#i wish for crabs and bells and nonsense
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valdomarx · 2 years ago
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getting us all to report spambots is tumblr staff's latest attempt to provide enrichment in the enclosure
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ssogoodinblue · 4 years ago
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tagged by the limited edition @anacondavice I've never done one of these on Tumblr and its a big myspace flashback for me which is really great rip myspace also I'm indecisive be warned
Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 blogs you’d love to get to know better.
Name: Esther
Pronouns: she or honestly anything you choose will not offend me. Literally it/that idc
Zodiac: Cancer
Height: 5’4” I'm pretty sure
Time: 7:12pm
Birthday: July 15th
Nationality: United States of American
Favorite bands/groups: wow it really depends on the era but Fall Out Boy, The Wonder Years, The Dixie Chicks, Pink Floyd, Paramore, Aaron West and the Roaring 20s, Maroon 5, Panic!, Brand New, Neck Deep, Near Hills, Led Zeppelin, Bleachers, Blind Pilot, 3 Days Grace, A Day to Remember, Dirty Loops, Little Big Town, Envy on the Coast, Marianas Trench, Mayday Parade, Pierce the Veil, All American Rejects, Blink 182, the cast of most musicals,
Favorite solo artists: Miranda Lambert, Johnny Cash, Anthony Green, Arianna Grande, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Natalie Maines, Patrick Stump, Ofra Haza, Ella Fitzgerald, Rihanna, these are just the ones off the top of my head at the moment, I feel like I'm really disrespectfully forgetting someone important idk. Fifteen years ago I would have said Hilary Duff and Avril Lavigne probably
Last show you binged: Currently rewatching That 70s Show like six episodes at a time. Before that, the first six seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race honestly and I don't regret a single second of it. Before that, Hamilton. Before that it was Les Mis before that it was Rent and before that it was Mad Men. I think the Office should be in there somewhere too
When you created your blog: I think 2010
Last thing you googled: "tinker bell movies in order" I really needed to know
Other blogs: haha many
Why I chose my URL: bc Fall Out Boy lyrics with like a billion meanings (one thing I love) also what a great bridge (two things I love) also I'm wearing blue so theres one more meaning AND my shirt is a fall out boy album but not the one the lyrics are on isn't that ironic (three things I love)
How many people you’re following: 5k because apparently, that is the max hahaaaaa
How many followers you have: idk like maybe 400 or 300?
Average hours of sleep: seriously either thirty minutes or twelve hours those are my only options I wish I was joking but it is funny like a joke
Lucky number: Idk I wouldn't know how to decide
Instruments: Currently, none, I walk around my house and sing all day like fucking snow white honestly. In the past though, most. Except horns/brass/woodwind never did any of those.
Currently wearing: Black leggings and a very large black hoodie no this was not intended it happens a lot though. Also socks with Stitch on them
Dream trip: ugh idk everywhere. Every time my laptop shows me a new pretty picture on my login screen I wanna go. Super old castles and towns in Europe. France for the food. Somewhere tropical with white sand and clear water. Somewhere snowy with mountains where you can see the northern lights. Literally any of the national parks.
Favourite food: Potatoes all day baby any way shape or form okay but also cheese. Also fruit just fruit in general fuck yeah. Favorite meat though, lamb shawarma oh my god. Favorite snack, yogurt with grape nuts chocolate chips and banana/strawberry chunks I can't remember the last day I didn't have this tbh
Favourite song: How to answer this one hmm well every time I have my whole spotify library on shuffle and something pops up that I think "this is it this is my favorite song" I add it to a playlist and that playlist is twelve hours long so
Top 3 fictional universes to live in: Harry Potter or Bag End or Under the Sea yes as in the Little Mermaid. That crab really sold it
I have nobody to tag on here its real tragic, so if you've bothered to read this far into my pile of nonsense then I'd be happy to know more about you
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whatshername-please · 5 years ago
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Out of the Water - Chapter III
Synopsis: You were very proud to be a mermaid, thank you very much. You didn’t want to be where the people were. Actually, you’d rather avoid it. Defending the merfolk was the biggest goal in your life… well, it was until you meet a certain pirate… it seems that your family really had a thing for humans, after all. Not that you’d ever admit it…
Pairing: Harry x reader
Word count: 3564
Part 3 of ?
Warnings: none? Possibly grammar mistakes? Also, some cuss words
A/N: English isn’t my first language, so I’ll probably mess up some tenses, grammar and stuff. Go easy on me, please. Feedback is always appreciated.
_________________________________________
“Maybe it’s contemporary art”
You pointed at the destroyed painting on the floor which made Mal stare at you in disbelief. Ok, maybe now wasn’t the best time for light hearted jokes.
Thus, it was probably better not to say anything about the curtains being all torn up since no one took notice of them…
Ben’s castle was not very different from the rest of Auradon: dead silent and a wicked atmosphere hovered in the air. Well, it was until everyone started searching for the king.
Everyone was calling for Ben but that made absolutely no sense, you thought. If Audrey had gone to the castle, she’d have turned Ben to stone or something, making impossible for him to answer. All the noise would just draw her attention, if she didn’t already know you were there which was very likely, by the way.
Really, why couldn’t she set Ben’s clothes on fire, break his favorite clock, shave his eyebrows? It’d have been so much easier to deal with.
Humans always had to make everything more difficult, hadn’t they?
You had gone through the whole the castle and found no one and also Dude had lost the track of Ben’s scent, the best option now would be to go back to Auradon Prep since it was the last place Audrey was seen at. But of course Mal wasn’t entirely convinced that the castle was empty and you were checking the last room left: it was a large hall full of coats of arms, vitrals and armors.
Why were there so many armors? Questionable decorating choice, if someone asked you. And unless Ben was hiding inside one of them, he wasn’t there either. Coming to Ben’s castle had been a completely waste of time.
