#gill live reacts

[yelenaswift]

Antman and the Wasp Quantumania spoilers with no context:

[zexonyte]

yeah i made him a fish lookin thang whatcha gonna do about it

[ookaookaooka]

i was just thinking the other day about how fucked up plant pheromone signaling is. like we talk about it like “oh, plant A is getting eaten so it holds up a sign saying PREPARE THYSELF and plants B, C, and D see that and go oh shit we better start making a chemical that makes us taste bitter so we don’t get eaten” but it’s more like. if the sweat we produced while running away from something that’s trying to eat us contained aerosolized cocaine, which makes anyone who smells it start running away as fast as they can in whatever direction they happen to be pointing, which hopefully is in the opposite direction of whatever’s trying to eat us

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One Two

Fish guy is actually pretty much the same height as Steve when they’re sitting next to each other on the edge of the pool. Steve finally gave in, the heat of the day getting too much, and is trailing his feet in the water – fish guy doesn’t seem to care, but Steve still made sure to shower before he came out here. Next to Steve’s feet, the flat point of fish guys tail is also swirling in the water.

Fish guy loves pears. Steve’s sure they’re his new absolute favorite thing, and Steve’s watched him demolish six, cores and stalks and all, one right after the other.

He’s licking sticky juice from his fingers. Steve can’t see his eyes behind the shades; but he’s certain fish guy is watching him. Probably waiting to see if Steve will produce more food; fish guy has developed a hearty appetite, and he hasn’t put on much weight yet, but he’s not exactly what Steve would call emaciated either. A little over a week of regular food is obviously helping.

“Okay,” Steve sips on his beer, the points to himself, “Steve.”

“Steeee,” fish guy readily replies, nodding. Steve has no idea how or when he picked up the nodding and head shaking, but he uses both correctly, as far as Steve can tell, so Steve doesn’t argue.

Steve points at fish guy. Nothing, then a curious head tilt.

Steve’s starting to come to the conclusion that maybe fish guy just doesn’t have a name. Which, okay, Steve can kind of see that. He vaguely wonders if fish guy has any family; if he’d even want to go back to the Upside Down.

“Right. Should probably name you something vaguely fish related, no? Should we stay on brand?” Fish guy cocks his head the other way, like a bird. They’ve been sat here long enough that the sun has started to dry the ropey mess of hair that fish guy has; it gone kind of curly now, pinging up as it dries.

Steve really wants to comb it out, but he has no idea how fish guy will react; they’ve only just made it to sitting next to each other. Steve’s vaguely aware that combing someone else's hair is a bit...familiar, but he figures fish guy is kind of in his care or whatever.

Maybe they could build up to it.

“Fish,” Steve muses vaguely to himself, “fishing? Scales? Tails? Fishing, fisher? Fisher, Eddie, Eddie Fisher, that singer guy Mom really likes. What do you think, how does Eddie sound? Good as anything, right?”

Steve has no idea what’s going on behind the sunglasses, but fish guys head keeps cocking curiously to the side. Steve points to himself, “Steve.”

Fish guy, replies, “Steeee,” as expected, nodding.

Steve points to fish guy, and says, “Eddie.”

Fish guy points to himself cautiously, and quietly volunteers, “Edidie?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve says, nodding, “near enough, man. Eddie. Sounds good.”

“Good,” Eddie replies, startling Steve a bit because it’s clear as a bell.

“That’s right, good. Eddie.”

Eddie, very slowly so Steve can clearly see what he’s doing, reaches for Steve’s beer bottle. Steve’s instinct is to take it away, what if it’s poisonous or something? But then he figures Eddie’s been pretty clear about rejecting stuff so far if he doesn’t want it; plus he lived in the Upside Down for, presumably, years. If he can survive in a toxic environment like that, then surely a sip of beer won’t hurt him.

Eddie’s funny as he lifts it, sniffing cautiously before he works out the mechanics of fitting his lips around the neck of the bottle. He drinks. Seems to ponder it for a moment, and then drinks again, giving the bottle a mournful little shake when he realizes it’s empty. There wasn’t much left anyway; Steve figures he’ll be okay.

“Good,” Eddie says as he hands the bottle back, “inied.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, “finished.”

“Why do you think he doesn’t have any gills?”

“You are definitely asking the wrong person here Robs,” Steve scatters another handful of peas into the water, watching as Eddie bobs along, collecting them one at a time and popping them into his mouth, “ask Dustin. He’ll produce a book. There’s literally always a book.”

“I don’t want to ask Dustin, he’ll actually try and explain it to me...I’d rather speculate emptily.”

“You do love a bit of empty speculation.”

Robin nods in agreement, “so, no gills, what do you think?”

“I think…” Steve ponders for a few seconds, filling up the dog bowl with the rest of the peas and floating that on the water, “that he can’t actually breathe underwater. He can just hold his breath for a fucking long time.”

“Nah. Boring. Plausible. Logical. Could be correct. I need something wild Steven.”

Steve thinks, but he doesn’t have much of an imagination, not like the kids or Robin. Clever people have good imaginations; Steve’s not one of them. But he does remember hearing something about bugs one time, “he breathes through his skin.”

“Fucking rad.”

“You have been spending way too much time with Argyle.”

“He has the good stuff Steve, supply and demand,” she says shrugging, and then, “why, you jealous?”

Steve huffs, rolling his eyes. Because no, of course he isn’t. Much. Maybe a tiny bit. But that’s okay, Robin should have other friends and stuff he guesses. She pokes him in the ribs and he flaps at her.

It just encourages her, obviously, so he tries to ignore her which just makes her ten times worse. She pokes more, and she just knows him too well, goes for his ticklish ribs and before Steve knows what’s happening he’s on his side, trying to curl up to get away, begging for mercy and shrieking with laughter, Robin hollering “admit your jealousy Steven. Say uncle! Say iiiiiiiiiit!!”

Robin disappears suddenly with a splash and yelp. She scrambles on the grass, trying to right herself from where she was shoved, Eddie suddenly flopped half on top of Steve, his tail twisting around Steve’s middle. Robin scrambles back a few more paces, Eddie’s arms locked at the elbow to hold his torso up off the ground as far as he can, claws raking into the grass.

He’s completely silent, and Steve, shocked, just sits for a moment, looking at the back of Eddie’s soaking head. The water’s dripping from his hair in rivulets down his pale back, his shoulder blades standing out sharply, the knobs of his spine visible where his back is held in a sharp arch.

He’s puffed up like an angry cat, Steve thinks absently.

He makes eye contact with Robin over Eddie’s shoulder, and she raises her eyebrows just a teeny tiny bit, ‘what the fuck?’

Steve shrugs, ‘I don’t know.’ Then tilts his head to the house a little, ‘give us a minute.’

Robin frowns spectacularly, ‘I’m not leaving you alone with the crazy fish guy’ or words to that effect, Steve guesses.

He nods toward the house again, trying to give his best, ‘I’ll be fine,’ vibes.

She looks hugely doubtful, but does move away, all slow and careful. Eddie hand walks to keep himself between between Steve and Robin, his tail clenching around Steve as he does.

“Eddie,” Steve’s hand hovers in the air for a few seconds before he bites the bullet and lets his hand rest on Eddie’s tail. It’s surprisingly smooth. Not soft exactly, but not hard. Doesn’t even feel scaly really, just smooth and warm it doesn’t look scaly either, now that Steve can have a close up look. It’s just...black. Matt black.

Actually now that he’s here, there are some funny little slits toward the tippy bit, they kind of look like they could be openings, but he doesn’t have time to investigate because Robin’s gone, so Eddie turns to him.

Steve has no clue what to say as Eddie’s tail slowly unwraps from his middle, “Eddie,” he starts, as Eddie slips back into the water.

“Steee.”

Steve just sighs, retrieving what are now Eddie’s sunglasses from where they’ve fallen by the edge of the lawn, “what am I going to do with you?”

Eddie tips his head, listening, but Steve doesn’t have anything else to say. At a loss, he heads inside to make sure Robin is okay.

A/N I know the time line doesn't work with Argyle since this happened after starcourt but lets just all agree to ignore that. There is no tag list for this work.

Part Four

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

The Yandere Student Council 

You just needed to get your schedule officialized. Having gained special permissions to take a desired course you needed the student council’s collective stamps of approval to proceed. Normally all you would need to do was slip in the necessary documents. But something seems to keep happening to yours and it just works better for you to do it in person. Thus begins you’re journey of getting the obsessed student council’s approval.

The first one you go to is the one with the easiest access –the Secretary. Gill Hunter has an absolute poker face when his boyfriend isn’t around. So you’re pleasantly surprised when he’s actually willing to hear you out. Keeping his amber eyes on you he listens to your plea for his stamp, seemingly not reacting at all he promises to help you—for a price. You have to step in for him and his boyfriend from time to time. He says it's just a week as he demands you shadow him for the day. Calling to you in his monotone voice to join him in the student council lounge. Don’t bother bringing up you’re friends or your desire to eat your lunch alone. Even as the week comes to an end and you get your stamp he has you working closely with both him and his boyfriend very closely as an honorary assistant.

“Most if not all schedules go through me, you don’t want your schedule being messed up again. Do you?”

The next one is Gill’s beloved–the Historian. June Frimroar is a different kind of person you need to get a stamp from. Where Gill strings you along with his stone-cold face and hardly hidden intentions, June will do the exact opposite. With a smile that flirts with scheming and altruism, he’ll ask for the most innocent kind of help. Only to somehow become something far more intimate and demanding of you in the first place. How else would simply taking notes during student council meetings lead to you smushed in a locker with the historian and his boyfriend? Or how you’ll be forced to help undress June whose hands inexplicably might be sprained? He’s an enigma to loosely associate with trouble, easily put off by how kind he is to you and your friends as you start spending more time with him and the rest of the student council. Certainly, those rumors of him crippling classmates for fun are far from true, right?

