#he got all that scuba gear just to go down and see him

[golby-moon]

kinda always wanted to throw art at someone for their birthday and guess what @lazarus-rose I know what day you were born ahahahahahwhshdjrbdhdyh

in honor of this very special occasion I've prepared a very snuggly squid!cas with scuba diver!dean who only got any scuba gear to go see Cas because he's like that and they're just making this up as they go. can't really draw tentacles and I'm only now realizing time zone difference may mess this up but yeah enjoy the squid!cas content and the annual aging gjfhdurbth

(03/20/24)

[squatch-and-stretch]

Deep Dive

Stanley Pines & Stanford Pines | 6,335 words | Hurt/Comfort, Scuba Diving

One of the last skills you learn in dive training, and the one that likely sticks in your head the most is what to do if your buddy runs out of air. Even in the controlled environment of the training pool, 15 feet under synthesized salt water with a dive instructor behind you, warning you very clearly that they’re turning off your air, the moment that the gauge hits zero is briefly terrifying. Once you’ve got your buoyancy under control and have adjusted to the way it feels to be underwater, it’s surprisingly easy to forget that that is not where humans are supposed to be. And then your air supply cuts off, and you are reminded of the fact that you are desperately out of your depth in every conceivable way.

But your partner is right in front of you, and they were expecting this just as much as you are. As quickly as you run out of air, you can grab their arm, gesture with a flat hand across your throat, and rip their primary air source out of their mouth if you have to. You swim around a bit, holding each other's arms in a wet death grip, and you surface a minute later with no harm done.

That’s how it works when you’re learning, anyway. In practice, things work a bit differently.

Or, Sea Grunkles scuba diving hurt/comfort fic.

Despite his initial reservations, Stan ends up enjoying diving a lot. He’s always loved the ocean, but never really had any interest in going too deep into it. He’s a decent swimmer, but summers on Glass Shard Beach always consisted of goofing off in the shallows and working on the original Stan O’ War. In Gravity Falls, he was happy staying in his little boat and bringing the fish up to him.

Ford always had a bit of a different attitude, though. Ever since they were young, he was pressing his luck swimming out further and filling his eyes with salt water. Sometimes Stan would look out and see Ford floating face down in the water and he’d freak out every time, only for Ford to suddenly perk up and turn to Stan with red eyes and wide grin, insisting that he saw something this time.

So it really was no surprise that he ended up getting his diving license at some point while they were apart. He admitted that he hadn’t really ended up using it much— the bait shop by Gravity Falls Lake definitely didn’t double as a dive shop and he couldn’t really justify any destination diving— but he was happy to tell Stan all about it, and, eventually, insist on getting him certified as well as they planned a trip in warmer waters.

With the certification done, both of them properly geared up with a little help from Fiddleford both in terms of finances and technology, and some small modifications to the Stan O’ War II, they were ready to dive as soon as they circled around to the Caribbean through Panama. While part of Stan prickled at being so close to Colombia and all the unpleasant memories that brought back, Ford’s enthusiasm was, as usual, infectious, and made it very hard to get lost in his memories.

With a few air tanks rented from a dive shop in Belize and one of Ford’s sci-fi doohickeys detecting something over the reef, they were set to go.

“Any idea what we’re in for down there?” Stan asks as he gears up.

“Charles Darwin once described the Belize Barrier Reef as the most remarkable reef in the West Indies! Over 100 species of coral, 500 species of fish, and countless other invertebrates! It’ll be an incredible dive, Stanley, just you wait!” Ford says, fumbling with the buckles of his BCD in his excitement.

Stan rolls his eyes as he tightens the straps of his own.

“I meant whatever anomaly your doohickey detected.”

“It’s a highly advanced sensor,” Ford defends, looking down at the sensor on his wrist. With Fiddleford’s help, he’d modified it to serve as a fully functional dive computer as well. “As for what it might be sensing, it’s hard to say for sure.”

“So much for highly advanced,” Stan teases, and Ford huffs. “That guy at the dive shop mentioned the reefs being a little sparse lately. You think that’s related?”

“It could be!” Ford agrees, perking up. “Reefs are very fragile, any disturbance due to our anomaly could upset the balance and have a significant impact on the richness and abundance of local species. That being said, the same fragility means that any number of other factors could have the same effect…”

“So… who knows?” Stan concludes.

“We will,” Ford says with that bright-eyed smile that he gets whenever he discovers something new. “Are you ready?”

Stan clips the last strap of his BCD into place, checks that everything’s tightened, and nods.

“Lemme check you over,” Stan says, and Ford rolls his eyes but nods.

At first glance, it was easy for most people to assume that Ford would be the more cautious twin. That was never really the case.

Stan looks his brother over as Ford does the same, making sure everything was strapped or clipped or held in place. He gives both of Ford’s air supplies a quick squeeze, making sure the loud burst of air didn’t cause the gauge to dip from just over 3000 PSI, and then making sure his watch read the same thing. He does the same for his own while Ford watches.

Once they give each other a nod of approval, Ford slips his mask over his eyes, adjusts the strap, and gives Stan a grin as he stands. It’s a little infuriating how easy he makes standing and balancing with forty pounds of steel strapped to his back look. Stan slides his own mask into place and stands up with none of the same elegance, steadying himself against the wall of the boat as he steps around the dive bench with clumsy flippered feet.

Stan is glad he insisted on installing a gate at the side of the boat because he’s not sure if he’d be able to pull himself up onto the wall to enter the water backwards like Ford had first suggested. As it stood, he clumsily waddles over to the gate that Ford had already opened and secured.

“I’ll enter first,” Ford says over his shoulder. “You can follow once I give you the sign, remember?”

Stan rolls his eyes, pressing his fingers to the top of his head to form an ‘o’ with one arm. Ford nods his approval, slips his air supply into his mouth, holds it and his mask in place with one hand, and takes a large step into the water. He lands with a heavy splash, and immediately turns to face Stan and kick away from the boat. Stan steps into place, hand on either side of the opening, and waits for Ford to give him the sign. He does so as soon as he’s a few feet from the boat, bobbing along with the gentle waves.

Stan checks himself over one more time, grabs his air supply, and slips it into his mouth. He fits the mouthpart between his teeth and takes a few puffs, double checks his gauge one more time. He holds his mask and air supply in place, lets go of the boat, and steps into the water.

The cold shock he always expects when entering the water never comes. According to his dive computer, the water is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, a fair bit warmer than most showers Stan has taken in his life. Even the 3 mm shorty wetsuit he’s wearing almost feels like overkill, which is a shame considering how much of a pain in the ass it was to wiggle his fat old man body into the damn thing.

Ford catches his attention by pointing at Stan, making an okay sign with his hand, and then pointing down.

‘You okay to go down?’ Stan translates, and gives Ford a thumbs up, before shaking his head and giving him an okay sign instead.

He swears he sees Ford smile around his air supply, eyes amused behind his mask. He confirms with another okay of his own, and pulls the dump cord on his shoulder to begin the descent. With a bit of a struggle that mostly consists of Stan flapping with the hand not around his deflator in an attempt to submerge himself, Stan follows. Ford is already a bit below him, following the mooring line to the bottom. Stan descends a bit more cautiously, clearing his ears all the while; he’s already lost hearing in one of them, he doesn’t need to do any more damage to the other.

By the time he hits the sandy bottom, Ford is already there, has adjusted the air in his BCD, and is squinting at his sensor. Stan puts a quick pump of air into his own vest, just enough that the pressure of the water stops pushing him into the sand. Ford catches his attention, gesturing with a flat palm to one side, towards what looks to Stan like a whole lot of boring open ocean.

Still, who is Stan to protest? He follows Ford without question, just like he used to.

Eventually, the flat expanse of sand slopes downwards into a steep cliff wall littered with coral and crevices, and Stan is briefly awed by the sight of it. The man in the dive shop had said that the reefs were looking sparse lately, but if this is sparse, Stan can’t imagine what one might look like in full swing. A small school of tiny bright blue fish weave behind a purple fan of coral. Below them, a massive grouper disappears into a deep crevice. In a dark cavern lined by coral, an orange fish cautiously peaks out at them with a massive red eye. A large school of greyish fish with yellow and blue tails circles above them, each individual nearly indistinguishable within the group.

Not for the first time, not even for the first time today, Stan thanks whatever higher power might be out there for letting him make it this far. For letting him live long enough to see all of this with his brother.

Ford continues to descend, and Stan checks the depth on his computer. He’s at 51 feet, and isn’t exactly dying to go that much deeper. It’s not that he particularly cares about following the rules of his certification, he just doesn’t want to use up too much of his air. He doesn’t have a good handle on his breathing yet, his lungs are fucked up from years of smoking, and he’s a pretty big guy. He doesn't want to have to tug Ford up to the surface before he finds whatever anomaly he’s looking for. He doesn’t want to ruin this for him.

So, at least for now, he keeps an eye on his brother from above. Ford doesn’t so much as glance up at him, flicking on his flashlight and shining it into each barrel coral and crevice he comes across. Even above him and unable to see his face, Stan can read the excitement carried in Ford’s every move. Stan isn’t nearly as fast as Ford once they really get moving, but he also isn’t stopping to shine his light into every little hole he comes across, so he keeps pace well enough.

And it’s not like he’s entirely distracted by his brother either; there’s too much to see all around him. Some round lump with a silvery sheen catches his eye, nestled amongst the algae. He barely stops himself from grabbing it, because he knows the lecture he’ll get from his brother if he does. A huge lobster wiggles some of its weird spiny mouth parts at him, glaring from the crevice it’s lodged in. A sea star’s long, hairy limbs tangle along the inner surface of a smaller barrel sponge. A small dark head of a wide-eyed fish darts into a hole in the coral before Stan can see much of it.

Everywhere he looks, there’s something to see. Stan isn’t often amazed by the beauty of nature— he fancied himself too cynical for that kind of crap— but even he’s left in awe. He swims a bit closer to the coral, trying to make sense of the tiny fish he saw retreating into it, when he sees something big moving out there in the open ocean out of the corner of his eye. He turns to face it, but he must have been closer to the rocks than he thought, because his tank bangs against them hand enough for the first stage of his regulator to jam into the base of his skull.

Ouch.

The thing that caught his attention is still too far away to make out beyond a long, dark shape. It almost looks like a massive eel, but even Stan knows eels aren’t typically out swimming in the open ocean.

Still, it’s big enough to leave him a little breathless.

Real breathless, actually. The next breath is a struggle.

Is he panicking? He’s never been the most in touch with his emotions, but he’s pretty sure he’s not having a panic attack or anything. Sure, big unknown creature squirming around in the depths of the ocean is kind of scary, but he knows they can handle it.

Another inhale, even harder than the last.

Okay, well, maybe he’s panicking a bit, but only because he can barely breathe. That’s an effect, not a cause.

So what is the cause? He checks his computer, meaning to confirm that he’s not that deep, but his eyes catch on the air gauge. He gasps a little when he sees how low it is, and it dips even lower, the arrow plunging to zero.

Fuck. Fuck. Okay.

He needs Ford. He needs to find Ford.

Stan glances around, gasping in what little air he can. For a brief, terrifying moment, he doesn’t see Ford at all, can’t make out the shape of him in the water, before finally, finally, he sees the dark silhouette of him below and ahead. He has his flashlight on, head buried in some crevice in the rocks of the cliff. He can’t be that far, but the distance seems insurmountable.

He tries to take another breath, but he can’t. He can’t.

He grits his teeth around the regulator— don’t take it out unless you have something better to put in— and kicks down towards Ford.

Don’t hold your breath, especially not while ascending, air expanding as pressure decreases, burst lungs.

Good thing Stan’s going down.

His watch beeps at him, warning him that he’s exceeding the maximum programmed depth.

Ford! He thinks desperately, staring at his brother’s back. That twin telepathy stuff is bullshit, and even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be strong enough to reach Ford when he’s so focused.

You lose air more quickly the deeper you go. Stan swears he can feel it being crushed out of his lungs. A dull ache grows between his ears, but he can’t stop and clear them, not when he can’t breathe.

He reaches out for Ford, but can’t quite touch him. His legs ache as he gives one final kick and his fingers press against Ford’s tank. They scramble uselessly against the metal, searching for something to grab onto, before he gets his thoughts together enough to follow the straps to his BCD and slide his fingers into the narrow gap where the curve of the plastic doesn’t quite meet that of the tank itself. He tugs Ford towards himself, or himself towards Ford, and scrambles to grab his arm and turn towards him. He can faintly hear a startled noise from his brother, one that would be amusing in any other context.

No air, Stan signals desperately. Ford’s expression is hard to read behind his mask, but he’s not doing anything. He knows, in an emergency, he’s supposed to rip the reg out of his buddy’s mouth, hand them their backup and let them figure it out, but he can’t bring himself to do it, not to his brother.

No air, Stan repeats, and finally Ford moves. Without bothering to unclip his secondary, he spits out his primary, rips Stan’s out, and all but shoves his own into Stan’s mouth and pushes the purge before he can suck in a lung full of water. Good thing too, because clearing it was the last thing on Stan’s mind at the moment.

He gasps. The dry air and faint taste of salt water has never felt better. He doesn’t even care that it was in his brother’s mouth seconds earlier.

He squeezes his eyes shut and breathes. Fuck. He loves breathing.

Ford grabbed him at some point, and he tugs Stan closer as he continues to gasp for breath. He hooks his elbow through Stan’s and pulls them shoulder to shoulder. Stan, for his part, just lets himself be manhandled. He doesn’t mind any of it, doesn’t mind anything at all now that he can breathe.

After a bit— Stan has no idea how long— Ford squeezes his arm with his other hand to get his attention. Stan reluctantly opens his eyes, and is relieved to see Ford has his secondary in. Shit. Stan didn’t even think about making sure Ford was alright.

He points at Ford’s chest before he can do anything and holds up an okay sign.

‘You okay?’ he asks his brother, cocking his head to emphasize the question. Ford looks so annoyed that Stan can see it through that mask and reg, and it’s another thing that would have been funny in any other context. He can particularly hear Ford say, ‘are you seriously asking me that right now?’

Ford nods with both his head and his free hand, before jabbing a finger into Stan’s chest and making an okay sign of his own. Stan mirrors the two part nod. Ford squints at him, and Stan curves his fingers back into the okay sign.

I’m okay, he wordlessly insists. For a moment there, he wasn’t sure he would be, but he’s okay.

Ford still seems unconvinced, but he gives Stan a thumbs up. Thoughtlessly, he mirrors the gesture before remembering what it means in this context, but it serves him just as well. He’d love to be able to breathe an entire atmosphere’s worth of air without worrying about the tank on his back or any of the hoses connected to it. He’s still not sure what went wrong, but at the moment he doesn’t particularly care. He can breathe for the time being, but Ford’s air tank won’t support both of them for long.

Ford pulls Stan even closer, and Stan doesn’t mind even as it drives Ford’s boney-ass elbow into his hip. It gives him the opportunity to check the gauge attached to his brother’s regulator, to see that it’s around 1700 PSI and not visibly dipping with every breath the two of them take. They’re also at 83 feet, well below what Stan’s basic certification covers. Oh well, he’s never followed any other rules, there’s no reason for this to be an exception.

They’ll be fine, Stan concludes. Ford looks down at his computer, and gestures to the side and slightly upwards. Stan can only assume what that means, but he nods either way. He trusts his brother. He’ll get them out of this. Thinking is a lot of work right now.

Nitrogen narcosis, part of Stan’s sluggish mind whispers. Oxygen toxicity, it insists.

The rest of his brain, even running at half speed, knows that he’s not really displaying symptoms of either of those. He was scared, and now he’s tired. He knows that as long as his brother is with him, he’s safe to shut down just a little. They aren’t out of the water yet, but they’ll be alright.

Blearily, he lets Ford lead the way. He kicks weakly at the knees in the exact way he knows he shouldn’t, but his hips hurt like hell. He refuses to ever believe it, much less act on it, but as usual, his brain tells him he’s too old for this shit.

Luckily, Ford has a lot more stamina than Stan, and more than makes up for his weakness and poor form. He’s also capable of navigating underwater, which is more than Stan can say about himself; he’s fine making his way through an urban environment, and he even got pretty used to the forests of Gravity Falls, but he only knew enough about underwater navigation to get his certification.

Before he knows it, they’re back at the mooring line. His watch beeps at him again, and as he glances at it, he sees a three minute timer start to count down.

Right. Safety stop.

They’re seventeen feet down. Ford’s computer tells him they still have somewhere around 1500 PSI. As much as he wants to be out of the damn water already, he lets Ford hold him in place, and nods when Ford taps his own computer and gives him a questioning ‘okay?’

Stan nods. Okay, he confirms, hoping Ford can’t see his reluctance.

2:37, his computer tells him, and Stan focuses on breathing steadily but shallowly, watching it count down the whole time.

It’s among the slowest three minutes of his life, but eventually it counts down to zero and lets out a little beep of confirmation. He looks over to Ford, who gives him the okay, and the two of them finally make it to the surface.

