins, breathing choppy as you whip your head in every which way to see what was going on in the water beneath you. then you saw it.

blood.

just then, the gory image of the crewmate’s body flashed into your mind. there had been another sailor... the mermaid didn’t pull up two bodies- he wasn’t the only predator in the water.

before you could evaluate further, you were pulled by the ankle under the water and into a place where the blood hadn’t seeped yet.

not enough air was sucked in before you submerged, so you frantically searched for ways you could reach the surface again- not even thinking about the now-absent steady grip that dragged you under.

then you felt it. pointed claws lightly tracing up your sides before his handsome face was leveled with yours. if seeing him on land wasn’t good enough, seeing him in his element was nearly heart stopping.

but your lungs were going to collapse before your heart could-

or so you thought.

he flattened his palm around your waist, cupping it gently before he inched his face toward yours, lips slightly ghosting yours, as if asking for permission.

with his toned body pressed against yours, it was hard to think straight, but the most prominent siren going off in your mind was the fact that you were loosing oxygen, and quickly. you found yourself panicking in his grip. was this really the time?

his lips were on yours in less than a second, your struggling becoming more and more apparent- but it was when he got your mouth to open that you realized what he was doing.

A mermaid’s kiss gives you the eternal breath; the ability to breathe under water.

pulling away, he watched as your eyes went wide, the small smirk you’d seen before had appeared once more.

the sensation was otherworldly; though there was a heavy pressure in your chest as the water was filtering in and out of your system, you were breathing underwater.

slowed down by the new density, you lifted your head to look up at the mer- no doubt the most excited and bewildered expression on your face, just to realize the size difference. he was huge- how had you not noticed this on land?

the more human half of his body had to be around the six foot range, his muscular tail roughly adding another ten. the massive figure floating around you was... beautiful.

he had the softest gaze when looking down at you, it nearly shocked you more that the new incredible ability had. he didn’t seem like the type to be full of expressions; it was such a warm and familiar look, something that you hadn’t seen in a long time- and one you typically didn’t see on a stranger’s face, much less a merman you had only just met.

opening your mouth to say something-if you could, that is- his expression changed in a blink, fear now contorted his features.

everything was so fast with him; his arm wrapped around your waist in mere seconds before speedily guiding you through a passage of underwater tunnels that lead to somewhere you assumed to be in the middle of the island- a lush green grotto.

once you resurfaced, you inhaled a breath you didn’t realize you needed; the new air burned your lungs- you almost didn’t want to breathe.

“just keep breathing. it will get easier over time.”

he almost sounded... bored? a complete one 180 to what you had just witnessed in the water.

the mer guided you up to the pool’s edge, lifting you with ease until you sat with only your legs dangling in the water.

outwardly, it stayed quiet for a while. there wasn’t much noise around besides the occasional bird call and the delicate sound of waded water.

your breathing had slightly evened out but you weren’t too confident in your voice, so keeping your mouth shut seemed like the best option.

what now?

tag list: @zhongh-li

[sophie-jen]

water lilies and tadpoles

read on ao3

James rolled onto his back. He looked up at the sun, shining joyfully in the cloudless sky, then immediately groaned, and rolled back onto his stomach.

"You look like a beached whale, honey."

James groaned again. "S'hot," he mumbled. 

"Why don't you go down to the lake and take a swim?"

James did not dignify this question with a response. His mother had been trying to kick him out all morning. She clearly didn’t want him in her way as she pranced around in her sunhat, gardening tools in hand. James was too miserable to care. He just groaned louder and rolled over again. But this was the wrong move, he realized belatedly, as he felt the crunch of his mother's favorite lilies being crushed under his weight. 

Five minutes later and a shovel shaped dent in his skull found James making his way toward the stupid lake. As he pushed his way valiantly through swarms of mosquitoes, he considered the very real possibility that he would drown in his own sweat before he ever reached water. 

The suffocating heat made everything hazy. Overhead, branches swayed. Leaves rustled. Underfoot, twigs crunched. Moss whispered. Streams of light danced around him. Birds croaked. Frogs chirped. A mushroom tipped its cap to him. 

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, it occurred to James that he might be lost. Just as the beginnings of panic started brewing in his stomach, his foot caught in a root and he went toppling down a hill. He rolled to a stop next to a small glittering lake, and groaned. This was definitely not the lake his mother had been referring to. He hadn’t known there even was another lake in this area. It really was quite small, resembling more of an oversized pond.

There was something emphatically off about the happy twinkle of the water and the ethereal glow that bathed everything in a golden light. He also couldn’t help but notice that the water lilies were eyeing him suspiciously. To their left, a large, judgmental looking trout poked its face out of the water, took a good look at him, and with a disappointed shake of its head, went back down to report what it had seen. And sat on an outcrop not three feet away, looking straight at him while her fingers combed through her long tendrils of red hair, was a mermaid. This was a little much for poor James to take, and mercifully, after one last groan for good measure, consciousness fled and everything faded to black. 

                                                      *

James gasped awake. He lay in the dark for a few seconds, contemplating the strange dream he had been having, before sitting up. As he did, something cold and slimy slid off his eyes and down his face, taking his glasses with it. He felt around for the glasses, slid them back onto his nose, looked at the lily pad that had dropped into his lap, and felt his stomach drop with it. 

"I thought it might help cool you off."

He looked over at the girl who sat not far away. She was looking at him with an expression of mingled apprehension and curiosity. And sure enough, when James looked down, he saw curled under her a long gray tail, scales shimmering in the sunlight. He had to make a considerable effort not to faint again. 

"I’ve found lily pads are really refreshing. I was afraid you had heat exhaustion or something,” the girl said. 

“Oh. Thank you.” James didn’t know how to explain to her that it most likely wasn’t the heat exhaustion that had caused him to swoon. 

“I'm Lily, by the way."

James considered her for a moment. Considered at what point between rolling onto his mother’s lilies and meeting a mermaid named Lily he had lost his mind. Considered the lily pad laying limply in his lap. Made a decision. 

"I'm James."

                                                      *

“So, uh…” James kept his eyes on the small blue fish eating out of the mermaid’s hand. He was trying not to stare at her webbed fingers. “You live here? In the lake?”

“No, I actually prefer to perch on tree branches.” She gave James such a deadpan look as she spoke that he was inclined to believe her. At this point, he was inclined to believe just about anything. 

“Yes, of course I live in the lake,” she continued after a moment. She turned back to the fish, which was stretching as far as it could out of the water, vying for her attention. 

“Ah. Right.” James mulled this over for a moment. “But where do you-” he paused, trying to think of the best way to ask the question. “Well, where do you, you know, live?” Well said. “I mean, have you got a bed at the bottom of the lake or something?”

“Yep. I even splurged on a water mattress recently.”

To James’ surprise, a snort of amusement escaped him. Lily smiled as she stroked the fish, which flapped its tiny fins happily. 

“Honestly, I mostly sleep on land. I like looking at the stars.” She gave the fish a final pat, before leaning back onto her arms, her tail stretched out in front of her, and tilting her face towards the sun. “I couldn’t really do that much back home.”

“Back home?” 

“I live in the ocean.”

“What are you doing here?” 

“I got caught in a storm and washed up in a river somewhere, so I swam up here.” She leaned over and lifted a clump of moss off the end of her tail, where a large translucent fin lay. The left portion of the fin was in tatters, and an angry looking rip spanned almost the entirety of it. "I can't swim properly with my tail in that state." 

"So, what, you're just stuck here?" 

"Until it heals and I can try finding my way home. But I honestly don't mind. I grew up surrounded by angelfish and dolphins, so lake trout and tadpoles have been a nice change of pace.“ 

Despite her lighthearted tone, she didn’t look particularly thrilled as she said it. James immediately felt compelled to do something, though what that something was, or why he even felt compelled to do it, were beyond him. Instead, his mouth moved of its own accord. "Oh, so you're usually surrounded by a much more so-fish-ticated crowd, then," he said, placing emphasis on the “fish”. He regretted it immediately.

“Did you just-” She looked at him incredulously, but James was thrilled to hear the laughter in her voice. “That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Yeah, my bad, won’t happen again.”

“Unbelievable,” she said through a giggle. 

Not wanting to push his luck, he stayed quiet, and they sat in silence together. The fish, realizing it wouldn’t be getting anything more from Lily, swam up to James and gave a hopeful wiggle. He stroked it distractedly as the mermaid next to him sighed and readjusted the moss covering her fin. James only hoped she couldn't hear the frantic whirring of cogs as he tried to make sense of the pretty redhead and her tail, quietly soaking up the sun beside him. 

                                                      *

"Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at my tail."

"It looked at me first."

"It's impolite to stare."

"Social norms don't apply when your cousin is a guppy."

A lily pad thwacked James across the face.

                                                      *

The sun was beating down mercilessly. James sat at the edge of the water with his feet dipped in up to his ankles. He watched as Lily resurfaced, yet another trinket in her hands, and swam closer to add it to the row of eclectic objects she had set out on the sand. She called them her treasures, although they looked more like what a demented three-year-old might drag home from the playground. 

While she fiddled with what looked like a vaguely heart-shaped ball of algae, he examined one of the rocks. She had said it reminded her of the hammerhead shark that would dig up her garden in search of crabs. It was oblong and one of the ends was slightly flat. To James, the resemblances ended there, but Lily had been thrilled at the discovery, so he had smiled and praised how hammerheaded the rock looked. 

He set the rock back down and checked to see what Lily was doing. She was still poking at the green blob. Her hair looked darker now that it was wet, pooling like blood in her collarbones and trickling down her back in rivulets. He looked away as soon as she turned toward him, and stared intently at a chipped snail shell. 

“I know, it’s not very impressive.”

“What? No...” 

She raised her eyebrows in skeptical amusement. “I wish you could see the collection I have at home. I’ve got this gorgeous pocket watch I found with all these flowers carved on the back. It doesn’t tell the time anymore though.”

“Where’d you find it?” asked James. He slid into the water and made his way towards a water lily he had spotted. 

Lily hadn’t seemed to notice, focused on smoothing out the wrinkles of the snake skin she had laid out. “We collect them from shipwrecks,” she explained.

“That’s morbid.” He snapped the flower off the stem and waded back over to Lily and her treasures. 

“Is it? I remember when I was little, my sister and I used to go looking for sunken ships and scare the octopuses living in them.”

“Here, add this to your collection.” Lily turned toward him, and he handed her the water lily he had picked. 

“I can’t add that. It’ll start wilting soon.” She took the flower from him, her fingers brushing his as she delicately held the white petals. He dipped his fingers in the water to quell the tingles. 

“Oh. I just thought it was pretty.”

She studied the flower for a moment, before placing it in her hair and securing the stem behind her ear. He watched as she fussed with it, trying to get it wedged properly. “There. That way we can enjoy it while it lasts.”

“I can get you another when it turns brown,” James offered. 

“No, I like this one,” she said. “I don’t want to replace it. Some things are meant to be temporary anyway.”

                                                      *

"GAAAHHhhbrrggllslg..."

"Pipe down, you'll scare the fish."

James came back to the surface, spluttering and coughing. “This clearly isn’t working,” he wheezed. 

“Really? I thought we were making great progress.” 

“Funny, ‘cause I thought that’s the third time you’ve nearly drowned me.” James rubbed his eyes a final time and opened them. Lily floated next to him, her hair like a pool of blood around her. He pulled a piece of it out of his mouth. 

She rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, picking out a snail that had gotten tangled in the strands. “You’re being dramatic.”

“Well excuse me for having a sense of self-preservation.”

“You’re acting like I’m trying to kill you!”

“Lily, I don’t have gills! You can’t just push me underwater without warning!”

She looked surprised at his outburst, her green eyes were wide with worry, and James immediately felt bad. 

“Listen, it’s fine. I just got freaked out for a moment,” he backpedaled. 

Lily wasn’t listening. “Maybe we should stop.” 

“No, really, it’s fine! I’ll just make sure to plug my nose next time!” 

But she was already swimming away, and with a flick of her tail, she had disappeared to a place where he couldn’t reach her. 

                                                      *

The bite was oozing. Oozing what, he didn’t know. Didn’t really want to know. He had never thought he would be having to deal with fish bites. Hadn’t realized such small fish even had teeth. Evil little bastards. Always sweet and cuddly when Lily was around. But this was apparently a summer of firsts. 

He poked at the angry looking marks, and hissed. Lily would know how to take care of this. Fix it. He had no idea where she was. She hadn’t yet resurfaced. 

Not knowing what to do, he climbed onto the outcrop where he had seen her for the first time, and stretched out. Warmth enveloped him on all sides, immediately making him drowsy. As he drifted off, he thought about how unbothered he was. Everything was fine. He let himself be pulled under, into the depths of sleep, not worried in the slightest. She would turn up. She always did. 

                                                      *

He’s sinking deeper into dark blue depths. His legs keep up a frantic pace as he kicks, trying to propel himself forward. All he can see is her: her long, slender fingers, her wrists, her collarbones, glowing in the murky water as she hovers, ethereal. All he wants is to go to her, but with a laugh she turns and swims further down, engulfed by the darkness. 

He can just make out her tail undulating as she moves inexorably on, never slowing down. As he follows her, going ever lower, several jellyfish zoom by, their tentacles tangling together to form a billowing cloud of exhaust. Somewhere to the side, a school of clownfish float in a large reef together, studying. A preoccupied looking manatee comes out of a dense wall of seaweed and almost bumps into James, muttering an apology as it hurries away. 

James is undeterred, his focus only on the mermaid in front of him. She turns to face him, curls one finger in a beckoning motion, and her smile is a hook that snags him, reeling him in, pulling him closer to her. Her lips are moving. He can tell she’s saying something, something important, but he can’t understand her. The water is filling his ears, muting everything, and he strains to hear her, to make out something, anything. Panic rises in his throat as her face grows troubled, panic so thick it’s suffocating. He can’t breathe, and she’s floating further into the murky shadows, and he hates the greedy gloom taking her away from him with every fiber of his being. As she grows ever more distant, his panic grows, and he’s never felt so lost, so helpless. He has to reach her, to stop her, and she’s screaming, screaming his name, over and over and-

                                                      *

“James!” He opened his eyes, gasping for air. After several steadying breaths, the darkness began receding. He blinked while the world came back into focus. The panic he had felt so acutely was already fading, dripping through his fingers, leaking out of his ears. It was replaced by the feeling of solid rock under his back, the sun wrapping him in warmth, and Lily’s hands cupping his cheeks. Her face was right over his, her hair forming a curtain around them. 

“Here.” He felt his glasses being placed gingerly over his eyes. “You alright?” 

Lily’s voice was laced with concern, her eyebrows knitted so close together they were almost touching. Her face was so close to his that he could see every individual hair in her eyebrows. He focused on one hair that lay slightly askew, pointing towards a freckle on her eyelid, as he finished catching his breath. 

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just had a weird dream.”

“Oh. Sure. I have those all the time.”

“Really?”

“Oh, definitely. The other day, I dreamed that I had climbed up a tree, and I couldn’t get down. And you were in the water, and I kept calling you, and asking you to help. But you insisted that you couldn’t, because you had to practice your underwater somersaults. And I was so angry that I started picking crabs off the tree and pelting them at you. But you kept catching them in your mouth and eating them. And you were laughing the whole time. And then you said, ‘Look, Tulip!’ and did a backwards somersault with so much force that you created a huge wave that knocked me off the tree. And then I woke up.”

“Sorry about that.” James was trying very hard to keep a straight face. 

“I can’t believe you called me ‘Tulip’,” Lily said with a frown.  

She looked so genuinely offended that James immediately felt compelled to comfort her. “Like I would ever forget your name!” 

“What was your dream?” she said quickly. 

“Oh, I was just drowning.”

“Well that’s not bad. Why do you get to have normal dreams?”

“Probably because I know how to do backward somersaults.”

                                                      *

James stared at the water intently, looking for any disturbances in the smooth surface. In his hand, he held a freshwater mussel the size of a large baseball. Lily had dug it up from the bed of the lake for the game she had devised. She had informed him that the mussels' name was Petunia, mentioning something about the mussel reminding her of someone. 

He tightened his hold on Petunia, causing her to give an indignant shake in response. James had discovered that a firm grip was necessary when handling the mussel. She had a tendency to clamp down on his fingers when he wasn’t paying enough attention, and getting her to let go required threats of feeding her to the snapping turtle that lived nearby. 