“Don’t you trust me, (Y/n)? Just listen to me and I’m sure everything will work out…even if that blackmail situation with your friend is completely separate.”

Like clockwork, you fall into being the student council’s lackey suddenly trusted with helping the seemingly overwhelmed Treasurer. Min Su is an odd fellow who’s been dignified a living legend with his accounting possibilities; rumored to casually be hired by the government a couple of times. So it's odd that he suddenly must have you spending your club hours documenting receipts. He’s so apologetic and jumpy that you don’t feel right questioning him. So it's normal that he has a fierce blush on his face as you take the records from his hand. Or the little noises of excitement pleasure he seems to have when you lean over him to admire his speed as he’s calculating the books. He’s likely to forget that you needed to get his stamp until you off-handedly mention how you’re going to miss him when you get that stamp.

“Oh, you wanted that? I-I’m happy to give it to you, n-no problem! But you’ll still visit me right?”

At this point, your presence is much more normalized in the student council quarters, and naturally, the Sergeant of Arms or more well known as the student council’s hype man is happy to welcome you. Popular beyond belief Roman Ferris arguably has the largest fan and friend base in the entire council. Knowing everything about everyone he already knows what you’re asking for and he’s cheekily telling you he’s already prepared how you’re going to get it. If you thought Gill was forward then you’d be mistaken Roman straight-up demands every weekend that you come with him on a date. Movies, restaurants, ice cream, trips to the park, he’s doing it all with you. Demanding you dress up for these ‘definitely not dates’, hold his hand while you walk, and smile at him only him when you pose for the camera. It's odd how he knows your every like and dislike, always ordering for you and smiling ominously when you ask. But he’s definitely not giving you this stamp if you suddenly stop coming to his dates hangouts, even if he promised he would. It’d be bad if the whole student body considered you a harlot for playing with the golden boy’s feelings. So just smile while you eat your favorites and keep your mouth sealed about your suspicions.

“Don’t worry about it babe, I already know just how you like it! Don’t worry how I know~ You’re so cute when you're well-fed!”

Practically cemented to your unwritten obligation the Vice President is well aware of what you’re after. Spencer Lyle will wait until the end of the day mindlessly stamping your document as he scrambles through his hefty pile of paperwork. Bags under his eyes and his lids dropping dangerously you figure you’ll help him, already familiar with the kind of work he was doing anyway. He thanks you when you eventually wake him up and from then on something sinister a friendship is born. Suddenly he’s coming up to you in your classes, during lunches keeping you talking casually as he leads you to the student council room. You were going there anyway, right? He’s just the perfect friend for you. Great at warding off bullying fans or teachers that get a little too snippy, he becomes your go-to friend. Not too popular but well-respected feared by the student body; totally perfect for relying on him to be relatable. Completely complacent with letting him into your life and it feels so normal now that he rings your dorm bell for an early morning. You know him so well so it's natural he does the same.

“Hey, you ready to go cupcake? Bags under my eyes? Yeah, I was up all night protecting you doing council stuff, you know how I work.”

Last but certainly not least the Student Council President: Lucoa Grander the college’s prodigy cryptid. Known to be a living genius and prominent underground business personality it seems only natural that he gets such a powerful, prestigious position. He is such a celebrity you go to Spencer to deliver your schedule confirmation only to receive a disappointing answer. Apparently, the president’s only willing to stamp yours personally, and thus your witchhunt for the illusive president begins. Searching high and low, stringing on his fan base’s own timeline and the other council members’ accounts you try to find him. But after a while, you give up fully prepared to abandon your desired course to have the blue-haired pierced-up president mysteriously showing up. He greets you so casually, sitting next to you as he asks mundane questions. When you finally ask for his stamp he gives it to you…on a major condition. 

“We’ve been looking to widen our ranks and I’ve we’ve been keeping a close eye on you. And we’re thinking of making you an honorary member–it's a new position to diversify our team. You’ll get your stamp this way and we get you our beloved a new member that’s fair enough isn’t it?”

[whereserpentswalk]

There was a girl whose body was thrown into the ocean when she was still alive. Her father did it with a tearful smile, going out on a boat because she wasn't the person he decided she was, and threw her away for reasons only humans have.

And as she fell, and as the water filled her lungs, the ducks saw her, but they had no pitty on her, saying to eachother: "this girl was killed under the laws of humanity, and we cannot interfere with the law. It is sad what happened, but it was her father's right."

And as she went further down, and closer to death, the schools of fish saw her, but they had no pitty on her, saying to eachother: "this girl is reacting far too violently. If only she was more calm when they thrust her down, then mabye we would spare her. She's too old too, and too masculine, and not even a virgin. We must find a better looking victim to spare."

And she fell so far down that the rays could see her, but the rays didn't spare her, and told eachother: "this girl is weak. Can she not swim, not pull herself up, is water in her lungs enough to hurt her? If she was just a child perhaps we would spare her, but she's old enough to be able to swim out of this herself, even if ropes bind her hands. We cannot spare her."

And eventually she floated down to the sea with no sun, where only the sharks could see her, and the sharks said to one another: "this being has tasted blood in her mouth, yet has no fins to swim with, we must help her."

And the sharks took her, and swarmed her body yet did not eat her. And her skin became grey and rough, and her bones became as soft as the tip of her nose, and her teeth became sharp and plentiful, and her eyes became white and cold. And she could breath as gills grew on her sides. And she could swim, as fins grew on her arms and legs, and a tail grew on her back.

And she lives now as the queen of the sharks, half human half animal, and she finds those who reject and harm their own children, and she takes them to the sea with no sun, where the sharks will be there to judge them.

[xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx]

Mcr headcanon: y/n (gn) is starring in a horror movie and they’re character d!es in the movie.

Like they d!e in a HORRIBLE way, like horrifying way, how do the boys react to it?

TW: mentions of a fictional character's death, mentions of food, mentions of jealousy

Gerard

I'm literally on my way back from a Yosakoi festival after getting up at 3am (it's 9pm currently, I had 4 hours of sleep), and my feet have been in soaking wet shoes for the past 10 hours (I think they're starting to develop gills) because the rainy season decided to made a comeback and they had to cancel the fireworks because of that (at a festival that's called a "fire carnival" of all events), and you're coming with this? Not formatted properly because I'm literally sitting in a bus, that's driving through the Kyūshū night while I have glitter stones stuck to my face and two braids with Yukata-hair-accessories on my head.

WC: ???

Assuming Gerard knows what's gonna happen, he's probably looking forward to it. He's sitting in your living room, watching the screen attentively, the snacks you were sharing long forgotten as his eyes follow the action. He's leant forward, ellbows on knees, asking "oh, is this where it happens?" in an almost gleeful voice. Depending on how sudden the scene happens, he either gets jumpscared or just follows the story like the most interesting lecture. Either way he ends up laughing, and leaning back into the couch once it's over, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and kissing your forehead. "Well done," he'll tell you with his lips pressed to your forehead.

Would he watch that movie again: sure! It's a good movie! Next time he'd like to discuss the foreshadowing of the ending through the use of colours and the weather in the early scenes of the movie.

Mikey

Mikey loves horror movies, and that his s/o is staring in one is just a major plus to him. He has a lot of experience with horro movies, so he catches on pretty early that your character is going to die, even if you didn't tell him. He would low-key get excited about it. A voice in the back of his head tells him that 15 or 20 years ago the idea of watching a character that has the face of a beloved person die on screen would have terrified him, even though he was very well able to tell fiction from reality, but now he just enjoys the action, as he feels you cuddled into his side. He might even go as far as offer ideas for even more gruesome deaths, or ways to make the character's death even more painful for the audience.

Would he watch that movie again: absolutely! Has the potential to become a new favourite of his.

Side note: my seatmate just fell asleep on my shoulder. I shall not move until she wakes up.

Ray

Ray would generally be pretty chill about it. He grew up with horror movies too, and he is used to seeing you on screen, so he isn't all too bothered by it, but probably more bothered than Gerard. He doesn't show it all too openly, only pulls you in after the scene is over and praises your work. The only indication that he is more affected by it than he lets on is when he pulls you in a little tighter that night, holding you close to his warm body with his nose buried against your neck. (Seatmate just tried sitting up, and failed. Head is back on my shoulder.)

Would he watch that movie again: he wouldn't necessarily bring it up by himself. If he wants to see you act, there are other movies you're in, where you get a happy end, or at least don't die (he prefers watching those over watching your character die, even if he has to suffer through watching you kiss another actor or actress in front of the camera. It always makes him a bit more self-conscious watching you kiss those perfect people, even if it's not real, and he get a bit more clingy than usual for a few days afterwards.)

Seatmate sat up again, is leaning towards the other side now.

Frank

Frank plays is cool, but isn't. Like the others he has seen enough horror movies and has seen you enough on screen. He's even okay with your characters making out with other characters on screen, even though he does have a (well controlled) possessive side that usually tries to act up when some person is hitting on you. (Seatmate's head is back on my shoulder. She's so cute.) So he knows he shouldn't feel that pit in his stomach opening, it's just fiction after all, you're right here next to him, babbling about how hot the studio was that day while playing with his fingers. Still he closes his eyes at the last shot showing your character staring up right past the camera with lifeless eyes. He has watched your characters die on screen before, but something about the way this is portrayed hits different. "Whoa, that looked pretty real," he'd chuckle, his voice a little more shaky than he'd like to admit, "rad acting there!" Luckily you know him well enough to see through his facade. You know he's self-conscious about his feelings towards this scene, so you don't address it directly, but you scoot a little closer to him at night, and he takes the invitation, and wrappes you in his arms (which is rare, since he usually needs a little bit of space to fall asleep).

