#i love seahorses and pipefish

[theneverfadinglands]

Actually, seahorses belong to the class of Actinopterygii. For a reference the Actinopterygii/Sarcopterygii split happened sometime in Silurian (no I do not remember exacly when), which is a geological age dating rougly 445-420 milion years ago from what I can remember. We as humans are very distant descendants of the Sarcopterygii line.

Fish in general belong to Actinopterygii, seahorses are part of Teleostei (aka boney fishies) which is what we usually call fish, but they are part of the order of Syngnathiformes and if I remember correctly, it means something like "joined-jaw-shaped-things." It is a sister group of mackrels. So seahorses are brothers of mackrels and tunas. I would say that what is commonly called "fish" is really really broad and span way too many phylogenetical trees.

Anyway after the Actinopterygii/Sarcopterygii split, another one occured in the Devonian age (420-360 milion years ago): the Rhipidistia split. Sarcopterygii divided to Actinistia and Rhipidistia, we along with all other tetrapods, belong to Rhipidistia, the only living animals belonging to Actinistia are latimerias.. which means that this:

is more closely related to you and me than a seahorse. Please applause for our distant ancient auntie Lati, you do not want her to pinch your cheeks.

Biolib.cz. (Jan Richtr, 2009). Taxon image: Latimeria chalumnae

https://www.biolib.cz/cz/taxonimage/id106475/?taxonid=16217&type=1

I just don’t get it. How can our society act so goddamned normal about seahorses. How can anybody so casually accept that that’s a fish???

This is one of nature’s most anatomically perverse of all beasts. A FISH, like a carp or a bass or a beta is a fish, but it bent its body straight up only to bend its head permanently back down. It stretched its skull into a pipe. It tapered its tail like a lizard, specifically like a chameleon. It can also move its eyes independently by the way, you know, like a chameleon. Fun fact, it can change color to express its mood, like you know whatever does that. It doesn’t properly swim anymore. It buzzes its few remaining fins like an insect’s wings to float itself around at a snail’s pace. It lives its whole life clinging to coral branches or seaweed, which means it decided to become a “tree dweller” in an environment where gravity didn’t even matter anyway. The males get pregnant. They make noises at each other by rubbing some of their neck bones together. Every day, EVERY DAY a mated pair does a little dance and a little neck bone song so they remember which two seahorses they were. They’re a beautiful precious obscenity. Nothing so adorable ever made such a strong case against a logical creator.

They have as little skin and meat as they could get away with. Their skeleton is almost all they are.

[scp-113]

*sigh* I will finish this someday ;-;

[m0thisonfire]

Me writing and trying to include a subject/science field I find interesting and enjoy but just barely understand:

[ashensgrotto]

A Merfolk's Melody (Part 3)

Characters: Yan!Floyd x Reader, Yan!Jade x Reader, Yan!Azul x Reader

Word Count: 13.5k

Intro   Floyd Leech Jade Leech (You Are Here)  Azul Ashengrotto Epilogue

Synopsis: The sea always calls to those who feel lost and alone, wanting to fill the empty part of their soul until they are loved and full… and as such, it’s only fair that the strange creatures that live beneath its depths would want the same as well…

Author’s Note: Another 4-part fanfiction courtesy of @merakiui ‘s headcanon of the reader being stuck in a room/wall (I’m sorry, but I just enjoy your headcanons and they always give me these ideas) -> https://www.tumblr.com/merakiui/722393818829373440/in-addition-to-being-stuck-in-a-locked-room?source=share & https://www.tumblr.com/merakiui/722677892623056896/about-the-stuck-in-a-wall-trope-in-the-oceani?source=share

Here’s how it’s going to work: each character is going to get their own part following the intro. It is going to focus on the Octrio again (bc it’s my current liking, sorry guys). If you want to read a certain character’s part, feel free to jump around and select the one you’re most interested in. 

Again, as stated before, this is a work of fiction; I disagree with any and all behaviors that are represented in this story.

****

During your earlier days in college, you and another of your close friends had once discussed the difference between coral and mushrooms - as there were some fungi corals that lived in the coral reefs, even though they were not classified in the fungi family. You both agreed that fungi and coral played huge parts in their own ecosystems, providing both nutrition and hiding areas for the wildlife that inhabited the area around them. Both were made up of microscopic organisms - as most plants and other wildlife are - but while one shot spores, the other grew polyps on top of each other over time. 

Your friend had asked if you knew if there was a coral reef back in your childhood home - to which you responded that you weren’t sure. You had been told by someone once long ago that beyond the crashing waves of the sea outside of your family’s cabin that there were coral structures the size of Burj Khalifa - the world’s tallest building - and a few that were wider than the Aerium - the world’s widest building. Imagining the depth and how big the ocean was already a monstrous task as it is, but the knowledge that some coral was as large and as wide as two of the world’s biggest buildings was mind-blowing.

Now, a few years later as you dipped beneath the surface as the waves pulled you further into its depths, an amazing sight greeted you.

Colorful coral of all shapes, sizes, and types spread before you - elkhorn coral, fungia and pocillopora corals spread along the ocean floor as pillar and staghorn coral reached for the sky. Sun coral and sea anemones waved with the current of the tide while bubble corals and zoanthids peered out from dark crevices. The colors of neon in pink, green, teal, orange, and yellow shifted together with the darkness of the water here and there, making everything seem like a blacklight room from one of the city’s downtown clubs.

But the coral and plants weren't the only thing colorful within the dark waters.

Bright colorful fish of all shapes and sizes surrounded you from all angles - clownfish peered out from behind the sea anemone as the occasional blue or yellow tang fish passed between the coral walls alongside lionfish and butterfly fish while nudibranch slugs crept along the edges with starfish as seahorses perched among the organ pipe corals and the carnation corals. You saw banded pipefish hidden in the crevices between rock and coral while moon jelly swam out to deeper waters, their nearly opaque bodies hiding their forms in the shifting waters that crashed against the waves. Manta rays swam close to the bottom of the hidden paradise, one occasionally coming up to you and brushing along the side as your light-weight tank top fluttered in the water around you, the feeling of soft smooth skin coated in a slick film surprisingly pleasant.

The colors of the deep dazzled you - pulling you into deeper waters as you held your breath for as long as you could before your lungs would force you to the surface, gasping out deep breaths as you floated above the surface world for a few moments before diving back down to stay for as long as you could in the peaceful paradise that existed beneath the waves, amazed by everything that surrounds you. You swam along the coral beds, fingers grazing over the pieces of coral polyps as you passed - as beautiful as the structures were, you could never break a piece off. The same person from your past had warned of doing such things as a child - breaking off pieces of coral can take years to grow back, and if they are broken off consistently, the coral eventually dies. Seeing the bright beautiful healthy green coloring of the coral beneath you reminded you of that memory - a smile tugging on your lips as you dived deeper. 

Lost in thought, you didn’t even realize you had swam as deep as you did until you felt your lungs struggling to hold your breath until your sides ached. You had traveled between some coral beds and were now surrounded completely by it, the coral twisting around you like thorns on a rose bush and every time you would attempt to get through, the coral would dig into your skin - cuts forming along your arms, face, and legs. 

You looked around desperately - but there appeared to be no way out.

“Poor child…” you heard a voice then, something soft and sickly sweet that tickled your eardrum, “Poor sweet child…”

Your head turned in the direction of said voice, seeing nothing in the darkness. Fear ran along your spine as you did your best to keep calm, the anxiety eating away at you as you struggled to think of a way out as well as struggled to keep yourself from falling into exhaustion from losing oxygen.

A shadow shifted then as a pair of heterochromia eyes - one brown, one gold - peered out at you from the darkness beneath you. You watched as a figure appeared before you, their form coming into the light that shone in between the coral that surrounded you.

The figure was that of a very large creature that was half man and half fish - the pale sunlight reflecting off of his pale teal skin that was the color of sea water; his tail was long, making him approximately six or seven feet in length, and swayed with the water as he propelled himself toward you, slowly and filled with caution while his hands - which you thought may have been webbed - clenched at his sides, the claws digging into the flesh of his palms. His facial features appeared strong and sharp, eyes clear and calculating, as his lips spread in what appeared to be a friendly smile that was anything but; his dark hair - nearly the same color of his body - framed the strong features, though one long strand - nearly the color of deep seaweed green - fell over his left eye as the golden hue began to glow the closer he came to you. 

