#i based the shark on that one that can walk on land but i drew it from memory

[soapkaars]

Do you think commander Lucius Emery sleeps in the basin with his sharks

[drades-lair]

Win

Fandom: HelluvaBoss

Rating: T

Pairing: Crimson/Alessio

Even a mob sometimes could find itself with a slow night, Crimson’s crew wasn’t immune to this as proven on this night. Most of the shiver had been dispersed to do what they pleased leaving only three or four including Alessio to keep an eye on the knowlastname mansion. Crimson sat behind his large oak desk casually smoking a cigar while sipping a tumbler of whisky as Ale played a game of pool with one of the remaining sharks, placing a bet down of twenty dollars on the pool tables side making the total bet forty. Alessio shed his jacket then loosened his tie in order to relax a little attracting Crimson’s gaze instantly, raising an eyebrow in curious interest while Ale circled the table to get a better spot to watch the other shark break. The pool balls clacked against one another when the other shark broke the formation initiating the game, Ale watched carefully as his opponent went for the easiest and closest ball that turned out to be a solid colored one meaning Ale had stripes. Ignoring the other shark now Alessio started mapping out his strategy based on the locations of his pool balls, luckily most were in doable locations there was only one that he could see giving him trouble as it was too close to the eight ball. The other demon cursed under his breath promptly drawing Ale out of his head revealing that he’d missed the pocket on his third ball meaning it was Ale’s turn, taking a sip of his rum Ale tapped the glass down on the small bar in the room then went to the pool table. Moving to the far side Ale made quick work of his first three balls, landing them in the corner pockets however as he approached his fourth Ale maneuvered a little differently as this was the only ball at this moment that he could use to reposition the trouble ball by the eight ball. Crimson watched with great interest as Ale pulled off a difficult play, hitting the fourth ball near the bottom to get it to go forwards just enough to move his trouble ball before it started spinning backwards straight into the side pocket. A small smirk of amusement crossed Crimson’s features as Ale moved to shoot his fifth ball managing to sink it in the far corner pocket unfortunately on the way past, he nicked the opposing shark’s ball that had been close to the pocket promptly ending his turn. The opponent managed to sink two more balls before unceremoniously sinking the cue ball with a loud curse while a smile spread across Ale’s features, reaching into the pocket to grab the cue ball so he could place it where he wanted. Satisfied with his position Ale sunk his second to last ball followed by his last one meaning all he needed to do was sink the eight ball to secure the win. Crimson continued to smirk till Ale came to the side of the pool table closest to Crimson’s desk, setting up his cue and bending over to line up his shot promptly giving Crimson a perfect view of his perky ass causing the imp to flush a little as his smile dropped. Crimson cleared his throat quietly, averting his gaze from Ale’s tempting asset to take a drag from his cigar when the clack of one pool ball hitting another drew his attention back just as Ale was standing up straight with a massive grin on his face. The opposing shark growled while raising his middle finger at Alessio who’d obviously won their game made more obvious when Ale walked over to grab the money off the pool table’s edge.

Tired of losing the last couple sharks made their way out of the office to head off either to their rooms or perhaps out for a bit. Ale pocketed the cash he’d won, put away the pool cue he was holding, racked the balls on the table again then moved back to the small bar to finish his drink. Crimson exhaled a puff of smoke followed by a hum that caught Ale’s attention causing him to glance over at his boss.

“Impressive, poker…pool…anything you can’t win at?” Crimson questioned with a bemused tone to his voice.

“I just got lucky…I can easily lose,” Alessio responded returning the small smirk Crimson was giving him.

“Then you must be the luckiest fucker in Greed,” Crimson retorted with a small, huffed laugh.

“Perhaps,” Ale simply replied, downing the last sip of rum in his tumbler.

“I got a nice view earlier…care to show me again?” Crimson stated voice lowering slightly towards the end into a seductive tone.

“Hmm? What do you mean?” Alessio wondered, truly not picking up on what Crimson was referring to immediately.

“I mean when you decided to give me a nice shot of Yer ass,” Crimson elaborated, grin growing wider.

“Oh, I…didn’t even notice,” Ale admitted, remembering when he’d positioned himself to sink one of his balls earlier.

“So…show me,” Crimson insisted, crossing one leg over the other.

Ale hesitated for a moment before obeying, heading back to the pool table where he planted both hands on the edge then bent over with his legs slightly spread. Crimson took a drag of his cigar as he raked his eyes along Alessio’s firm yet slender figure, enjoying how the shark looked without his jacket on. Sliding the high back chair he was sitting in backwards Crimson tapped his way around the desk till he stood right behind Ale, blowing out another puff of smoke before putting his cigar in his mouth to free his hands to squeeze Alessio’s ass cheeks. Ale stiffened slightly, tail coiling around Crimson as he glanced over his shoulder at the ass height imp standing behind him currently smirking wider then ever through half hooded golden eyes. Alessio pushed off the pool table to turn around, snatching up Crimson the moment he was facing the imp to place him on the oak desk’s surface while taking the cigar from his mouth before capturing it in a deep kiss. Crimson leaned back slightly, placing his hands on the desk’s surface as he kissed Alessio back, tongues entangling with one another.

“This what you were looking for?” Ale asked pulling from the kiss.

“What do you think?” Crimson retorted.

Alessio simply smirked as he reached for Crimson’s jacket buttons, undoing them one by one till he could push the fabric out of the way allowing his hands to slide up under Crimson’s long-sleeved shirt. Ale smoothed the palm of one hand up Crimson’s torso while bracing with his other hand on the desk to lean forwards, nipping along the imp’s neck to his jawline resulting in him releasing a breathy huff as he tipped his head up to the side allowing Ale better access. Ale caressed his hand to Crimson’s hip where he massaged gingerly, slipping his fingers just below the imp’s waist band while sucking liberally at his pulse point.

“Enjoy watching me win?” Ale whispered in a husky tone, upon pulling back slightly.

“I like watching anyone win…especially you though,” Crimson retorted, maneuvering to be eye to eye with Ale before leaning in for another deep kiss.

Ale chuckled into the kiss, hand sliding from Crimson’s hip to the front of his trousers where he popped the button then pulled down the zipper. Crimson released a breathy moan into the kiss as Alessio ghosted his palm down the front of the imp’s trousers directly over his growing bulge, Crimson’s one hand coming up to fist in the front of Alessio’s button down shirt promptly pulling the shark closer in an impatient gesture. Pulling from the kiss with another chuckle Ale stared down at Crimson, the imp’s face was flushed a deeper red color, and he was panting softly.

“Shall we take this to a more comfortable setting?” Alessio inquired.

“What do you think?” Crimson retorted.

With that the duo got themselves somewhat put back together, exiting the office to head up the stairs to Crimson’s bedroom where Ale became a winner for the second time that evening.

[nessiesspeakeasy]

The Merman and the Pirate

Torgue lifted the creature up in his arms, holding him tightly. “We’re going to get ye all patched up, then take ye home!”

“Let me go!” The merman demanded loudly. “You can’t do this to me!”

“AH! HAHAHAHA! SO YE CAN SPEAK HUMAN TONGUE!” Torgue grinned wide. “PERFECT!”

The merman wiggled and tried to break free. “UNHAND ME AT ONCE! I WILL NOT BE MANHANDLED ONCE MORE!”

Torgue laughed again. “GOOD! YE’VE STILL GOT FIGHT LEFT IN YE! That will help ye heal!”

“I can heal on my own!” He tried to free his arms, but Torgue held him too tightly.

Torgue has just finished destroying a whaling ship, when his crew inform him of a wounded merman imprisoned on the wretched ship.

Written for HyperionHugo's birthday! Based off of this post I made that @hyperionhugo drew this picture of!

You can read this on AO3!!!

The breeze in the ocean was none like any other and Torgue could never get enough of it. He loved how it blew threw his hair as he stood on the bowsprit, breathing in the new day’s air. He knew today would be the day, he could feel it in his bones. They would catch up to those whalers and they would destroy them. They had lost them in a fog, but Torgue hadn’t gotten as famous as he was without knowing how to track a ship.

By mid day, the whole crew could see their target. Torgue ordered for everyone to get ready. They were to leave no one alive. The whaling ship tried to fire at them, tried to fend them off, but Torgue’s ship had advanced without hesitation, boarding them and destroying every last one of them.

He shot his harpoon that rested on his arm at the captain, spearing him in the heart. It was a weapon he’d made with a poetic justice. He stood at the helm while he received reports. There were only two casualties from their side. Each was a heavy loss and they carried the men back to the ship to prepare for a proper burial.

“Also,” his second in command said. “We… We’ve found something- someone, ye gotta see. He won’t let any of us close to ‘im.”

Brows quirked, Torgue followed them down to the prison cells. In one, through the open door was a man, curled in the back, eyes wide and angry. He held a knife and slashed wildly at them. As Torgue stepped closer, he could see the long, bloody tail that was the bottom half of the man.

“A MERMAN!” He removed his jacket, leaving him topless and handed it to one of his men. “QUICK! SOAK THIS WITH OCEAN WATER AND BRING IT BACK AS FAST AS YE CAN RUN! AND EVERYONE ELSE CAN LEAVE! WE DON’T NEED HIM MORE SCARED THAN HE ALREADY IS!”

The creature was parched, his color pale and sickly. Not to mention how hurt and malnourished he was. He looked fairly strong, but Torgue could see he would not survive in the water without his wounds treated. When his jacket came back, soaked and dripping with water, Torgue slowly went into the prison cell. He crouched low, showing off the jacket and reaching out to hand it to him.

The merman only jabbed at him with the knife. Torgue tossed the jacket on his tail and waited. The merman stilled, staring at the jacket as though it might attack him.

Quickly, while distracted, Torgue snatched the knife from the creature and tossed it out of the prison cell. “THERE, NOW I CAN REALLY HELP YE!” He grinned wide and advanced on the merman. There was a struggled, but Torgue was healthy and strong. He managed to get the jacket around the creature’s torso, effectively pinning him in it while letting the water soak into his skin. Torgue lifted the creature up in his arms, holding him tightly. “We’re going to get ye all patched up, then take ye home!”

“Let me go!” The merman demanded loudly. “You can’t do this to me!”

“AH! HAHAHAHA! SO YE CAN SPEAK HUMAN TONGUE!” Torgue grinned wide. “PERFECT!”

The merman wiggled and tried to break free. “UNHAND ME AT ONCE! I WILL NOT BE MANHANDLED ONCE MORE!”

Torgue laughed again. “GOOD! YE’VE STILL GOT FIGHT LEFT IN YE! That will help ye heal!”

“I can heal on my own!” He tried to free his arms, but Torgue held him too tightly.

“I know for a FACT merpeople cannot! BUT I LOVE THE SPIRIT YE’VE GOT!” Torgue carried him expertly up the stairs and across the planks to his ship no matter how much he struggled. He ordered a bath to be made from salt water. Torgue took the merman into his quarters where a basin was being filled.

The creature still continued to wiggle in his arms, almost getting loose once. He grinned, proud that he’d gotten that far and tried further. Torgue was glad for it, he’d seen many a merperson die from lack of will. He set the merman in the water, getting splashed as he slapped his tail down furiously.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to help ye with yer wounds. My name is CAPTAIN TORGUE!” And he posed for the merman. “I AM A FRIEND TO ALL WATER DWELLING CREATURES! YE ARE SAFE ON THIS SHIP!” He bowed and left.

Hugo sat in the water, furious and terrified. He was furious that he’d been caught in the first place and now he was at the mercy of this human. He was hurt, he knew that, and knew that it would need proper care and time, but he wanted to be done with land-walkers. He could find a quiet uninhabited island and care for it himself there.

He touched the spot on his tail where the horrible captain had stabbed him with a harpoon to the deck of the ship to bask in his prize. It still gushed blood. He was starving and until now, he’d been dying of dehydration.

He’d heard about this captain, though. The new one. Torgue. All the whales adored him, singing songs about him in tribute to his kindness to them. Every merperson knew of the legend. They would consider it an honor to meet him. The songs never mentioned how incredibly large the man was, though.

It mattered not to Hugo, who just wanted free. He tried to lift himself out of the tub, but his arms shook and he fell back in, splashing water everywhere. He swore. He was strong and could fight a shark, but he couldn’t even get out of this confined space.

He huffed and stared out the windows Torgue had placed him by. At least he was in water now. He rested his head on the edge of the large basin. And at least the captain was easy on the eyes. He let the water seep into him for the moment, allowing himself this small second of weakness to drink up the water and rest.

When the captain returned, he had his arms full of bandages and cleaning supplies. “AH!” he smiled wide. “YE ARE ALREADY LOOKING MUCH BETTER!”

He watched Torgue, skeptically, as he set everything down and pulled up a seat next to the basin. He grabbed Hugo’s hand and rubbed it in his, inspecting it. Hugo tried to pull away, but the captain held firm.

“AYE! NOT SO PALE ANYMORE!” He laughed heartily. “THAT’S GOOD!”

Hugo pulled his hand away and this time Torgue let him. “I’ve heard about your booming voice,” he said turning his glare to the window, his voice lowering. “None of the songs do it justice.”

“SONGS?” Torgue asked, eyes wide. “Who’s singing songs about me?”

“Everyone, whales were the first,” he side-eyed Torgue. “Then, it spread throughout the ocean.”