Would he watch that movie again: only if you asked and he couldn't come up with an excuse not to watch it. He'd rather not see this last shot of your face again.

And since nobody asked, you get a picture of our banner

[whataboutsimple]

Simple AUs

Or AUs I have idea of, but will never work on. Feel free to use them if you wish to!

1. Villain!Olivia AU or what happens when nerd's idol dies.

Concept is rather simple: after Ellegaard's death Olivia looses it and uses 100% of her brain power to build a "perfect world" where no one will die ever again. Expect for those who won't elaborate of course..

During the WitherStorm she gets into tracker bim for too long and gets withersickennes. Of course she won't tell anyone to not cause any panic. They already have sick Petra, no one should be paying attention to her.

Jesse decides to go and look for Magnus, but why? They need someone smart, someone intelligent, not a walking craze creeper man! Argh, Jesse always took Axel's said.

No- no, no, nonononono- Jesse can't take Ellegaard armor! She finally found someone who understands her passion for redstone, she can't loose her!

What.. what do you mean they lied? What- N-no.. sh-.. no. S-shE coulDn't! SHe diDN't LIE! THAT'S CAN'T BE-

The storm defeated, but her sickness didn't fade away. Ah, might as well make some upgrades for her arm..

Now, now Jesse, don't be so scared- let's work together! Trust me, this.. machine won't let anyone get hurt anymore!

Well, it could've gone better. But, ah, at least now no one can get in my way.

Notes: Olivia got her hand replaced with mechanisms, she got Jesse killed, she uses the same concept as "PAMA" — chiping people to use them.

2. Sky city death AU.

Concept: Instead of landing in the lake, like Jesse normally should, they are too slow to react properly and won't make it in time.

Lukas saw it with his own eyes. He saw Jesse landing to the ground. He saw their inventory laying around like it was a pile of trash.

Even with broken arm Lukas manages to get himself and the Founder back to Sky City. Petra and Ivor are happy until they get the news.

It can't be, right? It's Jesse. They always make it out! Or maybe not this time..

Blaze Rods got arrested and putted in jail until the group will find a way to their home. Lukas won't leave them here. He'll come back and take them to the court back in BeaconTown. He'll do anything to get them pay.

Now the problem is: how will they get back? Without Jesse it's gonna be hard for sure..

Petra and Ivor can't get everyone in the mansion trust them enough, so they make decisions. Lukas almost died from White Pumpkin. They barely made it out alive from the Mansion.

No one made alive from the Mansion expect for them. Cassie Rose got the flint, so now they can only follow her through the portal.

Who can keep Petra sane? She's too irritated and Lukas is no better: he saw his friend's death for fuck sakes! Ivor already saw such tension between Order members.. Old Order members.

They are no match to PAMA. Ivor physically can't do everything alone what Jesse did. Is it the end?

Notes: Lukas arm became useless right after they left Sky City, everyone from the Mansion Episode died expect for the group and Cassie Rose, Cassie Rose managed to escape before main group.

3. Long live the king AU.

Concept: Aiden and Jesse swap places, but keep their original characters. It's hard, but everyone tries their best.

Aiden is noisy and bit of a dumbass.. but they love him, though it's hard sometimes. He doesn't know any limits without them, so it's like controlling an angry pug.

They never understood why he was so rude to Jesse. They were nothing but kind and patient! They even kept Maya and Gill in place. Aiden still didn't like them somewhy.

Okay, this time he got too far. How could he put other people in danger? How could he hurt poor pig? They need to talk and now! Winning ain't worth it!

He promised to apologize. Okay, at least they knew he kept his promises.

Oh, uh, since when Petra and him are friends? Okay, nevermind, she needs help - they will help. Still though last time they checked Petra wasn't a big fan of Aiden's behavior..

What is thing thing?! How are they supposed to defeat it? What are they gonna do? What- wait, Aiden is a good leader actually when it's comes to stress situations.

Okay, maybe they can handle it. If only he could stop throwing those dirty looks at Jesse everytime they do anything..

Notes: Olivia and Axel tries their best to deal with Aiden's behavior, though it can be hard sometimes.. Aiden saved Jesse from tracker bin since they were the closest to him instead of Petra or Gabriel, we will learn through the story how angry gremlin can actually be a good character without erasing his gremlin side.

That's my Top3 for today, guys! Feel free to ask anything you want or use the ideas.

[hypnoneghoul]

All Yours. Only Yours

WC: 1,3K

Pairing: Rain/Dewdrop

Tags: Transmasc (still) water ghoul Dewdrop, grinding, gill fingering

“You really never did it?” Rain asked. Dew’s lived with gills for centuries and never thought about sticking his fingers in them? Surprising.

Read under the cut or on AO3.

“You really never did it?” Rain asked, softly trailing his callused fingertips down the length of Dewdrop’s neck, teasing the soft fins there.

“Never even crossed my mind,” the smaller chuckled nervously, face painted with a deep blush from all the attention Rain was paying him.

“Hm, that simply won’t do,” he sighed and before Dewdrop could react he turned them both, the small ghoul now straddling Rain’s middle, his long fingers wrapped around his wrist. 

“Wh- what do you mean?” Dewdrop shivered with something he couldn’t deny was anticipation.

“Here,” Rain pulled his mate’s hand to his own neck, his gills, “do it.”

“Rainy, I don’t-”

“It’s okay,” he cut him off, “you won’t hurt me.”

Dewdrop took a deep breath, fiddling with Rain’s small gill fins before gently lifting them and teasing the underside, just where the opening was. The skin there was cool, slick and so soft. 

“Go on,” Rain encouraged, staring up at Dewdrop with a look that left the small ghoul no choice but to obey, “I know you want to.”

He did want to. He’s lived with gills for centuries and never thought about sticking his fingers in them? Surprising.

Even more surprising, though, was that his packmates didn’t either. Considering all the places they all did shove their fingers into, the gills shouldn’t be left unthought of. Yet, here he was.

Dewdrop stroked the thin film of slick and pushed his finger into Rain’s gill. The bigger water ghoul huffed and Dewdrop felt it on his fingers, “Oh.”

He looked at the expression on Rain’s face, clearly enjoying himself. He took it as his cue to go on, pushing his finger into the tightness nearly up to the second knuckle. Dewdrop swallowed, letting out a shuddering breath, apparently more affected than Rain himself, “It feels like…”

“It does,” Rain purred, and it made Dewdrop’s finger vibrate before he pulled away. “At least for the fingers, can’t compare the rest myself unfortunately. But it does feel good.”

“Can you… make me compare?” Dewdrop whispered, as if he got shy all of a sudden.

“Thought you’d never ask, baby,” he groaned, moving the smaller ghoul back, grinding him down onto his half hard cock. He shuddered as Rain’s dick rubbed against his clit through both of theirs, already wet, underwear.

The friction on his little cock distracted Dewdrop enough that he noticed Rain’s movements only when he felt his fingers on his neck again. His breath hitched, Rain felt his pulse flutter under his touch.

“Are you sure?” hr asked, always considerate, toying with Dewdrop’s gills. He nodded, dropping his gaze to Rain’s chest, his cheeks so beautifully flushed.

Rain obliged, gently prodding at one of the openings on the smaller ghoul’s neck, slowly sipping just the tip of his finger inside. When Dewdrop didn’t jump away, he wiggled it further in, soft flesh engulfing it, until nearly half of it disappeared, “How is it?”

“G- good,” he whispered, and it tickled Rain’s hand, “‘s nice.”

“Yeah?” his mate smiled, pushing Dewdrop’s hips to grind down on them with his free hand. “Does my finger feel like it does in your pussy?”

Dewdrop whined, choking on his own spit as his gills constricted around Rain’s finger.

“It was a question, baby,” he encouraged, Dewdrop’s expression getting more and more fucked out as he, now unconsciously, kept dragging his cunt back and forth over Rain’s hard cock.

“Similar,” he breathed out, Rain now starting to slowly thrust his finger in and out of his gill, following the stuttering rhythm of Dewdrop’s hips, “b- but obviously there’s-”

“No feeling of my lips around your little dick?” he finished for him, angling Dewdrop’s hips so that said little dick would be pressed into Rain’s cock. He mewled, squeezing his eyes shut as his mate continued to toy with his gills. Soon, he felt another rough yet gentle finger at one of his other gills, pushing its way in.

Dewdrop could feel them touching inside, wiggling, stroking. It felt so weird but so good and he didn’t want Rain to ever pull his hands away. The bigger ghoul, as if he was reading the other’s mind, not only didn’t pull away, but added the third finger into the third slit. Dewdrop moaned, slightly gurgled, probably because of having three fingers in his literal throat.

“I wonder if I could toy with my own dick like that if I fucked your pretty mouth,” Rain sighed. “Have to test it out someday.”

“Rainy, p- please,” was all Dewdrop could choke out.

“You’re gonna come like this?” Rain asked, knowing the answer perfectly well. “Just from me fingering your gills, your throat, and humping me like a pathetic bitch?”

“F- fuck, Rainy,” he whimpered, his body tense yet swaying with the effort of staying upright, “y- yes.”

“Good,” he groaned, his hips involuntarily buckling up, betraying his own lack of composure. “‘cause I’m fucking close too.”

