#fish and crabs are actually real and they live in the ocean. not as a joke. like they are Real. a fish bumped into me and i cried and ran

[bylertruther]

the degree to which i love mermaid fics always makes me giggle bc i get so #entranced by them but in real life i'm literally kicking screaming and crying like a little baby whenever i have to actually get in any kind of natural body of water and having a full on crisis whenever anything (god forbid) actually touches me while in that body of water

[spearxwind]

since talas has to eat One Big Thing every month or so like you said and i assume communities around the globe are reeling in their own leviathans, what are their populations like? are there plenty, are they going extinct, are leviathans each unique things, or are there things like common and rare species etc and if so do these normal, not shapeshifter leviathans display special abilities like hades' being a blowtorch or talas' ice beam (SORRY for this i love the idea of gigantic ocean creatures being regular things and would love to see more of the biome sort of stuff this world has if you've given it any thought!!! love the characters and the gay eels yes but the enviromence...) are there leviathan hunting rules/regulations like throwing back female blue crabs...........

Oh good question! :]

Leviathans are one hundred percent NOT going extinct. The ocean is massive and immensely deep, there are MANY of them out there. Comparatively, there are very few mers because there's very little land, and they hunt for resources, not to fill a quota or just for sport, so leviathan hunting does not drive them to extinction. If we're gonna use Talas as a comparison, average mer communities would be able to rely on maybe one hunt a month or so as well, roughly.

And yeah there is a hunting guild that somewhat regulates hunts (there's not like,,, hard law syndicate or whatever), for the most part to make sure the ecosystem does not take damage. Merfolk are a part of the ecosystem too just like the big leviathans are so they both fulfil their role in it

In general leviathans do have some "species" that they can be categorized in but in general tend to be unique, but that's because I like designing different things and I like the idea of some of them being completely unexplained x) so I guess the answer of that is there's both kinds. Could be theres a species of leviathans that are like whales and live in pods, sometimes a fish just Becomes Fucking Huge, sometimes [redacted information], etc etc. Free real estate

Some DO have special abilities as well, the most common beam attack ones are water jets, poison, and acid (siege for example, is a non-shifter leviathan who spits acid). Fire is really rare but it happens. Sometimes they do have other abilities like hypnosis or illusions that are meant to be more defensive than offensive. I don't have a whole lot of info on that though bc the general vibe for that is giving them the vibes of some irl sailor legends for "what sea monsters could potentially do", some of em could be tall tales some of em could be real

As for biomes.... I have the overland ones set pretty much. Still have not decided on a lot of the ocean ones, but theres a lot. I would like to have a subnautica-esque variety of them (as in, really varied with some of them really colorful) but I havent gotten around to actually think thonking of them very much yet. Funny enough my own world's oceans are largely unexplored to me at the moment x) but I will get on that for sure!

Currently the biomes ive at least thought out are the polar areas (especially voids embrace), a volcanic area around the spine, with a lot of hydrothermal vents and stuff (things get real weird there), the tropic belt is filled with life and colors and is neighbored by grand reefs which are also filled with life and colors

[chickensoupleg]

2 random aus since I got in a mood.

Eddie living near a lake that had rumours of mermaids living in there. The lake being huge and deep, so deep that Eddie would joke it's just a mini ocean in his own backyard. He and his uncle Wayne would go fishing there all the time, and so it was a very comforting place. Especially with the mermaid rumours. Eddie even would put the 'mermaid lake' into some of his campaigns, just for fun. Sometimes it was an important feature, where he would encourage his players to visit it, or maybe even have the big bad appear there. Then suddenly the rumours come true, when he's just writing and playing songs by the lake and hears singing coming from it. He would look out to the lake and see eyes staring back at him before disappearing into the deep. Of course, nobody believes him, because sure. The rumours are popular, but it doesn't mean people actually believe anyone would actually see them. Eddie is persistent though and keeps visiting. Even if he doesn't see whatever he saw that day, he gets to be by the lake, which is just added perk. Then he sees the mermaid for real, and turns out mermaids know English. He also learns that mermaids can be dudes, even if it's far more popular for them to be female. His mermaid friend finds it hilarious, because if mermaids were only girls than how would they procreate? Like bacteria? Which, when he puts it like that, does sound kind of stupid. Anyways, he learns the mermaid is named Billy, and that he's not actually from here at all. Which, obviously, sounds insane to Eddie, because where else would he have come from? It's a lake, and as far as Eddie is aware, not connected to the ocean in the slightest. It is a sole standing body of water as far as he's aware. Billy, the prick, laughs at him. Apparently it is connected to other bodies of water, it's just not feasible by human standards. There's a hidden underground tunnel apparently, and Billy just sort of... migrated there. Accidentally. The tunnel is somehow a powerful current, and only works one way. So he's been stuck there for years. There are a handful of other mermaids in the lake, but they don't come up since they can breathe underwater just fine despite appearing human. Ergo, they never interact with humans much either. The only reason Billy even showed up was because he liked the music Eddie was playing. Which launches Eddie into a whole plethora of questions, because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Billy only answers some of them freely, and makes Eddie work to get other answers. They grow close, and since then Eddie makes it his mission to continually visit his new friend. Billy isn't much of a nerd as Eddie is, but they connect with their shared appreciation for the metal genre, even if Eddie has to be the one to supply it. In return, Billy gives him cool shells and rocks he finds. And a crab once. Which was weird, because Eddie didn't know the lake had crabs. They get close, and maybe even a little affectionate. Who knows.

Basically just centaur Harringroveson AU. Steve is a cervitaur, Eddie is a centaur, and Billy is a bariaur. They're just vibing honestly. Maybe Eddie gets the fun time of watching Steve and Billy fight by antler/horns. And then help them because they got stuck to each other. Which happens a lot, because something in their hindbrains wants to just slam their antlers/horns against each other. Dominance, or whatever it is supposed to be. Eddie certainly isn't up for the task. Fun times when Steve casually shed his antlers. Or shed his velvet, where Eddie has to go hide because it is a gory sight. He finds it metal, but also his stomach can only take so much. Billy finds it equally as gross, but his stomach is much stronger for this. Eddie is probably like... a black thoroughbred horse. Or a mustang. Just... a runner of a guy. Steve is either a common white-tailed deer or a red deer. Just for the idea of the red deer being huge and the whole King Steve kind of idea. Billy is a rambouillet ram or a rocky mountain bighorn. Just... stocky but also has a sort of glamour to him. Of course just to make it fair everyone gets the fun perk of being centaur hybrid things. Maybe El can be a unicorn centaur, as a psychic treat. (Oh my gosh unicorn Vecna.... Dark crispy unicorn Vecna.... Flesh monster...) Also I don't think cars exist in this universe, because it would be very awkward trying to fit in one, unless they were very specifically built and long to accommodate the rest of them. Oh they'd be so long. So either it is long cars, or everyone walks everywhere. Alternatively, wagons for passengers. Just for extra fun (mostly just for me) Robin is also a cervitaur, and she jokes that she stole Steve's antlers when hers come in when Steve's falls off. She'd be a reindeer, which is why it works. It also means they can put trinkets on their antlers year round. When Steve's falls off they go right on Robin's. Fun fact, sheeps can swim. Billy is not banned from his water. However, sheep can also sink because wool is a thing. Billy has to shave. Extra treat: Demotaurs. Why not.

