#merfolk AUs are my jam

[jessicas-pi]

is it possible for the ask game, if you could do either starbirds and wolves or a guide to the mythical and mysterious (the sabezra mythical creatures au) with directors commentary?

OOOOOH MYTHICAL & MYSTERIOUS DIRECTOR'S CUT ok buckle up I think you've unleashed a ramble monster because this AU has SO MUCH WORLDBUILDING that I haven't got to yet, and I might go off on some tangents. I'll try to restrain myself but I make no promises.

Soooo, I'm just gonna kinda read through it and talk about things as I come to them!

Okay, right off the bat, there's the framing of the fic. It's basically one long scene of Sabine & Ezra hanging out and reading each other's diaries for fun, with a ton of flashbacks. But in the first draft, the framing of the story was completely different! Instead of Sabine & Ezra reading the diaries, it was Rune (their adopted daughter) and Jacen who stole the diaries and were reading them! It had a lot of funny lines, so when I changed it, I saved all the old scenes to be reworked/rewritten into a companion fic.

Oh, another thing! So, Hera is a siren in this AU. Something I learned while researching mythical creatures is that there's basically two types of siren in mythology: the ones that are the same as mermaids, and then there's bird-women with singing powers. She's the bird-woman kind of siren because she flies! (Also, I made her a siren because the first thing Kanan noticed about her was her voice. In the very first draft, she was a selkie, and she and kanan had a meet cute where he very innocently picked up her coat that she'd dropped to return it to her and she thought he was stealing it and tackled him.)

And on the topic of selkies, Zeb's a selkie! He's purple because of a prank gone wrong. (Sabine thought the dye would wash right out of his coat! Honest!)

OOH, so, I just got to the part where Sabine's diary entry is about Ezra joining the crew, and that reminded me! One flashback scene that I wrote and ended up cutting was how Sabine and Ezra met. It was very little-mermaid-esque, but with a lot more confused screaming.

Hmmm, not much I can think of in the next few sections...

AH WAIT OK SO THERE'S THIS BIT!!

It had been rough at the beginning, but ever since he got rid of that red crystal pendant he brought up from the trenches of Malachor, he’d been much easier to get along with.

So, in case context doesn't give it away, the crystal he took from the trenches of Malachor is basically the Sith holocron. Dark side planets/places in general (Malachor, Dathomir, etc.) are various trenches and such in this---the deeper in the sea, the Darker the place. And Malachor itself...

Well, lets just say, I may have been slightly (incredibly) obsessed by the deep sea as a kid, so Malachor is my JAM.

Instead of a Sith temple, that giant pyramidal structure is replaced by an underwater volcano. The various pillars and columns scattered across the surface of Malachor are now hydrothermal vents (my beloveds). There's also a lot of bleached bones---whale falls, and (more creepily) merfolk skeletons.

OHH AND THAT BRINGS ME TO VARIOUS DARKSIDERS.

So, Force-sensitives are all merfolk in this AU (but not all merfolk are force-sensitive). But Dark-side merfolk look much different than regular mer. I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from creepy deep sea animals (also my beloveds). All merfolk have bioluminescent patterns that shift colors, but Dark-siders have theirs permanently turned red. partly because of the red lightsaber thing, but also because no red light reaches the deep sea, so a lot of animals are red because they're essentially invisible, UNLESS they're seen by an animal that emits red light and can therefore see/hunt/kill the red animals, so emitting red light symbolizes how the Dark mer have become exclusively predatory and destructive.

uhhh I got kinda distracted there. ANYWAY,

Oh, there's that line about how Ezra has a habit of curling his tailfin around people's legs so he doesn't float away mid-conversation! So, there's lore to that. Basically, it's a mer-child thing. Little Mer don't have enough control of their body in the water to stay in one place. Kanan doesn't do it, because he grew up with the merfolk and in this AU he was an adult by the time they were wiped out, so he learned to adjust himself in the water with little movements. Ezra was a child when the merfolk were killed, so he never learned that and the habit of holding onto people with his tail has carried over, which is why he still does it as an older teenager.