A sudden ripple drew James’ attention to a spot on his left. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the flash of a tail flicking above the water. As he scanned the green surface, he spotted a smudge of red. Raising Petunia above his head, his eyes following the billowing of crimson under the water, he took a steadying breath, and aimed. He exhaled. Petunia went flying. 

“Fucking ow!” 

The cry told him he had hit his mark. The proud victor had only a moment to celebrate his success before a wave of water was flung in his direction, drenching him entirely. 

“Bit of a sore loser, aren’t you?” James smiled as the top of Lily’s head surfaced. Her eyes narrowed and the green flashed somewhat dangerously, but he took no heed. He was on a roll. “Seems I’ve o-fish-ially won!” 

His laugh was followed closely by a scream as Lily pulled him into the water, and he felt his nose being pinched shut as he went under, smothered by a wave of red tendrils. 

                                                      *

"You know I can't stay here." 

"Can't you? What's so great about the ocean, anyway? So it’s got dolphins. Did you know dolphins are actually vicious? I read that they kill porpoises just for fun."

“James-”

“And they’ve been known to attack people.”

“Are you honestly trying to slander dolphins?”

“I’m just saying, it’s a cruel world out there. But it’s safe here. I can guarantee you’ll never be attacked by a toad.”

“The other day, I woke up with a tadpole up my nose."

“Small price to pay.”

“Small price to pay for not being viciously attacked by a dolphin? Do you hear yourself?”

“I just don’t get why you have to leave right now. How could it possibly be safe? Your tail isn’t even fully healed yet!”

“It will be soon.”

Quiet settled over the little lake again. She broke the silence first. 

"Mermaids can live for up to 300 years."

"My dad is turning sixty next month."

“I want to go home, James. You can go home any time you want. You can be sure that you’ll be able to celebrate your dad's birthday with him. What about me? All I've got here are the tadpoles.”

"You've got me."

"What?"

"You've got me, haven't you? Or do I not count?"

"Of course you count, you idiot. You count so much, you have no idea." 

James' heart must have swollen so big it cut off the oxygen going to his brain because all he could come up with was, "I'm actually terrible at maths." 

She sighed. “I will miss you. But I can’t stay here forever, hoping you’ll visit me occasionally.”

“That’s not-”

“It is.”

                                                      *

The heat had somehow worsened. The pair floated in the cool lake water together, incapable of anything requiring any more energy. He could sense her presence, sensed it constantly, incessantly, tugging on his consciousness whenever he was around her. 

They floated in silence, the only sound coming from two particularly loud swallows. The birds were having it out over a spider they each felt entitled to. The angry chirping hadn’t ceased for at least the last ten minutes. 

James felt a ripple and saw Lily shift over and look up at the birds. She rolled her eyes and smiled at him. He felt the sudden urge to bottle up her smile and keep it stashed away, to take out and enjoy on special occasions. Instead, he dunked his head in the water and pretended with all his might that his heart wasn’t being constricted so tight it would shrink to the size of a marble and roll out of his mouth when he was sleeping. 

                                                      *

And then she was gone. Just like that, the lake was empty. James sat on the outcrop, and watched as a wilting water lily floated by serenely. A small blue fish poked its head out of the water. The fish looked around and then stared at James for a few moments, as though wanting to ask something, before diving back under with a small splash.

Here’s a painting that I think looks just like Lily

[bump1nthen1ght]

Deep Blue Sea (Shark Merman x Reader) Chapter 1

Pairing: Gender Neutral! Reader/Shark Merman

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Soulmate AU

Warning: None

Word Count: 2682 words

Summary: You have a chat with your soulmate

Prologue

“So, you want some?”

He  takes your stunned silence as no, checking that the crab is fully dead before pulling off a leg and biting the meat inside. His teeth catch the light of the setting sun, glinting white in between chunks of crab.

“So were-”

“Soulmates? Yeah, looks like it.” He, your soulmate, cracks off another leg and begins to chew. You find yourself transfixed watching him, mind reeling with questions. He uses the sharp claws on the tips of his fingers to dig out more meat. You’re not even sure where to begin.

“What do we do know?”

He shrugs, sucking out the last of the crab leg and tossing it aside.

“Dunno, guess this mystery is solved though.” He taps his wrist and you get a closer look at his soulmate mark.

It loosely resembles a human compass, yet alien in it’s design.There’s eight large symbols, none of which you recognize, and the arrow is slightly misshapen before straightening to a point.

“I always assumed my soulmate was in the Atlantic or something, maybe even a selkie. When that thought always drove my ma up the reef.” He sighs, pressing his chin against his palm as he lays against a rock. “Wonder how she’ll take this. Maybe she’ll turn a whole new shade of blue.”

His chuckle is low, rough against your ears, but not entirely unpleasant.

You can see more of his backside as he scoots closer into the tidepool. The first thing you notice is just how big he is, his tail stretching from his hips to the open ocean. The second thing you notice are the defined muscles which stretch and flex along his back.

Okay, what the fuck.

There’s a pressure building in your temples and you think you're beginning to overload. Your fucking soulmates eyes wander, looking nonchalant as can be beforeperking up when he sees another crab. His body slithering away from you to snatch it up snaps you out of shutdown mode.

“Uh, I guess….what’s your name?” He doesn’t take his eyes off his soon to be snack, only humming to acknowledge he even heard you. “I think that’s a good place to start, don’t you?” That at least gets you a chuckle, followed by a tiny crack!

“Cruz, you can call me Cruz.” You make eye contact as he takes a long, languid bite of crab. Your furrow your eyebrows, face unimpressed. He lights up with a mischievous grin.

“Is that your real name?”

“Nope,” Cruz says, popping the p and breaking open a claw, “But I don’t think you could pronounce my name so…..”

The tension in your jaw tights as he turns away from you once more,humming to himself and letting out a soft “Oh!” as the other leg reveals quite a bit of meat. You rub your brow and sigh.

“My names _____”

“Neat.”

In high school, your mom got the yearbook epithet “biggest social butterfly.” Your dad, however, was barely presentable on picture day and a social circle consisting of the three fellow chess-club members. You were a lot like your dad in many ways.

The conversation, to say the least, seemed to float on the water like a dead fish, and you had no idea how to resuscitate it. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t natural, it wasn’t that missing piece yoru guidance counselor said it would and dammit, it’s kind of pissing you off. You’re pissed off that it’s pissing you off, because when has making first impressions ever been easy for you? Did you think this was going to be different, because what, a stupid mark on your wrist? That has no basis in logic, not even a little bit.

You refuse to dignify any emotions similar to disappointment which begin to well inside you, because it’s ridiculous. You worked hard to get to California, you’ve worked hard your whole damn life, what's stopping you from working now?

“Welp, seems I scared away all the other crabs.” Cruz huffs and places his hands on his...hips? “Been nice chatting _____, but I got dinner to catch.” Cruz looks back at you as he slinks into the water, sending a salute and a wink.

The words bubble up in your chest before you can catch them as he begins to swim away.

“Wait, but, um, I-” Your commands fall clumsily out of your mouth and barely leaves a ripple on the water. Cruz doesn’t turn around.

You feel the heat sizzling up your neck and face as you look at his back. Flashes of him, the arrow, your mom, that stupid guidance counselor paint the inside of your eyelids.

No.

“Will you wait a second!”

The scream barely echoes in the small tidepool, but it’s enough to catch Cruz’s attention. He whips back to you, eyes slightly wide. You realize just how hard you’re breathing.

“I-, just, can you meet me here? Tomorrow?” Cruz's expression stays still, only the slightest bit of confusion crossing his eyes as he raises his brow. “I want to get to know you better.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

….

….

“What time….. do you want to meet up?” Cruz looks far less mischievous and much more sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck with a clawed hand and looking up at you from under his eyelids.

“How about 5PM?”

Cruz narrows his eyes.

“I don’t know what that means.”

Ah, right, merman.

“About three hours before sunset. I mean, do you know how long an hour-”

“Yes, I know how long an hour is. I’m not a pup.” Cruz rolls his eyes

Well, the sass returns.

The two of you stay in that position for a little too long. You begin to rub your arms as the cold of the sea breeze and your social anxiety slowly come back to you.

“See you tomorrow, I guess.” With a hesitant nod, his black-blue eyes looking pensive, he submerges. Your breath comes back to you in a wave as your soulmate swims into the open ocean.

The walk back to civilization is a blur, the pounding voice in your head drawing out all other noise yet barely making sense itself.

You’re not sure what you expected of the first meeting with your soulmate, but it certainly wasn’t that.

---------

The next day, Cruz is waiting for you at the tidepool by 4:55 PM, shucking an oyster with one of his claws. He looks up as your feet splash into the tidepool. You wave.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

It’s an understatement to say the silence is uncomfortable. You take a beach towel out of your bag and begin to lay it on a large rock. The task helps keep your mind distracted, but you feel Cruz’s eyes burn into your back.

“So, I guess, what are you exactly?” You say, sitting yourself down.

“Merman’s best word I’ve heard you humans use, so that.” Cruz has shifted his focus  back on his oyster, which he then downs with one swallow.

“I see, I see. Are all mer-folk as big as you?” That catches Cruz’s attention. A self-satisfied smirk grows on his face as he puffs out his chest.

“Not at all. I’m a Great White and we’re one of the…” Cruz extends his arms art in front of him, flexing his fingers and his biceps in a decidedly braggadocious manner, “bigger species out there.” He finishes his statement with a playful wink. A tiny smile crawls on your face.

Interesting. Male Great Whites are typically around 12 feet, but Cruz is only about 9 feet. I wonder why that is?

“I can see that.” Cruz shifts, ego now lifted, and lays his weight on his right elbow, facing you. “You mentioned a mother, do you have a clan?” Cruz nods.

“Yup. It’s my ma, my dad, my two older sisters, and me. Plus two other families. My ma’s parents were from this reef.”

It’s difficult for you to fight the instinct to whip out your notebook and jot all this down.Your inner scientist screams to pry into the complex social hierarchy and behaviour patterns of this new species. But the more sane part of you knows that would probably be pushing some boundaries.

“Wow, so you’re a true Californian, huh?” Cruz squints his eyes at you. “Uh, that’s where we are. The territory Santa Cruz lies in.”

He gives a low hum, reaching for another oyster  nearby. This movement is far more natural than his earlier show, but you still get a full glimpse of his cut shoulder muscle and tight abdominals. It stirs something in you.

Would he have the swimmer’s V? Okay, stop, focus.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” He pries open the oyster, staring at the soft meta inside. “A member of the clan, born and bred.” Cruz brushed the pad of his finger on the shell, his voice holding a quiet bitterness, tinted somber.

Should you comfort him? He’s within touching distance, but the thought of grabbing his hand feels too intimate, soulmate-ship be damned.

Before you can make a move, Cruz throws his head back and gulps down the oyster. He shakes his head and lets out a small “Ah~”, then pushes his short hair back against his skull. Whatever emotion that was there before, it’s gone.

“Where are you from?”

“East Coast, bordering the Atlantic. So you weren’t too far off.”

“Well, I’m not just a pretty face.” Cruz winks at you, but his eye catches a scuttling crab nearby. He gets low in the water, moving slowly to catch it by surprise. You don’t hum the Jaws theme, despite how much you want to.

“No siblings, just me and my parents.” Cruz doesn’t look away, even as he kills the crab.

“Lucky. How big's your clan?” The familiar crack of the shell follows.

“We don’t really,” crack “...have those. Humans can-” crack “We typically live near each other-” crack “but don’t get that-” crack “....close.”

Cruz hums contently, but you can clearly see it’s from the crab and not your one sided conversation. He sucks juice off his fingers. Seems you’ve lost him once again.

I didn’t expect this to be so difficult.

“Have you ever had cooked crab?” Cruz perks immediately, slowly turning back towards you.

Got ‘im.

----------

You return with two warm lobster rolls, a bag of crab legs, and some shrimp scampi. Cruz’s black-blue eyes just peak out of the water, suspicious.

“So these two are lobster, actually, but this,” You shake the crab-bag, “is all crab. I thought I ‘d get you a couple things to sample.”

Cruz’s nose (Is it a nose? There’s a ridge but you’re not sure if the slits count as nostrils. Questions for later.) just breaches the water as you set the crab-bag down and settle on your rock. You grab a couple of legs for yourself before nudging it  closer to him. “Have at it, it’s pretty self-explanatory.” You say midst a large bit of your lobster roll. The whole meal was not cheap, so you decided to indulge in this treat as much as you can. You’ve had a stressful couple of days.

Cruz slowly approaches the plastic, snatching it up quickly before looking inside it. His eyes widen and there's a small smile on his lips as he pulls a long leg out. His smile only grows bigger.

“Oh, also!” You clap, pointing towards the bag and jolting Cruz out of his food-induced joy. “There’s sauce, garlic butter, shit like that in those little plastic containers at the bottom. You dip the crab meat in them.” You take another large bit of lobster roll and hear Cruz break into a crab leg. Cruz gets his mouth ready to take a big bite before pausing. His eyes flit between the lef and the garlic butter, before he slowly pulls the lid off and dips the meat in. Cruz then takes the tiniest bite possible.

His eyes, black as they are, light up. He quickly takes another, larger bite. It’s quite adorable, like a baby trying ice cream for the first time. Cruz devours the leg quickly before snapping into another sauce.

“You like it?” Cruz nods, cheeks stuffed with crab meat as you giggle.

“What kind of craf is fiss?”

“Dungeness. That’s commonly eaten by humans. They’ve got some of the highest meat value and they're all over  the West Coast.” Cruz nods, though you’re not sure he understands parts of your sentence. “They’re also pretty sustainable to fish, although ocean acidity is kinda fucking with their babies. It’s also been fucking with Red King Crabs, which sucks because their only found in like, four places and are so beautiful and also sustainable and-” Cruz has stopped eating and is staring at you. After a big, long breath in you realize how fast you were talking. You feel the what of your blush on the base of your neck. “Sorry, I’ll let you eat. I just...really like crustaceans. A Lot of aquatic animals, but crabs especially are… I’m doing it again. Sorry.” You take a large bite so you won’t have to talk for a couple of seconds, avoiding eye contact with Cruz. You’re sure your chest and arms are bright red; It’s an embarrassing symptom of when you get too excited.

Cruz just keeps staring at you. Frankly it’s the longest he's looked at you and not a nearby snack. You chew the slowest you possibly can, the brioche bun becoming mush in your mouth, to fill the silence.

You don’t see it, but a small smile widens on his face. He picks at his empty crab shell.

“I think those facts are crab-tastic.”

You immediately choke on a bit of lobster roll, pounding your chest as you sputter between mouthfuls. When your eyes stop watering, you see Cruz has moved closer to you, hand outstretched and a couple inches from resting on your calf. He jerks it back when you look down at him.

“Wow, thanks, but puns aren’t really part of my vocrabulary.” You obnoxiously wink, scrunching up the left side of your face. Cruz laughs. Not a chuckle, but a full, belly laugh.

“Well I find them quite crab-tivating.” A larger laugh bursts from your chest as he mimics your wink and shoots you another big smile.

The sharp teeth are beginning to grow on you, adding to Cruz’s boyish charm. You feel the hot blush in your chest crawl up your neck once more.

Oh fuck.

Cruz reaches for another crab leg but hits the bottom of the bag, a playful pout now on his chin.

“Here, try this next.” You hand him the second lobster roll. “Probably don’t want to get this one wet, it’ll be soggy.” With no hesitation Cruz digs in, perking up once more and going to town. His teeth serate through the bread like butter. Within 4 bites, the entire roll is gone.

“Dang, I’ll make sure to bring some more food next time.”Cruz pauses, mid-lick of the butter on his claws and looks up at you.

“Next time? You want to meet up again?” You raise your eyebrow.

“Well yeah, don’t you?”

Cruz stays quiet, no sassy comment or a sarcastic look. Just staring, mildly shocked.

Your embarrassment bubbles back, screaming you’ve misread this whole situation and the last few minutes. “I mean, we are soulmates. Shouldn’t we meet up again?”

Cruz's eyes narrow as a barrage of thoughts seem to flit across his head. His smile recedes back into a straight line, that little spark leaving his eye.

“Yeah, I guess we have too.” He crinkles up the plastic bag, shoving it against your calves. “See you tomorrow.”

A pit rolls in your stomach as he quickly moves to leave.

