#how much of venice is underwater

[entomjinx]

ONE PIECE CHAPTER 1113 SPOILERS!!!

It's tagged, it's in bold, if you didn't see it that's on you, but I'm sorry. (I'm also a little sick so sorry for how this starts to turn a little insane at the end.)

The reveal makes perfect sense. I've seen a few people struggle to figure out where it came from, so I'm gonna explain why it makes perfect sense and then pop off with some silly theory.

The first hint at the fact that the One Piece world is sinking exists all the way back in Long Ring Long Island.

That seems like an odd place to start, but it's the first time we're shown how drastic the tides of the ocean in the One Piece world can change. It's enough to separate entire parts of an island, causing it to appear as separate islands, once every year.

This implies that the tides change drastically over the course of much longer periods than it does in the real world.

After that, we get to Water Seven and discover that it's sinking, and that the Aqua Laguna is getting worse every year. We also know that it's caused by the water receding at Long Ring Long island. We're also outright told that they want to make the city float to stop the sinking problem.

We also, much later, see just how high Wano is in altitude.

Knowing that the Redline is so tall that it cannot be passed by any ship, cannot be broken through, and that Mariejois is sat right on top of it only adds to why it makes sense.

The world isn't "sinking," those some islands technically are(Water Seven, modeled after Venice), the tides are going to rise exponentially, and fast.

The force of the water would instantly drown most people, and those who survived would be those who could get to higher altitude islands, the sky islands, Fishman Island, or the Redline.

And because I know someone will try to point this out: land bound plant life can temporarily survive underwater, so Ohara's 5000 year old library tree would be fine for a a bit while submerged. There's lots of places with high tides who's plant life is just fine. (This also could explain why they'd be so willing to throw the books into the water. Not only was it to save them from the fire, but many of them had likely been submerged for long periods of time before. They knew the books would be find in the end because they had record of it. And well, it's mentioned in the chapter that Vegapunk means to finish what Ohara started.)

This would also explain how thorough the government was able to be with wiping out information from the void century. If only a few places can survive, then few things that tell the truth will survive, and even fewer people.

Do I think I'm 100% correct about any of this? Or course not, it's Oda. It's One Piece. Things are pretty much never predicted with 100% accuracy. But that's my thoughts on why it makes sense. Now we get into theory:

I have several points to make, so I'm going to write out the shortest ones first.

-This would, completely unironically, explain some of the centuries long racism campaign against fishman. They have no reason to fear the high tides. They will survive no matter what happens on the surface, and that scares the humans who cannot.

-I think that the extreme tide is a part of why the bridge is being built in Tequila Wolf. I believe the bridges purposes is to connect all the highest points of the world so there's no need for ships to carry them. This way, the Celestial Dragons will still have access to more slaves, produce, and anything they can't get within Mariejois on their own during the time period when everyone drowns.

-and now we get to the big one:

I think that the reason the 20 kings and their people destroyed the ancient kingdom is because the ancient kingdom had a way to survive the high tide while keeping the maximum number of people safe in the process, and while being able to save many more people. They refused to ask for help, and were instead afraid of the power the ancient kingdom held, so they sought to destroy it.

I think that the ancient "weapons" were instead a means of survival, and the reason they were hidden is because the 20 kings would have used them as weapons instead. We don't know much about the ancient kingdom, so much of this is speculation.

I think Pluton was a large enough ship that it could carry the entire kingdom. We've already seen some massive ships in One Piece, and Iceburg intends to turn the entirety of Water Seven into a ship, so the idea of an island sized ship isn't all that odd.

If you continue to think about it, why did none of the Beast Pirates manage to find Pluton while searching for the poneglyph in Wano? I have two theories for this based on the fact that we're told Wano would have to open it's borders in order to get Pluton. If the walls would need to be torn down, then we can continue to assume that Pluton is massive.

Theory one is that Pluton is is hidden within the mountain itself, and that the mountain was man-made to hide the ship. Not only would the walls need to come down, but the mountain itself would have to be destroyed. They would also need a way to survive the high tide without it, so creating a mountain that is high enough in altitude to keep them safe would have been a necessity. I think this is the more believable of the two theories.

Theory Two is that Pluton is Wano. The entire island is the ship, and many of Wano's people descended from the people of the ancient kingdom or those they rescued. This one is much less likely, but it's still a possibility in my mind.

We know that Poseidon was the former mermaid princess, and that the current one is Shirahoshi. She can control the sea kings. Why would this be important? Because if everywhere floods, then the sea kings, who are already very large creatures, suddenly have an influx of room to move, food to eat, and places to lay eggs. It would cause a population spike. *However,* that would cause an ecological disaster within the food chain. The sudden influx of sea kings would be desperate for any food they can get their hands on, and many would likely die of starvation. This means they need some way to repel them from the large ship.

We don't know anything about Uranus yet, so I've nothing for you.

Another thing we know about the ancient kingdom is that they seemed to be friendly with everyone, or at least it's implied via how many friends Joy Boy made.

Fishman: Along with the bonus of having Poseidon, the fishman also have access to the tree resin from Sabaody. Should the ship(Puton) or the ancient kingdom ever need to submerge in order to keep people safe or to have a temporary air bubble, They'd be safe.

Lunarians: The people who originally lived on top of the redline. Sinee the redline is high enough to not sink, it would have made sense for them to be trade partners.

Skypians and Shandians: Another race with wings. if the tides really got too high, then they could join them in the sky sea for a time. They could also trade with them.

Minks: Zunesha was a friend of Joyboy's. We don't know much else about that situation, but it's likely that Zunesha is plenty tall enough to keep the minks from drowning, and they could have traded often as well. Maybe Zunesha was even able to do something similar to the giants.

The Giants: This feels like the most important one to me, and not just because of recent chapters. Obviously the giants think very highly of Nika/Joyboy, but it's also very likely that Elbaf is tall enough to survive the high tide, and if not, the the giants themselves are. If you look at what's known about current giants, some of them are tall enough to walk along the sea floor, and the ancient giants were so large that it's said they pulled and moved continents.

Why is that bit important? Because a ship the size of an entire island would likely need a lot more than sails buoyancy to move quickly. The ancient kingdom was pulled by the giants. They moved to different areas to rescue people and to trade so that life continued while the tide was at it's highest point.

Another random thing that supports this is the giant's vehement hatred towards Charlotte Linlin. She has Totto Land, which is supposed to be a place where all races live in harmony, but it would be a mockery of what the ancient kingdom was like, and for giants, who live about 300 years, that's only a few generations back. They would still have stories about the ancient kingdom and remember the truth.

Again, I don't think anything I predict will ever be 100% accurate, but I hope you enjoyed my rambling nonetheless.

[teecupangel]

Just saw the Mermaid!Desmond post and it reminded me that i have been playing around with the idea that Desmond gets transported to the past as a mermaid(he prefers the term 'merman' thank you!). With my obsession with EziDes(i'm shameless XD), i imagined 2 scenarios:

1) Ezio meets Desmond in Venice and though at first Desmond is shy and hides away, Ezios persistence and charm wins him over. Desmond has the ability to launch some sticky "vines" from his hands to drag people into the water(based on what the mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean can do), so he helps Ezio with assassinations from the canal. We could even have some drama where the Templars catch Desmond in a tank on land and when Ezio comes to save him, the tank breaks and at first Desmond is suffocating, then he is in immense pain while his body transforms into a humans. So good news: he can walk on land and even "sleep" with Ezio without risking drowning him(No Ezio, we are not trying it again!). Bad news: it hurts like a motherfucker to transform and it takes a hot minute. At least he can see Monteriggioni now!

2) The classic "Desmond takes Older!Ezio and himself to the past to save Ezio's family" but Desmond is turned into a mermaid(merman!) and is stuck in the disgusting river that runs through Florence. They get transported a day before the execution(Ezio just needs that scar, i love that connection too much XD), so they get a plan to bust out the Auditore family during the night and use a boat to get far enough away from the city before switching to a wagon. Giovanni is confused to what his son is doing("Why didn't you deliver the papers to Uberto, Ezio?"), but decideds to trust his son. During the trip, a guard almost raises the alarm but before he can, something whips out of water and drags the man in. Everyone but Ezio is shocked and when they get to the wagon, they see a small tub with water in the back. Before they can ask about it, they see Ezio lift something from the river before turning around and revealing a mermaid(MERMAN!) in his arms. Ezio is not leaving Desmond behind, no matter how difficult transporting him is(in this version i'd have Desmond need to learn how to shift forms, so for a while he has to be transported in a tiny ass tub if he was to follow Ezio around). The ride back is pretty awkard 'cause it turns out only Ezio can hear Desmonds voice(he speaks mentally, so even underwater he can talk to Ezio and the connection can reach pretty far).

.

We can also use Altaïr and the funny scenario of him being afraid of water, but still has a mermaid(for the LAST TIME: I'M A MERMAN!) boyfriend. XD Though Desmond would be very helpful for the guy that hides on the boat.

Maybe the treasure in Solomons temple started glowing after the entrance collapsed, distracting the templars enough for a hurt Malik and bruised Kadar to grab it and flee? And on the ride back to Masyaf, during an attempt to cross a river to lose the Templars on their trail, the treasure falls into the water, causing an explosion of light. Kadar was blinded by it, but Malik escaped the worst of it and swears he saw a large dark shape swimming away from the orb before he went to grab it. When he returns to Masyaf, with a dead arm and a mostly blind brother, he still blames Altaïr for everything that went wrong, but knows it could have been so much worse.

Altaïr is sent to find the traitor(the same as cannon), but afterwards is sent to the river Malik experienced the light explosion, to search for whatever came from the treasure. Altaïr curses Malik for his clumsiness, to lose the treasure in the river! If it hadn't been glowing it would have been lost. So Altaïr is in a very bad mood when he reaches the river to start his search. He is forced to spend days following it to the ocean, but when he reaches it, he sees something gold, glittering underneath the waves. Before he can try to even figure out how to get closer without having to get near the water, it moves upwards, revealing a strange creature. A half man, half fish spirit that looks like him, just staring at him from the water. They stay there, staring at each other before the spirit swims back under the water, dissapearing before Altaïr can even utter a sound of suprise. No matter how hard he searches the coast, the spirit does not show itself. Altaïr is once again forced to return to his master with another failure.

.

Phew, okay, this took almost an hour to write(i'm a pretty slow typer). XD Words just came pouring out during the Altaïr section. Lol

Additions to the ask from @thedragonqueen1998

Follow up on my Mermaid!Desmond ask:

I completely forgot to add in a description for Desmonds mermaid design. XD I'm a fan of the more spikier designs, so he'd have sharp fins on the side of his tail, a large one on his back, razor sharp claws and webbing on his hands and his ears would be fins. His teeth would be large and sharp and his jaw could almost shoot out like a goblin sharks one. It also opens wise enough that he can bite someones head off. His colouring would be a shiny gold that would dampen the more tired he becomes and the shine would fade if he is sick. So if he spends alot of time in the Venice canals his colours would fade quickly to Ezio's panic. XD He's fine, he just has the mermaid version of the flu.

Additions by teecup:

Desmond being a mermaid during Renaissance Italy would be so fun. Of course, Leonardo would have to paint him, maybe even call him the ‘Siren’ of Greek folklore, going as far as painting what looks like a lot like Templars as the people the supposed Siren drowns.

Centuries later, people would debate if Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Siren’ is androgynous or is actually male. Shaun has been part of that debate far too much.