Pff oh yeah also. that "this is... detailed" thing. I know the details. I know all the details. I will not be elaborating. Some things must remain unknown.

Oh! And the scene where they're talking up in the crow's nest of the ship and it's mentioned that Sabine spends time up there! That was a reference to Krownest! Get it? Crow's nest? Krownest? hehehe i'm so funny

OH OH OH SABINE'S BACKSTORY!! This wasn't elaborated much in the first draft but with the rewrite it got more attention. Although the circumstances are different than in canon, I tried to keep a lot of it the same---Sabine goes into a situation willingly trusting someone who doesn't have her best interests at heart and gets blindsided by their betrayal. ALSO ANOTHER FUN FACT!! In the original version she was an Amazon and not a Valkyrie!! But then I changed it up so she only joined the Amazons for a time after leaving her old life behind. She was determined to join their ranks and fit in, despite all the culture clashes, but when her Amazonian battle-sister left her for dead after she was injured in a skirmish, Sabine cut all her ties with them and left.

Ahh yeah this bit never fails to make me giggle.

“All right, all right,” she laughed. “Maybe I was a little slow in admitting my feelings for you.” “Aha! So you do have feelings for me!” He pointed a victorious finger at her.

At first glance, it's cute banter that hints that their friendship has started developing into a romance. Gains a new level of comedy when you reread it knowing that by this point, they're married.

Heheh the boat ride to krownest scene. Kanan's blind and he still knows they're silently flirting with each other.

OOH! JET! K I'm gonna probably go on a ramble now, anyway: Jet was Sabine's pegasus since she was a child. She left Jet behind when she ran away. During this AU's version of "Imperial Supercommandoes," they're confronted by Gar Saxon and his cronies on pegasi. He tells Sabine that after her mother became the leader of the Valkyries, she "generously gave us access to her stables." In reality, Ursa's hand was forced and the pegasi were taken from her. Sabine recognizes one of the horses there as Jet, and he recognized her. During the fight that followed, Jet's rider was shot, and Sabine grabbed his reins and she and Ezra made their getaway with him.

(In Heroes of Mandalore, instead of being bad at flying a jetpack, Ezra got stuck with a pegasus who hated him and kept trying to buck him off in midair lol)

Hmmm going on...

Oh! Ezra is an ocean Merfolk, and like saltwater (ocean) fish, he can't survive (shapeshifted into his mer-form) in freshwater. That's why it was so dangerous for him to jump in after Sabine fell through the ice---it was a freshwater lake.

Also, the scene where he deliriously asks her to take him to Valhalla if he dies, because "merfolk don't have anywhere to go," is a reference to the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, where mermaids turn to seafoam when they die.

Ahhhh yes, the necklace! I think I said this before in the tags of one of my merfolk art posts, but, so, for merfolk, giving handmade shell-jewelry is usually a marriage proposal, but it's not, like, automatically legally binding or anything. So basically, when 15-year-old Ezra gave Sabine her shell necklace, it was the equivalent of if you jokingly got down on one knee and offered your unrequited crush a cheap plastic ring from a cereal box or something, expecting her to roll her eyes, but instead she's like "Aw thanks! A ring!" and she starts unironically wearing the cheap plastic ring all the time and now you realize that she doesn't know it was a joke proposal because apparently rings don't go with proposals in her culture and you can't explain the joke now, it's way too late, and you want to die of embarrassment.

Oh yeah also Ezra found a pair of elaborate jewel-encrusted daggers in a shipwreck and gave them to Sabine. This is a reverse necklace situation--to reuse the metaphor, it's like if your best friend got down on one knee, pulled out a gorgeous diamond ring, and said "I found this in a gravel pit! It's for you cause I know you like cool rings bestiegirl!! :D" and you're like "...uh... thanks!" and you take the ring because it is a cool ring and you do love cool rings and you don't tell him that he basically proposed because apparently rings don't go with proposals in his culture.

mmmm yeah the love's lights scene. ahhh so much I could say. I guess, it was really fun in this part (and throughout the whole fic) to explore how Ezra wasn't entirely human, and how his merfolk instincts would affect him, especially regarding the way merfolk fall in love and the once-a-year merfolk festival. I actually have an outlined idea for a fic in the series that's about weird merfolk quirks and different traditions they have, so I might explore things more in that one.

ah man I am never gonna get tired of writing Sabine deciding to do random impromptu flirting and Ezra bluescreening over it.

oh yeah shoutout to Robert Louis Stevenson by the way, I stole a plot device from him (character hides in an apple barrel and overhears Important Things)

And then Rune and Jacen come in at the end! This was an adaptation of one of the original scenes of the fic that I mentioned at the beginning of this.