It was then that you realized you were looking at a mer - a moray mer, to be exact.

Moray eels were known to attack when provoked, but the mers were known to hunt anything that trespassed into their territory - watching from the darkness before striking unexpectedly. You had heard stories about them when you were a child - the locals believing that they typically traveled in pairs, meaning that there was likely a secondary one close by and you had to tread carefully now that one of them had found you.

The mer only smiled, teeth sharper than a shark’s gleaming in the darkness as his body began to glow; the large teal stripes that lined his hips, arms, and face began to glow in the darkness, his left gold eye nearly turning yellow as he gazed upon you.

“You seem to have a very serious problem,” the mer spoke, his voice sounding like sweet honey dripping down from a hive on a hot summer day, “... There might be something I can do to help you.”

You were beginning to slowly lose consciousness, the edges of your vision fading into darkness as you struggled to stay awake - to stay aware. The mer seemed to sense this as he drifted even closer, slipping through the water like a water snake as he stopped in front of you, looking down as his smirk grew wider. The moray mer’s features were now mere inches from your face, his webbed hands closing in to cup your face in between his palms before he pulled your face up to look at him, your body slowly becoming numb as your eyes drifted closed - the oxygen nearly out.

Something soft and surprisingly warm pressed against your lips before a sudden rush of air filled your lungs. 

Your chest heaved as your eyes snapped open to see the mer pressing his lips to yours, pulling the water out and breathing for the both of you as the gills behind his finned ears fluttered with the current. You pressed your hands against his chest, trying and failing to push him away before one hand moved to wrap around your waist, pulling you closer to him as his other hand tangled into your hair, keeping your head still as he pressed his lips harder against yours - no longer breathing for you, but kissing you. You felt his long tail curl around your legs, keeping you trapped within his hold.

When he pulled away, his pupils had dilated; hunger reflecting within them.

“I saved your life, little pearl,” he whispered, “and now… I will take something from you as payment.”

You struggled, wanting nothing more to do with the mer that now wrapped completely around you.

However, the moray pulled you down into the depths of the coral enclosure, pressing the front of your against a large stone with one hand on your shoulders and the other holding your hands together above your head. You held your newfound breath between your lips before cool lips pressed against the nape of your neck, drawing the skin into the mer’s mouth as he lapped and sucked on it like a newborn babe. You shuddered with every lap of his tongue and whimpered with every nip that you barely registered his hands releasing you before something dug on either side of your neck, deep enough to draw blood.

You cried out, bubbles escaping from your lips before the mer pressed his lips against yours again, breathing for you as he turned you to face him - webbed hands and claws creating small cuts in the fabric of your cotton capris before the fabric was removed along with your bottoms. You threw your head back as one thumb rubbed circles against your entrance - a musty-sweet odor slipping into the salty waters around you before something fleshy and hot pressed against it. You mewled as the mer flicked over your entrance, slipping one, then two fingers within - thrusting them in and out at a leisurely pace as the glowing on his body increased, his eyes never leaving yours. You whimpered softly, one hand reaching out and clasping onto his dark hair, his eyes closing and humming against you as a fire began to build in your thighs and lower belly - threatening to consume you as your body twitched with want.

As he worked you over and over, you shuddered and groaned, arching your back away from the stone as your muscles clenched. He pulled away after a few moments, the loss of contact making your body grasp at nothing. You whimpered in need before something long, thick, and rigid rub between your legs.

“Ah… mine,” the moray mer sighed as he bared his teeth at you in a mocking grin, grabbing a hold of your ankles and pushing them into your chest as he leaned against you, moving his hips and rubbing himself against you, “Mine… my precious little pearl… Do you know what you’ve done to me?”

You can only quiver in response as he leans close, his nose nearly touching yours as his length continues to tease you, making your insides squirm with anticipation.

“How long I’ve waited for you, little pearl,” he brushes his nose against yours, his voice soft and sugary-sweet, “I’ve waited over six years… six years for you to come back to me. And now that you’re here… I can never let you go.”

Then, you feel him thrust hard and fast inside you, pushing your stomach into your throat as a silent cry leaves your mouth. The mer is merciless against you, pressing you hard into the stone beneath you and keeping a firm grip on your ankles as he pounds into you, each thrust making the precious air that still exists within you leave in the form of tiny bubbles from your mouth and nose. 

He presses his lips to yours again as his eyes close, breathing for the both of you again before pulling away to lavish at your neck, his tongue flicking over the scratches he made as you feel something rise up and down from your skin. Both of your chests heave together, the pounding of your hearts argue in your rib cages as he presses his lips against yours, no longer breathing as his thrusts become more urgent. He releases his grip on your ankles and hauls you up by your waist, moving your position around so you may settle onto his lap, your thighs resting on either side of his hips as he presses deeper into your core.

The change caused you to gasp again, feeling him practically nudge into your stomach. The mer slows, allowing to adjust to this new position as he kisses your features - your forehead, your nose, eyelids, brows, cheeks, and lips - as if he is completely worshiping you.

“Sweet, precious little pearl…” he whispers, snapping his hips in urgency against you after a few moments, “Let me lay you… keep them safe for me, for us…”

You whimper softly, a name long forgotten now bubbling forward, “J-Jade…”

Jade lets out a low growl in response, thrusting hard and fast against you, “That’s r-right, little pearl… my precious (Y/N)...”

You let out a cry as your entrance grips onto Jade’s member, the muscles in your lower body spamming wildly as something thick and heavy slips between your legs.

Jade presses his forehead in the juncture between your neck and shoulder, his breath caressing your skin, billowing the tank top you’re still wearing, gasping, “...not enough, little pearl. Not enough, yet…”

***

Jade has carried you to his corner of the shadows, curled beside you as you laid on his bed of seaweed surrounded by coral. His hand cups your cheek and follows the curve of your cheekbones before pressing another kiss to your lips and resting his forehead against yours. 

It had been years since he had last seen you - the two of you plus his twin had been thick as thieves, frolicing along the shore lines and had taught you to swim. He had gathered many pieces of coral during that time and presented them to you when you all met up each and every day - the giggles that slipped past your lips making him smile with pride and puffed out his chest like a seagull. Eventually though, those days of spending time with one another along the shores became fewer and fewer. 

Floyd had moved on, now more interested in antagonizing Azul verses waiting on the rocky shoreline for you to come out to play - but Jade was more patient than his twin, his tail swaying with anticipation along with the tide as he watched from his spot on the rocks, his heterochromia eyes never straying from the shoreline. Eventually, his patience thinned to the thickness of a thread, going to Azul to test out his latest potion that would allow him to take on the form of a human for an hour. He headed into the village, searching high and low for your family. One of the village members had been kind enough to explain that your family had moved to the nearest city where you had been accepted into college.

Jade felt his heart break. There was no way he could follow you - and even if he did, how would he find you?

Azul noticed his sour mood upon his return, the typical Jade he knew would never lounge on the rocks among the coral like his brother did unless something happened. Jade had stayed silent about what he had heard on the surface above - merely going through his life day by day as the heartache festered and grew within, making him irritable - once snapping at Floyd which made the younger of the two surprised. It didn’t take long after that incident that Jade decided to move away to another part of the coral city, hiding within the darkness of the crevices as thoughts of you consumed him day and night.

He was about ready to give up on himself when you came swimming back into his life - quite literally. 

Jade tucked his head under your chin, arms wrapping around your waist as he hummed. Tomorrow, he would go to Azul to find a potion to make you more like him… even threaten the octomer with becoming fish bait if he refused.

But, for now… Jade was content to have you in his arms, back in his life. His precious little pearl…

[littlesapphicraccoonguy]

Idk if this is a popular or unpopular opinion, but pipefish are VERY underrated in my opinion, like yeah, seahorses are cute and all, i love seahorses as much as the next guy, but pipefish? Oh my god, so cute, so this is a pipefish appreciation post

[skrimply]

yesterday i knelt on the beach and scooped up handfuls of fish out of a bucket! they bit at me! i pinned spot and pipefish and 29 mummichogs and tossed them into the recovery bucket! i held three silverside in my hand at once! i discovered i love houndfish and their weird pointy mouths! i saw baby seahorses! i swam in warm water that didn't pass my hips all the way out to a sandbar where i caught tiny pipefish right out of the water with my hands! i sat alone on the sand and heard my classmate step on two rays! there are animals out there just being alive!