“Well, son of Poseidon! What are they about?” He picked up a smaller stool. “Here, ye need to sit on this so I can bandage ye up.”

Hugo looked at it, his chest filling with anger and a wounded pride. “No.” There was no strength in him.

“OH RIGHT!” Torgue stood. “I’ll help ye!”

Before Hugo could say anything, Torgue’s large, muscular arm wrapped around his torso and pulled him up, bare chest pressing against him as Torgue slid the stool under Hugo and set him on it.

“There! It’s not ideal right now, since ye are still dehydrated, but we gotta patch ye up!” He grabbed Hugo’s tail and lifted it out of the basin and set it on the edge. The large gash was plain as day. “I should have killed him more slowly!” Torgue growled. He threw a towel into the tub, swirled it around and then set it on Hugo’s torso. “There! To keep ye wet!” It helped a great deal, though Hugo refused to admit it. Torgue looked over the hole in his tail, shaking his head. “This is going to take months to heal.”

Hugo glared out the window, hiding every wince caused by ointment and bandages. His whole tail needed to stay out of the water, which only made Hugo even more glum. He ignored Torgue when he brought freshly caught fish for him to eat, or when he checked the bandages and redressed them. He was starving though, and ate all that Torgue offered.

And yet, the captain kept talking to him, like nothing was wrong. Like Hugo was normal and not ignoring him. It was strange. All he’d ever had from humans were gasps and wonderment, or poachers, never an actual conversation.

“We’re heading back to where ye pointed on the map, but I’m afraid we’re going to be waylaid!” Torgue said one evening, a month later. Hugo had found himself slowly warming up to Torgue, cautiously joining him in conversations. The captain wanted to hear everything Hugo told him, another strange first for him, above or below the water. It had had the effect of softening Hugo up quite a bit to the man. “We’ve found one of the most prominent whaling ships and we’ve never had such an advantage as we do now. WE’RE TAKING IT!”

Hugo frowned, his heart suddenly pounding. “But what if they beat you?”

At that, the captain laughed heartily. “I’VE NEVER BEEN BEAT AND I NEVER WILL! NOT WHEN MY JOB STILL AIN’T DONE!” He smiled wide. “DON’T YE WORRY ONE BIT! THIS SHIP CAN HANDLE A LOT!” He winked and left the cabin.

It was in the middle of the night when Hugo heard the men getting ready. He looked out the window and saw the shadow of the other ship out in the distance. Torgue had walked him through what would be happening, but the tightness in Hugo’s chest still hadn’t lifted. What if they lost? He was here, open for the taking and he did not want to be captured again. That would mean the captain had been slain and that thought had his knuckles white, clutching the side of the tub.

He watched the ships row quietly, saw the men board and then the light of gunfire flashed several times. He had no idea who was shooting. His stomach twisted in knots as he watched helplessly. It was long and silent on the ship, his heart pounding every moment, even more so when he caught ships making their way back. Hugo, in a heap of panic, looked around him for something to defend himself with. The only thing in his reach was a steak knife, which he grabbed and waited, straining his ears.

“VICTORY!” He heard Torgue call. “TAKE US CLOSE AND OPEN FIRE! NO WHALING SHIP SURVIVES!”

A large grin spread over Hugo’s face. The captain was alive. Hugo was safe and the captain was alive. He tossed the knife to the ground and waited for the loud, large man to burst in. When he didn’t right away, Hugo frowned. Surly he hadn’t been forgotten? Was the captain drinking and celebrating with the men? Was he just to stay tucked away here without any news?

His tail flicked, annoyed. He winced at the rippling pain and flicked his tail again, his arms crossed. Glaring out the window, time passed. The ship caught fire and sank to the bottom of the ocean. And still, he was alone. It was quiet in the room, the darkness shrouding him, the unknown sinking further and further into his gut. He spent large amounts of time alone, but the captain usually spent his breaks in here, offsetting the silence.

When finally, the door opened, Hugo turned to glare at the captain, only for his eyes to widen. Torgue was helped into the room by his two closest ranking officers. One lit a candle and helped the captain into his bed.

He smiled at Hugo. “Sorry it took so long for me-” Torgue winced, his breath catching. “Got a little knicked…”

“A little? Captain, ye were stabbed. Yer lucky it didn’t hit anything major.”

“I’VE HAD WORSE! THE POINT IS THEY’RE ALL DEAD!” The captain coughed as he was sat down on his bed.

“Enough, get some rest.” His second in command turned to Hugo. “Make sure he stays in bed. He’s the worst patient.”

Hugo nodded, his eyes stuck on the captain. He’d been hurt protecting whales. The moment they were alone, Torgue left his bed, wincing horribly. He went to his desk next to Hugo, and looked at the map. He marked off where the ship was, scratching the name of it.

The merman glared at him. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I’m fine!”

“You’re hurt!”

“I’ve had worse!”

“That doesn’t mean you can just ignore this one!” Hugo snapped, his voice rising. He didn’t know why he was getting so upset, or why he was panicking, but he couldn’t stop himself. “If you ignore this, you could make it worse and is that really how you want to die? By infection because you were too stubborn to take some time off!?”

Torgue blinked. Hugo could see the bandage wrapped around his torso, and the blood stain. “Okay,” Torgue said quietly. He set the pen down and went back to his bed, where he stripped of his clothes and climbed in. He stared up at the ceiling. “I get extremely restless, ye know?”

“That makes two of us!” Hugo snapped.

The captain laughed. “All right! All right! Ye’ve got a point! If ye can sit in that tub patiently trusting me, I can rest for a few days.”

“Good!” He glared at the human, furious with how reckless he was.

Torgue eyed him for a long moment and then smiled and blew the candle out.

The days with Torgue were surprisingly very enjoyable. They talked about stories, adventures, and wild things they’d seen. Hugo puffed his chest out, loving how Torgue hung on his every word about anything under the sea.

“And what about Atlantis, hmm?” Torgue asked, having scooted Hugo’s basin closer so they could converse more plainly.

Hugo grinned mischievously. “Ah, the place every human is curious about.” He looked at his nails. “I s’pose I could   give  you  an answer, since you did save my life and all.”

Torgue’s eyes were large. “Damn straight!”

A thought crossed Hugo’s mind. “Or, I could wait until you’re better.” He grinned.

The captain glared. “TIS BLACKMAIL!”

Hugo shrugged. “You’ve been so good already, this will ensure that you stay  that way.”

Crossing his arms as he sat in bed, Togrue grumbled. “Don’t need no enticing if ye are here!”

Those words froze Hugo, and he stared, cheeks heating under his growing beard. He fumbled his words, which only caused more attention from the captain. Hugo could feel his eyes assessing and understanding what was happening and it killed him.

The captain smirked. “AH! I SEE! YE’VE GOT A CRUSH ON THIS OLD CAPTAIN, HAVE YE?”

Eyes wide, Hugo was mortified. The only thing he could think to do was scoop up some salt water and splash it at him. It only made things worse since Torgue bellowed gleefully.

“WELL! IT HAS BEEN A WHILE, BUT I’M STILL SPRY AND I DO HAVE ALL THIS PENT UP ENERGY!”

“STOP!” Hugo burst, unable to handle it. “Stop! I- it’s…” he sighed and looked out the window.

“Aww! I didn’t mean to embarrass ye! There’s never any need to be embarrassed when ye are attracted to someone! I’ve been attracted to ye for weeks and I’m not ashamed! Ye are handsome as all hell and ye are worried about my health!” He smirked at Hugo, his broad, bare chest puffing out dramatically. “BESIDES, EVERYONE I SAVE ALWAYS FALLS FOR ME, THEY JUST CAN’T HELP IT.”

Hugo found himself laughing despite himself and splashed the man again.

It did present a problem, however, with Torgue being there day in and day out, Hugo did not get any alone time. It had been easy to rub one off while Torgue manned the ship throughout the month that they’d traveled together. Now though, with Torgue confined to the same room and now the tub a foot away, it was impossible for Hugo to quell any urges.

It was the middle of the night and Hugo could not sleep. He could feel the tightness of his sheath and any movement rubbed against his dicks. He huffed silently, glaring out the window and then at his tail. At least he was healing very nicely, faster than any human. He took a rag and patted salt water over it, carefully and slowly making his way up to his torso.

He glanced sideways at the sleeping captain. Maybe if he was quiet enough…

Rubbing the soaked cloth over his sheath, he hissed quietly, his head falling back. His heart pounded at the horror of Torgue finding him out, and it only made him that much more sensitive. His eyes fell onto the captain, the covers kicked from his body, the moon shining on all the worked muscle. He bit his lip, unable to help inching his fingers to his slit where it leaked.

Through the darkness, he saw Torgue’s eyes blink open. Hugo froze. Torgue grinned. “If ye need release, ye just need to say so.” The captain sat up. “Would ye like privacy or company?”

Hugo’s eyes were wide. He could not believe how fast he’d been caught, and not only that, but Torgue was offering to give him company.  He swallowed and looked at his tail. “I… can’t do much until my tail’s healed.”

“We both be imaginative,” the captain shrugged. “If ye want me to join ye, of course.”

Hugo could only nod. He was prickling with arousal and there had been many times he’d thought of the captain during an urge. He could not let this opportunity pass.

Nodding, the captain moved from the bed and knelt next to the tub. He reached his hand over to where Hugo’s had been. His fingers expertly slid into Hugo’s sheath, finding each tip of his cocks. He rubbed them, fingers immediately slick.

Hugo hissed, hands gripping the sides of the basin. “Have… Have you done this before?”

The captain smirked. “Just ye relax and let ol’ Torgue make ye feel better!” He coaxed the cocks out, his large hands easily wrapping around both at once. Hugo let out a guttural moan, his head falling back. His tail twitched as Torgue stroked him. The pleasure rippled through him, his quivering body sloshling water.

Suddenly, he felt the captain press his lips to him. Hugo melted, moaning into that kiss and clinging to the man’s neck tightly, kissing him urgently. He huffed, arching into Torgue’s hand.

“There ye go,” Torgue cooed. He kissed over Hugo’s neck and over his hairy chest. When he kissed Hugo again, his lips were salty and Hugo licked them, loving the taste. When Torgue moved back down, Hugo’s eyes widened and he gasped, watching the captain’s mouth suck both cocks in. His head bobbed, hair falling in the water.

The feel of the captain’s mouth pressing his cocks together overloaded Hugo and he came before he knew it, grasping at the man as the only signal he could. Torgue pressed a hard kiss to his lips as he stroked him to orgasm. He breathed against Torgue, his body prickling with the man’s touch.

“That was damn good!” Hugo huffed.

Torgue kissed him. “I’m glad.”

The next day it was as though Hugo woke from a dream. He was rested, and more satisfied than ever. He could still feel Torgue’s lips on his and it made him grin proudly. He glanced at the large man, sprawled over his bed, fast asleep where he could see the brash erection of the captain.

The merman’s eyes widened, an idea forming in his mind. He checked his tail. It was almost healed enough, and he now had his strength back. He pushed himself up as quietly as he could from the water. The sound did stir the captain, and his tired eyes peered at Hugo.

“What are ye doing?” he asked, voice thick from sleep.

“I was going to repay the favor…”

“T’was no favor,” Torgue grunted.

Hugo frowned, confused, still propping himself up in the basin. “I don’t understand.”

“I did it because I wanted ye. Do ye want me?”

He nodded. He had wanted the captain for a while now. “I do.”

A proud, wide grin shone at Hugo and the captain nodded. “Aye! Then come here!” In one movement, Torgue pulled Hugo from the tub to lay next to him and kiss him. “There! That’s a proper good morning!”

It caught Hugo by surprise, how gentle and warm the captain was. He held him close, hands smoothing over his skin and lulling him. He smiled and kissed him. “You were great last night.”

“Glad ye think so!”

Hugo’s hand wandered over the captain’s body, down, under the covers to his cock, still stiff from the morning. He tail lay next to Torgue’s legs, soaking the bed. The captain hummed happily at the touch.

“Don’t you think your men will be suspicious?” Hugo asked playfully.

“OF COURSE NOT! THEY’LL KNOW PLAIN AS DAY! THEY WILL NOT MIND!”

Torgue was warm in his hand, and his cock was solid where Hugo’s were soft and pliable. He scooted down to it, smirking as he took it in his mouth.

“Oh, that is good!” Torgue cooed. “Mmm, a little gentler, please, yes, ye be more than perfect!”

Hugo’s chest swelled with pride at Torgue’s words. His long tongue wrapped around the cock, its salt a new taste, but one he loved. He suckled slowly, savoring the taste and the moment. Torgue reached for him, taking his hand and holding it, his thumb smoothing over the skin. Hugo’s mind snapped to it, to such tenderness during something so intimate.

“Ye are so precious to me, Hugo.” The words sank into him like a ship in the ocean. He felt the soft touch of the captain through his body, churning inside him. “Ye mean more to me than any treasure to a pirate. Every ship I attack, I think of ye trapped and hurt and I want them all to burn.” He tugged Hugo up, pulling him into a hard kiss. It impressed upon Hugo how emotional the confession was, and how hard it must have been for Torgue to say.

Cheeks a furious red, Hugo did not know what to say. He had never been spoken to like that before. Torgue kissed his hand, eyes deep in thought. Hugo watched, transfixed. “I…”

“I just thought ye deserved to know my true feelings. Ye do not in anyway need to feel the same! Ye just deserved the truth!”