Desmond probably has the habit of lifting his tail then smacking it down, making water splash all around the tank, an instinctive move that mimics humans saying their feet when they’re dangling.

There was actually an ask about what kind of merfolk design would each Assassin have but I can’t find it (as usual).

One of my suggestion for Desmond though is a tail similar to an angler fish like this:

Not exactly like this but a combination of this and your idea of sharp fins. They seem to glow but it’s more noticeable when using Eagle Vision.

Also… the water underneath Monteriggioni is a good place for Desmond to stay as well (although Ezio would be everything to renovate Monteriggioni to have a pond large enough for Desmond, it will become his priority even if they don’t profit from it XD).

If you want an alternative meeting, Ezio could meet Desmond in the underground waters of Monteriggioni while he was exploring Monteriggioni.

.

For the AltDes version, I’m just kinda imagining Altaïr would be too stubborn to return to Masyaf until he was certain what he just saw. He had already failed, he can’t afford to fail again.

Both because of his pride and because he had lost faith in Al Mualim and the Brotherhood too much that he actually believes that they would execute him if he failed again.

So he’s just camping there, staring at the waters.

Every time he feels like someone is staring back, the feeling would be gone by the time he turns around.

He had read about many mystical beings that live in the waters and Altaïr had started to write about what he can observe, even going as far as drawing what he could remember of what he saw.

If anyone was to see it, it would look like the ramblings of a man imagining something that doesn’t exist.

Or perhaps they would believe it.

Many people do believe in such rot.

Altaïr did not.

Not until he saw the spirit.

And now…

Altaïr was simply too stubborn to retreat.

He would capture the spirit and drag it back to Masyaf if it’s the last thing he does.

[bengiyo]

Marahuyo Project Eps 7 & 8 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Last time, the kids struggled to pick a name for their LGBTQIA+ organization while discussing their strategy before the school board. They eventually decided to focus on connecting their hopes for the island's future with its past, and set about researching. Archie gave Venice some files from the church, Lorie looked through files her dad had, and Ino suggested interviewing people after providing equipment. We learned that Archie is struggling with the path to holy orders (manifested in his neck scratching), Ino said aloud that he was gay and kissed King, and Lili is probably intersex. Each of our our kids is holding confidence about this. Lili read Marco for filth, read him for blood, but unfortunately we left at Marco outing her.

Episode 7: Aswang

You know King isn't the violent type, because some of my people would have curb stomped his ass by now.

Oh, Ino. I understand.

Okay, Lili's story is so sad and lonely. I'm glad she told Lili before this.

Oof, Lorie was not ready for the friends to lovers kiss.

That was difficult, but King is right. He shouldn't ask Ino to come out, but it doesn't stop him from getting hurt.

King's grandmother is great. It's making me sad that Ino has no one else to talk to after that.

Wow, Marco is really doubling down on being an asshole.

I appreciate this show now disguising the kinds of casual homophobia you run into.

It's hard to recognize when you need to give someone you love space when you want to help.

I do like the idea of them reclaiming the balagtasan as a way to present their ideas to the island.

I knew it was Ino who graffitied the mural.

Gay people really will turn their relationship problems into a public spectacle.

This poetry is beautiful.

Oh, Ino, I'm proud of you.

My boy is bleeding!! Marco, it's on sight!!

Man, what a concise breakdown of how it feels to know your truth and have your caregivers try to stifle that in you for the sake of appearances.

Episode 8: Babaylan

Ino and King opening up old wounds.

Yes, King, tell your mom. Shame is learned at home. A kid can face the world if they're safe at home.

I love King so much for not sugarcoating how bad public scorn can get.

Swimming at night is very dangerous, but I'm always happy to receive an underwater kiss BECAUSE IT STILL BELONGS TO THE GAYS.

Oh good. Lorie and Lili are finally talking.

See, this is the thing about doing queer media versus making QL sometimes. Apologizing for loving someone is such a queer experience. Your love isn't something that you should be ashamed of, and you shouldn't have to apologize for caring a lot about someone.

This feels like the right place for these two as friends to possibly more.

Oh shit Lili got me when she held back tears at getting best friends.

It really is exhausting how hard authority works constantly to police and enforce heteronormativity. There are so few of us. Why is it always this constant bullshit?

Oof, I actually like this choice to have Archie vote to impeach Ino, become the new president, and then immediately return to the site where they honored Christina to cry about it. Venice understands that taking care of other queers is a long term project. At least Archie said her name.

Many of my beloved elders have passed. I wish I could talk to them sometimes. Especially Barry.

I love that Venice is eating in almost every scene.

Hey! They finally picked a name!

I love how homophobes talk about history, and then storm out when confronted with uncomfortable truths.

Crying over these outfits. They're so right. Formal acceptance by the status quo doesn't erase our existence, or the bonds between us. We will make space for ourselves and those like us.

Oh, Archie. I understand you, too. I hope you find peace with yourself and others.

I love Sue Prado, but does the mom really deserve to be here? I'll accept them trying to extend grace to struggling parents since Grandma has been with them the whole time.

This march works though. Before it was only three of them. Now look at them.

A post credits scene! Wait, I love the idea of Juvy and Jose going to visit them!

Final Verdict: 9.5, Finally Some Good Fucking Food. I am just so relieved to have another show from JP Habac. It's clear he and his friends have such strong ideas about where queer people fit in our society today, and I love that his work is never about defeating homophobia and is instead about connecting others to queer joy. Despite how this show stirred up all sorts of old hurts in me, I feel so much love for these characters, and I'm so thankful that I can point to a show with a wide spectrum of queer experiences delivered in such a beautiful package. It's so rare to see a show treat the closet seriously, and I will be thinking about this show forever, alongside JP's previous work: Gaya sa Pelikula (aka Like in the Movies).

[a-sad-mage]

I thought of some cool ideas for a few caverns so:

Chillborn cavern- I think it would be structured so that there was a smaller, warmer area on the outskirts of the cavern (kinda more like -3-5°C, England kinda wet weather). Usually explorers go there to prepare for a hike. As well as a lot of primary industries like mines and stuff.

Then there's like those small hubs that are placed up mountains sometimes where you can shower and stuff.

Then there's a more colder village researchers and their families inhabit. A few Futuria cavern interns there as well.

The heart- It's kinda like the Genshin impact Dragonspine heart. You can see massive bones and the MOTHER of all crystal worms trapped in ice (reference to the Slugterra roblox game). If you somehow avoid all creatures and make it through the cold, you will find the area the ice elemental resides. But it's actually... Warm? There are many crystals that heat it up. You'll also find a strange shack near the small lake (kinda looks like marcalines cave house)... Who does it belong two? Well nobody's ever survived the trip to find out... Or... At least that's how it seems...

Undertow cavern port!: Moulton's from there! It's basically a massive port city, mostly with docks, kinda like Venice. Cargo ships and pirate ships often go there, but there is some heavy authority that goes with it. There are plenty of bars that house not too pleasant people, though... It's also, like pirates, is very accepting of people, so you'll often find plenty of cross breed people. There's also a few places here an there to help kids, orphaned or not, get training e.g. Swimming lessons, self defence.

And a few others I haven't fully developed yet.

Sandstorm cavern: Western town. Literally what it sounds and a bit like dead rails.

The place Eli fought Shockwave there are hot springs nearby.

There's a cavern specialised in electricity and steel (like pokemon steal type gyms). It's developing so there are a lot of opportunities.

And a steam punk city, extremely developed, despite there old fashioned technology, and have lots of entertainment options as well as a strick but flawed justice system. A lot of rich people live there. The poor unfortunately live in the slums which are built in massive unused pipes. (Based off Fontaine from Genshin Impact.)

But what do you think? And what other cavern ideas would you have with all the opportunities?

ooo all of these are good!

honestly outside of my baby, New Neo Cavern, I haven't really thought much about other Cavern idea's.

but an idea for Undertow Cavern could be something like a floating Black Market? like the one from The Deep, a 2015 show about a family of underwater explorer's. You can buy and sell illegal good's and services there, information as well- I would image it would be something of an open secret at the port! like if you can't find what you need there, you try and find the floating market! I think that would be fun. but that's just me.

[silver---linings]

((Continued from this.))

Silver came to, but things felt... different.

He felt like he was floating underwater, and he had these weird things connected to his body.

Something like this should freak him out, but somehow, he felt... oddly safe, despite not knowing where he was. He doesn't recognize anything beyond the liquid as his vision is fuzzy. He could see large figures passing by wherever he was, but he could not make them out.

This all felt so familiar...

'Another dream..?' Silver thought as he watched the figures pass by.

He wanted to ask them where the heck he is and who they were, but nothing came out of his mouth. He was unable to speak.

'I can't talk... What's going on?!'

Beyond his liquid prison, he heard muffled voices starting to speak.

"Is he awake?"

"The project seems to be displaying awareness."

'Project?'

One of the figures approached where he was and knelt down until they were eye level with him. Their face was all blurry and fuzzy, Silver couldn't make out any features, but he still felt safe despite the creepy visage.

"Hello. Can you hear me, little one?" Their voice sounded muffled and distorted, but Silver still didn't feel like he was in danger.

'Little one?' Silver's not little! Not anymore, anyway. What is this guy on about?

Silver opened his mouth once again to respond, but nothing still came out.

"Is he attempting to vocalize?"

"It seems so, but any sound he tries to make will be muffled under all that fluid."

'Your voice is muffled by whatever this is, yet I can still hear you.' Silver wanted to sass, but obviously couldn't.

The hedgehog then started looking for a way out of here, not wanting to spend another moment trapped within his containment.

"The project's heart rate is increasing! He is displaying signs of panic!"

"Hey, easy now, little one."

'Again with the "little one"?! I'm not little! I'm not-'

The blurry figure rested their hand against the glass of the gestation chamber. "It's okay. You're safe here." They reassured in a gentle tone.

Silver had no reason to trust these people, especially to the stranger speaking to him, but somehow, he was put at ease hearing their gentle tone. He stared at their hand pressed against glass, then subconsciously pressed his own paw in the same spot in an act of mimicry, his paw looked smaller in comparison to the other's hand.

'Why is my hand so much smaller than theirs..?'

"His heart rate is decreasing to safe levels."

"That's reassuring."

Silver began to feel woozy. His already blurry and fuzzy vision were getting blurrier and fuzzier as he could feel himself fading into slumber again.

'Not... again...'

He tried to fight it. Not wanting his consciousness to fade yet again.

"It will all be okay, Venice." The figure reassured as his vision slowly fades to black.

"It will all be okay..."

...

Silver then awoke, for real this time.

He has no idea how long he was out for, but he did have the awareness to know that he's not on the bed of the guest room of Blaze's rental home. He was on someone's couch, but who's?

And what on Mobius was that dream about..?

[numerousbees1106]

Hello! I have loved your "I'm waiting on a miracle" story since it was just a snippet. So, I've been thinking about the Room and it's importance to the Jedi . I think the Room is their safe space in the Force, the mysterious force of nature that binds all the Galaxy together, so they naturally need to construct a safe place from which they'll be able to observe and commune with the Force without exposing themselves to it's full might. But, I find the idea of a room simply unimaginative on behalf of the Jedi ( not yours of course). Why a set of rooms? Several Jedi are from species that live underwater, in swamps, can't breathe oxygen. Why not a forest whith a lake in the middle playing the role of the window? Why not underwater reefs? Why not a desert? Why a room that has the same colours and lightning?