[mangoisms]

like the part of the song where it falls ━ miyuki kazuya

━ part four: mostly, i want to be kind / read part three

━ wc: 7k

━ warnings: none

━ masterpost

“How’d your appointment go?”

“Three months. Three months and I’m cleared for rollercoasters!” 

“I thought that was a joke.”

“Whaaaat? No! January twenty-fifth —” you clap a hand on Miyuki’s shoulder, grinning; he shakes his head, pulling into the parking lot of Birch Aquarium. “That’s our day.”

“Our? No way.”

“Yes way.”

He groans melodramatically and makes a perfect right swing into a parking spot. “So, what? Disneyland? Universal Studios?”

“What? Screw those guys! I’m talkin’ about Six Flags, baby! It’s Batman time!”

“How are you even cleared for that?”

“Well, I’m not yet. I’ll schedule an appointment for the week before and if my doctor clears it, we’re good to go. Speaking of, we should settle on a date.”

“A date for our date?”

He’s doing that more often. Mostly because the press has gotten a lot of pictures of you two hanging around the city and the more sensationalist tabloids are saying you’re dating. Framing your whole meeting as one big meet-ugly that leads to a love story for the ages. You’ve both denied the rumors but mostly, you try not to think about it. 

You flush. “No jokes or I’ll drag you onto Viper.”

“And what’s that one like?”

“Terrifying enough to have you coming off appreciating life and loving your neighbor.”

He snickers. 

Realistically speaking, you probably won’t be able to ride that one. Too much G-force. You’d either grey out or just straight up blackout. 

Hector would kill you. If the coaster didn’t do the job, anyway. 

“You’re all healed, then?” he asks as you approach the entrance. 

“Brain bruises are gone and so is the fracture.”

“Good. That’s good.” He hands the tickets to the attendant. You watch him. 

You’ve been thinking about what Jerry told you for the past few days. About the incident with that little girl in Georgia. You aren’t sure if you should say something. Anything. It was already a few years ago. Truthfully now, you’re just…

Well, you’re wondering if he is doing this stuff because he feels guilty. You don’t want him to feel guilty. You want him here because he wants to be here. You want —

Nothing. 

You shove the thoughts away and follow him. You’d both come early because you wanted to see the penguin feeding at one. 

And plus, there aren’t as many people around. Kind of a bonus. A Tuesday at noon. The second week of December. Empty. Or, well, mostly empty. 

Inside, the air is cool, smelling faintly fishy. It is dark, with the light coming from the tanks, shining blue on your faces. You’ve come prepared with your camera, taking pictures of whatever catches your eye. You two walk through the Hall of Fishes, showcasing the diverse marine life of the pacific. The Giant Kelp Forest, with kelp swaying in cool blue water, Leopard Sharks, Moray Eels, and Giant Black Sea Bass gliding through them. Then the Sea-dragons and Seahorses display, with the aforementioned marine life as well as pipefish and other unique species. 

“Seahorses mate for life, you know.”

“Don’t the males also get pregnant?”

“They’ve got it all figured out,” you sigh wistfully; half of you wants to climb in that tank. “I mean, seriously, that’s some soulmate shit.”

“Isn’t it kind of… not?”

“For me, soulmates are created, not found.”

“What’s the criteria?”

The question shocks you. You look at him. 

He’s already looking at you. 

Your chest warms and you look back at the tank, where a light green seahorse speckled with black dots swims through the water. 

“Why are you asking?” you ask, a little teasing, though your heart is suddenly beating out of your chest. 

Quiet for a moment. Then… “I’m curious.”

The thing is, he doesn’t sound like he’s joking or even teasing you. No, he sounds… well. Curious. 

“I don’t know,” you say, deciding screw it and looking at him. Your hands grow clammy around your camera. You let it fall, hanging from your neck. 

You tug distractedly at your shirt. It’s a comfortable day, so you’re in an outfit similar to the day you and he had Rico’s, with your Docs, your over-the-knee black socks, denim shorts and black cherry lip lacquer. Except it’s not your Wonder Woman shirt, but the Padres jersey you’d been generously gifted by the team. A rusty brown kind of color, with golden trims and San Diego written across the front. Nothing else on the back. You wear it unbuttoned, though, with a black lace trim cami underneath; the jersey is a tad oversized at your request, so the ends fall down a little bit past your hips. Your nails are painted black again. 

When Miyuki saw you after picking you up from your apartment, he said if you were going to be friends, you had to have his jersey, too, so he was getting you one immediately. You said that wouldn’t help your dating rumors at all. He said Do you really care what they think, tomcat?

“I don’t know,” you say again. Unsure if it’s to his question about criteria or your own thoughts. 

(But you know — your answer to whether you care what others think, you mean. Not the press, not the media, not the fans who think you’re trying to steal his money — and they can die mad about it, too, because nine out of ten times, he’s insisting on paying and since you only make enough to pay rent, feed yourself and your pets, and sustain a Spotify subscription, well, why the hell are you going to say no? You don’t care about them, not really. You just care about him. About this. Whatever this is. Real friendship or just his guilt. 

But god, you really hope it isn’t that.)

“I don’t think there’s a specific criteria for what classifies a soulmate. That’s the beauty of it. I think Jerry is my soulmate but I think Batman and Robin are my soulmates, too. My pets, I mean, not the actual characters.”

He smiles. Your heart does that funny thing again. 

“But you know how I am. I love love. I love humanity. I love the strangers I see on the streets being kind to one another, the baby who smiles at me on the bus. It’s just… it’s not hard. It’s easy.”

“Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt?”

“What’s life without a little heartbreak? Yeah, I’ll get hurt and I’ll lose a little part of my heart but at the end of the day, I’ve got people to help me fill it back up. I don’t think you can go through life and get a fulfilling experience if you try to protect yourself constantly, never be willing to let someone else handle it.”

You pause, a question on the tip of your tongue, unsure if you can go ahead with it. 

“Ask,” he says quietly. “We’re friends. Friends ask each other questions.”

You smile at him repeating your words from last week. 

“Well… do you have people like that?” 

He looks ahead, pensive. Quiet long enough that you know you won’t get an answer. Not now, anyhow. And that’s okay. 

He’s spoken of his old friends from high school. Told you plenty of amusing stories from that time. Told you about how they lost Nationals in his first and second year, then won it in his third. Told you about Kuramochi Youichi, who ‘is sharper than he looks and surprisingly reliable, too,’ and Sawamura Eijun, who is ‘obnoxiously loud and passionate and won’t ever leave you alone, but he’s one hell of a guy.’

Miyuki bared a lot to you. But there’s still more to him. You think that’s how it will always be, you peeling the layers back one by one, discovering who he is. Then perhaps one day, you might get the privilege of holding his heart in your hands. 

You continue to explore the aquarium for a little while longer. 

Outside, they have tide pools, with sea stars, sea anemones, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, lobsters, and other little creatures swim around. You can even dip your hand inside and feel them. 

Miyuki refuses (“My hands are my life!”) but you get him to join you, only by guiding his arm under yours, your hand pressed over the back of his. He squirms at the feeling of the creatures brushing up against his palm and you beam. 

Afterward, you check out their penguin exhibit, where they have a feeding show as well. Then you start to feel hungry. 

“They have a cafe here, don’t they?” Probably exorbitantly priced but you know the aquarium is owned by UC San Diego and they’re doing lots of conservation efforts so you don’t mind. Even if the tickets were twenty-five bucks a pop. 

“Not necessary,” Miyuki says.

You chuckle at his matter-of-fact tone. “Why not?”

“I brought food.” He opens the messenger bag he’s had over his shoulder, showing you two bentos. You’d been curious about it but didn’t ask. Now you know. 

“Are you allowed to bring that in?” you ask curiously. 

He shrugs. “They didn’t say anything to me about it.”

Well. You can never say no to his cooking. 

The two of you find a picnic bench near the cafe. Not many people are outside but you still sit with your backs to everything else, anyway. 

He made thick club sandwiches with mayo, ketchup, cooked ham, bacon, cheese, an over medium egg, lettuce, and tomato. It is paired with spam musubi, made of mixed grain rice with furikake, spam, egg, and nori, then wrapped with seaweed. It’s delicious, as usual. 