One other thing, I guess--the character named Koti is an orphaned mermaid girl that Kanan and Hera took in, so she's Jacen's little sister. the "guppies," as Rune calls them, are her three merfolk siblings--two of them are adopted and one is a sabezra kid. (said adopted children may or may not be rey and finn.) (Oh, and the guy Rune has a crush on? Poe Dameron. Obviously.)

Hmmm I think that's about it for this director's cut! Which is probably good considering I just dumped slightly under 2k words of ramble on ya

Thank you for the ask!! :D

[softpadawan]

How would Ezra and Kanan react if Ezra suddenly got turned into a human from an evil sorcerer (aka the Emperor or Maul)? I'd be fascinated to know how they'd handle it.

I actually have a WIP (unrelated to this particular AU but still in the Merpeople genre) about this exact thing, although it’s more of a less fanciful Little Mermaid fusion with a hearty dose of buyer’s remorse and “maybe trading my tail and voice to be with some human* I’ve had a crush on for all of 24 hours wasn’t such a good idea”. 

*Not Kanan

But generally speaking, I think we can all agree that in this type of situation, Kanan would be 1000% supportive of Ezra, drying his tears (because who wouldn’t cry after losing the ability to breathe underwater and swim like a dolphin), reassuring him that he’ll find a cure, or if he can’t, making sure that Ezra is taken care of for the rest of his life. I’m sure eventually Ezra would get the hang of being human, and he and Kanan would be able to have a somewhat “normal” relationship full of love and compassion and all those wonderful things, but Ezra would never stop longing to return to his home. You can take the merboy out of the sea, but you can never take the sea out of the merboy.

Also, Sea Sorcerer Maul would be so awesome. I can just see him leering over poor unfortunate merboy Ezra and sealioning him (ha!) into a shady deal, and his epic battle in the finale against Kanan while a helpless Ezra is forced to watch.

[fleetofshippyships-archive]

I have to admit, mucking around with my mdzs merfolk AU is making me also want to work on my drarry merfolk au...even though they are completely different, but with the way my head is at rn there’s no way I can juggle 2 fandoms rn 😔

[gentlemancrow]

F and S for the fic asks!

[Answering prompts from here if you want!! :D]

OHHHH dialogue is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING to write so thank you for that one!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I am still pretty in love with this exchange from "In Scientia, Magicae"!

“I managed just fine before you.  I hadn’t even gotten hurt in ages before you,” he groused, eyes flicking back up to meet Martin’s, “And if you weren’t such an insufferable fussbudget, you’d realize I don’t need or want your help in the first place!  I never did!”

The linguistic arrow struck Martin square in the chest, jaw dropping in shock while the proverbial fletching quivered at his sternum.

“A fussbudget?  Are you actually serious right now?  I wanted nothing more than to help you!  To tend to your ghastly wounds!  And I’m an insufferable fussbudget?” he cried indignantly, “Fine!  Just fine!  Did you ever stop to think maybe I wouldn’t have to be so fussy if I had half a clue what you even wanted from me here?”

“Well if you were halfway competent as an archival assistant and not cheerfully traipsing into every little trap, or pitfall, or sucker punch the archives has to offer, perhaps you wouldn’t have to wonder so hard what I might want from you!” The Archivist answered viciously.

It was Martin’s turn to snarl, leveling a furious finger at his demonic opponent.

“Well maybe if you would just tell me more about how the archives work and what the hell I’m up against instead of leaving me alone to figure everything out by accident all the time, I wouldn’t get into so much trouble!”