“Hey!” someone called you, way too over-excited. “We weren’t properly introduced yet, I’m Gil”
The muscular boy extended his hand smiling widely at you. You shook his hand, presenting yourself.
“Are you a princess?” he asked. While Harry called you a princess with disdain, Gil appeared to be genuily interested in you, then again, he was fascinated by everything in Auradon, from the leaves on the trees to the berries in the bushes.
“I am” you answered him.
It seemed to be physically impossible, but his smile grew even bigger than before.
“I’ve never met a princess before. Your highness” he bowed and then looked at you with gleaming eyes “Have I done it right?”
Gil looked very proud of himself and it broke your heart. It was infuriating to think how many wonderful kids were stuck and forgotten on that Isle. For 20 years no one thought or cared about them, even now most people believed that the Isle’s inehabitants were dangerous and past redemption. You dared King Beast to look in Gil’s eyes and say he was a criminal who deserved to be punished for the rest of his life.
“Yes, you did. But you don’t have to do it, really.” you said and he nodded in agreement. Ok, you decided, out of Uma’s friends Gil was your favorite.
All you wanted to do was to find Audrey and go back home, but what was an already difficult task in itself was getting even harder because of Uma and Mal incessant bickering. You tried to ignore when Mal said she wandered what fried octopus tasted like. One thing that never entered humans’ head was that mermaids and fishes were friends, one day you were hanging out with a squid or a crab and suddenly they were fished and eaten by some unfeeling human. Sebastian still had nightmares about the time he got trapped inside your uncle’s…
Oh, wait. Did that armor just move?
Shit.
Everyone noticed it too, excepting Uma and Mal because they were too distracted fighting with each other.
“Girls!” Harry yelled “We have a situation here”. You wished you had a phone to take a picture of Uma’s face at this moment. She looked outraged by the audacity of Harry to cut her off.
At least now everyone was completely aware of that all the armors in that cursed place were moving towards you and ready to cut you all into tiny pieces. Drawing back wasn’t even an option since you were completely surrounded, the only chance you had to get out of this mess would be to fight.
WHY WERE THERE SO MANY ARMORS? If you survived this, you’d have a long talk to Ben about interior design.
Good thing everyone was optimistic about defeating them because, by your account, you were way outnumbered… not that Uma and Mal seemed to care since they were quarreling again. Evie was the one who got fed up with all the nonsense and stepped in and, while she tried to talk them into their senses again, you took the comb from your hair, ready to make it assume its true form. If Fairy Godmother didn’t have a rule against magic… or weapons being unnecessarialy used, you wouldn’t even bother changing your trident into a hair comb. You looked super badass carrying your trident around like the bitching sea queen you were…
Would be….
Whatever…
“Will you really brush your hair now, princess?”
That.
Mocking.
Tone.
Again.
You could either punch him right now or wait for an enchanted knight to do it…. but you had a better idea.
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he saw the comb that had been in your hand the moment before become an imponent trident. You watched with delight that ridiculous smirk on his face change into a shocked face. It always amazed you the look people made when they realized that your cute hair pin could make someone bleed to death, and Harry Hook did not disappoint you.
That would answer his question about your fighting skills.
The jerk.
But you had no time to think any further about Harry Hook and his pesky presence, the knights were near and you had a battle to face.
————–
It was official, you hated the human world and the ridiculous armors they used as house decoration. If Belle and the Beast (did he even have a name or his name was really Beast? Whatever…) hadn’t decide that every single corner of that castle needed to have a knight’s suit, you wouldn’t have had to be dodging swords attacks coming from every single angle that you could think of. It didn’t matter how hard or fast you hit them or that they were too heavy to react because they were enchanted. They could be slow to strike, but they neither got tired nor hurt, so you could attack them as much as you wanted and it didn’t make any difference, you were just scratching the metal. They were many and you were only 8, this wasn’t a fair battle, at all
“We need magic to defeat those things” you shouted to Mal while hitting a knight right in his chest, he stumbled a little but regained his balance fast enough. At the same time that you avoided another hit, you caught a glimpse of Harry who was close to you and unaware of the armor approachinh him from behind.
C'mon Harry, turn around…
Gosh, you had to do everything.
The knight striked again, but you avoided the blow. Taking this as a cue, you ran towards Harry and, as you did so, you managed to knock down the armor that was ready to attack the pirate. The sound of metal hitting the floor made the boy turn his head, he saw the armour laying on the floor and gave you a surprised look; either the boy didn’t expect you were able to fight or he didn’t expect that you would put yourself at risk to help him.
“You can thank me later” you said already attacking another hellish knight.
Thank goodness Mal had heard you and decided to use her magic against the cursed armors and before you could blink, the knights stopped moving and fell in the middle of the room.
It was about time.
Everyone was celebrating the victory, there were no more Uma’s crew or Mal’s gang, all of them were friends and, well… it ended as fast as it started. In one second they were cheering and laughing and in the other they rememrebed they didn’t like each other. The friendliness lasted two seconds, it was a new record.
Both gangs walked away from each other, Uma and her pirates stood on one side, and Mal and the VKs stood on the other. Celia and you decided to stay away watching them from afar.
Evie, who seemed determined to make everyone to get along, proposed an icebreaker and it took all your willpower to not to laugh at your friends’ faces upon hearing this. You have never heard so many groans or seen people looking away so fast in your life: Uma was probably deliberating all the choices she did in her life and looked like she could use a drink, or five, while Gil was just confused. Carlos and Jay were clearly unconfortable and would prefer to sleep forever than to go through this, and the only reason Mal didn’t shut Evie down right at the spot was because she dind’t want to hurt the girl’s feelings. And Harry…
It was a surprise to you when he didn’t come up with some ironic comment. Actually, he looked rather astonished when Evie complimented him and it appeared he was about to reply her before Uma cut him off.