The answer to me ( tell me if I'm wrong) is rather simple. Because they are Jedi. Anakin was expected to have constructed his safe space suitable for meditation at age of nine and while that may be the Jedi's ignorance on how to treat a child like him, it implies that Jedi find their Room at a very young age. The only place they have knowledge of at that time is the Jedi Temple. They know of nothing else and they are trained to want to be nowhere else, no dreaming of moving to Venice for baby Jedi. So naturally their safe space will be a place that would fit in the Jedi Temple. No room is ever the same because no two people are ever the same, but it has unmistakable similarities , because all Jedi are taught similar ways of thinking.

Anakin however is different. He doesn't have as of yet any emotional attachment to the Temple itself and is wary of the Jedi. He had a home, even if he experienced terrible abuse there, that he misses. His safe space would not resemble a Jedi Temple Room. But, instead of opening his mind and constructing his safe space on instinct, he is trapped by the Jedi expectations . So, he spends a lot of time trying to open a door, but he can't, because it isn't a door at all. The Room behind it doesn't exist. He needs to tear everything down and try again, but for the Jedi that would be heresy.

What do you think? Am I close?

When I was originally writing this story, I thought of the rooms as a metaphor for the Force itself. The Jedi have a specific way of opening themselves to the Force, hence why the window (a barrier of sorts between their mortal minds and the immortal Force) is always in the same place, and why it is always a room - every Jedi across all species utilize the same method of accessing the Force, and so that connection manifests the same way for every Jedi. The Room isn’t the Force itself, it’s kinda a half-way conduit, a bridge of sorts to balance the mortal and immortal. The reason for the same lighting and color scheme persisting is, once again, tied to the method of meditation, AKA how they open the door to the Room. Same method, same manifestation, same lighting and coloration.

You are correct that the reason for no Room ever being the same is because no two people are ever the same - however, I thought of it more of no two people having the same connection to the Force and no two people having the same mental state. Sith also have a Room, but the Window is stained, and the lighting and color scheme is different - a different method of connection to the Force correlates with different styles, but Sith have the same meditation methods as each other, and so their Rooms have shared characteristics, much like how the Jedi Rooms have shared characteristics.

The reason why the more powerful Jedi/Sith had multiple Rooms was, I figured, because they were able to withstand a deeper connection to the Force, and as such could dedicate more space in their minds to it. I believe, like you said, that the Rooms are crafted in the minds of Jedi/Sith very young, likely as young as when they are able to first start understanding the world around them. The Rooms shift and change as they grow and experience the world in different ways, the foundations moving around in response to changes in one’s mental state and noteworthy experiences, while never truly changing the basic layout of it because, again, they manifest the way they do because Jedi/Sith have a common method of connecting to the Force.

I quite like the idea of the Rooms being safe-spaces that Jedi can fit within the Temple of their minds, though it’s not what I originally had in mind. There’s truth in that Anakin cannot enter the Room due to the expectations placed on him by the Jedi - the Rooms are purely a construct of perception, after all, a shared philosophy that appears the way it does because it is expected to appear that way. But Anakin, being half-Force, does not need a conduit to access it safely. He has no need for a Room, but him being told that he has a Room, and that he needs to access it, has led to him perceiving a door that doesn’t exist. Maybe it opens to a blank wall. Maybe it opens to an endless void. Maybe it doesn’t open at all. Maybe he himself is the Room.

Overall, while there were some details of your theory that I didn’t originally have in mind, I quite like this interpretation and will likely incorporate some aspects into the story. Mostly, you were pretty damn close.

Thank you so much for reading and putting the time into theorizing about my story, it really does mean a lot to me. If you have any further questions or theories, please feel free to discuss them with me - I love talking about my ideas and collaborating with the people who read them to improve them.

[dailycharacteroption]

Hidden Current (Vigilante Archetype)

(art by AntonKurbatov on DeviantArt)

It’s honestly surprising how many vigilante archetypes are dedicated to hiding one’s heritage in one identity and embracing it in another, and such is the case with today’s subject!

In certain watery cities and villages, there exist rumors of mysterious figures that appear from nowhere in a spray of water, perform their deeds, and then vanish once again beneath the waves, shadows from the depths which may be seen as aquatic avengers or benthic bandits, often a little bit of both depending on who is asked. I speak of course of the vigilantes known as “hidden currents”.

By day, these figures put on a persona of being one among the local surface-dwellers, but in the dark of the night they reveal their true selves as one of the many aquatic ancestries that live beneath the waves.

What exactly drives these individuals to live among air-breathers, let alone ply their aquatic nature as hidden sneaks varies by individual, and almost always is quite the story. However, certain aquatic ancestries are more suited to this role than others. Aquatic elves, azarketi (gillmen), and tritons will have little trouble, while merfolk and cecaelia will have some difficulties, while locathah and sahuagin will find the archetype nearly impossible to use without magic, since their civilian identities rely on the assumption that they are ordinary land-dwellers.

Even with these difficulties, it is still possible to utilize this archetype. Merfolk may pose as being wheelchair bound and rely on magic items that replicate the fins to feet spell when their vigilante identity needs to go on land, and alter self/disguise self are always options for less human-like peoples as well.

Also, consider that some of these vigilantes might be air-breathers that bring themselves into the depths, though they in turn must find ways to contend with their limitations as well, namely the breathing underwater.

While it need not truly be their official social identity, these vigilantes have a knack for assuming temporary identities while on land.

Perhaps one of their most impressive abilities, however, is the ability to teleport out of or into a body of water, using the water as a perfect point of ambush or retreat, leaving their foes guessing as to where they came from or went both on land or in the water.

They also have an incredible knack for using the water to conceal their motion, letting them slip into or out of the water unseen.

I’ve said before that the vigilante class is somewhat limited in it’s utility, more or less being at their best in urban environments and pretty much nowhere else. This archetype has a similar problem, being limited to cities on the coast with nearby aquatic civilizations nearby. In a Venice-like city with lots of water, they are King. Elsewhere, not so much. Additionally, your choice of ancestry can present certain challenges as well, especially in the environments you are not built for. Still, if that perfect storm of circumstances presents itself, this archetype is a fun little thing to explore and build as you please.

Being part of two worlds in a way that even most other vigilantes are not, it can be fun to explore what a character thinks of life below or above the waves. Some may resent one over the other, while others may have a fascination with either or both.

Elaborate merfolk murals protesting the segregation of the flooded Lower City and the Upper City of Raiyo have been cropping up in the middle of the night, leading to a crackdown to find the culprit. Merfolk interrogated about the incidents only mention a figure known as the Finwalker, a figure they speak of with some reverence.

Resembling a sahuagin in his bestial form, the seascarred beastkin Bartholomew has been swimming between the coast and their settlements for years, and now he has set his sights on acts of apparent terrorism in a devilfish guise. Has he turned traitor, or is there something afoot?

Recently, the mayor of the fishing village has been acting strange and especially vicious. Most are concerned but do not know what to make of the change in demeanor, but an aquatic elf vigilante called Moonseeker believes that he has come under the possession of an avatarana rakshasa. However, proving it means getting close, and the mayor is sure to keep all visitors well beyond reach.

[denimbex1986]

'New to Netflix on April 4, 2024, Ripley is the third adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's acclaimed 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. The story concerns Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), a wily forger and con man who steals the identity of the wealthy European playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and lives a life of luxury. Although it's the first TV translation of the classic crime story, the Netflix original series joins the 1960 French film Purple Noon and the 1999 American movie The Talented Mr. Ripley as fictional adaptations.

However, while each mostly remains faithful to Highsmith's novel, several significant differences regarding the ending can be found. In particular, the final moments of Ripley's grand scheme conclude on a much different note in the 1999 film and the 2024 TV show. For those interested in the chief differences between the two acclaimed adaptations, it's time for a side-by-side comparison between Ripley's criminal endeavors and how faithful they remain to Highsmith's novel.

What is The Talented Mr. Ripley?

Published in November 1955, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a crime novel by Patricia Highsmith. The acclaimed psychological thriller concerns Tom Ripley, a small-time con artist and grifter scraping by in New York City in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ripley's dead-end life changes for the better when he is hired by shipping tycoon Herbert Greenleaf. Herbert believes Ripley attended school with his son, Dickie Greenleaf, whose whereabouts in Europe are unknown. Herbert hires Ripley to find Dickie, paying for his travel expenses and giving him a salary for his efforts.

Once Ripley locates Dickie and his friend Marge Sherwood in Italy, Ripley slowly ingratiates his way into their lives. Upon witnessing the lap of luxury Dickie lives in, Ripley slowly schemes to steal Dickie's identity and live his lavish lifestyle of wealth and privilege. In Highsmith's novel, the most crucial event occurs off the coast of San Remo, where Ripley murders Dickie in cold blood on a small fishing boat with an oar.

After killing him, Ripley takes Dickie's possessions, throws his anchor-tied body into the water, and deliberately sinks the boat. Ripley continues to live off Dickie's trust fund, enjoys his wealthy lifestyle, and constantly changes his disguise to resemble Dickie. Meanwhile, Ripley communicates with Dickie's friends and family to assure them he's still alive.

In both Anthony Minghella's 1999 film adaptation and Steve Zaillian's 2024 Netflix TV show, Highsmith's story is faithfully told up to this point. The big difference in the TV and film adaptation comes during the final act. While Ripley ultimately gets away with his criminal charade, a few minor story beats have been altered from the text. In addition to Ripley's ambiguous fate, some details regarding Dickie's corpse, the murder weapons, and the boat disposal stand out.

Differences Between Ripley and The Talented Mr. Ripley

Although Ripley faithfully retells Highsmith's novel almost verbatim, notable differences become clear during the fatal boat ride. In the novel and the 1999 movie, Ripley (Matt Damon) sinks a small fishing boat underwater following Dickie's (Jude Law) murder. In the show, Ripley attempts to burn the boat with petroleum but only partially succeeds. After his plan fails, Ripley stacks rocks in the boat until it submerges underwater. In the novel, movie, and TV show, Ripley continues to live as Dickie in an apartment in Rome and Venice as the final act approaches. However, in the movie, Dickie's corpse is found by the police. In the TV show, Dickie's corpse is never found.

Another minor difference between Ripley and The Talented Mr. Ripley relates to the death of Dickie's longtime friend, Freddie Miles. When Freddie becomes suspicious of Ripley's activity and confronts him about Dickie's whereabouts in Rome, Ripley murders him in cold blood inside his apartment. In the novel, Ripley bludgeons Freddie to death in the head with a big glass ashtray.

However, in the movie, Ripley fatally bashes Freddie (Philip Seymour Hoffman) with the head of a marble statue. In the TV show, Ripley bludgeons Freddie (Eliot Somner) to death with a paperweight. Although the murder weapon has been changed, the Roman location and the way Ripley murders Freddie more or less remain the same in all three adaptations.

The Ending of Ripley vs. The Talented Mr. Ripley

The most substantial difference between Ripley and The Talented Mr. Ripley comes during the finale. In the novel, Ripley convinces Dickie's family that Dickie murdered Freddie before committing suicide. Ripley ends up sailing to Greece after forging Dickie's will and inheriting his fortune. Ripley gets away with his crimes and secures enough money to enjoy a wealthy life. However, his life of luxury is marred by the fear and paranoia of being caught as he constantly looks over his shoulder.