[squarebracket-trickster]

Does one of your worlds have a "not dog, but functionally dog" creature? Maybe a fictional dog breed that's a lil wacky? What do people keep as pets!?

oooooh! an unexpected ask!!

Unfortunately, I don't know yet. I tend to leave this kind of very specific worldbuilding for later in the drafting process because I don't know what my story actually needs until I've done a full manuscript or two. I tend to just have a vague idea of what could go there, based off of what would logically arise from the story's premise, but I won't get into specifics unless it actually comes up in a draft.

Basically, the best answers I can give for each WIP are pretty vague.

In WIPs XV and IX there is the potential for ghost dogs, and for pets from other species associated with oceans and piracy: parrots, seals, crows, dolphins, cats, crabs, fish etc.

In WIP XIV they definitely keep small dragons as pets, though I tend to think of dragons as more cat-like than dog-like in their mannerisms. They might also have other mythical creatures like unicorns.

I am going to full from fairy lore for some pets in WIPXI, but there will also be robots and genetically-engineered species. There is potential for purple cyborg huskies or ge'd nine tailed foxes.

WIPVI takes place in our world but it features an anthropomorphic cat with the superpower to sense when one specific dog is within 1000m of her (based on my real cat who would start growling whenever a certain dog, and only that dog, was walking down our street, even if she had no way of knowing he was there.)

Don't ask what I am doing for WIPV. It's gonna be a worldbuilding acid trip... I think dragon fire is just really spicy burps in this WIP. If you jet-stream milk into a dragon's mouth with a firehose it will stop the fire. There are fire crews trained to do this.

WIPIII is gonna have genetically engineered designer luxury pets galore (but only for the wealthy, of course). Though uhhh... the line between pet and enslaved humanoid is kinda blurred for a bunch of these rich fucks.

WIPI... well the line between everything is kinda blurred. A talking dog-bird hybrid that can fly through dreams is completely within the realm of possibilities. People don't tend to keep pets in this WIP because, with everything so blurred, it is hard enough to just figure out who counts as human. Often animals that live in towns are just considered humans and given citizenship rights. (yes, this has weird implications for cannibalism...) The idea of owning a pet is treated more like the animal has a job as a companion and gets paid for it.

WIPII, WIPIV, WIPX, and WIPXVI all take place in our world and do not feature magic at all.

WIPVIII will likely have the classical mythical and fantasy creatures.

WIPVII does not take place in our world but it might as well. All the animals are the same as in ours. It's a Medieval English inspired setting so dogs are gonna be a standard pet.

I have no idea what internal logics to work off of for WIPXII, which is unfortunate because this is the WIP I am currently trying to worldbuild for. It takes place in our world but there is magic so... *shrugs*

[just-some-guy-joust]

A few of you seem to not be reading the original post fully (or just missed something! It's fine, I get it) so allow me to reiterate some rules:

- No, it does not have to be a *fish*, just a deep sea creature! For the sake of keeping things simple, any and all creatures that live in the ocean will be called a fish in this tournament. I look at a crab and I go "omg fishie!!!!"

- No, it does not matter if someone else has already submitted your favorite fish, you should submit them anyways

- Links to sources are incredibly appreciated, tho not required. It just makes my job easier

- Yes it needs to be a fish from real life. This is not a character tournament

- Please don't send joke submissions. I haven't actually said that before now so it's fine if you sent one and didn't know, but it's really not fun to get joke submissions for my cool fish tournament. My poor spreadsheet,,,,, my fucking data points,,,,, do not feed it joke data it will get sick

- It's fine if you're not sure what qualifies as a deep sea fish, I'll be doing my own research on each fish and deciding for each one, so you can submit them anyways and leave it to me. Fish that live both in shallow water and in the deep sea also count!

- If a submitted fish lives in shallow water, but is fucked up enough and gets enough submissions, I will consider letting them into the tournament anyways. It really depends, but it's always worth a shot <3

- If you want to send me more information about a fish you submitted, please do! I cannot answer asks like that until the nomination period is over, as I am keeping specific nominations secret as to not influence anything, but I can and will add your extra information to your submission on my spreadsheet!

[thoseweredaysofroses]

The Boat Chronicles Pt. 2

Summer 2014

Her name was One Love, and she was the most beautiful sailboat I had ever seen, not that I’d seen all that many sailboats. I knew nothing of boats, but my artists eye told me that she had good lines, and the previous owner had painted her in a really pirate-y red/black/white theme; it was love at first sight. I ran headfirst into her arms and held her like I’d never let her go, and for a time she held me too.

She taught me so much in those months, I’m still unraveling it all.

Her previous owner had a memorable sounding last name, and it quickly become an epithet, uttered every time something new broke, someone put a foot through a new soft spot, water found a new way to intrude. To be fair to the poor guy, none of it was probably really his fault, he’d inherited a rotting mess, and we had taken her on in her death throes. She needed a real shipwright, someone with time and money. We had time, but sometimes you really do need to have all the things. All that aside, what happened happened, and she exists now as salvaged pieces on the walls of friends homes, in two different states.

It was relatively early on that our cat put her head right through the transom of the boat, like right through it, like “cat shaped hole in the back of our boat” through it. “We’ll fix it eventually” became a mantra. The dock master would remark to me that we’d “bitten off a large bite with that boat”, projects piled up, leaks grew worse, and life was lived in the in-between spaces. And it was a good life, despite the hardships I grew so used to stuffing aside I swear some of them will stay buried forever, it was good. Sofia, our dog Lucy, and I had some of the best adventures during that time. Going exploring with my kids is one of my greatest strengths as a mother, anything can be magical if you frame it the right way.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue to say it: I don’t regret one single sunset. All those years, all those struggles, the fear, the sadness, the absolute hopeless despair, I wouldn’t trade a single one of those sunsets for anything. The person I am now could not exist without them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spring 2015

Money is low; it’s nothing I’m not used to, but an added stress on top of a project that is truly beginning to seem impossible. I do finally manage to put my skills to use though. Nothing I know how to do at this time actually applies to boats; I learn by doing, and since it is also my job to raise our kid and keep her happy, I really don’t have much chance to learn about boat restoration. But I know plants, and I can feed my family on those skills; I’ve proven this. It’s a different kind of walk in the woods, when you’re looking for a meal. Less taking in the scenery in general, more scanning the undergrowth, looking for the certain types of situations that I simply cannot put into words but know with an almost religious conviction will provide me with food, with medicine. It’s the edges, the places between the fields and the forests, the sides of roads and the place where deciduous forests give way to conifers, they live in those places, and at this point I can spot them from much farther away than I can read a street sign. It would be another handful of years before I would admit I needed glasses.