And then she and Mal restarted their usual bickering.
Maybe the icebreaker wasn’t a bad idea, after all.
“Summer School?” Harry laughed “No wonders she wants revenge”.
Not that you’d ever say it out loud, but the pirate had a valid point.
Finally, they decided on following Uma’s initial plan to the joy of the sea witch’s daughter. Apparently, Audrey was still in Auradon Prep, so the girls would go and check her room for clues, and the boys would look out for Ben.
Everyone was ready to leave, but before the team split you spoke up.
“Actually, I’m going with the guys, ok?”
“Why?” Mal questioned you, raising an eyebrow.
“Because if Audrey shows up it’s better that at least one person knows how to use magic” you explained.
“No, the amber is the only thing that can defeat her, you wouldn’t stand a chance” Mal was clearly annoyed that you were holding them back, but you ignored the whay she glared at you and went on.
“Even so, I may be able to hold her off with my trident. You, Uma and Evie got brains, strenght and magic. Jay, Carlos, Gil and Harry, on the other hand….”
Your eyes lingered on the boys in front of you who, you knew for a fact, would kill each other in the first opportunity.
“Too edgy” you pointed to Jay.
“Too pure” and Carlos.
“Too bubbly” Gil.
“Too…” you looked Harry up and down and shrugged “Honestly? I can’t even describe him.”
Mal went silence for a moment, deliberating whay you had said, while everyone else was staring at you with a look you knew too well. It was the famous “I can’t believe she actually said that” face.
“Fine, you proved your point” Mal finally declared and the ofended look on Jay’s face almost made you laugh. You’d have to apolize to him later… But right now you had a king to find before Mal snapped at you again.
You and the guys left the castle and followed Dude, who had detected Ben’s scent.
“I’m not edgy” said Jay with a pout, looking too adorable to be taken seriously.
“Didn’t you almost break your arm trying to learn R.O.A.R just for the sake of beating Chad? Or what about that time when you got into a fight with a guy twice your size because he said the only reason you won the tourney game was because everybody on the other team was scared to come near a villain kid? ” you asked him.
“Hey! You were encouraging me!” he reminded you, laughing about the incident.
“I was not” you denied, putting your hand on your chest in a mocking manner “How dare you to suggest I’d ever do something like that”. You tried to make a serious face, but broke into a smile in a matter of seconds as you remembered that day. "Did we punch him, though? I can’t recall".
“No, Carlos stopped us… he is too pure” the VK teased, and Carlos didn’t take it kindly. As he passed by the both of you, he hit Jay’s arm hard enough to make his friend yelp.
“Come back here, Carlos” Jay called and ran after him “I was only joking”.
You giggled.
Humans, what dorks.
Minding your own business, you kept walking silently. Your friends were ahead, making sure to not lose Dude from their sight. Things appeared to be safe, at least for now, so you decided to change your trident into its pocket version, and with one quick motion of your hand, it became a hair comb again.
“How do you do that?” it was Gil who asked and he seemed utterly puzzled by your trident.
“Oh, it’s magic.” you said while Gil observed with narrowed eyes you place the enchanted comb in your hair, the boy was staring so intensively at it that looked like he was wainting for the comb to burst into flames or something “It’s no big deal, really”
“Yeah, you’re probably used by it, right? But we don’t have magic on the Isle…” he looked down, ashamed of being impressed by something that was so ordinary to you, and you felt terrible. You didn’t mean to upset him.
“Oh no, I mean… I just never really thought about it…” you tried to explain.
“Of course you didn’t, why do people in Auradon would think how their lives are perfect?” Harry, who had been oddly quiet, spoke. However, if he were expecting you to ague with him, he’d be disappointed. The pirate could get on your nerves but you couldn’t be a hypocrite and deny all the privileges you had just because you were born on the “right” side of the barrier.
Of course Harry didn’t know that was how you felt about the barrier and took the lack of a response as an confirmation.
“How nice it must be to have everything, huh?” he tried to sound cynical, but you could hear the hurt and bitterness in his voice.
“King Triton has a trident too, you know.” Gil said absently, ignoring completely the tension between Harry and you “It was on the Isle two years ago, we almost got it”
“Yeah I know. I nearly killed my cousin when I discovered she messed up with grandpa’s trident” you remembered like it was yesterday. Your cousin Arabella decided she wanted to prove her worth by summoing a storm using your grandfather’s magical trident. If this wasn’t reckless enough, she also lost the trident that ended up on the Isle. Thanks to Mal and her gang the trident was recoreved before your grandfather noticed it was gone.
What a day.
“Wait, your grandfather? Are you…?” Gil’s eyes widened when he realized who you were.
“Yeap, King’s Triton granddaughter, that’s me.” you finished his sentence, very proud of being who you were.
“Then you are a mermaid!” the blond boy’s eyes moved to your legs and he frowned at them, as if he couldn’t understand what they were doing there “If you are a mermaid, where is your fishtail?”
You chuckled and explained. It wasn’t the first time someone asked you that, but you didn’t mind. Actually, everytime you had the chance to brag about being a mermaid, you did it.
“When I need to be on land I turn into a human”
“Uma is Ursula’s daughter, did you know that?” it amazed you how Gil was capable of saying anything in such a light manner. Most people would be very cautious about speaking of the former villain of someone’s family in their presence but not Gil, he definitely didn’t mind bringing the subject up.
If you knew that Uma was the sea witch’s daughter? IF YOU KNEW THAT. You have been talking about this girl for years and, in the past months, you literally hid her in your room. YOU DID KNEW THAT.
This was what you really wanted to say, but instead you laughed it off “I think I’ve heard her name a few times”.
“Is it his trident?” it was Harry the one making a question now and, for the first time, he seemed genuinely curious and not just being sarcastic or cunning.