In the 1999 movie, Ripley also ends up in Greece, but the story veers from the novel quite dramatically. In the final moments, a friend of Marge named Peter Smith-Kingsley joins Ripley on the ocean liner to Greece. Upon confronting Ripley about posing as Dickie, Ripley apologizes to Peter for lying to him before fatally strangling him on the boat. The movie ends with Ripley returning to his cabin alone to ponder his murderous actions.

The Netflix Miniseries Ends on a Cliffhanger

In Ripley, the story concludes in Venice instead of Greece. Dickie's body is never found, and his family continues to search for the "fugitive playboy." In Venice, Herbert Greenleaf arrives and accepts that his son Dickie killed himself and Freddie as a result of being a failed artist, unaware that Ripley orchestrated the entire ruse. Although Ripley gets away with his crimes happy and wealthy, the TV ending leaves viewers dangling on a cliffhanger. Marge Sherwood sends a copy of her book to Inspector Ravini (changed from Inspector Roverini in the movie), who is mortified when he sees a picture of the real Dickie Greenleaf.

The implication is that if Season 2 of Ripley gets renewed, Inspector Ravini will continue to pursue Ripley across Europe. This slightly differs from the novel and movie, which depicts Ripley continuing his trip to Greece with a tinge of melancholy after getting away with his elaborate crime spree. In any event, Highsmith's source novel is so rich that few story beats need to be changed to retain the dramatic impact of Ripley's criminal endeavors.

The success of The Talented Mr. Ripley led to the "Ripliad," a series of five novels Highsmith had published between 1955 and 1991. Although Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List) changed a few story specifics to accommodate an 8-episode TV format, they remain faithful to the spirit of Highsmith's landmark crime novel.'

[santa--mozzarella]

Monday, November 18 — The Character Tour

Excerpt from an article on magickseeker.com:

Hey guys! My trip to Italy, Croatia and Greece is finally coming up and I'm super excited so I wanted to share with you guys my research and the itinerary for my trip! Obviously we're doing more than this but specifically for seal spotting we're going to be following these points. I know a lot of people on this forum have already done this area but this is my research and these are the things I'm excited to see, so here we go!

Othonoi (39°51'57.1"N 19°23'23.4"E)

So I think this one is a little off the wall, but about three or four years ago there were reports of a girl who was found on a beach completely alone. No one could get to her because the cliffs down to it were so steep and it was surrounded by deep water with strong currents on either side of the inlet, so no one had any idea how she got there. They thought they she had maybe fallen or something but she seemed kind of settled, so they went to go and get help but when they came back she was gone, and they swear they saw a seal heading back out into deep water, so I wanted to see if I could spot anything!

2. Scogli di Apani (40°42'12.3"N 17°49'29.0"E)

So I know this is a well known folklore on the mainland but for those who don't know, the island is supposedly the home of a family of selkies who were exiled from mainland Italy in the late 1960s. The woman's husband had died in a fishing accident and his boss refused to give her any compensation claiming it was his fault. After that the fish just deserted the area and so the boss fisherman claimed she was a selkie and she was running all the fish off to punish him so they sent her and her kids to live on the island. Like literally just dumped them there. But the weird thing was that no bodies have ever been found, not even in the surrounding water, and no boats were ever seen going over there, so no one knows where they went... so maybe they really were selkies and they just returned to the water!

3. Just off the coast of Baia Foca (41°20'13.4"N 16°21'32.8"E)

I don't know how much we'll see here because you're not allowed to dive anymore but these underwater caves have long been claimed as a hotspot for selkie births in the Adriatic. Supposedly, the selkie women stockpile food inside the caves, give birth in there, and raise the baby there for a month until it can swim well enough to head out to land. It's probably just used by actual seals but it would be amazing to see a baby!

4. Just off the Guld of Manfredonia (41°39'17.1"N 16°53'08.0"E)

This is another weird one but apparently a few different people claimed in the early noughties to see a guy in a small boat taking fish from a seal. But like, the seal was bringing the fish to the boat and helping him. Could just be a very friendly seal, but it could be something more...

5. Grotta dei Marmi (41°47'47.8"N 16°11'42.0"E)

These caves and inlets were supposedly a selkie breeding ground in the early twentieth century, where lots of selkies would gather at auspicious times of year. Most of that has been lost now because it's so touristy nowadays but locals claim that selkies still do take lovers down to the caves under a full moon

6. Isola Pianosa (42°13'29.5"N 15°44'49.7"E) and 7. San Nicola di Tremitti (42°07'59.9"N 15°30'49.2"E)

These islands have a lot of seal activity, and where else is a selkie going to try and blend in than with a whole colony of seals! It helps that San Nicola is a nature reserve so the wildlife is mostly untouched. Both islands have similar tales of Greek selkies using them as a final resting stop before going on to Venice, so maybe they still use them now if they're travelling north?

8. Piattaforma "Posidonia" (42°28'03.3"N 14°13'51.1"E)

The actual off-shore platform is closed to visitors now so we'll be visiting Pescara, the town on land. About six or seven years ago some workers on the platform claimed they saw two women in the water. When they saw the men on the platform looking at them they slipped beneath the waves, and then workers on the other side of the platform reported seeing two seals swimming North! Could just be off-shore workers losing their mind, but there was truth to those old mermaid tales, so who knows!

9. The wreck of the San Carlo Borromeo (45°09'02.5"N 13°03'30.0"E)

So this site is actually kind of linked to the last one because there were reports of seals swimming in and around the wreck, almost like they were looking for something, not too long after the reports from the Posidonia. This old venetian ship has even more history, though - it was supposedly shipping captured Selkies off around the world, holding their skins ransom so that the Selkies would work on the ship and accept their fate. No one knows how it sank, as there were no mundus survivors, and all the selkies were believed to have fled, if it ever held them at all...

10. Just off the coast of Venice (45°19'58.4"N 12°23'41.6"E)

Obviously we're just visiting Venice but I will be paying particular attention to the coastline, as those seals mentioned above at the ship wreck were supposedly also spotted swimming along the Venetian coast as if they were debating whether or not to enter the lagoon. Whether or not they did, or whether they were even the same seals, no one really knows, but lots of seals were seen in the lagoon not long after.

[five-rivers]

Previous

“Even if they’re places I haven’t been to,” said Danny, “I’ve heard a lot about them! There’s the Heavenly Garden, the Drowned Quarter, the Mountains of the Moon, and, you know, there are always Elysium, the Far Frozen, Mattingly, or Long N–”

“No,” said Mom, “not Long Now.”

That was another thing Danny didn’t understand about his parents. Their dislike of Clockwork. Clockwork never did anything but help him.

“Okay, but you know Elysium and the Far Frozen are safe, and Mattingly is mostly safe.”

“Our equipment still doesn’t work well in Mattingly,” said Mom. “The Far Frozen is, well…”

“Far,” supplied Dad, but he had picked up a pad of paper and a pen. “What were the other ones?”

“The Heavenly Garden, the Drowned Quarter, and the Mountains of the Moon,” recited Danny, a little more hopefully. Maybe they’d let him go, after all.

“Okay, okay. And- And what are they supposed to be?”

“Well, um,” said Danny, “they’re all different places… The Heavenly Garden is, like, this giant peach orchard. A lot of people go there to eat them, or to have picnics and things. It’s supposed to be a big stop for musicians, too.” At least, according to Ember. He’d mostly heard about it from her and the Lunch Lady.

Dad knit his eyebrows together as he wrote. “And ghosts like that? It sounds sort of… peaceful.”

“Mhm.” Danny shrugged. “Everyone’s different. I think some of the peaches are supposed to be magic, too, but there’s no fighting there because of the Guardian of Peaches. Sometimes there are contests, though. Competitions.”

“Ah,” said Mom. “That makes much more sense. And the others?”

“Then there’s the Drowned Quarter, although I probably would stick to the borders.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because it’s drowned. Underwater. It’s an ocean. And the cities there are all places that sank, like Ys, or even places that aren’t remembered anymore.” He shrugged. “Humans like being near coastlines and rivers, so… You know. They get flooded.”

“Oh,” said Mom, “that’s interesting. So there’s correlation between how a place was destroyed and where it shows up in the Ghost Zone?”

“Is Atlantis there?” asked Dad, interrupting before Danny could answer.

“I mean, yes?” said Danny. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard. And- and the Drowned Quarter is supposed to have really good universities.”

“But it’s underwater,” said Mom.

“Mhm,” said Danny.

“Then it won’t work. Something like that would short out our technology.”

“That’s why I’d stay on the borders! The, you know, the surface. The shore. There are a lot of cities there that just haven’t sunk yet. They’re called the Anticipations. Like, um, there’s the Anticipation of New Orleans, which is supposed to have a lot of portals, too, and the City of Masks, which used to just be called the Anticipation of Venice, but sort of branched out, and Wet London, to keep it separate from all the other Londons, and Miami, but no one goes to Miami, and the Anticipation of Guangzhou–”

“There’s more than one London?” asked Dad.

“Oh, yeah, loads. But no one can beat Jerusalem. There are so many Jerusalems. And they’re all always fighting each other. But! I’m not going there. I think the Anticipation of New Orleans or the City of Masks would be really fun for you to research, though.”

“We’ll think about it,” said Mom, a bit repressively. “And the Mountains?”

“Oh, yeah. The Mountains of the Moon are supposed to be really cool. Like, literally. They’ve got glaciers on them, and people like to hike them. There are a lot of ghosts Obsessed with climbing there. And photography. And, um.” He wasn’t sure he should say this next part, because his parents hadn’t really liked Three Twilights. “There’s also a moon there.”

“A… moon,” said Mom, blankly.

Danny nodded. “It’s like… a small copy of the real moon.

“You say that as though there are more than one of these… fake moons,” said Dad, chuckling.

“There are,” said Danny, nodding. “But I think most of them are pretty far away from the portal right now. I think the Mountains of the Moon should be relatively close.”

“So… how much smaller than the real moon is it?” asked Dad.

“I don’t know! That’s kind of the point of going, isn’t it?” He bounced in place. “So? Can I? Can I go? I know you want to know more, too.” Of course they did! It was the whole reason they’d built the portal, after all, right?

Mom and Dad looked at one another, doing that weird parental telepathy thing they sometimes did. Then they shook their heads.

“Later,” said Mom.

“Next month, maybe,” said Dad. “We want to finish with this data before we get new data. It’ll make everything a lot safer.”

Danny’s shoulders fell. “Okay. Fine.”

“Maybe you can read some of those books Jazz got you?” Mom called after him as he trudged up the stairs. Danny let the door shut behind him without answering.

They just didn’t get it. They still saw him as a little kid, which. Fine. He looked more or less the same as he did the summer before high school, and he knew he hadn’t… matured the way Jazz and his friends had. But he wasn’t, and he was tired of being stuck at home, not doing anything.

Maybe he could figure out how to subvert the DNA lock? He chewed on his thumbnail, a recent nervous habit. He might be able to get Tucker to help him, long distance, or he could try himself. He did know quite a bit about Fenton Tech at this point. Or… he could go out.

He looked at the curtained window. If he went out as Phantom, it’d probably be fine, except for dodging the usual ghost hunters. Stargazing alone could be soothing. But he still wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone or do anything but fly around. Going out as Fenton was… risky. There were plenty of people who wouldn’t recognize him, but many would. Dash, for example, still lived in Amity Park, and he’d heard rumors that some of his other former classmates were back.

Or he could wait. He could do that. Staying home for a while wouldn’t kill him. He was just bored. And lonely.