Stan’s hand scrambles blindly for the snorkel attached to his mask, and he eventually manages to tip it upright and tug the mouthpiece to him. He spits out Ford’s regulator, clears the snorkel with a wet puff of air, and breathes into that. It tastes, as expected, of saltwater, but it feels great to breath and not feel like he’s stealing the air from his brother's lungs.

He glances around, and finds the Stan O’ War II waiting for them a few yards away, just where they left it.

“Are you alright?” Ford calls. His hold relaxed once they hit the surface, but he’s still gripping onto Stan’s hand like a bear trap. His other holds his snorkel at the ready, but he seems more worried about Stan than he is about the seawater splashing into his big dumb mouth.

Stan rolls his eyes, gives him the okay sign with his free hand, and gestures towards the boat. Ford mumbles a confirmation, puts his snorkel in, and begins kicking his way towards it, dragging Stan along with him. Stan tries his best to carry his own weight, but he feels like a kid doggy-paddling next to an Olympic swimmer.

They make it to the boat easily enough, and Ford reluctantly releases Stan in favor of the ladder. He plunges his head into the water, and Stan is briefly baffled before he resurfaces moments later with his fins around either wrist. He glances over at Stan one more time, as if worried he disappeared the moment he looked away, before he starts making his way up the ladder.

It’s far from effortless, but Ford manages to get up with little issue. From above, Stan can hear the loud clang of Ford’s air tank hitting the deck, and he winces at the thought of the dent it must have left on her.

He can barely manage to tilt his head up far enough to see Ford above him, his neck aching and the first stage of his regulator digging painfully into the back of his head, but at least he can see his brother above him. Now he just needs to get to him.

He takes a deep breath that feels like it’s mostly sea foam, and clears the remaining distance between him and the ladder.

Stan hooks his arm through the first rung above the water and braces one foot against the hull. He awkwardly contorts himself to grab at the other foot, slick, wrinkly fingers scrambling at the easy-release buckle at the side of his fins. His arm shakes with the strain, and even through the snorkel, it feels like he's breathing in mostly water.

Finally, he releases the buckle of one of his fins, and barely manages to loop his fingers through it before it slips off into the water. Now that it’s off his foot, it’s easier to latch the buckle again and slide it over his hand, keeping it in place as he shifts his aching body to grab the other.

“Brace!” Ford calls from above, and Stan does so without question, pulling himself tighter against the boat and holding his breath as a large wave sweeps over.

Once it clears, Stan scrambles to get his other fin off and pull himself further from the water. The relief of being mostly out of the water is undercut by the sudden weight of the tank on his back. Without the buoyancy the water provided, Stan’s legs nearly buckle beneath him.

Ford calls something to him, as loud and clear as he always talks, but Stan can’t quite catch it. All he knows is that it’s too long to be another call for him to brace.

“Throw up your fins!” Ford tries again, slower this time, louder.

He sounds impatient, but Stan knows he’s just worried.

Probably.

Still, he wiggles his fins off his arms as quickly as he can, and tosses them weakly up towards his brother.

Ford catches them with ease, and drops them on the deck without a second thought. The removal of a few extra feet of plastic around his arm helps some, but climbing the ladder is still a slow process.

They’ll have to add some traction tape to the damn thing next time they get a chance, Stan thinks as his foot slips against a rung yet again. As long as he doesn’t fall backwards with his feet caught between a rung— something that has happened to him at least once on land— he’ll be fine. Slow and steady.

“I’ve got you, Stanley!” Ford calls, and the weight of the tank on his back suddenly begins to lift.

With that, Stan scrambles the rest of the way up the ladder, all but crashing into Ford once he's on the deck. Luckily, Ford manages to keep his footing and shove Stan back into the bench. His legs buckle at the slightest pressure against the back of his knees, and the tank ends up landing in the right place by sheer luck.

Before Stan can even raise his hands to do so himself, Ford is unbuckling and loosening his BCD. Just as that registers, he pries off his mask as well, tossing it beneath the bench and out of the way. Stan just lets it happen, blinking blearily at the blurry figure of his brother.

Ford mumbles something to himself that Stan has no chance of hearing over his own coughs.

“You okay?” Stan slurs, mouth struggling around the words. He feels like his teeth are still locked around Ford’s regulator.

Ford huffs in the bitchy little way he so often does.

“I’m fine, I’m not the one who ran out of air approximately 27 minutes into our dive.”

He doesn’t mean it like that, a kind, logical part of his brain tells him, a part that was created recently and gets a bit louder every day.

Way to fuck it up, knucklehead. You saw that thing, but you had to ruin everything before Ford even caught a glimpse of it, another part says, loud and familiar. You should have stayed down there.

“Well sorry,” Stan says, thick with sarcasm even though he means it.

“You—“ Ford huffs, cutting himself off. He runs a hand through his soaking wet hair, and then immediately shakes off the sensation with a grimace.

And then he turns around and retreats into the cabin, leaving Stan, soaked and aching, alone on the deck.

Shit. He really is angry, huh. When they really, seriously fight, Stan tends to pursue, to hurt the other party before he can get hurt but Ford, Ford retreats. He doesn’t do it out of fear or even an unwillingness to argue with his brother— everyone who’s been around them for more than five minutes knows how much they both love to squabble— but because he needs to cool off before he says something he regrets. The thing about them being twins, despite all the time apart, is that they still know, almost instinctively, exactly how to hit where it hurts.

If Ford’s retreating, he felt, in that moment, like he wanted to hurt Stan.

Shit.

It’s not like it wouldn’t be justified. He’s not sure what he did wrong down there, but he did something that ruined the dive for him. That would be bad enough on its own, he saw how excited his brother was just being down there, but there was an anomaly. Potentially a very dangerous anomaly that’s having a negative effect on biodiversity or some crap. And Stan tore him away from that.

His brother wanted to share this with him, and he ruined it.

He wants to get up and pace out his frustrations, but his legs ache. His head pounds painfully with each rapid beat of his heart. The wind can’t be that cold, but soaked and alone, it has Stan shivering.

Get up, get dry, fix this, Stan tells himself.

He doesn’t move. His pruny hands, still dripping saltwater onto the deck, clench into useless, shaking fists.

Get up, Stan insists, fix this.

Diluted by sea water, blood trickles lazily from a scrape on his calf. He has no idea when or how he got scraped, but he didn’t feel it then and he doesn’t feel it now.

Get up.

Despite everything, his throat feels dry enough to hurt.

Get up.

Saltwater is running into his eyes from his wet hair, stinging with each blink. He can’t even manage to lift his arm to wipe it away.

The door to the cabin swings open, and it’s like a switch is flipped as Stan finally stands. His legs shake beneath his weight, and the gentle rocking nearly sends him right back down to the bench.

“Stanley!” Ford scolds. He’s stripped out of his wetsuit, just wearing his swim shorts and a towel around his shoulders. He has his actual glasses back on, and his hair is dry enough to no longer be dripping at least. Another towel is draped over his arm, hand holding Stan’s glasses.

Oh. So that’s where he went. Obviously. The scared animal in Stan’s chest reluctantly settles.

“Sit! Sit down!” He fusses, and Stan can’t even be mad about his brother insisting on undoing all his hard work. Sitting down is better than collapsing on the deck in front of Ford.

“Get out of your wetsuit, you can’t be comfortable,” Ford says, and Stan can’t really argue with that. He reaches for the zipper on his back, and Ford flits over in an instant to unzip it himself with a, “Oh, let me help.”

Stan stills, just to make sure Ford doesn’t intend to do anything else while he’s still standing over him, but he just gives him a quick once-over and nods, before turning his attention to Stan’s BCD.

Stan leaves him to it, and begins squirming, wiggling, and writhing his way out of the shortie. Once it’s off and in a wet heap by his feet, he pulls his hair out of the tight ponytail he had it in, and starts scrubbing it dry. As much as he likes growing out his hair, but it’ll be a pain to brush it later, and it’s a pain to dry it now.

Ford says something beside him, and Stan stops scrubbing and lets the towel fall around his shoulders. He slides his glasses on to see Ford is staring at the first stage of his regulator with a look somewhere between horror and rage. Stan follows his gaze, and sees that it’s not quite sitting on the tank properly. He’s amazed that neither of them noticed it leaking, because it must have been the whole time.

“Stanley…” Ford says, and that expression settles into guilt.

It’s a look Stan seems to be on the receiving end of more often than he ever expected. Every time Stan has a memory lapse, every time he remembers something unpleasant, every time he references some unsavory part of his past, Ford looks at him like a kicked puppy. He might not directly apologize every time, but he’s done it often enough. Too often, Stan would argue.

He just doesn’t know why he’s doing it right now.

“Stanley, this is all my fault, I… I must have screwed it on wrong, or perhaps I didn’t tighten it properly, I didn’t even check your air supply properly, I let you test your own regulator, and I thought I was watching, I thought it didn’t dip, but it must have been leaking the whole time and I just didn’t notice, this is all my fault and I’m so sorry,” Ford says breathlessly, running his hand through his hair and tugging. “And I shouldn’t have swam off like that, I didn’t even check if you were following once I reached the shelf, I should have stayed close, how long were you without air? No, it doesn’t matter, it was too long, and you had to go so deep to get to me, Stanley, I’m so sorry.”

“Quit it, Poindexter,” Stan huffs, swatting at his wrist. Ford lets go of his own hair and starts shaking out his hand instead, like a cat with a piece of tape stuck to its paw. “I checked my air, it was working fine before we got off the boat. Hell, it was working fine until…”

Stan shifts towards his regulator, now laying on the bench beside him. The knob on the first stage is scraped up, plastic torn, and he holds it out for Ford to see.

“I bumped it against some rocks while I was turning. It must have gotten knocked out of place.”

“It shouldn’t have gotten ‘knocked out of place’ so easily! It must have been to lose in the first place, ergo, it’s my fault,” Ford insists. “I could have killed you with my negligence, Stanley.”

“But you didn’t,” Stan argues. He can’t definitively prove that Ford had attached the first stage properly, and yeah, if he didn’t and that was his fault, that would suck, but Stan was alive. Sore, exhausted, and a little rattled, but alive. They both were.

“But I could have,” Ford repeats.

“And I could throw you off the boat right now,” Stan dismisses, leaning back and waving a hand lazily.

Ford frowns and straightens up into his usual haughty posture.

“… I doubt it,” Ford says, which is as close as he’ll get to admitting defeat in their prior argument.

“Totally could,” Stan mumbles, and then louder, “whatever. Doesn’t matter. The point is, even if you did fuck up, we’re fine.”

“Are you fine?” Ford asks, staring at him with wide, worried eyes.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m fine,” Stan dismisses. “I’m aching like hell but when am I not, am I right?”

Ford frowns at him, but nods anyway.

“I… I truly am sorry, Stanley,” Ford says, soft and painfully genuine. “Regardless of my own role in its failure, this is not how I wanted our first reef dive to go.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t great for me either, but that’s just the way that it is in this bitch of a world,” Stan says, shrugging. His neck jolts painfully. “It was pretty cool before it all went to shit, though.”

Ford smiles slightly, his eyes flashing with that bright-eyed nerd look he gets sometimes.

“It was, wasn’t it? I dove off the coast of Oregon a few times, even explored the Gravity Falls lake once or twice, but neither could even compare. Even if we didn’t find whatever set off my sensor, it was worth seeing,” Ford trails off, his hesitant smile dying on his lips. “Or, it would have been, if I hadn’t nearly gotten you killed.”

“You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that if you want me dead, brother of mine,” Stan snarks, elbowing Ford in the ribs.

“I don’t!” Ford protests, offended at the mere idea. “I don't want you dead at all!”

“I know, I know,” Stan says, “you care about me or some crap.”

“I do,” Ford agrees, painfully genuine. “In fact, I care about you so much that I’ll let you take the first shower.”

“I just started to dry off,” Stan grumbles, just to be an ass.

Ford is, as expected, not especially sympathetic. He gently helps Stan to his feet and escorts him down the stairs into their tiny bathroom. Stan wishes he was more upset about the babying than he is, but as it stands, his shaky legs definitely appreciate the support, even if he’d never admit it out loud.

“Holler if you need anything, okay?” Ford says, lingering awkwardly in the doorway as Stan shrugs off the towel Ford brought him. It’s one of the thin ones that dries real fast, and there’s a proper bath towel waiting for him on the closed toilet.

He waves Ford away with a dismissive grunt, and he closes the door as he finally leaves.

The rest of the day proceeds in a similar fashion, with Ford only leaving Stan’s side to fetch things for him. It’s always like this every time Stan gets hurt or something goes wrong, has been ever since the damn memory gun. He can’t even enjoy having someone at his beck and call when that someone is his brother and he looks so damn guilty the whole time.

“C’mon Ford,” he says, tugging his brother down to sit beside him as he settles in to watch tv. “Relax for a second, will you?”

Ford sighs, but sits down beside him and, as usual, shoves his feet beneath Stan’s legs. He can be touchy about being touched sometimes, but he does like the reassurance of having some form of contact. Usually, it’s brushing elbows or butting his head against Stan’s shoulder or shoving his cold little toes under Stan’s thighs when they sit next to each other. He wasn’t always like this, but Stan has gotten used to it.

“I’m okay, got it?” Stan insists, tilting his head to butt it gently against Ford’s.

“… got it,” Ford says softly.

He repositions himself to settle into Stan’s side, resting his head on his shoulder. His hair is still slightly wet; his thick curls don’t let go of moisture easily, especially not in this humidity, but Stan doesn’t mind as much as he’s sure Ford would if their positions were reversed.

His need for reassurance seems to have overcome his general aversion to touch, and Stan is happy to oblige, even if that means being stuck on the couch for a few hours after he would have preferred to go to sleep because Ford passed out on his shoulder.

[whorewriter-lol]

Everybody Talks (pt. 3) I JJ Maybank

“I have to do something” Sarah was at her vanity ruffling her hair, she had been complaining earlier that it looked greasy “I mean- he thinks I got him fired, and I feel bad!” She turned to face me where I was sitting on the floor in front of her body mirror, touching up my makeup.

“Sarah, why would you feel bad if you didn’t do it? That’s like, the most people pleasing, walking doormat mentality I’ve ever heard of” I shook my head before starting to curl my lashes.

“Because! You heard him, that job is how he supports himself, and with his parents gone.. He just- he doesn't have anything!”

I sighed and turned to face her “You really want to do something?” She nodded. I rolled my eyes and got up, putting my hair up into a ponytail “Okay, he wants to eat? Let's bring him something” I pulled on my shoes.

In a matter of almost an hour we finally had pulled into John B’s driveway. I guess Sarah knew where he lived because she had to go with her dad to pick him up a few times. 

We stepped out of the car and I took a minute to look around, the yard was still a total mess from the storm but I guess it’s not like the cut has companies running around to clean up for them. We approached the front door but nobody answered. I turned around to walk off the porch when I noticed brown fluffy hair protruding from a chair underneath a makeshift canopy attached to what looked like an old toolshed. “Sarah, he’s over here.” I pointed and watched as she turned around and immediately started to approach. I followed behind her, listening to her speak to him.

“It’s your turn” She brushed her hair off her shoulder as we approached. John B looked up quickly.

“Uh, for what?” He rubbed his hands across his thighs nervously.

“To ask what we’re doing here,” Sarah smiled.

I leaned casually on a chair as he spoke up “What are you guys doing here? Also- are you two just always together or..?”

“Could ask you the same thing.” I quipped but Sarah nudged me.

“I realised,” Sarah started, “That I didn’t get a chance to respond the other day, after you spat in my face and yelled at me, and you stormed off like a child.” She blinked at him, shrugging her shoulders. 

John B nodded, looking from Sarah to me, then back to Sarah as she continued “So, first off, I’m not a liar and neither is Y/n. We don’t know how Ward found out about the scuba gear, but I swear it was neither of us.”

I stood up straight, crossing my arms “We aren’t the reason you got fired.”

John B shrugged like we were interrogating him “Okay.”

Sarah shrugged in return “That’s all. Good talk.” we started to walk off until she remembered what we had in our bags “Oh.” She pulled the bag of popcorn out of her bag which prompted me to pull the four pack of beer I had out of my tote bag. Sarah tossed the bag at John B “Your favorite.” She smiled before turning and heading back towards my car.

I set the pack down on the table in front of him “For you and your best friend” I remarked, obviously referring to JJ “Hey, nice catch” I grinned sarcastically before turning and walking off, hearing him mumble something to himself. 

(I’m gonna start adding time stamps so I don’t have to keep saying “The next day”)

11:30 a.m. June 24th

Sarah was supposed to have picked me up an hour ago, where was she? I tapped my foot impatiently as I sat on my porch. I picked up my phone to see a message from her showing on the lockscreen, a picture of me and Sarah.

Hey, sorry. Have to cancel, have fun 2night

“Awesome.” I spoke out loud to myself. She was probably gonna go out somewhere with Topper tonight which means I was on my own for the movie night they put on at the park. Sighing, I got up and stormed back into my house, a little annoyed since this wasn’t the first time this summer she had ditched me to hangout with Topper.

“Hey sweetie, what's going on?” My mom was standing at the kitchen island cutting up cherry tomatoes for lunch.