Sea beans are a new acquaintance, tasting like what the ocean would taste like if it were a vegetable, and there is plenty of chickweed, wild lettuce, sorrel. The mulberries are prolific. I even try my hand at digging for clams, until I’m informed by a concerned fisherman that, even though I have a fishing license, I can’t just dig for clams wherever the hell I want, and I lose my nerve. That was one amazing meal though. Protein is the hardest thing to forage. I never learned how to fish, the crab pot we found washed up on the beach yields a solitary shrimp that falls through the gaps in the wire as we pull it up, not one crab. We quickly give up on trying to be fishermen.

Slowly, slowly, the work is done. I don’t do much of it myself, a bit of sanding here and there, but overall my work is in keeping the kids (both in and out of my belly) fed and happy, and keeping up the front that everything is, indeed, just fucking fine. And it sort of is? The decks forward of the cockpit are replaced and painted, the leaks should be drastically reduced, we take a few photos, exchange a few high fives, and leave her for what was planned to be a two-week trip to visit family.

I would never see One Love again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Late Summer 2020

I have taken to walking again, months after the disastrous birth of my fourth child left my body unable to do any of the things I generally count on it to be able to do, I am slowly growing more active. It comes as such a relief, going on walks has always been a standby for me. Cranky kids? Throw them in the stroller, strap the smallest to my back, walk until no-one’s screaming anymore. This time period is hard to bring into focus, existing beneath the cloud of the deepest and darkest bout of postpartum depression I would ever experience, my memories mostly center around light. Deltaville has really great light.

There is a point in the late afternoon, early evening, when the sunlight filters through the trees around the boatyard and makes everything glow for a few moments, like you can actually physically see the hope contained within those hulls. Like the dreams they represent have substance for a moment, before fading back away like dreams do. Boatyards know this better than most places, enfolding within their gates so many dreams that will never sail away, so many hours of labor that will never pay off, so many valuable lessons learned, regardless of the outcomes.

There is one walk in particular that I always take with the kids. The late light throws the corn field into sharp relief, you might even see a few deer race by. The yarrow flowers indomitably all season long here, my favorite medicine forever, she brings me hope when hope is otherwise nowhere to be found. This evening I see the seasons first ghost pipes, and something inside me flickers, just for a moment, a reminder that I’m still alive in there somewhere. That there really is an end in sight. We are coming up on one year in the boatyard. What was meant to be only a couple months stretched, as time does, until most mornings I wake up with a silent scream stuck in my throat; “Will this ever end?” But with the sight of those otherworldly white flowers, tinged with bright pink and so pale they almost glow, I remember that right now is all I have. Right now, in the boatyard, giving up, and I have to somehow find a way to make it alright.

It’s a good thing the light is so perfect in Deltaville, it makes it easier to pretend that everything is just fucking fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer 2018

We are motoring out of Jackson Creek; the crisp early morning sunlight bathes us all, renewing us, and the ridiculous, question mark shaped, entrance channel is much easier to navigate in daylight. The sandbar on our starboard side is alive with splashing and shimmering, and I point excitedly to Sofia and Naomi:

“Look girls, dolphins!”

“Uh, mom?” Sofia looks at me like I’ve grown an extra head, “ Aren’t those stingrays?”

They were, absolutely, 100%, stingrays.

Listen, I can identify plants all day long, but nobody’s perfect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be continued…

[naturecpw]

More Littoral Relaxocean: • 20 Minutes of Bio…

We filmed this video a few weeks ago along Cannery Row, just off the back deck of the Aquarium! These jellies are Pacific sea nettles, Chrysaora fuscescens—the same ones you may have seen on our Jelly Cam! ( • Live Jelly Cam - … )

Sea nettles are very seasonal here in Monterey Bay, usually showing up in mid to late summer, and sometimes in massive numbers that turn the water very spicy.

Sea nettles are plankton, meaning that they drift with ocean currents. “Plankton” isn’t a size thing, it’s a lifestyle. If you’ve got friends drifting through life with no real direction, then you know a plankter or two. Sea nettles are also planktivores, meaning they eat drifting critters, like tiny shrimps and larval fishes and other jellies.

Lots of animals are planktivores, and many animals eat sea nettles, from sunfish to sea turtles and even the blue rockfish in this video at 1:20—with one even thinking about enjoying a jelly donut for a second there!

Sea nettles are a type of jellyfish known as a scyphozoan, or “bell animal.” The top part here is the bell, housing the famous jelly of the jellyfish. Scientists call this the mesoglea, or “middle jelly”, because it's sandwiched between two layers of skin, the orange epidermis (outside skin) and the clearer gastrodermis, or stomach-skin. The frilly folds of gastrodermis behind those red stinging tentacles are the jelly’s mouth arms—essentially long lips that slurp up plankton soup as the jelly swims. (Heads up that jellies don't actually have "skin" like us, as they only have tissues and not organs.)

Watching jellies swim is simply mesmerizing—and there’s a lot going on with each ring of a jelly’s bell. Muscles contract against the mesoglea, accelerating the pulse to the thin edges of the bell like a whip, creating water currents that pull food toward the jelly’s mouth arms! A swimming jelly isn’t really trying to go anywhere, so much as it’s vacuuming up planktonic pieces of pie with every blobby scull—like if a lava lamp joined forces with a roomba.

There were some huuuuge sea nettles that day—the one at 2:03 had a bell almost two feet across! These open ocean beasts often show some wear and tear on their bells, battle scars from their long voyage through the inner space of planet ocean.

At the end of the video you'll find a northern kelp crab, Pugettia producta, hanging out in the giant kelp, watching current events go by… Solid plan if you’re feeling crabby.

On the way back to the Aquarium, little blubber bud came by to say hey—harbor seals are like curious cats in the kelp forest, sea lions are much more the “ocean doggos” you’ve heard about on the Internet. Ah yes, and then a few senorita cleaner wrasses came by to see if we needed any help tidying up the end of this video—thanks for the kelp!

We hope you enjoyed this dive in the Monterey Bay! Give us a like if you enjoyed this video and subscribe if you want to see more from us here. Thanks everyone, hope to sea you again soon here at the digital Monterey Bay Aquarium.

A few minutes of pelagic magic with wild sea nettle jellyfish, filmed just off the back deck of the Aquarium, for your littoral relaxocean needs!

Keep reading

[rabbitcruiser]

National Crab Meat Day

National Crab Meat Day is celebrated on March 9 every year. This holiday celebrates the tasty goodness of crab meat and the delicious recipes that include this ingredient.

There is a large market for crab in America and an even larger market for imitation crab meat, which is used as a replacement for actual crab in many recipes. Imitation crab is preferred by a lot of people, but when it comes down to it, people love the soft, sweet flavor of crab meat, and nothing can replace the original.

Crabs are so popular because not only are they super delicious, but they are great for health too. And guess what? There are tons of ways in which a crab can be cooked. This means even if you don’t like one recipe, you can easily opt for another one that is more of your flavor. So grab your wallets, call a couple of friends, and get ready to celebrate National Crab Day with a crab-eating fest. We promise it will definitely be worth it. 

History of National Crab Meat Day

National Crab Meat Day pays homage to the deliciousness of crab meat and its popularity across the country. People across the world love seafood— especially crabs. People, on the other hand, appear to be more concerned with the flavor of crabs and how delicious they are rather than the health benefits they give. Crabs, according to the study, are abundant in protein and contain high quantities of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B12, and selenium. Omega-3 and protein supplements are in high demand around the world because they play such an important part in keeping people healthy and fit. But the truth is that none of these supplements can compare to the real nutrition you’ll get from eating a crab.