[tryingtimi]

Happy WBW! Tell 👏🏻 me 👏🏻 about 👏🏻 Everocean 👏🏻 . The bit you posted last week really piqued my interest. What sort of monsters are in there? What are the most recent theories about the "Rising"? Tell meeeee!

I'M ALWAYS LATE, BUT THANK YOU AHA <3

I try to leave spoilers out, but we’ll see how I can manage that in practice. Plus, fair warning; I'll link pictures of the monsters below which can be disturbing for some (probably most) of people. Keep that in mind, please.

So, as much as it might makes you think otherwise, the Everocean isn’t still water. The aquorian would confirm this fact, because they experience it everyday. I forgot to mention before, but in the Aquor Sector, the platform is always half-underwater, specially now when there's no higher to transfer. People travel between blocks, buildings on boats or the futuristic equivalent of it, just like in Venice. Most of their streets are flooded. Where they don’t need boat though, the water is still coats the ground. So they cannot go anywhere without safety boots if they still have their own legs and not a mechanic one etc.

Anyway, the water acts there like it would on a beach. It moves, slightly waves, but most of the time, that’s it. That’s the part of the Everocean where people can find/ fish some — mutant — but still eatable animals. Farther away from the platform, however, is where the monsters lurk.

We refer to them as monsters, but not every kind attacks people. Some of them just very strange. Also, there are three major types of them. Further info below.

This type lurks the closest to the surface. They live above the Sunborder, which is the point where sunlight still reaches down and the soldiers doesn't need their Deep Sight to see. Most of these creatures won't attack, they just float around, creepily still. Their appearance is strangely humanoid sometimes, but scientists couldn't confirm if they are very advanced mutated people or not. They also called in a million names by the Deep Corps' members, but the most common is Surfreak (bad wordplay because they're closest to the surface), or Frightlings. This last one refers to the fact that if someone bothers these creatures, they'll rush off inumanly quickly. There are also a lot of variations of them. D-rated Surfreaks can possess some aggressive traits and attempt to bit you for example. But they are still not that harmful and can easily be dealt with by the trained soldiers. People also has not too much knowledge about them, because they usually too quick to catch, so there was very little chance to thoroughly study them. However, Corps' memebers reported that they feel funny around these creatures, a little lightheaded and unsually cheerful.

Dreadspawns – as the Corps' members call them, are more dangerous though. You can find them below the Sunborder only. They're brutally distorted creatures and very rarely not predators. Scientists could study them still, because they can be killed (even if it's difficult) by their better fighters, so they have some interesting knowledge of them. Their body temprature is low, close to 0, but it never reaches it. The surface of their bodies are so durable, they can be only cut by laser. Their scales or skins also has a quiet odd texture, it reminded some of the scientists of some kind of metal. These studies were denied and banned, of course, because it's just ludicrous. Which is why, the official files does not contain this humbug. Either way, Dreadspawn are less humanoid-like, and they also attracted to bright light, the same way as nymars. Deep Corps' members' reports also say that their head feels weird around these creatures, their skin slightly itches and they have a common unease.

These creatures are the biggest predators on Aestherius. People has no exact numbers, because no-one could ever fully measure the size of any of the Grosslings. One report said that a soldier wasn't even as big as this kind of beast's pupil. They also the only kind of monster that has no effect on the Corps' members that could indicate their closeness. Their devices even get perplexed only when they're inside the creature. Which happens rather often, if the members meet a Grosslings. They usually need to escape from there. The beast's body temprature, however is known in a sense, that it's way below the freezing point. That's why the Corps' got the Frost-Vision which can sometimes help members to spot the creature before it swallows them sneakily. Grosslings' cannot be killed by humans, though, because their skin doesn't get cut by laser, neither harmed by any other weapon humanity possesses at the moment. They also has very strange body structure, because the members say that they usually can't decide whether they escaped through it's mouth, backside or any other body part. Grosslings' insanely attracted to light. Personal files say that the members call them Grosslings and joke with them a lot as a cooping mechanism, because they couldn't deal with their existence and experiences anyway.

PHEW! And now the about the Rising.

Most recent scientific theories are veguely about that humanity fucked up the ecosystem and everything melted away, then every toxic stuff mixed with it and made it mutagenetic. But, this one failed when everything that could melt, melted away and the water still rose higher. So, now, the most popular theory is that humanity sinned so badly that God released all Hell and the water comes from there. There are also supporters of a movement that wants to focus on finding out how they can kill Nymars, because they believe those monsters behind the Rising.

This one is still a little wacky, because I need to work on it more, but yeah. Kinda this is how things are right now.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Follow Up - Sea Level Rise

Soo, hi!! I sent in an ask about sea level rise and loss of land but apparently it was too vague. I've been thinking about that for quite a bit and this is what I've come up with.

The main resources are definitely ocean-based and the main industry is very much aquafarming and their main industry and what they have for trade. Should I consider more things like offshore oil drills or deep sea mining? There are some food farms on land, but very much utilises vertical farming and thus do not need soil from the ground. There's also a lot of sea birds that can be food too.

As for buildings and things, well, perhaps I might tell you what my first inspiration for this setting was. Images of a flooded Venice with boats where land is supposed to be creating extra waterways, so I then thought, what if a place went underwater due to gradual sea level rise and eventually became the norm rather than a sudden flood disaster. Except I decided to go with a country full of islands and atolls. 80% of the country is also urban.

Then I got real life sea level rise data and found that in the last 20 years it went up 2 inches. So if my fictional world it's been at least 2000 years since then it would have risen 200 inches, which would be 50 metres - definitely enough to put several floors underwater. I'm not sure I'll have it that high though. Anyway, I'm sure, during the 2000 years, the oldest buildings might not be there anymore and everything else having been built will take into consideration the rising sea levels, including adding landfill? Though landfill can also help with expanding territory for new population as well.

One of your concerns was it being more plausible that the place would be abandoned when the land is underwater. Well, it's definitely a gradual loss of land and they've been adapting for over 2000 years. It isn't a sudden loss of land, why would one generation/government suddenly decide to abandon everything and leave everything they've been adapting slowly over the years. Also, it's their country. Where are they going to go, especially if they are in the middle of the ocean somewhere, with nothing else around?

Tex: I suppose if you’re going the vein of aquafarming, then perhaps you could also utilize floating structures for residential, commercial, and recreational areas? Land reclamation (Wikipedia) might help a little bit with that, but one issue is with what material would they be using, and another would be whether that has a significant enough impact on the environment to stop it from flooding and becoming underwater.

One thing that pops into mind about creating floating sections for agriculture is how that would impact the life underneath in the water - algal blooms (Wikipedia) can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on the context, and farming will inevitably add a new factor to the homeostasis of the water. What they’re farming and how they’re doing it will decide what situations will arise from it.

Vertical farming (Wikipedia) is certainly an idea, and I think you could probably angle it so that some of the necessary moisture for the plants is drawn from the ocean to add an additional dimension of self-sustainability.

I’m uncertain how you intend the underwater structures, though - are these still lived in? Are they relics? How would a contemporary population interact with them, if they’re accessible at all?

Wootzel: I noticed you mentioned that you found data for 2 inches of rise over 20 years and extrapolated. That sea level rise is due to melting polar ice, and if you want it to continue at that rate, you’ll need to also consider the impacts of massive climate change. You said that your setting isn’t Earth, but I assume it’s similar, so you could potentially take a lot of climate change predictions from our planet in order to inform your worldbuilding. 

Since 200 ft of sea rise would necessitate melting almost all of the ice caps on Earth, you may want to look to other causes in order to get that amount of change relative to your country, since this kind of sea level rise would be caused by massive global warming, which has a host of other effects on the environment. Land subsidence is a reasonable alternative, or depending on the sizes of the islands, you could just blame it on erosion! If there are no natural forces making the islands bigger (such as convergent tectonic plates or an active volcano), wind and rain could easily chip away at them over a period of 2000 years. This might not be enough time by itself for the islands to erode, but if they are mainly softer material (without rocky peaks) and you also throw in some sea level rise, you could definitely see the amount of usable land slipping away into the sea. 

As far as why they would or wouldn’t leave… Many probably wouldn’t! Or at least, they’d hold out as long as possible. However, losing usable land would probably put the population in a tricky place as far as sustaining themselves. If the population is mostly urban and they focus retaining land in high population areas, they’re going to run out of room to grow food unless they’re wildly successful in retaining all their land. People can only get so much of their nutrition from the sea, (assuming your population is human,) and shipping food across a vast stretch of ocean is difficult and expensive. If the resources and industries they have available are significantly valuable to the outside world, maybe they can generate enough income from trade or tourism to allow most of the population to live comfortably even if their necessities are costly. However, if their income doesn’t easily balance the costs, and/or if some members of this society are profiting but the average person doesn’t have it that great… there’s incentive to leave and seek a better life elsewhere. Whether they are able is another question, but the conditions could easily be created for a shrinking population. Depending on how much room your plot has in it, this could help drive some amount of the story events or even just be something you can mention as happening in the background, to make the place feel more alive and like it has history and evolution. If you’re totally uninterested in including this situation,

[crowtrinkets]

Anaylsis of Vesuvia :) Pt 3B

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3A

Were gonna talk a little bit more about theory B from part 3A.

“B. The portals act as literal magical portals and transport a person from point A to point B no matter the distance, and do not act as a doorway as we saw demonstrated inside the palace meaning the tunnels ARE underground”

Now Venice and Mexico City are both built on top of the water, Venice was built from wooden posts submerged underwater and in the ground etc etc here's a quite frankly dramatic video that made me laugh that explains it better than I could

Here’s a visual aid

For the life of me I cannot find any sure evidence of how Mexico City, originally named Tenochtitlan (tuh·nowch·teet·laan), was constructed so I will reference my Art History professor and what the info she gave us in class I literally did this homework last night the timing in impeccable 

“The Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, was founded on a small piece of land in the western part of Lake Texcoco. The city was contained within high mountains and surrounding lake and marshes. To create living and farming space the Aztecs sank piles into the marshes and formed small land masses called chinampas, or floating gardens. Tenochtitlan was highly developed with causeways between islands for transport, aqueducts to carry fresh water and sewers to dispose of waste. The city developed into a metropolis led by a ruling leader and supported by noble classes, priests, warriors and merchants. By the early 1500s it contained an array of pyramids, temples, palaces and market places.”

And would you look at that? Tenochtitlan looks quite similar to Venice.

Now the reason I bring up Mexico City is because they are surrounded by marshes and hills, just as I am speculating Vesuvia is on a hill or a large slope. So we’ve established from two real life examples that it is totally possible to build large cities on top of water that sit for just under a thousand years

“But what does this have to do with underground tunnels Crow?” you ask, not a lot but I just wanted to prove that they can exist

But looking at the visual aid of Venice we can see that the foundation of the buildings are submerged a bit under water, the depth of the canals of Venice range from  1.2-2 meters deep, honestly not that deep if you ask me. So one could imagine that the canals of Vesuvia are about the same depth

Now that we established that were gonna talk about moats 

Just bear with me for a second ok image source

Moats are literally just very large ditches dug into the ground and filled with water to act as a defensive device, source, 

Now I’m going to introduce another theory, one that may or may not be true but it’s possible

My theory is that despite Vesuvia being designed with Venice in mind, I don’t think it was built in the same way, Portia’s route is very very lore heavy which *chefs kiss* amazing, it gives us context. 

