#like I thought I would find electric eels more often

[someoneelsemaybe]

I learned that water conducts electricity at too young of an age. That was my quicksand.

[majimasleftasscheek]

I've been thinking, about how you would make sea creature kazumaji... do you already have headcannons for that or is it something more new?

a lil mix of both 🤔 I originally drew eeljima for MerMay and was gonna leave it at that but I got really attached to the idea of kiryu and his dumb fish boyfriend so I rolled with it kdlsjfddsf. I got a few ideas tho 👀

majima's an eel - nothing specific but I leaned to electric since the rpg games give him electricity as an element. also, knifefish (what a coincidentally convenient name 👀) have spots that remind me of his snake's spots so that fit well with his overall theme plus they're related to eels so even better >:D saejima's also a fishdude, a grouper specifically because they're huge and chonky but also gentle uwu

kiryu's a silly lil fisherman guy, one of them commercial types that goes out on a boat to get big hauls. nishiki's there too being the saddest wettest little beast. other characters make up part of the crew in similar ways the canon families are set up. so like kazama and kashiwagi for example are captains of the crew

I have thought about if they were fish too if I wanted to do a branching AU of this and kiryu could maybe be a thresher shark - because they got that big slappy tail but also their huge beautiful eyes™. OR a betta fish because I think the colors would really compliment his heat colors. nishiki can be a koi because of course

kiryu and nishiki live in a lil shack on the shore. nishiki hates it but kiryu likes the simplicity and being close to work. nishiki would move closer to the city but frankly all the haircare product he buys is so obscene that he can't afford a place on his own ✌

majima and saejima (+ yasuko) live in some nearby kelp forests/coral reefs. merfolk tend to stay away from humans and live further out in the ocean, deeper underwater but these three take advantage of all commercial fishing going on to get some easy food. but being so close to fishing trawlers, this leads to majima getting caught in a discarded net, being trapped and beached where kiryu finds him 👀

merfolk can breath air and go on land but it is as awkward as you can imagine. when majima hangs out with kiryu, kiryu drags him up the beach to enough dry land where the tide isn't a problem. merfolk do have to be moisturized often so majima's either doused with a bucket of water or gets a big ass lathering of lotion. whether or not that'd actually be realistic doesn't matter to me I just think it'd be funny for nishiki to be very suspect of the comical amount of lotion kiryu suddenly starts buying

majima's fav thing to do with kiryu is have him fry up some fish since he's never had cooked food before and thinks it's the bee's knees. kiryu will often go into town to buy all sorts of things for majima to try or majima will catch some wack fish from who knows where for kiryu to fry up. they pick secluded beaches as not to be disturbed but kiryu is ready to fling majima into the ocean at a moment's notice just in case

majima has a second set of jaws normally not visible unless he's snacking on a fish. sometimes he pops em out for a smooch and kiryu is wary but willing to try anything 😤 nishiki is often very worried about the numerous weird bite marks kiryu comes home with but kiryu chalks it up to clumsily falling face first into some coral. you can tell by now I'm very into the trope of person dating a cretur is very bad at keeping it a secret dsklgjk

majima tends to have electrical flare ups when he's feeling emotional so kiryu ends up getting zapped a lot. it's not enough to be dangerous but kiryu has since avoided touching light switches and makes nishiki use them first

rarely kiryu will take majima out on the town in a wheelbarrow covered in a blanket and everyone's like *squint* but eventually gets used to his funny lil friend who seems fascinated by literally everything

there's defo some tigerfish action at a later point once nishiki eventually decides to follow kiryu to one of his little secret beachside escapades to not only find out kiryu's being a weirdo as usual but now with a weirdo fishguy. on the other side, saejima is eventually convinced that there is not a bunch of people on the shore waiting with harpoons and nets and joins majima for one of kiryu's fish fries and finds out hey maybe humans ain't so bad if they can put up with majima for more than five minutes

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

hi it's mermay and i'm thinking about sirens. i'm gunna do some looking of my own (at seadragons, probably) but can you think of any fish that look like their tails/features would make a cool mermaid?

Hello! I've actually answered a similar question before, here is my answer to that one:

But since your question is a little different, I'll feature some unique fish species you could find inspiration from!

The rockmover wrasse! Here is an adult, the juvenile is a little wilder:

Crazy patterns! Should go to good use :)

Eels! Just any type of eel, really. They come in such varied shapes and sizes, and have various abilities too! If you're the type of person who likes to give merpeople the features of the fish they're based on, just imagine a moray eel merperson with two jaws! Or a ribbon eel merson whose tail sways like a ribbon while swimming. I'd suggest looking into eels!

Electric eels too! Despite the name, they aren't actually eels at all, so I'm mentioning their genus separately here. Long fish that sense things with electricity and can generate it, even being able to cause prey animals to stop or start swimming with careful shocks... need I say more?

Here's one that could have many ways to be interpreted as a merson. Stargazers! They're ambush predators that hide in the sand, only having their eyes and mouth showing. I'd like to see how those would be interpreted as merpeople.

Mudskippers! The semiaquatic fish that live most of their lives on land.

Another one that walks, frogfish! Many species not only have a lure, but also walk along the bottom of the seafloor. How's that for an interesting merson challenge?

I don't think I've ever seen a merson who looks like a billfish, as in like a swordfish, sailfish or a marlin. The particular fish here is a sailfish!

I don't see some reef fish often, either. How about a moorish idol?

Perhaps the similarly-shaped butterflyfish?

Oh hey, maybe mandarinfish! That's one colourful guy :)

Deep sea fish are always a treat, too. They look very otherworldly compared to the fish we see often in everyday life! My personal favourite is the barreleye, but any friend from the deep is a friend indeed. The stoplight loosejaw who has a private red flashlight, the cookiecutter shark who sneakily bites chunks off bigger animals, bristlemouths with their large jaws and tiny teeth... I recommend looking into fish that have photophores, aka light-producing organs! They're fish that glow in the dark!!! Extremely cool and mysterious...

Lanternfish are a good example of this, I think. They're thought to be the most abundant group of vertebrates, they're deep sea-living, they have photophores, they migrate vertically in humongous schools that literally look like false bottoms to sonar.

Deep sea anglerfish are a classic, old but gold. Seldom used in merfolk! I've tried tackling anglerfish merfolk myself before, I'll feature my concept sketches below for possible inspiration... though they contain artistic nudity, so I'll only feature them under the cut. Nothing major. Cartoon tits.

And there you have it! I got kinda carried away, I'm sure no one minds. Have a fun Mermay! I'm gonna draw some art for it myself, but in the meantime, have this fish ramble :)

Her first initial concept on the left and some additional ones on the right. Anglerfish of all kinds use lures to trick prey, so I wanted to mix the lure aspect with mermaids to create a siren that lures in sailors with her human half and eats them with her fish half. The human half has working eyes, vocal chords and lungs to first spot sailors, then call and sing to them, but besides that all the other organs are in the fish half. No doubt similar merple exist, but this was my take on it! It's a lot of fun to be creative, I recommend just going with the flow and doing what feels the most natural or coolest. You've got this!

[batwritings]

Bat- my guy- I know I haven’t posted here in a hot minute- but my brain is just all foolish rn (for obvious reasons- considering our chats over discord, lol)

So now I’m curious- what tf do you think he’d do with like- an electric eel hybrid as an s/o?

Cause- They’d have the zappy as well

(Take your time with this- Istg- if you don’t-)

🇬🇧✨

Zappy time! Zappy time! Enjoy!~

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The first time you met Foolish, you were shy, hiding behind the ocean's rocks that made up your home. Defensive responses and being rather vague despite his friendly demeanor made you feel a small spark of guilt. Over time, you warmed up to him, realizing his intentions were genuine and he had no desire to harm you or your already fragile home.

The days where the two of you saw each other became more and more frequent. You would lightly tease him with a small zap to his shoulder about how he was making time to come and see you despite his building schedule. You watched his cheeks burn bright red, a spark of its own stirring in your chest.

You would be lying if you hadn't caught yourself thinking of the shark hybrid more often recently. How he could feel to hug, to kiss, to...and that's as far as you would let yourself get. And it seemed those feelings weren't as one-sided as you had once thought.

You felt a small jolt against your hand, tingles of electricity crackling across your palm. Your eyes widened, your gaze shooting up to meet emerald orbs. All emotional crises were set aside in that moment as you immediately blurt, "You're part electric eel too?!" You were bewildered; you knew Foolish was part totem of undying and part shark. Yet to find someone who was also hybrid of your species too, it was near unheard of.

The totem hybrid burst out laughing, his loud squeaks echoing in your ocean cavern. You blushed softly, hiding your face halfway beneath the water. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Foolish laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. "Come, come here, I'll show you why."

You swam after him as he led you back to the surface. He pulled himself out of the water and onto the sand. "Just watch," he instructed, standing a bit back from the water's edge. You shot him a slightly annoyed, yet confused look but did as he asked.

The golden skinned hybrid took a deep breath and you watched in bewilderment as the skies above you abruptly grew dark. Suddenly, lightening strikes and loud claps of thunder surrounded Foolish, like an onset storm. And just as quickly as it started, it was done, the hybrid before you flashing a sharp-toothed smile.

Your eyes were alight with curiosity, question after question flying out of your mouth. Foolish easily matched your pace, providing you answer after answer. It was only until the sun was setting that the two of you realized how late it had really gotten.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" you asked, a small twinge of sadness in your tone. The golden skinned man knelt at the water's edge, offering his pink out to you. You brought yours up, linking it with his and letting a bolt of electricity touch his pinky. Foolish let a jolt of his own run back down to meet you.

"Promise."

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Protector

Chapter One

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Time passed that way for a little bit.  Remus kept up his promise of not asking Virgil what had happened, though Virgil could tell he wanted to.  But it seemed he’d meant it when he said he wouldn’t pry, because he didn’t even watch the videos.  He also kept up his insistence of helping Virgil, however, because he started checking on Virgil more often, and, when Virgil asked or he thought he needed it, getting an ice cube for him to hold or press against his forehead in order to have something to focus on.  (Logan noticed that.  Virgil wasn’t sure what his look meant, or how Virgil felt about it.)

Remus could not be there all the time, naturally, but Virgil was trying to get better about asking him if he needed help.  A lot of times it was easy on Remus’ part anyway, because all Virgil needed was a reminder that his baby brother was safe, and all that required was being in the same space as him.  That did mean the two of them had started spending a lot of time in Remus’ half of The Imagination.

It was growing steadily as Remus worked his creative muscles for the first time in years.  The ideas started getting more Remus-y as time went on, and Virgil often entered to find a new weird thing about the world that had been built.  Sometimes it was a new building, like the museum Remus was designing based around all the times Thomas had done something embarrassing (it was Virgil's fault he still remembered, to be fair, but also Virgil was never going inside).  Sometimes it was a new creature, like the time he walked in and found electric eels swimming through the sky as if it was water.  (Remus had already reassured him that he’d intentionally made it so nothing could hurt them, meaning Virgil had been able to admire the eels and how beautiful they looked instead of worrying about whether or not they’d shock him.)  Sometimes it was a new idea Remus was working on, and he'd found some way to put himself directly inside the idea, like that time he wanted to focus on Thomas stabbing his ex-boyfriend so he turned himself into the knife to better get a feel for how it would work.

Thankfully, Remus had not turned himself into a knife today.

Instead, he was in what Virgil knew as his brainstorming room, which he changed the look and feel of regularly as what he needed shifted.  Sometimes it was a room of wall-to-wall whiteboards.  Sometimes it was filled to the brim with various objects that were seemingly unrelated or unhelpful.  Sometimes it was a Victorian study.  Sometimes it was a Victorian study that had caught on fire.

Today Remus was sitting in a bedroom.  Sitting around him was a combination of both basic things one would expect to be in a bedroom, such as hairbrushes and deodorant (which Remus was eating?), and also things that didn’t seem to have much of a place, such as an enormous toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, and some things that just made no sense at all, like a model of a mountain with a house behind a waterfall and a giant pile of money.

Remus was sitting on a chair he’d made, specifically designed for being able to cross your legs while still being comfortable, and pouring over countless papers and notes he seemed to have tossed onto the bed.

“Hey Re,” Virgil said, walking up to him.  “You doing okay there?”

“Thomas is making another motivation video,” Remus said.  “He’s calling it ‘Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning,’ so now I’m here.”  He took another bite out of deodorant, and held it out to Virgil.  “Want some?”

“Uh… I’m good.  You know I can make you food if you’re hungry?”

“I’m not hungry.  Just wanted to eat deodorant.”

“…Okay then.  Fair enough I guess?  Do you need some help?”

“Roman’s argument needs work,” Remus grumbled, scribbling something else down on a paper.  “It’s going to be some kind of argument between Roman and Logan, and Logan’s argument is done already.  Roman’s talking about achieving dreams and goals and all that stuff, but he doesn’t make a single mention of anything we leave behind.  Neither of them are talking about Thomas’ legacy.”

“You think that’s important?” Virgil asked, stepping up beside Remus to look down at his notes.

“Well, yeah,” Remus said.  “Thomas isn’t going to be here forever Virgin, if we follow Logan’s argument and spend our days only thinking about making that life last long, we’ll never do anything with it!  Roman needs a stronger comeback than what he’s got.”

Virgil bit his lip as he thought.  Personally he kind of saw Logan’s point.  The legacy Remus wanted to build wouldn’t happen if Thomas died before he could do so.  There was a reason he pushed so hard for Thomas’ safety, and it wasn’t only because he worried about him getting hurt.  Thomas needed enough time to be able to build something substantial, like Remus and Roman, and therefore Virgil too, wanted.

But if this was supposed to be an argument between Roman and Logan, it probably wouldn’t make much sense for Roman to compromise.  At least, not right away.  The video would likely end there, as most of Thomas’ videos did.

Remus did not seem to be coming at it from this mindset though, and Virgil got it.  He and Roman had very similar perspectives on this issue, even if they weren’t exactly the same.