Hugo nodded and kissed Torgue slowly. He could not speak with the lump caught in his throat, but he could kiss and he could wiggle back down to place his mouth on the captain’s cock until he came beautifully. Hugo lapped it up, not wasting any drop, ignoring the knowing smirk from Torgue.

It was another few weeks before Hugo’s tail was healed enough. Torgue’s injury had long since gotten better, leaving Hugo with time alone to think. To think about what he would do once he was free. About where he would go. About leaving Torgue. His chest tightened at the thought of leaving the captain and he swore as he sat in the tub, staring out the windows. He already knew the answer and knew what he wanted, but he wasn’t sure how to say it.

The cabin door opened as the sun began to sink low. Hugo smiled when Torgue’s large arms wrapped around him, lips sizzling his skin moments later. “I brought dinner.”

Hugo leaned his head back to kiss him. “I’m glad you’re here. I have a surprise for you. Help me stand.”

Torgue took Hugo’s hands and hoisted him up. Hugo wobbled, but concentrated. Slowly, they watched as his scales began to fade, replaced with skin and hair. He smiled wide and looked for Torgue’s reaction.

“WHAT IN THE SEVEN SEAS!?”

“It’s something we can do only every so often. I haven’t been able to do it until today because I wasn’t healed enough.” He stood now on two legs. They were scared and scabbed, but he was human enough now.

“FOR HOW LONG!?”

“Until sunrise.”

Laughing heartily, the captain wrapped Hugo in a hug and pulled him out of the tub. Hugo wobbled, needing to hold onto Torgue, which suited both men just fine. They shared an excited kiss before Torgue gave him some light clothes to put on.

They sat down at the table, both men smiling at each other as they ate. “Well, what would ye like to do now that ye can walk?”

“I’d like to go on deck. I’ve only been able to look out the windows.”

“Aye!”

Torgue helped Hugo walk out of the cabin, where he met everyone for the first time. They all nodded to him cheerfully as they worked. The sun was mid sunset now and Hugo went to the side, the wind blowing through his hair as Torgue kept him steady.

“MY FAVORITE PART,” Torgue said, leading him to the front of the ship. “IS HERE, WHERE THE WIND CAN REALLY SAIL INTO YER BONES.” He held Hugo firmly as he led him onto the bowsprit. Hugo gasped at the strength of the wind, falling against Torgue.

The captain laughed loudly, wrapping his arms around him. Hugo could see the vast ocean, the sun painting it orange and pink. He could feel the fresh salt water on his face, calling to him. He smiled. Yes, he would return to it, but he would be different.

The sun sank lower and Torgue took him back to the cabin, locking the door and pulling Hugo into a kiss. Hugo stripped himself of his clothes, feverishly kissing Torgue. The captain brought him to the bed and lay him down, stripping himself of clothes. He kissed Hugo all over. Hugo sighed happily, his two cocks growing thick with each warm kiss. Torgue’s hand played with them. “I just love yer body, this and as a merman! Yer perfect!”

“You’re better than anything I’ve ever known.” Hugo moaned, his head falling back. Torgue caught that exposed skin, kissing over his neck. Unable to resist any longer, Hugo kissed him, arms and legs wrapping around his large body. “I am yours, Torgue, forever.” He whispered this against his lips, heart beating wildly in anticipation.

The man smiled proudly. “I WILL HONOR THAT AND MAKE YE PROUD IF YE WILL HAVE ME AND LET ME!”

Hugo kissed him furiously. “As long as there’s an ocean!” It had been the answer he’d hoped for.

He felt Torgue’s cock pressing against him and he gladly opened his hole. He may look look human, but his anatomy was not and never would be. Torgue slid in, making Hugo hiss and preen as his length and mass filled him. Torgue held him close, hips rocking slowly. He kissed over Hugo, savoring every inch of skin he could kiss.

“I must be blessed by the gods!” Torgue said against Hugo, watching the merman writhe slowly under him. “Ye are strong and handsome and good! I am the luckiest man alive!”

Hugo’s heart swelled with each word. He could feel it light as air, as though rising to the surface of the water. He kissed Torgue, pouring all the love inside him into the captain, moans breaking each kiss. Their bodies pressed so tightly together, it was easy to give his heart away. It left his body, the glow around them warm and red. It slid into Torgue’s chest, resting on his right side, in the unoccupied spot under his ribs. They gasped at the same time, one relinquishing and the other receiving. Their bodies crashed together, exploding in ecstasy. Torgue gasped loudly, his face digging into Hugo’s chest, his own body sensitive and over stimulated. He bucked wildly into Hugo, rubbing the two cocks together, the friction wonderfully unbearable. He clasped onto Hugo, hands pulling him close and digging into his flesh as he came hard and without warning. Hugo’s body jerked, spasming, both cocks shooting an orgasm that rocked the merman just as hard.

They breathed heavily, Torgue collapsed on top of Hugo. Hugo ran his fingers through the captain’s hair, smiling up at the ceiling. He could feel his heart, beating away inside of Torgue, calmly and happily. He kissed Torgue’s head, feeling Torgue’s heart beating wildly.

“What!?” Torgue gasped, after a long silence.

“I gave myself to you,” Hugo said plainly. “You now hold my heart.”

The captain looked at Hugo, eyes wide and searching. He rested his ear against Hugo’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. When there was none, Torgue sat on his elbow, eyes wide, brows furrowed in confusion.

Hugo laughed softly and placed his hand over the right side of Torgue’s chest. “You hold my heart.”

Torgue’s huge hand pressed over Hugo’s to feel his chest. When he felt a heartbeat, his fingers wrapped around Hugo’s hand. “Yer heart… Is inside me?”

“Now you’re catching on,” Hugo chuckled. “I am yours forever.”

“Hugo… I don’t know what to say! THIS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING ANYONE HAS EVER ENTRUSTED ME WITH!” He kissed Hugo’s hand and then Hugo’s lips, hard and passionate. “I WILL NEVER LET YE DOWN!”

“I know.”

Torgue pulled Hugo into his arms as they lay on the bed. “So, what does this mean? Can ye feel it still?”

“Yes, and yours. I will always know where you are and if you ever need me.” Hugo let his hands wander over Torgue’s body, memorizing it. “We are forever linked, my heart beats for you and yours for mine. Where one fails, the other will continue. When you die, I will die.”

“Why would you bind yerself like that to me? Ye needn’t have proved yer love like that.”

Hugo rested his head on Torgue’s chest. “It was not to prove anything, but a tradition. It is how we mate for life. I will want no other and need no other.” He looked up at Torgue and for the first time, he felt unsure and it twisted his gut. “If… If you need release from another when I cannot be here, it is-”

“UNNECESSARY! I WILL NOT NEED ANYONE ELSE!” He kissed Hugo. “YE ARE ALL I NEED. NEVER THINK ON IT AGAIN. MY HEART, MY SOUL, MY BODY WILL ALWAYS BE YERS! I’D GIVE YE MY HEART LIKE YE DID IF I COULD!”

Hugo laughed, straddling the captain, kissing him proudly.

Hugo awoke in Torgue’s arms. The sunrise was just peaking over the ocean. Hugo smiled, the smell of Torgue and the feel of him all around. He would change back into a merman soon. He felt the ocean calling to him. It was time to go. He kissed Torgue softly, waking him.

“It’s time, my love.”

Nodding, Torgue pulled his trousers on and wrapped Hugo in a blanket before picking him up in his arms. Hugo held onto the captain’s neck, kissing his jaw and neck as they left the cabin. Hardly anyone was on deck and they politely ignore the two.

Torgue rested him on the railing, kissing him. Hugo held him close as his legs began to revert back to a tail and fin. Torgue ran his hand over the scales, his eyes marveling the deep black and gold.

“I will see you again, soon,” Hugo promised.

“I know!” the captain’s voice was thick as he spoke. “Ye still need to show me Atlantis.”

Hugo laughed, kissing him deeply once more. He then jumped from Torgue’s arms and off the ship. The water enveloped him, welcoming him home. It would be different now, his heart no longer belonged to the ocean, but to a human. He could feel Torgue, both hearts beating happy and very madly in love with Hugo.

And it always would.

[travelling-in-packs]

Trenches.

Rinlouh opened his eyes, all three giving off a hazy glow. The darkness of his room, a cave, gave him a sense of security in the depths of the ocean. The water around him suddenly warmed, the hydrothermal vent spewing gunk and hot water from the corner of his room. Rinlouh sighed, knowing he would have to go out and either hunt or eat, his loud sisters surrounding him. His gills fluttered, and he let himself float, rolling over and swimming out of the cave entrance, into the dark coral and prismarine-lit rock extensions.

    Rinlouh touched a bright prismarine stone, letting it rest on his fingers and closing his third eye, his other two adjusting. He dropped it at the call of his father, Renlough, and swam toward the sounds.

    “Rinlouh, you’re up late! You’re lucky that the neighbors hunted for us today, or we’d be starving,” Lianou, his mother, flashed with her eyes. She always had that belief that Rinlouh was the best hunter in the sea. Percy opened his third eye, dimming the light to say something with the flashing, like morse, but Renlough stopped him.

    “We could put a lobster in your room again. That woke you up!” Renlough’s gills fluttered as all of his eyes flashed, laughing.

    Rinlouh ignored them, taking a fish from the pile and swiftly gutting it with his sharp teeth, chewing and flicking the small bones or scales out. Lianou shook her head in disgust, taking her own and gently slicing it, then eating pieces out with a sharp piece of dead coral.

    “Teeth are for hunting,” Lianou angrily scolded, turning away from her ‘barbarian’ of a son.

    Rinlouh laughed softly, eating the rest of the food slowly, with his own piece of coral. Of course, he could tell by the noise of water that his sisters, all three, had joined them. Reyanai, for whatever demented reason, sat next to Percy and chewed loudly, as older sisters do. He tried to nudge her away, to no avail.

    “Mom! Rin touched me with his weird hands!” Reyanai flashed brightly, grabbing Rinlouh’s hand and flailing it to get Lianou’s attention. Lianou rolled her three eyes, throwing a fish at Reyanai, who caught it with her teeth.

    “Reyanai, quit being rude to your little brother. He doesn’t look that different,” Lianou flashed, glaring at Reyanai.

    “Hey, not my fault his dad was one of those” Reyanai flashed, before Renlough promptly covered her eyes, blocking the light and the words from escaping.

    Rinlouh looked at his mother, his eyes wide, flashing dimly, “My dad was.. What?”

    Lianou quickly responded, “Nothing dear, she’s just--” a pause-- “joking.”

    Renlough shook his head “Lia, he’s much older, he can handle it. 68 seasons is more than old enough to know.”

    Rinlouh stayed silent, and his mother gazed ahead, clearly pondering the decision at hand.

    “Fine,” Lianou flashed, her eyes dim, “Come to the surface. I’ll tell you, away from your sisters.” She’d begun to swim away, and Rinlouh followed, anxious as ever. As they left, Lianou shot a look at Reyanai, giving her a mom-glare that could and would kill. As they got closer to the light, Rinlouh became more comfortable, the surface having been a safe place for him, both in the past and the present.

    As they drew closer to the surface, they both closed their third eyes, the light being too much for their sensitive pupils. The sun beat onto the water, proving that the flashing wouldn’t work. They had to dig up their linguistic skills from the back of their minds, from what the landstalkers would utter.

“I know it’s a shock. But hear me out, alright?” Lianou spoke, her voice raspy from saltwater and disuse, “after your sister was born, her father left me, and I was very sad. Much like you, I came to the surface for comfort and then I saw a boat. There was only one landstalker on the boat, and he didn’t look armed. He said his name was Oscar Pendleton, and he seemed... Calm. People usually panic when they see us, but he believed I was pretty. He called me a ‘Mermaid.’”

    “So... what does this have to do with me?” Rinlouh asked, getting frustrated.

    Lianou looked up, at the pink and orange sky, watching the ‘sun’, as she called it, dip under the waves, “Well, I fell in love with him, and a while later, I was pregnant with you. I told Oscar, and he was proud of you; but he couldn’t stay for any longer. He said he’d been out for three ‘months’, which I assume is about a season. He had to leave but... Then I found Renlough, and he understood... He was prepared to help me take care of you.”

    Rinlouh panicked, his gills flaring slightly, “What? You mean- what? Does that mean I’m not allowed back home? I’m not ready! Mom..” He stared at his mom, and she shook her head in response.

    “Of course you’re allowed home, honey! It just means that you’re different. Oscar would have loved you if he could. He wanted to name you ‘Percy,’ because in their mythology, ‘Perseus’ was a strong landstalker. I think,” she chuckled weakly, trying to add humor to their situation.

    It worked, because Percy smiled very slightly, then asked, “Can I go see him?”

    Lianou paused, then nodded, “‘Florida’ is where he said he lived. But please, don’t be rash. It’s hot on land. And very dry. You’ll need to be careful about people, too. They don’t know what you are. It’s dangerous, my little guppy… You’re not even fully grown.”

    “I don’t have to wait until I’m full grown, right? Besides, it’s my right to know him,” Rinlouh glared against the fading sunlight.

    Lianou shook her head, trying to make her tone as calming as she can, “No. I want you to wait. I don’t want you going to the surface based on a rash decision.”