You eat in a companionable silence. You feel a little sleepy, too, since you slept intermittently while running the show last night. It runs on weekdays but not weekends, but since yesterday was Monday, you had no choice but to stay up late, then get back to your apartment at four where you slept until eleven. 

Overhead, the sun is out, shining down warmly on you, mitigating the effects of the cool breeze that rustles your hair occasionally.

This is nice. 

It’s always nice but… 

You find yourself increasingly appreciative of these stolen moments of peace. 

You finish your food. Miyuki wordlessly offers you his water bottle, which you gladly accept, washing down your food with still-cold water. You pass it back afterward unthinkingly. You don’t quite realize what you did until you see him looking at something in the corner of your eye and you turn to see, too. Only to wince when you realize he is staring at the rim of the bottle, where a dark imprint of your lips lingers behind. 

“Shit, sorry —”

“It’s fine,” he says, shaking his head a little, then swiping a thumb over it. But the attempt to clean it doesn’t work. It smears over the white of the water bottle and on the pad of his thumb instead. He blinks and stares at his thumb, the stain darker than the light brown of his skin. 

“It’s… long lasting,” you stammer, embarrassed as you turn to rifle through your tote bag, pulling out a small pack of makeup wipes. 

You pull one out, then lean over to clean the rim of the bottle, black cherry staining the wipe. He doesn’t let go, so you just move into his space to do it, embarrassed for the most part. 

Once the bottle is clean, you turn to his hand, cleaning the lacquer from his thumb. 

“Sorry,” you mutter, lifting your eyes to him. 

You freeze as you realize how close you two are. You’re in his space. Your legs pressed against each other, your hand on his. The heat of him bleeds through his jeans, warding off any chills from the cool breeze. And he’s looking at you. 

He’s looking at you. 

This close, you can see how thick his lashes are, amber brown eyes flecked with gold, burning through you, and you can see the faint tan lines on his face, from his glasses or from his catcher’s mask, who knows, but it’s a decidedly endearing tidbit of information that you tuck away behind your ribcage. 

Your heart pounds fast. Heat rises within you, ballooning in your chest. You don’t know what to do — you should pull away but…

You don’t want to. 

The realization is enough to make you feel dizzy. Or it could be that you’re so close, you can smell his shampoo, something spicy and warm. 

“You asked me earlier,” he begins quietly, surprising you, making you pull back a fraction and your hand jerk (the two of you are in public and granted he has a cap on but still; if the press caught this, they’d have a field day). But he doesn’t let you go, plucking the wipe from your hand with his left hand, while his right, the one that had the stain, closes around yours. 

“About whether I have anyone,” he goes on. “The truth is, I’m not sure I do.”

You soften. “Why not?”

“It’s only me over here. Well… there’s Chris but he’s in Toronto with the Blue Jays. He’s… got his own life to handle. My friends from school… they’re all back in Japan and truthfully, I’m not as great a friend as I should be to them. They’re good, they’ve always been, but me…”

He finally looks away from you, sighing. You’re pressed to his side since he has your right hand clasped in his right, your arms and legs pressed together. It’s a bit of an awkward angle but you ignore that, happy to be this close. Happy to have him opening up even if it makes you sad. 

“I’m the variable in the equation. And the fact that I’m here and not there… after everything… next to impossible.”

The new information you’d learned from Jerry about his second season with the Braves springs to the forefront of your mind. 

“After everything?” you ask hesitantly. You don’t want to assume. 

He looks at you. “You know.”

Guilt curls in your chest. “I only found out recently. I didn’t… Before that, I had no idea that had happened.”

He looks away again, fingers tugging the bill of his cap. 

“Her name is Mia. She was six when it happened. She just turned ten a few weeks ago.” He digs out his phone. Shows you a picture of a little girl with a gap-toothed smile, dressed in a baseball uniform, with a glove on her hand. “She still wants to play baseball. Be the first girl to join the Majors. After everything, the least I can do is make sure she has every chance to.”

“That’s… really nice of you, you know.” 

He doesn’t respond to that, putting his phone. “I assume you know how that season turned out, then.”

The worst slump of his career.

You don’t say that. You don’t say anything. You just look at him, heart aching on his behalf.

He leans back, looking up at the sky. “They tried. They did. But up until then… accidents like that didn’t happen for me.”

You stay quiet. A slow breeze flutters his hair. 

“When I was a kid… I was smaller than most of the kids on my team. Much smaller than them. I said things — the truth, it was only ever the truth, to make us better — and they didn’t like that. I saw no use in fighting back. I’d show them on the field. But what that taught me… violence has no place in baseball. Not that kind of violence. Say what you want on the field, in your plays, but… you ruin the game by doing anything else.”

Your heart aches; it feels like each beat it takes is harder than the last. “Miyuki…”

“I know,” he sighs. “I didn’t try to hit her. I didn’t. But indirectly… it was my fault, my actions. More than that… why didn’t they have netting there? Why were there no precautions in place? Why’d it take so long for someone to get to them?”

Tension bubbles in the air. Everything about him sharpens in that moment, anger taking over; a dormant anger, the kind you hold onto, brutal and unforgiving. Not something new. 

He looks at you. Sunlight turns his eyes honey brown but they’re hard, burning. 

“Do you know what they told me? The park, MLB? They just said, that’s just how things are here. Fans didn’t want netting there. This is America. But that’s too easy. They just don’t want to lose the money in the initial stages. But people would come. They always will. But how could they make that expense? Of course not.” He lets out a slow exhale, some tension unwinding from his shoulders. “I didn’t let it go. They threatened suspension.”

“What?”

“Her mom told me to let it go. The park would put up netting, but it would just be them. No one else would follow suit. Not until one of their fans almost died from a foul ball or a broken bat flying into the stands.”

“That’s…”

“I’m biding my time,” he says, speaking with a kind of ruthless finality that raises the hair on the back of your neck. “A few more years before my age catches up with me and they start putting me on the back-burner. I’ll do it then.” 

He is prepared to scorch the earth and salt it behind him, too, for this. You can’t say you disagree with him. 

“Anyway,” he sighs, thumb idly rubbing over your hand; you suppress a shiver at the feeling, catcher’s callouses ticklish against your skin. “All of that happened that year, that summer. My friends, they tried, but… nothing could be done. Things got… better when I moved out here. But the damage had been done. I couldn’t try turning up pretending everything was fine. A younger me would’ve but I can’t do things like that anymore. We made some progress but… like I said. They’re there and I’m here. The variable in the equation.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a call from you. Anything, really. I don’t get the sense they’ll abandon you.”

“Maybe.” 

“Everyone has their issues, Miyuki,” you say softly. “No one is perfect. But you’re trying, aren’t you? Right now, you’re trying. You don’t have to. You could’ve just told me to go to hell and that… well. That would’ve been fine. But you’re trying.”

He looks back at you. The look in his eyes makes your stomach flip-flop and your heart pound. 

“You remind me of them, you know. Both of them.”

“Naive?”

“You and I both know you aren’t naive. No… you’re hopeful.”

Warmth spools like cotton candy in your chest. Your face warms and you smile, leaning your head on your shoulder. 

“And a little annoying. Admit it. It’s okay. Everyone should be a little annoying and off-putting every now and then.”

He chuckles, a small smile tugging at his mouth as he looks down at you. “A little annoying sometimes, yes. But it’s fine. Think I need to be annoyed every now and then. Probably payback for all the people I’ve annoyed when I was a kid.”

“You were just a kid. Let yourself off the hook. Though, I do agree that you should be annoyed every now and then. You certainly are annoying now. Well. A bit more than every now and then.”

“Don’t lie to me. I rarely annoy you. You’re just so… impossible to get worked up.”

“I let it go. I know you’re just like that. No reason in getting bothered about it.” You elbow him gently. “But there are limits, alright? You’re a grown man. Act accordingly.”

He laughs hard, for a reason you don’t understand, but you don’t care. You like the way his eyes crinkle. 

“You aren’t wrong!” he says when he finishes, grinning down at you. “Starting to think I should. Like maybe talking to my friends more. Maybe… give them a call like you say.”

You smile. “That sounds like a good start.”

“And I think… I think I should be a little more appreciative of the friend I have here with me right now.” 