Did I say something wrong?

“Uh, I’m actually busy tomorrow. Can we do Thursday-er, 3 days from now?” Cruz nods, not turning around to face you before slipping back into the water and swimming away.

The pit doesn’t leave your stomach, an empty sauce container rolling across the rocky shore.

What just happened?

[thiswasinevitableid]

Could you do #28 indruck? Or maybe OT4?

#28 was: Mermified. I went with Indruck. Hope you like it!

The rocks on the window start the night he moves in.

He writes it off as an anomaly, or perhaps kids from the town deciding to toy with the new resident.

After three nights in a row, he’s beginning to understand why this house was such a bargain. Yes, it’s a lovely houseboat for one on the Pacific coast, offset from much of the neighborhood for privacy. But every night, small rocks and shells will hit your window, disrupting your already tenuous sleep schedule.

It can’t be a human, because his bedroom faces the ocean, and he’d hear or see a boat or paddleboard or whatever else they used to get there. For awhile he assumes it might be a ghost; his last apartment was actually haunted by a miner who died from the Spanish Flu. They got along rather well, as he didn’t manifest often and Indrid was always careful to leave him offerings or tokens of respect on days like his deathaversary. 

But after scoping the house top to bottom, using a Oujia Board, and just politely asking if there was anyone there who needed to talk to him, he’s disregarded that possibility. 

And tonight, he’s made the mistake of sleeping with the window open, meaning the chunk of bull kelp hit’s him square in the face.

“Oh for goodness sake.” He sits up, sticking his head out the window to glare at the waves.

The waves glare back.  Or, more accurately, a face sticking out of the waves does. 

“Do you mind?”

“Yeah, I mind a whole fuckin’ lot.” The man swims right to the side of the house, locomotion too smooth for there to be legs beneath the water, “I mind because this whole area is under my protection, and this big fuckin house is gonna fuck up this cove.”

He knew there were merpeople along this coast, he just wasn’t expecting to see one up close. Or for it to be so grumpy.

“I’ll have you know I asked for multiple modifications to this house before I moved in. It is designed to have almost zero impact on the marine environment.”

“Uh huh, sure.”  The merman crosses his arms, “you ain’t just sayin’ that to get rid of me.” A flash of yellow light under the water. 

“Well, technically, I am. I would prefer to not have you hurling things at my window every night because you think my leaving is the only way for your patch of ocean to be safe. A strategy, I take it, that worked on my predecessors.”

“Yep. Most left after a couple of days.”

“Most probably had more places they could go. I do not.”

“Ain’t my problem. Never shoulda let them start buildin’ here in the first place; wrecks havoc on the forest.” He glances towards open water, tips of giant kelp just visible in the moonlight. He sounds tired. 

“How about this: you keep an eye on this cove, and if you notice any issues directly caused by my home, I will leave. But if not, you stop throwing things at my window.”

“Fine.” The merman turns, makes to dive under the water, then spins around, “but if I catch you tryin’ anythin’ funny, next time I’m throwin’ a shark through the window.”

The next night brings welcome silence at his window. The day after, however….

“What are you doin’ here, anyway?”

“Good afternoon to you as well.” Indrid doesn’t look up from his drawing; a benefit of being born with odd, future seeing abilities is that he isn’t startled by the merman’s appearance (said abilities don’t function well when he’s sleep deprived, which is why he didn’t see the merman’s initial appearance coming). 

“I mean, y’all can build houses wherever you want up on land. Why live on the water?”

“Because I find it peaceful. I have limited luck living in cities, and have grown used to isolation.”

“Don’t humans have to have jobs? You ain’t left here except once to get food.”

“Spying is impolite.”

“So is livin’ on someone else's turf without askin!” The merman raises out of the water, and Indrid finally gets a good look at him. He has dark hair, mismatched eyes and, just visible, a row of fins like those of a leafy sea dragon dotting his lower back. Ironically, his build is one Indrid finds attractive, a mix of muscle and fat that undoubtedly would feel nice to hold. Were it not for the complication of the tail.

“I am an artist. I draw for a living, hence my ability to live out here. And nobody told me there was a merman living around here, so I did not have the option of speaking to you ahead of time.”

There’s a huff of annoyance, and he barely moves his drawing out of the way of the splash as the merman disappears. 

Three days later, he’s once again sitting on the back deck when he hears, “You ain’t seen an injured seal around, have you?”

“No.” He looks up, finds the merman looking thoughtful as he scans the waves and shoreline, “ah, what does it look like? What color is it?”

“Smallish, speckled grey. Got caught in a net and all torn up gettin loose, but I can’t find it.”

“I will keep an eye out. Should I signal you if I see it?”

“Hmmm….yeah, that should work. Maybe hang somethin’ bright' on that line?” He points to the clothes line. 

Indrid closes his eyes, focuses on the futures.

The merman sniffs, intrigued, “somethin smells good.”

“It’s my lunch. It ended up not quite being what I wanted, you are welcome to try some.” 

The merman grabs the take-out bowl of soup, sipping from it gingerly. His face lights up, and then he gulps the remainder down.

“Damn, that was good.”

“It’s french onion soup. I can bring you more in the future if you’d like. Also, odds are good you’ll find the seal you seek on the beach about a mile that way.”

The merman blinks, “Shit, really? Thanks man.”

“You are welcome.”

The merman hesitates, a flash of white, barely visible in the daylight, zips under water, “Uh, name’s Duck by the way.”

Indrid smiles, “Indrid. Good luck with your search, Duck.”

Duck smiles, bright and friendly as the beach on a hot day, “Thanks.”

--------------------------------------------

Indrid awakens with a cry of alarm. It’s only a nightmare, not even a bad vision, and yet he’s so rattled sleep becomes an unreachable goal. Hoping the night air and lapping waves might help, he drags a blanket onto the back deck, laying down with his back to the water. The nightmare pursues him still, setting off a dozen related memories and fears in his mind until he’s shuddering, trying not to cry. 

A cool hand touches his hair and he freezes for a moment before another gasp pushes from his chest, the images flooding his system too much to ignore. The hand continues down his back a ways, then starts at his head once again. 

“Why?” He says, not even sure who he’s asking it of.

“Helps the seal and otter pups when they get upset. Thought it might help you too.” Duck replies, “I was doin’ a night round and heard you yell. Came to make sure you were okay.”

He wants to say thank you, but the words are weighed down by the realization of how long it’s been since anyone did such a thing. 

“You...pet the pups? Doesn’t, doesn’t that make it difficult if they are eaten by something?”

“A little. Sharks got as much right to live as they do, but still, sometimes they need comfortin if their parents are out huntin. Not my job to protect ‘em from predators. I’m just the keeper of the forest. Means I look out for the animals, the plants. Nature does most of the work for me; lot of my job boils down to makin sure humans don’t fuck everything up.”

“It is a habit we seem to have.”

A pause, Duck’s fingers playing gently with his hair, “Not all of you.”

Indrid rolls over and Duck rests his arms on the deck, soft blue flashes coming off his tail. 

“Will you tell me more about what you do?”

“Sure.”

Duck talks and Indrid listens until finally his eyes droop closed. He wakes up hours later, a bit chilly but with the blanket drawn around him. He wonders how he avoided falling into the water in his sleep. Until there’s a soft splash as his nighttime gaurdian slips back into the waves.

---------------------------------------------------

“Ta dah! No, wait, stay over here. That’s a good boy.” Duck proudly circles the large ray he’s herded near Indrid’s boat as Indrid sits down to draw. Over the last few weeks, he’s brought the human more and more items to include in his illustrations, after Indrid mentioned he was working on a pictures for a book about marine life. 

It started with brightly colored shells or seaglass left on his deck, then Duck would ask for mason jars or bowls to help place a fish safely where Indrid could sketch it. Lately, he’s taken to shepherding larger sea life where Indrid can see it; seals, otters, rays, even a shark. It’s almost as if he’s showing off, and Indrid notices that his tail flickers bright green whenever Indrid flaps his hands with excitement or thanks him for his help. 

Duck visits him every day, even on days when there is no drawing to be done. They talk, or eat together, and Indrid has even hung a hammock out so they can talk well into the night without him accidentally rolling off the deck or Duck having to watch over him until he wakes. Duck can only be out of the water a short time, but he’ll join Indrid on the deck to sun himself, tail bright green and leafy at the “V” that marks the tip of it. When Indrid asks about the lights, Duck explains that they’re tied to his emotions, something to help merpeople signal to each other even in the darkness or murkiness of the ocean. 

Indrid buys a kayak, paddles out into open ocean with Duck as his guide, the merman eagerly showing him his favorite places, introducing him to wildlife, and generally mooning over him whenever he thinks Indrid isn’t looking. 

The mooning is mutual, of course. Duck is funny and kind, easy going now that he knows Indrid is not a threat to his beloved kelp forest. He’s also painfully handsome in Indrid’s eyes, but the futures show scant chances for Indrid to admit this fact without torpedoing the relationship. 

Their laying side by side on the deck tonight, dusk creeping across the sky. In the fading light, he notices Duck’s fins flashing between white and green.

“Are you alright, Duck? You’ve been rather quiet tonight.”

“Uh, um, yeah? Fuck. Uh, you remember me tellin’ you about my friend Aubrey?”

“The one dating the human surfer girl?”

“Yep. They, uh, Aubrey said they finally worked up to kissin. I never heard of mer kissin’ a human and likin’ it before, usually we do it on dares when we’re young and foolish.”

“You seem to be going somewhere with this.” Indrid rolls over, smirking at the future he sees. 

“No, uh, fuch, uh, I mean, would, would you ever wanna try it?”

“With any merperson, or just you?”

“Me.” Duck says softly.

Indrid leans in, cups the back of his head to draw him into a kiss, salt and sun mingling on his lips as Duck moans. Sun-warmed skin caresses his back as Duck pulls him closer, and a cool, smooth tail hooks over his ankles. 

“Indrid, I, I really, really like you.” Duck whispers, kissing a line along his cheek.

“I really, really like you as well, Duck.” Indrid runs a hand along his side, watches his tail light up bright blue at the touch.

“Can, can we try bein’ together? Like Dani and Aubrey are?”

“Of course.” Indrid grins, then gives a muffled laugh as Duck kisses him once more, rolling atop him, wiggling happily as the kiss deepens, Indrid teasing his fingers along his fins to make him whine. 

Then the mer gasps, dropping into the water and coming back up panting.

“Shit, that was close.”

“You were out too long?” Indrid shifts to his stomach

“Yep. Can’t blame me for gettin’ distracted, and honestly I’d fuckin pass out if that’s what it took to kiss you again.”

Indrid bends down, kissing him softly, “no need for such drastic measures yet. But I agree it would be nice to have, ah, dalliances that can last a bit longer. I’m sure we can think of something.”

They try filling the bathtub with seawater, but can’t get Duck to it. Indrid opts to swim, but he’s not a strong swimmer, and any beaches where they could be half in and half out of the water are either too well-traveled or made out of sharp rocks that hurt them both. 

They have some success when Indrid lays on his side, facing the water, to touch himself, moaning Ducks name and telling him just what he’ll do to him once he’s able as Duck frantically kisses him, tail flashing blue and purple. 

But after night after night of longing looks, too-short embraces, and kisses at odd angles, he decides enough is enough. 

------------------------------------

“Why have you come, young man?”

“I wish to make a deal. There’s something I need you to enchant.”

The man grins, cat-like and hungry, “Very well. But it is going to cost you.”

--------------------------------------

Duck circles the patch of kelp he’s checking for the tenth time. He can’t focus, should just go home and rest, but he needs to keep occupied so he stops worrying about the note he found on the deck two days ago.

Duck, 

Have a problem that needs solving. May be gone several days. Don’t worry, it will be alright.

Love, Indrid.

In spite of the reassurance in the letter, he’s terrified that Indrid might be hurt. Might have left him entirely. 

An unfamiliar shape flits in the corner of his vision, and he turns.

“Holy fuck.”

“Good afternoon to you too.” Indrid grins, swimming to him a bit gracelessly with mottled black and red tail. The red and black fan of fin on his lower back flashes bright green for a moment. 

“Indrid.” Duck says with awe, not quite believing his eyes even as his tail curls around Indrid’s own.

“Indeed. I, ah, found someone who would help me. Help us.”

“Are you, uh, stuck like this?”

He shakes his head, “No, I have a charm” he holds up his wrist to reveal a small cord, “I can go back to being human as needed. But I, ah, I can no longer see the future. I...that was the trade for this.”

“You gave that up just for me?” Duck cups his cheeks, brushes their noses together.

Indrid grins, “Yes. After all, whatever the futures may hold, whatever I can no longer see coming, does not matter half as much as the future I’m holding right now.”

[takerfoxx]

Blood Island Fanfic (pt. 1)

magic5ball submitted:

(Well, long story short I started writing a little headcanon about one of your OCs and like last time, it kinda spiraled into a full fledged fanfic. Really not sure what to do with this, so I figured why not post it here, if only to see how much I got right. Anyways, enjoy.)

                                                    .   .   .

Ever since she was little, she knew something was wrong with her. Mama always insisted otherwise, that she was fine the way she was, and the others never made a fuss about her, but she could tell from the way they looked at her they thought she was a freak. From the way her eyes glowed green in the dark to her too pointy teeth to her too long tail; dark grey with fins sprouting all over the sides, instead of the triangle fin at the tip of the other mermaid’s tails, there was nothing normal about her.

She had a twin, once. A twin she had eaten in the womb. The matriarch had insisted there was nothing odd about that- these things happened sometimes- but she knew the others whispered about it behind her back. And her twin wasn’t entirely gone, either. Sometimes, her twin’s ghost whispered in her ear. You’re a demon, she would hiss, a depraved monster who ate her own sister. Why don’t you eat your own mother while you’re at it?

That was the hunger. She could feel it, always, deep in her stomach, gnawing at the edges, crying, demanding FOOD. A demon, the matriarch insisted, but one that could be forced out. So it came she was fed only jellyfish, kelp, and sometimes, bitter concoctions that would make her cough up all the contents of her belly. Mama promised it would make her better, that she would be cured. Mostly, though, it made her feel weak, and confused. Why couldn’t she eat fish like the others? Yet even without food, as years passed she grew longer, her body stretched thinner and thinner with each passing day.

But worse was when the others came after Mama, blaming her for infidelity and other sins she was too little to understand. She would yell at them to stop, but even her own Mother demanded she stay out of things while the grown-ups screamed at each other.

It wasn’t all bad, at least. There was Mama, who sang lullabies and told stories of the Papa she never met. Mama who made her a belt of sea silk and shark teeth while assuring her that she was wonderful as she was. Mama, who always hugged her when she was scared and pulled her along when she was too exhausted to swim.

 There was also, at times, flotsam. She loved looking through the strange wooden debris as it bobbed across the surface of the ocean, heading for an unknown destination. It would always be covered in strange barnacles, snails, and other hard shelled things she would try to collect, only to forget about later. If she was lucky, there would be things clambering across the top, too: brown hairy creatures with no fins and long tails, scaly green things that licked the air with forked tongues, and the things Mama called BIRDS!, which came in so many beautiful shapes and colors. These discoveries would always lead into tales from Mama about the things that lived out of the water, which were always her favorites because they were always, so odd, so strange, so DIFFERENT from her life of following currents across the ocean, even if she was certain Mama made them up.

The end began when Mama had a second baby. A precious little merboy with inky black hair, just like hers. A new baby for Mama to sing lullabies and tell stories too. A new baby for Mama to adore. One without a demon inside them. From that day forward, she swam a little further away from Mama, so she didn’t think of eating him, too.