The Archivist lowered his head so he was eyelevel with his assistant, serpentine tongue rolling spitefully in his susurrating elocution.

“Well if you had even a crumb of brain between your ears and would listen to my ample warnings about the archives… If you weren’t constantly running afoul of deadly fear demons like a moth to flame, I wouldn’t have to constantly save you and get you out of that trouble!”

A second arrow pierced Martin’s heart, and this time it shattered, spilling all the venom and all the blood boiling within in a black cascade of sloshing, viscous loathing into his own gut.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” he murmured dully, bowing his head.

The Archivist blinked rapidly in shock to be knocked so jarringly from their verbal sparring, and sat back upright on the bench, cocking his antlered skull quizzically at the suddenly defeated Martin.

“What?  What do you mean I shouldn’t have done that?” he sputtered dumbly, “I shouldn’t have saved you?  Don’t be daft.  Was I supposed to just allow you to be sliced up for mincemeat by bad taxidermy?”

“Yes…!” Martin snapped with miserable sincerity, “Then at least you’d have an easy excuse to hire someone else as your assistant.  Someone competent at least.  Someone you actually want here.”

The Archivist faded inwardly, white bone as chipped porcelain, an incorporeal vice cranked one rusted gear tooth tighter around his choked heart.  The ethereal green light in his eyes dimmed, and the second pair above them opened eagerly to take their place.

“Do you… truly think me that much of a monster…?” he asked in a soft, husky voice.

I love it for a lot of reasons! Just because banter/arguments are SO much fun to write and this one turned out so spicy and electric! And also because this was ABSOLUTELY an homage to the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie if anyone caught it hehe. And lastly this was a culmination of Jon and Martin circling each other and then FINALLY having it out and then they both sort of bust through each other's walls at the same moment? This was the real watershed moment of the chapter/fic where they break each other down and start building something new from the rubble and yeah ; w ;

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Oh this one is easy, fantasy AUs. My BELOVED my absolute JAM! All of you who have turned Jmart into faeries or merfolk or shapeshifters or wizards or dragons what have you I love you so much please send me recs for any of these fics I may have missed since I am fairly new to the fandom! I am in my 30's and still lowkey hope my life will become isekai some day haha!

[magpiefngrl]

Drarry AUs: mermaid

A few days ago I asked for prompts for drabbles to kickstart my creativity, which is slumbering for months now, and you responded and gave me some fab ideas <3 However, the fact that I’m, apparently, completely unable to write anything under 500 words means that these “drabbles” are going to take me a while. 

@go-to-helvetica said: “a mermaid au because mermaid!Harry is my jam” 

Thank you for the prompt! I hope you like what I did with it :)

(No warnings, rated Teen, 1.7k, beta’ed and preread by the lovely @nerdherderette at a moment’s notice! I’m so grateful <3)

Customs of the land and the sea

Sunlight tickled Draco’s eyelids, tugging him out of a deep slumber. Licking his dry lips, he tasted sand and jerked awake. With wakefulness came the feeling of heavy, soaked limbs and burning lungs. He turned to his side and retched saltwater. Coughing, he wiped his face and attempted to sit up when a hand touched him lightly on the back.

‘Are you OK?’

Draco flinched with an undignified squeak.

Startling green eyes met his. The green eyes belonged to a face more handsome than faces had any right to be. Draco felt another part of him burning. Somewhere lower than the lungs this time. The man’s naked torso was glistening and tan and Draco swallowed hard as his eyes travelled down the planes of his chest and stomach—and came upon a silvery tail, twitching in the surf.

A merman! The legends were true, then.

Draco shook his damp hair out of his eyes and sat up. A quick glance told him he was in a small cove, not far from his town. He dimly remembered a storm breaking out during the night, the waves slamming into—oh fuck. They’d been out on Theo’s yacht.

‘Where are the others? Are they OK?’ He rasped, his throat hurting.

The merman shrugged. ‘Maybe? I don’t know what happened to them. Perhaps my friends saved them. Or ate them.’

Draco shuddered and shuffled a little back onto the beach. In the stories, the merfolk weren’t kind people. ‘Are—are you going to eat me, too?’