“Do you want some help?” he asked Remus, leaning down next to him against the desk.

“Nope, I’m good.  In the zone,” Remus said, taking another bite of deodorant.

“Fair enough,” Virgil said.  “I’ll leave you to it then.  I’ll get you when it’s time for dinner, okay?”

“Okay,” Remus said, waving his hand to show acknowledgement before focusing back on his notes.

Virgil, satisfied that he was okay, sank out and reappeared back in the commons.  Dinner wasn’t for a couple hours, but it was usually a good idea to start early rather than late, as Remus got hungry early on and Patton wouldn’t make dinner for the others if they were in there at the same time.

So, Virgil made some mac and cheese and put it in the back of the fridge to heat up later, and then headed back to his own room to relax.  Remus was safe for now, at least trying to relax probably wasn’t a terrible idea.

That didn’t mean he was… good at it.  Logan had said things that might help were grounding exercises and reminders that he was safe, but Virgil’s brain was really bad at accepting that idea.

Probably due to the fact that he was quite literally meant to be Thomas’ instinct for when he wasn’t safe.  Throw into the mix that for so many years he hadn’t been safe at all, and well, Virgil was kind of a mess.  What else was new?

He liked music.  Particularly any kind of loud screaming in his ear could give the nerves something to scream back at, and when the music stopped sometimes he could calm down.  He was beginning to take a liking to horror for the same reason.

He didn’t really want to do either of those right now, though, meaning he was kind of stuck with the ball of nerves in his chest for no good reason.

Unless there was a good reason.  Unless there was something to be worried about.  Maybe the others had somehow found a way over here, and everyone was in danger and Virgil was sitting in his room.  Maybe they were getting to Remus right now, or Roman.  Or maybe they’d decided to go for one of the sides that had no idea how to defend themselves, like Patton or Logan or Janus.  Maybe they were going for Thomas.

Virgil whined and reached up towards his hair before catching himself.  That wasn’t a good idea.  But he didn’t want to bother Remus for an ice cube right now, he was busy being in the zone and all that.

He should just check on the others.  Hopefully that would calm his nerves and he could go back to his room and find something that sounded appealing to do.

Virgil shook his hands out to hopefully get rid of some of the nerves, and sank out to the commons.

Logan’s door was closed, meaning he was working.  And since these idiots didn’t keep their doors soundproofed, Virgil could walk up to it and press his ear to the door.  No screaming.  No cries for help.  Just a very light scratching of pencil on paper, that Virgil was barely able to hear through the wood.

But Logan was safe.  Moving on then.

He heard Roman and Patton’s voices both coming downstairs from the kitchen, and a quick peak around the edge of the steps revealed them to be baking cookies.  Huh, Virgil couldn’t remember the last time someone other than just Patton did that.  Regardless, no screaming, no blood, no signs of danger.  They were alright then.

Virgil walked quietly back over towards Janus’ door and pressed his ear up against it.

He didn’t hear anything.  That didn’t help with his nerves.

Virgil clenched his hands, took a deep breath, and looked out at Thomas, the next likely location.

And he found Thomas blocked off.

No, no, no, what was going on?

Virgil took a deep breath, and sank out.  He appeared silently on the stairs, above his usual spot so he could hide in the shadows, and peered through them.

Janus and Thomas were talking, but neither of them looked hurt.  Neither of them looked scared.  Thomas looked unsure about something, but not in a nervous way.

“…but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop,” Janus said, clasping his hands together behind his back.  Likely so Thomas wouldn’t see the way they were shaking.  “I’m not done, Thomas.”

Thomas crossed his arms, but rather than looking angry, he seemed concerned.  “Janus,” he said.  “I feel like you’re taking too much blame for yourself, buddy.”

“It has nothing to do with how much blame I’m taking Thomas,” Janus said, blatantly lying through his teeth if Virgil had anything to say about it.  “It is my responsibility to make sure you’re ready to handle the others.  If you’re not ready to handle them they shouldn’t be in a position to speak to you.”

Virgil’s blood ran cold.  Janus better not be saying what it sounded like he was saying.

“Honestly Janus,” Thomas said hesitantly.  “I feel like we’re doing okay handling Remus.  I appreciate your efforts, but hasn’t he kind of calmed down a bit?”

“I don’t trust it,” Janus said, crossing his arms.  “He could be planning something worse.  I have to find a way to lock him up again.”

Virgil clenched his hands tightly into fists.  He was not going to make a noise he was not going to make a noise he was not going to make a noise—

“I’m just saying don’t push yourself,” Thomas said, reaching out and laying a hand on Janus’ arm, who predictably jerked away immediately.

“I…” Thomas looked bothered, but he put his hand down.  “I’m okay, Janus.”

Janus didn’t say anything, but either way, Virgil had heard enough.  He sank back out to the commons, heading straight for the kitchen.

Roman and Patton were still making cookies, and looked understandably surprised when Virgil showed up seething in rage.

“If you send Remus back,” he growled at both of them.  “I am going with him.”

Both of them stared at him.

“What?” Roman asked.

“If you all send Remus back to that place,” Virgil said, walking forward and jabbing a finger against Roman’s chest.  “I am going too.  And you can’t stop me and you can’t make me stay and I will not be kept from him a second time.”

Roman held up his hands and nudged Virgil gently back.  “Now who exactly said anything about sending Remus back?” he said angrily.  “That was a pretty big part of the deal you forced on all of us, Jason Toddler.”

“Yeah well the two-faced snake you all let into your family is shit at keeping deals,” Virgil hissed.  “If you care about Remus even a fraction of the amount that I do, you better talk Janus down.  Or I’ll force him again.  This is your only warning.”

“You do not get to make demands of me, Anxiety,” Roman said firmly, narrowing his eyes.

“Watch me,” Virgil snapped, before storming from the room.

“I’m sorry, padre,” he heard Roman say as he did.  “I don't know what in the world got into him.”

“I wasn’t scared, Roman,” Patton said.  “And that wasn’t your fault, you don’t need to apologize.”

Virgil didn’t hear any more of their conversation, because he’d made it to the top of the steps and marched over to slam the door to his room shut.

He was not sending Remus back to the others alone again.  Ideally, neither of them would go to the others again at all, but if it came to that, Remus most definitely wasn’t doing it alone.

Virgil clenched his hands around his jeans.  Well, at least rage was a proper distraction from fear.  Though he wouldn’t deny there was some terror in there too.

He hadn’t thought Janus would stoop this low.  He didn’t know why he’d been so stupid.  Janus was Janus, and Virgil should stop having standards for him.  But he didn’t get to break their deal just because he felt like a failure.

…Except it was Virgil’s fault he felt like a failure.  He was the one who forced him into that deal.  Not that he wouldn’t do it again.  But still.

Virgil buried his head in his hands, his mind drifting to the look on Janus’ face when he realized Virgil had been lying to him.  Or at least, he thought Virgil had.  (Hadn’t he been?)

That had to be a low blow, to get manipulated as Deceit.  But Virgil had only been doing what he had to.  Janus would have appreciated that once upon a time.

A loud knock on his door drew Virgil from his thoughts.  Virgil growled, trying to redirect his anger towards whoever would be waiting on the other side of the door.  It wouldn’t be Remus.  He wouldn’t have knocked.

“What do you want?” Virgil snapped, yanking it open.

“I don’t understand,” Roman said.

“Shocker, Roman doesn’t understand something,” Virgil said, starting to slam the door again, but Roman caught it.

“I don’t understand,” Roman said firmly.  “Why you came to scream that at me.”

Virgil scowled.  “I need a reason?”

“You could have just as easily screamed at Janus,” Roman said.

Well, that wasn’t true.  Scream at Janus one too many times and they both really would get locked up.  But Roman didn’t know that, so instead, Virgil settled for a much weaker excuse.

“Janus was too busy being awful.”

Roman narrowed his eyes, seeming both angry at the comment and still confused.  “Patton and I were baking cookies.”

“Patton and you are insignificant,” Virgil said, slipping into an asshole tone, because if he made Roman angry he’d probably just storm off.

And Roman did narrow his eyes further and clench his hands, but surprisingly, he didn’t walk away.  “You could have gone to Logan,” Roman said, crossing his arms.

Virgil clenched his own hands into fists at his side.  “You’re the one who gets nightmares like a little wimpy baby,” he said.  “Maybe I like playing to your weaknesses.  Now go away.”

Roman took what looked like a calming breath, and Virgil didn’t understand why he wouldn’t leave.

“So you’re looking for an ally,” Roman said, and Virgil blinked.

“Did I say that?” he snapped, trying to get the conversation back in his favor.

“You’re not going to find one in me,” Roman said.  “Just because I— you think I care about Remus does not mean I’m going to forget what you two did.”

“Great.  Thanks,” Virgil said, leaning against the doorway to try and seem as casual as possible.  “Are you done talking about things we both already knew?”

“But,” Roman continued as if Virgil hadn’t spoken.  “We’re not going to send you back, Anxiety.”

Virgil stiffened against the door and narrowed his eyes up at Roman.  “Yes, because that’s up to you.”

“Janus isn’t going to send you back either, Surly Temple,” Roman said, rolling his eyes.  “He’s just worried about Thomas.”

Virgil clenched his hands.  “I think you’re underestimating him.”

“I’ll talk to him then,” Roman said, and Virgil startled, jerking upright.  “But neither of you are going to be sent back, Anxiety.”

Virgil stared.  “You’ll talk to him?”

Roman scowled.  “Don’t read into that.  I want you to stop bothering me about it.  And I don’t particularly enjoy having my time with Patton interrupted by someone screaming at me.  So if it will get you off my back, yes, I’ll talk to him.”

And with that, he finally turned around and stormed off, leaving Virgil to stare after him and be bewildered.

...

Chapter Twenty-Six

[lilliths-httyd-blog]

At some point Hiccup and the Riders had left for an overnight mission. What they were doing Viggo didn’t know. The Riders had kept most of their plans secret. At least, he thought they did. Sometimes he wondered if they were even planning for Johann and Krogan’s downfall at all. He’d assumed they would be, it wouldn’t make sense for them to not be. In any case, Viggo was alone for the night, say for Beast, who was digging into a basket of fish that Hiccup had left for her. Viggo watched curiously as Beast gently fried one of the fish with a burst of electricity and then carried it over to Viggo. “What’s all this?” he asked. Beast tossed the fish up onto the desk at which Viggo was sitting. He’d been composing another poem. Beast gestured to the fish. “Is that for me, is it?” Viggo asked. Beast nodded. “Oh, thank you,” Viggo smiled, analysing the fish. It was well cooked - quite hot but not burned or dry in the slightest. Viggo couldn’t help but chuckle. He himself couldn’t cook for shit, yet his dragon could cook something to perfection. He tasted the fish. It was delicious! The pair dined together for a while, Viggo observing Beast’s mannerisms. Viggo’s heart nearly stopped when he noticed her absentmindedly snatch up an eel which had somehow ended up in the basket. “That’s an eel! Beast, don’t eat that!” he exclaimed in a panic. Beast paused and noted the eel dangling from her mouth, then continued to eat like nothing had happened. “Is- Is that okay?” Viggo asked, “Can you eat that?” Beast nodded, unalarmed. “Right, right,” Viggo tried to relax his tense shoulders. Now that he thought about it, the Dragon Eye had mentioned something about bog-dwelling Skrills having no issue with eating eels. Perhaps all Skrills were the same? Viggo noticed that Beast was largely ignoring the fish that had spilled out on her right side, only snatching them up when she caught scent of them. “Your eye isn’t giving you too much trouble, is it?” Viggo asked. Beast shrugged. She checked her right side, spurred on by Viggo’s comment, and was delighted to find a pile of fish she’d missed. “I get it,” Viggo murmured, rubbing his left cheek. He still wasn’t used to his own half-blindness almost five months after he’d sustained his injuries. He knew exactly how Beast was faring. When Beast finished eating she ambled over to Viggo and nuzzled up against him, avoiding his back as best she could. She wrapped her wings around his form and gently drew him close into what Viggo recognised as a hug. This gesture made Viggo’s lonely heart ache a little. The last time he’d hugged someone was when he’d hugged Ryker all those months ago, and even that had been just a performance more than anything. Viggo leaned into Beast’s hug and listened to her contented purrs. It felt nice to have a friend. Viggo slept under Beast’s wing that night. She quite literally radiated warmth that was immensely soothing against Viggo’s injuries. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and used her wing like a blanket. Normally Viggo had immense trouble in getting to sleep at night, often lying awake for hours before slipping into light, restless slumber. Tonight, however, Viggo fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost immediately.

- Viggo Lives AU: Chapter Two, Segment Two

So basically yes, she does make sure he's well fed, though she knows quite well that he cannot eat certain foods without them being cooked and whatnot. In my AU dragons are as intelligent as humans and can understand human speech and complex sentence structure once they've had enough exposure to it (basically if Toothless was taught sign he could speak). So she knows what to feed him and what to avoid. She brings him food when she notices he hasn't eaten in a while. (though she doesn't baby-bird style feed anyone except her own babies)

and yes i have considered a few times moments when viggo has been interrogating hiccup only for everything to start spinning and he's had to sit down and ryker's like "???? i told you to eat???"

ryker reminding viggo to eat something because he hasn't eaten in like two days

[phoenix-manga]

Vice Dorm Leaders getting along with Pokémon:

It didn’t take long for the vice dorm leaders to get involved with the Pokemon too. The shenanigans that happened with them are... interesting to say the least.

Trey + Slurpuff

“The Unbirthday Party was a success thanks to this little guy’s sense of smell… Though I should expect to make a large portion for it, the number of sweets it ate was shocking for everyone!”

Trey was a bit skeptical when Phoebe lent him Slurpuff and told him that chefs would use them to sniff out the freshest ingredients but if they say so then it must be worth a try.

Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised to see the cake thing nudge him to the best ingredients to use for his sweets. He rewarded Slurpuff with a spoon covered in frosting or batter. The Pokémon mostly stayed out of his way and only has to bring him some tools or supplies.

When he presented the sweets he made, everyone including Riddle were almost knocked into a food coma with how good it was. Even Trey was lost in the trance of the flavor, but he was snapped out of it when he spotted Slurpuff eating almost half of the buffet table, he rushed to it and told it to ask him for more sweets to prevent any problems.

Ruggie + Crobat

“That Phoebe kid feeds you this? Aww man! I’m so jealous, now I wish I was a Pokémon!”

That one-time Ruggie came across Crobat was when he passed by Ramshackle to see a large bat creature with four wings eating from a large bowl filled with berries, Poke puffs and even poffins. The amount it ate distracted him from his usual task and he only snapped out of it when Crobat made eye-contact with him.

Crobat wasn’t sure why a stranger was here but it assumed it wanted food so Crobat nudged a Poke puff towards Ruggie’s direction before going back to chow down. Ruggie didn’t plan on asking it for any food, he was just curious but since it offered, who is he to decline? Picking up the Poke puff and taking a bite, he immediately devours it till there’s nothing left. That was the tastiest pastry he has had; they were even better than the ones in the cafeteria.

He hears Phoebe call out to Crobat and he took this time to scram before he was found. That kid pampers their creatures like royalty, he admits that he once had the thought that wishes that he was a Pokémon too. Ruggie now sneaks to go to Ramshackle and Crobat sneaks him a portion of its food, Ruggie repays it by offering some to it as well. They just formed this unspoken lunch trade. The one time Phoebe made malasadas for Crobat, Ruggie was in heaven lemme tell you.

Phoebe has no idea about this, this was just a secret thing between Crobat and Ruggie. One time Phoebe was with Crobat in the field and it spots Ruggie, Crobat immediately goes to him and flies around him. Phoebe assumed that Crobat took a liking to Ruggie because it probably sensed that he’s a foodie. Oh, if only she knew.

Jade + Lapras

“Such kind yet protective eyes you have~ I’m far from trustworthy yet you nuzzle against me like a seal, this is quite interesting”

Phoebe asked Azul if she can be allowed to have her water Pokémon swim about in Octavinelle. The lake is much too small for the larger ones. Azul gave her permission but in exchange she has to work part-time at the lounge, Azul is capitalizing as usual. The mention of Pokémon being at Octavinelle brought more customers to the lounge, the one that got the most attention was Lapras.

It was very friendly and even paused to look inside the lounge from the windows. Phoebe was not surprised that Lapras was friendly, what she didn’t expect was that it got attached to Jade for some reason. She would have thought it was Sharpedo or even Eelektross who would get along with the cunning vice dorm leader. But instead, Lapras is swimming happily in circles wanting Jade’s attention.

Jade, of course, finds the Pokémon endearing and would always take his time to pet it whenever he’s on break. Even offering Lapras a small treat or two, Lapras is enjoying it. There was a rare occasion that Jade swam with Lapras in his eel form, at times he swims alongside Lapras or have it chase him through the water, other times he just sleeps on Lapras’ back as it swam.

Jamil + Serperior

“Quite the proud one you are, at least you’re more tolerable than Kalim…”

Kalim promised a favor without consulting Jamil again, this time it was to look after some of her Pokémon. Kalim got caught up in the excitement of having to get close with those strange creatures that he didn’t think that it could be troublesome.

Jamil stopped in his tracks at the sight of Kalim with a large green snake behind him. Boy did he get quite the scolding from Jamil, but what can he do now that Kalim as already offered? He just decides to “help” him take care of Serperior. Thankfully, Phoebe provided a list of ingredients that Serperior likes, the list was as long as an A4 paper but at least Jamil has his options cut out for him. He doesn’t have to guess and waste any food.

Serperior mostly kept to itself and wanders around the dorm, inspecting its surroundings. Kalim tries to hug it but it just wraps its body around him and places him a few feet away before slithering off. Serperior will feel terrible if he smacks the sunshine boy away, so it places him at a good distance.

Jamil often sees it staring at him, its sharp eyes resemble his own. He never expected to have it get attached to him in a rather proud way. Everywhere Jamil goes, Serperior follows at a distance and there were rare moments it coils near his bedroom door, and Jamil walks out one morning only to fall into its coils. This strange behavior was suspicious at first but then Jamil learned to get used to it. Serperior is a curious one but then he thinks its more tolerable than Kalim.

Speaking of Kalim, Serperior sensed that most of Jamil’s stress comes from Kalim being a goofball that he is, so it catches Kalim and puts him in a coil hold when he’s about to do something reckless.

Rook + Oricorio

“Oh my! Such grace and beauty you possess to dance with excellent skills! Wait, you mean to tell me it had four forms? I would like to see it, please show me”

He spotted the dancing bird Pokémon in the field when they were having a PE class. Oricorio was in its Pom-Pom form and doing a cheer dance to motivate Grimm to fly better. He couldn’t help but approach Phoebe and ask her about Oricorio.

Needless to say, he was very interested. A creature that has four different forms that represents a different environment? It was like a fox having more than just a winter coat. He asked to see its other forms, it would be tiring to have it change forms constantly so Phoebe just brings out Rotom to show him the pictures of the Oricorio forms. Rook admired the pictures and each one gave off a different kind of beauty.

Oricorio, being a simp for pretty boys, took a liking to Rook. He was just so charming, Oricorio does its happy dance and follows him whenever it sees him. Phoebe once asked him if he can keep Oricorio company for a few days, he accepts the offer and he brings it to Pomefiore. Oricorio also liked Vil and Epel due to how charming their looks are, Vil is fine with it as long as it isn’t a troublemaker while Epel is kind of bummed out when he thinks it likes him because of his fragile looks.

The moment Rook was shown its changed forms in person, he is taking out his camera and is taking burst shots from all sorts of angles and lighting. Out of all the four forms Oricorio has, he loves its Baile form the most, the way it dances with embers around it in a display of passion and power. He looks forward to Phoebe asking him to look after Oricorio again.

Ortho + Emolga & Pachirisu

“Hey! That tickles, big brother you should try and pet them! They’re like those plushies you sometimes order in your room. Isn’t it like having your favorite plushy as a pet?”

Emolga and Pachirisu are both cheeky Pokémon and a duo for trouble. Emolga and Pachirisu were seen making student’s hair go static and stick out with small electric waves.

Ortho spotted the two behind some bushes and immediately approaches them, this is the first time Emolga and Pachirisu were caught off guard and startled. Their electric attacks don’t do much to Ortho due to his robotic circuits, if anything he considers it as some form of tickling.

Ortho thought how cute they looked and they resemble plush toys in his brother’s room. Emolga and Pachirisu was weirded out by Ortho at first but his cheerfulness was infectious and it didn’t take long for them to treat him as part of their group. Whenever Ortho passes by, the two would pounce on him and swing from his arms and legs, Ortho likes this game, he finds it useful to use his scanner to see where they might pop out next.

One time, he took them to see his brother and they made his hair stick out. He was startled but Ortho found it amusing, he got to see what would his hair look like if it stuck out. Emolga and Pachirisu still do their pranks but its less due to them wanting to find Ortho first.

Lilia + Dragapult

“A prankster and yet you dote on the little ones on your horns? We might be cousins from a distant world, fufu~ Let’s go scare Sebek some more!”

Dragapult pranks Sebek a lot, poor boy gets it from almost a lot of Pokémon. It once shot a Dreepy in his shirt causing him to squirm and try to get it out, he looked like he was doing a crazy monkey dance. Lilia appreciates this little prankster and he would join it in tormenting other students but mostly Sebek because his reactions were very amusing to watch. The two even went and started a pranking competition where they tally their number of pranked students for the whole month.

Lilia was allowed to play and hold the small Dreepy that reside in Dragapult’s horns. He melted at the sight of the little cuties playfully tussling his hair, which gave him an idea to mimic Dragapult’s horns(?) With an easy hair growth potion and a LOT of hairspray, he came to school with his hair in Dragapult’s style.

The sight alone in Diasomnia sent everyone, including Malleus into a stunned silence, Dragapult added fuel to the flame by letting the Dreepy reside in his hair for the rest of the day. Crowley saw Lilia and mumbled how the trends have gotten crazier every day. Cater took pictures and he laughed at the sight because it was so outlandish. Kalim was confused but precious boy still appreciated his hairstyle nonetheless. The perfect chaotic duo.

[tsukiida]

pining — bakugou katsuki

— info :: bakugou x gn!reader ; sfw ; slight angst & humour ; 3.13k words.

— contents :: quirkless reader ; bakugou’s pov ; one-sided attraction ; bakugou being bakugou ; well-meaning wingmen bakusquad.

— synopsis :: katsuki hates the way you make him feel.

— note :: this is my first time writing bnha, let alone bakugou, I hope I do it justice… if you read this, thank you, I hope you like it! :)

katsuki swears he hates you.

to be honest, he’d rather hate you, than feel like… this about you.

he’s convinced you’re messing with him. your quirk must make it so, because there’s no other reason why he feels his body heat up, his heart beat quicker somewhere deep in his chest, every time he thinks of you. you’re definitely doing it on purpose.

it’s that damned shopping trip to blame.

the girls had dragged everyone out to have some bonding time, which is the shittiest excuse katsuki has ever heard for splurging and buying pretty dessert that clogs up arteries. he’d have skipped out on it, but raccoon eyes begged kirishima, who in turn begged katsuki.

that’s another thing that pisses him off; remembering exactly how the other boy had convinced him. really, he couldn’t give less of a shit about something like romance, but of course the extras are going out of their mind about how popular they are with their preferred gender, and of course they had to drag him into it.

no, he doesn’t care at all, but it hurts his ego pride to entertain the idea that he might not be #1 at something even as petty as that.

hell, he doesn’t even care about being #1, as long as he’s doing better than deku.

but he’s not blind. cheeks is obsessed with the green haired idiot, her heart probably having a taste of her own quirk and shooting off into the universe fluttering madly every time she looks at him.

it’s like the world is out to get him, because not only did he have to accompany all the losers to their stupid trip, but he also had to, under duress, with that goal in mind? really? grade schoolers, the whole lot of them.

what he hates most about the whole thing is you, though.

and you’re doing exactly the things he hates.

ever since you stumbled across deku during that trip, tapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him, it’s like you punched katsuki in the gut. he can’t forget the way you’d looked so meek, but still somehow comfortable around deku, and he’d be damned if he doesn’t hate that.

and for the life of him, he can’t recall ever seeing you during his days in middle school. you claimed that you’d been classmates with deku – and by extension, katsuki – for an entire year, and deku sure seems to recognise you. but katsuki doesn’t. deku lights up like a stupid bulb, but katsuki does not.

he hadn’t needed to know details about any of the dumb extras that had infested middle school, more so any of them who didn’t already seem to know that he is the best. that must’ve been why he didn’t know you. there weren’t too many people who didn’t believe in his worth, but the ones who didn’t… they weren’t special enough for him to remember. they could never prove him wrong, after all. they were nothing.

but you.

he hates you. he strongly dislikes you. he can’t stand you.

and you seem to love that shitty deku.

no, it’s not the same kind of emotion that uraraka holds for him.

you absolutely adore that girl too, and she treats you nicely enough despite the wary look in her eyes initially, when she thought she was being subtle while hovering around deku.

no, katsuki hasn’t been observing. especially not because he’s interested. he is literally just looking out for himself, because he doesn’t want to be blindsided just because he wasn’t careful of some scheming pest.

the pest in question being you.

you’re already wreaking havoc on his mind, full of nothing but thoughts of you, other than being #1. he would never give up on that, no matter how much you make his heart pound and palms sweat.

you’re kinda helpful for his quirk, actually, and that’s the only reason he hasn’t already blasted you off into nothingness. the accelerated heart rate does wonders for him. but he doesn’t want to credit you either for something he could achieve with his own hard work.

he can definitely credit you for being the most annoying idiot that he knows, though. your quirk is painful, because late at night when he’s alone, he’s hit by images of your face. you hang out so much with his classmates now, he can’t help it. he can’t even sleep peacefully, because when he does fall asleep, his often dreamless nights are swapped out for stupid sequences produced by his subconscious involving you, because of your silly little quirk that you think katsuki is unaware of.

it gets worse.

he finds out you’re quirkless.

he storms up to you when he’s had enough. not only do you go to a school quite near theirs, but you also always have time to meet up, and isn’t that super convenient for whatever grand scheme you’ve concocted in order to try and take down bakugou katsuki.

it’s a half-growled and half-whispered, threat-filled one-sided conversation between him and you when he asks you to stop whatever you’re trying to do. you, being the infuriating person that you are, just tilt your head and stare at him in confusion. in the name of all might, that should not make his heart skip a beat, because he doesn’t have any intention of using his quirk right now. he just wants you to stop using yours. that’s all he’s there for.

but then you just shrug slightly, that damned nervous smile plastered on your face that you’ve barely been showing anymore, now that you’re comfortable with the extras. you shake your head when he asks you, as nicely as he can, to stop whatever messed up thing you like doing to him.