Then came the fateful day her pod discovered a sunken ship. One by one the mermaid’s lithe bodies slipped through a crack in the ship’s hull, entering dark rooms coated in grime. The pod huddled together, weary. But her? She was FASINATED. What creatures had made this thing? Where did they live they? Did they have tails, like them? Or have hands where their tails should be, like the fuzzy things she’d seen on the driftwood? What did they eat? What were their families like? An older mermaid shushed her up real quick, saying they were to get a few important items, then GO. She nodded, but did not stop staring at everything they came across, until at last they reached a room the Matriarch referred to as the ‘Captain’s Quarters’. The mermaids ransacked the place, grabbing any seemingly useful thing they came across and jamming them into makeshift bags made of discarded shark eggs. But while the other mermaids made themselves busy, she sensed something… off. At first she thought it was just her- that sunken ships always felt this way, but then she smelled something odd, something… tasty. The walls of the room shimmered, revealing the largest octopus she had ever seen. The beast unfurled its’ tentacles, forcing the terrified pod into a corner, save one terrified individual who, trapped in the vice grip of a meaty red tentacle, found herself being drawn towards the beast’s massive beaked mouth. But while the others stared terrified, with a burst of speed she didn’t even know she had, LUNGED at the befuddled cephalopod, gripped the tentacle holding her podmate, and.. bit down. Later, the others would recount how they had seen a ten year old start ripping chunks out of the giant octopus with her teeth and swallowing them whole until, bewildered by this turn of events, the would be-monster had fled into the ocean. For her part, she mostly remembered the taste: a chewy and meaty texture, satisfying to bite into, with a clean, savory flavor. Afterward, she’d felt a soft, warm sensation radiating from her belly. So THIS was what feeling full felt like!

Victory, however, was short lived. From that day forward the rest of the pod kept a great deal of space between her and them, even the mermaid she’d rescued. Despite this, the Matriarch monitored her relentlessly, ensuring she only ate jellyfish and kelp. It was strange, really: even as they starved her, her tail grew longer and longer, her body thinner and thinner until, from head to fin tip, she was a full foot longer than Mama.

Face it freak, her sister whispered, there’s no place for you here. Best head out before Mama ends up in that belly of yours. And under the cover of night, that’s exactly what she did.

.   .   .

            So began a life of following the rich, fragrant smell of fish, travelling from island to island after vast silver schools, getting just enough energy to keep her going. She had mixed feelings about her predicament: on one hand, it was nice to be away from the judging eyes of her pod; never accidentally hurting someone she loved. And she liked travelling from island to island, seeing all the strange creatures she never would have seen if she’d just stayed with the pod: slugs the colors of rainbows, fish that jumped out of the water when she got too close, sharks with too long tails, just like hers, they snapped to stun their prey. Those were exciting.

But on the other, catching fish was much more difficult on her own than she had imagined. They were just so fast! It took all her energy just to snatch the tiniest morsel, and by then she’d be so exhausted she couldn’t hunt until the next day. At those times she’d sleep free floating with one eye open, so sharks couldn’t get her. There she would stay until her hunger woke her up again. Sometimes, a passing pod of dolphins would offer her something to eat, but their pity stung.

That all changed the day she found the sea turtle. The scent of mackerel had brought her right into a cloud of jellyfish, and as much as the things brought up bad memories, she was really in no condition to pass up a free, slow moving meal. Neither, it seemed, was the largest sea turtle she had ever seen. First she saw the head, easily big as her torso and wrinkled with age. Enormous black eyes gazed at nothing as it casually munched on jellyfish. Then the rest of the body revealed itself as it parted the cloud with massive gray flippers covered in large, stony scales. From these she carefully swam away from, lest a stray paddle accidentally shatter her bones. At first, she marveled at it- the thing must have been ancient! - and before long an idea popped into her head. Grabbing onto its’ barnacle coated shell, she consigned to letting the giant take her wherever it went. Tired, she let out a yawn, drifting with a barnacle grasped firmly in her hand.

.   .   .

She awoke to a very familiar, irresistible smell.

Octopus! Her stomach rumbled from the memory. Parting from the turtle, she sped off in the direction of the scent, licking her lips at the thought of her meal-to-be-! But she didn’t quite expect a school of some of the oddest things she had ever seen. Not octopus at all, but squid. They had tentacles, but these were short and close to the head. Bad for grabbing things (thank goodness) though opening and closing them seemed to move them through the water. And on top of their heads, they had a long, conical shell, perfect for cutting through the water. Or anything foolish enough to stand in their path, no doubt. Carefully, she navigated around the school, until she was directly behind one. With a kick of her tail, she lunged-

Only for the creature to shut its’ tentacles, darting away-

Right into the open maw of an even stranger creature.

When she saw it, her breath caught in her throat. They were in the open ocean! How could something so massive stay hidden?! Like a whale, it had smooth grey skin with a white belly and a long, sinuous body that ribboned up and down as it swam, like an eel’s. Opening a mouth of curved fangs (just like hers!) it bit down on the octopus-thing’s shell, shattering it into a thousand pieces. At the sound the rest of the shelled squids darted out into the ocean.

Great.

It wasn’t long before the whale-eel, sated by its’ meal, turned its’ attention to the strange intruder on its’ territory. She took the hint, swimming in the opposite direction of the beast as fast as she could go. Not fast, enough, apparently, because five seconds later the beast was ribboning after her, open jaws drawing incredibly close incredibly fast. She forced her long tail up and down as hard as it could go, but it wasn’t enough: the whale-eel was gaining. But desperation has a funny way of breeding ideas, and this moment was no different. Looking at the surface, she recalled the strange fish she had seen on her journey. With one final kick of her tail fin, she broke the surface of the water and launched into the air! Her heart beat quickly as, for the first time in her life, she felt the strange sensation of air on her skin. More importantly, though, she could see an island ahead of her, covered in lush jungle with mountains toward its’ center. And where an island was, there was bound to be shallow water. Too shallow for something the size of the whale-eel. Plunging back into the deep, she breached the surface, keeping up her momentum until, at last, the island loomed over her, vast and mysterious. But it wasn’t until she was nearly on the beach she finally checked behind her to find the whale-eel, thankfully, nowhere in sight.

She should have felt safe. She should have felt relief. But mostly she just felt exhausted. Exhausted, and hungry. With what little strength she had left, she swam across the shallows, trying to sense something moving through the sand.

.   .   .

For once, luck was on her side. Granted, the thing she uncovered scuttling beneath the sand- a flat oval with far too many eggs underneath- didn’t have much of the way of meat, but food was food, and there were more than plenty of them scuttling just beneath the sand. Now that there was food in her belly, and no danger in sight, she could let her situation sink in. Or rather, her sister.

So here you are, in an island full of ravenous monsters. Maybe one will eat you. Wouldn’t that be fitting?

She tried so swim, which usually helped her shake off bad thoughts, but these were firmly lodged in the back of her head.

Then again, better you get eaten than you hurt someone else.

But at the same time, she couldn’t just hide out in the tidal zone, she couldn’t just hide out in the surf scavenging for oval shaped crab-things forever. And so what if she died? Not like anyone would miss her. Which is how she found herself just a few days later, tepidly swimming back where she had come. The squids with shells were long gone, in their place a school of fishes whose heads seemed to be covered in hard bony plates she’d never seen before. They brushed past her, indifferent. Tailing them, she thought back to the squids, recalling their strange shells, and the odd crabs she had eaten near the shore. Seemed armor was a popular thing in these parts. Though considering what kinds of things they shared the sea with, it wasn’t hard to imagine why.

Speaking of the devil, surely enough the whale-eel couldn’t resist such a tasty looking school, and burst in, this time from the side to snare a hapless fish, biting down until it ceased struggling and then swallowing it whole. Part of her wondered what it must have tasted like, but at the moment she had bigger priorities. She screamed, and at first the beast ignored her, almost deliberately so. For better or worse, it didn’t. Soon they were squared off: on one side, a sharp toothed mermaid with an unusually long tail. On the other, an impossibly long killing machine that could easily shatter every bone in her body with a single flick of one of its’ flippers.

And they weren’t alone. From behind the mother happily swam another whale-eel, maybe a quarter a size of the other, staring with round, black eyes.

Her heart sunk. Mama.

The mother whale-eel tried to push her curious child away, to no avail. After all, who could resist the strange new potential playmate that had just come into the area? Of course, her mission had just become that much more complicated. It was one thing to face a monster, it was another to face her knowing she was a mama just looking after her baby. The scene was enough to make her consider going back to the seashore, when she noticed something rocketing out of the ocean depths. Like the whale-eel, it had flippers, a long tail; a pointed head full of teeth. But whereas the whale-eels were long and thin with smooth skin, this thing was covered in scales and absolutely massive. So much she felt herself being pushed upward by its’ movement. And it was headed right for the baby. Without a moment’s hesitation, she lunged for the baby, pushing the bewildered thing out of the path of danger. Once she slowed, she released the young whale-eel, who swam, panic-driven, away. Mama was nowhere to be seen. As for herself, she felt the glare of two baleful yellow eyes on her back, turning around just in time for the scaly monster to lunge again. But whereas she had qualms attacking a mother, she had no issues attacking a child hurting demon from the deep.

You’re a monster. Might as well act like it.

She charged the demon, stopping just before its’ wide, hungry jaws. Then, with breakneck timing, she spun around, flicking her long tail with a Snap! Right in the creature’s eye. An ocean-shaking howl rang out of the demon’s throat as she gripped its’ massive, muscular neck and bit down. HARD. The meat was too tendony and firm for her liking, breaking a few of her teeth, but she got her desired effect: blood seeping into the water.

Just like that, the energy left her body. It shouldn’t have been surprising, really, with how little food she’d been getting compared to how much energy she’d been using. Getting worn out was inevitable. And what better way to get worn out than by becoming part of the food chain? The last thing she felt before going unconscious was something powerful pushing against her.

.   .   .

            When she awoke, it was to the pleasant realization she wasn’t dead. Rather, she was being nuzzled by the very same baby whale-eel she had rescued earlier. Shoving its’ poking face away, she found herself riding on the back of none other than the mother. Somehow, the beast had carried her away from the scaly demon, into yet another strange school of creatures. They were not unlike the shelled squids, but their ridged shells coiled into a tight spiral rather than pointing forward. Her rescuer tossed her a dead one, its’ shell crushed by massive jaws, which she eagerly inhaled, the soft flesh sliding smoothly down her throat and into her belly. Sated, she clung to the back of the Mother whale-eel as it took her to the shallower waters on the coast of the island, where she’d (probably) be safe and sound. Letting go, she felt almost… sad to leave the majestic beast behind. Then again, maybe she didn’t have to. An idea raced through her head as she recalled her life back with her pod; how they would work together to catch fish.

But how to tell the whale-eel? She called for the creature, directing her attention to the sandy seafloor. Then, taking her index finger, stabbed it into the sand, drawing a picture of herself and the creature. The whale-eel and her child stared intently.

They understood. Good.

More drawings. Shelled squids. More whale eels. Herself.

They still looked, enraptured.

More complicated things. Movements. Ideas. Formations.

.   .   .

The dark grotto rested at the base of the island, and it was here she hesitated, its’ mouth ominous and disturbing. Still, this was where the whale-eel had directed her, and it was too late for her to back out on her word (metaphorically speaking). At the top of her lungs, she bellowed, surprised by how her voice vibrated off the grotto’s walls. It was strange, hearing her voice again after so long. Soon, another sound followed, this one the rapid movement of water as something vast as any whale but far more bloodthirsty surged through the grotto and eventually rocketing into the open sea. She did not wait for this moment to pass before she darted away fast as her sinuous tail could take her.

Long, tense moments passed. Maybe seconds, maybe minutes. She didn’t dare look behind her.

Justkeepswimmingjustkeepswimmingjustkeepswimming…

Until, at last, curiosity got the better of her, and she turned her head around to see those cavernous jaws wide open.

Now!

With a shriek she jerked upward, each flick of her tail rocketing her ever so close to the surface until-

Splash!

Her skin went cold as she popped into the open air. It was amazing how much she could see from her height, the vast ocean stretching out below her, birds circling some unseen prey above. Her heart beat ever so more quickly, all breath leaving her breathless. Crazy, how different everything looked from above!

A sharp pain rang out from the tip of her tail, dragging her away from ecstasy.

Oh. Right.

The force of a tidal wave dragged her back into the blue, no dount with the intent of swallowing the pesky girl whole.

It never got the chance.

From all sides lunged a quartet of whale-eels, the Mama and three others that had been coaxed into joining the plan. Normally, such a maneuver would have been reckless: the scaled demon would have easily ripped one of them to shreds. But with an adequate distraction, the four normally solitary predators rended the flesh of their adversary without mercy. A great bellow shook the ocean as the demon fled, massive plumes of blood spewing from its’ wounds.

Now, she wasn’t an expert on big, scaly demons, but she had a strong feeling it wouldn’t be coming around anytime soon.

As for the whale eels…

They formed a ring around her, staring intently in a way that made her nervous.

How fitting an end, to defeat monsters only to be betrayed by others. Can’t say I blame them; probably frightened to death of your grotesque, horrid…

But the whale-eels made no effort to devour her. Instead, they bowed their triangular heads, and went their separate ways, like friends at the end of a playdate.

.   .   ,

When the astonishment wore off, a single question bubbled to the surface of her mind:

What now?

Well, for starters, there was the vacant grotto, and it would be nice to have a place to hide out…

The floor of the dark cavern was littered with the pale bones of a thousand different types of sea creatures. Amongst them, he noticed several crab-things skittering about, picking what flesh they could from them. She smiled ever so slightly at this. Exploring the dark cavern with creepy crawlies was better than being alone. Fortunately, it seemed these would not be the only things keeping her company: there were fish here too, albeit ones with something… off about them. Maybe it was their large, fleshy fins, of which there seemed too many. Maybe it was their broad, spade-like tails. Maybe it was their scales, black peppered white like the night sky, or their large, milky eyes, round as a full moon. But they moved rarely, content to float in place, so she let them be.

The bones, on the other hand…

She had never seen so many. And from so many different creatures, too! Turtle shells and squid shells, the skulls of whales and of fearsome, carnivorous fish, it would take weeks to sort through them all. An especially large skull of some toothy predator caught her attention first, and with all her strength she dragged it to the entrance of her newfound home. She could already see those empty eye sockets gazing fiercely from above the grotto’s entrance. It was going to look awesome!

No sooner had she reached that point, however, than she noticed someone had beaten her there. Scattered about were large, colorful shells, along with hunks of meat from all a matter of creatures, so fresh their blood was still seeping into the water.

Her eyes lit up as the scent entered her nose. A moment later, her instincts kicked in.

.   .   .

A few minutes later, a very full and satisfied mermaid let out a belch; a fat, lazy bubble escaping her mouth and wobbling ever so slowly to the surface. As the effects of a food coma set in, she shut her eyes and grinned. Crazy as it seemed, even with all the monsters around, maybe, just maybe she could make a home in this crazy place. 

There’s some real good stuff here. Admittedly I don’t have much planned for the mermaid and thus haven’t given much thought to her backstory, but while I can’t promise that I’ll use all of this, some might make its way in.

[padfootagain]

Balaenoptera Bonaerensis (I)

Chapter 1: Security Measures

 This is the first chapter for my fic with a Bodyguard AU for our dear Cap! Thank you so much to @marvelcapsicle, who is hosting the writing challenge this fic is made for.

I hope you like this fanfic, please, read the author's note on the masterlist for this series concerning any link with real events!

I did, however, spent more than 8 hours researching different elements for that story so far, and have no doubt it's just the beginning… being a writer is hard…

Word Count: 3400

"Have I ever told any of you how much I hate our job?"

"Just… twenty times today. And hundreds more if you count all the times we had to wake up early to get on a plane."

"Taking a flight at 4 am doesn't make you 'get up early', it makes you not sleep at all!"

"I'm sorry you couldn't get your baby sleep, Bucky. But there were no better flights available on such a short notice."

"Did we really have to take that job?"

By Natasha's side, on the two seats before Steve and Bucky, Sam snorted, waving the newspaper he was reading to make his point.

"In these days, you should consider yourself lucky to have a job at all," Sam replied, shaking his head. "Seven months since that mess happened in Wall Street, and it's not getting any better."

By the window, Steve took a look at the clouds they flew across, cotton-like forms drifting slowly against the blue sky. He didn't react at all as the plane shook with turbulences, too used to flying by now to even truly notice. And if his blue eyes rested on the white puffs of water outside, his mind was set on work already. The file where he had gathered the information he had found - in the little time he had had to prepare their new job - was set open on his laps. He had stopped listening to his colleagues somewhere above the Pacific Ocean. Now that they were en route towards Townsville, having changed their flight in Darwin, he had stopped to act like he was listening altogether. Maybe others would have taken it badly, but his three partners were too used to his working routine to think anything of his behaviour. And as they flew across a cloud, the world turning solely into shades of white and light grey, Steve wondered who could have sent the threats that had pushed the editor of the Townsville Bulletin to hire Steve and his team to protect one of his journalist and three scientists they worked with. Apparently, it had something to do with the scientists' study of whales, although Steve couldn’t possibly imagine why someone would want to kill anyone about a study of the population of whales in Antarctica. That was beyond him.