Dewdrop shuddered at that, a sweet moan escaping his lips as his body folded in on itself. He rested his arms on Rain’s chest, thumbs just above the gills on his ribs. 

“Do it,” he said, apparently reading Dewdrop’s mind again as he teased one of the gills with a finger. “Stick it in, the left side.”

The smaller ghoul obeyed, shaky hand trailing down to rest his fingertips just at the opening of a gill. He gently pushed his slim finger in, just the tip, feeling similar dampness that he was met with on Rain’s neck. It was tighter here, though, because of his ribs.

“Further in,” he instructed, doing so on Dewdrop’s neck. He whined again, slowly wiggling his finger deeper, basically in between the ribs.

They were both so close, but they didn’t even care. Orgasms stopped mattering, never did actually, not really, not this time.

“Can you feel it?” Rain asked. Dewdrop looked down at him with a confused expression, too fucked out to know what he meant without specifics. “My heartbeat. Isn’t it close?”

He focused on it, indeed feeling it. So very close.

“You’re nearly touching my heart, baby. It’s as close as you can get,” his mate whispered and Dewdrop finally lifted his eyes, looking into Rain’s. His heart was so close, like it was just under his fingertips.

“Can you feel how it’s all yours, how it’s beating only for you?”

Dewdrop felt tears running down his face just when his orgasm crashed into him as his whole body spasmed, lips open in a silent moan. His arms gave out and he fell down onto Rain’s chest, manoeuvring his hand out of his rib gills somewhere along the way. The small ghoul’s lips immediately found his mate’s neck, kissing the gills there softly.

Just as Rain was about to cum himself, Dewdrop dipped the tip of his tongue into one of openings, throwing the ghoul over the edge with a choked out moan. He sagged under the smaller, both slowly catching their breaths, coming back to themselves.

Soon, Rain noticed his mate shivering slightly, now clearly from the chill of the room, “Come on, let’s get changed, then a nap.”

“Mhm,” Dewdrop mumbled, letting himself be manhandled up, then out of his dirty underwear and into the clean pair. It didn’t take long before he was wrapped in a fluffy blanket, curled up against Rain's side with his head on his chest.

“Rainy?” he whispered after some time, when the bigger ghoul thought he was already asleep.

“Yes, baby?” he spoke softly, leaning down to kiss the base of Dewdrop’s horn.

“Love your heart,” he mumbled, and just now Rain noticed how his ear was glued to his pec just over it, listening to its beat, memorising it. It made his heart squeeze with so much pure love and adoration for him, “’s all mine.”

“All yours, baby. Only yours.”

[thedo0zyslider]

Shot Through The Heart - 2k Words

Martyn plans on winning this game, but not without leaving Scott a little parting gift. One to remember him by while he bleeds out.

Tw: graphic violence, brief thoughts of suicide

There's only three people left alive on this fine day, and Martyn intends to be last one standing. In any way possible. Though the other two players might not like his ideas so much.

Scott and Impulse want a fair fight. No weapons, no tools, no tricks. A fair brawl between the three of them, and whoever wins gets crowned the victor. They're both already abandoned their weapons, healing items, and anything else deadly; their stuff being thrown into a messy pile a few feet away. Martyn isn't down with that plan in the slightest.

He keeps his sword, bucket of lava, and a golden apple on him. Everything else, armor included, is thrown in the pile with Scott and Impulse's things. They don't notice him sneaking it, Martyn being careful to not even reveal he has them in the first place. If Scott notices his best sword isn't thrown in the pile, then his ally doesn't say anything.

Impulse keeps talking, about how they should do the fight. Because he doesn't wanna get ganged up on by the two Mean Gills, obviously. Scott, for whatever reason, indulges this conversation. Maybe because indulging Impluse keeps him alive just a little longer. (Scott knows he is not living, that he's dying first. He's already won a game, and certainly doesn't win again. No one would.) Martyn doesn't say anything, just crosses his arm over his chest and waits.

He doesn't care how this fight goes. He already knows it's not going to be fair, and who the winner will be.

Martyn shifts closer to his teammate, doing so as discreetly as possible. Thankfully, Impulse is too absorbed in his chattering to notice, and Scott is almost as committed to listening as their enemy is to talking. Almost.

A red eye watches him, moving to study him every few seconds as its owner chats back with Impulse. A fin twitches curiously and a siren tail flicks with curiosity. Martyn knows, that whatever Scott suspects him of doing, his teammate will let him get away with. Martyn doesn't think he's ever loved anyone more than he does in that one moment.

Scott glances at him one last time, gets a glimpse of the sword he's still hiding behind his back, and Martyn knows it's time.

He grabs Scott, hand resting firmly on the back of his head, and kisses him. His teammate kisses back. A moment later Martyn thrusts his arm forward and shoves a sword through his stomach. Surprisingly, Scott doesn't pull away, just gasps and keeps kissing him. Martyn thinks he kisses harder, actually.

The kiss feels like it goes on forever. It doesn't last long enough. It's messy, and there's blood in Scott’s mouth. Martyn doesn't care. He wants to make the most of it while he still can, even if it means he has to taste iron. He pulls Scott closer, ignoring the sounds of flesh and organs tearing beneath his sword, and bites his bottom lip. Scott doesn't even react to the pain he's most definitely in. Instead, he buries his hands in Martyn’s hair and tugs it as his intestines get torn in two.

Damn, that's hot. Martyn thinks, pulling his weapon out of Scott’s stomach as quickly as he'd shoved it in. His ally almost crumples to the floor, only held up by the hand holding his head and another gripping at his bloody waist. Martyn, now supporting all of Scott’s weight, probably needs to stop thinking that killing people and blood are insane attractive. At least for the moment.

They pull away after a few moments and a lifetime, and that's when Impulse's screams of horror register in Martyn’s head. That's when he remembers he has a job to do, and a game to win. Even if making out with Scott till he dies would be just as fun, if not better.

"I love you." He mumbles, bumping their noses together one last time. His hair falls in his face, loose from the bandana and from being pulled at. His lips have blood on them, his allys blood. He licks if off. It tastes like death.

"I know." Scott whispers, his voice shaky. He knows Martyn loves him, because he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't. It's the worst part about this.

After that, Martyn lets go of him. He lets go, and lets Scott fall to the ground; dying. He watches him bleed out for a minute, watches the life drain from his eyes. Then Martyn moves his gaze to Impulse, suddenly getting a burst of energy. He thinks thats the finally adrenaline is kicking in.

Impulse sees the murderous intent in Martyn’s eyes, and does the only sensible thing an unarmed man can do. He runs. In the opposite direction, because Martyn is kinda blocking his path to the disgraced weapons and armor. Though this just makes the final confrontation all the more entertaining. For one of them, anyways.

"Aw come on Impulse!" Martyn teases, running after his last enemy. Impulse is surprisingly fast when he wants to be. The blonde wasn't expecting to sprint after him this much. "You don't wanna miss out on the fun, do you?"

"I do, actually!" Impulse yells over his shoulder, skidding carelessly down the side of mountain they're on. Martyn skids after him, more determined than he's maybe ever been. He is not letting this guy get away, especially not after stabbing his kiss buddy. Or boyfriend. Or whatever they'd been before Martyn drove a sword through Scott’s torso.

Point is, if Impulse wanted to escape, he should've done that before meeting them near the clocktower. As soon as they all stood together, it was over for him, one way or another. Martyn was always going to make sure of that.

He chases after Impulse for a few minutes longer, not really gaining on him like he wants to. But then, in his haste, Impulse stumbles, and Martyn’s right behind him and suddenly aware the bucket of lava still on his person. Then Imlulse gets away again, but not for much longer.

Martyn throws the lava out of the bucket, hoping for a lucky shot. And luckily for him, some of scalding magma lands right on his opponents heel. Impulse screams, and falls to the ground. Martyn takes his chance, and springs at him, wrestling his fellow player under him.

He would've been a fool not to take such an easy opportunity to win, and Martyn is not a fool. Sure, the blonde's a lot of things, but a fool has never been one of them, and it never will be.

He manages to tackle Impulse to the ground, and straddles him almost immediately. If they're both gonna die soon, why not have some fun with this? Even if what Martyn considers "fun" right now is pretty subjective. Well, subjective for Impulse, anyways.

But, it was rude to play with your food, so he won't drag this out too long. He might be a murderer, but Martyn still has manners.

"Caught you~" He hums, placing a hand on Impulse's cheek. Like a lover might do. Though there's nothing loving about this exchange. It's all the opposite of love, rather fittingly. Or maybe this is ironic. Martyn wouldn't know, he was never really the poetic type (Assuming that flirting with someone before killing them is poetic, of course)

Impulse doesn't say anything, just tries to kick him off instead. He fails at this miserably, by the way. Kicking doesn't really work when half of your left leg has been eaten by lava. And when you're being straddled. Basically all of Martyn is outside of kicking range.

When that plan doesn't work, Impulse tries to grab at him instead. Martyn pins both of his wrists down with a free hand. He does it embarrassingly quick, too. It's almost like Impulse isn't even trying. The fact that he probably is trying, and trying his best at that, just makes it sadder.

"Cute." The blonde hums, grabbing for the sword he'd stashed around his waist. His hand leaves Impulse's cheek in the process, and the ither one keeps the brunette held down. Martyn would like to keep whatever homoerotic thing he has going, but to do that he'd risked being punched. And also his opponent escaping. Which would be less than ideal for him, but very good for Impulse.

And we can't be having that, now can we?