I sighed and hopped up onto the counter opposite to her “Just Sarah, ditching me for Top again.” I shrugged my shoulders as though it didn’t bother me.

My mom sighed and brushed her hands off, setting down the knife she was using “Sweetie, I really think it would be good for you if you tried to make some other friends,” she suggested “maybe at the movies tonight? You could try and talk to some kids you know from school? Or maybe some of the other kids on the island who surf?”

I shook my head “No- mom I told you I don’t like these kids, I mean- they have no depth! And they’re totally brain dead when it comes to environmental awareness, they only care about throwing parties and getting wasted, I don’t want to do that, I want to have real friends who want to have real fun!” I threw my hands up dramatically. 

“Come on Y/n, at least try to make some friends? Sweetheart, you spend all your time with Sarah, and when you aren’t with her you’re alone. It’s not healthy” She set a bowl of fruit salad down in front of me and I took a fork out of the drawer next to my legs.

“Yeah, easy for you to say. And don’t be a hypocrite,” I took a bite of a sliced strawberry in between my words “you and Rose spend all of your time together”

Mom shook her head, smiling “Yes, but we spend our time together with a group of girls from the country club baby, it’s not just the two of us all the time.” She leaned forward “Listen, you’re going to go to the screening tonight and you’re going to try and make some friends, okay?”

I rolled my eyes, throwing my head back dramatically “Okay, fine.” I shrugged.

5:32 p.m. June 24th

I groaned as I parked my car in front of the beachside park, the sun was on its way to setting and teenagers, families and older locals were gathering around the open yard where a big screen and a projector was set up. People in the parking lot were unloading lawn chairs and coolers. I looked to my right as a pale green Kia SUV pulled up next to me and I noticed Kiara in the driver's seat and a familiar blonde head sticking out of the back seat. “Shit, no!” I groaned and butted my head against my steering wheel as I pulled my keys out of the ignition. Quickly, I got out of my car and tried to avoid being seen by any of the pogues but no sooner had I stepped onto the grass did I hear the obnoxious blonde boy call out “Hey hey hey! Well if it isn’t my favorite snitch” He clapped me on the back and my eyes widened as I spun around.

“God- don't touch me.” I warned him, watching him back up with his hands out in a mock surrender.

“Woah, no need for the hostility princess I’m just messin’ around” He smirked cockily. God how much I wanted to wipe that smug look right off of his face. I opened my mouth to say something but Kiara’s voice interrupted.

“JJ!” She called out, waving him over to her and Pope before shooting me a glare. I shot one back as JJ rushed like a dog back to Kiara’s side. Rolling my eyes, I stuck my middle finger out at her before storming off mumbling curses under my breath when I crashed into someone.

“Watch where you’re goi- Topper? Wait, where’s Sarah?” I questioned, looking from him to Rafe who was standing just behind him.

“Well, I thought she was supposed to be with you? She hasn’t texted me back all day so.. I figured you two were busy- is she..is she not with you?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Would I be asking you if she was?” I threw my arms out before mumbling “fucking idiot.” as i pulled my phone out of my back pocket, the jab earning a laugh from Rafe. I pulled up Sarah's contact and typed out a message.

Where the hell are you? Not with Top?

“I texted her but, I don’t know if she’s gonna answer me” I put my phone back in my pocket.

“She’s probably out cheating on you Top” Rafe laughed as he stuffed a slice of pizza into his mouth.

I smacked his shoulder “Shut up idiot.” It was true, I had been friends with Sarah since we were ten years old and every summer she would fly through boys like they were cigarettes and she was a chainsmoker, but Sarah wasn’t a whore, she had never slept with any of these guys. I mean sure, she’d gotten pretty close with a few of them (Topper included) but she always brushed them aside afterwards. I felt bad the first few times but eventually I got used to it. Sarah didn’t like being that close to people and neither did I. We were each other's exceptions and not many people understood our dynamic but we did and that was all we cared about.

10:05 p.m. June 24th

I had spent my night mostly following behind Rafe and Topper until Topper's cousin James showed up. James and I had bad blood after our freshman year of highschool when he spread a rumor about me that I was only friends with Sarah because I had some little school girl crush on Rafe. I wandered off on my own, drifting between groups of girls and guys that I knew from school but they were all too annoying and it seemed like they weren’t even there for the movie. I sighed and finally plopped down on the grass by myself. I relaxed, observing the movie until being interrupted by JJ and Pope sneaking across the mass of people, blocking my view from the screen “Uhm can you move?” I raised my voice, pushing at JJ’s leg as he passed me. The two boys whipped around and hushed me urgently, I pulled back and mumbled “You two are so fucking weird.” JJ shot me a wink before they continued their journey and I watched them disappear behind the theater screen.

After a few seconds I noticed Topper and Rafe following where JJ and Pope had gone, along with Kelce and James. That caught my attention. I glanced over and noticed Kiara sneaking towards the back of the screen and I reluctantly got up and followed. I tapped her on the shoulder and she whipped her head around, looking scared before she realized it was me and her expression changed to annoyed “What the hell do you want Y/n?” She sounded like she was trying to accuse me of something and I definitely didn’t like that.

“Calm down psycho I’m just as confused as you are!” I whispered as we inched our way towards the back of the screen. We turned to look at each other when we heard a shout of pain “Shit, was that one of mine or one of yours?”

My attempt at a joke only made Kiara shake her head “Shut up. Come on!” We pushed ahead and that was when we rounded the corner, behind the projector screen to see Rafe headbutt JJ while Topper was beating the absolute shit out of Pope who was being held back by James. I was never one to really care much about fights but this one was unfair in all sorts of ways.

Before I could do anything, Kiara lunged onto Rafes back “Get off of him!” I heard her yell, she tried to land a hit on him but Rafe tossed her to the side.

“Stay out of this Kie!” He shouted before JJ whipped around and nailed him in the face. I looked over and Topper had his arm around Pope's neck. This wasn’t right. I noticed KIaras back laying next to her as she caught her breath from being tossed on the ground. Before I could think, I picked it up and stormed towards Topper.

“Top!” I shouted and as he looked up I swung it as hard as I could, accidentally letting it fly out of my hands as Topper stumbled back, letting go of Pope who fell over, gasping for air. I kneeled down to help Pope as Topper screamed at me.

“What the fuck is your problem!? Huh Y/n, what you’re a pogue now!?” He stepped closer, looking like he was ready to grab Pope again but I stood and pushed him back.

“No, I'm a person! And so is he, fuck off Topper he’s had enough!” As I was busy trying to push Topper and James away from Pope, I heard shouting heading towards me and I recognized the voice as JJ’s.

“Hey we gotta go!” I whipped around and gasped when I saw what used to be the projector screen burning. I took a few steps back before tripping over Pope who was still on the ground. I could feel the heat from the fire as I groaned “Shit. Sorry Pope I-” suddenly I was yanked up by a set of hands.

“Let’s go!” It was JJ, god he’ll look for any excuse to put his hands on me won’t he? He had his hand clasped tight around my hip as he lifted me up before helping Pope. He and Kiara lifted Pope, supporting him on either end of his arms.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked as I rushed away with them, slightly in front of them since I didn’t really want to be next to either of them.

We finally reached the parking lot and as JJ helped PPope into Kiara’s car she turned around and pointed a finger in my face “Oh please! Like you had no idea Topper and Rafe were planning that!?” 

I stepped back “What!? No, I didn’t! Why the fuck would I have been down with that!?” I stretched my arms out, pointing to Pope and JJ.

“Oh sorry! I forgot!” She stepped up to me, her voice lowering “You never know anything, do you?” 

I scoffed and shook my head “Fuck you Kiara. I told you I had no idea-!”

“I’m not doing this right now. Just keep your boys under control” She turned, walking back towards her car. She got in and started to drive off as I yelled out, turning my middle finger upwards.

“Yeah right back at you Kie!” I shouted as her car sped out of the parking lot. I looked back to see Shoupe and Peterkin hopping out of the sheriff's car so I rushed to my car and left before they could try to ask me anything.

When I got home I ran straight to my room, ignoring the calls of my parents from the kitchen. Slamming my door I wrapped my hands up into my hair and slid down against the door. Then my phone buzzed in my pocket. 

Incoming call from Sarbear <3

“Sarah” I breathed out before picking up the phone “Sarah where the fu-”

“I need to come over, right now!” She sounded excited?

I rolled my eyes, her giddy tone annoying after what I had just experienced “Yeah no shit, doors unlocked. Hurry!”

11:45 p.m. June 24th

“You did what!?” I grabbed Sarah's shoulders, a surprised grin spreading across my face. Sarah laughed and nodded “Sarah! He’s a pogue!”

“I know! I know, but- he’s so-” She sighed and laid back on my bed “He’s so fun! And his laugh.. I really like him Y/n, like a lot!”

“Oh barf” I rolled my eyes and laid next to her, laughing.

“No, Y/n I’m serious! I have to see him again” She nodded “and, and I have to break up with Topper. Tomorrow.” She looked at me with a determined look on her face.

“But Sarah, tomorrow is-”

“I know but, fuck! I don’t care!” She laughed, sounding shocked at her own words “besides, sounds like you had your own little pogue adventure” Sarah rolled her shoulders, wriggling her eyebrows at me.

“Yeah not nearly as fun or romantic as yours, I still can’t believe she screamed in my face! I mean, I helped them!” I tossed my head back, putting my hands over my face.

“Well, sounds like Kiara, I mean, she’s-”

“I miss her” I trailed off, looking at Sarah to see if she felt the same and by the look on her face, it looked like she did. Silently, we hugged each other. We spent the rest of the night discussing how to get ready for midsummers tomorrow, I was just happy that we would get a relaxed night after what I went through today, maybe pogue life isn’t for me.

[queen-of-deans-booty]

As Above, So Below: Part Two

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Mermaid!Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Warnings: fluff

Summary: You thought your kind had been wiped out by pirates way back then, but you find a colony of mermaids miles below the surface of the ocean. They hate humans. You love humans. They think they're bad. You believe them to be good. Sam Winchester is living proof of that. Will you try to make it work with him?

PART ONE

Square Filled: mermaid!reader (2021) for @spnaubingo

Author’s Note: for the sake of this story, natural light reaches much further below the surface of the ocean than it does in real life.

x

The ocean is a big place with lots of room to explore. Mermaids can swim fast and dive super deep but not even you have explored the entirety of the ocean. There are sea creatures that are sharing the ocean with you that you have no idea are real. However, it came as a shock to you when you found a whole colony of Merfolk living not that far from where you’ve been posted for the last several months.

Male Model hasn’t left the town he was last in, and you’ve wanted to keep a careful watch on him in case he decides to push himself like he did last time. Plus, he’s held your hand, seen your face… you’re not letting him go this easily and he doesn’t want you to.

The colony of Merfolk you ran into despises humans. They have such a strong vendetta against them that if you brought up the fact that you’ve been watching them your whole life, they would for sure exile you or worse. You’ve spent most of your life thinking you were alone, and being with them is better than being alone.

You wish you could go back to the surface in search of Male Model but you have to get used to being around other Merfolk. There is a whole world you never knew existed until now, and maybe it’s a good idea to start hanging around people like you instead of humans.

“So, tell us, Y/N, what were you doing before you came to us?” Jessica, one of the mermaids, asks.

There is no way you’re telling her about Male Model. Half of you thinks they are going to go up there to kill him.

“I was a drifter. My family was wiped out by pirates way back when, and I thought all Merfolk were gone. I was alone for a long time so I traveled the globe.”

“I’m glad you’re with us now. I love getting new folks,” she grins.

“Thanks,” you nod. “What about you?”

“I was captured by deep-sea fishermen in their net. My brother saw me trapped and tried to save me before I could be spotted. He got me out of their net but ended up getting tangled himself. They killed him before I could do anything about it. I left and never looked back. I hate humans for what they did to him,” she says angrily.

“You know, I’ve been around the globe several times, and sure there are bad humans, but most of them are good. They might not be as bad as you think they are.”

“Fuck humans,” Jerry, a merman, spats. “They killed my wife and daughter.”

“Humans are bad. They will always choose violence over what they don’t know. You’re better off with us than with them.”

If only they got to see Male Model like you did. He is so kind to you. He doesn’t force you to go above the surface so he grabs scuba gear to be with you longer in the water. It’s a shame they’re letting their fear control them. You used to be like them and hated humans for a long time until you saw how beautiful they could be. You know the stage they’re in so there is no talking to them. There is no changing their mind. They might but it only comes with time.

“Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

You quickly make your escape before they have a chance to question you. You swim away from the camp to be alone, but you find yourself swimming to the surface just to see Male Model again. The colony down below is a couple of miles away from the surface so you’re not worried about them seeing you here.

There are a ton of people at the beach laughing and having fun with each other when you spot Male Model by the pier. He is holding a pair of binoculars to study the ocean in the distance when he sees you. He lowers the binoculars only to put them to his eyes to make sure what he sees is real. You lift one hand above the surface and wave and he smiles back at you.

He leaves the pier and returns with scuba gear. He has yet to hear the sound of your voice and you have yet to know his actual name. Male Model is cute but you wish to know what his name is. The pier is filled with boats ready to be taken out and one of them belongs to Male Model. He sets his gear in the back and starts her up to travel to where you are.

You sink some more so that only your eyes are above water no matter how creepy it looks. Male Model drives his boat closer to you but instead of stopping next to you, he continues going. He wants to go out where there aren’t any humans around so he can explore freely with you. You sink below the surface and follow his boat to a private area where you two can talk without being overheard.

You breach the surface but only your eyes and nose are above. The rest of you are hidden below and out of view of Male Model. He sits down on the edge of his boat knowing you’re nervous to show all of you to him.

“You’re safe with me. I haven’t told anyone else about you. Not like they’d believe me. They’d probably blame it on what happened a couple of weeks ago,” he stutters. He’s cute when he’s nervous. You look around but only you and him are out here. No boats. No Merfolk. No other humans. “I promise. You’re safe with me.”

What’s life without taking that leap of faith? You’ve spent so much time with him underwater that you feel like you know him. He’s kind and compassionate. You don’t think he’d hurt you. Plus, what is he going to do to you out here? He has a small boat with nothing to keep you tied down.

You swim closer to his boat and grab the edges of it. With one pull, you tug yourself onto the boat so you’re sitting down next to him. Your long hair covers your bare breasts and your tail shimmers in the sun. Male Model looks at you in curiosity and wonder since he’s never been this close to a mermaid before. You haven’t been this close to a human in ages but it’s nice since it’s him. If it were anyone else, you wouldn’t have considered this.

“I’m Sam,” he smiles and sticks his hand out.

“Y/N,” you smile back and shake his hand.

Your skin is slimy smooth due to the salt in the water which also makes it shimmer like glitter in the sunlight.

“Wow, you’re even more beautiful up close.”

“So are you,” you blush.

“I have so many questions for you. I never knew mermaids existed until I met you.”

“I’ll answer anything you want to know.”

“Are there more like you?”

“I didn’t think so for a long time. My family was killed a long time ago by humans, and I thought they had wiped us out. Up until a couple of days ago, I thought I was alone. There is a whole colony of Merfolk a few miles below the surface.”

“Do they like to come to the surface like you?”

“They hate humans like I once did. They won’t allow themselves to see just how wonderful you are. What about you? Have you been diving your whole life?”

“Ever since I could swim. I moved around a lot as a kid but my parents always made sure I had access to a pool wherever we went. In high school, I was on the swim team and got a scholarship for swimming. I began diving in college and have made a career out of it. People hire me to dive down to all kinds of things but I recently got into free diving. I’ve been practicing my whole life and wanted to see how far I could go down. That’s where I met you.”

“Yes, when you were reckless with your life,” you chuckle.

“Hey, I thought I could make it.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“Weird question, but are you able to be out of water?”

That question has always been in the back of your mind. Can you survive out of water? You’ve never tried it in fear of dying. However, since you’re out in the middle of the ocean, if you can’t be without water, you can just jump back in the ocean and be fine.

“I don’t know, honestly. I’ve never tried it.”

“You don’t know what happens when you get dry?”

“I’ve never had the opportunity to be without water. The pirates who captured us kept us in tanks the whole time.”

“Do you want to find out?” he smiles.

“I don’t know. What if I shrivel up and die?”

“You won’t die but if you show signs of any pain, I’ll put you back into the water. Aren’t you a little bit curious?”

“I am a little.”

“So, what do you say?”

“Okay,” you nod.

Sam gets up so he can lift you out of the water completely. He slides his left arm underneath your tail where your knees would be if you had any and the other arm on your back. He lifts you completely out of the water as if you weigh the same as a feather. He walks to the front of the boat where the benches are and lays you on top of one.

It takes a while for something to dry out but the hot summer sun is enough to speed that process along. Your tail starts to burn the more the scales dry out but it’s a good pain. The ocean is just a jump away if you need it but you want to stick it out and see what happens if you’re completely dry.

“How do you feel?”