“Oh, yeah?” you ask, beyond pleased. 

“So… you should start calling me Kazuya.”

“Wait — what —” you jerk and he quickly lets go of your hand to sling an arm around your shoulder and pull you low against his chest. It’s not particularly romantic because he kind of has you hunched over against his stomach. 

“Miyuki, what — hey, this isn’t comfortable…”

“I’m sorry, who are you talking to? That bird over there?”

“That’s a squirrel.”

“Question still stands. He doesn’t look like a Miyuki to me. He looks like a… Nori.”

“Miyuki.”

He doesn’t acknowledge you. 

Your face burns. You groan. You should be happy — you are happy. You know how big this kind of thing is. But you’re also embarrassed. Why are you embarrassed?

Being given the privilege of his name doesn’t mean anything other than you two are friends. And he said it himself. 

You’re friends. This is just what friends do. 

(Yeah, you know this sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself. 

You are.)

“Kazuya.”

“Now we’re talking about me. Very nice.”

He lets go. You glare a little at him as you come back up. He just smiles. It’s far too bewitching for you to really be annoyed with him. 

“Have any more room?”

“For?”

He rifles around the bag next to him, pulling out an orange. 

You melt like butter in a pan. 

“Sure, yeah.”

Kazuya (gah, that’s weird… but not in a bad way) proceeds to peel it expertly by hand, dropping orange peels into the now-empty bento box. Citrusy orange tickles your nose pleasantly. 

He splits off a few wedges for you. You take it, pulling one free. He pulls one free for himself. You sit side by side eating the orange together wedge by wedge.

Yeah. You’re thinking about it. 

You know — the poem. 

You know the one.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Do I need a reason to smile?”

He eyes you and the look on his face is both amused and fond but mostly fond. “I guess not.”

[Night Owl Transcript — 20:31 — 12/15/2022]

Tee: I just… I love poetry. I think poetry is great. Mouser’s rolling his eyes but that’s just ‘cause he likes nonfiction better, which is fine. I like both. Oh, someone on Twitter is asking what brought this on. Um. Nothing in particular at all. [Laughs]

[DNCE’s “Unsweet” starts playing in the background]

Tee: But if you guys have any favorites, send them my way. I’m always happy to get new material. 

[“Unsweet” starts playing] I want you unsweet You satisfy me That brutal honesty Won't you pour your heart out on me?

[Off-air recording starts] Mouser: What are you smiling about? Tee: I just think… the universe is great. Mouser: Right. Sure.  Tee: Soooo.  Mouser: [Laughing] What? Tee: I’ve come to a realization.  Mouser: And that is? Tee: I like Kazuya. Mouser: Jesus Christ. Tee: I mean, look at this queue. It wasn’t intentional but… Angel Baby. Attention. I’ll Be Waiting. It’s so… Mouser: [Laughing] You’re in love with this guy! Tee, Mouser: [Laughter] Tee: Ohhh. That is so… It’s fine. It’s cool. It’s chill. We’re chill.  Mouser: Hehe, wait, are you, like, just realizing this? Like actually? Tee: Yeah.  Tee, Mouser: [Laughter] Mouser: [Laughing] And you’re spending the holidays with him! Tee, Mouser: [Laughter] Tee: I know! I know… but it was just convenient. When the plans were made, I mean, ‘cause my sister and Hector are going out of the country and I could spend it with the family but… then he’d be alone.  Mouser: What do the kids call that? Down bad. You are down bad.  Tee: [Laughing] I know! It’s just… you don’t even realize it, the way he gets to you. It sneaks up on you. And then one day — today — you’re just like… Huh. He tries to seem so aloof, like he doesn’t care, but he does. A lot. I think that’s partially why he is the way he is.  Mouser: He’s also nice to look at it.  Tee: Really nice.

[Lolo Zouaï’s “Blur” plays next] Last night was a blur I stayed till the morning Let you call me your girl That don’t mean I’m falling (But I think I might) You’re every single thing that I deserve Maybe that’s too boring

Tee: Hey, you know I love you, right? Mouser: I know. I love you, too.  Tee: Good. I don’t want you to think… I mean, I know you don’t but, like, let me just reassure you… just ‘cause I like Kazuya like that won’t change anything between us. You’re my Mouser. My guy in the chair. The Donna Troy to my Dick Grayson.  Mouser: You geek. You’re the Chewie to my Han. Tee: I think I’m more Han than you but since we’re having a nice moment, I’ll let it go.  Mouser: Andddd the moment is over. 

You have no idea if Kazuya listens to the show. 

You don’t really know how to feel about it if he does. 

Mostly because, around him, you’re already feeling a whirlwind of emotions. More so because you’ve planted your white flag and given in. Given in to the fact that you do like him. That you like when he smiles, those rarities that make you appreciate them all the more, that you like the way his eyes crinkle when he laughs that stupid laugh of his. 

That you like his thoughtfulness, that he goes the full nine yards even when you tell him he doesn’t have to. He stopped buying shellfish for himself, even though you’d adamantly told him he didn’t have to do that, that all you asked if he hung out with you when he had it was wash his hands and if you were eating at his place, avoid cross-contamination. No. He just got rid of it completely. Not like I’m cutting out fish entirely, he told you. I still have my seafood. 

You like how he pays attention to you, he remembers things, like when you mentioned, a month ago, that you were trying to complete your collection of the Batman: No Man’s Land omnibuses by getting the second book and you also wanted to get the Batman: Road to No Man’s Land omnibus, too. They’re just ridiculously expensive — Volume 2 of NML is $150 and RTNML is $125. He surprises you with them a few days after your realization, says he was just passing a comic book store and braved the geeks to get it for you and that it looked mildly intriguing, so you have to let him read Volume 1, it’s only fair.

It’s so surprising, so unexpected and emotionally overwhelming for you that you throw your arms around with him without thinking it through. 

“And what will the press think?” he teases, but he still wraps his arms around you and there, in his embrace, everything feels right, like a puzzle piece sliding into place.

You would know. You’re, like, the leading authority on puzzles. 

“Screw the press,” you mumble into his hoodie. 

You don’t want to say something like, Well, this is just a platonic hug between friends. It aches too much. Like you can pretend you don’t want to stay here forever. Like you can pretend the urges to touch him freely aren’t growing stronger every day, minute by minute. 

But that won’t happen. You know it won’t. You’re a hypocrite for doing this, really, but the truth is, you’re selfish enough to want to keep him as a friend, if anything else. No use in ruining things by inserting feelings into the equation. You don’t want to lose him. You really, truly don’t. 

You’ll just wait for it to abate, for it to go away. It will. It’s the third week of December. The new year is creeping closer and closer. On February fifteenth, he is due to report in Peoria, Arizona for spring training; pitchers and catchers report on that day, before the rest of the team. From there, he won’t be back in San Diego until late March. Opening Day is April first. And from there… well. One-hundred-and-sixty-two games in the MLB’s regular season, from April to September. 

That’s only two months away. The thought is… sobering. Makes something inside you stiffen up but you tell yourself it’s fine. The distance might help. It will. 

You surely won’t compromise your relationship with him to get rid of these feelings, no way, they’ll just… be there. And if you get help in moving on from them with his busy season, well. That’s just how the cards fall.  

You let go before you get carried away, leaning down to deposit your gift in the car. A cool breeze flutters through your hair; you shiver a little. The breeze is cool but the day is pleasant enough with the sun is out. Still, you find yourself dressing a little more conservatively today, in a pair of mom jeans and a brand-new eggplant purple Night Owl crewneck.

Yes, you’re wearing your own merch. But this is more of a test-run, to see that it actually is comfortable before you release it. 

The ocean sprawls out ahead of you, gravel leading to soft white sand, overgrown grass and weeds sprouting from the fence that separates the parking lot from the beach. 

While you carefully put away the bag, behind you, Kazuya types on his phone. 

He called them — Kuramochi, Sawamura — a few weeks ago, finally taking that leap. Things are on the mend for them, you think. The thing is, they text a lot. 

“Texting your friends?”

He hums absently. You turn away from the passenger side and creep up next to him, deftly stealing his phone. 

“Wh — oi!” He sounds vaguely panicked for a reason you aren’t sure of but he has nothing to worry about.

“Relax, dude. I can’t read any of this.”