“this your way of trying to win against me? you can’t,” he grits through his teeth, fingers itching to create little explosions. he’s not going to show his off when asking you to call yours off. he won’t—

you tell him you have no idea what he’s talking about, because you’re as quirkless as they come.

with all the strength that he can muster within himself to not have an outburst, he asks you to repeat yourself.

you do. “i’m quirkless.”

in the end, he can’t help himself, and sets off a series of minute explosions that have you hopping back, out of his arm’s reach. as if he’d harm you with them, he thinks while glaring at you.

katsuki would like to say that he got over it quickly, but it takes a while, truthfully. at first he can’t wrap his mind around the fact that you’re quirkless, because then every thought of you that’s haunted him the past few months is without explanation.

you being quirkless literally opens up so many other questions. if you’re quirkless, then who’s to blame for everything happening to him? is it someone else at fault? are you just stupid and oblivious and unaware of your own quirk? did it manifest late? did someone grant it to you? there are so many questions, and things are still the same, if not worse. he barely thinks of anything else.

at least he can write it off in the name of being better at defending himself from stray quirks affecting him.

he hates it, but he asks kirishima, very subtly, if he’s heard of anyone whose quirk has the effects katsuki hates suffering from. the stupid redhead simply looks him dead in the eye and says that it sounds like the case of a bad crush quirk, something out of cheap romance novels which might be quite dangerous in practice, before proceeding to ask katsuki why he’s curious about it. bless his stupid soul, sometimes, because he completely buys the lie katsuki feeds him.

he didn’t want to have to convince kirishima that he doesn’t have a crush. because he doesn’t want to even entertain the idea of having a crush on stupid little you.

especially when you barely even give him the time of day anymore.

well, you’ve never really been the closest to him, nor does he want that, thank you very much! but it seems like the only time you and him ever had a proper conversation was when he asked you about your quirk, and that too ended badly, with barely any words exchanged. but at least you used to smile at him. not that he liked it or anything, but it was better than you giving him the cold shoulder.

are the extras actually more interesting to you than katsuki is? he’s a little miffed if that’s the case. but whenever he talks, you hear him, sometimes even respond to him, so perhaps it’s not a matter of ignoring him.

it’s just one thing you do.

you avoid his eyes.

it’s subtle enough that no one else notices, and the first few times he sees you look away when your eyes meet his, his breath catches in his throat and he’s almost too shocked to breathe in.

he knows that he’s not done anything to warrant that reaction from you. perhaps you’re simply realising after a long time that he’s the one you should be paying attention to, rather than all the extras. and perhaps it’s easier for you to pay attention to him with your ears rather than your eyes. he can understand that. your eyes seem to have that effect on him too; it’s entirely possible that this way is easier for you to focus on him.

maybe he makes you nervous.

there are so many maybes, but that thought still makes a grin tug at his lips, seeing which kirishima almost gets nervous. yeah, he’s getting cocky.

but that’s fine. he doesn’t plan on approaching you yet.

after all, if you’re into him, you should be brave enough to tell him.

…

honestly, it’s completely the electric eel’s fault. really, it’s 100% his fault because he thinks it’s fun to talk about stupid shit around katsuki. stupid shit like you possibly having a crush on deku, even though all signs say otherwise.

katsuki was willing to overlook that, but then raccoon eyes decided to encourage that hypothesis, and soon the idiots around him were talking in hushed whispers about deku’s supposed fanclub. such a situation definitely warranted katsuki blowing up their asses during training.

katsuki hates training with deku with a burning passion, but such a situation also warranted going up to him and demanding that he train with katsuki. if only he’d had enough mind to notice that the class was ending. if only he’d not run his mouth—

“they’ll never even look at you.”

deku doesn’t know shit about what katsuki just said, looking at him like he grew another head – which pisses him off even more – but kirishima and the rest of them know—

they know that katsuki is still hung up over that stupid conversation from days back, and they also know something’s up, and katsuki hates himself for being an idiot.

they corner him, as impossible as that sounds. katsuki would’ve blasted them off into outer space but they literally pile up onto him, clinging and refusing to let go of him even when he threatens to beat their ass again. curse sero’s tape.

katsuki would like to say that he fends them all off and throws them off his case. unfortunately, that does not happen. they find out a few things that day. thankfully, the only things they do find out are: you really get on katsuki’s nerves, and you also have a silly little crush on him.

“for real? are you sure?” ashido asks, eyebrows knit together like it’s something particularly unbelievable, and kaminari nods along uncertainly.

katsuki scoffs. “no other reason why they can’t look me in the eye.”

“i mean, you are kinda scary…” sero starts, but one glare from the scary person in question has him trailing off.

kirishima politely provides, “he’s manly!” and the conversation ends there.

…

oh, but the scheming doesn’t end.

kaminari is a bloody idiot, and encouraged by the equally idiotic sero, both of them come up with various scenarios wherein you and katsuki could stumble into each other, completely coincidentally, as if katsuki can’t hear them gossiping right behind him.

he ends up having to intervene when they get increasingly creative, which only means disaster in katsuki’s book.

“i’ll just wait.” he simply shrugs, watching the idiots get confused.

“fun to watch them squirm when they think they’re being subtle,” he offers further, and kirishima gives him a disapproving look, mumbling something about sadists.

“bakugou,” ashido stares at him critically, opening and shutting her mouth many times before eventually asking, “do you like them?”

after several more explosions, katsuki’s heart beating too fast in his chest, the sweat beading at his temples written off as part of his quirk, he’s able to dispel the idea from her mind.

he’ll never like someone like you.

and he’s still wary of you in the secret corner of his mind, not sure why he reacts the way he does to you. he’s not stupid, he knows what a crush is and how it works, but he really can’t see himself being attracted to you at all.

it has to be something someone concocted to get him weak, but they’re not going to succeed.

even if not having your eyes on him pisses him off more, making him feel irrational and prone to dangerous stunts and outbursts. even if not seeing you around much makes him feel like there’s not much to show off to. even if he really doesn’t feel like there’s anything worth showing off when he spies poor little you hanging around his classmates, quirkless and gentle.

gross.

…

katsuki hates being wrong.

katsuki hates knowing he’s wrong.

katsuki barely ever is wrong.

but when he is, he messes up completely.

if he were to possess the ability to correct one thing, he’d just lock up the idiots who call themselves his friends, and not let them near you.

they notice your little mannerisms too, of course they do when katsuki himself told them that you like him. they notice that you don’t meet his eyes and prefer staying away from him, but still respond to him whenever he talks. they notice that you don’t seem to fear him like some people do; almost as if you’re comfortable with him.

and they also notice things he wishes they didn’t notice, like the way his skin reddens imperceptibly when he sees you, and the way he makes an effort to not blast things up too much in your vicinity.

(it’s not really much use anymore, unfortunately.)

it’s definitely kaminari who is to blame; he always is for everything. katsuki doesn’t need any more reason to want to absolutely pummel him, because with the tape idiot’s encouragement, he bounces up to you one day and asks the dreaded question.

“what do you think of bakugou?” the blond asks, grinning from ear to ear as if he’s done something wonderful, but the way your eyebrow creases in confusion makes katsuki’s heart skip a beat. erratic. he doesn’t know what to make of the expression on your face. and no, he’s not waiting for your response, dammit. he’s 100% busy ignoring everyone. he can’t let you know all of his attention is on him, especially when you’re about to turn your head to look in his direction.

“he’s okay,” the words eventually leave your mouth, and he almost snorts. just okay? are you stupid, or just pretending to be? he knows your vocabulary is bigger than that.

“don’t you…” kaminari leans in dramatically, and katsuki has to strain his ears to hear—

“don’t you like him?”

well, hell. guess someone missed the tact memo.

that’s fine, though, katsuki’s okay with that. maybe letting you shyly avoid him isn’t the best course of action when you refuse to make a move.

you let out a non-committal noise, prompting another round of questions. the way you further get confused and respond with questions of your own makes something nag at the back of katsuki’s mind.

there’s something steadily sinking, and said sinking feeling grows the longer you talk to the electric idiot. by this point, katsuki has realised he’s missing something, but he’s still confident that it’s nothing he can’t overlook at this crucial moment when you spill the beans.

“my dear, sweet y/n, don’t you like bakugou?!” kaminari finally exclaims, possibly frustrated, and katsuki internally wheezes. he’s preoccupied with what you’ll say next, so laughing at the idiot’s expense takes a back seat.

he has to hand it to you; you’re really hard to crack, and it’s almost annoying. katsuki’s tempted to just burst his way over to you and demand a clear confession.

the answer isn’t something he’s expecting.

“not that he’s not, y’know, nice and all,” you babble, clearly stalling. you exhale at the same time as katsuki inhaling, and he holds his breath, waiting for the shoe to drop. really, maybe kaminari isn’t so bad if he can actually weasel the truth out of you with his stupid self.

“it’s just… he’s kind of scary. i try not to get in his way.”

kaminari seems just as stumped as katsuki feels in that moment.

“but… the way you act around him…”

well said, pikachu.

“oh.” that single word feels a bit like a gunshot. “oh, oh, i see. oh, no.” you need to stop saying ‘oh’ so many times, as if that changes anything.

“i’m sure he’s a good guy, but nope, i’m not interested in him romantically. i only act so awkward around him because that’s exactly how he makes me feel. i don’t even know him that well.”

can you stop twisting the knife?

“bakugou noticed,” kaminari mumbles, loud enough that katsuki hears. the words sound like they’re laced with pity. katsuki hates it, but what he hates more is how the idiot’s voice lowers to a whisper to say something to you that he really can’t hear from the distance.

katsuki also hates how your lips part and understanding dawns on your face.

he hates how your eyes meet his, head-on, because he completely forgot to look busy and has been gawking at you for the past few minutes. he hates how your eyes widen before a wary expression crosses your face.

katsuki hates the way you make him feel.

“is that what he’s passing it off as?” you ask, loud enough that he can hear. you’re not making an effort to lower your voice either.

kaminari does not respond to you, and you let out a short laugh, no doubt incredulous.

katsuki feels something within himself snap.

he leaves the room.

— note :: feedback is appreciated! :) I like this open ending because there’s a lot that can happen with it, let me know if anyone wants to see more of this! thanks for reading! :) ETA: if you’re interested in a continuation, you can read “honey”! :)

[fairestwriting]

title: after the rain

summary: Phoebe finds out what storms look like in the notoriously underwater Octavinelle dorm, and she finds out that those strange eel twins care about her a lot more than it seems, too.

word count: 1361

commissioned by @invaderphoeb ! some good ol tweels and mc bonding... we love to see it

if you’re interested in my commissions too, guidelines are here!

Sometimes Night Raven College feels so fantasy-like, so removed from reality that Phoebe has trouble conceiving the thought that something as common as rain could happen there. It wasn’t that rain was that rare there, she just felt sort of surprised everytime it actually happened.

That surprise was felt twice as much when she was somewhere like Octavinelle. Enchanted so all sorts of students could be at a place built under the sea, seeing the way rain looked through the lenses of the sea just felt… well, magical, in a way. She’d stare up at the sky and see how it looked as droplets fell against the surface of the water, painting small breaks onto the liquid.

It usually didn’t storm, so it was fine.

Today, when it started to rain, she’d been at Octavinelle with the Leech brothers. It was just an after class thing, Floyd wanted to hang out and Jade had a day off so they ended up sitting together in the lounge over some tea, the place mostly empty, with just a few other people who were having a break from Mostro Lounge around. Phoebe saw as the sky began to go from baby blue to gray through the main window, droplets first falling down with a sort of delicacy, pattering against the glass.

She made the soft remark with a slight amused smile — Oh, it’s raining, I didn’t know it rained there, and they went back into conversation, Floyd excitedly rambling while he poked at Phoebe’s face, giggly, until thunder crashed and she jumped on the couch, a loud, high-pitched yelp leaving her.

“Oh, is something wrong, Phoebe?” Jade had asked, eyes slightly wide as he placed his empty teacup back onto the coffee table. Phoebe shrinks back into their seat, feeling a pit at the bottom of their stomach.

“Um. I don’t like thunder much.” They muttered, voice shaky. Jade and Floyd exchanged a look. “S-So it startled me.”

“Ehh, Shrimpy’s scared of thunder?” Floyd asks, tilting his head. Tactless as always, but Phoebe doesn’t take offense to it, at least not much—

It echoes again, a loud clap heard even through the thick water all around them, and Phoebe instantly curls up into themselves with a whimper, how bad did it have to be outside for it to be so clearly heard even at the bottom of the ocean? Just the thought made her feel cold all over, hugging at her knees.

“Does it make you feel better to know the rain can’t quite reach us since we’re under the sea?” Jade asks, words spoken slower than usual. Phoebe shakes their head. “I see…”

“I don’t get why you think it’s scary, it can’t hit us so it’s fine, right? You don’t gotta be scared!” Floyd chimes, but it barely gets through. Jade gives him a look, silently reprehending his brother. “What? We’re safe so it’s nothing to be scared of, right?”

“Yes, Floyd, but that’s not how phobias work.” He says, and the loud pattering of a storm begins to fill their ears. Thoughts of lighting fill Phoebe’s mind, they’d never seen a storm while Octavinelle, if it struck into the water, would the electricity— “Phoebe, is there anything we can do to help you feel better? You’re going pale.”

“I don’t know…” They mutter. “Um, if lightning strikes, would it…”

“Oh, we’ve got protection against it, of course. Building a dorm underwater requires a lot of details like these to be kept in mind.” Jade explains, scooting closer towards them on the couch. “So you’re safe, yes? If lightning strikes here, it’ll bounce right off the protective magic around the dorm area.”

“Right.” Phoebe responds, throat feeling dry. Jade’s eyes, often so sharp and suspicion-inducing, look at them with a sort of warmth to it. They swallow.

The storm continues to rage madly outside, so much you could see how the surroundings darken as the surface does too. Jade turns to the window’s, squinting for a moment.

“Phoebe, are you hungry? We have some cookies that go well with this tea, if you’d like.” Jade suddenly says after turning to them. Phoebe blinks, taken off their anxiety for a moment.

“Oh. Um, sure, that sounds nice…”

Jade nods shortly and smiles at them. “Then, I’ll be back in a moment. Don’t leave their side, yes, Floyd?”

“Eh? Okay, I don’t feel like leaving Shrimpy alone anyway.” He says with a shrug, and Jade gets up, quick steps making their way across the lounge in just a couple moments. “You still scared, Shrimpy?” He asks, turning to them.

“I-It’s still storming, so…”

Floyd hums, head tilting like he’s thinking of a solution to the problem at hand. Of course he doesn’t understand Phoebe’s situation too well — He was a very fearless, reckless type, wasn’t he? Floyd just jumped into situations without a care in the world. He wouldn’t get it.