“So far so good,” you smile. Suddenly, your tail glows brightly and transforms from scales to human skin. Gone is your tail and human legs have replaced it. You gasp and stare at your new form in amazement and wonder. You wiggle your feet and grin at Sam who is also smiling ear to ear. “Look at me! I have legs!” It takes a second to register in your mind that you have no clothes on. Why would you? You didn't have any on when you were a mermaid. “I’m naked.”

“Here, put this on.”

Sam grabs a spare shirt and looks away while you put it on. He’s so much bigger than you that his shirt rests right below your hips so you’re not completely covered down there but you’re not fully naked either.

“I have legs!” you gasp happily.

“Try standing up.”

You swing your legs off the side of the bench and admire the way the floor feels on your bare feet. You lift yourself off the bench and try taking a step when you go crashing to the ground. Before you can, though, Sam catches you.

“It might take a bit before you can master the skill of walking. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“This is amazing. I never knew I could be this way. Let me try again.” You pull away from Sam and try taking another step. You don’t go crashing to the ground but you do wobble so much that you feel like you might. You take another step and grab Sam to steady yourself. “I wonder what happens if I get water on myself.”

Sam grabs a water bottle and splashes some on your arm. Within ten seconds, your legs shine brightly as they transform back into a tail. You gasp and fall back onto the bench carefully so as not to hurt yourself.

“All I have to do is stay dry and I have legs? I can do that.”

“You’ve shown me part of your world, want to see part of mine?”

“Yes,” you nod excitedly.

Never did you think this was possible. This opens up so many new opportunities for you since you’ll finally be able to know what it’s like to be human.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[mk-wizard]

Transformers Rescue Bots Excerpts: Meet Sky-Byte the Predacon Part 1

A storm suddenly brews upon High Tide's ship...

High Tide: Mayday! Mayday! This is High Tide aboard the Trident! I am caught in the middle of a freak storm and I don't know much longer my ship can take it! *there is only static* Mayday! Mayday! *there is only static* Oh, dash it all! Can ANYONE hear me?! Servo: *is hiding while whimpering with his paws on his head* High Tide: It looks like we're on our own, Servo! As usual... Well, that suits me just fine! Our odds are always better when it's just the two of us! Servo: *there is a flash of lightning and Servo sinks further into his hiding spot* YIPE!! High Tide: Will you stop being a lilly lithiumed coward and come outta there?! Help me hold the Trident together! Optimus entrusted us with this ship for a reason and we can't let it sink! Its one of a kind and one of the remaining treasures of Cybertron! *he runs out to start taking protective measures with Servo quickly running* Servo, start securing things together! Servo: Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.... High Tide: NOW!! *he does the same by hand* Servo: Yip! *works quickly, but he still has a bad feeling when he sees something ahead* YIPE!! YIPE!! YIPE!! YIPE!! *points with his paw while panicking* High Tide: What?...!! Hurricane... All the more reason to finish your job! Do NOT let this ship get torn apart! *something gets hurled across overhead*... And mind the debris! Despite the danger, they manage to finish securing the Trident ship...

High Tide: Alright, NOW we can get inside and-LOOKOUT!! *he pushed Servo out of the way and some hurling pipes and cement block get thrown their way* AHHHHHH!! *one pipe impales High Tide's leg and he attempts to pull it out* Servo, get inside NOW!! I'll catch up!! Servo: *does as he is told reluctantly* Whiiiine! High Tide: *gets hit with cement blocks and thrown overboard. He tries to swim, but his injury and the pipe still stuck in his leg makes him unable to swim and he is sinking, so he tries to turn on his scuba gear, but....... (?!! Oh no! My tank's filling with water!) *there is a hole in his tank causing the mechanism to fill with water instead of air and the pressure is so hard, it is forcing water into his ventilation system* (My own scuba gear is drowning me! Gotta get it off! Gotta get it off!) *whips out a knife and tries to cut the mask off, but his hands are shaking and water being forced into his airways, he begins to choke and sink* (I don't believe it! I'm going to die here...) *as his vision fades, he sees what looks like a ghost shark made of metal approaching him* (Is this my angel of death?) *he blacks out*

Later, he gets foggy images of being pulled out, breathing again and the face of a femme before blacking out again...

High Tide: Uhhh... My head.... *he wakes up in his chambers laying down on his berth chamber with his chest armor and boots off* Servo: Yip yip! *licks his face* High Tide: Thanks, Servo old boy. You saved my life. Servo: *points to himself* Ruh-uh *shakes his head* Yip, yip! *points to a femme who walks towards them with a tray of medical equipment* ????: You're awake? How do you feel? High Tide: I feel...? *notices the style of the armor* Hey, you're the shark I saw! ????: Yes, I saw you drowning and you had a pipe stuck in your leg, so I got you out of the water and back onto this ship. Does your leg hurt? High Tide: *sees the bandages on his thigh and splint* No, but my head feels like it's about to crack open *realizes that he has bandages on his head too* ????: Ok, that's because it was. I had to solder it closed. Don't worry. I'm a doctor. Here, this should help with the pain *she puts a Cybertronian ice pack on his head which also has a massage feature* High Tide: Ahhhhhh, that's better, Dr.... uh.... Sky-Byte: Sky-Byte *she smiles at him and as she leans forward, he noticed the Predacon symbol on her collar* You need to warm up too, so I made tea. How do you take it, Captain? High Tide: Uh... Just the way it is, thank you *she gives it to him*... And ah... I'm not a Captain. Not exactly. I'm a naval officer. The name's High Tide first class Autobot mariner. Sky-Byte: Really? Well... to tell you the truth, I'm actually a veterinary doctor, but... your figure is comparable to that of my people's *she giggles* High Tide: *blushes for a moment as Servo dog-laughs* Cheeky... Why save me at all considering I'm not one of your people? I'm an Autobot and you're a Predacon. Predacon: And? High Tide: We got history. Bad history. Predacon: *smiles* And it's still just history. Why should I leave you to die or hate you at all because of what the Autobots of yesterday did to my people? If you saw me drowning in the ocean, would you leave me to die just because I'm a Predacon knowing what my ancestors did? High Tide:........ No. Sky-Byte: Every faction has bad history and in the future, ever faction will make new mistakes they won't be proud of, but that shouldn't stop any of us from trying to do right and be kind in the here and now, should it? High Tide:... *smiles slightly* Did they teach you that in Predacon medschool, Dr. Sky-Byte? Sky-Byte:... No. I learned it in a regular medschool from always having the fact that I was a Predacon thrown in my face *she is about to turn away and leave the room, but he takes her hand* High Tide: I'm sorry! I... I didn't mean it like that. It was thoughtless and tasteless of me to say that especially after you saved my aft and have been so kind. *takes her hand in both of his* Sky-Byte: It's ok. I get it a lot and I've learned to tell when it's not meant like- High Tide: No, it's not ok! I... ah... I shouldn't even be bringing up that you're Predacon, Dr. Sky-Byte. Sky-Byte: *the storm is still going on and the whole ship shakes with the light flickering scaring her to which High Tide responds by holding her protectively* Ah! Servo: *cocks his head looking at them as they both blush* High Tide: *lets her go* Ohhhh... Dash it! I can't stop being a fool! Sky-Byte: *giggles* It's ok. You're a good hugger. High Tide: *blushes harder* Don't tease me, womanbot!

Part 2 is here....

[astranite]

This was originally meant to be for that prompt. the Virgil one. Ummm and I don’t know where it went, somehow its more Alan and Gordon. It almost completely avoids the prompt. Its probably not that great. Yeah Im running on about 5 hours of sleep because I stayed up last night to finish that Scott and Bereznik thingy. Now Im tired and my brain just isnt. Yup. But sticking it up here anyway because ‘hey two cakes.’ Maybe Ill fix it up at some point. Or something.

------

Alan couldn't see Virgil from where he was standing. He was too short, too small and the concrete dust obscured everything. Only part of Scott’s back was visible, the blue of his uniform turned greyer than his baldric. 

Oh yeah, and Gordon’s blond head, right in his face. Deliberately placing himself between Alan and his big brothers who needed him. He was doing it on purpose. Like he was trying to protect Alan from his big brothers. 

Scott’s voice was harsh and snappy at John over the comms. Alan couldn’t make out the words but he could hear him. He wasn't the calm Commander anymore, not the Scott who charged into missions as their leader. Alan knew exactly what a worried smother-brother-hen sounded like. He’d heard it every single time a brother was injured, but usually Scott wasn't so mad. Scott only got angry like that when he was scared.

John’s response came cool and professional. His brother was giving Scott orders all the way from space, and by how Scott’s shoulders dropped, he was following them. 

The comms screeched with static, drowning John out and maybe John was freaking out in amongst it too. He didn’t know.

Alan needed to know what was going on. Just to see for himself that his brothers were alright and everything was going to be fine.

Each time he tried to step around him, Gordon moved with him. One side, then the other. Alan tried to fake him out, go for the left then dart to the right, but it was like Gordon predicted exactly what he was going to do before he did it. 

Couldn't Gordon just turn off the squid sense for a second? And then let him through. He wasn’t even looking at Alan.

They’d both seen the bridge come down.

Alan took a deep breath, squeezing his hands into fists. He was being childish and impatient. He was a rescue operative, he should be helping or something, somehow, but he just needed to see his brothers first.

Alan shoved past Gordon and caught a glimpse of what was happening metres away from him. A set of green booted feet stuck out at an angle. Virgil’s boots.

Gordon pushed him back. Alan threw his weight against him, because something had happened and no one was letting him see.

Strong arms wrapped around his middle and picked him up so only his tiptoes were brushing the ground. His arms were pinned between them. He writhed in Gordon’s grip, kicking at his brother’s feet but Gordon didn't react. Because Brains had just happened to build hard toe caps into his dive booties like he had for the rest of them. The over engineering was serious.

The tubes of Gordon’s rebreather against IR blue filled his entire vision. Alan glared at at them. Just stupid Gordon and his stupid scuba gear, keeping him away from Scott and Virgil. 

Alan suddenly let his entire body go limp, forcing Gordon to hold up his dead weight unless he decided to let Alan go and save them both the trouble. But nope, Gordon tightened his grapple until Alan couldn’t drop an inch, because he was the fish who swum a thousand laps of the pool a day and had the muscle to show for it.

Sharp curses in the background cut through their struggle. He could hear a grunt of pain he was pretty sure was Virgil, then a tiny choked off noise. What was happening? Gordon was still blocking his view.

The stupid, cheery yellow of Gordon’s baldric mocked him. It was the only sunshine left in this place and it was keeping him from his big brothers.His heart was pounding and didn’t Gordon get how scared he was? 

Alan growled and smacked his fists against Gordon’s chest. Not hard enough to hurt him, he’d never actually want to hurt him, but hard enough that Gordon would fucking know he wasn't happy. 

“Stop wriggling, Allie,” Gordon murmured, and he sounded so tired.

“Just let me go. I have to see them,” Alan gave his brother one last shove. “Please.”

“We can’t do anything for either of them right now,” Gordon said softly, “We’d just be in the way.” 

Gordon was right and he hated it. No matter how good of a rescue operative he was, he was still the youngest, the baby of his family. His older brothers didn't want him to see them in pain. But half the time that just made him worry more. 

Alan slumped. Their grapple of Gordon trying to stop Alan from running headfirst towards his injured brother, shifted into a hug. Gordon holding him close was now his comfort rather than enemy. 

Virgil would be okay, Scott would make sure of it. He had John too. His brothers would be okay. As soon as they got back to the island and Virgil’s injuries had been treated, Alan would be giving him a big hug and not leaving his side again.

[enby-jellyfish]

Bonding Time

Chapter 1 of Melodies of War

OC Clone Commando SCUBA Squad X GN!Melodie!Jedi!Reader (POC friendly)

Pronouns: You/Your

Summary: Bonding time on your way back from your first mission.

Warnings: Discussions of the clone's and Jedi (traumatic, though neither party fully realises yet) upbringing.

Word Count: 1263

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, life got in the way of writing.

Previous part

Your first official mission as a team was a success. The sentient aquatic species that inhabit the large mountain lakes of this planet in the Outer Rim easily cooperated, agreeing to lend their recourses to the Republic after freeing them from Separatist influences.

Satisfied, yet exhausted, you decide to let your squad rest for the night before heading back to the ship, still a few clicks away. You gather what dry wood you can find on the snowy terrain, and build a cozy fire while your squad takes off their gear and starts cleaning their weaponry.

They don’t take off their helmets though, you notice. Now that you think of it, you haven’t seen their faces at all yet. “You can take off your helmes you know, it can’t be very comfortable wearing them all the time.”

They awkwardly look at each other before muttering a ‘yes Sir’ and hesitantly take off their identical helmets, revealing equally identical, youthful faces.

Stars, you can cut the tension with a knife. Fighting together comes easy, moving in tandem, almost reading each other’s minds. Quiet moments like this are awkward, there is nothing to unite all of you, no common goal to work towards.

You clear your throat, the sound piercing the silence. “So, tell me something about yourselves.” The troopers halt their movements, clearly not expecting you to want to ask them another question.

“Tell you what, general?” Nemo asks uncertainly. “Anything. I want to get to know you better.”

“Well, there isn’t much to say…” Dreamer hesitates. “You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable, it’s just, seeing as we’re going to spend a lot of time together from now on…” You try to explain, fidgeting with your hands, rubbing your webbed fingers together.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Allright, um.” Dreamer coughs, looking to his fellow troopers encouragingly, sitting up straighter and putting his blaster down. “Well, we were created from the genetic template of a Mandalorian bounty hunter named Jango Fett.” He starts.

“Mandalorian? I can see where you got your warrior spirit then. Do you speak Mando’a?” You ask, silently thanking the force for an end to the awkwardness.

“We do, though I think our accent is atrocious compared to actual Mandalorians. There weren’t a lot of those teaching us on Kamino.” Dreamer explains.

“Were you raised there? I was told Kamino was removed from the Jedi records, I know next to nothing about it. What is it like?” You ask.

Intrigued, you listen as Nemo answers. “More like trained, but yes. It’s the closest thing us clones have to a home.” You can relate, Coruscant and the Jedi temple are far from homely, but it’s the closest thing you have.

“It’s cold, ruthless, and wet, always raining.” Bubbles continues, crossing his arms in distain. “Not a very cozy home then?” You attempt a joke.

Bullseye lets out a laugh. “Cozy is the last thing that comes to mind when thinking of Kamino. I don’t think those long-necks even know what that word means.” You all laugh.

When the laughter dies down Flow speaks. “Geonosis was actually the first time any of us left the planet.” You smile at him sympathetically.

“Must have been strange, leaving home for the first time, in what twenty years?” You guess their age. “Uh ten, actually.” Dreamer corrects you with a sheepish smile.

“What? You’re telling me you’re ten years old?” You know different species have different lifespans, but the clones should have the same one as their human template, right?

“The Kaminoans wanted us to mature as fast as possible, our growth acceleration matures us twice as fast as humans do.” Nemo explains. “So, mentally, biologically, you are about twenty? Even though you are chronically ten?” You say hesitantly. “Yes, that’s right.” Nemo confirms with a nod. You don’t want to think of those implications.

“What about you?” Nemo asks. “You’re a Melodie, and a Jedi one no less, there isn’t much known about your kind.” Bubbles interrupts Nemo with a punch to the arm before he can continue.

“Ow! What did you do that for?” He exclaims, rubbing his now sore arm. “You can’t just ask your superior officer a personal question like that, especially a Jedi!” Bubbles hisses.

“Oh no, it’s fine! I want us to work together as equals, you can ask me anything.” You try to mediate the situation, Bubbles settling down at your words.

“Where are you from?” Flow asks, curiously. “Well, my species are native to Yavin 8. They live deep within the purple mountains, and in underground freshwater lakes.” You start.

“They? Not you?” Dreamer asks, questioning your choice of words. “Well, I can’t actually remember my life there from before I was a Jedi. They took me in to be trained in the ways of the force when I was very young. I’ve only been there once after, to go through the Changing Ceremony. The council originally didn’t want me to go back, but my master insisted.” You reminisce, a small smile forming at the thought of your master.

“Why weren’t you allowed back?” Flow’s soft voice asks, brows furrowed. “I think they were worried about me forming an attachment to my people and my planet and my culture after going through the ceremony.” You explain.

“Why would that be bad?” Bullseye asks, his usual playful tone replaced by one of genuine intrigue and concern. “Attachments, or rather, the fear of losing what you are attached to can lead someone to become ruled by those intense emotions. Jedi are supposed to be be calm, thoughtful, focussed. Our only possession being our lightsaber. You can’t have be a Jedi and form attachments.” You explain.

“Well, did you?” Did you? Dreamer’s question stuns you for a moment.

“No, the only thing that changed is that I now have a fish tail sometimes and can breathe underwater.” You manage to say convincingly, laughing off your insecurity. You should meditate on this when you return to coruscant.

Moving away from the heavier topics, more relaxed, light-hearted conversation starts. You continue getting to know each other, sharing interests and goals, telling jokes. You learn and notice specific things about the men before you, you didn’t before.