But the threats were real, and at the thought, his eyes travelled back to the printed letters that were sent in an attempt to stop the research, and he had no doubt that it was a threat to take seriously. The message was, after all, quite explicit. Besides, they were paying for his services, so even if the threat wasn't real, it didn't exactly matter. He wouldn't complain about an easy job for once.

However, he wasn't sure to find who could have sent the threat. In the week he had been given to prepare his departure, he couldn't really find any lead. He reckoned that talking with the people involved would help clarify the situation, or at least, he hoped so.

He went through the file again, memorizing the names and faces of the people he would have to protect for the coming months.

Sofia Longbrook – PhD student

Dr. Rosa Alvarez Santiago – Postdoctoral researcher

Dr. Y/N Y/L/N – Researcher

Luke Savoy – Journalist

Lucy McGreed – Lawyer

Joshua Alexander – Lawyer

If the threats had been pointed towards only the journalist and the research team, chances were that the two lawyers involved in this whale study might get threatened as well soon.

At least three locations for their professions were to be secured, even without taking into account the lawyers for now. Plus each of their homes. And having some of them working on a major campus that held thousands of students would be a challenge to say the least. Adding to that limited resources, So much work to be done…

The voice of the flight attendant cut Steve's thoughts, forcing him back to reality. They would soon be landing. While he folded his papers and fastened his seatbelt, the plane slowly descending under the clouds, he checked the address of the hotel he had booked one more time. After dropping by the hotel, they would meet with the people who had hired them to discuss how the security could be handled, and more importantly, what kind of threats they were truly facing.

In the seats before ad next to him, Sam and Bucky were bickering, as usual, and he chose to ignore them for now.

All he hoped for was a smooth, calm mission for a change.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 "This whole ordeal is absolutely ridiculous, Mark."

"Look, for the last time, Y/N: you've received threats. I will not sit down and wait to see if they were serious or not. You don't want to stop your research, and for some unknown reason, my reporter also refuses to drop the story, so all we are left with as alternative is to hire professionals who will keep you safe."

You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms before your chest.

"Look, we're talking about a trade. About something that involves money," Mark continued to argue. "And just like everything else that involves money, it is not so surprising to find people ready to go to extreme ways to deal with whatever goes in the way of their profit."

"I know, but…"

"No 'but'. By the way, Richard, I could use some help."

The director of your lab turned to you, but could only shrug.

"Honestly, I don't know what to say."

"You don't agree that it was the right decision to hire professional security?" the editor of Townsville newspaper asked with a frown.

"No, no, I think you were right to propose that," Richard replied, shaking his large moustache as he spoke. "All I'm saying is that Y/N is so stubborn, I really don't know what you want me to say."

You rolled your eyes again, but the ghost of a smile appeared on your lips this time.

"I just think that we're overreacting. Opinion with which you disagree, so I have to follow your and Richard's lead anyway."

"Exactly! Thank you!"

"I have to admit that I'll feel safer with a bodyguard around," Sofia, your PhD student, added. "Plus, if the one in charge of us at the lab could be a very sexy American wearing a tuxedo and dark sunglasses, that would be even better."

"They've hired bodyguards, Sofia," you replied. "Not Agent J."

"Aren't bodyguards supposed to dress up like that all the time? Kevin Costner was all dressed up too in that movie with the singer!"

"I don't know, honestly. I have to admit that I have never asked myself that question."

"I feel like the conversation has drifted…" Mark tried to bring your attention to the matter at hand, but he had already lost you and your colleagues.

"You have to admit that it's a rather good question!" Richard jumped in.

"Maybe they'll even have this kind of earpiece, you know, with the wire and everything," Sofia went on, a dreamy expression on her face as she tried to picture in her mind how her bodyguard would look like.

"They've hired only four of them," you replied. "I don't think they'll need any earpiece."

"Which, by the way, doesn't sound like much security," Joshua added. "I mean, shouldn't we all have one personal bodyguard?"

"There were no threats against you and Lucy, so…" Mark replied with a shrug.

"Of course, let the lawyers defenceless, as usual."

"What do you mean 'as usual'?"

"Ha… nevermind. I guess it's just my fate to die like this. You know, according to my astral theme I'm supposed to die a violent death."

"If you mention astrology again today, I can guarantee that you will die a violent death," you replied, pinching the sides of your nose.

"Sorry, but I'm nervous. And I always ask the stars when I'm nervous."

"Are they more talkative than Jesus? Or is the line busy for them as well?" Richard mocked, earning a kick from under the table.

Mark let himself fall down on a chair, heaving a dramatically tired sigh.

"You know, working with you guys, who are supposed to have brilliant minds and all that, kind of brought down my expectations on life."

None of you bothered to reply to his comment, too busy discussing the bodyguards who would soon arrive.

Indeed, you waited now for their arrival, all of you gathered in a meeting room in your lab. The Marine and Aquaculture labs at the James Cook University formed a large ensemble of buildings, from the tanks used for experiments and research to the offices where you were now. The buildings were often referred as MARFU for Marine and Aquaculture Research Facilities Units. They were not the most impressive buildings of the campus, and yet their research was among the most advanced in the world in terms of understanding marine life. The studied topics were vast, and your own little team was but a fraction of the people devoting their lives to understand and protect sea life.

On the north-east coast of Australia, Townsville held one of the four campuses of the James Cook University, one of the main institutions in the country. Hidden behind the large medical centre, on the south tip of the town, the university stretched to the edge of the wilder areas of Mount Stuart, the town stuck between its slope and the ocean. The white buildings for Marine Sciences research were all gathered on the eastern part of the campus, in an ensemble of about 20 separate buildings.

You were for now waiting in one of the meeting rooms on the first floor of the main building for Marine and Aquaculture, looking around you at the blank white walls and wooden tables and chairs. A poster for the defence of sharks was hung on one wall, the light of the sun falling partially on its dark blue shades, causing the colours to wane after years of exposure to the too bright rays of the Australian sun. In the corner of the room, up to the ceiling, a spider had threaded its web, but it was only a little one, and none of you could be bothered chasing the arachnid away.

While your colleagues kept on bickering, your own mind wandered off, drifting back towards the element that had caused all this to happen.

You remembered getting the letter at your office, opening it without worry, thinking it was merely linked to your research. You were expecting some documents for a field trip with your students after all.

Instead, you found a letter reading that if you didn't stop your surveys on whales, you would pay for the consequences of your actions. If the word 'killing' was not explicit, the meaning hiding behind their phrasing was evident, and whoever had sent you this letter was ready to use violent ends to shush your voice.

Clearly, whoever they were, they had never met you in person, or they would have known that threats would be far from enough to make you back down.

Nevertheless, Mark and Richard had decided that it was best to call professionals. Apparently, Richard had a friend in the security business, who had recommended the team he and Mark had hired. Why did they have to go to all the trouble to hire Americans, that was another mystery in this crazy story, but you simply accepted whoever they chose, as your complaints were dismissed.

You doubted heavily that anything would actually happen. You were a researcher, and none of your work was secret. If it had turned into a political stance over the past few years, it was still not a secret. All your colleagues in the lab knew about your research. You had asked for help from the press and a law firm when you realized that your research might have more impact that you had thought of on an international scale; yet, here again, you were not trying to keep any secret. What were they going to do? Destroy the entire university? If whaling held a lot of potential money, it was still no reason to make so much damage, at least, not in your mind.

When you started to investigate the migrations of whales in Antarctica, nothing could have made you think that you would come to discover that a Japanese research program was misused. If your accusation that it was merely a cover story for killing whales and selling their meat had always been denied by the Japanese authority, over the course of the past years, it had become your crusade to shut down the whole program. One could not, after all, excuse the killing of hundreds of animals and call it 'science', not in our day and age, at least.

You knew you had made enemies by taking a stand. You had never tried to hide your purpose. It didn't seem to you that it was a game people would play with death and threats. Maybe you were wrong, though.

And now you were up to get a bodyguard follow you everywhere. That was probably the most ridiculous position you had ever found yourself into.

Who would be your guardian angel though? Your mind started to play a game, trying to picture features and hair and clothes, and you found it funny to imagine a rather large sixty-year-old bald man wearing a cowboy hat and a heavy Texan accent as your protector for the coming weeks.

Just as you settled on an image, Richard was called by the reception as the four bodyguards had arrived. And when the four of them stepped into the room minutes later, Sofia gave you a look that meant I told you so.

And indeed, they were all wearing suits, which you imagined was not that comfortable considering it was a warm 27°C outside and quite humid after the strong rains of the day before.

And well, they were all pretty… attractive people, you guessed. As you introduced yourself to each of them, you kept on thinking about how much your two female colleagues would make your life annoying for the whole duration of this nonsense, gushing about their bodyguards.

Everyone took place around the circle of tables at the centre of the room. A little bit of small talk went on for a moment while they were all served coffee, about their flight, and their accommodation here in Townsville, but the man in charge, Steve, soon became more serious.

"We've started to research suspects, but for now I have to admit that we couldn't pinpoint any individual as being a threat in your direct acquaintances."

"To be completely honest, we highly doubt that it's coming from anyone we are close to," Richard answered.

"Not any colleagues, or a rival from another paper?"

"No, no one comes to mind. The only suspects for us would be someone linked to the whaling industry, as Dr. Y/L/N's research could have negative impact on their business, if we manage to give it a proper exposure."

"No one else is working on this project, you're all here?" Natasha asked, and you nodded.

"On the research side we are three active scientists on the project, plus our boss Richard. Luke here is our link with the press, and Mark his editor. Lucy and Joshua are advising us on legal issues."

"Why? Does your research break the law?" Bucky asked, lifting his eyes from the notebook where he had been taking notes.

"No, of course not. On the contrary, we think someone else is breaking the law."

"Our final goal is to bring the situation to an international court," Lucy added. "That's why we're helping them."

"And the two of you didn't receive any threat?"

"No, none."

"What about the police?" Sam inquired.

"They have no lead. They asked for the University to strengthen their security," Mark answered. "The investigation is still on-going, but for now they have nothing. And a simple letter is not enough for them to dispatch officers, which is why we called you."

"As we have discussed before, we have made arrangements to stay here for three months. We'll assess the situation again in a few weeks, to see if you would like to extend your contract or not."

Mark and Richard nodded in silent agreement.

"We're going to need to make an inspection of the facilities to determine which areas are the most dangerous. Same for your personal homes. We'll spend a couple of days adjusting to the situation. Do you all work in different buildings at the University?"

"No, all three of us share the same lab, and Sofia and Rosa have the same office, mine is next door to theirs," you answered. "But I teach, and the classes take place on the other side of the campus for the most part."

"Alright," Steve nodded, and he seemed to be thinking hard. "We're going to take a look around, and one of us will be assigned to each of you who has received direct threats. If you want, we can take a look at your workplace tomorrow as well, and give you a few advices on how to lower the risks," he added to the two lawyers, before focusing on the rest of the group again. "Ms. Romanov will be in charge of Mr. Savoy, Mr. Barnes and Wilson will protect Ms. Longbrook and Dr. Alvarez Santiago, and I'll be protecting you, Dr. Y/L/N. We're going to take a look at all the areas where you go here, in these facilities, and tonight we'll check your homes. We'll continue our investigation as well to find who has threatened you. Depending on how large the areas we have to cover are, we might have to use cameras as well."

"We'll show you around, if you want," Richard offered, and you were all soon leaving the meeting room.

Steve had already studied the map of the building, but he did find some interesting details that were worth writing down. Some areas difficult to see from afar, and other hidden corners. He would have thought that the lab would be a challenge, but it was tidy and ended up not being a problem at all. You showed him your office while Natasha was leaving for the newspaper headquarters, and Bucky and Sam were taking a look at your colleagues' office. Steve walked around, checked the windows and what was outside, looking for an angle from which a shooter could fire.

"It would be safer to move your desk a little closer to the door," he advised. "That way, there's no chance anyone outside can see you by the window."

"Okay," you nodded, hiding your annoyance, and helping him move your stuff around the room.

Luckily, none of the piles of files on your desk fell, and in a matter of minutes, Steve seemed satisfied.

You checked the time. It was quite late already, but you still had a couple of things to finish tonight, you hoped to keep on working at the office for a little longer.

Steve exited the room to talk with his colleagues for a moment, and when he came back, he asked you if you could stay at the office for a while, which matched your plans perfectly.

"I need to talk to the security on site, and take a look at the building where you give your classes. Please, don't go home without me, ma'am."

You gave him a smile.

"I was going to ask you if I could have more time before going home, I have still some work to do. And, please, call me Y/N. Anyway, you would have to call me doctor, not madam," you joked. "Let's keep it simple though."

Steve gave you a little, pinched smile, but shook his head.

"It wouldn't be very professional of me, doctor. I'll be back soon. Mr. Barnes will stay in the corridor, if you need anything."

"Alright, thank you then, sir."

He gave you a nod and exited the room, closing the door halfway behind him, probably so that his colleagues could keep an eye on you from the corridor.

You heaved a sigh and unlocked your laptop.

Of course, you had to fall on Mr. Serious out of all people, huh?

These were long, long three months awaiting you…

**********************************************************

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@marvelcapsicle​

[the-awkward-outlaw]

Holà ! Could you write an imagine / headcanon about Arthur meeting a mermaid ( maybe in Guarma ) and falling for her ? And you can choose the ending ( but not too sad please he deserved better )

Ah, I’m so sorry Anon this has taken me so long! My life is weirdly busy right now even though none of the reasons it’s busy are important. This turned out really long and doesn’t neccessarily have a happy ending, but it sort of does at the same time. Anyways, I hope it’s at least semi-satisfactory. 

When Arthur found himself stranded on the beach after the boat wrecked, he was horrible disorientated. A mixture of exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration, and a horrible burning in his lungs didn’t make anything better. The ground was white hot and he could barely see when he opened his eyes. Once they’d adjusted, he realized he was standing on sand with islands of grass and bushes. 

Hot. That’s the only sense his mind can process. unbearable heat. The sand burns his feet, the sun burns his face and eyes. The air is thick and soupy. Gulls cry happily as they soar above him. How can any living thing be happy in this place? Hell itself could not be worse. 

As he stumbles around the beach, he sees something sparkling on a large rock poking from the waves near the shore. He thinks it must be some water collected in the fissures of the rock, or perhaps some strange birds. He’s heard of sea turtles, maybe it’s coming from them. As he approaches, though, he sees a little better and it’s obvious that none of his previous impressions were correct. He’s looking at what looks like a woman. Or what looks partially like a woman from the waist up anyways. Where her legs should have been was instead a long, shimmering tail, the flukes trailing back and forth slowly. Her head was tipped back as though enjoying the rays of the sun, her long brown hair trailing over her chest and back. 

Arthur blinks multiple times. His condition must be making him go insane. She can’t possibly be real. He’s heard legends of course. He heard some drunken sailors at the saloon in Saint Denis discussing their sightings of mermaids, but ten minutes later they were black out drunk. Yet here she was, visible proof that perhaps they weren’t mistaken.

Arthur lifts his hand. “Y-you!” he calls, his voice weak. 

The woman looked to him, unafraid. She was very familiar with the land folk, her people called them. She was unimpressed with him. Sure, he was a large specimen, broad shouldered and barrel chested, but most men she’d seen wandering shores or atop their strange, massive floating carved trees were. Luckily for him, she wasn’t feeling particularly hungry. Land folk were regarding by her kind as a delicacy, but she had never grown to like the taste. There was just something about land meat she never craved. She preferred her usual game of fish and the other creatures that dwell in the ocean with her. 

She flashed him a smile though. Her pod would definitely appreciate her bringing in an offering of land folk. They were becoming harder to come by as their carved trees became more advanced. Faster and sturdier. A land folk who had been ship wrecked was the perfect target. 

“You there!” he yelled again, slightly stronger. 

“Arthur!” another land folk approaches him. Taller yet thinner in build with disheveled black hair and mustache. Three more men followed him and she knew it wasn’t safe. Luckily none of them saw her and she slipped quickly back into the water. Her sun bathing would have to continue later. 