In Portia’s route when the Apprentice is having a vision, or flashback, of the founding of Vesuvia what do they see? Do the see the coast? no they see

A wheat field, they say it’s where Vesuvia will be built

So my theory is that the city was built, by possibly starting with the palace, and then the aqueducts were added to bring fresh water towards the city, and eventually canals were dug into the ground, because the flowing of the water in the aqueducts and canals were vital to the magical ritual that Count Prospero wanted.

So what does this have to do with the tunnels?

I believe that the tunnels work with a city built of canals like Vesuvia because the canals were built around a preexisting city, much like a moat around a castle, and so it was easy to build tunnels under the palace because the aqueducts were redirecting the water around the palace making it safe to build underground tunnels without risk of flooding.

And even then the canals are only about 1.5-2 meters deep meaning the tunnels under the palace go deeper into the grounds than the canals do, and the canals are sealed with a sort of conrete meaning it is not just water into a dirt ditch

Ex)

*theater bow*

Holy heck that was a lot

I hope I didnt ramble too much and confuse you all but I this is my theory about the canal systems :)

Also hello to all my new found followers Im glad you’re all enjoying my content, ty sm for the follow <3

[thiswasinevitableid]

17 chosen and 20 lunar for Indruck, nsfw, please!

Here you go!

Lieutenants Log, stardate 10015, Joseph Stern recording

We’ve finally arrived at an agreement with the Aquariads, the species who control this moon. They will allow our research team unfettered access to the planet, but at an odd price. They requested one of our crew agree to be married off to a high ranking member of their governing council. 

I suspect, but cannot prove, that this is not a desirable being to be married to. He’s a revered seer, and yet they’re willing to couple him to a human and not one of their own? Suspicious.

Myself and the other single members of the crew were all given extensive questionnaires on everything from our sexual preferences to our daily habits. It took me a good hour and a half to finish it. 

After a full earth day of waiting, we received word that chief astrobotanist Duck Newton was the chosen human. I have no idea how this happened, as Duck has little tolerance for what he views as “woo-woo” things like precognition. But he was chosen all the same. 

Because this is Duck, he grumbled a bit, but cheered up when he learned he would only be required to stay with his new husband for three weeks before joining us on our field word, and that we can send him specimens for identification and research. If we decide Aquaria is the planet we’ve been looking for and establish more permanent research stations here, Duck will be expected to spend at least a few days a month with the seer. Mama made it clear that if the idea was truly not something he could agree to, she would call the deal off and we could try another approach. Duck said that wouldn’t be necessary, and that he could think of far worse things they could have asked of us. 

We deposit him at the seers home tomorrow. After that, we begin our exploration of Aquaria, fourth moon of the plant Oceana and (hopefully) the home of the antidote we’ve been searching for. 

Joseph Stern, Lieutenant on the spaceship Amnesty, signing off.

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

Duck waves to the skiff as it pulls away, his planetside bag slung over his shoulder. There’s only one way to go; down the single stone levee, decorated with beautiful tiles, to the massive mansion at the end. 

It reminds him of the photos of Venice he’s seen in old National Geographics, beautiful buildings floating atop a planet of water. He knows Aquaria has islands, but the majority of it’s cities are on or near the water because most of its residents live beneath the waves. They remind Duck of mermaids, with scaled tails and fins giving way to humanoid upper bodies and faces. As far as creatures to get politically married off to, he could be staring down worse. 

There’s still the problem of not knowing why this mer is off by himself and without a partner. Or, as becomes obvious once Duck is inside, any company at all. The other high-ranking aquariads they’ve met come with miles of attendants; here there’s only the high, curved ceilings and rippling water. Maybe the guy is shy? Or maybe he’s a dick? Or just real fucking scary to look at?

As he walks further into the house, he notices the tiled walls are covered in striking murals that, when coupled with the odd half-light allowed in by the green glass windows, makes him feel as though he’s wandering through a dream. The pools and canals criss-cross the floor, and really the ground is more water than concrete, the fact he’s able to walk at all is a concession to the fact some aquariads evolved to be land dwelling. 

A splash makes him turn, and in the pool to his right a black fin cuts the water. He steels himself to not insult the alien he’s now legally attached to. The figure rises from the water, setting his arms on the edge of the stony floor and Duck steps back as a wide, toothy smile appears in an angular face. 

“Hello, Duck Newton.” His tail is the same black as his fin, and his silver hair is tucked behind ears of the same color, which Duck has learned can fan out as a way of communicating. 

“Uh, hi. You must be-”

“Indrid Cold, yes. Apologies, a peril of my profession is that I will always be a little bit ahead.”

“Right. So, uh, guess we’re gonna be seein a lot of each other the next couple of weeks.” He aims for a joking, nonchalant tone. 

“Yes, as we’re married.” He cocks his head, confused, then grins brighter, “Oh, oh I see, you are attempting levity because this is all very awkward. I, ah, I appreciate that. Here, let me show you where you’ll be staying” Indrid pushes off the wall, swimming gracefully on his back as Duck follows him down the hall. The center of the house has more skylights, allowing him to see that his host’s fins aren’t pure black; small silver and white dots are scattered across it. He wonders if he could find constellations in them.

“Here we are.” Indrid gestures to a room, one where the only water is in the form of two deep blue half-circles on the left and right walls. The center of the room is a large bed, linens gleaming whites and pale greens, and the skylight nestles against a chandelier of finely detailed rosey glass. 

“Holy shit.” Duck sets his bag down on a trunk near the door.

“Do you like it?” A flash of yellow up Indrid’s fin, echoed in the dots on his tail.

“I mean, anythin looks ritzy after months on a spaceship but” he turns, smiles, “yeah, I do. Thanks for giving me such nice digs.”

“You are most welcome. Now, this room is designed to give guests privacy. See that red panel on the wall? If you press it, it opens the pool on that side up to the rest of the house, allowing myself or servants to come in and help you.”

“So you do have staff.”

“They’re, ah, more like errand folk. None live here.” Indrid clears his throat, “I can show you the rest of the house, although if you need to sleep I can let you be. I am, ah, not entirely clear on where your internal clock sits now.”

“Aquaria’s days are about four days longer than earth’s, so I ain’t too thrown off. Happy to see more of the place.”

Indrid nods, and Duck follows him out of the bedroom. Most of the other rooms they pass are sparse squares of walkways and still water, under which lies the parts of the house Indrid uses. When they reach Indrid’s quarters, he spots what looks to be an artists’ studio under the clear blue water. 

“You paint?” He kneels and peers down for a better look, Indrid bobbing nearby. 

“Indeed. Art helps me make sense of my visions, and I enjoy it besides. In fact, all the murals you see in this house are my doing. There are even more under water.”

“Damn, that’s fuckin incredible. If I get my SCUBA gear rigged up, maybe I can get a tour?”

“Scu--oh, yes, an underwater breathing apparatus. We have a much smaller device that can help you breathe and sea down here” he dips his head at the pool, “unfortunately, the one I commissioned for you will not arrive until close to the end of your stay. They, ah, did not give me much time to prepare. Hence the lack of many comforts I might otherwise give, as well as places for you to and I to talk, eat or do, ah, other activities together.” The yellow intermittently flashing up his fin gives way to a burst of pink. 

Oh, right. Duck pulls up his infopad (given a generous waterproofing treatment prior to his leaving Amnesty) and opens the contract he signed. 

“Yeah. About that. Says here they expect us to, uh, ‘consummate’ the marriage.”

“I’m aware” Indrid’s voice creeps up.

“Do you...wanna do that now?” He spins a finger in the water.

“I, ah, I beg your pardon?”

“I mean, seems like we could just get it outta the way, rather than have the fact we gotta fuck someone we didn’t pick hangin over our heads?” 

“This...this is not at all how I wanted this to go.” 

Duck looks up and immediately wishes he could reverse time; Indrid looks genuinely hurt, ears flicked back like a scolded dog. 

“Duck I, ah, well, you did not choose me, that is true. But I chose you.”

“Well, fuck.” He sits down with a heavy sigh, “figured some big wigs used those surveys to pick me out. Guess what they say about assumin things is true.”

“.....”

“It makes an ass outta you and me?”

Indrid blinks, then snickers, “Your humor is part of why I chose you. It is very bad, but also extremely good.”

“Glad you think so. Pretty sure Mama was ready to blow me out the airlock for some of the ones I made on the way here.” He knows he’s dodging the conversation they should be having, but how the fuck is he supposed to respond when an alien mermaid tells him he picked him to be his husband?

Indrid swims over so he can rest his arms and chin on the stone, glancing shyly up at Duck as he says, “I suppose I also made an ass of myself, as you would say, by assuming you would not see this as an obligation.”

“I mean, even if you chose me, don’t this feel like an obligation to you?”

“No. For me, it is a reminder that most of my kind are too afraid of me to even give me a chance to court them. And that the council thinks I will get into too much trouble without someone to distract me now and then, and decides the company I am worthy of is an alien explorer with no interest in me.”

“I mean, the only reason we agreed to this is because there might be a plant on Aquaria that can treat the illness runnin rampant back home. So at least it’s for a good cause?”

Indrid flicks his ears, red running up his fin, “What you are doing is noble. What I am doing is being used as a way to keep your exploration team in line.”

Duck winces, “Fuck, I’m, uh, I’m just gonna stop talkin now.”

For an agonizing five minutes they sit there in silence, contemplating their situation and stealing glances at each other. Duck always tried to do the right thing, tried to live an honest life and treat the people in it with respect. He’s been kind and polite to beings up and down the galaxy. He can extend some of that to his own husband, can’t he?

“Indrid?”

The alien raises his head.

“Can we start over?”

“Yes. But I do not see how-”

Duck holds out his hand, “Name’s Duck. Thanks for invitin me in and lookin after me the few weeks.”

Indrid’s smile widens as he understands the game, and he takes the human’s hand, “A pleasure to meet you. I am Indrid, seer to the court of Aquaria, and your anxious husband in spite of the now-changing, much more pleasant futures.”

They finish their tour, the humid air less stifling in the wake of their confessions. Indrid shows him the kitchen, the sitting room, and the gardens which, to Duck’s delight, are as much above the water as below. 

After that, Indrid excuses himself to attend to seer duties and Duck goes back to his room to unpack. As he’s putting away his toothbrush and razor near a large, elaborate tub carved from golden stone, one of Indrid’s admissions from earlier floats through his mind, bobbing there like a buoy until he gets a chance to ask it.

When they’re in the gardens, Duck taking notes as Indrid dives and surfaces with new things to show him, the human slips his feet into the water and says, “Indrid? You said my offerin to fuck you wasn’t what you wanted. What, uh, what did you want?” 

The alien blinks, slowly, pink and teal flashing in his tail, “It is a bit silly in retrospect, but since I knew we would not have time for a proper human marriage courtship, I thought I could mimic the process leading to a one night stand; that way you would be romanced in a manner that made you both comfortable with me and the concept of sex with a relative stranger.” 

Duck chuckles, “Always wild to find out how human stuff gets interpreted by the rest of the galaxy. How’d you even come up with what you were gonna do?”

Indrid crosses his arms, mock affronted, “I will have you know I have seen a great deal of human media, courtesy of our minister of defense.”

“Oh yeah?” Duck shifts onto his stomach, sends a small splash Indrid’s way, “what was this night gonna involve, then?”

“Food, dim and therefore, apparently, romantic lighting, dancing to sensual music, and then hopefully some kissing.” The pink in his tail intensifies, “and then working out exactly how to have sex human.”