“Oh no… it was a gift from him, actually. It’s not as powerful as his, though. But it’s good enough” one thing that never ever bothered you was to talk about your life as a mermaid. If someone ever decided to write a tale about you, people would stop thinking that every mermaids’ wish was to become human.
You just loved being a mermaid and nothing would ever change that.
“What can it do?” he inquired, taking a closer look at the comb in your hair. He was wondering about the damage that could cause, no doubt.
“It can control water, for the most part. But is also good to beat the shit out of my enemies”
He smiled.
Harry Hook had sincerely smiled at you.
Maybe people were right, maybe you were born on the Isle and were switched at birth with some kid from Auradon. It would explain your talent for befriending villain kids.
You have never made friends easily, better saying, people didn’t want to be friends with you because of your reputation of being temperamental and moody, which wasn’t entirely true. You just didn’t care about being on the spotlight or doing what people expected you to do. Did you have to to sing along with woodland creatures just because you were a princess? Your area of expertise was marine life, for crying out loud. Squirrels and mice freaked you out! Once, a guy asked you on a date and thought it would be a good idea to go to a sea food restaurant!
You weren’t moody, humans were the ones who had the emotional range of a barnacle.
Also, a lot of people in Auradon were too self-absorbed, they thought everyone had a lovely happy life like them. Everytime you brought the Isle up they said you were overreacting and that it couldn’t be that bad. You wondered if they could see the black clouds that covered the place or if they even remembered that all Auradon’s leftovers were sent there.
You tried to be patiente but sometimes -well, most of times- you could not help yourself and ended up speaking your mind. At least from now on, you could claim that you have never cursed anyone out of spite.
Thanks, Audrey.
“If we’re getting to know each other, I have a question for you” you said to Harry who arched an eyebrow, curious about what you were going to say “Is your accent real?”
He blinked in confusion, not sure if he had heard you right.
“Yes! What kind of question is that?” he was perplexed by what you asked. Harry wasn’t used to people commenting on his accent and the times someone had said something about it, it was always to make fun of him - and Harry always made sure they learned not to do it again. So, he didn’t know if you were serious or simply mocking him.
“I don’t know. I believed you were being dramatic, to be honest. The eyeliner, the coat… The accent could very well be part of your pirate aesthetic” You didn’t want to sound rude or anything, you honestly imagined the accent was only him being theatrical, but since he didn’t answer right away (not even a ironic remark), you added quickly “It’s a lovely accent, it suits you”.
At first, you expected him to shut you down or tell you to fuck off. However, as he didn’t reply anything, you thought you really had offended the boy. You were ready to apologize (you could be the sea bitch, but you weren’t rude…). Instead, he bursted into laughter and you frowned, not understanding what was so funny to make Harry Hook laugh like that.
That boy was completely unpredictable.
“It’s not an aesthetic, lass. I’m a pirate” it was the first time since you met that Harry seemed so amused and it wasn’t at someone’s expanses. “Why did you think this?”
“Well, you do walk around carrying a hook” you pointed to the sharp object he kept holding since the moment you laid your eyes on him.
“And who are you to judge? You have a magical trident in your hair.”
It was your turn to laugh, maybe Harry wasn’t that bad.
“Fair enough, I can’t argue against it” you agreed with him,
Upon hearing your words, his mouth twisted into a smug grin…
“I knew you would warm up to me, princess”
Yeah, you took back what you thought seconds before, Harry Hook was insufferable. You huffed in annoyance and walked away from him and his pompous attitude.
Humans were never worth the stress.
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shu-of-the-wind · 7 years ago
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siren au iii; rebelcaptain
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EXTREME credit and influence to both haku23 (who wrote the Ultimate Merman Chirrut Fic, Goddamn) and naniiebim (who drew some SUPER GORGEOUS ART FOR IT) for Chirrut and his nonsense. 
It's two weeks before Baze finally carries her out to the beach.
She's pretty sure he knows that Cassian gave her a knife. It's not like she hides the damn thing. She keeps it in her pocket, or in her fist shoved up beneath the pillow when she pretends to sleep, but Baze has the marks of a warrior in his hands and on his arms. He'll come into the cottage without his shirt on and she can see the marks left behind by musket balls and unsheathed blades. He'd be able to see the outline of the knife creasing the fabric of her trousers. Still, he doesn't comment, and he doesn't hesitate when he finally helps her up off the bed and settles her into an awkward lift, his arms around her ribs and holding her up off the ground so no weight can be put on her bad leg. It's mid-morning, and the last three days they've both been trapped inside because of a tropical storm, but now the sun is bright and warm and the sands are dry and when Jyn settles against the beach she takes huge gulps of the outside air and shuts her eyes.
"I'll be back," Baze says, after a minute.
She waves at him, lazily. Baze rolls his eyes, and drops a burlap sack on the sand beside her--not for her, clearly, from the knotted top--before stalking off down the beach towards what looks like a hut made of palm fronds. Jyn leans back against the sand to watch the sky. The clouds have been swept away by the wind, and now it's just eggshell blue, the smell of the ocean and the touch of sand against her cheek. She's going to itch terribly when she gets back in the bed, but there's nothing else she'd rather complain about.
She wants a bath. She wants to crawl fifteen feet and get into the ocean, strip her filthy clothes off and let the salt and the water wash her clean. She can't without help, so she lies there, and wonders how badly her skin will scorch after weeks inside.
"Badly, I would imagine."
Jyn snaps her eyes open. There's a man sprawling on the sand nearby, naked, water-drenched, speckled with sand. Mostly a man, she thinks. Her heart leaps into her throat and tries to strangle her when the tail lifts off the sand, waves absently through the air like a cat's. Fish tail. Accented like Baze, she thinks, in the part of her not seized with run run run Jyn run Jyn run. Pale eyes. His teeth are shark-sharp, triangular and wicked, and when he waves a lazy hand at her, there are webs between his fingers.