Crabs are crustaceans found in all the oceans of the world. They are covered with a hard shell, known as an exoskeleton, and usually have two claws known as pincers. One of these pincers is usually larger than the other. The claws also have meat and are one of the most flavorful and meatiest parts of the crab. 

Crabs were first consumed in ancient Rome by persons who lived near the sea or frequently went by sea. These individuals introduced the dishes to Britain and the trend of consuming lobster, crab, shellfish, etc. began to spread. In the mid-fifteenth century, crabs were boiled and eaten cold with vinegar. But it wasn’t until  Victorian times that different dressings for crabs were created by cooks. Archeologists have also discovered that blue crabs were a vital source of food for Native Americans, Euro-American colonists, and African Americans. Crab remnants dating back to the 17th century were unearthed in Maryland, revealing this.

Some species of soft-shell crabs are eaten whole, including the shell, while with others only the legs and claws are edible. The roe or crab eggs are also a delicacy across the world, particularly in Southeast Asia. In America, Chesapeake Bay is the area where crab roe is primarily consumed. 

Crab meat is known for its delicate, sweet flavor. So while there are recipes, particularly in Asia, where the meat is used in recipes that use a lot of spice, most American recipes for crab rely on the flavor of the meat itself. Alaskan crab, for instance, is cooked by boiling it with garlic and butter and not much else. 

Crab is also a popular ingredient in American sushi, but because of the expense, most restaurants prefer to use imitation crab rather than actual crab since the flavor isn’t central to the experience in these recipes. When it comes to fishing and fisheries, crabs account for 20% of all the crustaceans caught, farmed, or consumed. They are eaten all over the world in many different preparations, recipes, and methods.

Crabs are so popular amongst health experts because they can help reduce blood clotting, prevent anemia by producing red blood cells, and most importantly, the delicacy can decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Of course, the benefits of crab were not so well-known till much later. In fact, crabs took a while to reach the U.S. food market.

National Crab Meat Day timeline

1891

The Creation

Thomas J. Murrey's book ”Cookery with a Chafing Dish” mentions a crab cake recipe.

1910

Singing Along

A 1910 poem, named “Summertown,” appreciates crab cakes.

1930s

Crab Fisheries Develop in Alaska

Japanese fishermen develop crab fisheries in Alaska and start bringing in small catches.

1939

Cooking It Up

Crosby Gaige makes the term popular in the New York World’s Fair Cookbook.

1950s

Crab Fisheries Become More Established

Having started in Alaska, the fisheries are now monitored and the catches are recorded in a more formal way.

1980s

A Decline in Crab Fisheries

Over time, the catches slow down, crab populations decline, and fisheries begin to shut down.

2000s

Crab Populations Recover

Although the populations can never go back to the same levels, crab populations in Alaska recover enough to allow for small fisheries.

National Crab Meat Day FAQs

Which state has the most crabs?

Maryland is the state with the most crabs in the country.

Why is crab fishing so dangerous?

Alaskan crab fishing is particularly dangerous because of the temperatures and the risk of hypothermia to the fishermen. 

Can I eat crab every day?

Eating crabs on a daily basis can improve the zinc in your body. 

National Crab Meat Day Activities

Cook some crab cakes: Nothing embodies America’s love for crab meat as much as crab cakes, so get your ingredients together and make some.

Eat crab at a local seafood restaurant: Head over to a seafood place known for their fresh catch and get yourself some delicious Alaskan crab served with the simplest ingredients.

Go crab fishing: Catching crabs in a pot is a time-honored way of fishing for them, so head over to Florida or Alaska and catch yourself some crabs.

5 Incredible Facts About Crabs

There are different grades of crab meat: In the U.S., the grades of crab meat depend on the size of the crab, and the location where the crab comes from.

Imitation crab was invented by the Japanese: Almost 800 years ago, the Japanese invented the technique of mincing fish, which is used to make imitation crab meat today.

Crab exports are a big deal: The total value of crab exports from America comes to over 250 million U.S. dollars.

Some fisheries declaw crabs: This controversial practice involves declawing crabs and putting them back in the water, and is justified because some species of crab can regrow their claws.

Crab meat is very healthy: Crab meat is low in fat and high in folate, niacin, and zinc, which are all necessary nutrients for the human body.

Why We Love National Crab Meat Day

We love crab meat: We love to eat crab meat because it is sweet and delicious. This day is a great excuse to eat all the crab we can.

It talks about the importance of consuming crabs: The day focuses on why crabs are so important to consume and the myriad health advantages they provide. Crabs are high in protein and have a high nutritional value.

Introduces different crab specialties: On this day, several crab specialties are brought to the forefront so that crab lovers have a variety of options.

Source

[941injapan]

June 13th- Free day

Today was our first free day in Kyoto. I had planned plenty of things to do today, and I'm glad I was able to do most of them. I decided to head to Osaka again to hit some places in this amazing city. I began my journey at Osaka Castle. This castle was an important shogunate site that withstood many battles and changes in power. Inside the castle, there were many artifacts as well as war history exhibits. At the top, there was an amazing 360-degree view of Osaka. After the many flights of stairs to get down, I began to make my way over to my next stop. The Osaka Aquarium. This Aquarium is world famous for having not 1 but 2 whale sharks in their Pacific Ocean exhibit. This aquarium had an excellent setup and flow. You began in native Japanese water exhibits, with Monterey bay and Icelandic exhibits, then the rest of the exhibits went in a circle around this huge Pacific Ocean tank. Massive grouper, all kinds of sharks, stingrays, manta rays, the whole deal. Along the way, I saw dolphins, seals, sea lions, and many more cute and playful aquatic creatures. I saw a king crab for the first time and my gosh they look like aliens or something. It then takes you down to the deep sea area with jellyfish and bioluminescent sea cucumbers. Finally, you get to the Arctic section with penguins and ice-cold water fish. Easily the most impressive aquarium I've seen, and the competition is fierce. I worked my way out of the bay area to go to see Tsutenkaku Tower, a radio tower that is basically Osaka's Tokyo Tower, as well as do some merchandise shopping in Den Den town. I was impressed with Den Den town, much more than Akiharaba. They had more cool stuff instead of cute stuff, and none of the stores felt questionable like in Akiba. I landed a rare cowboy bebop figure and went to my last stop. I walked for about 50 minutes through neighborhoods and markets to get to a place named UpGarage. You know how much I love cars, so I relish in part shopping even though Japan doesn't even have a single part for my car. Up Garage was special, and I really loved the gig they had there. Up Garage is a used performance parts store that sells items like rims, suspension, exhaust, and even body parts for cars. I was blown away at the markdowns here. Fully functional coil-over sets, just dirty but otherwise in perfect working order, from 200-400 dollars. Just wow. Coilovers brand new in America goes for 1000+ easy, very easy. The main issue I have with car customization and racing is just how much money the sport costs. But here, if you're not going for looks, but for real performance and gains, you can slice the price of your racing-bred machine in half. I don't think people realize how insane that really is. I found gauges for the Japanese counterpart of my car for 4 dollars, 4 smackeroos. That's like 2 single cheeseburgers at Mcdonald's for a 100-dollar part used on eBay. It made me really want to move to Japan for a year or two just to get a car cheap, clap it out for cheap, and race these stunning mountain roads just to send her back to America when I'm done. Gosh, I need to get my degree and marbles together so I can live that dream while I'm young. I ate gyoza at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant and the waitress there spoke perfect English which was nice. I ordered some thin beef thing over some sushi rice and they actually came out with a torched and cooked it. After my meal, I went back on the train and got ready to crash for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll definitely take it easy, after that hike, I'm 100% going to nap. Great day today, a great city, and great interactions. That is the Japanese experience.