“Well, what if I held your hand, then?” He suggests, smile on his face as he reaches out. “Does that make Shrimpy feel better? You can squeeze when it gets really scary! I can take it.”

Phoebe blinks.

The suggestion is sincere, Floyd holding out his hand as he waits for a response. Something feels warm and fuzzy in Phoebe’s chest. Well, maybe he understood a bit…

“Yeah, thank you…” Phoebe murmurs, and their much smaller hand finds Floyd’s long fingers, lacing together as he scoots close, their shoulders touching. His hand feels surprisingly warm.

“I’m back.” Jade chimes in, plate of cookies in hands. “Are you feeling any better, Phoebe?”

“Yeah, a little. It’s still scary.” She laughs a bit awkwardly, squeezing Floyd’s hand, though gently.

“Well, you can take any cookie you want, there are multiple flavors here, so surely there will be one to your liking?” Jade asks, and places the plate on the coffee table, sitting by Phoebe again, so she’s between the two siblings.

“Oh, thank you.” She mutters, stretching her free hand towards the plate. There really were a lot of different kinds there, from plainer ones with few chocolate chips to what seemed to be red velvet, she hesitates as she stares for a moment, before picking her favorite of the batch and biting into it, the sweet flavor sprawling into her mouth. A smile curls on her lips. Jade smiles too.

The bite triggers a weird ache on one of her teeth, but it was good, she wanted to finish it anyways.

“Jade, you should hold Shrimpy’s hand too! It makes them less scared.” Floyd announces, dragging Phoebe’s hand up to show he’d been holding it. Jade tilts his head at that slightly.

“Hmm, does that help at all, Phoebe?” He asks, looking at them. Phoebe finishes the cookie with a final bite, licking crumbs off their fingers. The sugar pulls a nice, comfier feeling out of her. “And well, they’re eating now.”

“Mm, I mean, I think I’ll just have one for now, so you can…” Phoebe says with a shrug. “My tooth kinda hurts.”

“Oh? Is that so…” Jade speaks. “Do you want me to check it for you?”

“If you wanna? I don’t really know what’s wrong.”

A gloved hand comes up to their chin and Phoebe just opens their mouth, Jade leaning in to stare, eyes narrowing.

“No, it doesn’t seem anything is wrong. Maybe it’s sensitivity since the cookies are still warm?” He suggests. Phoebe closes his mouth and shrugs. “Either way, shall we hold hands now?”

“Well,” A small laugh leaves him. “If you wanna!”

Jade smiles too, much more kindly than she’d ever seen him smile. “So, if you’ll allow me.”

His hand sneaks up to Phoebe’s one free hand, fingers lacing like Floyd had done. Now he’s not just between the twins, but kind of sandwiched between them, both of them almost shielding Phoebe’s smaller body from the world.

Floyd leans closer with an airy giggle, head resting on Phoebe’s shoulder.

“Hey, Shrimpy, your heart’s not racing anymore.” He points out. “See, I told you you’d feel better!”

He smiles, the faraway storm not heard as much anymore, especially when drowsiness began to take over.

[foximator-blog]

Mega Man 3 Electric Heart Styled.

Now we're on to Mega Man 3, and this time we introduce a new possibility to redesigns: Gender swapping. There are just way too many guys, I don't think anyone would mind if I made a few girls here and there.

Proto Man

Proto man, otherwise known as Blues, is Dr Light's first creation. He is the literal first robot master ever built, and his blueprints serve as the base for almost every robot master that followed him. When Dr. Light was revealing him to the public for the first time, Dr. Wily detonated an explosive at the convention, resulting in many injuries and the disappearance of Blues... While Light thought at first his son had died... the heavily damaged Blues was actually wandering around the outskirts of town, with no recollection of how he had gotten there or what had happened... and he was eventually discovered by Wily, who took advantage of the robot's amnesia. Proto man was then modified for combat, and his damaged core was replaced with an inefficient and possibly unstable nuclear core, resulting in buster shots somewhat similar to atomic fire, but not as strong. Under the guise of "Break man" Proto man willingly helped Wily, as he was led to believe he was protecting the world from Mega man. Luckily, Blues learned the truth and he slowly started to recover his memory... Though he does aid the right side now, he never stays at Light labs for too long. He loves his father and his new little siblings to death, but he fears Wily has rigged his power core to explode if Light were to replace it, which is why he avoids maintenance unless he really needs it. While wandering, he can often be heard whistling, or can be found spray painting one of Wily's abandoned fortresses. Oddly enough, he would become somewhat decent friends with Bass, despite the two having a fairly rocky start.

Needle Man

Needle man sometimes seems very cold and sharp with his words, but really he's just an introvert who values his alone time, which he often spends by knitting or sewing. Built through the combined efforts of Light and Wily, he uses his sharp needles to whittle down tough metallic ores into manageable pieces, namely on one of the mining planets gathering materials for building Gamma. Though when Wily created a plan to steal Gamma, Needle man was brainwashed into fighting for Wily against his will. Needle man is weak to the Magnet missile, since his armor and needles are made of highly magnetic metals, and in a similar sense to Metal man, Needle man's Element is Undead. Not only are needles deadly and sharp, but they even have their own dedicated phobia.

Magnet Man

Magnet man was built for sorting through scrap and recovering recyclable materials on the mining planets, to reduce waste and increase efficiency. His magnetic fields are very powerful, which is why Wily didn't hesitate to brainwash Magnet man on his quest to steal Gamma. Magnet man values his spiritual and physical health, despite being a robot, so he loves massages and Shaitsu therapy. He can also be found sticking to metallic ceilings taking naps. He dislikes Disk based media, because he is unable to touch it without accidentally damaging it. His Element is Tech, and his weakness is Spark shock, due to the electric charge disrupting the balance of his magnetism.

Gemini Woman

Despite Wily's arguments, Gemini woman is the second female robot master every created. Named after the twins constellation, she is able to create holographic clones of herself with varying levels of detail, and she can use her Gemini laser to mine tough crystalline minerals on the mining planet she was stationed at. Though Wily didn't want her to be a girl, her abilities were still useful to him, so she was brainwashed. Gemini woman is friendly, but very vain, and is said to use her holograms to admire herself when she has no access to a mirror. She is deathly afraid of Snakes, but still gets along with her sister Snake woman. Search snake is able to tell the difference between her and her clones, which is why it's her weakness. Her element is Light, because of her abilities utilizing holograms and lasers.

Hard Man

Big, buff, and made with thick ceratanium armor, Hard man uses his immense weight as a ground leveling robot, mak8ng mining and construction easier on the mining planets. He is able to shoot his heavy fists as projectiles, an attack called the Hard Knuckle, which Wily created after brainwashing him. Hard man is a fair minded and honest individual who loves good food, though he often finds himself disappointed in some of the decisions his little sister Snake woman makes. His Element is Earth, and his weakness is Gemini laser, as it's the only weapon capable of piercing through his thick paramagnetic armor.

Top Man

Top man was built with experimental auto-balancing technology and wheels in his feet so he could explore new territories. He is able to spin at high speeds, but only for short times as he can sometimes feel motion sick. Wily definitely brainwashed Top man, though no one is sure why he had Top man take over a greenhouse. He loves to dance and rollerskate, and he absolutely loves new years, as his ability to produce you tops from his head makes him popular. After the events of 3, he even left exploration behind in favor of working at an amusement park. Due to his toy based theme, his Element is Magic, and his weakness is Hard Knuckle as it knocks him off balance.

Snake Woman

Snake woman was also made for exploration, though she specializes in areas that are extremely steep or heavily forested due to her insane climbing ability, and her Search snakes, which slither across the ground and up walls as little surveillance drones. Again, Wily does not like that she was built as a girl, but he still found use in her abilities, especially when she showed interest in using her braid as a whip, and martial arts, primarily Viper style kungfu. Snake woman is very mischievous and flirtatious, she loves to tease and mess with others just for fun (Toad man being a favorite target bot necessarily because she's interested, but because she finds his reactions cute), which Hard man often gets disappointed in. She shows great interest in real snakes and would love a pet Boa, but she's terrified of Slugs. Being inspired by constricting snakes that are good at climbing and thrive in jungles, her Element is Life, though since the Needle cannon is good at pinning her down, it serves as her weakness.

Spark Man

Spark man's job is to manage the electricity on the various mining planets and ensuring that no blackouts occur. Since he's the only robot master with this job out on the colonies, he is able to produce three times the amount of power as Elec man, which is why Wily didn't hesitate to brainwash him. Spark man loves electric eels and catfish, but even more than that he loves his brothers and sisters being able to keep him company. He can be a bit clingy, and he really hates being alone for too long. He's weak to the Shadow blade, in reference to cutting electric wires, and his Element is Tech. Electricity technically isn't tied to a single element in Skylanders logic, so his Tech typing comes from the fact his body is shaped like a Spark plug, a common component to machines.

Shadow Man

No one knows exactly where Shadow man comes from, but he's possibly of extraterrestrial origin. Wily discovered this robot in ancient ruins, which would later be revealed to be where the Stardroids and Ra moon resided. Since this robot was in such a state of disrepair, Wily patched him up and added a ninja motif, though Shadow man requested not to be catalogued as a Wily robot when he was repaired. Shadow man is a fast learner, and he was able to learn ninja techniques from simulations alone because of this trait. He can seem cold and merciless at times, but he is loyal to the LWN robots, as they treat him as their brother despite his alien origins, and it would end up being him who helped Mega man craft a weapon that could damage the Stardroids.

Doc Robot

While these robots have no advanced personality or thinking ability like Robot masters, they are able to copy the abilities and combat patterns of previous robot masters from data preinstalled by Wily. While Wily was getting Gamma ready for world domination, he sent the Doc robots out after Mega Man to stall for time.

[sierracolorstheworldofwords]

Am anon who wanted to request Dark and Eric x reader dnfjfjfjfj y/n getting overwhelmed by how much they love the two and just wanting express that love but not being sure how?? (Take as long as you need to write it no pressure cncncn)

ANON I WROTE IT AND I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! IT IS SWEET FLUFF and I really like how it turned how but yee I hope it is okay, especially the ending anyway here’s the story! :D 

Love was an overwhelming,  pink tsunami that dragged you out to sea in its foamy claws and swallowed you whole. It left you trapped in an underwater world filled with butterflies that swirled into your stomach and nestled there. You were shocked by heart shaped eels and they sent  jolts of electricity down your spine. Love is torture, sometimes, people say, but all the people who’ve said that forget what it’s like to be in love. It doesn’t feel like torture, and it never should. When those eels electrocuted you it felt like your whole body was laughing, and when those underwater butterflies emerged from the deep, it felt like they left playful kisses inside you.

 People have said  love is torture because it’s so overwhelming, so joyful, and for the first time in your life, you felt it. 

You wanted to show Eric and Dark that, wanted them to see how you felt-- how they made you feel, like you were full of blooming flowers and sunshine. You wanted them to know-- but how could you? There were so many things they did for you! Dark would always give you roses, and candy, or he’d give you sweets he brought from the bakery, or just little tiny antiques he’d thought you like. Eric was much simpler, he cooked breakfast for you, or cleaned the house when you were feeling down, and sometimes, he’d just go outside for a while and come back with a hand full of wildflowers. What gifts could you buy, or make, or find to compare to those? 

There was always psychical affection, but when it came to them, it seemed that for every kiss you gave them, they’d come back for a thousand more! What could you do for them? Where would you even start? Maybe with kisses and hugs? Or flowers? Or maybe you could go to the bakery and get their favorite? Or.. you huffed in frustration, before throwing your phone onto the mattress you sat on and flopping down onto it. What could you do? The anniversary was a week away, and you didn’t know what to do. Dark had a restaurant reserved already, and all of you were supposed to go out to lunch on the anniversary, and Eric said he was making a special morning breakfast-- you were responsible for dinner. 

What could you even do? You sighed, before deciding to google some ideas for dinner. You picked up your phone, turned it on, and then went online. There wasn’t much, nothing was enough! You groaned, before deciding to go to your gallery, thinking that maybe you had some recipes saved there, but instead, you found..a lot of pictures and videos of you, Eric and Dark. You thought for a moment, a foggy image of an idea starting to form-- you needed to save those photos to a hard drive, but you kept forgetting! Maybe you could do that, no wait! You should print them instead! Duh! It would make a great anniversary present, and you could always figure dinner out later, anyway! 

Getting up, you grabbed your wallet and keys before heading to a local store, which luckily had a machine where you could print photos on your phone. You went out the door, to the car, and drove. Once you were there, you entered the building, taking in the white tile and the stocked shelves, before noticing the craft aisle. You..you could make a scrapbook-- no, scrapbooks! Why didn’t you think of it sooner? Eric and Dark would each have their own! You rushed over, grabbing an orange photo album and a black one, before loading up on stickers, colorful paper, paint, markers and glitter glue. You put that all in the small cart before going to print your photos (which..cost a lot, surprisingly) you then went around the store,buying a polaroid camera and two boxes of film. Then, you paid and went home, stashing the supplies under your bed. 

The week passed by in a blur of late nights, coffee and energy drinks, cutting up construction paper, kitten stickers, glitter glue, paint stained clothes, and ink stained hands, but the day arrived, and by that time, the albums were done. You also ordered a projector, which also conveniently arrived on time. 

You awoke on the special day to the smell of bacon. 

Unwrapping yourself from Dark’s arms, almost rushing out of the room, before you realized you forgot your polaroid camera. You grabbed it and adjusted the settings, making sure it wouldn’t flash by taking a picture of Dark sleeping. You then went to the kitchen, where Eric was calmly making breakfast and brewing coffee, even making homemade muffins as he hummed through the kitchen, flipping pancakes. He saw you and smiled. 

“G-good morning!” You gave him a sleepy smile, “Good morning Eric.” 