The merman tilted his head. ‘No, I don’t eat on the land.’

Draco’s shoulders refused to relax. ‘Well, why did you save me then? It was you who brought me here, right?’

The merman’s gaze travelled all over Draco’s face, then his body, making Draco’s cheeks heat up, his skin tingle. It was a predatory gaze, curious and greedy, but also tinged with a sentiment that Draco couldn’t discern.

‘I’ve seen you before,’ the merman said.

‘You have?’ Draco spent a lot of his time in the sea, usually taking one of his family’s boats for sailing or fishing in the bay. ‘What’s your name?’

‘In my country I’m called—’ here the merman made a screeching sound that pierced Draco’s ears. It sounded like Haerrrr and a long vowel eee at the end.

Draco gave it a try. ‘Harry?’

The merman mouthed the word as if tasting it. ‘Harry is good,’ he decided. ‘And you’re Draco. I heard your friends call you that.’ He blushed and his tail stirred in the surf.

Draco let his gaze wander down Harry’s torso and he burrowed his fingers in the sand to stop himself from reaching out to touch him. He’d heard of the merfolk beauty but he also knew it was more than that. ‘Charming like the devil, they are. They lure you in,’ his grandfather used to tell him on winter nights when the sea outside his window raged and swallowed ships whole. ‘And then they have their way with you, down in the murky depths of their world.’

In those days, ‘having their way with you’ conjured images of torture. Now, Draco could think of another interpretation that made his mouth dry.

Harry didn’t make him feel unsafe. He made him feel quite a lot of things, but fear wasn’t one of them. Draco stretched his hand out. The merman looked at it but made no move to take it.

‘In my country it’s custom,’ Draco explained, ‘to shake the hand of the man who saved your life.’

Full lips stretched into a smile that almost made Draco’s heart stop. Death by supernatural beauty: that’d be a first. Harry took his hand and Draco squeezed it lightly. Harry squeezed back. His hand was large and warm, and felt wonderful wrapped around Draco’s.

Draco didn’t want to let go. ‘Thank you for saving me.’ For a brief moment, an impulse to follow Harry to the sea overwhelmed him, and, startled, he dropped his hand.

The tide was coming in, the water reaching Harry’s waist and nearing Draco’s legs. He pulled his feet up, even though every part of him was damp.

Harry gazed out to the sea. ‘I need to go back in.’ His tail flopped impatiently. ‘I wish—I wish I could stay longer.’

‘I wish you could, too,’ Draco whispered.

Harry turned his back, his tail splashing once in the water, but he seemed to change his mind. He turned back to Draco, bit his lower lip and reached out. He buried his fingers in Draco’s hair, caressing white-blond strands, running down Draco’s skull in a way that brought shivers to Draco’s spine. ‘I’ve always wanted to do that,’ Harry smiled wistfully. ‘It’s… it feels nice.’

Draco’s heart pounded as loud as the sea. ‘It does.’ His voice came strangled and he coughed to clear it. ‘It feels really nice.’

Harry’s fingers trailed down Draco’s face. ‘You feel different, too,’ Harry whispered. ‘It’s so hard—to leave you. Now that I know what you— what you feel like to hold.’ Face swiftly turning red, Harry shifted down the shore. A second later, his tail flapped in the surf, and then he was gone.

Draco returned to the town to find it in unrest and mourning. Fishermen had gone missing since the storm and Theo and Vince had yet to be seen, but Blaise had found his way to the shore riding—according to the stories he told everyone who’d listen down the pub—a giant turtle. Blaise had always had a tendency to tell tall tales, but how could Draco doubt him ever again? The legends were true; perhaps turtles let people ride them to safety just as mermaids touched people’s hair. He didn’t tell anyone about his experience. Let Blaise have the attention and give interviews to the county’s paper. Draco wasn’t in the mood.

He felt listless after meeting Harry. He ate little, slept little and thought of the merman constantly. He had no idea how he could go through life without ever seeing him again. He went fishing several times in the next two weeks, but Harry was nowhere to be seen. Of course, Draco had never noticed him before. Perhaps Harry saw him and stayed away. That made Draco feel worse.