[obaewankenope]

Please share your knowledge of goblin sharks! ❤️

Please share your knowledge of goblin sharks! ❤️

Goblin sharks huh… those with the pointy noses ala probably why they’re called “goblin” sharks… okay, I can do that!

Goblin sharks: the Basics™

[Image source: mentalfloss.com]

Okay so, these weird looking kids drawings brought to life are actually a real rare species of deep-sea shark — that means they live deep out in the ocean, something like 100 metres (330 feet) below in the clear blue. They’re found throughout the world and there’s some researchers out there who argue Goblin Sharks can dive over 1300 metres down (4270 feet) for short pockets of time. That’s almost one-seventh of the height of Mount Everest (29000 feet) by the way. For y’all Americans, your football fields are about 91 metres long, so that means the Goblin Shark can possibly dive 14 football fields. 

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty impressed; and slightly scared lol.

Goblin Sharks are the only surviving member of the Mitsukurinidae family of sharks; they have a lineage then of 125 million years and then some! They come from the larger order of Lamniformes which get called Mackerel Sharks and one of its cousins is the Great White. 

Heckin’ interesting family reunion I guess; being the only member of that branch of the family still kicking when you see the beefcake great-great-great baby cousin of yours the Great White looking like the Ideal™ Shark.  Poor Goblin Shark with his absurd body design and old as balls evolutionary structure.

It hunts cephalopods and crustaceans (squid and crabs or shrimp basically) as well as teleost fish. Teleost fish are, to put it simply, a bony fish that can do like a shark with their jaw and pop them out. Because fish needed to become more terrifying to consider, of course. So the Goblin Shark hunts squid, shrimp, crabs, and fish like fucking Giant Oarfish and the Anglerfish and even Seahorses; depending on where they are in the oceans.

Lovely.

[Image Source: factanimal.com]

Goblin Sharks were “discovered” some time in the 1800s after a description of an immature male was caught in Sagami Bay, Japan and described by David Starr Jordan in 1898, an American ichthyologist who determined that the Goblin Shark caught in Sagami Bay was a new genus and family entirely from other sharks known at the time. Jordan gave the name for the Goblin Shark based on the ship master (Alan Owston) who caught it and the professor at University of Tokyo who assessed it (Kakichi Mitsukuri). Thus, the Goblin Shark’s scientific name is: Mitsukurina owstoni. 

[Image source: Wikipedia]

Incidentally, Goblin Shark as a term is a calque (or loan translation borrowed from another language) of its traditional Japanese name tenguzame which is a creature in Japanese mythology with a long nose and red face. Goblin Sharks are also called Elfin Sharks by the way; again, probably due to their facial structure with the nose… idk, that one still confuses me. 

Goblin Sharks are considered to be one of the oldest root members of the Lamniformes order; basal meaning base aka near the root/actually the root of a species/order/family etc. Because it’s the last member of a lineage that dates back to the — Middle Eocene (which is around 49 million years ago by the way) for the Goblin Shark as we know it right now — Cretaceous (125 million years ago), the Goblin Shark is called a “living fossil” because it also retains several of the traits “primitive” sharks once had. 

Goblin Shark: Description

Goblin Sharks are pink, not the traditionally expected countershading black/grey/blue/some colour and white belly set up other sharks have, and have that long flat snout with very poppy-outty jaws (protrusible, the word is protrusible) with nail-like teeth. Because needle teeth weren’t bad enough obviously. They can grow around 3 to 4 metres, around 13 feet long, but some have been recorded around 6 metres (20 feet).

[Image source: Wikipedia]

It also has a flabby old body with small pectoral and dorsal fins which suggest it’s not a fast mover like its cousin the Great White. So this is a pink, blobby thing with stubby fins and a pointy nose that definitely means it ain’t winning any Prettiest Of The Ocean competitions any time soon. Poor fella.

[Image source: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute]

Goblin Shark snouts are long and flat like a blade (think… which one was it in Pacific Rim with the pointy nose over its face… that’s basically a Goblin Shark head lol), and the snout decreases in length the older they get. They have little eyes with no protective nictitating membrane and behind each eye is a spiracle that leads to the respiratory system of an animal; basically nostrils. Their jaws can extend almost as far as to the end of their snout which is just Not Okay. And with something like 100 rows of teeth in its jaws, you do not want to be bitten by this long nosed nightmare blob from the depths. 

[Image source: Wikipedia]

Goblin Sharks also only have five gill slits which are pretty short to be honest. With a relatively slender, flabby body, and two small dorsal fins that are similar in size and shape, as well as little rounded pectoral fins, Goblin Sharks really don’t scream Effective Fast Predator at all. They’re more ambush predators since they can extend those damned jaws out so damned much. Unlike a lot of other sharks, Goblin Sharks have a rougher skin texture since their dermal denticles are shaped like spines with ridges lengthwise which point upright… charming.

[Image source: National Geographic]

Like other sharks, the Goblin Shark has a field of ampullae of Lorenzini which allow it to sense electric fields in the water that prey produce. This is one of the reasons, by the way, why it can be advised that you punch a shark in the snout when attacked, because that’s where the ampullae of Lorenzini are located. A punch to the snout is essentially a burst of loud as fuck static in your headphones for a shark.

Might get your arm bitten off in the attempt though.

Anyway, digression!

Goblin Sharks: Where to find em

You’ll find these nightmare nail teeth monstrosities in all the major oceans from the Atlantic where its been found in the Gulf of Mexico, southern Brazil, France, Portugal, and Senegal (to name a few), to the Indo-Pacific and Oceanic where it’s been found in the waters off South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. So yeah… basically everywhere. Great!

[Image source: Wikipedia]

Just something extra

So back when the Goblin Shark was being discovered and information about it getting published in journals etc, in 1910, a researcher wrote about the Goblin Shark and, honestly, bit harsh man… bit harsh. The wrote:

“...the new shark is certainly grotesque… the most remarkable feature is the curiously elongated nose…” — Hussakof, L, 1910, The Newly Discovered Goblin Shark of Japan. Scientific American: A Division of Nature. 

So there ya go! Stuff about Goblin Sharks! Now I’m going to go be thankful I don’t swim in the ocean for the next ten hours while rocking in a corner :D

[cyberphuck]

You know that the people who died in the sinking of the titanic are not like... down there, right? You know there aren't people swimming around down there whose lives we're disrupting? If you're concerned about desecrating the actual places where the bodies *ended up,* then "in the stomachs of a bunch of fish and crabs and such" is really what you're looking for. And if you're worried about disturbing the souls of the dead people... I'm sorry? They're dead? The worst thing has happened, they no longer care about anything because they're dead.