    Rinlouh made a sound similar to a growl, like the creaking sounds dolphins make.

    “Do not give me that tone, Rinlouh. You should think about this. Who knows what they could do to you up there! Few of our kind have gone, and only one has returned. You know what happened to him,” Lianou stated, trying to seem strong, even if her voice was wavering and she showed signs of nervousness for her only son.

    “He went blind, yeah. Nobody understood his crazy ramblings. He suffocated on water. He was-- older, mom… It wasn’t caused by what happened on land, he probably just stared at the light,” Rinlouh hissed, clearly hiding his shock with anger.

    Lianou sighed, shaking her head, “I know I can’t stop you. But, please, take some time and calm down; alright?”

    Rinlouh’s only answer was to turn and swim into a current, then float through the water. Lianou stared for only a moment, but ultimately chose to go back, and wait for her son to come to his senses.

    Once Rinlouh did come back, he was calm. He’d spent his time in a cave, and his skin was rehydrating from being above water for so long. The glow in his eyes was dull, but he’d forgiven his mother, and chose to wait and decide when he was ready. Even if it took many seasons.

    Rinlouh awoke with a start, the dark of his cave contrasted against a bright red lobster, its claw clamped down on his calf. He screeched at it and, by instinct, shot down to bite it. He kicked away its limp body and floated to a small cave opening, burying the dead lobster down into the sand, along with 6 of its brethren, also deceased. They were effective alarm clocks.

    Reyanai swam in and crossed her arms, “You killed another one? They’re gonna go extinct, Perc!”

    Rinlouh shook his head, “No, they aren’t. And for the last time, don’t call me that!”

    “You let mom call you Perc!”

    “Percy! And that’s because she’s mom, not Rey.”

    “Whatever. Dad wanted you,” Reyanai flashed brightly, then swam away, taking the turn to the main area of their underwater city.

    Rinlouh took his time getting to Renlough, still tired and dazed from Rey’s vicious way of flashing.

    “Percy,” Lianou waved to him, catching his attention before continuing, “Come quickly! Renlough found something!”

    Percy swam to her, then let her pull him into a current, and they got pushed along through the water. Lianou held him close, excitement bubbling off of her. When they got to a dense kelp forest, they pushed away from the current and swam to a small clearing.

    Lianou led him silently to where Renlough, his “father” sat, studying a weight from a net a few tuni away. Rinlouh didn’t understand, since they tended to avoid all nets, in or out of use. Renlough looked at him and gave him a smile, soft and understanding.

    His mother tapped him on the shoulder, then flashed, “Percy, it’s one of Oscar’s nets, from his boat. It wasn’t here yesterday, it’s new. Your father is back.”

    Oscar Pendleton watched the waves, slapping against his ship’s hull, quiet music playing from somewhere in the cabin. The net he’d dropped had been cut, and sank impossibly deep into the midnight blue of the sea. The moon reflected off the water, and Leo glared at him from the night sky. He didn’t care for sleeping, not this far out to sea, and not at this time of year. It was much too dangerous for a sailor to not have a watchful eye.

    The occasional sea life swam around him, avoiding his boat. Superstition had built up in his name. Dolphins were the only ones who knew why they were avoiding the Huntress. The curious ones would make sounds at him, but be ushered away quickly. Sharks would get close enough to bump the boat, but swim away quickly, in fear of the tales.

    Oscar didn’t mind the creatures, they weren’t what he was there for. He was here for the mermaids, as he called them. They were curious creatures, and the stigma around the Huntress hadn’t yet reached the trench. As Oscar waited, eyes scanning the soft blue waves, he pondered giving up. It wouldn’t have been the first failed trip, nor would it be the last.

    The only way he knew the mermaids had come was the disgruntled splashing coming from his starboard side. He walked over and helped her up, giving his best sailor smile. Her eyes flashed, a strange language of morse code the mermaids have. When he shook his head, she started speaking, her throat moving strangely and her voice scratchy.

    “Oscar, it’s mou, Lianou! Ma olen namereno toi! I’m so elited!” She grinned, sharp teeth glistening, her blue skin shining in the moonlight.

    “Of course I know it’s you, Lianou. Do you remember the hand speech I taught you? I can only slightly understand you,” he explained, to which she looked at her webbed hands and nodded. Sign language was the one way he could communicate with the mermaids, their mixed dialect and horrible pronunciation making speech impossible.

    “You! I am so happy you here,” she signed, her grammar was off but he couldn’t blame her. Sixteen years was a long time, but with how well she was still doing, Oscar was sure she practiced.

    “I’m glad to see you too, Lia. How have you been?” Oscar signed back, tilting his head for emphasis.

    “Well! And your son is alive! I brought him,” Lianou signed quickly, grinning. Oscar stared at her in disbelief, but he didn’t distrust her. He knew that she wouldn’t lie about anything, and he vaguely remembered her talking of a baby the last time they’d met. He was just shocked that it survived.

    “Please, let me meet him, Lia,” he signed in response, his eyes searching the water for the other mer-creature. Lianou turned and dove into the water, and appeared again around ten minutes later, with what he presumed was his hybrid child.

    The hybrid looked shy, his third eye closed despite the humidity, and his gaze averted. He was taller, and much paler than the rest of his species, and his eyes were smaller. His hands had much less webbing, along with his feet, and the webbing on his sides was completely missing. His long hair was in streaks of light and midnight blue, with some dusty orange hairs highlighting. Many of his features showed Oscar to be the father, such as his nose and body shape. Most of his features, however, were a strange mix of human and huperus.

    “This is Percy! He looks so much like you! I named him after your funny stories,” she signed, holding the hybrid, “Percy” in place. Percy appeared uncomfortable, but Oscar knew he was also nervous, and curious. The mer-creatures always gave away their emotions very easily.

    Percy opened his third eye and tried flashing at Oscar, to which he raised an eyebrow. Lianou turned to him and flashed her eyes at him, explaining that she would translate his words for him. He flashed his sequence again, and Lianou nodded.

    “Him says hello! And that he has waited a long time to see you,” Lianou signed, clearly very excited.

    “Well, I say hello back. I’m glad to finally see my beautiful son,” Oscar signed back, to which Lianou gurgled and flashed his words to Percy. The hybrid seemed to blush, his bluish skin gaining a slight purple tint at the cheeks and ears, and what appeared to be random freckles glowing. Oscar smiled at him, and he bashfully smiled back. Percy flashed again at Lianou, and she translated once more.

    “Oscar, Percy wants to spend time with you. He wants to go home with you in the Togethered States. He will be good. He has wanted this for many seasons,” she blinked her eyes, as if trying to sweeten the deal, and convince Oscar. Of course, Oscar Pendleton was a kind man to her. So he quickly nodded, smiling. Lianou squealed, and by observing her reaction, the hybrid became excited as well. Percy sprung up and wrapped Oscar in a hug.

    Oscar hugged back and lightly patted Percy on the back. When they pulled apart, Percy stepped back and hugged his mother.

    “I will return him at the next summer solstice, if I don’t get caught up in work. Then, we will decide if he stays with me or returns to the sea. Alright?” Oscar asked Lianou. The sky began to streak with a deep purple, telling that dawn was upon them.

    “Yes. We will be back soon. Percy must goodbye everyone,” Lia smiled one last time before turning and diving in the sea. Percy gave one last hug to Oscar, two of his eyes wet with tears. His son dove into the ocean after Lianou, and they both disappeared as the scarlet and crimson colors of the sun tainted the skies.

[thecompletebookworm]

Where the Sea Takes You

A very happy @maydaymenagerie to the incredible @findingtallahassee, who is an absolute saint and was far too willing to put up with me.  

This is very loosely based on the Adaro, a little bit of Solomon Islands' mythology.  Basically I've made the Adaro more humanoid, allowed them to be any gender, and veered away from the definition where it is just the evil part of a person's soul that is trapped on Earth terrorizing others while the rest of them can pass on.  Takes place post 3A, and ignores the Dark One Vault mythology. 

Available on AO3 as well.  

This was a stupid idea, an absolutely crazy stupid idea.  She skirted around the edge of the water, being careful not to touch it just yet.   Though to be fair, Belle had already tried most of the less out there ideas and her heart was aching. 

She hadn't stayed too long with the other Storybrooke residents once she was back. If she was going to feel all alone, she might as well feel alone where she felt at home.  

Not that it was anyone's fault. The Charmings had an entire kingdom to run and their daughter's absence to grieve.  She'd been happy to see Robin again, to play with the little boy who had been saved by a deal made what felt like ages ago.  Still, even as she helped with finding blankets and sorting through other supplies, Belle felt empty.  Sure she was helping people, and maybe she was being selfish, but right now the only person she wanted to help was her True Love.  

She refused to believe he was dead.   Even though that was probably the safest assumption, with his dagger through his chest.  But Rumplestiltskin had disappeared in a blinding flash of light.  His lifeless body hadn't hit the ground.  She hadn't cradled it to her chest, her tears soaking into his suit that only in death could look unkempt, as his lifeless eyes stared up at her.  While those images had haunted her nightmares, they were not reality.  Only his dagger had clattered to the ground.  

The others didn't quite see it that way.  She didn't need her pitying looks.  Her true love was out there and she was going to do everything in her power to find him.  

Belle had scoured the Charming's library and then the Dark Castle's.  While never one to shy away from research, there was something troubling about especially difficult about hunting down a way to find Rumple with no clues.  She could write a better book about the Dark Ones than any of the ones she found, although that was probably by design.  She could practically hear Rumple's voice in her head, muttering about wanting to know the monster's weaknesses.  

Like she needed a book to do that.  Experience had taught her well.  While technically Dark Ones do not need sleep, they should not be left working magic for longer than 15 hours at a time if you want a sociable Dark One.  Provide cookies at teatime for a smile.  Warm patches of sunlight were irresistible when grouchy.  

Although looking back, maybe she just knew what made Rumplestiltskin tick, not the dark one specifically.  

Belle's foot grazed the water and she jerked it back.  She was not going to summon the creature before she was ready, or at least until she had taken the precautions so that she knew she was summoning the right creature.  

Belle had found the first mention of the creature when she'd translated some of the ancient Fairy texts.  These waters were haunted by fearsome beasts, the Adaro, if she'd read it correctly.  At first Belle had dismissed the creatures as just another name for merfolk, but after talking it over with Ariel she decided a little more research was necessary.  Ariel had never heard of any merperson with a shark's dorsal fin or a sword extending from their forehead. And the line proclaiming, the Adaro to be affected by the darkest of magic and forced into serving penance, seemed to fit too perfectly.  

Her heart had swelled with hope when she had finally found a ship willing to take her to an island in the heart of Adaro territory, but Belle had tried to not let her hope get the better of her.   The Adaro were by no means her first theory, failing the intervention of fate, they were her last.   She had traveled to countless forests and enough ominous caves to know that just because something worked on paper, there was no guarantee that it would lead her to her True Love.    

Belle shuddered in the cool ocean breeze, more from anticipation than anything else really. She moved a few steps further in land to avoid the tide as she pulled the final ingredients to summon the Adaro from her satchel.  A lock of her hair, a handkerchief she'd just happened to have in her pocket when they left Storybrooke, a tiny square of leather from her favorite pair of his pants and their chipped cup.  Nervously smoothing out the handkerchief one last time, Belle kicked off her shoes and approached the water, her feet sinking into the wet sand.  

She closed her eyes and stepped forward.   As her toes touched the water, Belle drew forth her last memory of Rumplestiltskin.  

"I love you, Belle. You made me stronger."   She echoed his last words to herself.  

Belle kept walking forward into the sea, the water rising higher and higher up her legs.  While she stumbled over a rock on the seabed, she did not open her eyes.  When the water reached her chest, she began to drop the items one by one, visualizing Rumplestiltskin as she did so.  

The Handkerchief floated for a second before it sank in the murky water, practically glowing under the light of the moon.  She thought of when he first found her again and they were headed back from the well in his car.  She had started crying silent tears.  This world was new and overwhelming but Rumplestiltskin was somehow there with her.   He couldn't very well dry her tears while driving but he had pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her.   He'd held her hand the whole ride home, which she now knew from experience, was not the safest idea.  But Rumplestiltskin had been a better driver than her and when they made it home in one piece, he had clutched her to his chest and promised he was never going anywhere.  

Belle bit her lip, trying to keep herself on the task at hand.  As soon as she got him back, Belle was going to keep him to that promise.  

The leather fragment was next.  He had always looked so good in those pants.  She had thought she was coming down with something the first time she saw him in them.  Her heart rate had sped and she felt clammy.  Looking back it was almost silly how much worried she'd been, but to be fair it was the first real taste of attraction.  And she certainly was heartsick in the end.  

Her hair, the hair of a lover, was one of the strongest summoners.  It was why many deemed this ritual too difficult or risky.  The Adaro were supposed to be the most fearsome of men and women in their pasts.  Finding a love, or even someone they cared about was supposed to be the most difficult step.   But in their case, it had been the simplest ingredient.  

Belle turned the chipped cup over in her hand, running her hand carefully over the fractured edge.  She had been so worried upon her arrival at the Dark Castle, but even when he was pretending to be indifferent, Rumplestiltskin had known exactly what to say to calm her down.  