Over the next few days, she saw the man again and again in the same spot as the first time. It was like he was looking for her. The boulder he’d seen her from happened to be her favorite sun bathing spot as it was easy to access and surrounded by deep water which made hiding easy. She knew the island was heavily populated despite its small size, making her vulnerable. 

The man seemed harmless enough, but he was clearly wary of her. She allowed him to spot her a handful of times, both in and out of the water. Despite how little she liked the taste of land folk, she was very good at hunting them. Something the matriarch of her pod was befuddled by. 

The third time the man came calling, she slid right to the edge of the water, allowing him to get the closest he’d ever been. She found herself growing curious about him. He wasn’t like other land folk she’d stalked and killed. He wasn’t frightened nor did he try and kiss her like some misguided sailors had. He was simply intrigued and she was too. 

Mayani, as was her name, soon learned the land folk’s name was Arthur Morgan. She learned, like all merfolk do, his native tongue along with the languages of other land folks. It was part of learning the hunt. She spoke with Arthur for many hours that first day and he told her many things about where he came from. He described the hot deserts, seas made of grass, mountains taller than the highest waves capped in snow. It was intriguing. In turn, Mayani , or Maya as she preferred, told him the secrets of the ocean. Listening to the haunting songs of whales, hunting giant squid, outrunning sharks, the colorful and vibrant corals and how to tell which kinds were safe to eat and which kinds were not. 

Arthur found himself longing to join Maya in her watery kingdom after a week had passed. Dutch was still working with Hercule in order to get off this god-forsaken island, and he felt envious of Maya and the freedom she had to come and go from it as she pleased. She told him that she was breaking her matriarch’s boundaries though. Last year, three of her pod members had been killed on the shores of this island by those who occupied it and the matriarch forbade the rest of the pod from returning. Maya still found the warm, shallow waters worth the risk, plus it offered some of the best foraging corals and hunting grounds. The temptation was too great. 

Arthur made her laugh easily. When he asked her if it was true that a mermaid’s kiss could give a sailor the ability to breathe underwater, she found it hysterical. A kiss could not change one’s abilities, she said. Nothing could do that. She learned that his kind were called humans. As they divulged more secrets of their lives to one another, they found that their species were not so different. Merfolk possessed their own cultures, though the females were the leaders and not the men. The females were also the only ones allowed to do hunting. The idea was that since they were the only ones to give life, they should be the only ones to take lives. The males spent their time foraging and helping raise the offspring. 

Arthur quickly became interested in the mermaid. She was beautiful, sure, but he found himself more attracted to her spirit than anything else. She was in a very similar position as he was in his own gang, the third highest ranking member of her pod but she enjoyed wandering the ocean on her own, though her loyalty was unwaverable. Arthur wished there was a way they could be together, but he knew that was impossible. She could not survive on land for more than a few hours, her tail and even skin was heavily dependent on the salt water. Without it, she would quickly dehydrate and die. He of course could not exist in the water. 

The time finally came when only one thing was left to do before he and the others could return to the mainland. Arthur approached his and Maya’s meeting spot with a somber expression. She was miserable too as someone in her pod had spotted her “fraternizing” (as her matriarch had put it) with a land folk on a forbidden island. This was the last time she’d be able to see him. They told each other how things were standing for themselves. Arthur didn’t want to leave her with nothing, but having no object to give, he kissed Maya gently. 

“Thank you,” he said. Maya smiled, but something about the way his lips tasted was off. She knew immediately he was sick. She told him to wait and then dived down and foraged for a rather rare coral that she knew grew around the island. It luckily didn’t take her long before she found the tiny organism and she gave it to him. 

“You’re very sick, Arthur,” she explained. “Your kind carry many sicknesses. If we didn’t learn to identify them, we’d get sick too. When we’ve eaten sick humans, we eat this coral and it cures us. You should do the same.” 

Arthur did not question. His lungs had been burning more than ever before and he’d developed quite a cough, so he studied the strange, bumpy coral. It was only the size of a quarter but the texture was awful. Squeezing his eyes, he swallowed the coral as quickly as he could, for Maya said cooking it would destroy its healing properties. She smiled at him when he had swallowed it and he kissed her one last time. 

“I promise,” he said. “I will never forget you.”

“I wish our paths could cross again,” she said. 

The sun was beginning to set and in the distance they heard Dutch calling Arthur’s name. He sighed heavily and brushed her cheek. “Thank you,” he said. He got up and walked away towards the voice. Maya watched him for a moment and then dipped into the water. She tried to imagine how things could have been between them in another world, but her matriarch had told her time and time again that wanting what could never be was the most fruitless venture of all. 

[kandyrezi]

-- tell me, little wolf (if you crave bloodlust);

(ok, i don’t normally do this, but i felt this was better as a one-shot, since i really like this idea.)

pairing: fem!idate x fem!shirogane (red-sea AU!)

warnings: noncon, violence, blood and injury

word-count: 4k

///

the sea had turned blood-red a little while ago in blink of an eye. no one quite comprehended how it happened or what was behind the cause of it. it must have begun in the south and stretched all the way over to the arctic ocean. the marine plants living in the waters were in the process of rotting or turning into an odd, muddy color from the vibrant ones they used to be. the iceberg isle used to be fairly isolated with only a few residents living there equipped to handle the harsh climate all year, but then several fugitives from the south of the sea came searching for shelter at the isle.

most of the creatures that lived in the sea were injured, traumatized from the events that had occurred, had lost their homes and family – or in most cases, all of those mentioned tragedies at once.

rock hunted fish for those too weak and shaken up to do it themselves. sometimes the fish would come reeled up in odd shapes and forms, red eyes and fins at unnatural angles that often rendered them mildly unsettling to look at. rocma helped search for shelter for all those in need for the time being, whether or not temporarily if they decided to stay or move on to somewhere else other than the iceberg isle. yukisada took in and helped those who were potentially at risk of being injured or ill. his house was currently occupied by six strangers, most either in a natural habitat most comforting for them or laying down on a soft surface, waiting for the treatment to settle in and for the pain to fade.

shirogane sat on a lone stool located against the wall, hands on lap as she observed the snowy owl working on one of the patients, with bottles of saline and antibiotic ointment within reach. an hour had passed and it seemed he was finally almost done with them.

“did you hear about peraco taking in a young vampire squid child? apparently he was entirely on his own when he got here and peraco had agreed to let him stay with her and her brothers... i guess she didn’t want him to be on his own.”

yukisada tried to make small-talk once he was done stitching and bandaging a humanoid lantern shark’s shoulder due to having a large bite taken out of it by a much bigger creature with sharp teeth – bone sticking out and dried gore that stuck to skin – with likelihood of having gotten infected had they not gotten to medical care sooner.

“i suppose… i just feel bad that he probably lost his parents at that age, that’s why he’s alone...” shirogane murmured.

yukisada stood to pull off the bloodied gloves and throw them away, washing his hands underneath the running water from the sink, then drying them with a towel.

he tried to offer some consolation to that, “it’ll be alright, we’re here to help them. as much as we’re able to anyway.”

‘can’t always help all of them...’ shirogane wanted to say, but countering his optimism with her usual pessimism wasn’t something they needed at the moment.

two days had passed since the mysterious beginning of the red sea and tensions still hung heavy in the air. some of these deep-sea animals talked of the ones from the red sea (‘sea of death’, some referred to it as), the ones who were the cause of it, corrupted their homes and did the same to everyone who tried to fight back or hadn’t managed to escape in time. they had been uncertain of how likely it was that they’d be followed all the way over here, but they weren’t too eager to go and find that out.

shirogane watched as yukisada tried to persuade one of the other wounded refugees – a crayfish – to drink something from a cup, but their limbs were shaking so violently and sweating profusely, breaths coming in short gasps and ultimately rendered unable to do much. another attempt of trying to soothe and asking them to close their eyes for a minute. shirogane found herself a little bit squeamish at watching a needle being plunged into the crayfish’s arm, so she opted to look away towards someone else instead not in as much pain.

their bodies weren’t accustomed to dealing with cold climates like on the arctic, even if their physical wounds could be treated, there was still a risk of them catching a high fever. a blue shrimp lay inside a bowl on the bedside desk, swimming back and forth in saltwater, choosing not to switch to his humanoid form from the high amount of stress he must’ve currently been experiencing.

“meadowsweet and tamarind could work in decreasing the high temperature of their bodies, but i’ve run out of any herbal medicine. i think rocma might have some.”

shirogane listened absentmindedly, wiping her hands on her skirt due to how clammy they’d become, despite washing them an hour prior from the blood of one of the patients.

“can you please go ahead and fetch some for me? i would do it myself, but i really can’t leave their side. if you see nakayama on the way by any chance, could you ask him to make a delivery for some more? the sooner, the better.” yukisada requested with worry, eyeing his patient as the anesthesia seemed to finally have kicked in and the crayfish stopped their thrashing and were beginning to fall into a painless slumber.

shirogane’s dread increased significantly at the huge responsibility thrown at her all of a sudden. if she were to mess this up, then these marine animals’ lives could potentially be at her hands. regardless, she couldn’t just turn down her friend’s request, a quite important one at that.

the wolf gulped, “y-yeah, sure,  i can… i’ll try and do that.”

“stay safe out there.” yukisada reminded.

with a curt nod, she walked over to the front door of their shared house and then outside, closing the door behind her as the warmth inside slipped from her skin.

the crimson sea created a clear contrast between the glistening snowy tundra with the sky coating it a dull, gray color. she recalled the ocean warming the snow and giving it a gentle hue of cerulean blue, but there was nothing like that anymore; the cerise threatened to consume the iceberg in its entirety. it wasn’t right – wherever she set her eye, a faint speck of red could be spotted reflecting off of any building or mountain.

the arctic wolf figured a trip to the polar bear’s habitat and back with an additional search for nakayama might be a little safer if she carried a weapon with her with all the commotion going on now that she had more than just a few violent brutes to worry about wandering around the isle. either a harpoon gun or her bat engraved with nails would be useful – which the latter had gotten lost in a tussle a while ago unfortunately, so that one was probably out of the question.

shirogane kept her harpoon gun hidden away in the cavern she frequently ran into to get away from all the bullying and harassment of other iceberg residents. she felt a little pathetic for thinking it, but she was grateful everyone was preoccupied with all the newcomers, so she would be left alone for a while, even if she did feel sorry for all those who’d lost their homes in the process.

she didn’t know how to help either; mainly just staying by yukisada’s side whenever he asked for her assistance, but since he was well-versed in his medical care, he often didn’t need her to do much other than press down on someone’s wound to keep them from bleeding out while he worked on stitching them.

reaching the cavern, she searched around the area, footsteps lightly echoing as she did. she found a pile of snow with something black and metal sticking out from the side. brushing away the top of the white mini-mountain, she pulled out the slightly frozen weapon into her hands, wiping away most of the frozen bits, freezing cold to the touch.

she slung the strap over her shoulder, keeping the gun pinned against her back – then she set off to find her way to get some herbal plants for yukisada. breath pale against the numbing air, her face was captivated by the soft, dusty illusions of light that sat heavy on her eyelashes. shirogane’s heart was beginning to beat against her chest more audibly as the frost fell on her pointed canine ears, making them twitch. the compulsive urge to constantly look behind her as if to expect something with malicious intent to lunge at her without warning.

having chosen the quickest route to her destination, through several big rocks twice her own size that made the path uneven and curved, with the possibility of slipping and falling frequently on the more slippery and icy areas. jumping from a steep ascent into snow that reached her knees, she attempted to focus on the sound of her footsteps softly crunching on the snow to block out the delusional paranoia of ghosting gloved hand on her shoulder.

sweat clung to her forehead like pins and needles. what she might have thought to be simply white noise in her head of following steps and limbs of someone else on her snapped out of daze when shirogane felt a hot breath against the nape of her neck. the presence of someone standing behind her, and not the imagination playing tricks on her of a gentle hand on her shoulder, but a tight grip that bruised the deeper the nails sunk into the flesh through her shirt.

with a loud gasp, she felt her foot get stuck in a slope between two rocks, as she barely whirled around to stumble backwards and identify the imposing threat, when she felt herself hoisted up and then flung against a rock a few feet away. body slamming against the sharp edges and hearing a crack, the back of her head plummeting as well, making her vision disorienting and feeling a warm liquid dripping down her forehead onto the tip of her nose. squeezing her eyes shut as she involuntarily slumped against it, limbs too in pain from the sudden harsh impact.

her ears slouched from the ringing sound she likely imagined to be just in her own head – but the voice she heard not too far from where she sat could not definitely be just her mind being over-imaginative.

“lit͜t͜l͡e̴ p̕u҉p̡p̵y.”

her heart began to pick up speed again. it was the orca.

as shirogane looked up to observe her, there was something fundamentally different about her. her gaze was colder, more menacing and piercing through the wolf to the point she felt her eyes alone could stab her through the heart. instead of wearing the usual gray undershirt, it was now a deep red; her lip gloss and eye-shadow shone a similar color.

“what a coincidence i just so happened to run into you. haven’t seen you in a while and you’re exactly as i remember you.” the tall, womanly orca lips’ quirked upwards, “lost, weak, frightened. some things simply never change, do they?”

“y-y-you...” shirogane swallowed the lump in her throat, physically having to force the words out of her throat. something was wrong, something was always wrong when idate was around, but this time, things were somehow worse, but her gut feeling only told her so much, not why.

“yes, you mangy mutt. it is me you’re looking at.” she snarled, stepping closer.

shirogane shakily stood up, back of her knees against the rock as her eyes trailed back and forth, trying to find the safest exit away from a possible forthcoming disaster.

“in a hurry somewhere, are you?” asked the orca.

“i have to get to yukisada… if i don’t, a-all those people in his care will die.” that had been a lie, she didn’t even make it to rocma’s house, but she instantly regretted trying to plead the orca to leave her alone just this once with whatever excuse she could muster out.

“oh, how selfless of that bird. how sad, then, that those weak beings all huddled together will just have to die?”

“p-please–“

“come on now, let’s play together. just like the old times, shall we?” she tried to reach out for her, but the other jumps to her left, leg accidentally kicking the gun a few feet away from her, turning her head to see if she could potentially make a grab for it.

“no! s-s-stay back!” the wolf bellowed.

“oh, but shirogane..." idate mused with sadistic glee in her voice, "you know what happens to poor, helpless puppies that don't listen to what i say?”

idate must have noticed her eyeing the harpoon gun next. the arctic wolf jumped for her only weapon in reach, just as idate was ready to pounce. nearly tripping over own feet, shirogane pointed the gun at her enemy and hastily pulled the trigger. with poor aim due to having only one intact eye only managed to pierce idate in the shoulder, with the harpoon poking out from the other side of her flesh, causing the orca to hiss in pain and stumble backwards.

it hardly seemed to unfortunately deter her, a mere twitch of eye and furrow of brows as she glared venomous daggers at the other and spoke, “i’ll make sure you pay for that.”

too frozen in her fight or flight instincts, shirogane couldn’t bring herself to move a trembling muscle until it was too late to raise the gun again to prevent assault at the last second. having been forced onto her back with harsh force, gun falling from hands and out of eye range.

idate caged shirogane underneath her, pressed into the freezing ground as deep crimson eyes glared into terrified golden ones. her left hand was around the wolf’s throat, harshly pressing against her windpipe – a direct threat she’ll crush her larynx with a mere flick of her wrist dared the other fight back. a whimper escaped the wolf, when a hand suddenly cracked against the side of her face with enough force for her chocked sobs to get stuck in her throat alongside a lasting red bruise. the orca pulled the harpoon out of her shoulder, lips turning into a snarl as she did, the action of doing so clearly causing a degree of discomfort, even if she didn’t show it outright.

she plunged the pointy, barbed spear into shirogane’s shoulder instead as she squealed, blood spurting and keeping her impaled in place, not having as much strength as idate to try and pull it out.