When at home, he spent all his time in his workshop carving wooden figurines; but whereas in the past he carved dragons and serpents, he now carved sea creatures, fantastical and fanciful—creatures that drew the admiration of friends, even though his father disdained them as he held no respect for anything that wasn’t useful.

Draco’s favourite wooden animal was a half-dragon, half-dolphin that was small enough to hang around his neck with black string.

A fortnight after the storm, on the night of the new moon, his mother caught him at the front door.

‘Going fishing again?’

‘Just here in the bay,’ he told her. ‘I’ll take the Narcissa.’ It was the small green boat Draco’s father had gifted to his mother when they were engaged.

She laid her hand on him. ‘You’re different. It looks like grief, but it’s as if someone has cast a spell on you. You seem distracted all the time. Oh! Draco…’ her eyes lit up and she took a step back to take him in. ‘Are you in love?’

Draco had no idea what he was except that he felt as if he was drowning in a longing he could never satisfy. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and opened the front door. ‘I’ll see you later.’

The evening was calm and his boat bobbed quietly in the dark water. Draco sat back on the stern and let his right hand trail in the ocean, while he looked at the stars. They held as many secrets as the ocean. The breeze whispered softly and he’d almost dozed off, his hand still trailing the cold water, when something brushed against his fingers. Draco’s eyes shot open, body tense and mind alert.

His hand felt the stirring in the water again and the feel of something warm, something that wrapped around it. Draco’s heart drummed fast and loud as he turned to the starboard side and saw a dark shape in the water. Two hands grabbed the side of the small fishing boat and Harry pushed himself up, water dripping down his face and naked chest. In the starlight, he looked as fanciful as the creatures Draco carved; a figment of his imagination, a dream made real because he willed it so.

Draco wrapped his fingers around the dragon-fish he wore around his neck and knelt on the side. ‘I thought I’d never see you again.’

‘I thought I could stay away,’ Harry murmured. ‘I couldn’t.’

‘So you saw me all those times I came out here?’

Harry gazed in Draco’s eyes. ‘I looked for you every night.’ He reached out and touched Draco’s hair again. ‘Your hair reminds me of the stars,’ he said.

‘”Fairy hair” they call it in my town,’ Draco murmured and leaned closer, feeling Harry’s breath on him. ‘I’ve missed you. I-I brought you something.’

He pulled back a little and took off the wooden animal. ‘I made this,’ he said. ‘I’d like you to have it. Something from the land.’

His eyes startled, Harry nodded, and Draco put it around his head. His fingers traced the cool, wet skin and rested around Harry’s neck.

‘In my country it’s custom,’ Harry said in a low voice, ‘to kiss the person who gives you a gift.’

The force of Draco’s desire squeezed his chest and made his breath come shallow. He leaned closer and felt Harry’s breath on him. ‘It’s a good custom.’ His lips played on Harry’s, his heart thrumming a wild tattoo against his ribs.

‘Customs should be observed,’ Harry murmured and rose an inch, his tail flapping below him, and kissed Draco. He tasted of the sea and of something feral and untameable and utterly enchanting. Draco deepened the kiss, one hand cupping Harry’s face, the other holding him tight around the shoulders. The feel of his ocean lips, demanding and insistent and increasingly more ferocious, made his blood sing. He could spend eons kissing Harry and he knew with a certainty as final as death what it meant to give your heart to the sea.

***

Dare Dating (8th year)

Pirate AU

Durmstrang!Harry and Beauxbatons!Draco AU 

Royalty/Arranged Marriage AU 

Musicians AU

Medieval AU

Fae AU

Adventure AU

Firefly/Space AU

Magical Flower Shop AU (canon universe)

kofi 

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

Part of Your World

Chapter 1: a life below and the world above

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word count: 2000

Chapter 1/11 (All chapters)

Summary: Simon is a young merman fascinated with the land above. He dreams of living in that incredible world. When he meets a human prince, those dreams suddenly become even more desirable.