She finally opened her eyes, the cup still clutched in her right hand.  It was hard to see, but she thought she might see some movement in the distance.   As the movement drew closer, she saw not one, but nearly half a dozen dorsal fins sticking out of the black water.    Belle stood her ground despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to run.  The sea captain had laughed at her; called it a suicide mission claimed her gold was just as good as any, but still refused to take payment for the return voyage.  Belle understood now.  The mere presence of a human, especially one alone and desperate on a moonlit night, would be enough to draw attention to herself, just not necessarily the attention she wanted.  

Still the creatures stopped several body lengths away from her.  They were close enough that she could see the sharp swordlike point extending from the tips of their heads, but not close enough to make out their faces.

Belle clutched the cup tighter to her chest.  Do the brave thing and bravery will follow.  

"I'm looking for Rumplestiltskin."  

She wasn't sure if they understood her.  Still one swam closer to her and Belle's heart picked up.  "Rumple," she allowed herself to whisper.  

But as it grew closer she could tell it was not.  The women, if you could call this Adaro a woman, had long dark brown hair that seemed matted against the small grey scales of her skin.  It's twisted expression allowed Belle to see the large fangs bared menacingly at her, head tilted downward so she could strike Belle's chest.  

This had been a fool's errand, and now it was going to be all over.  Belle squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact.  A part of her hoped that she had been thoroughly wrong and just in denial about Rumple's death. Because if he was actually dead, she'd merely be joining him, instead of leaving him cursed and lost somewhere by himself.  She heard what she could only describe as a snarl and knew that one way or another she was about to find out.  Hopefully, it would be a quick death, a painless one.  

But the blow she expected never came.  Belle opened her eyes a sliver to see exactly what was taking so long.  

Another Adaro had joined the first.  They were fighting, heavy tails thrashing around the shallow water, heads turning this way and that to use their swords.  

It was with a whine that the black haired Adaro conceded, fleeing back into the small circle.  With its opponent gone, Belle was able to get a closer look at her savior.  

His hair was shaggy and brown, the ends curling from the salt water.  He peered at her with deep brown eyes that she would recognize anywhere.  

"Rumple!" she wanted to throw her arms around the creature that was also her husband, but he shrunk back from her.  

He didn't remember, couldn't remember in this form.  Still she had hope.  He was closer than he'd been in months, even if he didn't recognize her.  Belle dipped the chipped cup in the water, filling it to the brim before dumping it over her outstretched hand.  

His eyes seemed to light up at the cup, although it might just be because it was something new and unfamiliar.   He offered her his own scaled hand and did not pull away when she clasped it.  

Staring with determination at their interwoven fingers, Belle dipped their cup into the water once again and poured it over them.  She felt his grip tighten for a second, before he pulled away.   As soon as his hand left hers, she wanted to scream.  They were so close.  He couldn't leave now.  

But soon Belle felt him nuzzling up against her side, almost as if he couldn't get enough of her.  

This time she was the one to pull away and a small smile broke out at his whining.  But she had only pulled him off his position plastered at her side so she could face him.  

"I don't know exactly what is going to happen Rumple.  I know before you needed your curse to find your son, and he needs help finding his.  But please,” Belle bit her lip. "I don't even know if you can understand me, but let my kiss you.  Let me at least break this one.  Come back to me Rumple."  

She leaned forward and although he didn't pull away, it wasn't exactly the great reunion kiss she'd been hoping for. He was stiff as a board at first, his webbed fingers plastered to his side.  But even as she watched, as the grey scales melted into flesh, he grew bolder, pulling her closer and running his fingers through her hair.  Belle could feel the tears running down her face, but she didn't stop kissing him, didn't pull away until she absolutely had to.  

Gasping for air, she could only stare at her love and try to enjoy the feeling of all the places where his very human body was pressed up against hers.  

"You saved me."  His face was so full of awe she almost giggled.  

"Of course I did.  I couldn't very well live my happily ever after without you."  

He pulled her in close once again, running his hands down her body, affirming that she was here, that she was real.  He could feel her shivering and placed a hand at the small of her back to guide her out of the water.  

"And that's exactly what we're going to do, just as soon as we get you into something dry."  

Belle gave him a slightly disapproving look.  Her soaked white chemise was nothing compared to the fact that his transformation had left him completely naked.  "I thought you didn't believe villains got happy endings."  

Rumplestiltskin gave a dark chuckle at that.  "Let's just say I'm not about to stand in the way of the happy ending of the bravest hero I've ever known, and if she just so happens to be in love with a beast-"

"Madly, madly in love with the beast" Her cheeky grin betrayed the fact that just this once she wasn't going to argue with him over calling himself a beast.

"If she just so happens to be madly in love with a beast, I see no reason to deprive her."   Rumplestiltskin kissed her, nearly making her fall onto the sandy shore with the force, but catching her.  

"Good.  Because my happy ending only works if your get yours too."  

"Anything for you sweetheart."  

[whoinwhoville]

(That frustrating) WIP meme

Thank you, no thank you, thank you @gingergallifreyan who tagged me with that WIP meme. {{crying}} over my ignored muse. She’s THERE, but I have NO TIME to WRITE!

List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or as little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on: writing, art, gifsets, whatever.

PLEASE DON’T STEAL MY IDEAS. I WILL FIND YOU AND BEAT YOU UP WITH A WET NOODLE.

Sensory Overload - Current. Almost done. Shorter fic. My first soulmark AU. Set in current times. Royal Ten x Commoner Rose (owns a flower shop)

Crown Prince John has to marry before his 30th birthday, soulmark or not. He’s betrothed for political purposes to a princess from neighboring country. Of course, you know who his soulmate is. Will they find each other in time? She knows, but he doesn’t due to the nature of soulmarks in this version.

>>>“You are such a fan girl,” teased Martha.

Rose shook her head. “No. It’s more than that. I can’t explain it. Every time I hear him talking, I get this little feeling -- I feel this shiver go up and down my spine, and settle right in my neck. It’s daft. Never mind." Rose looked down sadly. “Sorta hurts, y’know? Knowing I’ll never even have a chance?”

“There’s a reason it’s called a *crush*, Rose.” Martha smirked. “Oh, this is disappointing. He's leaving. Looks like he's not greeting the crowd today. Come on, girlfriend, let’s get a cuppa and get back to your shop.”

Rose reached back and scratched at her neck. “Isn’t it a bit cold for mosquitoes? Just got a bite. I hate those awful blood sucking little monsters.”

“I swear those things would survive a nuclear bomb.”<<<

Best Mates Sequel to one-off, Lab Mates. Text conversation fic.

>>>**Saturday September 3**

**8:22 pm - BlueEyedJack** gorgeous blonde is here with  idiot named Adam. he’s handsy and she doesn’t like it. rescue her. **8:22 pm - Doctor10**  you rescue her you’re already there. why do you keep calling her gorgeous blonde doesn’t she have a name? **8:23 pm - BlueEyedJack**  i’m holding her name hostage because it is perfect and i know your obsession with how a name feels in your mouth. **8:23 pm - Doctor10** stop it captain innuendo. i have a valid appreciation for linguistics. **8:23 pm - BlueEyedJack** your mind went there not mine. but since you brought it up. other things belonging to gorgeous blonde would feel much better in your mouth than her name — if you’d just give her a try **8:23 pm - DoctorTen**  :redangryface emoji:<<<

My Fair Rose - I began to post this summer of 2012.

Rose Tyler is a stage actress, starring in a smash hit revival of My Fair Lady. John Smith (Ten) is a bookshop owner. What happens when they start a family before ever giving themselves a chance to fall in love? (Drunken one-night stand leads to pregnancy.)

I loved it. LOVED it. But then it went haywire and jumped the shark in a major way. It wasn’t supposed to be about an abusive, bullying manager, vendictive ex-wife, poor self-image, and blackmail, it was supposed to be a relationship piece about falling in love in the wrong order. I’m trying to fix it and and get rid of the numerous, ridiculous subplots. Took it down during the Great Fic Delete of 2015. It has not be re-posted yet. I’ve dabbled with it, but not nearly enough to even begin to put it back up. Needs MAJOR work.

>>>"Can I help you?" a pleasant, male voice called from around the corner of the bookcase, pulling her up and out of her downward spiral of worry.

"'M fine, thanks, just browsin'," she answered warily, pulling the bill of the cap further down to shield her face as she stood up. Turning to directly face the bookcase, Rose pretended to be engrossed in her hunt for a specific title. She pulled a book off of the shelf and hugged it to her chest like a treasure.

"Are you looking for something in particular within the Sexual Anthropology section?"

Rose blushed and looked down at the title, then at the man for the first time. The lovely Estuary voice belonged to a tall, slender man in his mid to late thirties with soulful brown eyes and really great hair.

"Are you an anthropology student?" he asked her. "That's a rather obscure, scholarly work."

She looked down and read the title. "*Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems*. Uh... well... no... I'm not a student. Like I said just browsing…”

"In the Sexual Anthropology section.” He looked at her over his glasses. "Don't really get too many customers back here. Are you sure you're alright, you seem to be upset."

“Someone is following me, and I ducked in here to throw him off.” Rose heard the tinkling of the bell on the door. She peeked around the corner of the bookcase. “Oh no,” she whimpered, looking over the tall man’s shoulder.

"That's him.”

"Quick, get in here." The man opened a narrow door and Rose felt a strong hand push her inside of a musty storage cupboard, the only light a sliver peeking under the door. She pressed her ear to the thin wood.<<<

Found & Revisited - Started this in Summer of 2012. Sequel to Found & Forgotten, fourth installment of the FoundVerse. Again, a victim of the Great Fic Delete. Haven’t put it back up.

Jackie insists upon seeing John and Jane Smith (the Doctor and Rose) get married in 1963. On the way back home, the TARDIS takes a wrong turn, stranding newly pregnant Rose, a very edgy Doctor, and a very angry Jackie in 1963 London. 


I started this because I was so in love with John and Jane that I just couldn’t let them go quite yet. I do like this story, and it works, I think... I just haven’t worked on it too much.

>>>"Eager?" she asked with a tongue-in-teeth grin.

“Oh yes!" he growled, snapping his head for emphasis. The couple was quiet for a few blocks. "John had very few regrets in the end, love, but he did have one."

"What did he regret?" Rose asked quietly, laying her hand over the Doctor's as it rested on the stick shift.

They were stopped at an intersection. With eyes shining in the lights of the nighttime city, the Doctor turned to Rose. "He was very disappointed that he never made love to Jane in their own bed."

"Really?" Rose asked with a small smile.

"Yep."

"Jane thought about it all the time after they decided they would spend their wedding night in their own bedroom." Rose bit the side of her lower lip. "We could pretend," she said in a smoky voice. She moved her hand from the stick shift, up the Doctor's arm to his face, and then trailed a single finger up and down his left sideburn.

"We don't have to pretend, Rose. It could be real. We could make it real for John and Jane."

"Whaddya mean, Doctor?" Rose asked, intrigued by the heavy tone of his voice.

"How would you like to take a little walk down memory lane?" He paused as he pulled the Aston Martin up to the kerb, and his voice dropped an octave and was half as quiet, but far more powerful. "How would you like to experience one last night as night as John and Jane?" He unbuckled his lap belt and leaned across the armrest that stood as a barrier between them. "I think we should give them that night that they both wanted so very...very much."<<<

Exposed - Started this in February of 2014.

Immediately follows Closed.

When an alien threat surfaces in Broadchurch, Torchwood comes to town and Rose Tyler and DI Alec Hardy's new relationship is tested. Sequel to Closed, crossover with Broadchurch.

I adore this series. I adore this pairing. I am actually actively working on this.

>>>Alec flexed his jaw as he stared at her red-tinged lips. He grinned wickedly, and snatched the half-eaten berry from her fingertips.

"Hey, that was mine!" Rose protested.

Alec made a show of popping it into his mouth. But then he put his hands around her waist, and pulled her close. With one hand, he cupped her face. Their lips met in the middle. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth, savouring the sweet berry juice now mingling.

Rose melted into his arms, and toyed with the short hairs at the base of his neck. “I really need to stop. Things to talk about, remember?" she said, pulling away.

Alec dropped his hands from her waist, and put them on his hips.

"Damn it, woman. Talking can wait."

“No! I still have things I want you to know about me. I’m not gonna jump back into bed again! We rushed things the first time! And that’s not who I am!”

“Unless you’re going to tell me -- again -- that you’re not really who you say you are.” He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “Nothing could possibly be as important as this. Gods, I’ve missed you. I saw you sleeping there this morning and almost pounced on you.”

“Glad you didn’t,” she said stifling a giggle. “Would rather be awake for that.”

He relaxed his jaw, and then hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans. She grimaced. “Sorry. I can’t help it. See? I *do* want you. But I just can’t do it yet.”

He pulled her against him, and growled into her ear, "Missed you.”

“Missed you too.” Rose gasped, but stayed close. She put one hand on his shoulder, and then relaxed her cheek against his chest. “I missed you so, so much.” Rose drew in a deep breath, inhaling the faint scent of what was left of his cologne. His heart beat steadily under her ear. “I got clearance from Dad to tell you the rest of it.” She whispered. “Everything. And I’m a bit afraid you might think I’m off my nut.”<<<

JazzVerse - The first major fic that I wrote. TenToo x Rose. Still pondering. Don’t know if I’ll put this back up. I never put it up on AO3 - it was only on Fanfic, Teaspoon, and ElJay (Fanfic and ElJay are gone, and was deleted from Teaspoon). So many cringeworthy moments, and so much headcanon has changed. But then again, it is a valid point in the path of my growth as a writer. I’m very conflicted. The last installment is the WIP - Let’s Get Lost. I don’t even remember what it was about. {{headsmack}} Something about getting lost in time.