The mixture of enthusiasm and being utterly out of his element charms Duck to no end; not to mention it’s the most thought someone’s put into a hook-up with him in the last three years. 

“Seems to me you got the gist of it. Though I really wanna know what you picked out for ‘sensual music.’”

A playful glint enters Indrid’s glowing eyes, “I will show you, but we must go through the whole evening, otherwise it will seem like a disjointed choice. With, ah, with the understanding that you are not obligated to kiss me at the end.

“You got a deal.”

“Wonderful” Indrid claps his hands together, “wait right here.”

Indrid disappears in a whoosh of black and silver. When he returns, he hoists six opaque domes onto the floor in front of Duck, “I initially planned to eat in the sitting room, but you like this room much better, so we can have dinner here.” With that, he double-taps the top of each dome, revealing a confusing buffet. 

“Uh, are those french fries?”

“Yes. You are from the United States of America, and so I chose foods that would make you feel at home.” Indrid points to each plate in turn, “french fries, steak, a turkey with cranberries, lobster, macaroni with cheese, and an apple pie.”

The pie is covered with an odd, yellow meringue, the turkey is the size of a quail, and the black shell suggests this is not a kind of lobster he’s eaten before, but Duck can’t stop smiling.

“Also I took care to be sure none of the necessary substitutions were poisonous to you.”

“Thanks, Indrid.” He means it; in their travels they’ve learned it’s not only humans who think everyone lives and eats exactly the way they do.

Everything except the french fries tastes strange but he finds the meal, like it’s orchestrator, intriguing in it’s oddity. Indrid brings two cool, white bottles from below, offers Duck tastes of each. One is like the celery soda he drank on a dare, the other like root beer if it wasn’t gross. He keeps the second one next to him as the meal progresses, Indrid asking him all kinds of questions about botany and himself. When dinner is over, Indrid guides him two rooms over, grinning excitedly. 

“I will start the music; one moment.” 

A few seconds after he dives, a chrome cylinder descends from the ceiling and music fills the air.

Ninety-nine red balloons

Floating in the summer sky

Panic bells, it's red alert!

There's something here from somewhere else!

He giggles, sits down so it’s easier to call, “Indrid? Not sure you got the right song bud.”

A silver-haired head pops up, “Not romantic?”

“Nope.”

“Hmmmm” He lifts a small, white rectangle and the song changes. 

He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way

He had a boogie style that no one else could play

He was the top man at his craft

But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft

He's in the army now, a blowin' reveille

He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B

“N-not quite” The laugh is stronger now.

“Drat. How about….”

I threw a wish in the well, don't ask me, I'll never tell

I looked to you as it fell and now you're in my way 

Indrid looks hopefully at him.

“Ain’t what I’d call sensual, but you’d hear it at the kind of place you’d pick up a date.”

The alien beams, starts shifting back and forth to the beat, “shall we dance?”

Duck blushes, pretends he doesn’t know why, “Uh, probably should have said this earlier, but I ain’t much of a dancer.”

Indrid swims to him, stopping close enough that Duck can see the lines on his face that reveal they’re close in age, “That’s alright. Sometimes conversing while having a drink is acceptable behavior, correct?”

“Yeah.” Duck doesn’t bother to hide how intently he’s watching as Indrid dives, his form elegant and ethereal beneath the water. 

They sit sipping a hard cider that tastes of papaya and flowers instead of apples until the three other moons glow bright in the skylight. Duck yawns, and excuses himself for the night. 

“Thanks for a great evenin, Indrid.”

“You are most welcome. A pity I could not make the music work.”

He’s here for another three weeks at least. And Indrid is floating through the darkening water like a dream he’s tempted to chase.

“Guess you’ll just have to try again.” Duck winks. 

Indrid’s ears frill slightly and he flashes bright purple, “Yes, my dear husband, I suppose I will.” 

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

Duck’s routine is not the one he usually has while docked on a planet. Every day for the last week, he wakes up, joins Indrid for a leisurely swim, works on his research, and then spends his evening with a weirdly cute alien trying to accurately recreate the earth dating experience for him. 

The second night, he asked if Indrid would bring him some of his favorites for their next meal. The steamed coconut crab was a hit. The mantis-squid served still swimming, less so. From then on, when Indrid put in his food orders to the cooks at the main court, it was for a mixture of earth and Aquariad dishes, each one leading him or Indrid to share an anecdote from their time on their home planet. 

For the last two nights, he’s lifted the partitions on the pools in his room so Indrid can talk with him until neither of them can keep their eyes open. He wonders if it would be rude to ask him to stay, to sleep in such a small space just so he could be the first thing Duck sees when he wakes up.

There must be floating beds he could put in Indrid’s room, or maybe a hammock he could hang in the garden. 

Duck now understands that Indrid’s powers make him politically valuable, but also mean his fellow residents of the lunar city see him as dangerous, as knowing things they’d rather keep secret. Duck understands, especially if their only time encountering the seer is when he glides his formidable, dark body from the depths of his inner sanctum. But all he can see is his Indrid, awkward and well-meaning, whose fear of Duck disliking him has given way to genuine affection. His Indrid, who now pulls himself up onto the stones so they can sit shoulder to shoulder after breakfast or before dinner, whose tail Duck’s fingers beg to caress. 

His Indrid who is, at this moment, continuing his losing battle with earth music. 

“How about this?”

Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen

Thank you for all the joy and pain

“Oh fuck no” Duck guffaws, “anything but him, ‘Drid, he’s a boner killer if there ever was one.”

“I don’t think he’s that bad,  but I will be speaking to Vincent about his human music suggestions.”

“For the love of god, turn it off.” Duck flails for the remote.

Indrid sticks out his tongue, “Very well, but I am this close to pulling you down here and seeing if you can do any better.”

“You wouldn’t dare” Duck is still laughing, eyes closing as he does, which means he gets only a splash of warning before he’s yanked into the pool. He comes up giggling and spluttering, “now, is that any way to treat your husband?”

Indrid’s laugh is a siren song, “No, I suppose not.” The music clicks off as Indrid steadies him by curving his tail behind his legs, “how should I treat you instead?”

Duck drapes his arms over Indrid’s shoulders, “You been treatin me pretty damn well, dunkin me aside.”

A flicker of pink and yellow as Indrid rubs their cheeks together, “And if I wanted to be even better?”

“I, uh, I mean if you wanted to we could tryYYYYohfuck” he hunches forward as Indrid’s tail drags across his dick. The clothing on Aquaria is thin, so he can feel the cool scales tease his skin. 

“Oh, oh dear, apologies, I was only trying to embrace you further, I forgot yours do not stay concealed until they’re needed.”

“You, you keep doin that and it’s gonna be needed real quick.”

“Oh?” red eyes narrow wickedly, “does my sweet husband need attending to?” Another drag of his tail, much more deliberate, and Duck grinds his hips in reply. 

“Only if you want to.”

“I do, so very badly.” Indrid nuzzles his nose, “may I take a little while to acquaint myself with your wonderful body?”

“Uh huh.” Duck tugs his shirt off, throwing it onto the land and then giving his shorts the same treatment. 

“Ohhhhhhyes.” Indrid purrs, fins and tails shimmering purple and gold. Then he sinks down, swimming in a slow, tight circle around the human. Pleased chirps and trills bubble up to Duck’s ears. Cool fingers play along his legs and belly, eventually finding his dick and offering an experimental stroke.

“Fuck” he groans, and Indrid does it again, kissing his navel as both hands rub and tease his dick and folds. Indrid is clearly experimenting, maybe even using his visions to guide him, and Duck eagerness to get off succumbs to just how fucking hot it is to have a partner this enrapt by his body, to have them explore it like some awe-inspiring landscape. 

He spreads his hands out and runs them along Indrid’s torso and tail; the scales are just as wonderful under his fingers as he hoped, and he can feel Indrid sigh happily as he pets him. 

Then lips close around his dick and he makes a series of undignified noises, digging one hand into Indrid’s hair to encourage him. 

“Ohmyfuckinchrist, Indrid, yes, fuck please keep suckin like that.”

Indrid wiggles his whole body in response, happy trill underscored by a firmer suck. Duck can’t get enough of his body beneath his hands, of his mouth on Duck’s skin, and he wonders if someone can black out from how good a blowjob feels. 

Indrid’s fin breaks the water and Duck runs an appreciative thumb along the top. Funny, there’s a little depression between it and the membrane of the fin. Curious, he drags his pinky along it. 

The alien bursts upwards with a loud chirp of joy, “Ohgoodness, yes, oh that feels nice please do it again.”

“Yeah? My cute, needy husband need me to play with his fins to get off.”

“Not, not technically by my gods does he want you to.”

“Don’t worry darlin, I will--uh, ‘Drid? Is, is that your dick?”

Indrid follows his gaze to the thick, bumpy shaft emerging from his tail, it’s tip crowned with short, searching tendrils.

“Yes. Also an ovipositor, hence those lumps.”

“Holyfuck. Uh, I, I ain’t sure I’m ready for that yet.” 

“That’s perfectly alright. Though it does mean my cock is not going into you tonight; I’m not sure I can control my bodily responses enough to avoid ovipositing accidentally.”

“Lots of others things we can do.” Duck bites the tip of one ear, making the other flare out.

“Indeed. I say we start with this.” Indrid’s tail encircles his waist just as Indrid shoves his cock between his thighs.

“Like, like the way you think sugar. Fuuuck, fuck that’s good.” The bumps from the eggs have just the right amount of give as he humps them, Indrid matching his tempo with his thrusts. He keeps his arms around his husbands neck, kissing him furiously. Indrid kisses back with a chirp, gold flashing in his scales, and Duck knows he won’t want to kiss anyone else for a long, long time. 

The tip of Indrid’s cock bumps his ass and he groans at what that suggests about it’s size. 

“I’m, I’m takin this fuckin perfect thing all the way before I go.” He bucks his hips harder to make his point, “gonna let you fuck me open on it, fill me up, wanna know what it’s like to cum with you inside me.”

“Oh gods” Indrid whimpers, hiding his face in Ducks neck as he squeezes his thighs together. 

“And, and you’re gonna be a dutiful fuckin husband and fill me however I say, ain’t you?”

“Yes, yesofcourse, goodness Duck I, I’m-”

“Heh, you like that, mr high and mighty seer likes bein bossed around. Well, lucky you, because now that I know just how fuckin good you are at fuckin me, gonna have you doin it ever, fuckin, day.” He jerks his hips hard, three times, and Indric cums with a cry, cock pulsing as he sinks his teeth into Ducks shoulder. Duck doesn’t let up, chases his orgasm over the bumps and ridges until he nearly whites out with pleasure, clinging to Indrid tighter as his body gives up on supporting him. 

After his cock retracts Indrid, still holding Duck up with ease, swims to the button that orders a cleaning cycle on the pool and deposits the human back on the stone. 

“I dearly hope your team finds what you need on this planet so that I may see you beyond these few weeks.”

“Sex was that good?” Duck teases, petting Indrid’s hair as he lays his head in his lap.

“No. Or, well, yes, but more than that you are so, so very wonderful. I wish to get to know you more, to show you even more of my world and my skill in bed.”

Duck kisses the top of his head, “I hope so too.”

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

Communication log between leader of Amnesty Mission at Astrobotanist Duck Newton. 

Mama: Got some promising leads. Will be back to pick you up in three days. 