Is it a religious landmark? No. A cultural one? Maybe?? But no one really gave a shit when Jaaaames Cameron went down there. Unlike sites of massacres or battles or religious or cultural sites (like Uluru to throw a random example out there), there's no real remaining *cultural* connection or importance to the wreck-- it's a boat at the bottom of the ocean. You shouldn't go down there because it's dangerous, not because it's holy.

And just an aside but you can't trample over water. It was five people in a lipstick tube and they're probably dead so problem solved.

There's something that's really bothering you here and I have a feeling it's not about the final resting place of Leonardo DiCaprio.

so theres a lot of posts going round about the titanic wreck and the missing submarines; all of them that ive seen have made very good points about how shoddy the submersible seemed to be and how the company decided to wait eight hours before reporting it, and how this is a play stupid games, win stupid prizes for the ultra-wealthy who paid like 250grand a ticket for this thing.

but what i havent seen any posts about is how the titanic wreck is a gravesite and this tourism is disturbing the graves of over 1500 people.

sometimes its kinda hard to remember that those on the titanic were real people; it was over a century ago, the story has been romanticised in so many ways (like the movie), theres conspiracies theories galore that cloud everything with misinformation, but at the end of the day, those who died were real people.

do you want their names? heres a list of them; its a long read. and for fun, heres another site where you can see photos of the children and babies who died aboard.

their bodies are long gone and their lives long forgotten. all we have to remember them and honour them is the wreck itself. its all we have of them and it is their gravesite. its their tombstone.

caitlin doughty/ask a morticians video on the great lakes discusses the topic well, and why we should leave these shipwrecks alone because again, they are the gravesites of all the souls who died aboard those ships. we rarely have bodies to recover so we really are left just with the wreck.

and what really upsets me about titanic tourism is how the majority of those who died that night were not the ultra-wealthy rich folks you might picture when you think of ocean liners.

61% of the first class passengers survived

42% of the second class passengers survived

24% of the third class passengers survived

24% of the crew survived **

the majority of those who died that night were regular folk; not to be cliche, but they were just like us. titanics wreck is not only a gravesite for over 1500 people, its also a majority working class gravesite.

and look at us now. look at what were doing. the ultra-wealthy can pay the equivalent of peanuts to them to disturb a mass gravesite of the exact kind of people they exploit today to hold onto all their wealth. 

its easy to point and laugh at these dumb idiots in their playstation controller submarine, seemingly held together with super glue and duct tape, but its also important to remember that what they were doing was simply disturbing a gravesite for fun. though the company does research, these guys werent down there to conduct research, they were there so they could brag about it to their friends. its like “climbing mount everest” while your sherpa does all the work.

if you cant tell, i have a lot of feelings about this. shipwrecks and ocean liners are one of my special interests and im currently building a (beginner’s) model of the titanic, for fucks sake. but i would never go down to see that wreck because its a fucking gravesite and we should not be disturbing their final resting place.

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #221

Brought to you by a marine biologist doing her own thing this time around...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

Believe it or not, I am still finding new aquatic friends to cover for this series. Pocket Camp has a lot of fish that it continuously introduces, but there are also species that appeared in just one game, never to be seen again. So, today, we're going to look at one - the "Crab".

This buddy only appeared in Animal Forest e+, which was released in 2003. It could be found crawling around on the beach all day and night, digging under the sand and popping out every once in a while. It was actually quite rare despite the pitiful number of bells you could get for it. Like the hermit crab in ACNH, the Crab was classified under the "Bug" section in the Critterpedia. It wasn't the only one - the hermit crab in that game, as well as the Coconut Crab, were also classified as bugs.

Now, we know crabs aren't bugs, although they are distantly related to them within the Phylum Arthropoda. Crabs are decapod crustaceans that make up the True Crabs of InfraOrder Brachyura. Some sources say the AFe+ Crab is the Asian Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus), native to the western Pacific, but introduced and invasive in many other places around the world, like Europe and North America. However, I'm not convinced. Honestly, the Crab doesn't really look like the Asian Shore; if we're being serious, it looks like your typical red cartoon crab. And that's fair - this is a video game after all. In AFe+, it's Japanese name is simply "kani" which means crab, and also refers to imitation crab meat (which is made of fish), which is supposed to imitate Snow Crab meat. So, yeah, being at a loss, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about Land Crabs, particularly the Christmas Island Crab (Gecarcoidea natalis).

By DIAC images - Christmas Island, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24284781

Land Crabs are a special group of crabs that make up the Family Gecarcinidae. They live an amphibian's life - adapted to live on land in moist environments, but return to water to lay their eggs and develop as larvae. Land crabs still have gills, but they also possess an inflated pouch adjacent to their gills that is lined with blood vessels and extracts oxygen from the air, just like a lung does. It is called the Branchiostegal lung, and though it acts like a lung, it's tissues are part of the crab's gill system, so please don't get confused. It's only analogous to a lung.

The Christmas Island Crab (CIC), or Red Land Crab, is actually an infamous crab endemic to tiny Christmas Island, located northwest of Australia in the Indian Ocean. The island is tropical, covered in rainforest that breaks to meet the sandy beaches. It's like a tiny paradise. The CIC adults live in the rainforests of the island interior their whole lives until the breeding season in October and November. Every year, they march to the seashore to release their eggs into the surf and then marsh back into the forests. They do this in droves millions strong. It's a real spectacle. This trek they make every year is treacherous, though - humans live on the island as well, and there are roads the crabs need to cross in order to reach the beaches. In recent years, the human inhabitants of Christmas Island have installed crab bridges and underpasses to make travel safe for the crabs, and for people who don't want their tires punctured by the hard shells of these crustaceans.

And yes, I do believe the crabs featured in the Crab Rave meme is this species.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

[officialhexrpg]

Magical Arts: July's Writing Challenge Winner!

This month, we’ll be looking at the magical world under water. Did you know that the world’s longest mountain range is actually in the oceans? In this month’s writing challenge, your task is to describe your scuba driving experience! What sorts of creatures did you encounter? How did the gush of water feel? Learnt anything new about the world under water? Or did you race any fish?

2nd Place: Kestrel Winter

Scuba diving is a delightful experience, a magical and wonderful experience. Yeah, Maybe for others. Personally, I will never, ever venture beneath the waves again. Oh sure it was pretty enough, and I do love swimming, but, shudders, the cons outweigh the pros in my case!

I had booked a trip to Iceland for the sole purpose of diving and exploring Strýtan the Geothermal Chimney. I had read tons about it and even though I am not an expert at scuba, I was going to be with some professional divers familiar with the area. So what could go wrong?

The first thing I noticed upon entering the water, was that it was cold. I mean super cold. But the visibility was amazing. I had never dove in such clear waters. But then again, I had never dived this far north in the world. It was crystalline clear, enabling me to see everything. The first thing I saw was the strýtan themselves. In case you do not know these are giant geothermal cones of silica. The fact that they are geothermal is what makes it warm enough for us to even be there. In fact, the closer you get to one, the warmer it is, almost balmy.