He snorts, looking relieved, then he switches gears, trying to look sternly at you. “Give me back my phone, brat.”

“Just for that?”

Despite everything being in Japanese, you know the symbol for the camera anywhere. You click it, opening the front camera, snapping a quick selfie of you, your wine-purple lips (you gotta match, man!) spread in a grin, peace sign thrown up, while he tries to grab you in the background. 

You send it just as he steals his phone back, laughing and pushing you gently. 

“Bothersome.”

“I get it from you.”

He rolls his eyes, still grinning, types a few things, then puts his phone away. You two go back to the car, where he uses you to balance himself as he rolls up his jeans and pulls off his socks and shoes. 

As he straightens, his eyes find your crewneck. He blinks, head tilting. He puts his shoes away. 

“So, you guys aren’t being shut down, then.”

You plant a hand on his offered arm and bend down to do the same with your shoes. Since you’d agreed to stop by the beach, you’d chosen a pair of sneakers rather than your Docs. Your camera hangs around your neck. 

Things are going well. Whether Night Owl is doing well because you’re constantly photographed hanging out with Kazuya (and constantly being accused of dating) or because the people who listened to you out of curiosity or word of mouth decided to stay because they liked the content and the music, you have no idea. 

But you don’t care. Both work just fine in your opinion. Either way, KCSD isn’t going to shut you down. No way. Not with the kind of traffic you get. 

Questions about merch increased, which pleased the company beyond end, but you had to go in there and negotiate. They didn’t get to take all the money. No. You think, after you and Jerry manning this show for several years, that you two deserve a pay raise. And updated equipment. You could probably ask for a bigger studio but you like it the way it is, honestly. Cozy. 

They’d agreed, of course. The reason they’re getting money is because of you and Jerry. You two are in positions to negotiate like that. 

So, you and Jerry have been creating all kinds of designs and ideas over the last few weeks. You’d settled on shirts, crewnecks, hoodies, and stickers. It’s eggplant purple, with a cartoonish owl and one of those old-world microphones, the silver ones. 

(You couldn’t do a Tom and Jerry thing, since, you know. Copyright issues. Thankfully everyone is aware of that and also don’t want you guys to be slapped with a cease and desist.)

“No,” you say, bare feet sinking into the sand; it’s not warm but it’s not cold, either. Somewhere in the middle. “They aren’t shutting us down. Things are going well.”

“Had me thinking otherwise since you’re wearing your own merch.”

You laugh. “Just testing it out. Making sure it’s fit to be released to the listeners. Can’t give them shoddy work.”

“Does your fan base have a name? Since you’re releasing merch…”

The two of you start walking. 

“There’s actually this organization in the comics called the Court of Owls. There’s no real name for the members themselves but they do employ these superhuman beings called Talons.”

“Naturally.”

“But we nixed that one. They’re kind of… evil. Organized crime type situation.”

“Probably for the best.”

“The best we’ve come up with is Owlers.”

He snickers. You laugh. 

“Yeah, I know. Not great. Night Owl’s name itself is pretty self-explanatory. There isn’t a lot to pull from it.”

“Well, this —” he tugs at your crewneck “— probably makes up for it. Where’s mine, by the way?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize —”

“You should’ve realized. I don’t accept your apology.”

You laugh loudly, your eyes taking in the tan sand and the blue waves stretching out into oblivion. Foamy tides lap at the shoreline. One part of you wants to dip your toes into it but you know you’ll be disappointed. The water is too cold to enjoy. 

A salty breeze kisses your face. You’ve missed the beach. You haven’t been in a while. This one is fairly empty, with only a few people around. At Scripps Pier, a quarter of a mile from Torrey Pine, that’s where you two are. It’s the same area as Black’s Beach, which is clothing optional but you know that if you continue south of the lifeguard tower, almost no one is around. So, no accidental eyefuls of naked people. 

He grins at you, looking all kinds of dashing with the breeze ruffling his hair, his dark blue crewneck pretty against his skin, the sun shining down on him. 

“So, then,” he starts casually in a way that has you raising an eyebrow, “you won’t be taking that offer.”

You cock your head, confused, before he nods at the camera in your hands. 

“Oh. Oh. God, I completely forgot about that. God. That was weird.” You raise the viewfinder to your eye, capturing the swaths of empty beach ahead of you. 

“Why?”

“It just is.” 

Click. You let your camera fall back to your neck. 

“Well, if you take it, you’ll definitely be spending more time around me and since you want to be best friends forever —”

You grin, face warming. “You can just say you want me to take it. That’s fine.”

“Hm.” He tilts his face up thoughtfully. “I do want you to take it. I mean, I think it’d be nice. But I also know you’re happy with Night Owl, which is admittedly cooler.”

“Hey, don’t disrespect your photographers like that.” 

He shoves you gently, rolling his eyes. “I’m trying to compliment you and this is what I get.”

You grin, falling back a few steps and raising the viewfinder to your eye again, moving until he’s in your frame. 

“See?” he says, lips quirked, hands tucked in his pocket. “Aren’t you having a great time taking pictures of me?”

Click. 

“Well, if I want to take pictures of you, all we have to do is this.”

He laughs and it sounds genuine. Click. “Touché, tomcat. Touché.”

Warmth unspools in your chest, ballooning there until you feel like you might float up. His eyes twinkle with something warm as he looks at you. The urge to feel his arms around you swells with vicious intensity, until you’re choking on it. 

“Hey. Let me see that.”

You let him tug the camera from your neck, resisting a shiver when his fingers brush the skin there. 

“You need merchandise shots, don’t you?” he asks, backing up, eyes on the screen. He knows his way around it. For the most part. You taught him that. 

“I think I need merchandise shots of you. You’ve been great for business.” You still toss your tote bag to the side. 

He barks out a laugh. “As soon as I get my own patented Night Owl merch. Then I’m yours.”

Your heart leaps in your chest. Like it wants to go to him. 

If only. 

He raises the viewfinder to his eye. 

You smile, holding out your hands. “What am I supposed to do?”

Click. 

“Aren’t you the one into photography? Shouldn’t you know?”

You laugh. Click. “Aren’t you the one whose face is plastered all over GQ, Sports Illustrated, and TIME right now?”

“So, you’re the person who bought all my copies at that one Whole Foods?”

“Look, you look good, but there are enough pictures of you primped and preened out there. The fact is, those guys would kill for the ones I have. You know. Candids. The natural state of being. You stuffing your face with black bean noodles from that one restaurant —”

“Those were good noodles! And I looked great!”

“The professional guy in the magazines is great, don’t get me wrong. But I like this version of you, too. You know. Just… you,” you say, smiling as a breeze ruffles through your hair. Click. That one surprises you. 

It’s maybe too honest on your part. But that’s fine. You think he needs to know that. You like the oh-so-professional Miyuki Kazuya on the field and you like him off the field, too, behind closed doors, teasing you constantly with rare, unexpected bouts of sensitivity, recipe testing in his kitchen, his competitiveness coming out when you try to complete thousand piece puzzles, and binge-watching episodes of House (because of course he likes that show). 

Despite what he likes to think, he is… good. Truly. 

Click. He adjusts something. 

“You should get your bag,” he says instead of responding to that. You don’t mind but —

“What?”

“I said, you should get your bag. A seagull is digging through it.”

“Wha — HEY! Get out of there!”

The seagull flies off. You snatch up your bag. Kazuya laughs so hard, you think he might bust a lung. You can’t help it, either. It only takes a second for you to start laughing, too. 

“Did you get that?!”

Still laughing, he nods, holding out the camera. You hurry to his side, uncontrollable giggles spilling out of you. 

Sure enough, in perfect clarity, he documented the entire thing. 

A few days later, Night Owl’s merchandise goes up, on a brand new website for the segment. The pictures before tragedy struck you on the beach go up, along with some of Jerry, and then one of Kazuya. Theirs get taken at the same beach. The Padres’ socials post them, too. 

And yours, documenting ‘Seagullgate,’ go up on Twitter as a bloopers thing. It becomes your most liked Tweet. (Especially when people find out who was behind the camera.)

[Night Owl Transcript — 20:48 — 12/21/2022]

Tee: Thank you guys for your continued support with the merch stuff. None of you are obligated to buy anything and honestly if you listen, that’s pretty much all we need but still. Thank you. 