Like how Dreamer is drawing pictures in the sand with a stick, head in the clouds yet always alert. Nemo is constantly typing on his data pad, taking notes on everything around him. Bubbles got his name from a small leak in the breathing apparatus in a bacta tank, his brothers found it quite ironic, considering his grumpy demeanour.

Bullseye claims to have never missed a shot, his brothers playfully disagree, though to give him credit, you have not seen him miss a shot yet. Flow loves nature, the gentle giant quietly asking his little brother about the scarce flora and fauna surrounding you, intently listening to his rambles with a sweet smile on his face.

They often call each other ‘vod’, meaning brother in this context, with the exception of Nemo, who as youngest in the squad, is dubbed ‘vod’ika’, little brother. Dreamer is the eldest, Bubbles and Bullseye are twins, released from their growth jars at the same time, and both claim to be the second eldest. Flow is next, and then Nemo.

As yawns start becoming more and more frequent you decide to call it a night, content with the progress of your relationship with your squad. “Good night boys, sleep well.” A chorus of ‘sweet dreams’, ‘nighty night’, and ‘you too, General’ fill your ears as you drift off.

Next part (TBC)

Masterlist

Thank you for reading <3

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking Down The Comics: Under the Mask

Moon Knight, Issue 20: Cut Adrift off the Coast of America

LOOK AT THIS COVER. I laugh every time I see it. It reminds me of like, Night on Bald Mountain when the devil creature is over the city and about to do his evil things. I feel like the past two covers for this run are just the artist (Bill) going, “I don’t know… Moon Knight in various poses of angst?” For no reason! 

Anyways… Let’s finish this run! 

So we left off with Marc finding plans for Nimrod to attack Manhattan and Marlene being undercover as his personal bodyguard. 

Now, up to this point, Moon Knight has been abroad. This whole run has been him retracing steps and places Marc has worked. 

I've noticed that in the original comics, any time Moon Knight had to travel out of the country, Marc Spector is the one in charge. 

He is well traveled and he has contacts all over. If there's a country, Marc has most likely been there being paid to be a bad guy. 

Perhaps Jake doesn't feel comfortable traveling. His home is New York and always has been. He found his identity there and his friends. 

Steven will sometimes travel, if it involves luxury, but usually once they leave the hotel Marc takes over. 

Now, we are finally heading back to New York. 

Which, oddly enough, Marc never feels at home on American Soil. He'll show up for a fight or two, but perhaps he just doesn't feel like he has a home there. He did, after all, leave his home in a hurry after a fight with his father. America is something Marc left behind. 

ANYWAYS: 

We see Moon Knight with scuba gear on... and still wearing his cape I might add... trying to reassure his contact that "Spector and I will take care of it." 

He notes that while he has faith in the plan, "our real strong suit is playing it by ear." 

This is true. Moon Knight is amazing at winging it. When things go to shit, he just goes. Which is probably for the best because a lot of his plans tend to go to shit. He's...He's not good at thinking things through. (Especially Marc). 

Streglov (the government contact) mentions that he really doesn't like the fact that Marc is emotionally at risk in this mission. Not just for revenge, but also that Marlene is involved. 

Moon Knight quips that "I didn't like anything about this operation, Streglov, but we're stuck with it." 

Once in full scuba attire: 

(WHAT ARe YOU WEARING MOON KNIGHT. That cape can’t be easy to swim in. Is that breathing respirator OVER YOUR MASK?! Are you….wh…. The depths this man will go to to keep his mask on…) 

As Moon Knight goes for a swim at night in full outfit... 

"Sure cold down here this time of night. Gives me the chills... Chills to match the goose bumps I got when Streglov mentioned Spector. Didn't like his tone of voice. Almost as if he was embarrassed to refer to Spector as a separate man. Guess I'd better face the grim possibility --Streglov may be catching on that Spector and I are one in the same man." 

Hmmm... Now, in the last issue, we had no issues with identity. Marc was undercover and comfortable not being himself. Moon Knight was an easy guise to slip into. 

He is grappling with 'secret identity' right now. He doesn't like the idea that people know who is under the Moon Knight mask. 

But also, he doesn't like the idea that people see the man under the mask as Marc Spector. 

He's so uncomfortable being known as Marc that he would go to great lengths to keep the guise up that they are different people. 

Which, in this particular circumstance, it IS silly. They are on a boat. It's assumed Marc got on the boat and now Moon Knight is there going on the mission saying that Marc sent him to do it and to trust him. 

There's a certain level of self delusion going on in which he wants everyone to believe that Marc is still on the boat. Perhaps that he wants to believe that Marc is still on the boat. 

In Moon Knight's eyes, Marc has very little place on this mission and he would rather everyone just play along. 

So it looks like the terrorist plan is to put four oil tankers out in the water in key locations, purge the oil, letting the gas build up until a spark sets the whole thing off in an explosion. 

Nimrod is on one of the tankers. He plans to blow his tanker and send a signal to the others to blow their own. The pressurized explosion form the built up gas will be devastating and then the oil in the water will catch fire, encircling the island in a raging fire inferno. 

Moon Knight is to get on Nimrod’s tanker, cut a hole in the hull and release the gas to prevent the explosion. He will then stop Nimrod, preventing him from signaling the other tankers, giving other teams time to take them out. 

A convoluted plan on both ends. 

Would the ship blow up? Yes. Science has proven that this is what caused some famous explosion at some point (I'm not looking up which boat it was. It was in port and the built up gas caused a devastating explosion that wiped out the whole town, but if you know it then kudos to you). 

Are there better ways to do this? YES. JFC yes. Just put a bomb on the boat. Why is he going so over the top? Why is the only method of preventing the explosion cutting a hole to let the gas vent? What about all the oil in the water that is polluting and causing a fire hazard? And with that much gas build up, ANY spark could set off an explosion. What if it goes off before you’re ready?!

Convoluted plan aside... Moon Knight gets on the tanker, now in search of Nimrod himself. 

Moon Knight is now lamenting that he needs to keep control of his emotions. "I've got to control myself... Avoid hasty judgements... Keep myself from thinking about it..." 

Good luck with that buddy. Hasty judgments should be your middle name. 

Back with Nimrod, we see Marlene still playing bodyguard. 

Nimrod is doing his bad guy rant about how Moon Knight destroyed his base. He rants about how he's a one man army and will take down the city no matter what it takes. 

As Moon Knight makes his way through the tanker, taking out bad guys, he reminds himself that he's not doing this just because of Marlene. 

As Moon Knight busts into Nimrod's room, Nimrod shoves Marlene forward, demanding that she attack him. 

Luckily, the two other lady bodyguards jump in and attack first. 

Oh! And here we see our hero once more face on the floor in a helpless position. 

Back at Grant mansion: Hey! We haven't seen this place in a while! 

Frenchie has taken Jake's cab back to the mansion to GET TO THE CHOPPER. 

Back on the tanker, Moon Knight wakes up in a very Bond-like situation. 

I do appreciate that each time we look at Nimrod after this while Moon Knight is tied up, Nimrod is upside down. It’s a fun touch in perspective. 

Nimrod gloats a moment then moves to unmask Moon Knight. 

Back in the day, secret identities were pretty sacred. All heroes who wore masks kept their identity pretty tightly locked down (Notable exceptions to those that wore masks: Tony Stark who can't stop telling people who he is and Captain America who no longer has the ability to just be Steve Rogers). 

In current times, Moon Knight really stopped caring and ever since Civil War (don't get me started on that Marvel Event), the only one who really keeps his identity is Spider-Man. And that really depends on what Spider-verse you live in. 

So back in the day, Moon Knight kept his identity a secret unless you were in his close circle of friends. 

This really worked well for Steven Grant, who needed to maintain his social standing to get into high class crowds. It also helped Jake keep his own personal life and let him work the underground. 

When it came to Marc, it really didn't matter. Marc didn't really have a normal life anymore. 

Not to mention the only people that knew who Marc Spector even was were probably those that had come up against him as a Mercenary. 

So Nimrod is momentarily shocked then laughs about how he now has both his nemeses helplessly held captive. 

He leaves Moon Knight helpless and we get...this...view....

Um... Anyways... 

Moon Knight realizes that the crescent darts are still on his belt, being mistaken for decoration! 

So he wriggles around till one pops off and falls towards his restrained hands. He misses quite a few of them. 

Of course on the last dart, he finally catches it. 

Now he just has to saw through the rope restraints. 

Back up top, Nimrod is relaxing with his three bodyguards. They doze and Marlene finally gets a chance to slip away. 

Just as she is about to leave the room, one of the other bodyguards wakes up. 

Marlene assures her that she's just going out for fresh air, but the guard is suspicious She wakes up Nimrod. 

Marlene finds an escaped Moon Knight and they team up together to start taking out the guards. 

The hapless lackies all taken care of, they return to look for Nimrod, only to walk into a trap! 

Nimrod makes a run for the detonator to blow the other ships. Marlene tells Moon Knight to go. She'll deal with the other two ladies. 

We get several pages of Marlene in an out and out brawl with the other two ladies (all three are in bikini uniforms, but not drawn softly. Bill gave them good muscle definition for the time.) To the credit of the writing team/artist team, it's not a cat fight. They use martial arts, punch, and hit one another with chairs and things. 

Marlene makes nice work of the other two and wins the fight. 

Meanwhile, Moon Knight is up against Nimrod and his Arsenal of weaponry. 

Moon Knight is hit by a grenade and once again....

He sure does spend a lot of time down there. 

Dizzy from the hit, he stares down the barrol of a gun and remembers his friend being gunned down right in front of him. 

"A memory of Ben Abramov, his oldest friend, jerking from the impact of a sniper's bullet... Twisting slowly through pain towards a last fall into a darkness called death..." 

He acts and kicks the gun at the lat moment, causing it to discharge into Nimrod's face. 

"And another memory, also snarling... Nimrod Strange crushing Marlene to his chest, smearing his lips over hers..." 

Moon Knight jumps up, enraged. 

"You've killed my friend and soiled my woman, Madman!" 

He attacks the disoriented man, punching and coming at him head on despite bullet fire. 

When the fire becomes too intense, he falls back to get the high ground. 

Nimrod makes a last desperate run for the detonator and Moon Knight tackles him. 

Moon Knight takes a blow to the head that leaves him in his favorite position on the floor. 

We get a really nice page here and you really have to admire the art, the layout, and the tension. This is just a fantastic page! 

He knocks out Nimrod before he can push down on the detonator! 

And now we get a bit of our nit and gritty man showing his emotions. 

MK: Marlene...I...That last gesture...It was stupid. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me.

Marlene: Hush, Steven. If such a gesture can ever by earned, you did tonight.

He cuts the detonator and calls for Frenchie to be picked up. He leaves Nimrod on the boat and rushes to inform the agents waiting that the mission is a success. 

Moon Knight laments that Nimrod knows who he is and will most likely tell everyone who he really is. 

Just as he's about to confess to everyone that he and Marc Spector are the same person, Nimrod wakes up and manages to set off the bomb. 

His ship blows, taking out everyone still on it. 

Thankfully, the other ships have been disabled and taken out before they too can blow. 

"You were saying?" 

"Oh, nothing. Just that Spector and I are a good team. He does the undercover work and I'm the visible one up front." 

Hmmmm. Very true. Very visible. 

Epilogue: 

Back in Jerusalem... At the home of widow Anna Abramov, she receives a message. 

"Anna- Ben's work finished --Spector." 

She crumbles the letter and weeps silently. 

"Then she sips some tea and wraps herself against the chill, and for a time she is quiet, and she is still, and she is alone... An hour from now the tears will start again...and last until dawn." 

END ISSUE and end to Nimrod Strange. 

This was a long run of Just Marc Spector in his element. 

We got to see a lot of Marc’s skills and the things he did before Moon Knight and what gave him the ability to put on the mask and be as brutal and effective as he is. 

It also showcased Marlene in good light and we even got a lot of Frenchie action. 

As for the bad guy, he seemed like he was supposed to be bigger than he was. He boasted a LOT about his abilities, his firepower, and being unstoppable. But he just hit behind his goons for hire, his bodyguards, and his weaponry. He really just didn’t strike me as a big top tier villain. 

And maybe that was some of the point. A single guy with power and an idea that managed to gather people together to try to do terrible things and hurt a lot of people. 

This was a very run run, especially traveling to Israel and going against the elite three. The story and imagery in that one was amazing. 

Honestly, it was pretty amazing to just focus on Marc. So that makes up for the fact that the villain was just utterly detestable, and not in a fun hate the villain sort of way. 

We also got to see him be utterly pissed and petty, culminating in spitting on Nimrod, then instantly feeling shame that someone saw him. I think that sums up Marc pretty nicely. It isn't often he gets to spit on a terrorist who enjoys killing and hurting people. But then he feels shame that he let his emotions out. Oh Marc, stop being a bottle of suppressed emotions.

It ends in a way that a lot of Moon Knight comics tended to end back in the 80s: A sad and lonely note. Though they won and get to go home, there is still the Widow who is alone and will always be alone. 

Marc sends her the note, but Marc can slip back down into his safe mask of nothing and doesn’t have to think about her anymore. His friend is dead, and it’s another name added to his list of people he failed and watched die. 

What did you guys think of this run? Thumbs up or down for the bad guy? 

I think what’s really exciting after this and seeing Marc work, is knowing where it’s all culminating in at the end of the first big 1980s run of Moon Knight. 

[morbidlyhumorous]

Scuba (Jake Webber)

I was tying off my air tank on the ship when I saw the three guys approaching. Sam and Colby had come to our dive shop a few days ago to get certified and their friend Jake had decided to tag along for 'moral support.' I honestly didn't mind as I found myself warming up to him and thought he was pretty funny. Sam and Jake were cracking jokes the whole way down the dock while Colby looked slightly stressed, though I couldn't blame him. Even though I was confident in my abilities from doing this for several years, I still sometimes felt a dull sense of panic. But I was fine, and Colby would be, too, because he would be partnered with Keline.

Once the three guys were on the boat, we casted off and were soon skipping over the waves. Keline did a run down of what we were going to do with the two guys and I sat next to Jake. We talked for a little while before the captain announced we were close to the site. I already had my wetsuit on halfway, so I focused on putting my gear together. I heard Jake laugh behind me, so I turned to see that Sam had fallen over trying to get his leg through the wetsuit. It was one of the funniest things ever.

Keline and I then checked their gear set up. "Sam! You forgot to turn your air on!" I called out. Sam froze and Jake beside him said, "Oh boy, that would not have been good.""No shit!" Sam exclaimed and I couldn't help but smile. "This is why we check things like this.""I can't even begin to imagine what would've happened otherwise." Sam said, his face slightly draining of color. "Nah, you would've been fine. We always triple check these things." Keline said as they clapped Sam on the back. Once everything had been put together, Keline was the first one into the water. I helped haul Sam up from his seat, slowly walk him to the edge, watched his stride off the edge, then I went back and did the same to Colby. 

Finally it was my turn. I got the rest of my wetsuit on before I turned to Jake and asked, "Can you zip up my back? I usually have Keline help, but they're already in the water." Jake walked over and replied, "It'll be my pleasure," as he zipped up the back. I thanked him and then strapped on my gear before putting my flippers on. I shuffled to the edge of the boat, made sure my BCD was inflated, placed my hand over my goggles and regulator, then strode off the edge. I signaled to the captain that I was okay and then waved at Jake before swimming towards the others. Jake was probably going to find some game to play on his phone while we were gone.

When the four of us reached our descent point, we began our descent. The world around me was quickly silenced as my head went under the surface and I began the frequent process of equalizing my ears. We slowly made our way down the line until we had reached the bottom, which was at about 75 ft. Keline began leading the way and the rest of us followed. A few minutes in, I felt the familiar feeling of underlying panic, but I ignored it. We swam around for about half an hour before we decided to start heading back. It was great to see all the marine animals that live down here, but we only had so much air. We made it to the line and began our slow ascent, making sure to take a safety stop part way through. When we finally broke the surface, Keline and I made the guys go in front of us when getting back on the boat...just in case. Colby took his flippers off and passed them up to the captain before he climbed the ladder up, where the captain grabbed him by the top of his air tank. He walked Colby back to his seat, tied his tank off, and then went back for Sam. After Sam was Keline, and after Keline was me. 

I walked back to my seat and got myself out of my BCD before I could tie my tank off. I managed to get the top part of my wetsuit off before I felt myself beginning to cry. I hastily tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. My breaths started coming in short gasps and I couldn't see anything. I tried to focus on the cool metal railing beneath my hands, but it didn't work. Suddenly, I felt a warm, rough hand on my bare shoulder. I looked up and saw Jake beside me, a concerned look on his face. As soon as he saw my face, he immediately made me sit down and took one of my hands in his, his thumb rubbing over my knuckles. His other hand was gently rubbing my back as I leaned my head on his shoulder. He rested his chin on my head and said, "Shh, it's okay now. You did it, you got through it, and I'm proud of you. It's over now and what matters is that you're safely here with me."