He turned his back towards the stove, where you took a quick picture, you then turned away, hid the camera in the big shirt you wore, and then let the picture develop, before managing to hide the pictures you took  underneath the coffee table, where the scrapbooks lay. You then scurried to the table, sitting at the comfy loveseat you three often used. 

Dark then came into the kitchen, his hair a mess, “Good morning..” You chuckled, “Good morning sleepy head.” “G-good morning Dark!” Said Eric, turning off the stove and getting the muffins out of the oven, he then served three big plates for all of you, stacked with pancakes, eggs, and bacon. After that, he grabbed three cups of coffee before sitting  in the middle of the both of you, receiving kisses on his cheeks as he did. 

“Thank you for breakfast!” You cooed, giving him another kiss on the cheek, before reaching over for the syrup on the table, and pouring it all over your pancakes. “Thank you for breakfast, darling.” Said Dark softly, before giving him another kiss on the cheek you managed to somehow snap a photo of the two before hiding your camera again. 

After that, you all were so full that you just.. Ended up going to bed and watching movies till lunch time came, Eric was in the middle again, and cuddling next to Dark, who was petting his hair gently. After the third movie, you noticed that.. They were both asleep. You smiled, before taking the camera out again and taking a quick picture. You then snuck out of the bed, going to hide the picture you took once more. 

You all got dressed in fancy clothing before going into Dark’s car, and driving to the place. 

When you arrived, you were greeted with the sight of a fancy building surrounded by trees, the outside looked like a mansion, and you could see the multiple chairs and fancy tables inside. Dark took both of your hands and led you down the path, going to a waiter and saying his name, after that, you all were taken to a private section of the restaurant and then sat down at an exquisite table next to a window, where you could see a view of a beautiful garden. After ordering a fancy version of your favorite meal, Dark ordered a steak and fries, while Eric ordered chicken fried  steak topped off with gravy and with potatoes. 

The three of you ate in relative peace, talking and chatting, going over memories. After the meal was done, Dark whispered something in the waiter’s ear, they then left, going to get something. After a few minutes, they came back with two huge bouquets of roses and two boxes of chocolate. You were given a box and bouquet, while Eric was given the same. You both smiled at Dark and thanked him, which caused him to smile as well. 

After the roses, you all ordered dessert and chatted more, laughing-- your boys smiling, you managed to take a few secret pictures, since you took a handbag with you, you got the pictures and hid them once more, along with the camera. Then, once the deserts were eaten, you all went home. You felt nervous as you did, but you hid it the best you could, talking and chatting with them as you did.. You hoped they would like dinner.. You just decided to order from their favorite restaurants, and then also order a custom cake from a local bakery, which was also going to be delivered. 

You immediately got to work setting up the bedroom by telling Dark and Eric you were going to take a quick nap, which was a lie. Instead, you decorated the ceiling with string lights, fixed the bed up, and hung a sheet on one wall, using bluetooth to connect the projector to your phone. By the time you were done sprucing the room up, the doorbell rang. You rushed to answer it, wallet in hand, as you gave the deliverers their money, taking the four bags. You got French cuisine for Dark and some good ol southern food for Eric, while also getting your favorite and a pizza too. Just in case nobody wanted the other food. Five minutes after that, the cake came. It was chocolate, and wonderfully decadent. You even had the top decorated in gold, with happy one year anniversary-- here’s to making more memories! Scrolled on top. 

You set up all the food in the bedroom and put the cake on the desk. You then made sure the projector was working. After everything was set up to your liking, you lead Dark and Eric into the bedroom, told them to put on their pajamas, and then went to go get your scrapbook. You scrambled to peek underneath the coffee table, getting the scrapbooks and grabbing your handbag, you fished out all the pictures and camera before rushing off to the bedroom. 

You came inside to the sight of Eric and Dark wearing matching pajamas, you smiled at how adorable they looked. 

“Don’t look at these until I’m done changing!” You said, placing their gifts on the bed before going into the same pajamas they were wearing. Once you were done, you grabbed the scrapbooks, and sat in the middle of them, before giving them each of their scrapbooks, Eric’s was a soft orange, covered with cute stickers of kittens, puppies, and other baby animals, along with flowers, you then gave Dark his, a dark black book, covered with cute little kitten stickers and roses as well. 

They looked at you in surprise, and you smiled shyly, your cheeks heating up as they opened their photo albums. 

Eric gasped softly, “I-it’s the selfie we took on our f-first date together! And look! It’s us at the p-park! And at d-disney land!” 

Dark looked at his, and you glanced at him, noticing the smile on his face, as he pointed at a photo of him with a dog filter on, “I thought I told you to delete that.” You smirked, “And I thought I told you I wouldn’t delete it!” 

You all laughed and smiled at the colorful, lovingly made, albums, pointing and laughing at memories as you did. Pictures of Eric and You in messy clothes, covered in flour, brought up the memory of you and him trying to make Dark a homemade cake. Another photo had Dark and Eric cuddling on the couch, another was at the beach, of you and Dark playing in the water-- there were so many, many memories. All of them happy. You held the photos from today in your hands, Eric smiling at the stove, Dark kissing his cheek, the food you ate this morning and at lunch, the garden outside the restaurant..you had so many happy memories. 

“Darling, these..are wonderful!” Dark whispered, rubbing his finger over a picture of you and him, which was surrounded by the date (thank goodness for your phone, or you wouldn’t have remembered it) and the occasion, all written in beautiful cursive. The page was also filled with stickers and glitter, and pieces of construction paper cut into hearts. 

Eric meanwhile, was looking at the scrapbook with tears in his eyes, before sobbing out, “I-I love it!” and giving you a hug. You had put so much work into it and he loved it! You scribbled lyrics from his favorite song, and even the lyrics of the first song you danced to together! He couldn’t help but cry! You even put baby duck stickers! He loved baby ducks! 

You hugged him back, smiling and almost crying yourself, feeling so, so happy! 

You sniffed, and then turned to the projector on the floor, before turning it on and going to your gallery, where all your videos were. You selected one, playing a home movie. It was of all of you, having a mini sleepover together, laughing and giggling as you started a pillow fight with Eric. 

The next video played, featuring you snickering in the background as you caught Dark and Eric kissing, and teased them. Dark ran after you, which caused you to shriek. The next one was of you and Eric pranking Dark, mostly you, though. You tickled his nose and put whipped cream on his hand as he slept. He ended up with whipped cream all over his face. Videos of all three of you played, happy memories, wonderful memories-- full of giggles and kisses, laughter and cuddles, pull of pure pink waves of love, the happiest moments. 

The last one was of you, talking to the camera, “Happy anniversary, you guys-- I-I um, just wanna thank you for making this the best year of my life,” both video you and real you teared up as it played, “I’ve never been so happy before,even when times got hard, and we got into arguments.. I was still happy, because I had you.   I want to thank you for that. Here’s to another year-- no, another ten years! Happy anniversary, Dark and Eric, I love you.” Then, you brought a hand to your lips and blew a kiss to the camera, which caused them to chuckle, teary eyed.

Then, the video cut off, and they both looked at you, Eric was crying while Dark tried to hide it. They both hugged you, giving you a kiss on the cheek. 

“I lo-love you so much!” Eric sobbed, “I love you both so much.” A few tears slipped out of Dark’s cheeks as he hugged the both of you, “I love you both so much.” 

You smiled, looking at the both of them, “And I love the both of you. Happy anniversary!” “Happy anniversary!” They said, before giving you a kiss on the cheek. 

Dark sniffed, crossing his arms, “Enough of this sappy stuff. Let’s eat.” 

You and Eric giggled, cuddling close to him and opening up the food before digging in. You put on a movie as the three of you cuddled, gorging on food as you did. After dinner was done, you opened the cake up, and you three each got a slice, when everything was done, you all were too sleepy to put it up. Dark ended up snapping his fingers, and everything disappeared into the fridge, he also turned off the projector. You all cuddled close together in the cozy blankets, exchanging kisses and going over memories until you fell asleep in their arms, the happiest person in the world.

[obscuremarvelmuses]

At one of the boards I play Shaw at, I’m going to be running a “kidnapping the X-Men as experimental guinea pigs” plot with Shaw at the helm (based on THIS DROPPED PLOT POINT from canon) in October. I plan to use several canons as NPCs in the plot so that the X-Men have more than just Shaw and Emma (who is played by someone else) to face, and as October approaches, I’m writing a series of small fics for the board that introduces each NPC so they’re more than just names. This is the one I did for Monica Rappaccini and June Covington, the lead scientists in this RPG. No, they never worked for the Hellfire Club in canon, but given that June is an amoral monster whose genetic plug-in technology would work PERFECT for this, she was a shoe-in. But what about Monica? Her ideals are far from those of the Hellfire Club, and she doesn’t care about money. So, what’s she doing there? This fic explains that, sets up her dynamic with June, and lays the groundwork for how I plan to have her turn on the Hellfire Club and help the X-Men. Because that would make sense for her in this scenario and I think having an NPC on the inside is going to help the plot along. Again, this is not based on anything in canon, nor it is it canon to this blog, it’s for a plot at an RP board. But since it features two ladies from my multi, I thought it would be worth posting here. Warning for mentions of eugenics, ableism, etc. 

Dr. Theresa June Covington was the typical blonde blue-eyed beauty, with an unnatural “natural” perfection thanks to her own work on herself. Shaw often wondered if she’d done the same for Emma. Dr. Monica Rappaccini, on the other hand, was a more unusual but no less lovely blend of Italian and Southeast Asian heritage. But, contrary to popular belief, he hadn’t hired these ladies for their looks. No, far from it. Both were brilliant in exactly the way Shaw needed for this project. . .and both were disgraced, unable to find work from any reputable company or university lab. Monica was a radical, a proponent of various anti-establishment beliefs that had led her down the wrong side of the law. Shaw didn’t agree with her politics, but her work in the fields of chemistry and biology more than made up for it. And it seemed that, like everyone in Shaw’s opinion, she could sacrifice her principles for the proper funding. But as much as Monica was worth, far more essential was June. It was her work on “genetic plug-in technology” that was the entire backbone of this project. It was a remarkable development, allowing her to take genetic material and essentially implant it into others, where it would then activate and express itself as naturally as if the person have been born with this gene or genes. She had based her work on knockout mice, a genetically modified lab mouse in which researchers have inactivated, or "knocked out", an existing gene by replacing it or disrupting it with an artificial piece of DNA when the mouse is still a mere embryo. But Theresa had taken it far beyond that, to humans who were already adults. Including herself; that work she’d had done hadn’t been with a scalpel to her beautiful face, but plug-in technologies to edit out all her perceived little physical imperfections. And once she’d done that, she started designing a few internal changes.  had altered her bones so they soften to diffuse impacts, she could dislocate her joints with ease thanks to new glands that distributed relaxins, her saliva was antiseptic, and, just in case anyone was ever fool enough to cut her, her blood was seething with neurotoxins. She, of course, was immune to it---who’s the REAL Rappaccini here, Monica?-- but if someone else touched it, well. . .they might as well have downed a pint of hemlock. So why wasn’t she raking in the millions? Why weren’t people lining up for plug-ins for everything from blue eyes to building muscle rapidly to electric eel organs? Well, in order to get such a work accomplished, there’d had to be. . .sacrifices. Mostly homeless people, but when she’d sought out a healthier stock of guinea pig, she’d started taking out people that she just felt didn’t have a right to live. There were haves and have-nots, you see, and the latter, well, they just didn’t have the same entitlement to life as the former. Like, say, people who watched Jersey Shore; could that really be called a life? And therefore, was it really murder? While Monica shared her opinions about reality TV, the rest of June’s beliefs enraged her to her core. And June, in turn, didn’t think much of Monica and her silly ideas about. . . .what was it, starving children in Africa and Asia and shit? June thought about what Shaw did of that. But unlike Shaw, she wasn’t employing Monica, and Monica didn’t have to put up with hearing her repulsive eugenicist tripe all day! Which was exactly what she’d just told her. Screamed at her, really. “Eugenics? Really?” June replied, and she didn’t sound upset at all, “My work is based on encouraging diversity, Monica, not culling it. Taking all the best traits. . . and putting them in the best people.” “That’s exactly what I mean!” Monica jabbed a finger at June, though not quite in her face---she doubted that blonde viper was above biting it. “Your idea that there *is* a “best” people---and who those are!” “Don’t try to make me out as some racist, Monica,” June placed her eerily sharp-nailed hands on her model-slim hips, “Just because I may look like the poster child for the Aryan nation, doesn’t mean I subscribe to such silly skin-deep notions about what makes perfection. My definition of elite is intellectual. A matter of character, not color. Physical flaws, though? Those can be fixed. That’s the point. Or do YOU think that a mind as phenomenal as Stephen Hawking’s should have been confined in that poor twisted prison of a body?” “That’s MY point!” Monica bellowed back, “It shouldn’t MATTER whether he has a mind you deem “worthy” of a better body, he deserves a cure either way! Everyone ill does!” “Some people don’t have an illness, Monica,” June purred. They were on a first-name basis at this point, but it wasn’t out of friendliness, “Some people are an illness.” “You know,” Monica seethed, her voice at normal volume and yet now even more angry, a deep and brewing rage like a volcano prior to eruption, “I think you’re right.” *** Monica worked late that night, blowing off steam. While the work itself was distasteful, and done for people she found disgusting---the Hellfire Club and its “everything for profit” mindset was everything she DESPISED about Western society---she poured herself passionately into it, knowing that, when this was all over, she could use it for good. Not only would she be rolling in millions that she could use to fund further work, but the knowledge gained here. . . as vile June was, the genetic plug-in tech was a miracle. Monica’s mind had raced when she heard about it, imagining all the ways that mutant powers could HELP the world---not just humans, but nature too. But, June was right about one thing---it had to go to the right people. Not the wealthy who would use it as toys or weapons, the grotesque commercial and military uses that the Hellfire Club had in mind. She kept her dominant thoughts occupied with work. She didn’t dare think too much too often about this. Not within the walls of these labs, where the likes of, say, Emma Frost could walk in any moment. Hell, would Frost even need to be here to read her mind? She shuddered at the notion of someone remote-viewing her mental processes like lab microfilm from miles away. Still . . . Monica was starting to think some very dangerous things. Dangerous for her, that is. And for the Hellfire Club’s entire operation.