The next thing I noticed was the flabellina nudibranchs. Yes, sea slugs. In some of the most amazing colors too. My favorite was an almost translucent, milky white one with coral -colored tips on it. There were others around us that were larger and others with brighter, flashier hues, but these were just so elegant. I must have spent a good twenty minutes observing them. But there was so much more to see.

Great schools of cod, silvery shoals of pollock, a couple of mean looking wolfish and one enormous and stunning starry ray that was the most amazing tint of gold. It was really unbelievable the amount of fish life around, not to mention the copious amounts of crustaceans. Artic lyre crab were the most numerous, but there were also spider crabs, large and creepy looking if you ask me. Iceland has only one type of lobster, the Nephrops lobster, but they were also most prolific. Who knew that this area would be so teeming of life? And therein lay the problem.

We had all gathered around one of the strýtan to warm up a bit, when I noticed a large cave in the side of a really big one next to us. For some reason it was compelling me to watch it and I soon found out why. Suddenly two large, ice blue eyes appeared, staring incessantly at me. Then, the gleaming white teeth appeared, followed by what can only be called a sea monster horse thingy! Silvery blue with an outrageous fringe of red running over its head and neck!

As it started to undulate out of the darkness towards us, I felt my dive leaders grabbing my arms and propelling me swiftly to the surface. Once we had reached the safety of the boat, they started the motor and sped towards shore. As I looked back over our jet wash, I saw that enormous evil looking head breach the waves and look after us hungrily. My Icelandic guides informed me that this was indeed the ‘Faxaskrímsli’ a legendary monster of the deep, that few had ever lived to tell the tale about.

I think I could have lived the rest of my life without having seen this thing .Most call me lucky to have the encounter: I say cursed. I have lost any desire to even put one toe into the ocean again. If this creature is real, who is to say that all the other monsters of the deep are not?

[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?

[squarefriend]

Mermay ended yesterday, but I’m sitting on the beach at this very moment so let’s fucking do this:

🌴🐬BEACH HEAD CANNONS!!!🐬🌴

Chara

❤️ They are actually rather neutral over the ocean. Far more of a skipping stones and playing in the lake kind of kid. Though, they do have a respect for the water’s raw power and changing tides. (Also seeing how much Undyne loves it made them want to appreciate the ocean more)

❤️ Thanks to being attached to Frisk’s soul, they kinda have to go to the beach all the time now. They like to go out as far as they can and walk along to the bottom, or float above Frisk and try to freak them out.

❤️ All that being said, they ADORE sharks. They nerd out every time they get to go to the aquarium. (Then get kinda embarrassed about it).

❤️ They have (on more than one occasion) convinced Frisk that because they’re a ghost they can see all the ghosts of everyone who’s drowned, and that yes, pirates ARE coming to get them...... It backfired at the notion that now Frisk WANTED to go meet the ghost pirates.

❤️ Had a brief period of wanting to be a mermaid, purely because A) Not a human and B) Typically man eaters. It suited their style

Frisk

❤️ They LOVE the ocean.... or rather, they love the beach. There’s one right at the edge of Ebbott City, so in the summer, they get to go up every weekend or so. And you can bet on that weekend, they have an absolute ball with whomever family/friend took them this time.

❤️ Their favorite part is exploring. They love to run around on the beach, looking for shells or any critters, as well as going out into as deep as the can in the ocean (usually only to be called back by their mom). Speak of the devil, Toriel bought them a snorkeling kit for their gotcha day and that thing has been used religiously ever since!

❤️ Every time they go the the car to go home, Frisk has to be checked by an adult (not either of the skelebros, they are WAY to lenient on this one) to make sure that they don’t have any stow away sea critters. One too many times of Frisk trying to keep a pet crab.

❤️ They take swimming lessons from Undyne! There were only a couple of misunderstandings over wether or not a humans could breathe underwater, but its all been sorted out! They’re doing really well!

❤️ They refuse to learn how to dive. Undyne has been trying to teach them for MONTHS now. It’s cannon ball or nothing, and they’re determined to keep it that way.

Flowey

❤️ Back when he was Asriel, he’d wanted to see the ocean. They don’t exactly have HUGE bodies of water in the underground like that, basically only the river. And no one swims in the river. Add in Chara’s talk of mermaids and their stories about lakes and skipping stones and all that.... It had been a big goal of his. Now that he’s there, and without the capabilities to swim or get in the water, and without the person who said they’d show him the surf.... it’s uh, it’s lost its appeal.

❤️ Frisk and Papyrus tried to get him to go out in one of those dog floaties. It looked pretty ridiculous and nearly tipped over a couple of times. Inevitably it was decided that it was just best to just keep him on the shore or in the shallows strapped to someone’s chest.

❤️ Usually he just sits on the shore with Paps, Frisk, or Toriel. He (begrudgingly) likes to make sand castles. He’s actually gotten quite good at them. Either that or eat nice cream.

❤️ Papyrus made him tiny sunglasses. He wears them every time they go to the beach.

❤️ When he does go into the water, he likes to stick his head under the serf and try to find fish. He actually managed to catch one in his mouth once, both impressive and terrifying.

Toriel

❤️ She is fond of the beach. Not so much the water, but she does enjoy the occasional swim with Frisk. Would probably like going out on a boat, though she has never tried it.

❤️ Usually while the rest of the family swims, she’s on the shore in her beach chair, reading a good book and keeping a watchful eye on her kids. She can usually get through half of the thing before its time to go home.

❤️ That being said, when she does go out in the water (usually to cool off or check on Frisk and/or Flowey) she is remarkably good at floating along. That, and she’s abit of a beast when it comes to X-treme monkey in the middle. That lady is huge and can use that height when she needs to. Also she has to shake off when she gets out of the water.

❤️ She ALWAYS has a beach bag on her, and in that beach bag is pretty much anything you’d ever hope to need. Pool toys, goggles, fresh water, extra sunscreen, at least three books, money, Your scocial security number, you name it.

❤️ Toriel’s usually the go to ‘hold tired swimmer gently’ person. And has done so for everyone in the main cast but Mettaton and Undyne. You could just fall asleep in those big ole’ arms.

Sans

❤️ He’s, as with most things, pretty nuetral about the ocean. Though, he adores the fact that it’s a day he can just slack off and relax in the sun (and sometimes water). He’s usually on the beach in a beach chair or sitting in a pool floaty, just drifting along. Sometimes he’s just latched onto Paps or Toriel, it’s kinda a wild card where he is at any given time.

❤️ He has never been sober ONCE while at the beach with the family. Mostly thanks to the fact that he somehow always has a martini in hand. No one knows where he gets it, let alone how it is almost always at least half way full. Needless to say, he’s at least buzzed by the end of the day.

❤️ Every time they go to the beach, he wears the most insane sunglasses. I’m talking Elton John style, but if they came from dollar tree. Normally it’s a pineapple pair, but they change on a whim. Once again, no ones entirely sure where they come from.