We stayed like this for a few minutes, Jake muttering soothing words the whole time, before I felt myself calming down. I let out a final shaky breath and used my free hand to wipe my eyes. I glanced towards the other end of the boat and saw that Keline was watching me. They gave me a little thumbs up and I offered a small smile in return. "There we go." Jake said once he had noticed I was calming down. "And look at that," he continued, "We're here." I gave him a little laugh before I stood up to take my wetsuit the rest of the way off and pack it away. 

When we had docked, the guys were nice enough to carry the air tanks off the boat. Once those were off, I grabbed my bag of gear and made my way to the side of the boat. Jake was there and graciously held my hand as I got off. The two of us walked together to the main building next to the dock to rinse my gear off. While rinsing my gear off, Jake got a hold of the hose and began spraying me. I shrieked and tried to block the spray, but it didn't work. "Jake! Stop it!" He laughed but finally turned off the hose. I packed my stuff back up and Jake carried it for me to me car. I popped open the trunk, Jake unceremoniously tossed the bag in, and then we both sat on the edge. Sam and Colby were still near the main building with Keline, so I knew we had a few minutes to kill.

"Hey, I wanted to thank you for helping me earlier. I really appreciated it." I said as I nudged his arm. He smiled and took my hand in his own, giving it a squeeze. "I was happy to do it. I completely understand what you were going through.""I think I should keep you around every time I dive, because that's the fastest I've calmed down from that." Jake laughed slightly at my words and said, "Well, I've always wanted to be certified." I smiled at him before I allowed my head to drop against his shoulder, starting to feel tired after the long day. Jake held me closer to him and we enjoyed watching the waves until Sam and Colby were ready to go. Before he left, Jake pressed a lingering kiss to my knuckles and said he would see me soon before he hurried off, leaving me a blushing mess.

[thecameronchronicles]

The Foster-Part Three

TW: hints at smut. Language. Angsty situations.

SUMMARY: Situations arise that being certain relationships to light, as well as desires and tensions….

WORD COUNT: 1700

*ORIGINAL CONCEPT*

The Foster Part 3

She was flawless in every way you picked yourself apart and it made your eyes narrow at her. It was the only action in which allowed Kiara to find something to like about you, a mutual loathing for the effortless beauty that was Sarah Cameron. Leaving a string of insecure girls and aroused men in her wake without the means or care of doing either. At least to everyone but John B, it seemed. 

"Haven't you done enough?" Kiara shot as she stood before John B, your eyes widened as JJ leaned over to you. 

"Sarah got our golden boy fired after he borrowed some scuba gear..." 

"Stole, you mean-"

"Doesn't matter. Just goes on to prove once again why you can't trust Kooks..." 

But if you happened to learn the details of their mutual disgust for her presence, nobody validated this more than Kiara. 

"Don't you have a boyfriend to irritate? Some friends to stab in the back?"

"This isn't about you Kiara." She tried to look back towards John B, resuming a conversation that didn't have a chance to begin. Her siren eyes flashing to you for only a moment before you looked at John B. 

"You shouldn't even be here." The girls continued to throw cruel remakes at one another before you recognized the fire behind Kiara's eyes. The one that would come just seconds before she would lunge, something you believed you knew well as you'd done the same. Many times. 

"It isn't worth it..." You explained before Sarah scoffed. 

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"I don't know what's going on, but-"

"Stay out of this-"The way Sarah projected her hand to your face was enough to alter any potential kindness into an upset rivaling even Kiara's. 

"I think you're on the wrong side of the island, Barbie. Maybe you need to get back to whatever ken doll you've managed to victimize long enough to realize you're pretty dense otherwise-" You tapped her temple as she hit your hand away. 

"You think because you're new that your opinion matters. Hate to break it to you, sweetheart. You don't. You and whatever sob story you rode in on. Piece of advice, you might want to try putting a little effort in because whatever tragedy is responsible for the bags under your eyes will only make people feel bad for so long. Won't be enough for anyone to stay-" The very thing you tried to keep from happening to Kiara had now been what forced John B to wrap his arms around your waist to keep you from attacking Sarah. 

But from the second he pulled you away, you were able to feel every pull of each muscle as he took you into safe parameters. For Sarah's sake. When you were finally released, you repressed a pout as you found an odd comfort in his grasp. 

"Come on, Rocky..." He teased while taking you into his room within The Chateau. 

"If all Kooks are like that, I can see why you don't get along."

"Usually Sarah's actually manageable...Until recently, anyway."

"Yeah JJ told me about the scuba gear. Why did you take it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." He confessed before looking over his shoulder. "And they'd kill me if I did "

"Well I have nothing but time and need something to calm myself down before I find out just how many hair extensions she has." 

"Damn, scrapper...okay...But just keep an open mind." And with this, John B began to tell you every detail that had transpired since before he was sent away into the system. Details of treasure and gold. A sunken Grady White and a dead body. An old compass and its connection to a clue that brought him unintentionally to now. But where he expected you to become even more inquisitive or even confused, you just laughed. 

"Fine then, don't tell me."

"I'm serious. My dad spent his entire life looking into it. Taking our rent money and just disappearing-" He was suddenly on his feet.

 "Come here..." He took you across the hall and into his dad's office. Walls littered with research of an old maritime vessel you pegged as "The Royal Merchant." Your fingers came to the collection of books, mostly too dusty to appreciate a lack of care for, until looking back at him. 

"He left this..." A tape recorder placed what had been a final message along with a map. The contents sending your mouth wide. 

"Shit..."

"And I was on my way to finding out more before being hijacked by the state-"

"What exactly are you after?"

"400 million..." Pope spoke in the doorway. 

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't ignore the fact you had my back with Sarah, but it doesn't mean I forgot you stole my clothes." Kie added.

"Actually, I gave them to her..." John B defended, his eyes reaching across the space to you rather slow climb as you adored the attention and defense for a moment. 

"Well still...I guess you're one of us now..."

"You should have seen the look on her face. I don't think I've ever seen a princess that pissed..." JJ finally entered. 

"She knows..." Pope explained, slightly disappointed. 

"Good because in case y'all haven't noticed, we aren't the best at keeping a low profile..." 

"Speaking of that..." John B suddenly alerted you all of the new and unwanted arrival. 

"JJ..." Kiara warned. 

"Swear to God wasn't me...I don't think..."

"J!"

John B collected your hand within his own. 

"I'm trusting you. Please don't make me regret it." He spoke into your ear, squeezing your hand just enough to leave an impression of the warmth he could allow. His body leaning down to you as if to tell you it would be alright. 

"If they see you, they'll take you both back!" Kiara reminded as everyone looked to one another before you and John B were ultimately left waiting for the other to offer some grand masterplan. 

"Closet. I'll take care of them..." Kiara spoke somewhat reluctantly before pushing you to the direction of his room. Before you could object, the bedroom door came closed. 

"If you felt better about it, I could probably squeeze under the bed-" You would allow him even a second before taking him within the closet, the sound of steps approaching having meant you escaped in the nick of time once again. 

"Maybe if I had you around the first time, I never would have been caught..." He spoke in a low whisper. .

"But then you never would have been blackmailed." You reminded, reading the tension of his torso as it was forced against you. The heavy exhales forced from shirt inhales making you well aware of just how close he was within the darkness. 

"You can trust me, John B." He scoffed. 

"Sarah said the same..."

"I'm not her..." You could feel his smile. 

"You definitely aren't..." The sudden sensation of his fingers against your knuckles pulled your own breath to quiet. Even though your heart hammered within your chest, you couldn't help but wonder if it was with intent. Because of this, you remained still. Growing more desperate by the second. 

"I'm glad you did."

"What?" 

"Blackmailed me. It wouldn't be nearly this much fun without you. Or entertaining..." You smirked to yourself. 

"Or..." He continued, his touch having now rested on your elbow as it made that stealthy climb. 

"Or?" Your voice was weak, truly consumed by the moment and the closing proximity that continued from adrenaline and apparent fate set you a part of. 

"Okay all-" JJ tore the doors open, revealing just how close you and John B had been. An unnecessary closeness that existed from your need to be close to one another. 

"Uh..."

"It's late." Kiara interrupted Pope's inability to formulate a sentence of any kind. 

"Yeah..." John B clenched his jaw in disappointment. 

Within a handful of minutes, Kiara returned home after following Pope to his father's borrowed truck to wish a good night, leaving JJ asleep on the couch, and you unsure of where you'd rest for the night. But one thing was for certain, you needed to wash the day off. Between running the night before and the near scuffle an hour prior, you were anxious for that cleansing feeling. 

"I don't think Kie left anything else, but you can borrow a shirt of mine..." 

"You sure?" He nodded. 

"Least I can do for how you defended us..." 

You nodded, slipping across the hall before starting the water. Testing the stream below, you turned to find John B's reflection in the mirror. His eyes trained on you in a way of regret for having been interrupted prior. Your lips pulled to a widening grin before you teased your fingers along the line of your shirt. But just before he would learn of your proclivity of white lace, you closed the door. 

The shower was uneventful yet sultry in theory. You imagined John B making his way into the steamed room, collecting the curtain in a forced pull, and joining you to enact the visions that contradicted your attempt to get clean. Yet the events of the night brought you to smirk at yourself in comparison. You hardly knew him. Even if he made your thighs press whenever he was close and offered some sense of safety you could explain. He was really no more than a stranger. 

With heartbreak eyes. Tempting lips. Muscles that could pull you effortlessly away from gravity. It was enough to bring a blush to his cheeks and your hand in a teasing descent before you remembered how close he had been. How his chest fell against yours. How his breath rested at your lips…

Because of this, you retracted any attempt to silence that need between your legs and finally exited from the shower. But once doing so, you became nervous on what you'd say when seeing him again after your near peep show seconds before shutting the door. After a moment's hesitation, you decided it was better to face the music, but found him looking at you instead. 

Without a word, just as your lips parted to speak, he moved into you. His hands at your hips as he walked you back into the sink. A final look for consent offered to you before he then surprised you with a soft kiss. But it was that instant collision that offered only a glimpse of the passion he was capable of. 

Passion you were soon to learn from this unexpected turn of events. 

TAGLIST: @hopebaker @drewspisces @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets @lovedetlost @trikigirl271 @maybankslover @slut4tangerine @slvtherinseeker @obxiskewl @bluesongbird @slut-era @ailee-celeste @camilynn @sweetestdesire @onmykneesforrafe @jjmaybanksangel @phildunphyisadilf @mashdan0916

MASTERLIST

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[thenationaltreasuregazette]

To the editor,

Thoughts on the various bumps, bruises, and scrapes that the team (TM) must have attained in the course of their adventure? My personal headcanon is that Abigail’s right shoulder is probably a bit screwed up: she did hang single-handed off the side of the food truck door for multiple minutes, and she landed on the same shoulder when she was knocked down and lost the Declaration in traffic. And then there was the whole ‘wooden stairs collapsing under Trinity Church thing’…

Love your work!

Hi Anon,

Thank you so much for your question! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my little project. I definitely have.

Injuries! Oh yes I have so many thoughts, and like you, they mostly center around Abigail’s shoulder.

Aside from being tired, like just exhausted, nobody talk to me for three days t i r e d, the gang came through their adventure more or less in one piece. For as much as Ian and his crew liked to shoot at them them, nobody got hit, and after the Charlotte exploded, there wasn’t any direct violence of that sort either. The injuries we’re looking at are mostly incidental, the wear and tear of going through an ordeal like that.

Let’s take the trio one by one:

Riley

There’s only one injury actually mentioned directly in the dialogue of the film, and that is:

"Actually I still have this splinter that’s been festering for three months"

So Riley got a splinter. (I think he would be rather miffed if we didn’t acknowledge that up front, lol.)

Other than that, as the tech guy/comic relief, he’s usually a bit removed from the action. There are exceptions of course, like when he’s shot at in the van outside of the National Archives, but in general he comes out okay. He also makes it to safety almost immediately in the collapsing staircase sequence, which spares him most of the physicality of that event. So Riley makes it out with just the base level of exhaustion and fatigue.

And a splinter.

I think it’s safe to say that most of Riley’s scars from this one are emotional.

Ben

Ben’s role in the story is much more physical; he’s the one doing the bulk of the heisting, running, jumping, etc. There are four main point that I see where Ben could have been injured.

The first is rescuing Abigail from the catering truck. While hanging out of the van is certainly dangerous, Ben is in control of what he’s doing. He’s deciding how far he can reach, etc. Not so for Abigail. Since Riley is able to swerve around the oncoming bus, Ben escapes this moment seemingly no worse for wear.

Second is the chase through Philadelphia. Here he’s probably looking at some minor scrapes and bruises, mostly from diving through the graveyard. The gunshots hitting the headstones sent little bits of rock dust flying, which could have scratched up his face and hands. And he doesn’t seem to be cut or in pain after the chase, but if there were sharp edges on any of that scaffolding he could have scraped a hand, shin, etc.

It also clearly hurts when he punches Powell outside the cemetery; he even says “Ow!” as he shakes out his hand. But then it’s off on the chase again. His hand doesn’t seem to impede his ability to climb the scaffolding, and when he’s in FBI custody he’s interlacing his fingers pretty tightly. So the “Ow!” might have been more from the shock, the kind of stubbed-toe pain that’s worst in the moment and then subsides. Still, he might have scraped or bruised knuckles. He also might be feeling the punch later that afternoon or the next day, but after what is to come, it might get lost in all the other soreness.

Third is the jump from the Intrepid. We know that Ben has fairly extensive dive training. He wears a Rolex Submariner, which is a $10,000 watch? Ben, I have new questions about your finances. which is waterproof to 1000 feet. From the FBI’s profile we know that Ben’s education encompasses “Navy ROTC and Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center.” He also breaks out the scuba gear again in Book of Secrets.

Holy shit this led me down a massive rabbit hole into what Ben’s exact relationship with the Navy might be. More on that at a later date.

Without getting into specifics, Ben is an experienced diver. But that’s scuba diving, not high diving. The Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center is the largest diving facility in the world, and it’s possible that depending on what course(s) Ben was enrolled in, he learned jumping-from-height techniques. He doesn’t strike me as a parachuting-from-a-helicopter kind of guy, especially because that likely wouldn’t be necessary for the kind of salvage he was interested in. I’d venture that is more for rescue missions—which is under the purview of multiple military diving regiments trained at NDSTC—but probably not where Ben’s focus was, given that the Charlotte was already long-sunken.

He clearly gets his body into a pencil position before hitting the water, and just the fact the he has the wherewithal to do that while jumping from an aircraft carrier suggests that he has some experience related to this. BUT, that doesn’t mean he’s actually prepared to do what he does.

Still, he surfaces in New Jersey in one piece. When Ian says a “No broken bones? A jump like that could kill a man,” Ben’s response is to play it off. “No, it was cool. You should try it sometime.” That doesn’t mean he wasn’t taking a huge risk in doing it, but he clearly came out of the jump without significant injury. He’s also able to change, meet Ian, and lead the expedition into the catacombs without any visible signs of pain. So while I imagine the jump didn’t feel as “cool” as Ben claims, he doesn’t seem to be hurt. Sore, almost certainly, but whose to say where the soreness from the jump ends and from any of the other adventuring begins?

And last, of course, we have the Trinity Church staircase sequence. Ben ends up hanging on for his life three different times during the stair collapse, first with Abigail trying to pull him up, then holding her up before dropping her on the nearby platform, and finally hanging onto the last board after the elevator breaks in half.

As with the Intrepid he doesn’t seem to be injured, but at this point his body has to hurt. He might not realize it in the moment—or even after the moment, what with his entire life’s goal evaporating and then materializing before his eyes and all—but holding his grip that intensely had to have stressed most of the muscles in his hands and arms. And although he doesn’t bring it up like Riley does, I wouldn’t be surprised if he came away from that with a palm full of splinters. Then he immediately had to hold himself up on a 200-year-old natural fiber rope, which can't be a pleasant sensation even without everything else going on.

So I imagine when all is said and done he’s plenty sore, with bruises and scratches here and there and possibly some minor scrapes, splinters, or even rope burns on his hands.

Abigail

And now to the main event. As you point out in your question, Abigail seems to come away from the adventure worst of the three of them. She’s the only one who appears visibly in pain after one of the action sequences is over.

As you state, in each of the three major action sequences—the catering truck, Independence Hall, and Trinity Church—Abigail take a bit of a beating, and she takes it in the same place: her shoulders.

Let’s go through them one by one.

Catering truck. When she opens the door of the catering truck, she’s immediately flung out and whips almost all the way around the doors. That has to hurt her arms, shoulders, and torso; her body was not prepared to move like that. She holds on with both hands, swings out on her left arm only, then finds her grip again with the (fake) Declaration in her right hand. First she reaches out to Ben with her free left hand, and then does so again after the door swings back and Ian takes the document from her, leaving her right hand holding onto the door. When Ben pulls her into the van, she lands pretty hard on her back.

That had to hurt.

Not immediately. Not the kind of searing pain that can’t be ignored, but the kind that creeps up on you. The kind the stiffens up and settles in muscles you'd never even noticed were there.

Ben repeatedly asks Abigail if she’s alright and she never really answers whether she’s physically hurt. She thinks she’s lost the Declaration of Independence to a truck full of armed lunatics, and that is all she can focus on.