[ameth18blog]

Unexpected Encounters. Chapter 10: The Search (Part 4)

Finnick is in the west of the city, unlike the others he preferred to do his search alone. At the moment he was in a bar having a few drinks that he was curious to try, since he had heard of them from Jack when they were on the plane on their way to Japan. Even before all the events happened, he and Nick had made a bet on who would last the longest drinking the alcoholic beverages that would come to this country. They were supposedly stronger than the ones sold on Zootopia. Jack and Judy weren't happy with the bet the two of them made, but Finnick knew they couldn't stop him or Nick.

Even obviously he had to search for beings from other universes, he thought to take a little break, since he had a suspicion that they would not take long to appear. Even if he didn't know it, it wouldn't take long for them to appear before him.

So far he had had four glasses: Sake Honjozo, Sake Junmai, Ji-zake and Nigori-zake. As he tasted them he realized that they tasted very different from other things he had tasted in his entire life. He would have asked for more glasses of each, but he didn't have enough money with him at the time. And he aside he knew that he shouldn't waste much time, since he still had a great perimeter to cover.

But just before he got up, three beings who seemed travelers because of the way they were dressed entered the bar.

The first was a tall yellow fox. His nose was black as were his eyes. He wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt, green pants and was completely barefoot. He wore a type of cape that had stripes of two different shades of blue on the outside, while on the inside it was purple. Also on his head he wore a cream-colored flat hat that had two holes so that he could stick his ears out. Also this hat had a rope that went towards the lower part of the fox's head, so that it could be held and did not fall off its head or fly off.

The other two beings were twin slightly smaller brown boars, which only reached the fox's waist in height. They wore open orange jackets, although they were shirtless under the jackets, they wore green pants and both were barefoot. Both wild boars carried on their backs giant green bags with swirl patterns, tied around their necks. The big physical difference between the two wild boars is that one had a spot on its right cheek, while the other did not.

They both walked over to the counter, right next to where Finnick was sitting.

"Sorry sir, but you can not bring children to this place" said the manager of the bar.

"Oh, don't worry about that, despite their sizes, they are adults" said the fox.

After that, both wild boars took out some identifications that were proof that they were adults.

"My apologies" said the bar manager bowing his head. "What do you want me to serve you?"

"A Sake Honjozo for the three of us" said the fox.

"I'll bring them to you right away" said the bar manager, leaving.

"Does that happen to you very often? Finnick asked looking at the fox and the two wild boars.

"Ummm, what thing?" asked the fox when he saw that they had asked him a question.

"I meant if their companions are mistaken for children when they see them," Finnick said.

"Oh yes, several times that has happened to us" said the fox.

"Sometimes it is annoying," said one of the boars.

"But at other times it is beneficial," said the other boar.

"Seriously?" asked the fennec fox.

"Yes, sometimes we manage to get food and money thanks to that" said the fox.

"Wow, the world is small. I do the same" said the fennec fox.

"Seriously?" the twin wild boars asked.

"Yes, where I come from I have a method to deceive people, I wear an elephant costume and I keep quiet at all times so that they feel sorry for me and give me money and food," said Finnick.

"Wow, it's a coincidence, we do the same" said one of the boars.

"Only we don't need to dress up for that," said the other boar.

At that moment the conversation stopped momentarily when the bar manager handed their drinks to the fox and the two wild boars. After that, he left his clients to continue his work.

"So where are you from?" asked the fox.

"I come from the United States, specifically from the city of Zootopia, what about you?" asked the fennec fox.

"We are from this country. We don't have a fixed home, since we travel so that I can achieve my goal" said the fox.

"And what would it be?" the fennec fox was curious.

"Well, my goal is to get a wife, have my own castle and be the king of pranks" said the fox.

"Wow, that's thinking big. What are their names?" said the fennec fox.

"My name is Zorori. But I'm also known as Kaiketsu Zorori" said the fox.

"My name is Ishishi" said one of the boars.

"And I'm Noshishi" said the boar with the mole on his right cheek.

"My name is Finnick" said the fennec fox introducing himself with the fox and the two wild boars.

"And then Finnick, how did you get here?" Zorori asked.

"Oh well, I have a friend who works for an agency where they gave him vacations to any place in the world that he chose and since he was once here in Japan, he wanted to come visit again. And since they gave him six tickets, he gave me one so I could come with him," Finnick replied.

"Wow, you are very lucky with that. Although we are from this country, the way we got to this city was somewhat unusual, but since we have experienced other things like that, it didn't seem strange to us" said Zorori.

"Unusual?" Finnick asked.

"Yes, it was because of a white light that appeared suddenly" Ishishi and Noshishi said in unison.

"White light?" Finnick told himself as he lowered his head and saw that the communicator on his wrist was blinking. He hadn't noticed when he first started blinking. These were the ones he was looking for and how ironic that he found them in a bar.

"Tell me, have you three been in this city for 3 months?" asked the fennec fox.

"Yes, why do you ask?" asked the fox.

"Well, because I partly know what that white light was," Finnick replied.

"You know that?" asked one of the wild boars.

"Could you tell us?" asked the other boar.

Finnick told them about Chaos Emeralds, Chaos Control, and Dr. Eggman. He told them everything he knew.

"Wow, this sounds like a great adventure you are living," said Zorori.

"Isn't that strange to you?" Finnick asked.

"No, as I said before, we have been through unusual situations" said Zorori.

"For example, we die once when and on that journey we visit both heaven and hell. After fixing a misunderstanding we came back to life" said Ishishi.

"Once we had to find a type of fairies known as Najō to restore color to a magical forest," Noshishi said.

"And once we had to return an electric eel that had been stolen from a forest inhabited by ghosts," Zorori said.

"Wow. They look like children's book adventures," said Finnick.

"Yes, we know. But we are used to that by now" said the fox.

"And what were they doing when chaos control brought them into this universe?" asked the fennec fox.

"Well, we were having a picnic with some old acquaintances. It was a normal day for us like any other" said Zorori.

"But suddenly a fairly strong wind began to blow. We had three friends in that meeting who are magicians, but they said it had nothing to do with magic" Ishishi said.

"It was at that moment that that white light appeared that began to envelop us. Our magician friends used their magic to create a force field to prevent the effects of that light from affecting us" Noshishi said.

"Although the force field didn't work, it does prevent us from being separated, since when we woke up we were together, on top of the Tokyo tower. You can imagine how hard it was for all of us to go down" said the fox.

"So there are more besides you in this city?" asked the fennec fox.

"Yes, you want to meet them" asked one of the boars.

"Of course, this concerns them as well" said the fennec fox.

"It's okay. We will take you with them" said the other boar.

After finishing their drinks and paying for them, the 4 left the bar in the direction of a nearby area of the city.

...

Once they arrived, it was a building that had an inspiration in castles from the Middle Ages, it was located outside the city in the middle of a forest.

"Amazing, nice place. Who owns this building?" asked Finnick.

"The owners are a prince and a princess that we have known for a few years" replied Zorori.

"Wait, there was no prime minister in Japan."

"Yes there is, but in the section where we live there are royal families who have granted them permission to govern certain areas."

"Definitely your life seems to come from children's books."

Once they entered and after having passed through several corridors that reminded Finnick of the fairy tales that he read to Nicole and Jerry when he cared for them while Nick, Judy and Jack went out to work. Finally they came to a door that after opening it gave way to a quite luxurious living room with furniture and decorations that definitely made Finnick feel as if he had traveled back in time to the Middle Ages.

In the room there was a strange mix of inhabitants of different types:

There was a black panther with pink cheeks and a light brown cat with dark brown hair who were a prince and a princess, since each wore their respective crowns and clothes that gave away the status to which they belonged.

There were two others who had traveler-like clothing albeit with a more western attire. One was tall, had brown fur and yellow hair. The other was shorter and with an orange-brown fur.

There were three others who had wizard robes. Since the two girls had witch-like clothes, while the boy had clothes more similar to that of a sorcerer. One of the girls was dressed in white and the other in magenta. While the boy wore black. For some reason each one carried a broom in one of their hands.

There were two that looked interesting. One looked like a plush doll that could be seen in any cream colored children's cartoon with a small red antenna and no nose. The other had the look of a ghost that had a kind of white scarf around its neck.

Seeing all of them Finnick for a moment thought that he was amazed by the drinks he had had, since he seemed to have been involved in a fairy tale, where there were princes, princesses, adventurers, witches, sorcerers, strange creatures and ghosts. He was silent for a few seconds.

Seeing the surprised reaction, Zorori decided to introduce them.

"Guys, I introduced you to Finnick. We met him in a bar and he gave us an explanation of how we ended up in this city, right?" said the fox.

Coming out of his shocked reaction, he told them the story of what had happened and how they ended up in this city. Once he finished telling this to beings he had just met, they came forward.

The prince and princess introduced themselves as Arthur and Elzie. The two travelers introduced themselves as Gaon and Pepero. The sorcerer introduced himself as Roger. The witches who happened to be sisters introduced themselves as Milly and Nelly. The creature introduced itself as Najō. While the ghost introduced himself as Puppe.

Once the introductions were over, Finnick's communicator suddenly began to ring.

"Hi, this is Finnick. Oh Nick, what's up? Cool. I, too, have just found an interesting group. Yes, I can take them with me. See you later".

"Who called?" Zorori asked.

"He was a friend. I wanted to ask all of you if you could join me, since the ones who sent me to look for you want to talk to you" said Finnick.

"They all looked at each other and Zorori answered for all of them "Sure we can go with you."

"Good, but I think that before going out I think they should change their clothes, since with those clothes they wear they will attract a lot of attention among the inhabitants of the city."

When they saw each other they realized that it was true. After waiting a few minutes, everyone was ready. Before leaving, Najō hid inside a backpack and Puppe became invisible as they would definitely attract attention if anyone saw them.

Once they left the building, they returned to the city and headed in the direction of Gori's apartment to meet up with everyone else.

[ren-c-leyn]

A Writer’s Game: Animal Edition

So, I do these from time to time, and since it’s been a while I figured now would be a good time. Thank you to @hannahs-creations for the theme idea.

Rule/request: Send. An. Ask. To. The. Person. You. Reblogged. This. From. Please.(It can really get discouraging for people to see a ton of reblogs of an ask game and get no asks.) Beyond that request, it’s just a normal ask game.

 This is a long one, but I had fun making it. I tried to coordinate the questions with things I know about the animals. 

~

African Penguin: Which character is comfortable in settings or situations people really wouldn’t think of? What are these settings/situations?

Alligator: Which character is far sneakier than they appear? Do they take advantage of it?

Ant: Which character is stronger/tougher than they look? How shocked are people when they see them show this strength/toughness?

Arctic Fox: Which character is the best at adapting to unexpected events or hard times? Are there things they take in stride better than others?

Aye Aye: Be honest here, which character is the weirdest and just how weird are we talking?

Badger: Which character is the scariest when they get angry? Are they usually temperamental or fairly calm? And what does it take to anger them?

Barn Owl: Who are the night owls of your characters?

Basking Shark: Which character looks scarier than they actually are? Do they take advantage of this? Do they even know they look intimidating? What makes them seem so scary?

Bengal Tiger: Which characters are the loners and how far will each of them go to get their alone time?

Bird of Paradise: Which of your characters is the flashiest? Is it in their mannerisms, their clothes, or in something else entirely?

Butterfly: Do any of your characters have really strange ways of doing things that somehow work out for them in the end? Have any of the other characters figured out exactly how their methods work or at they still confused?

Cat: Real writing question, here, which character thwarts your plans, as the unfortunate writer, for them and their arc the most? Have they made your story more interesting to you or have they just torn your story down and laughed?

Chameleon: Which character likes color the most? Is there a specific set of colors they like the best? How do they display this love of color?

Chicken: Which character is the most likely to pick at other people for doing things differently than they would or for being different than they are?

Cougar: Which character has the best balance? How do they use this skill/talent?

Coyote: Which character(s) uses logic or deception to overcome challenges the most? How do they feel about their methods?

Deer: Which character(s) is the most nervous? How do they deal with their nerves?

Dog: Which character(s) are the most loyal? Have they ever gotten in trouble for their loyalties or come to regret them?

Donkey: Which character(s) are really stubborn or set in their ways? Do they let it get in the way of accomplishing their goals or friendships? Has it ever helped them?

Eagle: Which character(s) tend to be respected by people and why?

Electric Eel: Which character(s) would only fight when forced to? Are they any good at it?

Elephant: Which character(s) has the best memory? Do they find it useful or troublesome?

Ferret: Which character(s) are the troublemakers of the group? Can they get themselves out of their own mischief or does someone usually have to come bail them out? 

Flamingo: Which character(s) seem silly or harmless but are secretly a monster/badass in disguise? Do they take advantage of people’s misconceptions? Do they mind the misconceptions? Is anything the other characters thought about them real?

Flying Squirrel: Which character(s) enjoy adrenaline rushes? How far are they willing to go for their next thrill?

Goat: Which character(s) manages to appear in locations that shouldn’t be possible to reach/are off limits? Does it ever confuse the other characters? Does it ever get them in trouble?

Goose: Which character(s) can make the biggest nuisance of themselves? Do they do this on purpose? Do the other characters ever get sick of it?

Guinea Pig: Which character(s) eat a lot? What are their favorite foods? Do they know how to cook?

Hammerhead Shark: Do any of your characters just seem to know when there’s something or someone hidden around? How did they acquire this skill and how do they use it?

Hare: Which character(s) will not hesitate to run from danger or a stressful situation? Are there any circumstances where they will stand their ground?

Hermit Crab: Which character(s) don’t get attached to places and can pack up their lives and leave at any given moment? Is there a particular reason for this?