This really was disappointing. Impulse was usually so good at these games. He'd even outlived Martyn before! He thought that killing this guy would've been harder, involved a little more banter maybe. Martyn thought it would've been more changling then betraying Scott, even. But, no, it turns out he was wrong.

Oh well, no one can be right all the time, can they? Besides, an final kill made for an easy victory! And Martyn had grown quite tired of losing and being someone else's easy final kill. A little role reversal hadn't hurt anyone......except that it had! Whoops! Sorry not sorry, Scott and Impulse!

Impulse makes a sound under him, drawing Martyn out of his admittedly crazed thoughts. The sound he makes comes out scared, fearful, even. Martyn pins his wrist down harder, brings the sword closer, and can't help relishing in his neighbors final moments.

"Shame," Martyn says, titling Impulse's chin upwards with the hilt. It takes a lot to not lean in and give him a quick peck of the lips. Scott probably wouldn't be happy if his kiss buddy was kissing someone else, after all. Or maybe he wouldn't have minded. His old teammate had been a self described whore. "Looks like you're joining in on the fun after all."

He stabs a sword through Impulse's chest without another word or warning, and it's all over. Everything's over. The game is over. Martyn has finally won this thing, just like he's been planning to. Though he has to say, a final chase and kiss-stabbing his only ally hadn't been in the plan, but they did make for a damn good final act.

He stands, taking his sword out of Impulse's chest and throwing it to the ground. He shouldn't need it anymore. If Martyn had any armour on him, he would've thrown that away too. There's nothing left for him to fight. Not anymore, not now that he's a winner.

Though actually winning the death game is going a lot different, and a lot less dramatically, than he anticipated.

Marytn is expecting to die once he's the last one alive. He's expecting to die almost immediately after Impulse does. He doesn't. He stands there, waiting for something to happen. He doesn't know what he's waiting for, exactly, but he expects something. A flash of lighting as the gods strike him down, randomly falling over dead out of nowhere, maybe even a random arrow to the head.

But nothing happens.

The adrenaline, the thrill of the hunt, drains away from his body, but nothing happens. Martyn stands there, probably looking like an idiot, because what's supposed to be happening isn't happening! He's supposed to be dead and nothing is happening. He thought you died like, instantly once you won. That's what Scott had said. So why is he still here?

Martyn pulls up his timer, and quickly figures out why. It hasn't stopped ticking. The clocks hand is still moving. Most likely, he has to wait for it to reach zero, and then death will take him. Because of course he does. Because of course the universe won't let him die easily. It'll let everyone else die easily but not him! That's exactly like something They would do, isn't it?

Martyn stuffs his timer back in his pocket with a grumble. He still has over an hour left. About an hour and a half, to be exact. An hour and half before the universe let's him die. Or, an hour and a half to pull a Grian and kill himself. (Though he might need a sand mountain to jump from if he really wants to call it "pulling a Grian..")

Martyn doesn't know which one would be more painful, waiting or just getting it over with. And he isn't particularly excited to find out. Maybe, if he waits, They'll be nice and ket him die in his sleep or something. There's a low chance of that happening, realistically, but it's not a bad thought to entertain.

He starts walking away from Impulse's body after that, elaborate ways of suicide running through his head. If Martyn does decide to kill himself, he has over an hour to make the most unique suicide method humanity's ever seen. Doing a noose would be boring, especially after the show he just gave. If Martyn’s going to kill in style, he won't exclude himself from dying spectacularly. Wouldn't make him much of a showman if he did.

But, before Martyn decides how he's going to die, he has one last thing to do. It's why he started backtracking back towards their meeting spot, the clocktower coming into better view again. It's why he walked away from Impulse's body, and straight back towards his teammates.

He crouches next to Scott’s body, running a hand through blue hair. He looks so small like this, so small and lifeless. Martyn feels himself getting all sad over his....teammate being dead, so he stops thinking about it. There's nothing to be sad over, not anymore.

He had won the game, after all.

Scott’s eyes, lifeless like the rest of him, stare up unmoving at the sky. There's a small smile on his face and blood dripping from his mouth. His fatal injury has stopped bleeding, leaving a large pool around him. Martyn’s getting blood all over his pants. Normally, he would avoid doing that, since blood was so hard fo clean from clothes. Now he doesn't see a reason too. Might as well get his clothes as bloody as possible, while he still has time left to do that.

He'd been told that blood looked good on him a long time ago, last time he wore the banner wrapped around hid waist. Martyn can't say he disagrees.

Speaking of the banner, he takes it off and kays it over his fallen allys stomach. Where the stab wound was. It wasn't very nice to look at it. If Scott were still here, he'd be complaining about how ugly it was and how Martyn had let him look like that.

But he isn't here anymore, because Martyn won.

He covers the wound as if he was.

"Bye, Scott." He says, closing his teammates eyelids. He doesn't go back and do the same for Impulse. Martyn doesn't even think about Impulse's body once I leaves it. He doesn't think about Scott’s once he's off the mountain, either. He can't think about them anymore. There's no reason too. He'd won everything. Why think about and regret the people he'd killed to get there? They were already dead, and there was no turning back time.

Though the thought of time does remind him of somewhere he needs to go. His resting place, maybe, if he's so unlucky enough. Unlucky, because he can't think of anywhere better or worse to die.

The blonde stops walking towards the trees, and changes directions to the beach instead. He gets there in no time at all, and Martyn is reminded of how horribly small this map is and how horribly close the last two bodies truly are to him.

(Maybe this is the part that's romantic or poetic or ironic of whatever. Martyn wouldn't know. He was never very good with understanding stories.

Maybe he should've been.)

Martyn gets back to their island, and throws himself into their giant timer that Scott had made. He doesn't even hear the glass break as he falls, only the ocean waves laping at the shore. Shards stab at his skin, tearing it open, but Martyn doesn't even care. The sooner he bleeds out the sooner he dies, and gets whatever punishment is coming to him. The wooden top of the timer falls into the sand beside him. Martym wishes it had crushed him instead.

He lays there, teammate and final enemy gone and lifeless less than a mile away. He lays there with Scott’s blood still on his lips and coating his plants. He lays there with Impulse's blood on his hand and shirt and sword he forgot to throw into the ocean. He lays there with an empty bucket and a golden apple on him, and what feels like too much red to wash away.

Martyn lays there, a winner lying in broken glass and red sand, and lets the high tide take him.

[actuallysaiyan]

Hi bacon hi, i'm here to make a formal request for the monster event 🙇🏻‍♀️ jiraiya x mermaid!reader, "my voice enchanted you. You came to me. Now you must pay the price." Thank youuu💗

warnings: smut, handjobs, mentions of enchanting/slight dub con, heartbreak, slight angst, happy ending pairings: Jiraiya x Fem!Mermaid!Reader

He watches the water wistfully. Once when he was a younger man, he swore he had seen such a beautiful siren in these very waters. He could imagine it in his mind’s eye so perfectly. She had healed his broken heart that day. She had been so kind. But when the day ended and the sun set, she left without giving her name.

Ever since that day, Jiraiya makes it a point to go to the shore and check out the water to see if you’ll ever come back. It’s been years, but he knows he’d be so happy to see you. You had made such an impact on him on that day. He had been rejected for the umpteenth time, but when he saw your smiling face and heard that beautiful voice, Jiraiya knew he could be happy once more.

Still, his heart had a hole in it. One that was exactly your shape. You couldn’t stand the thought of enchanting him forever, so you never came back to see him. Even though you had strong feelings for the man, you knew it was better to just boost his ego and self-esteem and for him to find someone normal to love.

But the man was stubborn. You saw him from time to time. You just never let him see you at all. You kept tabs on him, making sure he would go on to live a very happy life. He had charmed you so much that day, you knew it would be completely sad and devastating if you were to fully put him under your spell. That was the unfortunate part of your species. You’d never really know what true love was like.

Then came the day that you were out in the ocean, sitting on a rock and singing to your heart’s content. It was a sorrowful song full of heartache and unrequited love. You wondered if anyone would fall for such a sad song. You were thinking about him again. The way he made you feel, the way he smiled at you…

You barely notice the small boat that’s coming your way. The storm clouds begin to get darker than before. And to your horror, on that small boat, is the man you are singing about. He’s got a deep look of lust in his eyes. A deep gasp escapes you when you realize what you’ve done to him. 

Before he can drown, you pull him onto the rock with you. You know you’ll have to deal with this issue before it turns into something worse than it is.

Jiraiya awakens in a cool chamber. The bed feels fluffy. The pillows are soft. He lifts himself up, sitting in the bed. Then you appear before him. His eyes widen before they darken once more. You have this gorgeous figure, he can’t stop looking at you. The way your hair shimmers in the light that dances in this cavern. Or the silvery scales and gills that adorn your face and body. The man is quite smitten, to say the least.

You approach him, figuring you can finally make your move now. You straddle his lap, kissing him so deeply. Jiraiya moans, tasting you for the first time. You really soothed his heartbreak. And now you were here, years later, enchanting him completely. He had so many questions, and yet they all died on his tongue the minute you began to undress him.

With his cock in your hand, you stroke him slowly. You look at him carefully, noticing the way he’s reacting. He was acting like he was completely in love with you, which shouldn’t be. He should be looking like you had enslaved him.

“W-why are you doing this? What have I done to deserve such love from you?” He asks, his cheeks red and lips parted.

You look down and spit on the head of his cock, lubricating it more as you pick up the pace of your stroking. Then you look back into his eyes, a sly smirk on your face.

“My voice enchanted you. You came to me…” you want to say the last bit, but you struggle.

Jiraiya moans. “I want to be forever yours.”