“Yeah well I’m not alright! Those men have the Declaration!”

At Patrick’s house, she keeps her arms crossed over her body most of the time. This is probably a function of being in an incredibly awkward situation—semi-kidnapped and now meeting your accidental kidnapper/intentional document thief/future love interest’s dad, who insulted you at the door??—but you could additionally read this as experiencing some soreness in her arms and shoulders.

When she goes to test for the cypher, her hands seem as steady as could be expected in such a situation, and once the masonic symbol is revealed, she goes all-in on helping Ben reveal and record the rest. So she can’t be in too much pain. Plus, like in the van, the safety of the Declaration and the thrill of cypher have all her attention.

I imagine that it’s when they get on the road to Philadelphia that she really starts to notice what hurts. As she sits in the car her muscles stiffen up, and there’s much less to take her attention from the pain. Not to mention she’s now willingly on the run from the FBI, with these two weird guys she just met, in a dress she probably wanted to be out of hours ago, in the middle of the night, while having plenty of quiet time to reckon with the fact that she just put lemon juice all over the Declaration of Independence and almost certainly will not have a job when she gets home. The physical discomfort only adds to it all.

I’m not convinced she’d even attempt to sleep in such a situation—Riley, sure, but that’d be a lot of trust for Abigail to be showing toward these guys at this point—but even if she did, she might not be able to get comfortable. No matter how she might twist in the seat, her neck or her shoulder or one of her sides would hurt.

Philadelphia. When Abigail is knocked into the road during foot chase in Philadelphia, she lands on her back and right shoulder, and when Riley pulls her out of the path of the truck, she again lands on her right shoulder. While these don’t look like particularly hard falls in and of themselves, after swinging from the catering truck and then having twelve-ish hours for that soreness to build, yeah, those fall probably hurt.

She may also have some raspberries on her hands or knees from when she fell. Again though, Abigail is so focused on the Declaration and almost dying for it, again that it doesn’t even seem to register with her.

Trinity Church. Finally we have the Trinity Church staircase sequence. First she helps pull Ben up from where he falls, and then she hangs from the elevator. She’s holding onto Ben with her right hand, and when he drops her on the platform she falls and lands more on her back and left shoulder. It’s this left arm that she’s clutching even while Ben is still dangling over the pit.

She takes her hand away when she yells, “Hang on!” but immediately puts it back again, which suggests to me that she’s in quite a bit of pain. In the previous instances she’s been so focused on the danger to both herself and the Declaration that she doesn’t acknowledge she’s just been through something that probably hurt. Now, even with both Ben and the Declaration moments away from falling to their doom, she is reflexively holding her shoulder. She’s even still holding it when she runs up to Ben after he swings to safety on the rope.

Maybe if the adventure hadn’t been so rough on her shoulder already this wouldn’t have been such a painful hit, but in any case it’s clearly not something she can ignore.

There’s this little moment that I had never noticed before when Ben’s trying to convince Ian to turn back where Abigail puts her hands on the railing in front of her and noticeably wiggles that left shoulder, as if she can’t quite get it comfortable or is checking to see how bad the damage is.

It’s not broken or anything like that: she’s clearly using both her arms when they discover the treasure, even holding her torch with that left hand at one point. And in the three months later flash-forward she’s holding Ben’s hand with her left and pressing up against him with her left shoulder, so she’s fully healed by then.

Headcanon time

My personal headcanon is likewise that her shoulder is pretty banged up. I imagine that when Abigail takes that jacket off (or when an EMT does, because I’m assuming there’s an ambulance somewhere in with the 300 police cars and FBI vehicles that must have descend on Trinity Church after Ben’s call) she’ll find a nasty bruise. The kind that’s instantly purple and only seems to get worse. The kind that lasts for weeks and turns all sorts of sickly greens and yellows as it's healing.

I imagine that when Abigail’s sitting watching Ben talk to Sadusky, all the pain and stiffness she’s been pushing out of her mind comes creeping back on her. Aching soreness in her back, her shoulders, her neck. And that left arm hurts. The longer she sits there, the more she realizes just how much it does.

I especially like to think that the paramedics give her a sling that she’ll have to wear for a few days. There’s not much they can do besides immobilize her shoulder and let it heal. I don’t imagine she needs any kind of dramatic treatment like surgery, but maybe some physical therapy when she gets home if you’re so inclined.

What I like about the sling is that it’s highly visual, and Ben would already be on his way to Boston by the time she gets it. So while Riley is probably there to see how bruised Abigail’s arm is, Ben gets to be surprised when he sees her the next day. I also headcanon they have to stay in NYC for a few days being debriefed by the FBI. And he gets to feel terrible because he’s the one who dragged Abigail into all this, however inadvertently, and yet she’s the one who ends up hurt.

That sweet, sweet angst, you know?

So in addition to the incidental scrapes, Abigail has a wicked bruise on her left shoulder, and possibly others on her back and right arm. Depending on how severely she wrenched her muscles in the catering truck or staircase sequences, she might have some longer-term pain as well. It's possible that those shoulders will never be quite right again, and sitting poorly at her computer or spending long hours hunched over in the preservation room might cause it to flair up again. And given her job, she may have chronic neck, shoulder, or back pain already.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this adventure hurt. Abigail may have sustained the only semi-serious injury, but the guys will be feeling this tomorrow as well.

Running. Jumping. Falling. Holding on for dear life.

Sore muscles. Scrapes. Cuts. Bruises. Scratches.

Remember, they’re nerds. Ben has to have a certain level of fitness to do all that diving, but all three of them are fundamentally nerds. Riley sits as a computer all day, Abigail sits behind a desk, and this particular week in his life to the contrary, Ben Gates probably spends most of his time looking at books, maps, archival records, etc.

Not to mention they’ve been awake for like 24 hours now with unknown amounts of food and water and probably all have massive headaches.

Prescription: Ibuprofen all around.

Well, that's all from me for now. Thanks so much for your question! Feel free to send another any time.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay 2023 Day Thirty-One For Life

Just one day after escaping the TridentCorp facility, Chase found himself in Marvin and Jameson’s lake—a place he’d half-thought he’d never see again, though he would never admit that to anyone. The same went for the people around him. His friends and his family. It was so good to see him again.

“Hey Dad?” Sereia tugged on his hand. “Does this sort of thing happen a lot between merms?”

“Well, fairly often,” Chase said thoughtfully. “This is the first one I’ve been to in a while.”

“Ahhhh.”

Muirin swam over as well. “So, it’s like getting married, right?”

“No—yes?” Chase shook his head. “Imagine if there was marriage but instead of promising to love each other romantically forever, the people were promising to be best friends forever.”

“I wish humans had that,” Sereia muttered. “Right, Mom? Wouldn’t that be cool?”

Stacy couldn’t actually hear anything that was going on. Her scuba gear allowed her to be in the lake with everyone else for a short period, but human ears just weren’t adapted for underwater sounds. Still, she noticed Sereia looking at her from where she was sitting on the lake floor and gave a supportive thumbs-up. Chase swam over and took her hand, giving her a small smile. She squeezed his hand back and nodded. Everything was still good.

The family was at the back of a clearing in the lake reeds where all the merms had gathered. It was a relatively small group, but it was still the most merms Sereia, Muirin, and Stacy had ever seen gathered in one place. They couldn’t help but stare. Obviously, Chase’s friends were there—Jackie, Schneep, Jack, and of course Marvin and Jameson—but Marvin’s family—Aribelle and her two partners—were there as well, excitedly chattering to each other. Aribelle was tearing up so much it was obvious even in the water.

“All of you settle down! We’re about to start!” Marvin announced, floating at the front of the clearing. Jameson floated next to him, fiddling nervously with the talisman hanging around his neck. Between the two of them was a low stone table decorated with sea stars and magical plants.

Almost everyone settled down instantly. Jackie’s tail was flicking wildly through the water, propelling him to gently float higher. Schneep and Jackie had to hold onto him to prevent him from floating out of the clearing.

“This part isn’t going to take long,” Marvin continued. “But, uh, I’d appreciate it if you all... settled down. So it won’t take longer.”

Jameson chuckled. He leaned closer to Marvin and said, You don’t have to be nervous.

“Yes I do,” Marvin muttered back. He took a deep breath. “Do you wish your family could have been here?”

They’re already here, Jameson said, smiling. And besides, we’ve already talked about this. You’re stalling. Do you want me to go first? His smile faded a bit at that idea.

“I got it.” Marvin took another deep breath. He looked at the other merms—and Chase’s family—in the clearing. They were all silent, waiting. He looked away again, back at Jameson. “I...” His words got caught in his throat. He reached up and made sure his mask was in place, pushed up onto his hair instead of covering his face. “Jameson. I... I-I’ve always been worried that things were... uneven, between us. I let you stay here, taught you magic, a-and that always felt like... like a lot. I don’t want you to feel like... you’re less in this relationship, you know? Because... you give me so much. Every day, ‘I think I’m so lucky to have a friend like you,’ and as... a-as terrible as the circumstances were that led to us meeting, I’m so happy that we did.” He fidgeted, playing with his fingers. “You... you’re such a steady person, a-and I feel a bit more anchored when you’re around. And you’re one of the smartest and kindest merms I know. Sometimes I think I don’t deserve a friend like you, but I know I’d be an idiot to swim away from this. So... if you would have me, I would like to be your life friend.”

Jameson’s expression was soft, touched. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, blinking to clear them. I knew you’d say something about worrying things would be uneven, he said. But Marvin, I have never felt uneven with you. Ever since our first meeting, you’ve never been anything but kind and welcoming and encouraging. No matter how dark things have gotten, no matter what state I’ve been in, you’ve never shifted from that. And you’ve never held that over me. You’re too good a merm for that. Better than you think. And if you’re going to call me one of the smartest and kindest merms, then you should call yourself that, as well, because I learned so much from you. You are a light to me, Marvin, even when I’m trapped in the shadows. And if you would have me, I would like to be your life friend.

Marvin was smiling. He nodded. “I would love to have you.”

I would love to have you, Jameson responded.

The two of them turned to the table. In the midst of the decorations on it were two bracelets, made of stone beads and sea glass on string. Marvin picked up the one with seafoam green glass and held it out, while Jameson picked up the one with bright blue glass. One after another, they untied the string ends and retied them onto the other’s wrists. When it was done, they clasped their hands together and leaned close, resting their foreheads against each other.

The onlookers began applauding. Jackie and Chase shouted their congratulations. Schneep was grinning, smiling wide. Jack nudged him and made some comment about him “not being the smartest merm they knew” and he rolled his eyes and nudged him back. The kids were swimming in circles around each other while Stacy, not fully understanding what was happening but nonetheless getting the sentiment, clapped her hands together.

Marvin and Jameson drifted back, smiling at each other for a few seconds before turning to look at everyone else. “Alright, that’s all the—the mushy stuff out of the way,” Marvin said.

“You know you love it!” Schneep shouted.

“Oh shut up.” Marvin’s face slowly turned red. “Anyway. It’s time for the celebration part of the ceremony now. Everyone head to the surface! We’ve put a lot of energy into the repelling spell so that we can party!”

Everyone cheered and started swimming upwards. Aribelle went with her partners, who were both teasing her for crying while also supporting her. Chase grabbed Stacy’s hands and helped pull her up a bit faster than she could have swum normally, Sereia swimming around them while Muirin was talking about bends or something. Jackie and Schneep started to go, but then noticed Jack was lingering behind. “You coming?” Jackie asked.

“Yeah, just one minute,” Jack said.

Jackie and Schneep glanced at each other, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worrying and swam up ahead. Jack waited until the clearing was empty before swimming over to the side. He’d noticed some lights in the reeds during that ceremony. Brushing them aside, he revealed a merm crouched close to the ground. “You know, when I invited you, I didn’t expect you to actually come,” Jack said. “You didn’t have to hide.”

Anti blinked at him. “Yes I did,” he said. “You’re crazy if you think they would’ve let me stay if they knew. You’re crazy for asking me, and not telling them.”

Jack shrugged. “Maybe. I guess you’re right. You don’t have any side effects from the potion, right?”

“Not that I can tell.”

“Great. So I take it you’re not going to stay for the party, then?”

Anti shook his head. “I just wanted to see what happened. Never been to one of these before.” Jack didn’t find that surprising. “I’m leaving now. But don’t forget our lesson next week.”

Jack grinned. “I won’t. Looking forward to it. See you then.”

“See you.” Anti stayed where he was for a while, watching as Jack rejoined the others. Then he slipped away, heading back downriver towards the ocean.

One by one, the merms broke the surface of the lake. It was dusk, the very edge of the dark sky stained pink. Stacy swam over to the nearest beach and climbed out, removing her goggles and the hood of her wet suit. “Alright!” she said, taking a deep breath of air. “I hope you can all understand me. Because I’m about to start, and I don’t want any of you to be surprised.” She walked over to the car she’d rented to drop off the air tank and grab a lighter and a small object.

“I also hope your crazy water magic can help if this goes wrong,” she added as she walked back over. She set the small object on the beach and lit it with the lighter before turning to hurry away. Soon, the object began emitting colored sparks and whistling. The merms gathered by the beach and stared in awe. Some of the sparks shot high into the air and exploded into colors, and they cried out in surprise and joy.

“I’ve never seen them so close up,” Schneep whispered.

“Yeah.” Jackie nodded. “Do you remember that one time they were setting them off at a pier and I came and got you so we could go see them?”

“Of course I do. That was one of the best days I’d had in a while.”

“Well. Glad I could help cheer you up again.”

“Chase, what are they called, again?” Marvin asked.

“Fireworks,” Chase said. “I wish they worked underwater, they’re some of the best stuff humans came up with.”

Maybe we can learn how to make water-works one day, Jameson said.

“I think they used to be a thing, actually,” Jack added. “Some magic spells that caused big, colorful explosions—just like that one, look!” Purple sparks burst in the sky. Jack laughed. “But I think we lost the records of those spells.”

“We’ll figure them out, then,” Marvin said. “That can be our first project together, Jameson!”

Jameson chuckled. He looked away from the sky for a minute and gazed at the others around him. You know, just because Marvin and I are life friends now, doesn’t mean the rest of you aren’t my best friends.

“Aw, James,” Chase said, touched. “We’re so glad to have you, you know.”

“Maybe we can all be life friends eventually,” Jackie suggested.

Schneep groaned. “Do you know how big that ceremony will be? Just because of how many of us there are? So many mushy shows of emotions.”

“You know you love it,” Marvin said teasingly.

Everyone laughed. “Well, we can still be friends for life, ceremony or no,” Jack said. “There’s no one I’d rather have by my side.”

They watched the fireworks, and after a while, moved onto other festivities. Together, they stayed late into the night in the lake, until it was finally time for them all to return home. But just because they were far away, didn’t mean they were apart. As long as they kept each other in their hearts, they would never be truly apart. No matter what distance or obstacles were in the way.

[whorewriter-lol]

Everybody Talks (pt. 2) I JJ Maybank

It had been a few days since the fight between the pogues and Topper. I stayed the night over at Sarahs on her dads ship “My Druthers” because my backup generators got messed up in the storm and Sarah's boat had air conditioning. I was laying on the opposite end of the couch from Sarah with my eyes closed. Wheezie (her little sister) had been roaming around all morning and it was starting to piss off me and Sarah so when I heard something shift and heavy, slow footsteps I sighed.

Sarah groaned “Wheezie, shut up”

Clink!

I gasped and me and Sarah both sat up “You aren’t Wheezie” I sighed and laid back down.

John B laughed nervously “Correct, yeah.” I watched as he set down some scuba tanks “Sorry”

Sarah rubbed her temples “What are you doing?”

“Uhm, I’m just dropping off some scuba gear, what are- what are you guys doin’..here?” He shifted awkwardly, looking back and forth between me and Sarah.

Sarah sat up, quirking a brow, “It’s our boat?”

I spoke up, sitting up and pulling Sarah's cropped shirt down gently “It’s also the only place with air conditioning”

“Did you uhm, did you top off the tanks?” Sarah asked.

“Uh, no. No the powers down so the compressors were off” John B glanced around and I noticed the slight discoloration on his left eye from a bruise.

“So, you’re sneaking onto our boat at five a.m. with empty tanks?” Sarah looked him over skeptically. 

“We’ll make sure to tell Ward” I smirked, standing up and stretching.

John B sucked in a breath and I heard Sarah giggle behind me, he sighed and started to set the tanks down “Okay, okay. Cool, I’ll just uh, drop these right here” He set them down in the middle of the floor which made me laugh

Sarah's eyebrows knitted together “yeah, yeah in the middle of the room is fine?”

“Yeah well that's- pretty much what he told me to do so..” He turned and started to walk towards the sliding door.

“Bye!” I cheered.

Then he turned around “yeah- actually uhm what, exactly where you.. Gonna tell him?” He laughed nervously, brushing his hair back. 

Sarah brushed her hair off her shoulder, sitting up straight and crossing her legs “Nothing much just that you poached our scuba gear?”

“Okay- look I just borrowed it for a few hours. And then I brought it back intact and unharmed” He pointed at us.