Honey Bee: Which character(s) work the hardest? Do they enjoy their work or do they have a different reason for putting in all of the extra effort?

Horse: Which character(s) work the best with others? How do they approach conflict resolution within their team?

Ibex: Which character(s) enjoy the mountains the most? What do they like to do while they’re there?

Iguana: Which character enjoys the ocean the most? What aspect of the sea do they enjoy the most?

Inchworm: Which character(s) are excited to make any progress towards their goals, even if it’s really slow progress?

Jackal: Which character(s) is willing to do anything to survive? Do they ever regret these things later?

Jellyfish: Which character(s) are the quietest? What’s going on beneath the calm surface? Do they ever make their opinions and thoughts known?

Kiwi: Do any of your characters lack skills/talents that the rest of their family(s) are known to have? How do they feel about not being good at that thing? Did they find something else that they did excel at?

Koi: Which character(s) is considered elegant or refined? Do they see themselves that way? How did they earn that reputation?

Ladybug: Which character(s) seem cute and innocent but have a dark secret? Do they think about it often? How far do they go to hide it or is it more of just something no one has asked?

Lion: Which character(s) value friends and family above all else? How far would they go to protect and care for the people close to them?

Magpie: Which character(s) are hopelessly attracted to shiny things? What sort of shiny things do they like the best? Has this ever gotten them into trouble?

Moth: Which character(s) enjoy small luxuries like scented candles, bath oils, ect.? Do they have access to them often? When do they use them?

Mouse: Which character(s) have family members almost everywhere? Do they get along with their family? How much of their huge family do they know?

Newt: Which character(s) are good healers? How good of a healer are they and do they use this skill often?

Nightingale: Which character(s) like music? Can they sing or play any instruments themselves?

Octopus: Which character(s) are good at a lot of things? How did they pick up so many skills? Do they enjoy learning new things?

Okapi: Which character is the most secretive? Are they good at keeping secrets?

Ostrich: Which character(s) is the most protective? Who or what is it that they are willing to fight to defend? Has anyone ever made the mistake of threatening that which they protect and how did it end?

Peacock: Which character(s) are considered beautiful in your world and what makes them so?

Platypus: Which character(s) always seem out of place, no matter where they are?

Quail: Which character(s) are considered short and how do they feel about it?

Robin: Have any of your characters had someone or something named after them? Or are any of them named after someone else?

Scorpion: Do any of your characters look vastly different from their family members? Do people find it strange?

Squirrel: Which character(s) are always on the move and/or in a hurry?

Tortoise: Which character(s) are the oldest of the group? Do they feel out of place among the younger members?

Vulture: Do any of your characters tend to hover when someone else is doing something they find interesting? Do the other characters get upset about it?

Woodpecker: Which character(s) is always making noise of some kind or another? Are they aware that they’re doing it? Do the other characters mind?

Zebra: Which character(s) enjoy patterns? Do they wear a lot of them or do they work them into some other aspect of their life?

[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay Day Twenty-One The Way Things Are

It was a new moon that night, meaning the waters were almost completely black. Anti didn’t mind. He never relied too much on his eyes, anyway. Regularly, to help him navigate, he sent out electric pulses into the water that would bounce off objects, returning to tell him where things were. Of course, that didn’t help tell him where his destination was. And he admitted that he only had a guess as to what that destination even was. He’d already checked out two previous guesses, and found them empty. But they did say third time’s the charm.

He knew it would probably be near the shoreline, so he skimmed around the land, trying to stay close. Every so often he’d send out one of those electric pulses, looking for anything odd. In his hands, he held the stolen siren stone close to himself.

He passed by a river mouth, and shivered. He would never say it out loud, but he had to admit...he wouldn’t know what to do if he had to go inland. To fresh water. Going up the river to the mage’s lake had already set him on edge, but that was something he had to do. After seeing the shark talk with that angelfish merm, he had to see if this group knew anything about him. This...Anti wasn’t sure he could justify this as something he had to do. No, this was something he wanted to do. To see if he could, but he could get along without it well enough. But...he was so curious about this.

Anti rounded a large rock formation in the water, the kind of which would stick out onto the surface. These were getting more and more frequent, and larger as well. Perhaps humans hadn’t explored this particular part of their coastline too thoroughly. Good. They already stuck their noses into places they didn’t belong. Though, merms weren’t any different. One day a river might be peaceful, deep enough that a whole colony of fifteen merms could hide from the world easily. The next, another colony could come swimming up from the ocean, claiming to be in danger of discovery, and when you opened your home to them they’d take advantage of the moment of weakness and—

Bump! He’d run into another rock formation, having been too distracted with his own thoughts to send out another pulse. Anti backed up, scowling. Shifting the siren stone to one hand, he rubbed his head with the other. Lesson learned. Look where he was going. And stop thinking about...that. He really should’ve figured that out by now.

Resuming his search, Anti soon found that the shoreline was dipping, forming a bay. And as he swam over the ocean floor, he found that a large sandbar was separating the water of this bay from the rest of the ocean. Swimming over the sandbar, he found the water much shallower. Ah. So it was a lagoon. A lagoon that was likely untouched by humans, given the rocks at its entrance. What better place for a merm to hide?

The water was...fresher, here. Less salty. Anti paused for a moment, taking a deep breath of the clear water. Then he shook himself, and started to move. No time for that. What, does he think he could afford to take a minute to bask in the fresher water? No. There were predators out there, animals and humans and other merms. If he let down his guard for a second, if he tried to relax at all, if he let that other eel come close mistakenly believing they would stick together after the rest of the colony was gone—Anti rubbed his neck, feeling a ridged scar. Stop thinking about that.

The point was, you had to strike first, or else you wouldn’t be around to strike ever again. This strange group of merms was a threat, and he had to eliminate it. Or maybe...someone else could do that for him.

His electric pulse returned to him, bringing with it news of a small pool off the main body of the lagoon. Anti grinned, detouring over to the pool. There was a small, rocky wall separating it from the rest of the water. The wall had a gap in it, much like a doorway. Anti squeezed through, and found that the water in the pool was glowing. No, there was something in the water, millions of tiny things, glowing bright blue. Phytoplankton. They must be a permanent fixture in the pool, and maybe also along the lagoon’s waves where they met the beach.

In the center of the pool, there was a bed of watery weeds, and curled up on the bed was a merm, green tail folded in in himself, yellow dorsal fin running along his back. The area around the merm was filled with random objects, some human-made, some merm-made, some natural, a random clutter of things. There was a small fish in the pool as well, hovering in the water, unresponsive. Asleep. But able to wake up at any moment.

Anti glared, slipping through the water over to the center of the pool where the merm lay, fast asleep. He’d recognize this one anywhere. That obnoxious green and blue, those yellow fins. He stopped swimming right above the sleeping merm. He crept closer. And closer. The merm’s face was inches from his own. He could make out the expression on that face, and he scowled. So peaceful. So happy. So...unguarded. Didn’t these merms know any better? What gave them the right to be...like this? Why could they be...like this...when he knew the sea was out there, ready to strike?

The other merm shifted, perhaps sensing a disturbance in the water currents around him. His eyes opened, and he was staring right into Anti’s. For a moment, he seemed shocked. And then he opened his mouth to cry out.

“Shush.” The siren stone began to glow. “Just calm down.” What was this merm’s name again? He thought he remembered. “Calm down...Jack. Look at the nice lights.”

Jack’s eyes flickered through the water, but eventually their movements stilled. The siren stone’s light began twirling, mixing with the glow from the phytoplankton to form a hypnotizing blur of patterns. Jack sighed, his eyes clouding over.

Anti grinned. This maybe would’ve worked better if he’d managed to find the shark one, or the two from the lake, but the shark lived somewhere far away, and he was not about to risk going back to the lake. This would work. “Jack...I’m about to give you some instructions. Listen to them carefully. Remember them. Seal them in your memory. And then you’ll forget I was ever here. Until it’s time to follow those instructions. Do you understand?”

A small, slow nod.

“Good.”

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Searching for bubble gyroids

Out of all the places to visit for a gyroid adventure, I never thought I'd be back in Seaweed Vine Sea. It's hard to believe that this place has been abandoned for over six years now, everything lying in ruins as nature reclaims it. In a way, it feels surreal swimming around a place that used to be bustling with activity - even though I never knew the sea during its heyday but even then it attracted visitors who just wanted to spend some time in the waters.

Along with the camp, Jamie, Sandi, Em, Dell, DJ, and Lea are here with us. Sandi and the gang are up to the usual, doing various missions like retrieving stolen artifacts, protecting compromised data, and a bunch of underground vigilante stuff. They've been busy these past few months since Sandi and Jamie started working with Dixie. After having to cut back on missions a couple years ago they're now finally back in full swing

Sandi's doing all right, adjusting to what she calls her new normal. Jamie said that Sandi was struggling a lot more than she'd let on. Complications from a serious illness a couple years back left Sandi partially deaf and although her hearing has recovered some, it won't be the same. So now she wears a hearing aid for her right ear, which has been helping her a lot. She's also learning sign language, which will be useful for missions when they need to communicate without being heard.

I can't imagine it being easy what Sandi's gone through. She always comes across as an optimist, sometimes to the point that it's the only way she knows how to cope. It's not entirely a bad thing, but sometimes an overly optimistic mindset can be quite deceiving to the point where even the optimist can't tell what's real or not anymore.

I'm glad that Sandi's in a much better place now. Compared to how she was when we went on our first gyroid adventure together, she's a lot more self-assured, confident, and pragmatic. It's good to see her take charge and rally forward!

DJ's here with us in person, always a treat to have her around as she's usually in her room. Being the team's tech expert and vigilante hacker, all she needs is a dark room and a bunch of computers. Still, it won't hurt for her to get outside once in a while, something she's been doing more often since Sandi had to step back.

It's nice to see DJ more comfortable being out on the field. She still prefers the comforts of her room but she doesn't mind being out there with her friends. Planes still aren't her friends though so whenever she's traveling with them they try to accommodate as best they can. It can slow things down but the others don't mind too much as long as everyone's happy.

Em's been working on some secret projects with Ludwig, a duo I never saw coming. Ludwig did hint that he was working on something big with a new partner. One invention they came up with unexpectedly turned out to be useful for this adventure. While trying to create a new element, Em and Ludwig ended up creating a potion that creates its own light source with water. Em did further tests on it to tweak it further as it has a tendency to spontaneously combust. Luckily, because we're underwater, fires stop as soon as they start. Aside from that, this mission wouldn't be as successful if it wasn't for Em and Ludwig.

Lea's with the agency as usual, though things have been a bit slow. She admits to being a bit bored with the lack of excitement but at the same time the long breaks have been doing her a lot of good. She and her work partner are using up their vacation days as there's no way of knowing when they would have this much free time again.

Dell is getting back on his feet after going through a rough patch. He'd been seeing someone on and off for the past few years but now it looks like it's over for good. Em says that he's not as torn up about it as she was worried he would be. Dell said it was a mutual breakup, just two people who have drifted away over the years. The adventure's been a helpful distraction for him - not to mention that he's good at spotting bubble gyroids in murky waters.

Being in Seaweed Vine Sea is nostalgic, like going back to a distant memory. I still remember most of the places, even when the sea itself looks nothing like it did years ago. Corridors are in ruins and the overgrown algae blocks out the sunlight, making it hard to see. It just doesn't feel real, the sea lying in abandon like that.

The biggest challenge of course was visibility. Without Em's invention, the water would be pitch black and impossible to navigate. The night before, while stacking up on supplies, we also made flashlights that are basically like glowsticks. They're waterproof and don't need batteries so they're perfect for a setting like this. Not only we can find our way around more easily, we can also avoid getting hurt by hostile sea creatures. Being slapped by electric eels is not a pleasant experience.

While the glowstick lights were extremely helpful, it's still hard to see clearly. It's also not easy juggling an oxygen tank, a bag full of gyroids and digging supplies, a flashlight, and a taser to subdue sea creatures. It was a bit scary at first navigating dark waters and trying to avoid running into dangerous creatures but after getting used to the darkness it's not as daunting.

While digging up bubble gyroids, we were also looking for keys. That's the main reason why Jamie and Sandi are on this mission - to retrieve coral keys for a friend who needs help. So we spent most of the day collecting whatever treasures we can find in the ruins, which was a lot of fun!

Along with gyroids and keys, we also found some old jewels and brooches. They're all scratched up - some even broken - all charming in their own way! Collecting them feels like keeping a part of Seaweed Vine Sea's history preserved. I don't know what I'll do with them but they're nice to have around. It's also fun to speculate about the treasures as well worn stuff tend to have interesting stories behind them.

The next day, we headed to Leo Lagoon to give the keys to Ari and hunt for more bubble gyroids. Leo Lagoon's nowhere in the same state of abandon as Seaweed Vine but she and the townspeople speculate that it's going down the same road. Only a handful of residents still live there but that number has been dwindling, even more so after Seaweed Vine Sea closed for good. It's a lot easier to navigate the waters of Leo Lagoon but the overgrown algae can make it hard to see, especially at night.

So we basically spent the day hunting for bubble gyroids, helping Ari run errands for the townspeople, and fix up a couple old portals. That's why Ari needed the keys - she needed to get access to supplies so she could repair the portals. Since they pretty much run on obsolete tech, she just needs them to be up and running so at least they can function. Using the portals to jump from one place to another was definitely helpful and we're not too annoyed when they take us to the wrong place as it usually takes a couple goes for it to work out. Instead, we saw it as an opportunity to explore the lagoon and get to know the merfolk!

Now that the portals are fixed, we have a lot more time for exploring, treasure hunting, and gyroid collecting! Sandi, Jamie, and I want to go back to Seaweed Vine Sea before leaving but the others aren't too keen on that. Can't blame them though, with the poor visibility and running into hostile creatures - still, I want to go back and see what else I can find. Also, I don't know when the next time I'll be back, that is, if Seaweed Vine would still be standing by then.