“now we can finally have a good playtime~” the orca smirked.

idate was ruthless in her violent actions, bared teeth and bruising grip that left wounds which wouldn’t heal for a while. normally she liked to play cat and mouse with her victims, entice them in, lure them with sweet words, and rip them apart once they realized a little too late what they’d gotten themselves into following such sultry voice of enticement into a death trap.

slipping her hand underneath the wolf’s skirt, scratching against her thighs as idate plunged three of her fingers into shirogane’s heat without warning. the wolf gasped and squirmed in discomfort at the sudden intrusion. she attempted to wiggle out of the taller orca’s vice grip, but her bare legs straddled the wolf’s hips, keeping her pinned securely.

her fingers worked at a merciless pace, as the wolf whined and choked on her sobs. just as she was beginning to get used to the uncomfortable sensations, idate added another digit inside her growing arousal, becoming slicker the longer she kept going with her ministrations. the pained whimpers were borderline turning into moans of pleasure.

it wasn’t too often when shirogane’s body felt violated and used by the orca to establish dominance over her, but it usually never lasted for too long and the orca never even allowed her to finish, preferring to dabble in humiliation and watching tears flow.

idate finally retreated her fingers, much to her relief (disappointment? no, definitely relief), leaving a trail of wet stickiness against her thighs and the feeling of her entire body quiver at the lost sensations.

there was a hot breath against the side of her neck, then a chunk of flesh was taken out of shirogane’s other shoulder, a much worse pain than what she already felt, crying out. idate stood up, admiring the work she left laying in the snow. but from the growing grin on her red lips told her victim she wasn’t done. something else was to come and she dreaded whatever it would be.

“i can think of all sorts of things to do that’ll look so good on you, i can promise you that, my puppy.”

abruptly idate had shirogane yanked up by her hair as the wolf yowls helplessly in pain. the orca wrapped a strong arm around the wolf’s neck and dragged her towards the ocean, while the wolf kept trying to drag her heels into the ground or kick her legs against her aggressor’s, which only made the pressure around her neck tighten. the orca stopped momentarily once they reached the edge of the iceberg, then jumped into the ocean without warning, drowning out shirogane’s yells for help once her head went below the surface of the water.

shirogane felt like she was drowning – and she likely was – air disappeared from her lungs, only to slowly be filled with salt water, through her nose and mouth, throat being engulfed by liquid. a vague illusion of light behind her eyes was the only thing she could gaze at. the sun was reaching out to her, trying to pull her back into the surface, but the mass of weight holding her trapped against her will only dragged her deeper to the bottom where no one would see terror and fright in her eyes anymore.

but something else entirely.

- : - : - : - : - : -

yukisada sat worriedly at the table. almost an entire day had passed and his housemate still hadn’t come back. it should logically have taken no longer than an hour or two, even if she might have ran into some trouble on the way, though he hoped that she hadn’t. his stomach clenched slightly at the thought. he really didn’t want for shirogane to show up half-beaten to death and for him to have another patient in his already occupied hands. the uneasy thoughts swimming in his mind only made him tap his fingers against the table nervously in irregular beats.

he had tried simple lemon tea and cold towels on their foreheads as an alternative for their bodies’ worryingly growing temperature. it seemed to work to a certain extend, but the plants he requested to be brought back might prove to be more effective.

at the sound of the door creaking open from the other room, the snowy owl’s head snapped up and his ears perked. he hoped his worst of thoughts would be proven false, sitting up from the stool as it slid backwards with a creak against the floor. he rushed from around the corner to spot a familiar fur of white hair and canine ears slowly peering inside.

at the slightest recognition of familiar appearance, yukisada was already beaming as he rushed over.

“oh, shirogane, you’re back! you took so long and i was getting really worried! are you injured in any–“

yukisada found himself unable to finish his inquiries, mouth gaping open when his mind finally processed what he saw at the front door gazing right back at him.

shirogane tucked the hair covering her injured eye away from her line of sight, except said eye was no longer squeezed shut due to the ragged scar that ran across it. she was staring back at him with both orbs intact. the injured eye was slightly crooked and not sitting quite right in her eyesocket, nearly threatening to fall out, but it was wide and an entirely wrong color.

red. he saw red.

(the color of the sea as it was now.)

she was wearing a miniskirt instead of an overall one, gray tights and fishnet stockings, boots with high-heels, one side of her white button-up was hanging loosely on her shoulder. her clothes looked slightly soaked, like she’d been thrown into water covered from head to toe, her usual curled, thick hair wrapped in a loose braid was straight and hanging limp on her shoulder, tips of it slightly darker due to still being wet.

“s-shirogane?”

the wolf smiled wide, baring her sharp teeth.

“i’m really sorry about that, yukisada. i got caught up in something else, you see, ah...”

a click of her boots against the flooring as she stepped a little closer, but yukisada stayed in place.

“i know you asked me to retrieve medicine for you... but i found something better on my way there.”

the snowy owl swallowed the lump in his throat, “o-oh, well, i gave the patients some tea to cool down their fevers, but some of them still aren’t doing much–“

shirogane interrupted him with a small frown of her lips, “those people are ungrateful and weak beings. she was right after all. i told her i was coming back to help them, but i really came to see you, yukisada... to take you with me.”

yukisada’s eyes widened slightly, “shirogane, are you alright?”

“oh, yeah!” she beamed, “never been better, in fact! i’m no longer in any pain or discomfort i like i was before. isn’t that a relief, finally?”

oh, no, no, nononono – something was wrong, terribly wrong. he didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t keep his internal facade of denials up for much longer. yukisada thought if something from the red sea in south had crawled its way over to the iceberg isle and infected shirogane with it – he had no knowledge of how it spread or what exactly it did to someone, but he did know for certain his friend was behaving too differently for something to not have happened while she was away. still, he would attempt to talk to her, maybe he just had a caught fever himself from one of the patients and was imagining this. he must have.

“who are you talking about anyway? shirogane, what happened to you? who did this to you?!”

yukisada took the risk in stepping closer to her, she may have looked wrong, but he relied on the possibility that his closest friend still wouldn’t possibly do anything to harm him.

“i’ll show you. if you come with me, then i’ll show you. you trust me, right? i’m your friend, yukisada. please, just trust me.” her voice went quiet, almost akin to pleading. and a part of him wanted to know the fiend responsible for making his friend act the way she did at that moment, but–

“but the injured people from the sea, they–!”

he tried to place his hand on her shoulder to pacify her, but she caught his wrist in a tight grip. it wasn’t painful by any means, but shirogane usually never inflicted this kind of force onto anyone, let alone him, out of everyone. but the kindness in her eyes was gone quickly as it came, her expression twisting into something akin to a snarl.

“co͝m͘e ̢o͜n͟,n҉o͞w,̴ y̶u͝kisa̷da҉. i̷date i̧s w͞ait̕i̛n͝g ̷a̵nd we͟ ̕d́o͡n’̀t want͡ t̶o ͢ma҉k̀e h͠er̢ anģr͝y̕,҉ d҉o we͟?”

[dregstrash]

I just read your mermaid au and it’s amazing!!!! I’m wondering if you could continue it?

Hi! It’s the end of Mermay and I want to add another installment of my Zoyalai Mermaid au! And did I steal the magic spell Nikolai uses from Once Upon A Time? Maybe. But listen, I needed it and it gives me an excuse to use all that OUAT knowledge that I’ve acquired

Nikolai was born with the sea in his veins. He loved the salt against his skin. The wind in his hair. The lapping of the waves. It was his sanctuary

But he didn’t realize how different it would be actually living in the water

Swimming with or against the current

Minding the different sea creatures that brushed against his legs or that popped out from literally everywhere

It was disorienting, dizzying, and spectacular

The bracelet Genya (the witch he had the delight of getting to know) had enchanted for him allowed him the ability to transform his legs into fins

Despite the obvious lackluster color of his tail, he could have passed as a regular merman

A fact that he pointed out to Zoya as often as he could while they set out to search for the Sea Wizard– The Darkling as he was formally called

“I’m quite the natural at this, Zoya.” Nikolai said as he swam in circles and intricate movements.

“You’re a natural at nothing.” She scoffed. “I highly suspect that the bracelet is doing more work for you than anything.”

“Doubt it,” Nikolai held up the leather bracer with the symbols of some spell interwoven through the entire piece. “It only gives me the ability to have fins and breathe underwater. Everything else is natural saints-given talent.”

“Like your natural ability to–” Zoya was cut off as she noticed a larger than normal shark swimming right toward her prince

She zoomed forward and knocked him to the side, sending him careening into the open sea as she faced the creature head on

She bared her teeth, as the shark came upon her and opened its jaw wide

She was right in noticing the unnatural nature of the creature. It looked like it was made entirely of shadows, its eyes were milky white, and the very ripples it was creating felt so so wrong

Zoya unsheathed two daggers from her belt, and didn’t hesitate into launching an attack. But the monstrosity was too large. The momentum slammed into her chest, causing spots to appear in her vision as she grunted in pain

She lost hold on one of her knives, but she didn’t cause herself to think as she used the other one to plunge downwards to the beast’s eye. 

Sensing the danger it was in, it twitched and the tip sunk on the meaty part of its nose

It thrashed and knocked her to the side again, but instead of being sent further away, her body was stopped by strong arms that pulled her forward

Nikolai had managed to swim back to her, and he was holding her lost dagger

“What is that thing?” He said as the creature roared and muddied the ocean with the inky nature of its blood

“I have no idea.” Zoya said, but felt every muscle in her body freeze when the creature was joined with two more of its kind. “But I think we’re getting close to the Darkling’s lair.” 

“At least the welcoming party is a delight.” Nikolai said twirling her knife in his hands.

“I’m going to need that back when we’re done.” Zoya said getting ready to fight the shadow sharks.

“One step at a time, Nazyalensky. Let’s survive this first.” 

[fangirl--of-everything]

Drowning (Arthur Curry x Reader)

A/N. I wrote this before Justice League came out, and so this doesn’t really go with movie Aquaman at all. But I really like the way I wrote it. Also, I honestly know barely anything about Aquaman and his powers and I know some of this is wrong but I like it.

Requested: nope

Word count: ~2100 words

Warnings: violence, attempted murder

PLEASE REMEMBER: I do not take requests anymore, so please do not send me any.

Enjoy :) 

(Y/n) crept forward, camera held tightly against her chest. She crouched lower behind the shipping container she was using for cover, peering around the edge of the metal crate to get a clear view of the smugglers. They'd been stealing medical supplies from the marine biology lab, and she was tired of it. Her lab was already understaffed, underfunded, and under supplied as it was. She wasn't about to allow a group of low level thugs looking for cheap drugs to destroy her life's work.

They were loading the shipments into three large black vans, and she shifted to get a clearer picture to use as evidence. As she leaned forward her phone slid out of her pocket, hitting the concrete with a rattle. The two men closest to her stilled. She froze, heart pounding rapidly against her chest, as the one nearest to her turned, eyes narrowed. His eyes scanned the dark shipyard and she scrambled back, careful to be as quiet as she could.

She huddled against the metal shipping container, hand over her mouth to silence her frantic breathing, her other hand clutching her phone to her chest in case it decided to light up in this unfortunate moment. She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to control her breathing, when she heard footsteps approaching her.

"No no no no." She breathed, scrambling deeper into the shadows, away from the approaching man.

Her fingers fumbled for her phone, struggling to dial while keeping the faint light hidden from man advancing towards her, all while pushing herself deeper into the shadows of the containers. Her frantic scramble caused her back to bump into something not quite solid. She froze, eyes widening with fear and understanding, and rushed to her feet.

The man behind her grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her backwards. Fire raced along her scalp and she screamed, before a fist connected with her jaw, the sharp pain stunning her. When the disorientation faded she realized she was being dragged to her feet-- when had she fallen?-- and shoved forward roughly. She moved to run and her attacker grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Her foot caught on something and she slipped, falling backwards. Her head connected with the side of one of the containers with a crack, and she blacked out.

A couple more smugglers were attracted to the commotion and walked over, until half a dozen were standing around the unconscious body. They all looked between each other and the body, none of them thinking to check for a pulse. The blood spilling from her temple onto the concrete was enough for them. This was the first time they'd had a situation like this, with a casualty, and they weren't sure what to do. It was just supposed to be a simple robbery, easy money. They hadn't signed up to deal with a body.

A woman shoved her way into the circle, and the others scattered in her wake, all but the two who had found (y/n). They shared a nervous look and moved to leave, but the woman's piercing glare kept them in place. They all knew her only as Lady White, and everyone in the crew was warned to steer clear of her. She was the one to call when things went wrong. And things had definitely gone wrong.

"What happened?" She asked, looked down at (y/n)'s body. "Who did this?"

One of the men raised a hand timidly. Lady White's cold gaze landed on him, and he fidgeted under her piercing state until she turned her eyes to the body in front of her.

"Grab a crate." She said calmly, crouching beside the probe form, cold fingers pressing against (y/n)'s neck.

"B-but," stammered one of the men, "shouldn't we call an ambulance or something."

"There's no point. She's already dead." The Lady said, ignoring the faint pulse fluttering under her fingers. What the men didn't know wouldn't hurt them. "The crate, now."

The three of them tied (y/n)'s feet to one of the small, heavy crates with little difficulty. When it came time, she sent the others away, knowing they might not have the stomach for what needed to be done next. Once they left it was easy for her to drag the body to the edge of the dock and prepare to shove her in. As she was rooting through (y/n)'s pockets, removing ID, cell phone, wallet, and cash, (y/n) stirred, groaning softly. Before she could wake fully, or make any sort of noise to put the operation in danger, Lady White grabbed the heavy shipping container and shoved it into the water.

(Y/n) came to just as the chains tightened around her ankles, dragging her over the side of the dock. She had less then a second to look at Lady White before she was dragged over the edge of the dock, the icy November water snapping her further out of her stupor. She tried to scream, but she was already feet under water and all she did was take in a mouthful of salty ocean.

Instinct kicked in, and she started swimming as best she could, going so far as to rise a few inches in the choppy water before the weight of the heavy crate started to drag her down. She bent in the water, struggling to untangle herself from the chains, but they were too tangled in her legs, and her fingers were already growing numb from the cold. She felt pain in her head, her ears popping, and she relieved the pressure. Dark spots flashed across her vision, pressure built in her chest, and she realized she was drowning. As someone who had spent half her life in the water, the thought was strange. This wasn't how she was supposed to die.

The pressure was building, her lungs squeezing painfully, the dark spots growing. She could see the moon, but only barely, the weak light miles away. The salt water stung her eyes and burned her throat as it crept past her lips and into her nose. She couldn't even reach her arms up her limbs were so cold. Her lungs screamed. Something cold slid along her leg and she spotted a school of fish, silvery and slim, before they darted away from her, disappearing into the gloom. She was left alone as the crate hit the sandy bottom of the ocean, sliding to a stop some twenty feet below the surface.

The pressure was too great, and she wanted to open her mouth, let the water in, relieve some of the pain in her chest, head, lungs, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Her mouth stayed locked closed, lungs screaming. Through the near darkness she saw another shape, this one larger, moving towards her through the murky water. She felt a stab of fear-- she knew exactly what sort of dangerous creatures made their homes here. It dawned on her that her two options were death by shark attack-- a very unlikely occurrence-- or drowning. The fear faded, leaving her all but numb. Her chest pinched, something in her brain shifted, and her mouth opened, lungs welcoming the water that flowed in instead of oxygen.

The darkness spread more rapidly now, but she was still able to see the dark form take shape as it advanced in her, taking on the form of a man. An angel, or a hallucination, judging by the flashing halo of silver fish around the figure's head, and the length of dark hair surrounding their face. A low vibration raced through the water, humming in her chest, and the angel's piercing blue eyes came into focus before she lost consciousness.

——-/—/——-

Phillip couldn't say he was surprised when his house began to echo with a heavy pounding from the front door in the dead of night. Arthur had a habit of showing up unannounced. He usually left the door unlocked, but they usually didn't expect him until closer to December. He was a few weeks early. Still, Phillip rolled out of bed, ignoring the ache of his bones and the twinge of pain in his knee. Eva stirred beside him, but didn't wake, and he crept downstairs quietly so as not to disturb her.

He was expecting to open the door and find Arthur, dripping wet, improperly dressed, his dark hair freezing at the tips, with a bucket full of fish in one hand. What he wasn't ready for was Arthur's fists to be bloody, bruises forming on the knuckles. And he certainly wasn't prepared for the unconscious woman limp in Arthur's grip, watery blood sliding down her scalp, body almost blue from cold. Phillip's mouth fell open, eyes widening, and he swore in that moment the amount of grey in his hair doubled.

"Please." Was all Arthur said, eyes begging. His voice was gruff, the way it always was when he arrived, as if it hadn't been used since he'd left the year before. His eyes looked tired, more tired then Phillip was used to, muscles in his arms quivering, the lines in his face deeper than usual. Exhaustion rolled off him in waves.