❤️ He briefly moved the illegal hotdog stand to beach, before the threat of getting fined was close enough to scadattle. This, the limited addition ‘Colddogs’ (now for 5g, wait he meant 50g, actually its 500-) became a thing. They were followed shortly by ‘Frozendogs’ (available in 50 flavors!)

❤️ The two never breathe a word of it, but every once in awhile Papyrus will rent a canoe and the two of them will go out on the water. They only do this at the dead of night, when the water is still and clear. Way out past the buoys, where it’s hard to see the shore, the moon and the stars bounce off the water in a shifting, funhouse esc reflection. Being out there, together, in practically silence..... It brings a lot of comfort to the two of them. It reminds Sans that yeah, this is real, and some things are worth remembering.

Papyrus

❤️ Paps is very fond of the shallows, but not a huge fan off big, open water. Unless he’s in the comfort of a canoe or boat. It’s just too big of a space. One can feel so... alone out there. But!! If he’s in chest or higher or with a group of close friends, he’s good!!

❤️ He bought special spandex gloves to wear in the water, ones that cover his fingers and palms without being skin (bone???) tight. They help him tread the water better, since he’s the opposite of buoyant. Which is definitely the only reason he bought them! No other reason in sight! Why would you even ask that?!

❤️ He, Undyne, and Frisk play ALOT of beach games, all far more extreme than their originals. The current turnomemt is over X-Treme volleyball, this time featuring antigravity magic and spears. Frisk is, somehow, winning.

❤️ A good portion of the time, he eats nice cream and makes sand castles with Flowey. Their creations are startlingly structurally sound and flourished. Though, they are also usually next to a life sized sand-Papyrus. No one knows where the sand came from.

❤️ He tried catch and realease shark fishing with Undyne once. It um, got interesting to say the least. Especially when they tried to use Papyrus as live bait. They only had to go to the ER twice!

Undyne (Aka my entire reason for writing this)

❤️ Undyne doesn’t love the ocean. She doesn’t even like the ocean. She ADORES the ocean. You can find her there almost every day after work, sun or storm. She never realized how much she would thrive in salt water until she was there, and now she can’t believe she lived without it. Its so raw and passionate and buetiful, and she’s just at home in the waves.

❤️ Her favorite time to be out is during a good storm, when the ocean is at her roughest. Undyne has learned how to boogie board and body surf since she got on the surface, and uses those huge waves to catch some air. She WANTS to learn how to surf, but has yet to find someone to teach her. Storms are also the best for letting the water roll over her and letting herself drift in the tides, both are pretty damn amazing feelings.

❤️ Because she can breathe and see under the water, she also likes to swim out really deep into the open ocean. No one in the family can follow, but it gives her a lot of time to think. Also, there are sometimes HUGE fish out there, which she greatly enjoys seeing and interacting with. She’s. she’s fought a tiger shark before. And probably other, larger and more dangerous things. (Also when she gets home, Alphys always talks about how her kisses taste like salt. Undyne loves it).

❤️ Before she became Asgore’s body gaurd, Undyne was pretty much out of work. Not a whole lot of people wanted a massive, sharp toothed, she-shark selling retail in their stores. But, being a fish and all, she got managed to get a job as a life gaurd over the summer! This ended in her actually giving swim lessons to a couple of kids (starting with Frisk)!! She is actually a pretty good trainer and still teaches a few kids every once in awhile over summer breaks.

❤️ Her and Asgore went on a fishing trip once! The boat nearly capsized, Undyne ended up going in to fish instead of using the pole, there were life lessons taught about patience, and Asgore got horrendously away sick. Needless to say, it was a good trip. They still have pictures on Asgore’s fridge!

Alphys

❤️ As much as her girlfriend loves it, she’s not actually a huge fan of the water. It’s overwhelming and dries out her scales, and when she’s in super deep it makes her really uncomfortable. She’s stared into oblivion before and, well, it’s not a good feeling. The deep sea reminds her of that.

❤️ That being said, she LOVES the beach itself. She could sun bathe for hours while Undyne is swimming. Just pop on her head phones, lay on the sand, and embrace her lizard heratage! Also, she likes to watch her hot girlfriend do hot things like catch fish in her teeth and throw skeletons, so it’s a win win.

❤️ Naturally, this means a lot of her and Undyne’s date end up at the beach one way or anouther. Every time they go now, Alphy makes a point of collecting a seashell. They all hang on a string over her bed, it’s her favorite part of the room.

❤️ More times than not, if the sand is particularly nice and warm, Alphys falls asleep on it. Like, hard core passed out asleep. She just loves the fluffy parts of the sand so much??? And it’s so comfortable??? And she’s gotten more than afew overheating from sleeping ALL day, but she can’t help herself. It’s just too cozy!

❤️ Her favorite thing about the ocean is always going to be seeing Undyne’s smile though. She loves it. She loves the way her girlfriend’s kisses taste after she’s been in the sea. She loves how content the girl is after a good swim, and how cuddly they get in the living room. She loves smelling the air and holding her hand and seeing the sun on the water. She wants to spend forever in her arms, on the sand, eating nice cream and watching the sun set.

Mettaton

❤️ So. He’s a robot. Alphys is currently working on waterproofing his body, but until then he’s shore bound. That doesn’t mean he won’t done his best sun hat and glasses, steal a life gaurd’s chair, and pose dramatically on the beach though!

❤️ Truth be told, he actually quite enjoys long walks on the beach. His boots are well protected enough to go a way into the water as well, so he takes them sometimes with Alphys. Also, night time on the beach holds SPECTACULAR song writing material! There’s something so inspirational about the atmosphere.

❤️ That being said, summer concerts are the bomb. Litterally. There’s pyrotechnics. He’s not as big a star as he was in the underground, but some local beach performances are well within his pay grade. The thrill of the stage! The cries of the people! The personality and connection to his adoring fans! The one time he crowd surfed! The fashion! It’s all just perfect!

❤️ He also frequents beach side shops, thanks to the atmosphere and outfit selection. One can NEVER go wrong with a floppy hat and a sheer coverup. It’s just impossible.

❤️ He relates WAY too hard to the little mermaid, both in the original story and Disney. There’s just something that hits too close to home about longing for humanity and a new, more comfortable body... He gets Ariel man, he gets her.

Asgore

❤️ He likes to go on long morning walks on the beach alone. There’s something comforting about the sun rise and the sound of the waves rolling around him. There’s something even more sweet about the rare conversations, only lasting a hello and small talk, all few and far between. Sometimes he finds himself wishing he had a dog to walk with him, but in the end decides against it. He’s been alone a long time, he can last one more day.

❤️ He really enjoys going shelling. Sometimes, he even likes to paint his finds and put them up in his windows. Frisk helps him, he likes that.

❤️ He’s become a vollenteer to help find and aid sea turtles’ hatch sites. He loves watching them hatch and get to the sea safely. Though he’s not supposed to, he’ll protect them from the gulls.

❤️ Thanks to being in so close to the sea, he had a brief phase of being rather in love with verities of seaweed and kelps. He tried to keep afew using water tanks, but could never quite get them right. Ah well, at least the petunias and roses are doing nicely.

❤️ He has a hard time reading or watching things about mermaids. They make him sad.