Never posted, but in progress (Nano stuff):

12 Months Late - Nano 201?

I liked this one. The Doctor landed the TARDIS in Pete’s World twelve months after Rose dimension hopped. TenToo, Rose, and Jackie find themselves in a cyber-ruled world trying to make their way back to London from Norway to fix it, because it turns out, they are in an Alt!Pete’s World!

>>>“There’s something very, very wrong. Until we know it is safe, I don’t want the two of you to divulge your identities. Got it?” he asked sternly and then sat up straight in his chair and ran his hand through his hair. "When did you jump, Rose?" He now knew what had been bothering him, why his time sense had felt wonky ever since the beach.

“I made my final trip through the dimension cannon on eleven October, two thousand sixteen,” she said in hushed, though punctuated tones.

“Blimey,” he said, quietly. “We’re a whole year off? How? We worked out the... the... coordinates together. Guess we got it wrong, didn’t we?” He scratched his cheek, embarrassed.

“Got it wrong? That’s all you can say? We got it wrong? Well I have something to say to you! Stitch this, Doctor!” Jackie recoiled and slapped the Doctor across the face. “He did it again, Rose! Twelve months late, again!” Angry tears were beginning to form in the corners of Jackie’s eyes.The Doctor closed his eyes and looked down at the table.

“I’m so, so, sorry Jackie. I’m so sorry.” He looked back at Jackie, and his brown eyes were shining with regret. His human skin showed a hand-print where Jackie’s palm had met his cheek.<<<

Smyth’s What-Not Shop - Nano 201? - Human AU that mirrors the transition from Season 1 and Season 2

Rose Tyler works in a shop owned a war vet - John Smyth (Nine). He’s a former Army doctor who was court-martialed and lost his commission for disobeying direct orders. He has stopped practicing medicine altogether, and owns a shop that sells a little bit of everything - one of those places where you can find exactly what you want. It’s in a bit of a rough part of town. Slowly, she begins to help him heal, and of course, they fall in love. The shop is robbed, and he dies saving her life. (Parting of the Ways.) What she doesn’t know is that he has a brother - James (Ten).  He’s the one who treats him at the hospital. With his dying breath, John begs James to take care of Rose. Angst. Angst. Angst. AAAAANGST. But happy ending... but nowhere near there yet. I really love this story. Unfortunately, I can’t find it. I know the plot by heart, though, as it is dear to me. I want to write it again.

Stuck in the Middle - Nano - Human Nature AU -- with a twist

Dimension Hopping Rose ends up in wrong universe, pulled there by the TARDIS -- but Rose doesn’t know this because she’s powered down. This universe has been nearly destroyed by Cybers, leaving a crack between universes. All electronics were knocked out by EMPs deployed by Earth to knock out the cybers, leaving the world in a pre-computer, perhaps 1940s, 1950s technology. Of course, the minds still exist to rebuild, but it’s taking a while. A medical doctor who looks exactly like Ten is there, and HE IS A PRAT. Hot tempered, rule breaker, loner. Rose really can’t stand him, but he’s very attractive in a bad boy sorta way. And of course, he’s hot. Donna is there, too, but this is before Rose knows about her. She thinks the lookalike is just that -- a lookalike. What she doesn't know is that he’s fobbed, and Donna is his caretaker.

>>>So he had lost all semblance of self-control. He raged. He threw his surgical instruments at the walls. He used every filthy word in his enormous vocabulary. His actions had so terrified one of his surgical assistants, that she had fled from the theatre in tears. And finally, he punched the tile wall, possibly breaking a couple of his knuckles.

And now he was sitting in the locker room, on the floor, back against the wall, breathing in and out, trying to calm his racing heart.

*“Mr. McCrimmon, please report to Mr. Stoker. Mr. McCrimmon, please report to Mr. Stoker’s office. Thank you.”*

“Oh, well isn’t this just bloody fantastic.” James groaned as he stood from the floor. He moved to the door, and then realised that he was still wearing the paper shoe covers. He pulled the booties off, crumpled them into a tight ball, and dropped them into the rubbish bin before he pushed the swinging door and shuffled down the corridor to receive the third reprimand in a fortnight.

“Shit. Shitty, shit, shit, shit, bloody shit on a stinking shit stick,” he muttered before he knocked on the door of the Chief of Surgery.

“I assume that’s you skulking outside of my door, Mr. McCrimmon.”

James opened the door, dropped onto the worn leather couch adjacent to his boss’ desk. His head fell into his hands.

“How do you do come up with such creative use of the Queen’s English?”

“It’s a gift.”

“And so soon after your colorful tirade in the operating theatre barely sixty minutes ago. Don’t you ever get tired of the taste of filth in your mouth?”

“Yep.”

“If you weren’t such a bloody good surgeon, I’d sack you on the spot.”

“I know,” the man spoke into his hands before he dragged them down his face.

“What the hell happened in there? And I’m not talking about the patient. She was doomed before she was loaded into the St. John.” Stoker crossed his arms and scowled.

“I’m tired. So bloody, bloody tired of it all. Day after day. The men and women and children. The maiming. The injuries. The death. All in the name of progress. Doesn’t anyone ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, this was meant to happen? That we little humans were meant to stumble and fall? That we were getting too big for our britches, and the Universe decided to slap our arses into the previous millennium? But no! Not us! We decide to push and push and push ourselves to the brink of… of… Oh, never mind. I’m done.“<<<

Dividing Time - Nano - Dark!Doctor, Dimension Hopping Rose

Immediately after the Time War, Nine regenerates into Ten, and Rose wasn’t there to help him heal. He’s taken over Earth as its supreme ruler - Time Lord Victorious to the extreme. He senses her time energy and Void Stuff when she ends up in his world. He finds her, but she escapes just in the nick of time, but not before the TARDIS/Bad Wolf transfers all of her memories and Bad Wolfiness into this world’s Alt!Rose. “There is always a Rose for the Doctor,” is the premise. Can she heal him?

Erasure - Nano 2016 - Human AU

Dr. Ian McCrimmon, genius. Of course. He discovers a test program being conducted by the government to study the effects of removing emotions from people - will they be the same person? Can they regain their personality? He gets “erased” but it goes to far and erases everything, including the memory of his wife - Rose. A scientist with a little bit of conscience saves him from being killed off, and moves him to a small town far, far away to live a completely new life as a DI. You can see where this is going, can’t you? It was going to be a bit of a Closed re-write. LOL. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

>>>Rose shrugged. "I figured after a while that you just wanted to be friends. We got so comfortable together. Don't get me wrong. It's been nice. Great even! I love spending time with you. But you when hadn't kissed me after three months." She lifted a shoulder. "A girl sorta gets the hint.”

Ian rubbed his neck. "I'm not very good at this, Rose. I've been an academic since I was sixteen. Never went to school dances, or on dates. Not that I didn't fancy girls from time to time. It just wanted a priority. But then you came along, and I had no idea what to do. I just stumbled along, letting you show me the way."

"I really like you Ian. More than like. You're my best friend actually. But I've wanted to be more than friends with you for a while. To be honest, I wanted to snog you the first day we met. And I kept hoping you did too. But it didn't happen, so I figured having you as a friend was so much better than nothing at all."

"Of course I want more with you, Rose. But... This job of mine. I... I don't know where it's headed. I'm starting to worry about some things that I'm seeing at work. And--" Ian closed his eyes. "And I would never want to leave you alone."

"Alone? What do you mean?" <<<

I’m not going to tag, but PLEASE do this if you want to. Actually, it was a really good exercise. I’m sorta inspired to begin working on these again.

[pirate-autobot]

The Stowaway: Chapter 6

When a kakamora accidentally winds up on Moanas boat, she and Maui have no choice but to bring it along their quest.

For real, take down Te Ka!

Rummaging through the boat, Moana found thread and a needle. That should help patch the sail. It was a start to what needed to be fixed. Kaco helped retie one of the poles and double checked the storage compartment for leaks.

Moana soon realized she didn’t have enough thread to patch her sail. Kaco noticed her frantic searching. It unwrapped the binds from its feet and wrist, threaded them through the needle, and sewed the rest of the holes in the sail shut.

“You’re sure it's strong enough?” Moana asked

Kakamora are pirates, but we also know how to make do with what we have. Kaco tapped and banged a response.

“Good. Thank you Kaco.” Moana responded

She pulled the sail tight. It caught the wind and propelled the boat forward. Kaco stood at the front. After last night, it had a lot of things on its mind. 

Questions over who it was bounced around the coconut shell. If it does go back to the kakamora ship, will it just go back to being a number? Just another coconut? Did it have to?

Did it want to?

Kaco liked being Kaco. It didn’t want to be a number. It didn’t want to steal or be mean. Being a pirate felt exciting, but it also felt cold. But being nice felt warm. 

I am not a number.

I am Kaco.

It looked back at Moana. Should it tell her about this new revelation? They did have bigger things to deal with. With every second they sailed closer to Te Ka. Closer to the fire demon. Kaco turned.

What happens if we win? Kaco tapped on its shell

“I will return to my island, my people and family, and you can go back to yours.” Moana said seriously

What’s it like? Kaco asked

“The people are friendly, and a little old fashioned. There’s lots of forests and coconut groves. Its green, big, and beautiful.” Moana said wistfully

I understand why you want to save it. Kaco said before turning back around. Moana sighed and smiled.

“I am Moana of Motonui. Aboard my boat, I will sail across the great sea, and restore the heart of Te Fiti.” She said seriously, “For my island, for my friends, for the world.”

And so they did. After a whole day on the water, they sailed back to Te Fiti. Back to Te Ka. Ash fell around them like a light rain. While Kaco climbed the mast, Moana put Hei Hei in a basket, closing the rooster into the storage compartment.

“Ready?” Moana asked

Kaco answered by putting on its war paint, drawing an angry sharp toothed expression. Moana tied her hair in a bun. 

“If we make it past the barrier islands, we’ll be safe.” She said

Kaco nodded and climbed the mast to the top. It growled, seeing lava boiling on the barriers. Moana tightened the rope in her hand and sailed the boat closer.

Te Ka arose. She hissed and growled at them. Kaco hung onto the mast, knowing what was coming. Moana ran to the bow and jumped down on it, quickly steering the boat away along the edge of the barriers to a hole within them. Te Kas fist landed in the water. With a shriek she pulled it back out as it hardened. She glared at Moana before her hand was restored.

Incoming! Kaco banged. It slid down the mast, hanging onto the base as a fireball was thrown at them. The wave tossed them, but they were not sunk yet. Te Ka crawled to hover over the hole. She looked through the smoke, but did not see the boat.

Moana quickly turned them back around to sail to another hole. She pulled on a rope and lossened the sail, getting more speed out of it. Te Ka yelled. They were just entering through the crack when an explosion sounded overhead, sending rocks tumbling around them. Moana fell forward. The heart fell out of her necklace and skittered across the wood. Kaco dove for it. It slipped out of its fingers.

Hei Hei caught it in his beak.

“Hei Hei!” Moana yelled in relief and shock. As their boat shook, Hei Hei juggled with it in its beak. Kaco ran to the rooster before he could swallow the heart. The kakamora carried the chicken, which carried the heart, back to Moana.

“Nice work you two!” She said, putting the stone back in her necklace.

Kaco hung onto her leg with one arm, while the other held Hei Hei. They were almost through. Rocks kept falling.

At last they made it to the other side of the barriers. Moana breathed a sigh of relief. An explosion behind them capsized the boat.

Moana climbed up onto it, struggling to turn the boat around. Kaco grabbed the rope to help, placing Hei Hei in a basket for safekeeping. They looked up at Te Ka. She reached a hand for them, arm stretching over the water. Moana shrieked. Kaco grabbed her leg.

A shriek of a hawk sounded above them. It was Maui as a giant hawk! He flew forward. Briefly changing back to normal, he used his hook to cut off Te Kas hand. 

“Maui!” Moana said happily

Cheehoo!

Kaco jumped up and down in excitement. Maui flew to their boat, smiling. Moana smiled, feeling close to tears.

“You came back!” She said

Maui shrugged and looked down at his tattoos. Mini Maui nodded and crossed his arms.

“But your hook! One more hit,” Moana started

“Tch! Te Ka’s going to have to catch me first.” Maui responded. All eyes turned to the demon in question. Her hand reformed, glowing white, then yellow, then bright orange.

“I got your back chosen one!” Maui said as he flipped the boat back over with his hook, “Go save the world.”

“Thank you.” Moana said

“You’re welcome.” Maui said

With a yell, he turned into a beetle and flew to Te Ka. Moana pulled the ropes to sail.

Something ripped. The sail fell limp. The top was ripped off from the mast.

“No!” Moana yelled

I got this! Kaco banged. It grabbed the end of the sail, climbed the mast and used its headband to retie it.

Maui turned into a whale. The splash caused Te Ka to fully solidify for a moment, and the wave sent Moanas boat further forward. Kaco stayed at the top of the mast, holding onto the sail.