"Your crystal," says the Mer. "I'd make a deal for it, if you like."
She can't help it. Jyn snags the kyber crystal, and presses it close to her chest. The knife in her pocket is too close and too far at once. She can't lunge for it without the Mer noticing, even with his pale blind eyes. She works moisture back up into her mouth. "No deal."
The Mer rolls onto his back, and lifts and flashes his tail again. It's deep bronzey-red, his tail. Like the red gates to an old temple. "If you're sure."
She's alone on a beach with a Mer, and she has a knife and a broken leg, and he could drag her into the water and drown her without anyone ever knowing what happened. Fuck. Fuck. Her eyes scorch with the light off the water. Fuck!
"Peace, little one." The Mer flicks his tail again, and lets it land with a heavy thwap against the packed sand. "You're in no danger from me."
Jyn seizes the hilt of her knife anyway, and doesn't speak.
"Baze didn't say he was bringing you out, today," says the Mer. "Cassian will be disappointed. He wanted to be here the first time you came out into the sun again."
Calm. Saw's voice in her head is as deep as a bell. Calm. Breathe. You can't fight or run if you don't have air. She draws the blade, not from its sheath but from her pocket, and then says, "You know Baze and Cassian?"
"Of course." The Mer rolls onto his side, and props his chin in one hand. He has a vicious scar over the place where man and fish merge, a deep puncture, as if he's been run through with a pole. "Much longer than you. You're quite sure about the crystal? I'll tell your fortune in exchange. You know what they say about Mers and fortunes."
She's never heard a damn thing about the Mer telling fortunes, but she's not about to bring that up, not with him lying so close. He could snap his tail sideways and break her spine in half if he wanted. "I don't want my fortune told."
"Are you sure?"
There's a flicker of motion from the water, and then a splash. Cassian's peering at them from the near shallows, his hair sticking to his face, eyes gleaming a little, and when he stands, Jyn realizes he's naked. She turns her face away from him, focusing on the Mer, on the lazy toothy smile hooking the corner of his mouth.
"Cassian," says the Mer. "She doesn't believe me."
"Stop frightening her," says Cassian, and then there's a thump of feet on sand, the rustle of cloth. The burlap sack that Baze had left on the shore, apparently, had clothes in it. When she turns, Cassian's wearing trousers, at least. He shakes his head, but his bangs are still plastered to his face. "You're not helping anything."
"She's not the only one frightened," says the Mer. He sounds lazy, almost, but--not quite. Settling on the edge of faux-calm. He won't put his damn teeth away, ragged and wicked-sharp. "We have much to be leery of, from humans."
She can't reply to that. She doesn't know how.
"You like Baze," says Cassian. "Baze is human."
The Mer waves a hand. "Baze is a guardian."
"Bodhi's not."
"Bodhi's harmless."
"So is she."
"She would be," says the Mer, "if she weren't carrying a blade."
Cassian scoffs, and looks down at her. The bright blaze of the sun is casting his face into shadow. "Jyn," he says. "This is Chirrut. He lives in the cove on the west side of the island."
Chirrut rolls onto his back, and props his hands behind his head. He doesn't respond.
"Baze didn't say he was bringing you outside today," Cassian says, and then he kind of bends himself down to crouch next to her, folding his feet up underneath them to keep them out of her reach. The shining scales up his ankles gleam like shards of emerald.
"Yeah," Jyn says, finally. Her voice, miraculously, doesn't crack. "I think he's sick of me using his bed. I stink."
"He never uses that bed," Chirrut says, without turning his face towards either of them. "He sleeps on the sand when there are no storms."
That answers some questions that had been lingering in the back of her head. "Oh."
"This one's been waiting for you to come outside," says Chirrut, and flaps his hand at Cassian. "The storm made him terribly gloomy.”
Cassian ignores Chirrut entirely. “How are you feeling?”
“Shitty,” Jyn says. She doesn’t loosen her grasp on the knife, just slips it back into her pocket. “I want to walk.”
“Funny,” says Chirrut. “Me too.”
“You still have a few weeks before you can stand alone.” Cassian looks at her through his hair, and then hesitates. His mouth hitches, and drops. “If you wish to wash, I will fetch Baze.”
She thinks her fingers might break, with how tight she’s clinging to the blade in her pocket. She doesn’t want help washing. She wants to walk. She wants to walk into the water and disappear beneath the surface and sit on the ocean floor for a minute, until her lungs buck in her chest and she has to break, bursting, into the air again. She can’t do that, though. So instead she grits her teeth, and says, “Help me up.”
Cassian’s eyes widen, but he stands fast. His hands are cold, when he grips her by the elbow, cold and wet, and the webbing between his fingers feels more like skin than anything. A lightning bolt lances up through her leg and into her hip when she stands, but when Cassian freezes, she says, “No, it’s fine,” and he draws her arm around his neck, heaving her bad leg up off the ground. Her good leg—good leg, it’s shaky as hell underneath her and her knee’s about to give out—catches on the sand.
“Sorry,” Cassian says. “Sorry.”
She’s going to punch him in the head.
The water’s bridging that space between cold and warm, stinging and soothing. Jyn swears under her breath when her big toe snags on a rock, grips Cassian’s wrist hard, and then they’re wading deeper. I’m walking into the ocean with a siren, she thinks, and about gags on her own tongue.
“Stop,” she says. “Stop, I can’t swim, no deeper.”
Cassian stops immediately. He lets her go. Jyn almost loses her balance, and in an instant he has the back of her shirt twisted up in his webbed hand. He lets out a breath, and she wonders, for a moment, if she’d scared him as much as she’d scared herself.
“Good?” Cassian says. His eyes are dark and curious.
Jyn heaves a breath, and dips down under the water.