“Minus air” I gave a tight lipped look, crossing my arms.

He turned to me “Look. Please dont tell him, okay he’s gonna fire me?”

“So what are you gonna do? Pull a gun on me?”

“Okay, I didn't know JJ was gonna do that-” 

I interrupted him, “Oh that's convenient to believe.”

Sarah piped up “maybe you should get better friends” She shrugged.

John B shrugged, looking at her “yeah? Well maybe you should get a better boyfriend.”

Oh I could practically see the tension.

Sarah snickered, “Like one who doesn't poach?”

I watched the brunette boy roll his eyes and heave out a sigh “Look, please just dont tell him?”

“Relax, I’m not gonna tell him anything” I watched her look him up and down “your secret’s safe with me, John B.”

“Gross.” I sighed “Okay, you can leave now, bye” I swept my hand at him and he nodded.

“Right, yeah- bye.”

Once he was gone I looked at Sarah “seriously?”

“What?” She shrugged, like she had no idea what I was talking about.

“Your secrets safe with me, John B” I mocked her, flipping my hair over my shoulder dramatically.

She threw her pillow at me “Shut up, way too early for this, I’m going back to sleep.”

Later that afternoon, Sarah and I were hanging out at the ports where Ward took “My Druthers” to be cleaned and checked out for routine maintenance. We were walking towards the boat, laughing about me trying to shove about four cheeto puffs into my mouth at once and having to spit them out because I almost choked when we looked down the dock ahead of us to see a very furious looking John B with a rambling JJ at his heels “Oh, great this is awesome actually. Sarah, I have cheeto dust all over my face!” I whispered.

“Who cares?” Sarah laughed “It’s not like you care about what they think any-” Sarah was interrupted by JJ shoulder checking the both of us by pushing in between us, causing me to drop my bag of chips.

 “What the fuck JJ?” I shouted as me and Sarah turned to look at the two boys, then John B got in her face.

“Your secrets safe with me?” He asked, throwing her words from earlier into her face. I started to step forward to speak but JJ stopped me by putting hand out.

“Best to stay out of this one, princess.” His tone was bitter, almost erratic since I couldn't exactly tell what emotion he was feeling.

My eyebrows furrowed “Well fuck you who do you think you-” I was interrupted by John B yelling at Sarah.

“I just got fired, because of you! And I know you two can’t imagine that..” He looked from Sarah to me, now speaking at the both of us as he pulled JJ away from where he stood in front of me “..But some people need jobs so they can eat!” He smacked Sarah's drink out of her hands before he and JJ started to walk off.

Now it was Sarah's turn “What the fuck?” Sarah shouted as the sprite leaked onto her shirt, landing on her new shoes.

John B whipped around, pointing a finger in her face “You are exactly who I thought you were Sarah Cameron!” Then he turned to me “And you! You’ve always been the biggest-”

JJ’s arm wrapped up around John B’s shoulders “Alright, alright. Let’s just go man, we're wasting time.” Even as he spoke to John B who had given up and let JJ tug him along, I could see the way JJ’s eyes lingered on me. 

The two boys stomped down the dock as I leaned over and picked up the bag of chips “What the fuck is he talking about? Did you say anything to my dad?” Sarah asked me.

“Why would I do that? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not their biggest fan but I’d never ruin his job” I shook my head, looking over at Sarah as we started walking, I could see the gears in her head turning “Maybe Wheezie saw him?” I suggested.

Sarah shook her head “Whatever, I don’t care” She straightened out her shoulders.

The next day we had plans to hangout with Topper and some guy he was friends with from a surfing comp he went to in Cali last summer. Sarah’s been trying to set me up with different guys all summer but I just don't vibe with them, I couldn’t tell you why, it just feels like somethings missing. So there we were, riding around in Toppers Malibu while this guy, whose name I’d come to learn was Conner, was welcoming himself to hanging all over me. As I pushed him back from trying to wrap his arm up around my shoulders, a boat passed us and I heard a boisterous laugh which caused me to turn my head to see JJ and even more unpleasantly, KIara who was staring daggers at me and Sarah. I rolled my shoulders and pretended that I was stretching and not at all looking at them, which is when Kiara's voice called out.

“You don’t have to act like you don’t see us bitch” She shouted which urned a glare from Sarah and a questioning look from Conner.

“Who are those guys?” He asked, getting way too into my personal space.

I leaned back and rolled my eyes. “It doesn't matter, dude just shut up jesus.”

That night, Sarah dragged me off to a party with Topper and Conner. Again, this guy was all over me especially now that I was all dressed up, to avoid him I hung around Rafe and Kelce. It was probably around twelve when Topper came down from wherever he was upstairs and sat down at the table we were at. Rafe had brought some coke he was selling, I wasn’t doing any because I’m not into hard shit like that but these other kids were all over it and shockingly so was Topper. I leaned forward “Topper, where is Sarah?” I quizzed.

He sniffed, rubbing his nose “Uh, shit man I don’t know, why don’t you go find her if you wanna talk to her that bad huh?” Topper laughed. 

“Asshole” I spat as I stood up “Something could be happening to her, Topper!” I grabbed my bag and walked off, hunting for Sarah.

When I finally found her, she was on the roof wrapped up in herself, I crawled over next to her and laid down “Hey, what’s going on? Did something happen?” I asked, rubbing my hand on her shoulder.

“No” She shook her head “It’s what didn’t happen..” She trailed off and I sat up, nodding my head “I..I told him I was ready but just- when it came down to it, it was just too much and-” She buried her eyes into the balls of her hands “I’m so stupid.” 

“Hey..” I rubbed my hand on her back softly “Sarah, you’re not stupid..come on, let's go home.” I helped her up and wiped her face before we went back into the house, passing Topper on the way I smacked him in the back of the head “fucking prick”

Sarah and I walked all the way back to her property, “Tannyhill”. On the way there, we passed the wreck and saw John B’s van parked outside of “The Wreck”, Kiara’s family restaurant. I could see them all sitting at a table together through the window and something about how chill and happy they all looked brought out a desire in me. I hated kook parties and how loud and energetic they were. I hated the way kook boys acted like if you even looked at them it meant you wanted something from them. I noted how Kiara’s boys never really looked at anyone that way, they treated girls like people and not like a wallpaper or a pretty accessory for their bikes or their boats. I wanted that, but you'd catch me dead before I admitted something like that to anyone except Sarah, she’s the only person I trusted, and I was okay with that for now.

(Sorry for the lack of JJ interactions in this part, trust me it's coming. If you haven't read pt. 1, check my page)

[2theburgs]

I have no idea what time the freaking rooster started crowing but it was early...thankfully we were both able to fall asleep in betweens the crows. I remember that about Cayman, roosters ...

Rolled out of bed eventually at 8! Quite the sleep in, but we had a nice slow, quiet morning. Coffee on, and SRT for me - currently wrapping up the study called, Everything New. Ken is reading through the book of Job. Ken, as he wonderfully does every non work day, got to work on breakfast. We quite enjoyed our $10 ketchup on our eggs and ate the peanut we unashamedly packed from Canada. I have this irrational fear that we won't be able to find natural PB when we travel and if we do, it would probably be twice the price of our fancy ketchup. Anyway, I digress.

Dive gear packed up and out the door. We made our way to Eden Rock reef as our first place to jump back into this sport and it was definitely the right call. Super chill and easy going. Rented a couple tanks, some weights and got after it. Before I know it, we were descending. Hello old friend, ocean. Remember me? We used to spend so much time together. Go easy on me! We made our way to the reef along the sandy bottom. We met a barracuda along the way, hunting in the surf. Okay, make fun of me not, this swim was in 10 ft of water haha, but I was pleasantly surprised, no panic...yet.

Got to the reef and there were lots of parrot fish, butterfly fish, and other tropical fish all around. Ken was on the lookout for the swim throughs in the reef, it took us a while to find them but we did. Ken swam through, I swam overtop. If you're looking for extra exposure therapy for claustrophobia while scuba diving, swim throughs and coral caverns await! I'm still on phase 1 over here, so I deferred this option. Over the ridge of the coral and down I went. 40 ft, 42 ft. I looked up and back at the 25 ft wall of coral. Suddenly I felt trapped. Crap. Big breath in, I looked at Ken and gave him the "so so" sign, signalled towards the coral indicating I wanted to go back up to my comfy 15 ft of water. Woosh. The panic passed. We carried on and actually made our way zigzaging along the top and back down to 30, 35 ft. Okay. I'm okay. I checked my gauge, I checked my watch. I'm not freaking out. I scanned around at everything around me. The colours, the fish, the blue water, the white sand and the world's greatest husband with unending patience for me as I try to face my fears. God is good. It's crazy to think all of this life and colour and beauty exists under the water. The majority of whom will never see it. Actually, not that long ago no one had seen this. It was just God. Just his endless creativity and glory. For example, my favorite fish, the squirrel fish. I mean, how cute, and odd is this thing?

I became more and more calm the longer the dive went on, and on our way back, I actually found myself puttering to try and extend the dive. My puttering resulted in a cool find, an arrowhead crab!

58 min dive time and out we came right at the steps to the shop thanks to Ken's wicked navigation skills (don't look at me for that, I can't navigate on dry land let alone underwater).

Home for lunch and coffee and then out to a new beach called Spotts Beach on the South side. Again, absolutely beautiful. Ken jumped in with his snorkel and fins while I walked the beach and just did a whole lot of nothing except try to befriend the beach chickens.

Home for dinner and here we are (current time), one of us writes, the other swears he isn't asleep...

That's all she wrote. For now.

Xoxo

K

[girlpocalypse]

I found a man in the Chicago River while volunteering at a family Pride event on June 17th. Here is what I remember:

Hoping he was a mannequin, or a fallen tree. Clinging to that idea like the lifesaver he never got. Turning away so I didn't have to see his face.

My nervous system, annoyingly waiting for this kind of day to shine. Adrenaline’s cool, calm, clarity on the phone with 911; notifying the Salt Shed staff; warning everyone in the vicinity what they were about to see; giving a statement to emergency services.

That ADHD superpower of being infallible in a crisis quickly fading when I saw a body bag whisked away by people in scuba gear. Breaking down, held by my loved ones, standing under a banner that cruelly read: “Queer Without Fear.”

The push notification I got later that night with an article confirming his identity, as if I were just an unaffiliated, concerned Chicagoan: Noah Enos, 26. Missing after the King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard concert.

I can't seem to stop raining tears for him. They splash in my glorified kiddie pool of a backyard hot tub; hide in the spray of the shower; well in my eyes over the glass of water I've been lovingly reminded to drink.

Unraveling in the aftermath. Finding myself, over and over again, standing at the edge of Lake Michigan.

This place has always been the perfect vessel for me to pour in what doesn’t fit inside of me. The waves churn with eleven years of my secrets and overgrown feelings. The water bubbles with the dreams I left here for safe-keeping. Where did Noah’s secrets and dreams go when he died? I wonder if they’re here, swimming around with mine.

Though I never met Noah, our lives will be forever linked. Where our stories meet, mine continues and his ends. What happened to him is random and unfair and I cannot make sense of it.

My tide rises, from my legs up to the lump in my throat, filling me to the brim. If I take on more water, I might drown, too. When I can't hold it all anymore, I have to let the excess wash away at the lakeshore.

So, I let my saltiest tears fall into the very body of fresh water where Noah lost his life; somehow still beautiful and magical as ever.

-AOK, August 2023

[ducknotinarow]

[2k3 RaphDon - its from a video dont worry xD]

Donatello burst into the lair, dripping water, breathing hard and looking maybe a little too frantic for his own good. He looks towards Raph, a faint smirk on his face,

"Mermaids ARE real!" He claims, desperate to put a years old argument to rest in his favour, "And they are pissed."

| Muse interaction

Rare moment of things just being clam in the lair, Leonardo was training like the teachers pet they were. Mikey was so absorb in some new show he had gotten into. A 24 hour marathon was streaming and since things seemed peaceful looked like he'd be on the couch just that long. Splinter seemed content sticking to his room himself. Donatello had been the only one to leave the lair, doing something with his sub or whatever name his twin came up with to call it instead. Raphael was roped in to helping staying near the controls and keeping an eye on the tether line, connected to the scuba gear Don was wearing well under water with the thing. Just in case anything went wrong like when Mikey found Leatherhead the time before.

It was just some maintenance stuff Don promised, so he wouldn't need anyone with him just to stand near by in case he needed help getting back. Raphael didn't have anything to do so he didn't mind offering to be the one. Mikey would have just thrown a fit if he had to miss out on his marathon anyway. And no one wants to deal with that. But as time went by Raph got board just standing around he stuck close never leaving of course not. When Mikey ran for a bathroom break however, he yelled for them to grab a book for him. Mikey whined but a simple threat from Raph was all it took. Mikey near about hitting Raphael in the face, when they came back and tossed a book for Raph to read. Raph just growled a bit but decided to let this one slide. He'll get them back later, as he cracked open the spine of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Raphael quirked his beak over the coincidence but better then just sitting her with his thumb up his ass he figures. As he starting trailing over the words reading to himself. The lair was still clam outside any sound Mikey made. A laugh or gasp here and there. Every so often he would here the metal of Leo's blades and the water near him idly wade.

He got about three chapters deep when he finally saw some movement around the pool of water in the lair. Unaware how much time had passed since he started to read just picking up on how the water seemed to be stirring up now. Raph's gaze left the book and looked up to the hose and tether lines. There wasn't any sings of struggles? or even that either had snagged? But Raphael move to stand either way, book in one hand and his other ready to grab for his sia or go for the control panels. Hell Raphael was ready to dive right in to the water himself even if he had too. But before any choice needed to be made Don burst out from the water. He seemed frantic?

If Raph's guard wasn't up already it would have been from that alone. Book set down as he made his way over to Don as they got out of the water, dripping we, water pooling around his feet. They met Raph's gaze and seemed to smirk But it went right part Raphael. As he was too busy looking over Don. Trying to see signs of something grabbing him when he had be below the water. Faintly aware of the buzzing frantic emotions coming from Donnie right now. Unsure if he should touch them as he leaned in making sure Don could breath, eyes lifted to the oxygen hose nothing seemed wrong with it. He was likely out of breath from how quickly he had tried to get back up to the surface.

"Don what's wrong!? ya see somethin' down there?" Raphael was quick to ask, peering over into the water as if whatever it might have been followed behind his twin. The water seemed to be stilling out once Don left it small waves simply rocking on the surface. But no signs of air bubbles or other movement. He steps a bit closer no risky it as he sets hid hands on to his brother's shoulders now.

"Don ya wit' me come on what happened?"

"Mermaids ARE real!"

It took a moment for the words to hit and once they had? all the worry and panic Raphael felt seemed to steam away as his temper started to flare.

"What?" was all Raphael could bring himself to say. for some reason his eyes went back to the book he had been reading just a moment ago. Feeling a tad suspicious before he looked back to Donatello, arms crossing over his plastron. "Mermaids, are real uh?" Raphael already start to look for holes to poke into this whole situation between him and Don.

"And they are pissed."

Oh this was all to well lined up. Nothing was going on Mikey was busy, even and Raph offered to help Don well they worked under the water on something. Well he was busy reading a book about people going down into the ocean only to find all these different creatures that existed. That Mikey gave him to read? Nah he ain't falling into this stupid prank. Raphael, waited a bit longer before he finally spoke up "How dumb do ya 'hink I 'm?" If he were wearing his mask Don would see how he rolled his eyes over that. "Yeah okay Captain Nemo, mermaids are down there an' they are comin' ta get us or whateva." Raphael grumbles a bit "Fuck Don let it go!" He snaps as he pokes Don in the shoulder. "I expect 'his from Mikey but you?"

Oh of course, this was all about that stupid argument from years ago. Raphael being the shit that he was had decided to tell Donnie that mermaid were real or around anymore cause the pirates had killed them off or something. Even Raph didn't fully remember what he said to his brother back then. Just that he wanted to get under their shell for some reason so he went for something they cared about so much. Don had decided to prove Raph wrong and left their childhood home to venture out into the sewers for said proof. He ended up getting lost for hours before Raph ran after to find him. But to this day Donatello refused to let it go. So, now Raph took this all to be some poorly planed out prank on Don's side. Hand set to Don't shoulder as he pushed him back into the pool of water and started to walk away. Grabbing for the book he been reading before he spoke up again.

"We were eight! I just wanted ta piss ya off." Raphael continues to speak when Don came back to the surface after being pushed into the water. He stops to chuckle that little laugh of his "Which I did is ya pullin 'hin now." Soon to fade back into annoyance right after. "I know ya fuckin' petty Don but jeez get over it already. Don' gotta start makin' crap up now." . "Or go swim off with ya mermaids, maybe ya find a red head, can get to take that fuckin' stick outta ya ass."

Raph starts to walk away annoyed at best over this whole thing, as he chucked the book towards Mikey. It missed but his point got across as Mikey looked to it where it landed on the floor. Turning to look over the back of the couch confused on what was going on having been so absent from everything else. Raph only stop to talk to Leo telling them they were on geek duty now before he headed off to his room. Grumbling again about mermaids and such.