Another searing kiss unifies you both. Jiraiya knows he wants to be completely in love with you, and you know that you can fall for him too. Now that you know he fell for you despite your enchantment. “Now you will pay the price…the price of becoming my lover.”

dividers: @adornedwithlight

reblogs and comments always appreciated!

©actuallysaiyan 2024– do not repost on other platforms, copy, translate or edit my works!

[novella-november]

flying doggos -- designed!

These alien doggos (common name pending) are a weird combination of canine, feline, and avian, with the temperament and behavior of common domesticated dogs, the purring abilities of cats, and the flying and egg-laying ability of birds.

These alien doggos have as many specialty breeds as modern dogs, from working breeds to fancy bred for aesthetic looks, and others a hodgepodge mix of all of these above who are kept merely as companion pets by a wide range of People -- including breeds adapted to aquatic enviornments.

Most commonly, mutiple doggos are kept in working packs, who are owned by traveling merchants and traders, to help carry supplies and occasionally to hunt down game, though most breeds, like chickens, produce unfertilized eggs which are a source of protein for their owners.

If more doggos are desired for expanding their numbers, a doggo equivalent of a rooster can be introduced to the pack to produce fertilized eggs, which hatch in about a month if properly incubated.

Flock owners who usually travel will either have to stay in place for the duration to allow the eggs to be incubated naturally by nesting doggos, or will have to build or procure a special incubation pack, which can be worn across the chest or back and has special stones in the bottom that react with the metal base to create heat, which will need to be vented every few hours to avoid overheating.

These doggos have unique alternate forms depending on the breed, with aquatic breeds having gills and webbed paws instead of wings, allowing them to freely dive and live underwater with even the deepest divers of the Aquatic Peoples.

made with heroforge for the initial designs seen here :P

[dmwrites]

Out in the ocean, there are many kinds of fish. Martyn and Scott, the self-named Mean Gills, took to spending their evenings on the Limited Life server pointing out new fish that swam in their waters. If wasn’t the most efficient use of their ever-decreasing life time, but it was enjoyable. The ocean was a mysterious place, and their little island base was prime for making new tropical discoveries. But sometimes, the discoveries found them first.

At first, it was just some food missing out of chests. Scott blamed Martyn, naturally, and Martyn blamed everyone else, but at the end of the day, the Bad Boys’ bread bridge existed for a reason, and that reason was to stead wheat off it it, so it wasn’t really that big of an issue. But then it was weird sounds- both Martyn and Scott kept hearing an odd humming noise, like someone was attempting to sing a song they didn’t know. There were also strange flashes of bioluminescence at night sometimes, which wove itself around coral deep down before vanishing completely. It was odd, but the Mean Gills mostly dismissed it all. Too much going on on the surface to really worry about what the ocean held.

Or so they thought.

It was Scott who saw him first- a dark head of hair and piercing blue eyes watching him as he planted some seeds one afternoon. Scott let out a yelp and scrambled for his bow.

“What’s up?” Martyn asked in concern, jumping down from his hourglass, sword raised.

By the time Scott had his bow in hand, the head was gone. Scott sighed crossly. “I swear I just saw someone with dark brown hair watching me.”

“Dark brown hair… who on earth could that be… Bdubs?” Martyn asked.

“No, this person was paler then Bdubs.”

“Scar?”

“Scar would have accidentally drowned.”

“True. Uhh, Joel?”

“Maybe.” Scott muttered. At that moment, Joel happened to be passing by on the shoreline, holding some raw beef, assumedly from team T.I.E.S.‘s base.

“Joel. You’re not wet from spying on us, are you?.” Scott called out to him.

Joel reacted in his own crude way. “What? Of course I’m not wet, you idiots. You two aren’t even handsome enough for me to be wet. Or even get in the water for you.”

“Ew.” Scott commented as Joel swagged off into the forest. There was an echoing giggle at that that sounded nothing like anyone they knew.

“Who was that?” Martyn cried, looking all around. “We heard you, fucker. Stop playing coy- just kill us if you’re jonesing for it!”

There was a moment of silence, and then a splash. A man appeared on their island, pulling himself until his arms and chest were resting on the grass. He smiled at them, giggling again.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

Scott grabbed at Martyn, who pointed his sword at the intruder. “Who- what on earth are you, some kind of fish or something?”

“Or something…” the man smiled, and Scott and Martyn could see a few rows of sharp, pointed teeth. “I’m xB. Was just hanging out in these here waters, saw I had some new neighbors. Had to do a prank, it’s just good manners.”

“Do you live here?” Martyn asked, bewildered.

“I live where there’s water, really. And I assume this fun little place is yours?” xB glanced around, and as he did, a glittering tail slapped at the water behind him.

“Oh my god, are you a merman?” Martyn asked in wonder.

“Or something.” xB repeated, a small smile playing on his lips. “You can look at my tail if you want. Come in the water with me.”

“Sweet.” Martyn took off his shoes.

“Wha- Martyn, what are you doing? This could be a trap!” Scott said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Sure, but if it is, I lose an hour. We still got a bit of time left on the bank, my friend. And if worse comes to worse, it’ll be a hell of a story to tell, I suppose.”

Scott considered that. “Fair.” He jumped into the water, Martyn followed, and they both ducked under the waves.

xB was a sight to behold, with the upper body of a guy in a black hoodie, and the lower half of some great fish. His scales were a shimmery dark blue, kind of similar to the sculk that the ancient cities was overrun with. He was clearly strong, as even the simple movement of his tail sent minor shockwaves through the water. Scott and Martyn stayed under the water, staring at this creature, until they both started taking damage.

“Hey Scott- team meeting?” Martyn said as soon as they were both back on the island, pulling Scott to the side. “So, what on earth do we do about this?”

Scott looked over at xB and clicked his tongue. “I mean, he’s cute. Not really my type, but cute.” Scott murmured.

“Same. But like, I dunno, I feel like I could make an exception every once in a while. Something about him. Maybe we could just kinda let him stick around for eye candy.”

“Ew, you fish fucker.” Scott joked, hitting Martyn’s arm.

“You’re one to talk… I’ve heard your stories from times gone past.” Martyn replied, chuckling.

xB just watched them with a gentle smile on his face, his tail waving lazily in the water behind him.

“I’m gonna be honest, I get the feeling he’s not going to just leave if we ask.” Scott said, bringing the conversation back around. “But, to be fair, he could be useful to us, if we play our cards right. Siren call our enemies into the ocean or something. Can he do that?”

“Maybe.” xB said slyly from the water.

“We love a man of mystery.” Scott said dryly.

“Alright, xB, you’re on the team. Welcome to the Mean Gills.” Martyn said.

“The what?”

——

In terms of alliances, it was an odd one. xB was more like a pet then anything, if a pet could make jokes like “Oh, so you have, like, an expiration date. Like food.” when learning about their life timers. He mostly hung out on rocks out a sea, or peered at them at the side of their island base. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, the way he looked at them from time to time, but he was funny and had a sweet giggle that echoed throughout the cove. He’d found out that Martyn and Scott thought he was going to lure them out to sea, which tickled him, and took to joking about it constantly.

“Oh my god. Scott, look at this, he’s definitely doing that on purpose.” Martyn said one mid-morning, looking out at the ocean with a hand shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Who?”

“xB. Come look.”

Scott sighed, walking over. “Martyn, I think you’re slut-shaming, he’s not showing off on pur- oh no, that’s definitely on purpose. Good lord.”

xB had draped himself onto a rock out at sea, warming himself in the sun. The deep blues and blacks of his scales shimmered with the water and the sun, and he had taken off his hoodie.

“Boo, you whore!” Scott called to him, cupping his hands over his mouth. xB just waved and giggled, a sound that carried all the way across the sea to reach them.

“I dunno, he does look good though.” Martyn muttered. “Like a damn siren’s call or something, forreal.”

“It’s just because Ren isn’t here, let’s be real.” Scott said loftily. Martyn pushed him into the ocean, and xB swam over to rescue him, which lead to a slew of jokes and laughter.

——

Unfortunately, the light days of jokes and warm ocean air were only sweet for so long. As timers ticked down, everyone became more desperate. Death was more devastating, and, after a while, permanent. Scott and Martyn didn’t escape this terror and bloodlust, of course, but they did find that their island was a bit of a safe haven- it seemed like they were forgotten about a lot of the time, and that was perfectly fine to the Mean Gills. xB helped as he could, bringing them fish to eat and humming his little songs to welcome them home. He also took to circling the island, watching for outsiders for them while they slept. Neither Scott nor Martyn spoke of it, but they both felt like they had a secret weapon in xB. They were protected, or as protected as anyone can be in such situations.

“One hour left for me, I’m afraid.” Martyn said quietly, on the day they knew would be the last. The Mean Gills’ final stand, they’d decided, would be here, on the island, with xB at their side. They didn’t know who was left, but had heard several explosions throughout the day.

Scott sighed, standing up and brushing off his pants. “I can’t just sit here and stare at you until you die. I’m going to go see if there’s anything left to loot. Maybe I can steal a kill or two and get you some more time somehow. Be safe, Martyn. I’ll be back before the hour is up. I promise.” Scott hugged Martyn tight. “xB, watch over him.”

“Of course.” xB replied softly, playing with the shoelace of Martyn’s shoe. He and Martyn watched Scott boat out to the shore, and vanish into the trees.

Martyn let out a long breath. “I can’t believe this is it. Like, less than an hour left. And all I can do is watch. It’s almost- it’s stupid, really. We are all controlled by these stupid numbers, and our options are to fight or just sit around and wait for death. How awful. I wonder if they’re satisfied- well, never mind about all that.”