It’s silent, down there. Cool and lovely and bright. When she opens her eyes, they sting, and then adjust. The Outer Rim is full of coral reefs, and if she’s not wrong, there’s a reef half a klick out from the beach, much too far for her to reach. Here, it’s just smooth sand and a few jagged stones. There’s a crab scuttling over Cassian’s odd flat feet. Jyn pushes herself back to the surface with her good leg, takes a breath, and swipes her hair back out of her face.
Cassian’s still watching her, his arms crossed over his bare chest. There are little flecking scales on his shoulders.
“Yeah,” she says finally. “Good.”
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whatshername-please · 5 years ago
Text
Out of the Water - Chapter III
I didn’t die!! Chapter 3 is here!
Synopsis: You were very proud to be a mermaid, thank you very much. You didn't want to be where the people were. Actually, you'd rather avoid it. Defending the merfolk was the biggest goal in your life... well, it was until you meet a certain pirate... it seems that your family really had a thing for humans, after all. Not that you'd ever admit it...
Pairing: Harry x reader
Word count: 3564
Part 3 of ?
Warnings: none? Possibly grammar mistakes? Also, some cuss words
A/N: English isn't my first language, so I'll probably mess up some tenses, grammar and stuff. Go easy on me, please. Feedback is always appreciated.
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"Maybe it's contemporary art"
You pointed at the destroyed painting on the floor which made Mal stare at you in disbelief. Ok, maybe now wasn't the best time for light hearted jokes.
Thus, it was probably better not to say anything about the curtains being all torn up since no one took notice of them...
Ben's castle was not very different from the rest of Auradon: dead silent and a wicked atmosphere hovered in the air. Well, it was until everyone started searching for the king.
Everyone was calling for Ben but that made absolutely no sense, you thought. If Audrey had gone to the castle, she'd have turned Ben to stone or something, making impossible for him to answer. All the noise would just draw her attention, if she didn't already know you were there which was very likely, by the way.
Really, why couldn't she set Ben's clothes on fire, break his favorite clock, shave his eyebrows? It'd have been so much easier to deal with.
Humans always had to make everything more difficult, hadn't they?
You had gone through the whole the castle and found no one and also Dude had lost the track of Ben's scent, the best option now would be to go back to Auradon Prep since it was the last place Audrey was seen at. But of course Mal wasn't entirely convinced that the castle was empty and you were checking the last room left: it was a large hall full of coats of arms, vitrals and armors.
Why were there so many armors? Questionable decorating choice, if someone asked you. And unless Ben was hiding inside one of them, he wasn't there either. Coming to Ben's castle had been a completely waste of time.
"Hey!" someone called you, way too over-excited. "We weren't properly introduced yet, I'm Gil"
The muscular boy extended his hand smiling widely at you. You shook his hand, presenting yourself.
"Are you a princess?" he asked. While Harry called you a princess with disdain, Gil appeared to be genuily interested in you, then again, he was fascinated by everything in Auradon, from the leaves on the trees to the berries in the bushes.
"I am" you answered him.
It seemed to be physically impossible, but his smile grew even bigger than before.
"I've never met a princess before. Your highness" he bowed and then looked at you with gleaming eyes "Have I done it right?"
Gil looked very proud of himself and it broke your heart. It was infuriating to think how many wonderful kids were stuck and forgotten on that Isle. For 20 years no one thought or cared about them, even now most people believed that the Isle's inehabitants were dangerous and past redemption. You dared King Beast to look in Gil's eyes and say he was a criminal who deserved to be punished for the rest of his life.
"Yes, you did. But you don't have to do it, really." you said and he nodded in agreement. Ok, you decided, out of Uma's friends Gil was your favorite.
All you wanted to do was to find Audrey and go back home, but what was an already difficult task in itself was getting even harder because of Uma and Mal incessant bickering. You tried to ignore when Mal said she wandered what fried octopus tasted like. One thing that never entered humans' head was that mermaids and fishes were friends, one day you were hanging out with a squid or a crab and suddenly they were fished and eaten by some unfeeling human. Sebastian still had nightmares about the time he got trapped inside your uncle's...
Oh, wait. Did that armor just move?
Shit.
Everyone noticed it too, excepting Uma and Mal because they were too distracted fighting with each other.
"Girls!" Harry yelled "We have a situation here". You wished you had a phone to take a picture of Uma's face at this moment. She looked outraged by the audacity of Harry to cut her off.
At least now everyone was completely aware of that all the armors in that cursed place were moving towards you and ready to cut you all into tiny pieces. Drawing back wasn't even an option since you were completely surrounded, the only chance you had to get out of this mess would be to fight.
WHY WERE THERE SO MANY ARMORS? If you survived this, you'd have a long talk to Ben about interior design.
Good thing everyone was optimistic about defeating them because, by your account, you were way outnumbered... not that Uma and Mal seemed to care since they were quarreling again. Evie was the one who got fed up with all the nonsense and stepped in and, while she tried to talk them into their senses again, you took the comb from your hair, ready to make it assume its true form. If Fairy Godmother didn't have a rule against magic... or weapons being unnecessarialy used, you wouldn't even bother changing your trident into a hair comb. You looked super badass carrying your trident around like the bitching sea queen you were...
Would be....
Whatever...
"Will you really brush your hair now, princess?"
That.
Mocking.
Tone.
Again.
You could either punch him right now or wait for an enchanted knight to do it.... but you had a better idea.
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he saw the comb that had been in your hand the moment before become an imponent trident. You watched with delight that ridiculous smirk on his face change into a shocked face. It always amazed you the look people made when they realized that your cute hair pin could make someone bleed to death, and Harry Hook did not disappoint you.
That would answer his question about your fighting skills.
The jerk.
But you had no time to think any further about Harry Hook and his pesky presence, the knights were near and you had a battle to face.