[Pale Waves’ “My Obsession” plays] You're such a mess but you're always beautiful to me Run your fingers across my mouth I'm not prepared to stay here without you

[Off-air recording starts] Mouser: Hm.  Tee: What? Mouser: Today’s queue… Tee: Let me live, Jer. I’m pining.  Mouser: Well, don’t just admit it! Tee: Hey, we’re not live, right? Mouser: No.  Tee: Thank god. Could you imagine? Mouser: I would laugh.  Tee: What? My best friend… my Mouser… my Donna Troy… how could you betray me like that? Mouser: Admit it. It’d be hilarious.  Tee: In hindsight maybe. If it didn’t blow up in my face. Like the kind of thing you laugh about when you’re eighty.  Mouser: Oh, come on. That guy likes you. Why else would he agree to taking pictures for us? Tee: Um. We’re friends? Duh.  Mouser: Sure, but he also looks at you like you hung the moon in the sky. Tee: Hmm.  Mouser: Why do I even try?  Tee: Hey, if this is being recorded, where does it go? Mouser: I… actually have no idea.  Tee: We should find out. We’ve talked a lot of shit about the supervisors on here. Mouser: [Laughing]

[Seulgi’s “Anywhere But Home” plays next] Baby 그런적없니넌? 아무런계획없이떠나고싶은밤

Please take me anywhere but home Take me anywhere Please take me anywhere Gotta take me anywhere Take me anywhere but home

Slowly

the dogfish tore open the soft basins of water.

You don’t want to hear the story of my life, and anyway I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen

to the enormous waterfalls of the sun.

And anyway it’s the same old story-- a few people just trying, one way or another, to survive.

Mostly, I want to be kind. And nobody, of course, is kind, or mean, for a simple reason.

And nobody gets out of it, having to swim through the fires to stay in this world.

[strandnreyes]

random fact friday quick give me a random fact

omg I’m being put on the spot. um, okay. I saw your random fish facts, so I present you with:

pipefish, which are in the same family as seahorses, also have males carrying the eggs. but it’s not just like strapping some eggs to their bodies. they give the little fishies nutrients and a whole bunch of shit like a placenta does for humans so these male fish just turn into a glorified organ while the female fish are out taking care of business. but then they can get rid of their eggs if a more attractive female swims along smh. can’t trust anyone. love is dead

[miiilowo]

The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) or Glauert's seadragon, is a marine fish. It is the only member of the genus Phycodurus in the family Syngnathidae, which includes seadragons, pipefish, and seahorses.

It is found along the southern and western coasts of Australia. The name is derived from their appearance, with long leaf-like protrusions coming from all over the body. These protrusions are not used for propulsion; they serve only as camouflage. The leafy seadragon propels itself by means of a pectoral fin on the ridge of its neck and a dorsal fin on its back closer to the tail end. These small fins are almost completely transparent and difficult to see as they undulate minutely to move the creature sedately through the water, completing the illusion of floating seaweed.

Leafy seadragons usually live a solitary lifestyle. When the time comes, males court the females, they then pair up to breed. From the moment they hatch, leafy seadragons are completely independent. By the age of two, they are typically full grown and ready to breed.

The species feeds by sucking up small crustaceans, such as amphipods and mysid shrimp, plankton, and larval fish through its long, pipe-like snout.

oh hell yes i love this thing

[ivory--raven]

And what about aquatic animals? what are your favorites?

Thanks for your previous response

🦊

Hi, fox anon!

Immediately, top of the list, top of my head, come marine iguanas. I love them. They're marine lizards and I feel that's a convincing argument as to why.

What a handsome creature.

Endemic to the Galapagos, probably had a couple of arrivals on the archipelago, developed long spines and dark skin. They're normally black - pictured is from the one island where they're red and green because of their diet. They're called Christmas iguanas there. Same species though. They sneeze their salt out to cope with it - the marine environment has a lot of salt and dealing with it is one of the stressors marine organisms have to face.

And then there are echinoderms. I love echinoderms. Sea stars, sand dollars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers... they're pretty cool. Here's a chocolate chip star, Protoreaster nodosus.

I also like seahorses and pipefish (they're closely related, forming subfamily Syngnathinae).

Look at that face!

I could go on - puffers, filefish are funky triangles, on the freshwater side I'm a fan of salamanders, it's tough to name an aquatic species I don't like, but it wouldn't be highlighting favourites if I named everything.

[splatoonlink]

My Top 11 Favorite Fish

would’ve been 10 but i screwed up

#11: Coelacanth

this one almost tied with tripod fish, but i had to choose coelacanths because their story is just so moving. imagine thinking that a fish has been dead for millions of years only to discover it alive and well in the deep sea. it’s beautiful, and it gives me hope that maybe some day we might find some other wonderful creatures in the deep. bonus points for their beautiful appearance (no pic cause i hit the limit 😔), but i’m also subtracting some because their name is hard to spell. (also worth mentioning that including lungfish, they’re some of the only lobe-finned fish still alive today, making them our fishy relatives!)

#10: Leafy Sea Dragon

this one is an old favorite. as the name implies, it looks a lot like a bunch of leaves drifting around in the sea (and acts like it too). these guys are relatives of the seahorse, and while they don’t have the same weird upright position, they’re still very unique and interesting! plus they’re called dragons, which is awesome. (also worth mentioning that sea horses/dragons are related to pipefish! look it up and you can totally see the resemblance between pipefish and their freaky cousins)

#9: Black Sturgeon

these fish are just very appealing. they’re big, beautiful, and ancient. what else is there to want? plus, you can sometimes find them in aquarium touch pools and they’re really fun to pet. unfortunately, sturgeons are some of the most endangered fish on earth, partially in thanks to the caviar trade which harvests their eggs as a delicacy. i sincerely hope that we as a species can do something to stop this in order to keep these spectacular fish from going extinct.

#8: Red Cornetfish

admittedly i don’t really know that much about these guys aside from the fact that they live in japan. but, they’re really silly looking. like they’re so silly. there’s just something so delightful about a fish with a long snout... if you want to see some other silly fish, i’d recommend looking up trumpetfish, elephant nose fish, needlefish, and sawfish.

#7: Sockeye Salmon

these guys are like the archetypical salmon species. when you think of salmon, you think of them. honestly, salmonids are probably my favorite group of fish; there’s something so compelling about the transformation they go through and the upstream journey they face in order to spawn. they’re very unique and unusual fish. also, i like how they look when spawning, it’s very pretty… sometimes their bright, shiny red scales make my brain think they look like a fruit gummy.

#6: Longnose Gar

just look at its face- isn’t it just the cutest thing in the world? gar are a type of predatory freshwater fish that have been around for 100 million years, since the time of the dinosaurs! a lot of them have adorable scale patterns, like stripes and spots, and the longnose gar is no exception. but of course the reason i like it so much is cause of that big ol’ schnoz. it’s just so silly and cute!

#5: Moray Eel

a delightfully long boy with a terrifying set of teeth. moray eels like to hide in crags and crevasses and ambush unsuspecting prey! their bright colors might seem to make them stand out, but they’re actually pretty hard to spot among the coral. additionally, moray eels have a coating of slime on their bodies that protects them from parasites and infections. also i just think their faces are cute. there’s just something about them, y’know?

#4: Leopard Shark

a lot of people love sharks, and for good reason- they’re totally awesome! my favorite shark is the leopard shark. their spotted markings are beautiful and i find their body shape a lot prettier than most other sharks. watching them swim is truly mesmerizing… also, they’re one of those weird sharks where their eggs hatch inside the womb and are given birth to later. you’d think they would prefer to either lay eggs or give live birth but i guess some sharks just can’t choose…

#3: Atlantic Sailfish

what an extraordinary fish! in addition to being the fastest fish in the world with top speeds of 70mph, they have a striking appearance that’s hard to forget. the deep blues and bright yellows accented with a clean white is just perfect in every way. and have i mentioned that they can change color? it isn’t talked about much, but these fish are group hunters and will change color to confuse their prey and warn their buddies before they attack with the giant sword on their face. how wonderful!