“You know…” xB began. “There could be another way.”

“What?” Martyn looked down at xB, confused.

“You could die on your own terms.” xB said, maddeningly vague.

“How?” Martyn was wracking his brain, trying to imagine a world where he could tell the watchers to fuck off by defying them. That was more Scott’s area then his. xB said nothing, but dove into the sea. “Wha- oh my god, so now you play hard to get?” Martyn muttered, and dove in after him.

xB wasn’t far, just floating in place under the water, smiling at Martyn. Martyn would never admit it out loud, but the merman was really quite pretty, in his own way.

“It’s a noble thing, you know, to die to the sea.” xB said softly, taking Martyn’s head in his hands, rubbing one thumb gently across his cheek.

Martyn stared into those bright blue eyes, and suddenly, he understood. “I suppose it is.” Martyn replied, filling his lungs with water as he spoke. And he slowly drowned himself, one tick of damage at at time, until his body was still, only held up by xB’s hands.

Scott saw the message in chat and he choked out a moan of sorrow. He hasn’t even been there, too busy scavenging abandoned chests for any supplies for their final stand. Well, Scott supposed, only his final stand now.

He looked down at the timer on his arm. One hour left. He’d always been just one hour ahead of Martyn, a little bit luckier. He bit back some tears, urging himself to just keep moving, back to the base.

As soon as he emerged from the tree line that opened up into the island base, a gasp died in his throat. A body was floating face-up in the ocean. Martyn, clearly dead. His chest was gone, mangled so badly that Scott retched. His blood was slowly dyeing the ocean a cloudy red.

Scott put down a boat and rowed back to his island, the Coral Kids base, some kind of sick curiosity overtaking him. And then a head popped up beside Martyn’s, still chewing.

“Oh my god.” Scott jumped out of his boat just in time, as a huge tail cleaved it in half.

“I prefer xB.” Those clever blue eyes watched Scott’s every movement, and even though he didn’t dare get close to the edge of the land, he could see that xB’s beard and hair were littered with gore.

“You’re not some pretty mermaid, are you?” Scott said quietly.

“No.” xB chuckled. Another death message appeared in chat. Scott ignored it.

“You’re a shark.”

“I’m whatever you want to call me. Doesn’t matter. You haven’t got much longer. What, like an hour now?”

“No.” Scott lied.

“You could die on your own terms, you know. Isn’t that what you’re all about, Scott?The ocean saved you this whole time, and it can save you again. You don’t have to watch your death come.”

“Oh, what, so Martyn took control of his own destiny, huh?” Scott asked.

“Martyn died in my arms and the ocean’s embrace. Bit romantic, really. And isn’t that just what you want, Scott? A bit of fucked up romance?” xB giggled.

“I’m not- shut the fuck up. I’m not going to obey your siren’s call.” Scott pointed his bow at xB in rage.

xB shrugged. “Okay. I’ll just be here when you can’t stand it anymore.” And he began to swim, slowly circling the Mean Gills island, eyes locked on Scott. He wasn’t a protector at all, but a buzzard circling the beginnings of a carcass.

Thunder clap after thunder clap, Scott watched his friends’ death messages in chat. Martyn’s body floated listlessly in the water. And Scott cursed this world, cursed its rules, and cursed xBcrafted, because he was right. All Scott did was defy the rules the world tried to set for him. He didn’t have to die to a sword to the throat or a timer ticking down to zero. He and xB knew that.

“Damn you, xB.” Scott whispered, finally, and the words felt like some kind of terrible relief.

And so, with the remains of his life ticking down to the end, an end that he sought to control, Scott jumped, down into the water stained red, into the cool arms of a brutal, yet defiant, death.

[eelbergine]

Nike's Mutant Foot (2005) is a television and film commercial created by Publicis Mojo(Melbourne), and post-produced by The Mill (London), in August 2005. The brief specified a hybrid of the Nike Free Running shoe and a human foot.

The aim of the advertisement was to convey the feeling that running with these shoes is like running in bare feet. The advertisement is described by the post-production agency as follows: The Mill London [has] created what might be the "future of the foot" for the new Nike Free Running shoe commercial. Showing the potential evolution of the human foot, the spot shows us that in time, we may evolve into only having one big toe with more flexibility and possibly gills, so that our feet can\‘breathe’… This “organic thing” is living and breathing in a world surrounded by micro organisms reacting to its movements.

[spicymotte]

Pieces [Gigashark]

"You've had partners in your life?" The slightly surprised undertone in his scratchy voice hits a sensitive spot in her ego, causing her to slide back and forth on the old tree trunk she's sitting on. Rude.

"Well… not many, but yes, I did." Agnieszka replies, but with a little disgruntlement in her voice; was it so unthinkable that she had been with someone? "When I turned 18, they let me live in Gotham - under supervision, of course."

Nanaue makes a deep noise in his chest, thoughtful. It's unusual for a meta-human to be allowed to walk around the city like that. There was definitely more to it than just government-kindness towards an outsider.

Agnieszka snorts softly and bends down to poke around in the fire with her stick. Sparks fly into the night, dancing away in the darkness until they burn out. For a brief moment, they look like stars - before they reach the end of their lives and die out. The itching of the healing wounds on her neck is frustrating and makes patient conversation difficult, but it's still better than the silence. Anything is better than silence.

"I think they wanted to see if I could live normally without using my powers," she continues, following the flight of the sparks with her eyes. "Testing me. It worked for a while."

Nanaue remains silent, continuing to sharpen the machete in his hand. His arm moves slowly, with deliberate and controlled movements. The sound of the whetstone on the metal of the weapon is not exactly pleasant, but it is unavoidable when Agnieszka wants to suppress the screeching thoughts in her head with a conversation.

"Had a job in a movie theater. Had an apartment that was paid for by the government. I knew people - normal people. I had a completely normal, boring life." Her tone turns bitter at the thought of that long-gone time. "I was constantly watched to make sure I didn't make a mistake."

"And you went along with that?" She can clearly hear the surprise and a little displeasure in his raspy, deep voice. "After they tortured you for years?"

"Well, what can I say... It's not like I had a choice." replies Agnieszka and continues to poke at the embers. The fish wrapped in banana leaves cook slowly on the outer edge of the fire, smelling delicious. She knows that the demigod doesn't need to cook his meat, he is an absolute omnivore - but the fact that he does it anyway is a kindness to her. Because she doesn't know how to cook outside, in this climate, at this latitude. Without him, once again, she would be lost. She sighs.

"I behaved well so as not to be constantly punished in the institution where I grew up. So I got the privilege of living in the outside world." He makes another harsh noise and exhales deeply, the gills on his neck moving. She watches silently, but with interest. She'd like to have gills herself, they're cool. Use them to dive into the ocean and never come back up for air. "I had a small apartment, a job and friends. Even a-" She hesitates at the thought of Laura and swallows. "A girlfriend."

Nanaue doesn't react, listens, his eyes still fixed on his weapon, which he continues to sharpen.

Agnieszka, however, stops her words and buries her face in her hands. Talking is so difficult, even after all these years the Russian accent is heavy on her tongue and she has to search for the words to make sentences out of it. It takes a moment before she knows what she wants to say.

"A normal life is so-" She looks up, her gaze darting from the fire to the edge of the dense jungle that surrounds the abandoned resort. But even the thicket doesn't tell her how to put it, so she sighs heavily. "It's so boring. Feels wrong, like a lie."

Nanaue makes an approving noise. His life has certainly been anything but normal, but he seems to know what she means.

"Five years I lived in Gotham, among the people like a damn spy. I got up early in the morning, went to work and bought groceries. I went home to Laura and we cooked some dinner from a recipe she found online, and-" Agnieszka talks herself into a silent rage and her words falter briefly. She looks at her conversation partner, who returns her gaze from his deep, patient eyes. A silent assent to what she is about to say. "It was awful. I hated everything about it."

She can feel the electricity in her tense muscles, the crackle in her hair: a warning that she needs to calm down. All this happened a long time ago. The past can no longer hurt her in the here and now, even if it is painful to think about these things.

"I tell myself that Laura secretly hated me as much as I hated this life," Agnieszka continues. "That she called me a fucking freak, loathed me - but I think I only tell myself that to make it easier. So that it's less horrible that I killed her, just like that."

Now he pauses in his movements. Nanaue rams the machete into the wood of the staircase on which he is sitting - with ridiculously little effort. The blue eyes, almost lost in the black that surrounds them, silently scrutinize Agnieszka. She feels naked, seen through by this confession. He is far too massive to be afraid of her, even if he probably should be. But he looks at her, reassessing her existence based on this new information.

"I couldn't take it anymore," she whispers to her hands, which are clenched in fists in front of her mouth. The magenta eyes stare into the embers of the fire glittering in the darkness. "How can they expect me to live a normal fucking life after all they've done to me." Her voice is quiet, as quiet as the crackling in the thicket where an animal prowls. "How can all these normal people not understand that this life on the hamster wheel is just awful. A lie at that. It's crazy to pretend that I care about shit like taxes. Or which fall jacket is trendy this year. It's pure madness, if you ask me."

She exhales.

"Then they put me in the power station and used me as a fucking battery for a whole decade. Well, I guess you can see straight away what happens if you don't play the game." Now she looks at Nanaue. "That's why I'm worried that I might hurt you. That I might kill you - after you've been nothing but kind. For whatever reason that is."

A deep, harsh laugh escapes the shark and he shakes his massive head. The amused grin reveals three rows of sharp fangs, deadlier than many a weapon. It sends a sharp shiver down her spine, hot and exciting.