Don’t look back! Kaco banged

The kakamora enjoyed Mauis distractions. The Demi-God bit Te Ka as a shark, then ran along her shoulders as a lizard. She tried to catch him, she almost caught him, but he squeezed through her fingers and turned into a hawk. He cut off her right hand.

Te Ka screamed in pain. Then she noticed Maui on her left arm with a shark head. He jumped up to cut off her left hand before turning into a hawk. But Maui was smacked out of the sky. He changed back to normal, landing on a rock. Te Ka turned her attention back to the boat.

Must go faster, must go faster! Kaco tapped and banged

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Moana shouted up to the kakamora

“Moana!” Maui yelled

Te Ka threw a fireball at them. The ocean lifted a wave to stop it, but the water only slowed it down. It crashed just behind the boat. But the force was enough to send the boat and its occupants flying into the water.

The ocean carried Moana and Kaco to Te Fiti safely. Kaco steadied itself and looked back at Maui with Moana.

“Get the heart to the spiral!” Maui yelled

Kaco looked up at Moana. And Moana looked down at Kaco. It took on step away from her.

Go, it said. The kakamora backed away to the water.

“Kaco, what are you doing?” She asked

Helping, came the response

Kaco jumped into the water, swimming towards Te Ka. It stopped and banged its hands in the water to get its help. The ocean complied and carried Kaco. The kakamora drew a mocking smile with a tongue sticking out of it on its face. It banged on its shell until Te Ka finally noticed it. She watched it angrily, and tossed small fireballs to attack it. The ocean tossed Kaco into the air and submerged it, helping it avoid certain death. Kaco was suddenly thrown onto the rock Maui was on.

“Not bad.” Maui commented, “But it wasn’t enough.” Te Ka turned her attention back to Te Fiti, to Moana.

No, Kaco tapped 

Maui looked down at his hook. One more hit, was it worth it? Did he have a choice? Te Ka formed a fireball in her hands. Kaco climbed onto Mauis shoulder.

“You sure?” He asked

“For... Moana.” Kaco said, with its own voice in actual words. If the fate of the world wasn’t at stake, Maui would have been surprised.

Maui ran forward and leapt into the air with a mighty yell. His hook glowed as he swung it.

I’m not nothing

There was a bright light, an explosion.

Te Ka was forced back into the barrier islands. Maui was thrown back onto the rock. His hook was destroyed. His shoulder was absent.

He glanced around the rock.

“Nut head?” He asked 

He looked into the water. Two halves of a coconut floated just below him.

“No.” Maui whispered, pulling the halves out.

Moana was at the top of the mountain. Te Ka was rising once more. Maui dropped what was left of his hook and put Kacos shell at his feet.

“TE KA!” He yelled

He chanted and danced, banging on his chest, doing a haka. Te Ka raised her fist to end the Demi-God.

Bu-bump! Bu-bump!

Moana, held the heart over her head. The stone shined brighter than ever. Te Ka froze, mesmerized by the bright glow. Maui could do nothing but watch the girl walk down the mountain to the water.

“Let her come to me.” She said

The ocean surged and parted waves to the barrier island Te Ka positioned herself on. Moana took a few steps to the sand. Te Ka screeched and crawled on it.

“I have crossed the horizon to find you,” Moana sang

Maui picked up the coconut shells and was ready to jump into the water. A wave raised and shook side to side in a ‘no’.

“I know your name,”

Te Ka was desperate, angry. She could hurt Moana!

“They have stolen the heart from inside you,”

Moana walked to a rock. One of Te Kas fireballs that hardened and cooled in the water.

“But this does not define you,”

A cloud of smoke and fire followed Te Ka. When she stopped, it floated forward around Moana. Te Ka towered over the girl.

“This is not who you are,”

The smoke cloud dissipated. Te Ka froze in front of Moana, her lava cooling. She lowered herself to her level.

“You know who you are.”

Moana touched her forehead to Te Kas. 

“Who you truly are.” She whispered. The demon closed her eyes, lava hardening to black stone.

Moana placed the heart where it belonged, in the spiral on Te Kas chest. Instantly, the spiral glowed bright green. Plants and flowers broke through the rock. The plants spread, with the rock breaking free from Te Kas face. From Te Fitis face.

[themidnightscholar-blog]

Part 2 of 2 SWTOR

As the star ship entered into Hutt space and his preparations were complete he cast out his mind into the ocean of the living force. Like a shark following the scent of blood he searched the sea of people for the one, seeking out her presence through the strong emotions surrounding her. In truth searching Nar Shaddaa it was like trying to locate a single ripple on Manaan, but when one is so intimately familiar with that ripple it becomes only slightly more into the realm of possibility. Still all he would likely be able to locate nothing more than an echo, but an echo would at the very least bring him nearby, within the same district at the very least. That would save him months or years of searching and if the force was truly with him, narrow it down to weeks or even days.

          He felt it singing to him as if from a great distance, like a woman’s voice at the furthest end of some cave, she was here, in the entertainment promenade. That much should have been obvious, perhaps that’s where her new companion lived or worked, still, that place would be densely packed with various comings and goings. He felt the fluid begin to drain from his tank and his feet once more touched the ground, he shivered slightly as the cool air hit his wet skin. He stepped out of the tank drying himself off and dressing in semi-luxurious attire, not to stand out, but also not to draw to much attention. He stood before the mirror and looked at himself, he sighed as he realized what he must do, his scars and his mustache were easily his most identifiable features. Carefully and meticulously the mustache was shaven away, he withdrew a facial cream and applied it to his scars blending them with the rest of his face.

          Jur’ten exited the ship quietly keeping his saber pike extended like a staff or fancy walking stick, keeping it hidden in plain sight, on his hip rested a blaster pistol he had set to stun, it was underhanded, but honor is a fool’s virtue. He melded into the crowd and reached out with the force passively searching for her presence, it was like trying to identify a single voice out of a planet sized chorus. However, the occasional whisper spoke to him, eventually however his wristband chimed, his holonet database had identified approximately 6 matches to her physical description, only two of which corresponded to his conclusions about the entertainment promenade. The first of which worked in the pleasure quarter, the other resided in one of the many yachts that constantly swarmed about the skyways of the planet.

          The pleasure quarter was the closest to his current position and his landing pad, while he was not terribly enthusiastic about having to visit that area it would be best to search it first. It did end up being just as unpleasant as he had expected it, the instant he entered through the thresh hold he was assaulted with an innumerable number of topless gyrating women of various species. He squinted through the deathstick smoke and wove his way through the crowd of partiers, as well as the inner rim and core world teens and young men out for their first thrill. The sheer number of twi’lek women who were blue with relatively large breasts was making this less like finding a needle in a haystack, and much more like finding a needle in a stack of needles. He pushed one evidently intoxicated women off of him and avoided a grappling group of men as he scanned the faces of all present. He checked his armband again and ascertained the employer of his first candidate.

          It was the largest of all of the “brokers” present in this part of Nar Shaddaa, which would make things both easier and more difficult at the same time. He walked in through the automatic doors wrinkling his nose at the assault of aromas that clung in the air. Mixtures of cheap perfumes, sweat, drugs, and cheaper alcohol. He moved past a couple walking out the door and approached the topless receptionist. She smiled up at him, a cheap attempt at seduction, he could see the deadness in her eyes, this was likely not her first choice in career paths.

          “Well, hello there,” She said with a fake smile and extended a hand in greeting “How might I be able to help a delicious specimen like yourself today sir?”

          “I am looking for a very specific girl,” He said with a much better, at least he hoped, fake smile than she had given him “she should look about like this.”

           Jur’ten pulled up the holographic mockup of Kassumi generated by the parameters he had originally given to the holonet search base. The receptionist scrutinized the image somewhat scowling slightly in thought. She looked him up and down and then entered in a sequence of numbers and letters on her terminal. She sat in silence for several moments before brightening up some as she seemed to come to a conclusion.

          “Ah, yes, she is one of our more popular girls, however, she is with a client at the moment and is booked throughout the month,” She said turning her monitor to face him as if for visual confirmation “Could I book you for an appointment sir, it can be on site or a house call.”

          “I need to see her now,” Jur’ten said narrowing his eyes slightly, when she opened her mouth to protest he drew the pistol from his side and held it casually on the counter “That was not a request.”

          The woman stared at the pistol for several moments before she proffered up a key card for one room 34A without question, clearly she hadn’t been in Hutt space long if she surrendered to a man with a gun so easily. He pondered the idea that perhaps 34A was a trap meant to summon the authorities in situations like this. He determined it best to make the calculated risk and go to the room, so he smiled threateningly at the receptionist who seemed on the verge of tears, and headed up to the turbo lift. As it turned out 34 was the floor and A was the room identification.

          He was the only one on the turbolift which made for a silent ascent if not slow, likely to give patrons the opportunity to “warm up” before they made it to their rooms. The elevator stopped at floor thirty four and the doors slid open quietly. This must be the more luxuriant suites, the lack of perfume and sweat stink was almost palpable in the air, he thought to himself. He stalked down the hall somewhat reading the holoplacards on the doors as he went, the unit he had been looking for ended up being a corner unit at the end of the hall. Soft moans and grunts could be heard from within. He tapped into the living force and placed his hand on the door focusing on the idea of it shattering like glass.

          The creaking of tortured metal emanated from the door as hairline cracks formed in its structure, slowly they spider webbed out from his palm. As he channeled more and more of the force into his assault on the door the cracks widened until the door shattered into several dozen pieces. He was careful not to let them fall to the floor lowering them softly into a pile by the wall and looked about to make sure he had not been noticed, cameras would not be present for obvious reasons. Once he was sure he had not been seen he reached down and activated the stealth field generator on his belt his form melding into shadow and refracted light blending him into his surroundings.

          The room itself was indeed luxurious tall ceilings and a large bathroom could be immediately seen from the hallway. Holo terminal was in the farthest corner to Jur’ten’s immediate front, and around the corner to his right must have been the actual bed or whatever other furnishing was preferred. He crept into the room with complete silence relying on the force to mask his footfalls as he slowly rounded the corner. The two seemed to have finished their task and were sitting upright together talking quietly both seemingly catching their breath. Jur’ten approached silently and let his stealth field generator deactivate, the man and the escort were rather surprised to see a man with a gun suddenly materialize in front of them.

          “What the hell do you think…” The man started to shout but was cut short when a full powered lethal round from Jur’tens pistol blasted a cauterized hole through his skull.

    “Could have sworn that was set to stun, well no matter, you,” He said pointing the pistol at the woman on the bed, “Stand up.”

“You…you killed my best paying client,” the woman seemed rather shocked at this turn of events though rather more concerned with her loss of steady pay rather than the actuality of the man being dead, she did however comply and stood before him unashamedly.

          Jur’ten scrutinized her for a moment, but it was short order to tell the woman who stood before him was in fact not the one he was looking for. He holstered his pistol and sighed somewhat before turning away.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, you are not the one I am looking for,” He said flatly walking out of the room and into the hallway

          “Well who are you looking for,” She asked following him out into the hallway either not remembering her naked state or just uncaring “and how do you know it’s not me?”

          “Because your nipples were wrong, and it’s nothing you should concern yourself with, for your own good step away and forget this ever happened,” Jur’ten said removing several round objects from his belt and tossing them in various directions where they stuck to the walls and ceiling.

          “What do you mean my nipples were wrong,” the twi’lek asked indignantly following him about as he placed his objects around the hallway “and what are you doing, tell me or I will tell the authorities.”

          Jur’ten halted in his tracks and turned to face the woman, she had her arms crossed with a very indignant look on her face, she was attractive, pity she couldn’t have simply do as she was told. Without a word he ignited the blade on his saber pike the black and purple blade was noiseless due to similar sonic dampeners to his speeder. Her shock turned to pain when he drove the point through her chest skewering her heart in a single, lightning fast, fluid thrust. He withdrew the blade and she fell to the ground with a dull thump. He stared at the dead body for a moment before turning and entering into the turbo lift selecting the return toggle to bring him to the ground floor. The receptionist smiled her fake smile, bid him farewell, and gave him the obligatory “come back soon” which he had no intention of doing if he had anything to say about it.

Once out onto the street again he pressed down on the detonator, the entirety of the thirty fourth floor of the pleasure house exploded in a shower of flame and debris. That at least would do to cover his tracks, a corpse with a lightsaber wound was not something he needed to draw attention to himself. He wove through the crowd of people trying to flee and people trying to get a view of the explosion, somewhere in there he thought he caught glimpse of a first responder. However, he had reason to believe that since this was Nar Shaddaa, a Hutt blowing up another Hutt’s whorehouse  from time to time was likely not an unusual occurrence. Jur’ten cleared the pleasure quarter and made haste to his ship. The myriad of neon lights was starting to annoy him, why did all the crime worlds have to be so damned colorful.

          He did not even wait until the dock officer gave him permission to take off, the only other possible match was the pleasure yacht, and after the disgusting affair of the pleasure quarter he was half tempted to knock the damn thing out of the sky. However, Lady Wrath and Darth Vindicta had demanded a live prisoner, not a corpse, furthermore a firefight in open skies on one of the most heavily populated world in the galaxy was not his idea of trying to remain subtle. There was also the minor inconvenience of a war with the Hutts that Darth Vindicta would likely not appreciate. Jur’ten reapplied the make up to his scars and maneuvered his vessel towards the location of the pleasure yacht.