Duck: Glad to hear it. But take your time, no need to rush only my account. 

[letterboxd]

Siren Song.

Undine writer-director Christian Petzold talks to Reyzando Nawara about modern-day mermaids, Tinder culture and finding the magic in life.

“Love stories always change. A kiss in Berlin 1933, for example, is not gonna be the same kiss in Berlin today, right?” —Christian Petzold

“If you leave me, then I’ll have to kill you.” Undine’s threat to her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Johannes, after he has told her that he has met someone else, seems at first like an over-the-top reaction to the breakup. But it is a curse that Undine must fulfill, for she will become human only when she falls in love with a man who is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her.

From Splash to Ponyo to The Lure to Song of the Sea, mythical water spirits, usually female, sometimes horse, have powered many film plots. The sixteenth-century European myth of Undine, in particular, lies behind many screen adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, though the Danish writer was not the first to popularize the fairytale in his century. Decades earlier, around 1811, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué of Germany had produced his romantic novella, Undine.

And it is to Germany—specifically modern-day Berlin—that writer-director (and fellow German) Christian Petzold transports Undine in his contemporary magical-realist take on the myth. There, she does not take the form of a mermaid or siren, but a beautiful young woman (played by Paula Beer), who works as a historian at a museum, where she guides tours of Berlin’s architecture and its reconstruction. The breathtaking cinematography, by regular Petzold collaborator Hans Fromm, crystallizes both the romance and the beauty of Berlin, while Petzold’s leads root every scene in reality, even as aquariums explode and giant catfish drift past.

Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski fire up the streets of Berlin in ‘Undine’.

Water may be the dominant element in Undine, but Beer and her co-star Franz Rogowski bring fire to their scenes together. Where Beer brings charisma and intensity to the titular role, Rogowski, as Undine’s new love interest, an industrial diver named Christoph, offers charm and sweetness.

In the frenzy of Parasite’s world domination, it is easy to forget that Petzold’s previous feature, Transit, appeared in two of our 2019 Year in Review lists—the 50 highest-rated films and the highest-rated international films—and was one of the top romance films of the 2010s. His riveting Phoenix is still his highest-rated film on the platform—one of many to center a complex female character in search of love at a time of personal and/or political crisis. In Undine, Petzold does it again, a welcome departure from other adaptations, including the Colin Farrell-starring Irish romantic drama Ondine (2009), that have mostly told the myth from the perspective of its male characters. Petzold also revises the fairytale, by giving Undine a chance to try to emancipate herself from her curse.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Petzold about his fascination with water, the magic of Berlin history, modern dating and of course, his ongoing collaboration with Beer and Rogowski.

Spoiler warning: this conversation contains plot details regarding the ending of Petzold’s film ‘Transit’ (2018).

Your movie is inspired by the myth of Undine, but you reinvent it by giving it some modern twists. How did the main narrative for the film come about? Christian Petzold: I think the idea of the story first came to me around twenty years ago when I had a project in Germany. It was together with Claire Denis and also Kathryn Bigelow, and everybody had to make a ten-minute short film for a project based on the museum near the Rhine River. I had written a little dialogue—oh, by the way, Steve McQueen was also part of the project—and it was the scene that we can see in the movie in the first few minutes where Undine’s boyfriend, Johannes, said that he doesn’t love her anymore and that he wants to leave her and she said to him, “If you leave me, then I’ll have to kill you.” Then she goes back to work, and later when she comes back to try to find him again, he isn’t there—so she knows that she has to kill him now.

Then when I made Transit with Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski, I told them after a very lucky and happy time of shooting, that I had written a short story and wanted to make a 90-minute feature movie out of it together with them. I wanted to keep working and making movies with them because we’ve had an amazing experience together in Transit. This was basically the start of how the movie and my collaboration with these two actors came about.

Paula and Franz are actors who didn’t come from the basic German acting school; their backgrounds are dance and theater. But they both have so much curiosity about cinema—when I met Paula for the first time, for example, she told me that she had bought 50 movies by Alfred Hitchcock and wanted to see all of them, and to me, this is the best kind of school to learn about cinema.

So to some extent, Undine is a spiritual sequel to Transit? Yes, you’re right. It has so many things to do with Transit. Marie, Paula’s character in Transit, finds her own death in the sea—she’s drowned. And Franz’s character, he’s waiting at the land, hoping that she may come back from the land of the dead. So I said to them, “Okay, the next movie is gonna be about a woman coming out of the sea and going to the land to search for love and also about this young man who is a diver, who is going underwater, to find love as well.” So to some degree, it’s a sequel, you’re right.

Beer and Ragowski in ‘Transit’ (2018).

You mentioned earlier that you had a great experience working with Paula and Franz in Transit. Can you tell us what it was about these two actors that you thought would capture the story you wanted to tell in Undine? Paula is a very young actor—she was 23 when we started Transit, and she was around 24 when we made Undine—but when you’re filming her, she has this ability to make her characters much more mature beyond her real age. In one second, she’s 45 years old, with a whole experience of someone who’s had a hard life and has gone through so many bad things, then one second later, she’s thirteen and innocent. And to have that kind of ability—to go from one point to another—is just really fascinating to me. I’ve never seen other actors do this before in my life.

Franz was a dancer, and if I remember correctly, I think he was also in a clown school for a circus, so he can do everything with his body. It’s unbelievable what he can do. He has this amazing physicality that I admire and haven’t seen before in other German actors. When they’re together sharing a scene, they dance with each other. And this is the thing that I like so much about them and the thing I need in Undine, because I need actors who can float from one scene to another as if they’re dancing underwater.

In literature and pop culture, the myth of Undine has been mostly told from the male perspective. You reframe the narrative, to give Undine the opportunity to maybe emancipate herself from both the male figure in her life and the curse. Tell me more about that choice. Two or three years ago, I had a retrospective in New York, and I had the chance to see some of my previous movies again—[laughing] I’ve actually never done it before, revisiting my own movies. And at that time, I realized that I’ve always tried to rewrite the stories centering on women, which were made by men in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, from another perspective: the perspective of the women.

When I was in Venice for the first time, Claude Chabrol [was] in the same hotel as me, and he had a Q&A. I wanted to say hi and tell him how great he was but I couldn’t do it because I was very young and too shy for those things. I heard what he said when asked why in his movies, the women are always the main characters. His answer was, “Men are living, women are surviving. And cinema is about surviving.” It was such a fantastic answer.

All the movies I [have] made, including Undine, are about surviving. Undine wanted to survive her curse—she tries to, every time, since centuries ago. In so many iterations of the myth, Undine always has to go back into the lake and to the life the curse has set for her. I really wanted to zoom in on that, to liberate the character of Undine from the myth and the curse.

In the movie, Undine works as an historian at a museum, and in her tours, she talks about Berlin’s architecture and its reconstruction throughout the years. How is this related to the romantic aspect of the movie? Everybody says you can take a love story and put it in the sixteenth century or the nineteenth century, and it’s always gonna be the same kind of love story. But I think that’s not entirely right. Love stories always change. A kiss in Berlin 1933, for example, is not gonna be the same kiss in Berlin today, right? Therefore I want to take the historical aspect of Berlin architecture and its reconstruction to tell the story of two young people in Berlin nowadays, to see the evolution of both this love story and the myth of Undine itself.

What’s the significance of all the buildings Undine mentions in the movie? The buildings serve a very important role in the movie because Berlin is between two rivers on an island, and the city is built on dried-out swamps, so the element that Undine is coming from, which is the water, is destroyed in Berlin. It doesn’t exist anymore. And therefore Undine doesn’t have any habitats, so she has no choice but to adapt and to live on the land.

In some way, I always think that the modernization in Berlin erases history, and when there’s no history, there’s no magic, which means magical creatures like Undine won’t exist. That was the main idea of the architectural elements in the movie.

Is that also the reason why there are two locations in the movie: Berlin, and the small town where Franz’s character, Christoph, works and lives, which is still full of swamps? To show that in this small town, magic still exists? That’s a good question. The romance and the myth of Undine is a part of German and European history. It’s a unique enchantment. But in Berlin, where modernization and civilization keep growing and changing, there’s no enchantment anymore. So I want to show how in this small town where everything is still kept as closely natural as possible, the enchantment and the charm of Germany are still there.

There’s a beautiful and romantic poem by Joseph Eichendorff that says, “You must find the right world, so everything can sync again.” To me, that line encourages us to find the magic of the world back. We live in this world surrounded by retro buildings and retro behavior and retro music, but it’s all actually just an illusion of magic. The real magic, that’s something that we have to find—either by movies or camera positions or poems or even by preserving the naturality of a city. And the Undine myth actually has a lot to do with this.

Another thing that fascinates me about the movie is how the dynamic between Undine and Johannes, in some way, reflects the state of modern dating. Is this something that you also wanted to capture when you wrote the script? [Laughing] Funny story, when Paula read the script for the first time, she told me that she liked it so much because the story reminded her of Tinder and modern dating. And on some level, it’s true; part of Undine is about modern dating. I always think that in the era of dating apps, everything gets much simpler—you meet someone, you have sex (or perhaps not), and if you feel like this someone is not handsome or beautiful enough for you, you can keep scrolling until you find someone new. So, dating right now is like going to the supermarket.

Johannes leaving Undine to be with another woman, who for him is better-looking than Undine, reflects the culture of Tinder. And the line I mentioned earlier, “If you leave me, then I’ll have to kill you,” is the opposite of that kind of dating life. And Paula, who hates Tinder, loves that line a lot. Some of the actors are on Tinder, I’m sure, and that’s understandable. Actors are sometimes very lonely because for six to eight weeks, they are deep inside of a character, and when they’re on break, they’re in some sort of “black hole of loneliness”.

Writer-director Christian Petzold.

Undine being a water nymph, of course, makes the water element very important in this movie. But water has actually been heavily featured in some of your previous features as well, like in Yella, Barbara and Transit. Can you tell us why you find water fascinating? I’ve seen a documentary by Agnès Varda, and in [it] she said, “The place where one element is touching one another is the place where cinema builds its stories.” That’s why she loved the beach, because on the beach, there’s water and there’s the earth and there’s also wind, and they’re touching each other. So to her, the beach is the perfect place where you can tell a story.

For me, however, the reason I like featuring water or the other elements in most of my movies is because it has something to do with seeing my characters coming from one element then going to the other elements; to see them act and react in a new and sometimes uncomfortable place. Also, when you see pictures or paintings, so many of them are about people looking deep into the sea. I always feel like that kind of painting is actually about a desire. And most of my movies, at [their] core, are about desire. That’s why water is so important to me. Deep under the water, there’s the place of desire.

What’s the first movie that made you want to become a filmmaker? The first movie I loved very much as a kid was The Jungle Book, but the first movie that made me want to become a filmmaker was by Alfred Hitchcock, The 39 Steps. I was fourteen or fifteen years old when I saw the movie for the first time, and I loved it from the first moment. The movie is about a man and a woman who are bound by handcuffs, and they don’t like each other, but because they’re on the run, they have to communicate and come to an understanding. And the love story starts because of that communication, not because of looks, and I love the movie so much for that reason.

If you could program a double feature with Undine, what movie would you pick? Good question. I would say The Night of the Hunter. Also maybe Creature from the Black Lagoon or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or The Son’s Room by Nanni Moretti. These are the movies that I would recommend for a double feature with Undine.

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‘Undine’ is in theaters and available on VOD in the US now.