#2: Hagfish

deep sea creatures hold a special place in my heart, and hagfish really encapsulate why with their perfect blend of cute, creepy, and interesting. for starters, their lack of eyes might be scary, but it just makes their little faces so much cuter! however, what looks like their mouth is actually just their nose! their real mouth looks straight out of a horror movie (in fact, i’ve seen a horror movie monster use this exact mouth) with a big mouth full of teeth. they don’t have jaws, so they just have to kind of wiggle around in order to rip flesh from the bodies they scavenge. and don’t even get me started on the properties of their slime! (seriously. don’t get me started). hagfish and lampreys are the only known jawless fish alive today, making them truly special. i just really love hagfish okay they’re everything to me.

#1: Cherry Salmon

it’s the fish you’ve been waiting for, the cherry salmon! i’m honestly not as much of an expert on these guys as i am on hagfish, but that doesn’t mean i don’t love them with all my heart. i love cherries and i love salmon, so cherry salmon are like an awesome combination of two awesome things. and just look at those beautiful markings! i’m gonna be honest, the reason why i like them in the first place is because of animal crossing. i kept catching them, and i was like “oh this fish is the best fish ever actually.” and i still think that. they’re just so cute, so beautiful, and they have an awesome name. (yes i’m called cherry cause of them what about it). overall, even if these fish aren’t super interesting or unique, they’re delightful little guys, and i really love them for that.

and that’s the end of the list! if you’re reading this, thanks for making it this far. feel free to leave a reply telling me what your favorite fish is, or send me an ask! if you have a list idea you think i should make, let me know because i love talking about sea creatures. i’m not making any of them as long as this one tho lol

[purplehoodiesimon]

Gotta hear number 7 😄

7. what animal do you look forward to seeing when you visit an aquarium?

I look forward to seeing all of them, sea animals are just so fucking cool. I really love the seals and jellyfish they have at Monterey Bay, as well as their penguins, otters, seahorses, rays, pipefish, octopods, squid, sharks, dolphins, cuttlefish, and crabs. And sea dragons are so cool. I just like sea creatures lol. It's the h2o just add water in me. As for the YR characters, this is what I think

Wilhelm - Octopods. He thinks they're just cool little funky creatures. He also likes the dolphins at aquariums

Simon - Squids and cuttlefish. He regularly gets into arguments with Wilhelm at aquariums over squids vs octopods

Sara - Seahorses, duh

Felice - Sea dragons, sharks, and moon jellies are her favorite sea creatures. She likes the dramatic, beautiful animals.

Maddie - Anemone. She tries to make her outfits anemone inspired when she goes to aquariums. She also gets sad at the lack of anemone merch in the gift shops.

August - Whales and king crabs

I'm answering asks with both my answer and YR hcs

[sand-worms]

Ok, I gotta know, which fish do u think is each member of LS' favorite? (Including ur widdle ocs🥰)

I am going above and beyond for this… favorite fish AND favorite marine animal in general… :)

Sorry I know you asked for my OCs too but this already got very long so just LS </3

Risotto

• I think he would like deep sea fish because they look so interesting. Idk why I get the feeling he’d be interested in chimeras (ratfish) I just think he’d find them neat. I think he’d also be amused by striped beakfish since they match :)

• He thinks the biology of corals is very interesting, especially given how conditions have to be JUST RIGHT for them or they just die. I also just for some reason feel like he’d think conches and whelks are interesting, probably for their shells and how large they can get.

Formaggio

• Big fan of sharks! He would think they’re really badass, though he probably wouldn’t know much about them. I think he’d like thresher sharks in particular because their caudal fin would remind him of Little Feet’s long claw.

• Enjoyer of the chambered nautilus, 100% just because he thinks they’re funny. They literally just make him laugh more than he’s really interested about them I think.

Illuso

• Idk why but I get the vibe that he’d like skates and rays. He’d think they’re very graceful and super peaceful and relaxing to watch swim. He might find it amusing that their egg cases are referred to as mermaids purses.

• He likes octopi and cuttlefish as well for their intelligence and their camouflaging abilities due to the chromatophores in their skin! He thinks they’re super interesting.

Prosciutto

• I get the sense that he would like big fish like marlin and tuna because he’s impressed with how powerful of swimmers they are and with the way they sort of trap schools of smaller fish to feed. It’s really sort of mesmerizing to watch.

• Likes jellyfish because he thinks they’re very elegant how they move through the water despite being very simple animals. I think he would also find it really interesting how hydrozoans are colonial and how they all work together and do specific jobs for what is seemingly one organism.

Pesci

• It’s so hard to pick just one kind of fish he would like. I think in general he loves tropical reef fish because they’re so pretty and he’s always wanted to keep a saltwater tank. He probably thinks clownfish are really cute. I also get the sense he’d like seahorses and pipefish :)

• He literally finds every kind of marine organism really interesting and cool but I think he’d be a big fan of hermit crabs :) he knows them well enough to identify some common species by sight

Melone

• Definitely an advocate for deep sea fish <3 He thinks the variety of adaptations they have in order to survive their extreme environment are really interesting and is intrigued by them. I think in particular he thinks oarfish are really neat!

• Keeping in the vein of deep sea life, I think he’d be really interested in giant tube worms. Their ability to thrive near hydrothermal vents and their chemoautotrophic symbiosis with bacteria would fascinate him.

Ghiaccio

• I think he’d like angelfish/butterflyfish for no particular reason. He just thinks they’re pretty and calming to watch, and he likes the huge variety of colors and patterns they have.

• I think he likes seals and sea lions. I don’t really have any reason or justification for it I just think he would find them cute and find it funny/impressive how dangerous they can be despite it.

Sorbet & Gelato

• No particular reason for it, but I just think Sorbet would like saw sharks. They’re kind of funny looking and I think he’d enjoy them. Gelato I get the vibe that he would like eels, and morays in particular. He just thinks they look cool and thinks it’s fun that they have a second set of jaws.

• Sorbet likes whales, probably toothed whales in particular! I think he would enjoy going whale watching and he probably likes orcas a lot, in terms of marine life. Gelato I think would like little invertebrates that can fuck you up. Big fan of mantis shrimp and cone snails.

[autisticandroids]

first we discussed bird mating rituals in relation to cas, now insect and spider cannibalism - i love this energy in the morning. i'm waiting for someone to bring up seahorses and pipefish during another round of mpreg discourse. unless it's already been done

i’m pretty sure seahorses have come up at LEAST once

[worldchampionpeccobagnaia]

U PROBABLY ANSWERED THIS but...like motogp riders as fish/marine ANIMALS?

ok I had to have a long think about this but I have really used all of my brain here you're welcome <333

mantis shrimp - taka, beautiful ?? enthralling ?? can see more colours than a regular human ?? gives a punch so fast it makes water boil ?? no one recognises their talent and beauty ?????????

giant isopod - jack, the sexiest creature in the oceans and important scavengers, terrifying to some but lovable to a few 

oarfish - Luca, he long and thin and has funny hair, possibly also washes up on the beach occasionally   

dumbo octopus - enea, bruh he’s cute but there's nothing in that little head of his and that's ok, dumbo octopus THRIVES and so does enea little world champion <33

sea lion - Danilo, he a big boy, speedy but likes water, danilo would probably be a good diver like a sea lion, would also sleep peacefully in a bed of kelp <3

giant tube worm - maverick, adaptable, cute in a worm way, lives on a hydrothermal vent like the real maverick which is cool af ??? being a professional athlete maverick has to get lots of minerals and so do these worms bc of where they live 

banded pipefish - franky, they're just cool cute little fish related to seahorses like the living version of worm on a string and there is no higher compliment 

turkey moray eel - marc, very good predators very pretty to look at, unlike Marc the turkey moray eel is actually really large, both look like they would bite if you got too close 

stingray - Fabio, misunderstood, also friend shaped but in a silky fish way, speedy will sting you with tail if needed, lovable and pure and beautiful makes me CRY

Yellow Sea snake - pecco, looks like it would bite you but actually wouldn't, venomous, most people dont like snakes but some people love them just like pecco 

manatee - Alex m, graceful, peaceful, would sing you and enchanting and beautiful song if they could, friend-shaped, would also give you a beautiful hug and protect you if they could, people do not CHERISH them enough 

[leopardsealz-remaking]

i love seahorses n seadragons n pipefish. just littol creachurs.....remember watching a nature doc that showed a pair of seadragons doing a mating dance n it was so pretty n i got emotional