"I think I'll be fine. Besides-" His voice drops an octave, with a very dangerous undertone in it; dangerous but somehow... flirtatious, too. "How do you know I won't kill you first?"

[tacky-optic]

Had a question about who our favorite Zenigata partner is in a server I'm in and now I can't stop thinking about them. Tis the zaza sickness.

anyway here's literally all of the characters Zenigata's been partnered with that i could find (within reason). if anyone wants to elaborate on any of these guys (cough yata cough) please feel free to go absolutely ham. *(obligatory spoiler warning for a whole lotta lupin specials, waow-- notably zenigata keibu since that's probably the most unwatched of everything i cover. but if youre here im guessing youre as unfortunately well-versed as i am so LETS FRIGGIN GET INTO IT)

Starting off nice n' mellow. I'm pretty neutral on Yata, tbh. I just think he's neat and it's easy enough to write him and not much else. I've rambled about him being a stand-in for the viewer before, but overall i just don't have all that many thoughts on the guy (seriously someone please do yata). ironic considering he's hands-down the most prevalent sidekick to date, but alas. head remains empty.

MARIYA. Mariya my girlie oh how i love thee. finally, someone with a Gimmick on par with Mr. my-sword-can-cut-anything. Plus she's super sweet and smart and sharp and just an all-around endearing character. AND SHE'S DIFFERENT!! she's tagging along with Zenigata of her OWN FREE WILL like gurl what are you THINKING. there isn't a shred of coherent interview material to draw from this man, especially about Lupin. The dynamic they end up developing is on point, though!! Zenigata's initial total miscall of it aside, It's just plain ol' wholesome. If Yata's his surrogate son than Mariya's obviously his daughter. No shot in hell they don't at least keep in contact after the special's done. plus her snapping a pic of him every time he eats shit is peak comedy journalism

MOTHAFUCKIN' MELON COP!! an absolutely magical reefer-smokin' shitbag, especially in the edgy Tokyopop translation. He's a great foil to our otherwise serious(ly neurotic) manga Zenigata. Not to mention the combative potential with a down the line Melon.... ough. A more toned-down "newer part"-esque Zeni getting slapped with an extremely smug and insistent reminder of his angstlord past is such a delicious concept to me. i will be using this guy extensively in that exact way one of these days-- he's too fun not to.

a bit of a sidenote but i've gotta point fingers at gray jacket again (can't recommend it enough) for having my favorite melon depiction in fic; walther recently had him show up in their fic secondhand vanity as well (which i also can't recommend enough), so needless to say i think he has some fun potential.

Sakuraba and Kunikida from the live-action show get honorable mentions, obviously. They're both so different yet learn so much from Zenigata all the same. As far as reacting to the inspector goes, they're the ideal Yatas (again i am so so sorry yata-- surely someone will do you justice). Even though they aren't technically "new" to the force they're new to the Zenigata Shenanigans, and that is where the entertainment factor is. Sakuraba's the traditionalist keibu method-doubter whereas Kunikida's this mousey blue around the gills fella, and over their respective case file appearances, they both gain faith in/learn confidence from Zenigata, respectively. It really is a great bit of development to watch play out.

I'm gonna count The Guys™️ as a collective group/formless mass with maybe one of the Guyest of Guys as Zenigata's right hand Guy, like that one dude in Cagliostro. Apparently the name he's given in one of the dubs is Sam?? That's neat. Sam's neat. for anyone interested in some homework, here's the link to the highly informative lupin forum thread i found that out from: [x]

But yeah the Guys! Right from the start, Zenigata having this army of inexplicably and absurdly loyal cops was always a fun trope and i love to see 'em whenever they show up. I had this idea ages ago for this fake documentary-style miniseries based around them-- all the usual Lupin nonsense goes on in the background while we get a peek at the typically unseen shenanigans happening on the law-bearing side. Getting assigned to the lupin taskforce is probably seen as some kind of punishment, but that just makes the camaraderie all the more tight-knit. There'd be some behind-the-scenes Zenigata/how he interacts with them, what they get up to on their own whack case assignments when they're in a Lupin sighting lull.... hell maybe we even learn why they're all so damn loyal to this one supposedly hyper-independent guy. I think it'd be fun but maybe that's just the Zenigata hopeful in me. Surely he's capable of building some semblance of rapport with the fine group of folks he drags around the world with him....

Let's just rip the band-aid off-- I dislike Oscar with a burning passion. which is weird, right? because i like Melon Cop, the dude who's totally cool with straight-up cold-blooded judge/jury/executioner-style murder. I dunno dude the obsessive daddy kink simping's just too feckin' weird for me. i checked the hell out so fast. If the goal was to make Oscar extremely disquieting, they friggin' did it. Granted he was written to be a bit whack from the start, and getting raised(?)/mentored by THAT Zenigata would irreversibly mess anyone up. I get that the fucked up-ness is part of the appeal, but man. How anyone can gravitate towards Oscar without heavily modifying his whole deal escapes me.

I've seen him written tolerably in fic maybe... twice? He's in gray jacket (there it is again!) and SMRO (needs no introduction nor explanation), so obligatory kudos to anyone who can wrangle [gestures vaguely at all of that].

Vicky though. Vicky Flannigan from Island of Assassins is so goddamn funny. Still can't believe they took one of the most badass Zenigata character designs and actively went out of their way to make him bedridden. I've seen folks call him "Proto-Yata" and. Yeah. Can't argue. He's a glorified babysitter, if anything, and the only reason he's even remotely effective is because he (accidentally) broke both of Zenigata's legs. Funniest shit istg

ICPO LADIES!!! They're cute. Designs could be better but it's Babylon yknow. Despite being an admittedly fun romp, the special has its obvious.... uh. issues. product of its time and all that. iykyk. anyway LADIES. They're competent. They take No Shit from Zenigata. The random little crush that comes out of nowhere between Chinjao and Goemon is cute as hell. Plus, I've seen some pretty rockin' fandom redesigns floating around.... wouldn't mind in the slightest if they made a comeback.

I'm gonna lump all of the Betrayers into one category: Emily O'Brien from Angel Tactics, Kazami from Fuma Conspiracy, and Terry Crown from Alcatraz Connection. Never expected the "Zenigata's partner is the bad guy!!1" trope would be so prevalent, but it tracks in retrospect. It's a neat enough idea-- bummer they never seemed to nail it down, though.

The only reason O'Brien is so predictable is because she's so goddamn unlikable. There's hardly any screentime of them working together and in every single scene, the incompetency just feels so blatantly intentional its almost offensive lmao. Zero surprise in the slightest when she showed her true colors-- just mild annoyance, which tracks for the whole special tbh. Only worthwhile parts are the beginning and the end, and absolutely none of that has anything to to with O'Brien.

Kazami just has that chump secondary villain face y'know. Again, a bit on the nose how obnoxiously dorkish he is-- but them playing up him putting on his glasses so Fujiko can recognize him got a little laugh outta me, ngl. He served his purpose, plain and simple.

I'll never know whether Crown was predictable or not because I stumbled across ""Evil Columbo"" before I watched Alcatraz, but despite the spoiler I can at least say he isn't lame as shit. Pre-reveal, he's probably the closest we'll get to a taste of what Melon might be like in modern Lupin media. He's your run-of-the-mill corrupt sleazebag detective-- steals evidence, generally doesn't give a fuck, takes cheap jabs at Zenigata-- but their final standoff is what puts him above Kazami for me. Just a real melodramatic overdramatic moment of Zenigata Zenigata-ing his heart out.

Welcome to the ELDERLY MEN CATEGORY, OORAH. The old guy from Twilight Gemini, Kogoro Akechi from the pilot, and George McFly from First Contact. I could track down Gemini old guy's name, but I hand-to-god couldn't care less. The only worth a damn thing Gemini's given me is that one jigzeni screenshot, so we're just gonna move on to the next two.

Not much of Akechi, huh. He only shows up in the pilot and doesn't do anything of note besides be someone for Lupin to disguise himself as. Dare i say Goemon was a more effective ally to Zenigata than Akechi...? yeah sure, why not. Goemon's a zeni sidekick. i'll die on that hill. anyway I believe he's also a reference to a pre-existing character...? like Lupin, Goemon, and Zenigata are. All in all its probably for the best that he didn't make it to part 1.

Finally, the only old guy that actually has aspects to talk about. I actually really like McFly and the role he plays in First Contact; it isn't Zenigata learning from whoever his partner may be, but McFly learning from Zenigata. He's a jaded, on-the-verge-of-retirement type that thinks he's seen all the force has to offer, but here comes this young (is he considered "young" in this?? early, maybe) freak-ass foreigner cop with a vendetta he's practically frothing at the mouth to rectify. Neither of them are exactly enthused to be working together, but McFly sticks around anyway and learns to see past a lot of Zenigata's first impression baggage; the tenacity, the passion, the genuineness of it all. Not only does he want to make real change, but the crazy bastard can actually friggin' do it. ...Or at the very least make a sizable dent.

Zenigata sincerely adheres to the idea of what a cop's supposed to be, fundamentally, and not what a "cop" actually is, as a vague collective occupational concept. Zenigata has a genuine effect on McFly-- enough to make him just the slightest bit less soured by the end of it all. It's a nice sentiment; that no matter where you are in life, ideas can still change. It's a small arc that flies beneath the radar of everything else, but i noticed it. I FRIGGIN' NOTICED IT, MAN

tl;dr Zenigata's a lonely guy, sure, but he doesn't have to be.

That should cover all of the significant parts/specials/movies, but if i missed anyone (any notable episodes? manga?) lemme know. Either way, it's nice finally having 'em all in one place.