Phillip nodded, guiding the other man into the kitchen. They laid the unconscious girl down on the table, and with a wave of Arthur's hand the water rolled off her clothes and out of her hair, pooling on the floor. Phillip stared with wide eyes. He had seen examples of Arthur's power before, everyone in the town had, but never had he displayed them so openly before. It was startling.

"Blankets?" Arthur asked, turning to look at Phillip. "And wake Eva."

The older man nodded and hurried upstairs to wake his wife and fetch some blankets. When he returned, Eva following behind, they found Arthur pulling water from the girl's lungs. One hand hovered over her face, rising slowly, a rope of brackish water following in its wake. There was much more than Phillip had expected. It was as if she'd swallowed half the sea.

Eva gasped beside him. "What are you--"

Arthur raised a hand, and she fell silent, watching in awe as the water wrung from the woman's clothes rose to join the snaking rope from her mouth, all of it moving together to disappear into the sink. Now she lay on their table, completely dry, except for the blood beginning to dry on her scalp and the side of her face.

“She needs a bed for the night.” Arthur did not ask. Phillip and Eva did not answer. Phillip wordlessly handed the blankets to Arthur and went upstairs to make up the guest room, and his wife went to put on the kettle.

Arthur waved a hand and wrung the water from his clothes and hair, and then wrapped the woman in the blankets lifted her up, shifting her weight in his arms until her head rested against his shoulder. She was starting to look less blue, colour returning to her face and fingers. Hypothermia would probably not take her. Still, he walked past the bedroom, where Phillip was making the bed, and instead walked into the small bathroom. He lay the unconscious woman down on the floor and ran the water warm, letting the tub fill. While the water ran he unwrapped the woman from her blankets and began to peel off her recently-dried clothes.

“What are you doing?” Eva asked, appearing in the doorway with a tray of tea and mugs in her hands.

“She needs to get warm.” Arthur said.

Eva pursed her lips. “She wouldn’t like to be undressed by a strange man. You take this,” he didn’t have time to answer before she pushed the tray into his hands and waved him out of the bathroom, “and I will take care of warming her up. Go wait with Phil.”

The door closed in his face before Arthur could say anything else. He shook his head with a small sigh and walked into the spare room, handing Phillip a cup of tea and sitting down beside the other man.

“Are you staying?” Phillip asked, eyes widening in surprise. Arthur never stayed the night.

Arthur shrugged wordlessly, his shoulders shifting the thin fabric of his tank top. Phillip put his cup down on the side table and got to his feet, heading to the closet to get the clothes Arthur always left here for when he came into town. If the man was going to stay, he needed to dress for the weather. Even if the cold never seemed to affect him.

[dreadhaus-literature]

{Character Study} Diederich Frost

I have been reading a lot of research books lately, trying to hone my talent into something useable, and trying to get my head in the right space to write again. One of those books is, “Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget” by Stant Litore; another highly rated/recommended writing tool from Amazon, and that book comes with exercises! So we’re going to take a first pass at them with a newly created OC.

I won’t say it’s been a while since I’ve created characters, because it hasn’t been, but any practice is good practice, right? Right.

The book interested me simply because I want to write good characters--which I know is a stupid thing to say, lmao, as an author that’s like half my goddamn job. But that’s why I want to be good at it! And practice makes perfect.

This will be on-going, since there’s an entire booklet full of exercises, so I’ll just reblog and add to the post as I read. P:

The character I’ve decided to use is from my first group of 10 drabbles from my Shots in the Dark collection.

#10, Diederich, who will be henceforth known by his full name--

Diederich Karsten Frost

Exercise One - Write down your character’s critical ingredient, that one defining strength that everyone will know them for. If you don’t know yet, make it up.

Well I don’t know yet, because I only wrote about Diederich once and it was for like half a page--so we’re going to make it up.

Diederich’s defining strength is that he is unrelenting.

Exercise Two - Take another look at your character’s one great strength. How might that same strength set them up for disaster? Brainstorm a little.

Oh ho, this is surprisingly easy. I don’t know Diederich very well yet but what I do know about him is that he’s a ruthless businessman, has the money to show for it, because he’s unrelenting, unyielding, a mountain in the face of a hurricane--but where that strength will fail him? When he has to bend for love, for the one in his life who means the most. He’s a man used to getting what and who he wants, so when he’s told no...

It’s going to be difficult for all parties involved.

Water can eventually wear down rock but it takes centuries, and that’s the kind of patience I imagine Diederich’s lover will have to have if they want to gain any ground with this man. He’s going to be difficult to get to bend and similar to ice he’s likely to shatter into something sharp rather than give to the will of others.

Diederich’s strength makes him severe, which is not always a good thing, especially outside the boardroom.

Exercise Three - “What is the worst thing you could possibly do to your character?” It’s a great question to ask when you’re wanting to learn about what your character is made of, so ask that question now, with a bit of a twist.

“What is the worst thing you could possibly do to your character, that they would be least equipped to handle? Brainstorm that.

And once you’ve crafted their greatest tragedy, ask the next question: How can this character use their one great strength to help them meet the problem head-on?

When I first wrote Diederich he was just supposed to be a flash!OC for an Obsessives drabble set. He existed to fill a void, of a slightly deluded narcissist who was left reeling from rejection/abandonment, so taking that into consideration...I’m going to say the worst thing I could possibly do to Diederich is to take that desired love away.

His drabble opened and closed with him seeking the love he’d only held briefly and how it was sending him spiraling to lose it. Diederich is a controlling person; he isn’t going to know how to deal with the free will of his lover and what that means for him. He can’t 100% control love or the object of his desire and that fear becomes realized as soon as she’s gone. It’s going to cripple him in multiple ways; he feels he’s failed, an emotion he absolutely cannot deal with, and the abandonment, the loss, is a wound to his massive pride. It’s going to consume him like rot, until he can’t stand it marring his otherwise perfect life. He’s ill-equipped to sit with failure.

In short? He won’t be able to stand it. It’ll drive him insane.

But, it happens to work out perfectly: his one great strength, his unrelenting personality won’t allow him to quit, to rest, until he’s found his love and righted his world on it’s axis. Diederich can’t be, won’t be stopped.

No matter what.

Exercise Four - Write a 1-2 paragraph, unique character entrance scene. Try to make it impactful!

The illumination coming off the five star hotel shimmered as it split the night, parting shadows like the red sea to make way for one undeniably important man. The crowd on the sidewalk seemed to follow suit, halting in their steps to make room for broad shoulders near stretching the seams of finely tailored cloth as the occupant of the expensive towncar placed first one, then two polished dress shoes on the sidewalk. As he straightened up, onlookers hesitant to pass by were struck by an impressive stature attributed to fine breeding that could only come from living within the upper echelon of society for centuries.

Eyes so blue they were nearly ice white sliced cleanly straight ahead, no sideways glance because it was apparent this man had no time nor care to know who was around. The driver standing by the open door could possibly double for security but it was hard to imagine a man so tall, so statuesque truly needed it; his presence not only exuded importance but malice, so that small children might actually scurry out of his way. The sharp clack of dress shoes heralded his long strides, drawing one’s attention up from pressed slacks to the length of a wool-lined trench, buttoned against a no doubt trim and toned middle. Large hands were cradled in the softest Italian leather and when he reached up to his breast pocket for a single crisp $100 bill to hand to the doorman, all those onlookers could see were the cut of cheekbones that could no doubt make fast work of a piece of glass. This man had enviable bone structure; Old World in that his cheeks were square and his chin slightly pointed, angled to bring attention to a jawline that went on for days. His nose had only the faintest of a curve to it, right at the tip, so that when he was staring down at some unfortunate soul they’d only be forced to follow that curve right back up to those unforgivingly cold eyes. Complimentary to his pale eyes and skin, his blond hair was a silvery flaxen in shade and in cut the sides were shaved but the top left long and slicked back--akin to a shark’s white fin just barely breaking the surface of moonless ocean waves.

Anyone who didn’t know Diederich Frost was always left wanting to after laying eyes on him for the first time.

Exercise Five - Now, write a new entry scene for the same character, but if in the first attempt you used dialogue, now do the entry with no dialogue. And if in the first attempt you didn’t use dialogue, do it almost entirely through dialogue this time.

...Goddamnit.

I FELT REALLY GOOD ABOUT THE FIRST ONE BECAUSE I CAN WRITE ME SOME DESCRIPTION. But how the fuck am I gonna make this man’s entrance with DIALOGUE.

Goddamnit.

“Mr. Frost is on his way up,” came the understandably frantic voice of the aforementioned Mr. Frost’s assistant. The young man was desperate to make a good impression on the owner of this prestigious company and though fresh-faced and college enrolled, Sacha felt he was up to the task. He hoped, anyway.

“W-What should I do?” Unlike Sacha, who had been Mr. Frost’s assistant for the past six months, this new hire, Norbert, was struggling. Sacha thought it would be a miracle if the shorter brunette made it through the end of the week.

“Fix your tie,” Sacha hissed, his back to the elevator as he prepared Mr. Frost’s cup of coffee. “Stand up straight, don’t stare and don’t you dare call Mr. Frost by his first name again.”

Norbert flushed strawberry, pudgy fingers pushing the wrinkles from his tie. “It w-was an accident!”

“Yes well your firing won’t be if it happens again.” Sacha dropped the statement with the same finality he set the square cup of coffee on it’s saucer, steaming hot and waiting for Mr. Frost like the rest of his obedient staff. Sacha set the saucer on the top of his desk, facing the elevator as the car made it’s way up, announcing their arriving boss with each click of the lighted panel above the doors. Sacha spot out of the corner of his mouth, hands clasped behind his back, still facing the elevator. “Mr. Frost has a full day of meetings ahead, Norbert, so I’ll handle his refreshments and meals while you’ll take care of...?”

“His dry cleaning, getting his car washed, and picking up his tailored suits from Mr. Favero.” Norbert was proud to keep his usual anxious stammer from his voice but Sacha didn’t even seem to notice--and if he did, he didn’t care to remark on it.

The small victory was quickly forgotten when the gleaming elevator doors opened and Mr. Diederich Frost stepped out onto his office floor. The entire building was his company, but this top floor was reserved for the illustrious owner and his assistants, giving him plenty of room to work undisturbed.

“Good morning, Mr. Frost.” Sacha spoke first, almost eagerly, and Norbert had to quietly admire how easy it seemed to be for Sacha to speak to Diederich. Norbert sometimes forgot his own name when those ice blue eyes stared him down.

“G-Good morning,” Norbert had all but lost ground from his earlier feat of not stammering. He cleared his throat, knowing it wouldn’t help.

Their boss, Diederich Frost, was a statuesque man of impeccable breeding and class, born with a silver spoon in his mouth but he did the polishing himself. There was no resting on laurels for Diederich; ambition lined his already swollen pockets until there were rumors he could buy their country and have enough left over to still maintain his $500 a month haircuts. Normally, Norbert would think that was an exorbitant amount of money to spend on a haircut but Diederich’s silvery blond hair turned heads just as often as the rest of him did. Whether it was his flaxen hair, his sharp cheekbones, or his deeply accented voice, Diederich Frost was the man to know. Norbert just didn’t think he could get the sentence, “I know Diederich Frost,” out of his mouth without his blood pressure dropping.

“Messages.” Diederich’s voice was like an anvil, dropping period where others would hang questions marks, but Sacha didn’t miss a beat.

“Your brother called, he’s still insisting you come out for the weekend,” Sacha recited the messages by memory, even as he gave Norbert a pointed look to pick up Mr. Frost’s coffee and follow them into his expensive, lavish office. “Your aunt’s birthday is tomorrow and I confirmed the delivery of her favorite flowers as always, and lastly Mr. Price called for the fifth time, still looking to sell.”

Norbert took a steadying, albeit quick breath as he hurried to place Mr. Frost’s coffee on his desk, just in time for his boss to sit down in his desk chair and nail him to the floor with those icy eyes. Diederich didn’t say a word, merely met Norbert’s gaze evenly, giving the shorter male plenty of time to see Diederich’s expensive three-piece blue suit was a direct compliment to pale porcelain skin. It was also just long enough to see Diederich’s eyes narrow because Norbert had been staring. The male cleared his throat again and backed up to stand beside Sacha, who was giving him a pointed side-ways stare.

Diederich didn’t thank Sacha for his hard work or excellent delivery but that wasn’t unusual either. Earning a thanks from this hard-working perfectionist took far more impressive feats than simple recitation. Norbert had yet to receive a single one.

“My first meeting is in--”

“Thirty minutes, sir.” Sacha supplied before Diederich could outright ask. The older male simply nodded and took a small drink from his coffee.

“Then get my brother on the line.” Diederich directed to Sacha, before sparing Norbert another glance, disapproval darkening harsh features until it was akin to staring into the eye of a hurricane. “...And straighten your tie, son.”

Norbert was far more likely to hang himself with it in the employee bathroom.

BOY IDK IF THAT WAS WHAT THE EXERCISE MEANT BUT I SURE HOPE SO. Literally don’t know how to write only dialogue, that’s just not...idk, a mix of dialogue/description is fine with me? That’s about as dialogue-centric as my writing ever gets, I find it’s so important (at least for me) to add in little snippets of description, like sprinkling salt. just call me Salt Bae.

Exercise Six - Write the same entry a third time, but this time, change the setting and the situation. Try taking your character out of their comfort zone or put them somewhere they’re unlikely to be.

The joyous, loud cries of children at play announced Birthday Party! long before anyone could lay eyes on the balloons and banners that decorated the park’s picnic area. It was a large, usually populated public park but today was entirely off-limits to the general public, bought for a full 24 hours by the Frost family to celebrate little Alexandra Frost’s seventh birthday. Children of all ages ran and skipped, frolicked and played amongst the playground equipment and bounce houses, while adults sipped alcohol, ate finger foods, and escaped the waning Summer sun inside air-conditioned tents.

No expense was spared for the little princess of the Frost family, niece to none other than Diederich Frost, who had made quite a name for himself on the international business scene. The infamously ruthless billionaire was of course present, dressed in what to him was likely casual; pressed slacks and a designer sweater, but he still stood out in the crowd. He didn’t appear to belong at a children’s party; he was all hard, cold lines and nowhere was that more noticeable than standing beside his younger brother, who was a father of two. Diederich had no children and thus had not been softened by fatherhood; he was all business, all the time, and if one were to pay close attention the majority of the children steered clear of the long-legged Uncle to Alexandra. The birthday girl in question adored her Uncle but why wouldn’t she? He showered her with expensive gifts and she had nothing to fear from ice blue eyes and the hard line of his jaw. Diederich had never been cross with her a day in his life, but the list of people he wasn’t cross with could be counted on a person’s left hand. Diederich looked as mean as he was; high-cut cheekbones, a harsh line to his mouth, and silvery blond hair kept slicked back did everything to add to the air of crackling menace that surrounded the man heads and shoulders taller than most. He was a storm cloud, a single bolt of lightning one doesn’t see until it’s too late and you’re left singed from the contact you didn’t expect amongst the chorus of, “Happy birthday dear Alexandra, happy birthday to you!”

I’ll admit, imagining Diederich at a kid’s birthday party tickled me. He’s shaping up to be such a Type-A, no-nonsense asshole it’s hilarious to imagine him surrounded by balloons and shouting kiddos. He reminds me of the quote from Angela in the Office.

“I wouldn’t mind a pair of well-behaved boys.”

That’s about all I have time for tonight, but I will say, I’ve never really thought about character entrances very much before beginning to read this book. They liken to being out on a first date; it’s your reader’s first impression of your character and you want them hooked right away. Why should they give a damn about your character? You have to make them see what’s so special about them, sort of like...selling your character, I guess?

...I went from a date situation to human trafficking but whatever.

THE POINT IS. I am now realizing that the way characters are introduced is actually pretty important. I mean that was the majority of the exercises tonight, writing and then re-writing the entry scene to see how many different ways I could introduce you to Diederich. Even out of his element he still has to be himself, after all, and that right there is why I think this is important--you’re essentially creating a person, and people have to be adaptable. If your characters are so one-sided they can only exist in a very specific box...then they’re not very good characters.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the work I did tonight. I took a character that was interesting to me and actually made something of him. He’s around, now. I hear his voice and I can see him, and that’s pretty rad.

Looking forward to picking this back up soon and seeing what else Mr. Frost has to say~