                                                     --------------
It was official, you hated the human world and the ridiculous armors they used as house decoration. If Belle and the Beast (did he even have a name or his name was really Beast? Whatever...) hadn't decide that every single corner of that castle needed to have a knight's suit, you wouldn't have had to be dodging swords attacks coming from every single angle that you could think of. It didn't matter how hard or fast you hit them or that they were too heavy to react because they were enchanted. They could be slow to strike, but they neither got tired nor hurt, so you could attack them as much as you wanted and it didn't make any difference, you were just scratching the metal. They were many and you were only 8, this wasn't a fair battle, at all
"We need magic to defeat those things" you shouted to Mal while hitting a knight right in his chest, he stumbled a little but regained his balance fast enough. At the same time that you avoided another hit, you caught a glimpse of Harry who was close to you and unaware of the armor approachinh him from behind.
C'mon Harry, turn around...
Gosh, you had to do everything.
The knight striked again, but you avoided the blow. Taking this as a cue, you ran towards Harry and, as you did so, you managed to knock down the armor that was ready to attack the pirate. The sound of metal hitting the floor made the boy turn his head, he saw the armour laying on the floor and gave you a surprised look; either the boy didn't expect you were able to fight or he didn't expect that you would put yourself at risk to help him.
"You can thank me later" you said already attacking another hellish knight.
Thank goodness Mal had heard you and decided to use her magic against the cursed armors and before you could blink, the knights stopped moving and fell in the middle of the room.
It was about time.
Everyone was celebrating the victory, there were no more Uma's crew or Mal's gang, all of them were friends and, well... it ended as fast as it started. In one second they were cheering and laughing and in the other they rememrebed they didn't like each other. The friendliness lasted two seconds, it was a new record.
Both gangs walked away from each other, Uma and her pirates stood on one side, and Mal and the VKs stood on the other. Celia and you decided to stay away watching them from afar.
Evie, who seemed determined to make everyone to get along, proposed an icebreaker and it took all your willpower to not to laugh at your friends' faces upon hearing this. You have never heard so many groans or seen people looking away so fast in your life: Uma was probably deliberating all the choices she did in her life and looked like she could use a drink, or five, while Gil was just confused. Carlos and Jay were clearly unconfortable and would prefer to sleep forever than to go through this, and the only reason Mal didn't shut Evie down right at the spot was because she dind't want to hurt the girl's feelings. And Harry...
It was a surprise to you when he didn't come up with some ironic comment. Actually, he looked rather astonished when Evie complimented him and it appeared he was about to reply her before Uma cut him off.
And then she and Mal restarted their usual bickering.
Maybe the icebreaker wasn't a bad idea, after all.
"Summer School?" Harry laughed "No wonders she wants revenge".
Not that you'd ever say it out loud, but the pirate had a valid point.
Finally, they decided on following Uma's initial plan to the joy of the sea witch's daughter. Apparently, Audrey was still in Auradon Prep, so the girls would go and check her room for clues, and the boys would look out for Ben.
Everyone was ready to leave, but before the team split you spoke up.
"Actually, I'm going with the guys, ok?"
"Why?" Mal questioned you, raising an eyebrow.
"Because if Audrey shows up it's better that at least one person knows how to use magic" you explained.
"No, the amber is the only thing that can defeat her, you wouldn't stand a chance" Mal was clearly annoyed that you were holding them back, but you ignored the whay she glared at you and went on.
"Even so, I may be able to hold her off with my trident. You, Uma and Evie got brains, strenght and magic. Jay, Carlos, Gil and Harry, on the other hand...."
Your eyes lingered on the boys in front of you who, you knew for a fact, would kill each other in the first opportunity.
"Too edgy" you pointed to Jay.
"Too pure" and Carlos.
"Too bubbly" Gil.
"Too..." you looked Harry up and down and shrugged "Honestly? I can't even describe him."
Mal went silence for a moment, deliberating whay you had said, while everyone else was staring at you with a look you knew too well. It was the famous "I can't believe she actually said that" face.
"Fine, you proved your point" Mal finally declared and the ofended look on Jay's face almost made you laugh. You'd have to apolize to him later... But right now you had a king to find before Mal snapped at you again.
You and the guys left the castle and followed Dude, who had detected Ben's scent.
"I'm not edgy" said Jay with a pout, looking too adorable to be taken seriously.
 "Didn't you almost break your arm trying to learn R.O.A.R just for the sake of beating Chad? Or what about that time when you got into a fight with a guy twice your size because he said the only reason you won the tourney game was because everybody on the other team was scared to come near a villain kid? " you asked him.
"Hey! You were encouraging me!" he reminded you, laughing about the incident.
"I was not" you denied, putting your hand on your chest in a mocking manner "How dare you to suggest I'd ever do something like that". You tried to make a serious face, but broke into a smile in a matter of seconds as you remembered that day.  "Did we punch him, though? I can't recall".
"No, Carlos stopped us... he is too pure" the VK teased, and Carlos didn't take it kindly. As he passed by the both of you, he hit Jay's arm hard enough to make his friend yelp.
"Come back here, Carlos" Jay called and ran after him "I was only joking".
You giggled.
Humans, what dorks.
Minding your own business, you kept walking silently. Your friends were ahead, making sure to not lose Dude from their sight. Things appeared to be safe, at least for now, so you decided to change your trident into its pocket version, and with one quick motion of your hand, it became a hair comb again.
"How do you do that?" it was Gil who asked and he seemed utterly puzzled by your trident.
"Oh, it's magic." you said while Gil observed with narrowed eyes you place the enchanted comb in your hair, the boy was staring so intensively at it that looked like he was wainting for the comb to burst into flames or something "It's no big deal, really"
"Yeah, you're probably used by it, right? But we don't have magic on the Isle..."  he looked down, ashamed of being impressed by something that was so ordinary to you, and you felt terrible. You didn't mean to upset him.