          While his cloaking device made him relatively invisible it did not make him intangible which posed a very real danger to him on such a densely packed world. So he would have to maneuver twice as carefully since the nigh suicidal Nar Shaddaa traffic could not actually see him. So he flew low, just under the flow of traffic, as the indicator for the pleasure yacht slowly drew closer. It an interesting phenomenon to watch the air traffic flow around it like a river around a stone, I guess one could never really tell which was owned privately or a Hutt’s. Jur’ten maneuvered himself around and underneath it, he extended his landing skids and magnetized them. Such a maneuver was risky, but he was counting on the traffic to mask the sound of  him latching on, then like a leech he attached himself to the yacht.

               He retracted the landing skids until he felt the barest resistance he should have been relatively flush with their hull by then which should allow him to enter unseen. Jur’ten ordered his droid to keep the ship cloaked and running in case a quick escape was needed. He made his way to the escape hatch and opened it, he held onto the ladder as he was nearly blasted back down by the wind. He then ignited his saber pike and stabbed it up through the base of the hull cutting a wide circle out of it, using the force he lifted the piece out and away from the hole setting it to the side. Still using the force he transferred the warheads of several torpedos up through the hole before clambering up himself. This time there were no need for stealth, he was going to kill everything aboard and this new lover Kass had attached herself to. Then and only then would he reveal himself.

    Jur’ten place the warheads throughout the guts of the ship placing the most of them by the reactor. He did encounter a few workman, but most of them were too busy to look behind them, he skewered a fair few of them before he cleared the first deck. His goal was simple, he would make it painfully obvious the place was hit by sith assassins, and when Kass and her new companion returned he would strike, and take her. He made sure to keep the uniform of one of the deck workers intact, he slipped it on over his armorings and pulled its cap down to shield his eyes. Kass was skilled enough to detect and combat his stealth field generator so a disguise was certainly warranted.

    He of course revelled in the slaughter, one of the few times he could ever feel alive was when he inflicted terror and death upon the helpless. It was dangerous for him to partake in things with such enthusiasm considering the great lengths he went to keep his emotions as heavily suppressed as possible. What did keep his nerves on edge however, was the prospect of fighting a trained sith lord and her companion was a wild card. Kass and her penchant for ataru would make things difficult, and his personal take on makashi was largely untested. He was sure however the trauma he was about to inflict on her was going to provide a mediating factor, after all she did not have the same protections as him. As Jur’ten struck down the last of the crewman he looked out over the landing pad and watched as the ornate shuttle came in to land.

She was here, he could sense her, but there was another force presence, it could not be Kass was with a jedi? His face darkened as he watched the shuttle touchdown and the two women walked down the ramp he felt the animosity rising within him. This was becoming far more personal than he had originally intended. However, the consequences of Kass’s betrayal had just gotten that much worse this was likely to result in some horrific punishment from the wrath herself. He exited the control room and coated his chest in blood and gore from one of the mutilated workmen,

“Help me,” he shouted putting all the desperation and fear into his voice he thought he could get away with without sounding like he was acting, “He is killing us all, help us!”

The two women seemed slightly shocked by the appearance of the bloodied man before they both break into a run to reach the hallway he had stumbled into.

    “Wait, who is the one doing this?” Kass asked as she tried to catch up to him, “stop moving let us help you.”

    Jur’ten had to stop himself from a grim smile of satisfaction as the trailed them down the hall, they hesitated as they encountered the saber slashed bodies. He rounded the corner into a blacked out room and listened for them to be following him, he activated his stealth field generator just as they entered the room. He could hear them conversing quietly as they searched the room carefully in the darkness.

“Kass I think we shoul-” she started to speak before she cried out as the purple and black saber blade erupted from her chest.

Jur’ten willed the activation switch for the lighting to trip and as the room was lit and he pulled his blade from the chest of Kass’s newest lover he felt his satisfaction rise. The look she gave him was something he would butcher entire star systems to see again, the look of fear, pain, and betrayal was the sweetest thing of his life to date. Her face contorting in pain and anger she drew her saber from her hip and the two circle each other for a few moments. Her attack came first, the hallmark of ataru a wide sweeping strike delivered from a learp. He deflected it to the side and thrust at her, she managed to twist enough to avoid being skewered but still received a painful glancing blow to her belly.

“Come to take revenge Jur’ten?” she asked growling through the pain of her injury and slashing viciously at him “I am stronger and more experienced than you, you will die here.”

“No,” Jur’ten said flatly and countered the slash locking their blades, “I am not here for revenge, I am here because our dear lady demands your presence, to pay for your betrayal.”

He threw her blade to the side and sent a flurry of force assisted pinpoint thrusts at her forcing her back some. She withdrew a short distance and they circled one another again each combatant trying to find a hole in the others defense. They clashed again, saber pike countered lightsaber and lightsaber deflected pike point. The dance continued around the room, but Kassumi was beginning to tire. Jur’ten’s reliance on precision rather than strength kept his energy conserved. He performed a disarming move against her cutting her saber in twain, she in turn gathered the force in her hands and blasted him against the wall. Jur’ten allowed here to believe in her victory for a moment, watched her as she picked up the saber from her slain lover, ignited it, and raised it over her head.

Jur’ten in a movement quick as lighting drew the pistol from his thigh and fired a shot into her knee, she screamed and fell to her knees. He leapt to his feet and a roundhouse kick crashed into her head with a loud crack throwing her onto her side the saber’s safety activating and cutting its power. He seized her by her collar his fist cocked back, it thundered into her face with a sickening crunch as her nose and cheekbones broke. She went limp in his grip the saber dropping from her hands, he thought better of it and crushed it under his boot. With that he threw her over his shoulder and carried her down through the now derelict yacht. He dropped her unceremoniously onto his ship and then dropped down himself through the hatch.

He dragged her into a force cage stripping her down to her skivvies and injecting her with a force blocking sedative, when she awoke she would wish she had never been born. Jur’ten moved into the cockpit and detatched from the yacht, when he was a fair enough distance away he deactivated the cloaking device. When he was in low orbit, he activated the detonator, he could see the bloom as he left Nar Shaddaa’s atmosphere, various patrol ships turning on their axis and racing down planet side. He entered the coordinates for Arkona into his navicomputer and prepared for his jump to lightspeed. However before his departure into hyperspace he went to his holoterminal and sent his usual cryptic message back to his master.

“...Assignment completed…”

                               “...Understood, safe journey home, Lord Inquisitor…”   

[innistrahd]

Curse of Strahd, Episode 12

AKA The Murder Train

Recap

Our main characters, Nyx the fast rogue, Ileana the divine druid, Buck the gunslinger from hell, and Claris the spellslinging wizard, most recently got into a fight with Baba Lysaga, a powerful hag who claimed that Strahd was her baby. During that fight, their companions Frederick the animated armor and Magdala the wereraven were both killed. The group decided to take a rest, and during that time a servant of Lysaga returned, carrying the mangled corpse of Nyx’s mother. After their rest in Berez, the group recognized they wouldn’t be safe there for long and set out to go towards Krezk, where they could visit The Abbot and maybe resurrect Magdala and Nyx’s mother with his magic. 

The Wagon Shade

As the group started to travel, rain began to fall heavily across Barovia in a nasty thunderstorm. On the road, the group came across an overturned Vistani wagon, and upon further inspection Buck was attacked by a wolf that had been hiding within. As he slayed the wolf, it seemed to dissolve into shadow. Meanwhile, Claris found a heavy noose inside of the wagon, and saw what looked like the shadow of an executioner carrying an axe in one hand and a noose in the other on the walls of the wagon. Claris burned the noose and the shadow disappeared, and a faint “thank you” could be heard on the wind.

Lake Zarovich

Traveling further along the road, the group ran into a small gang of vistani riders, who claimed they were searching for a young girl named Arabelle who had gone missing. After the vistani rode away, the group decided to quickly join in on the hunt, and found themselves traveling to the large Lake Zarovich, upon which they saw what appeared to be a man in a rowboat dumping a body-sized sack into the lake. Claris transformed into a shark with their polymorph spell and swam quickly through the water towards the boat, with Buck following behind a fair bit slower. As they swam, they saw some kind of huge monstrous fish jump out of the lake and swallow the rowboat whole, yet Claris was able to grab the bodybag and drag it back to shore, although Buck was almost swallowed by the monster under the lake as well. The group found that the bodybag did contain Arabelle, and they were able to wake her from her unconsciousness. And, although she was a little bratty, they returned her to the vistani on the road, and the group got back on the road to Krezk.

The Abbey and the Twilight Forest

The party arrived at Krezk to find it a slightly more hopeful place than it had been the few days prior that they’d been in this town. They traveled up to the Abbey, where the Abbot admitted he only had enough strong magic left in him for one more resurrection this day. The group decided they’d resurrect Magdala first, and she came back to life screaming, then slowly descended into some kind of mad laughter. As Ileana attempted to have the Abbot provide some insight into a dream that she’d had, there was a knock on the door. Buck went over and opened the door to reveal Strahd himself, standing there and smiling with an escort of vampire spawn at his sides. Buck drew out the Sunsword and attacked almost immediately.

The ensuing fight was long and dangerous. Among the vampire spawn that Strahd brought along to the Abbey were Ezmerelda, a short-term companion of the party from days before, as well as three raised members of Ileana’s revolution from years before. Buck, Nyx, and the Abbot fought against the vampire spawn in the chokepoint of the entrance into the Abbey, while Ileana stood in the back and threw spells and Claris fled towards the village of Krezk. During the course of the fight, Buck went down and was raised from unconsciousness a few times, but eventually some of the zombies Strahd also summoned to join the fight were able to kill him dead. Ileana was also knocked unconscious during this fight, but only once. The Abbot, however, did not have quite so nice a fate, with Strahd polymorphing the Abbot into a dove before biting his head off, providing the final blow that slayed the Abbot. After slaying the Abbot, Strahd transformed into a cloud of mist and flew away, after saying to Ileana that this was all her fault. 

Meanwhile, as the fight wound down, Buck found himself standing in a forest in twilight, which seemed to stretch on forever. As he began to walk, he saw surrounding him what appeared to be people, all oblivious to their surroundings, in varying levels of fading away from existence. As he began to wander, he was approached by a particular spirit who claimed himself to be Sergei, the brother of Strahd, who had been watching Buck and his companions. Sergei claimed that he thought Buck and his companions would have what it takes to finally permanently dethrone Strahd, and offered him the chance to return to life. Buck, though, wanted to meet with Olivia, the woman he’d loved and who had died at the hands of a werewolf in Barovia. He was able to find her soul, and they had a touching reunion, and Sergei offered to have them return unto life together, although once they were returned, they might still need to find each other again. They agreed, and as it ended up, they were returned into the same body, Buck’s old body, and now the two of them share that body as a single soul.

When Claris returned from the village after getting a message from Ileana saying that Strahd had left, Claris brought the news that the village of Krezk had all been overrun. The small escort Strahd had brought to the Abbey was far from all the vampire spawn he had brought along, and a fair number more were attacking the village as well, and that was where this session ended for the night.

DM Notes

-Party Size: You may have noticed (though probably not because it’s a pretty innocuous thing that you’d really have to be looking for it to realize it) that only Claris and Buck were mentioned before “The Abbey and the Twilight Forest” section (other than the recap). This was the first session of this particular campaign where we played significant parts of the session without our whole party there. It was a bit different than usual, but I think we did an alright job of coping with it. Ileana and Nyx’s players didn’t show until around the time the group rescued Arabelle, and about the time the fight with Strahd started Claris’s player had to leave, so most of this session went on without all 4 players, so that was interesting. I don’t actually have as much to say as I thought I did about this.

-Character-History relations: I think this is ending up as one of the most interesting parts of the campaign with the particular character set we have right now. Parallels are able to be drawn between each member of our party and someone from the history of Barovia, and I really love it. It really started with Ileana, trying to fight a war in Barovia, which has certain parallels to Strahd���s on history (although a lot of this one’s a stretch). Then came Nyx being revealed as the reincarnated spirit of Tatyana, the woman who Strahd once loved. As of this session, some parallels were drawn between Buck and Sergei, Strahd’s brother, such as Buck and Sergei both coming from noble lineages, then traveling to Barovia and falling in love with a common woman from that land and then being killed by Strahd (although indirectly in Buck’s case, I suppose). I won’t quite yet reveal the character that Claris is drawing some suspicious similarities too as that one’s a bit of a surprise, but nevertheless I really enjoy how all of these are turning out.

-Theater of the Mind: Our group used to ONLY ever do grid-based combats, but we’ve been slowing fazing that out and this was one particular session where there was absolutely no map drawn at all. Both combat encounters were done completely in the theater of the mind, and it’s kind of mind-boggling how well that’s worked out for our group, given how, not long ago, many of us probably wouldn’t think it possible. I really like TotM as a DM because it means a little less work in drawing things out but a little more work in describing them, and although I’m no master wordsmith I do still feel as though that’s a nice way of running D&D. It also allows the combats to be a bit more fluid and improvised in how they work, which seems fitting for D&D. TotM also feels far more transient than drawing maps, at least to me, which feels nice in a weird way, like the exact experience the five of us undergo can never properly be replicated exactly. I’m not sure quite why, but I really love the feeling that gives me.