"Oh no, I mean... I just never really thought about it..." you tried to explain.
"Of course you didn't, why do people in Auradon would think how their lives are perfect?" Harry, who had been oddly quiet, spoke. However, if he were expecting you to ague with him, he'd be disappointed. The pirate could get on your nerves but you couldn't be a hypocrite and deny all the privileges you had just because you were born on the "right" side of the barrier.
Of course Harry didn't know that was how you felt about the barrier and took the lack of a response as an confirmation.
"How nice it must be to have everything, huh?" he tried to sound cynical, but you could hear the hurt and bitterness in his voice.
"King Triton has a trident too, you know." Gil said absently, ignoring completely the tension between Harry and you "It was on the Isle two years ago, we almost got it"
"Yeah I know. I nearly killed my cousin when I discovered she messed up with grandpa's trident" you remembered like it was yesterday. Your cousin Arabella decided she wanted to prove her worth by summoing a storm using your grandfather's magical trident. If this wasn't reckless enough, she also lost the trident that ended up on the Isle. Thanks to Mal and her gang the trident was recoreved before your grandfather noticed it was gone.
What a day.
"Wait, your grandfather? Are you...?" Gil's eyes widened when he realized who you were.
"Yeap, King's Triton granddaughter, that's me." you finished his sentence, very  proud of being who you were.
"Then you are a mermaid!" the blond boy's eyes moved to your legs and he frowned at them, as if he couldn't understand what they were doing there "If you are a mermaid, where is your fishtail?"
You chuckled and explained. It wasn't the first time someone asked you that, but you didn't mind. Actually, everytime you had the chance to brag about being a mermaid, you did it.
"When I need to be on land I turn into a human"
"Uma is Ursula's daughter, did you know that?" it amazed you how Gil was capable of saying anything in such a light manner. Most people would be very cautious about speaking of the former villain of someone's family in their presence but not Gil, he definitely didn't mind bringing the subject up.
If you knew that Uma was the sea witch's daughter? IF YOU KNEW THAT. You have been talking about this girl for years and, in the past months, you literally hid her in your room. YOU DID KNEW THAT.
This was what you really wanted to say, but instead you laughed it off "I think I've heard her name a few times".
"Is it his trident?" it was Harry the one making a question now and, for the first time, he seemed genuinely curious and not just being sarcastic or cunning.
"Oh no... it was a gift from him, actually. It's not as powerful as his, though. But it's good enough" one thing that never ever bothered you was to talk about your life as a mermaid. If someone ever decided to write a tale about you, people would stop thinking that every mermaids' wish was to become human.
You just loved being a mermaid and nothing would ever change that.
"What can it do?" he inquired, taking a closer look at the comb in your hair. He was wondering about the damage that could cause, no doubt.
"It can control water, for the most part. But is also good to beat the shit out of my enemies"
He smiled.
Harry Hook had sincerely smiled at you.
Maybe people were right, maybe you were born on the Isle and were switched at birth with some kid from Auradon. It would explain your talent for befriending villain kids.
You have never made friends easily, better saying, people didn't want to be friends with you because of your reputation of being temperamental and moody, which wasn't entirely true. You just didn't care about being on the spotlight or doing what people expected you to do. Did you have to to sing along with woodland creatures just because you were a princess? Your area of expertise was marine life, for crying out loud. Squirrels and mice freaked you out! Once, a guy asked you on a date and thought it would be a good idea to go to a sea food restaurant!
You weren't moody, humans were the ones who had the emotional range of a barnacle.
Also, a lot of people in Auradon were too self-absorbed, they thought everyone had a lovely happy life like them. Everytime you brought the Isle up they said you were overreacting and that it couldn't be that bad. You wondered if they could see the black clouds that covered the place or if they even remembered that all Auradon's leftovers were sent there.
You tried to be patiente but sometimes -well, most of times- you could not help yourself and ended up speaking your mind. At least from now on, you could claim that you have never cursed anyone out of spite.
Thanks, Audrey.
"If we're getting to know each other, I have a question for you" you said to Harry who arched an eyebrow, curious about what you were going to say "Is your accent real?"
He blinked in confusion, not sure if he had heard you right.
"Yes! What kind of question is that?" he was perplexed by what you asked. Harry wasn't used to people commenting on his accent and the times someone had said something about it, it was always to make fun of him - and Harry always made sure they learned not to do it again. So, he didn't know if you were serious or simply mocking him.
"I don't know. I believed you were being dramatic, to be honest. The eyeliner, the coat... The accent could very well be part of your pirate aesthetic" You didn't want to sound rude or anything, you honestly imagined the accent was only him being theatrical, but since he didn't answer right away (not even a ironic remark), you added quickly "It's a lovely accent, it suits you".
At first, you expected him to shut you down or tell you to fuck off. However, as he didn't reply anything, you thought you really had offended the boy. You were ready to apologize (you could be the sea bitch, but you weren't rude...). Instead, he bursted into laughter and you frowned, not understanding what was so funny to make Harry Hook laugh like that.
That boy was completely unpredictable.
"It's not an aesthetic, lass. I'm a pirate" it was the first time since you met that Harry seemed so amused and it wasn't at someone's expanses. "Why did you think this?"
"Well, you do walk around carrying a hook" you pointed to the sharp object he kept holding since the moment you laid your eyes on him.
"And who are you to judge?  You have a magical trident in your hair."
It was your turn to laugh, maybe Harry wasn't that bad.
"Fair enough, I can't argue against it" you agreed with him,
Upon hearing your words, his mouth twisted into a smug grin...
"I knew you would warm up to me, princess"
Yeah, you took back what you thought seconds before, Harry Hook was insufferable. You huffed in annoyance and walked away from him and his pompous attitude.
Humans were never worth the stress
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