Read on AO3

AN: Remember ages ago when I said that I was listening to a Disney song but I could not say which cause that would spoil my next fic? Probably not. Anyway, welcome one and all, to the snowbaz Little Mermaid AU no one asked for! I have done a mermaid AU before, but this is specifically based on Disney The Little Mermaid, aka the movie of my childhood.This is my first multi-chapter Carry On fic so I hope you all like it! This entire fic is dedicated to @carryonmylovelies, my amazing bestie. She has encouraged and advised me ever since this insane idea was conceived months ago. Without her love, suggestions, and support, idk where I would be. Love you girl <3

———————————————-

“Penny!” Simon whined. “I’m bored.”

Penelope grumbled and kept focus on her spell studies. She was learning more advanced stuff now. “Shut up, Simon, you’re always bored.”

Simon shifted his head on her lap, chin digging into the top of her bright purple tail. “Yeah, but I’m really bored now.”

“You could practice magic with me.”

“Don’t mock me, Pen.” He frowned, scratching at the spattering of scales on his wrist. “You know I’m shit at magic.”

“You’re not shit, just… erratic.”

Simon huffed. “That’s a much kinder word than the ones Father uses during our lessons. He prefers ‘reckless’ and ‘explosive.’”

Penelope finally put down her book. Simon was less frowning and more pouting now, bottom lip jutting out slightly. She put down her book, choosing to run her fingers over his curls as they swayed in the water instead.

“Did he yell at you again, Si?”

The merboy grunted, hiding his face in her tail even more. His own plain blue fin twitched angrily. He rarely used his words, preferring body motions and disjointed noises. Luckily, Penny had known him long enough to understand what they meant. Simon respected his father the way a child should, but over time he’d come to not like him very much. Davy never gave him any room to be himself, to explore outside of his magic studies. It was cruel to do to someone as naturally curious as Simon.

“Hey,” she said, “how about we go look at that human ship you saw yesterday? Together?”

Simon’s head jolted up. A grin spread across his face. “Really?”

“Yeah if it’ll make you stop moping.”

He nodded vigorously. “Yes yes certainly! Let’s go!”

They swam off together into the dark recesses of the ocean.

———————————————-

Every merfolk talked about how the sea was was always a gorgeous place. And it was. Filled with swirling greens and blues and violets. With brightly coloured creatures gracing the gravelly floor, it always looked like a veritable rainbow.

But Simon wasn’t interested in colourful wildlife or pretty ocean water. Those things had had never grabbed his attention. He didn’t really like the endless sea period. Where he was just supposed to wander (which bored him), practice magic (which he was awful at), or, according to his father, fight humans (which he despised most of all.) No, Simon found joy and fun in learning about what the mysterious land dwellers were like. But since he could never get to surface, what with the tail and Davy breathing down his neck, he had the next best thing; what they left behind in his own home.

“C’mon Penny c’mon! Hurry up!” Simon zipped through the water, tail almost a blur. Penny rolled her eyes as she followed him.

“My goodness Simon,” she said. “Slow down! The ship will still be there no matter how fast we get there.”

Simon swam so his head hung upside down in front of hers. His big grin was like a sunbeam shining right into her face. “Then why not go faster?!”

“Beause some of us aren’t secretly pilot whales.”

He stuck her tongue out (he always did when Penny mocked him) then flipped around and swam away quickly again. Penny followed behind. It didn’t matter how fast he went then, though. The ship was right there.

It was huge, looming over both of them. The mast was still attached and stuck out high above them. A large rock stuck right through the body. Simon had to assume it’d been down here awhile. It was all rotting, the surface covered in barnacles and sea plants. It was a total wreck. Simon loved it.

“Whoa,” he whispered with awe. “I still can’t believe humans across our waters in these big things.”

Penelope shook her head slowly. “Me neither.”

“It’s so massive! How does it not sink?!”

“I don’t know. I’ve never learned about human stuff.”

“Is it magic?”

Penny rolled her eyes. “No, Simon, of course not. Humans can’t do magic.”

Simon stuck his tongue out again and tugged on her wrist. “C’mon, let’s go!”

They swam into the massive ship. Simon brushed his webbed hand against it’s surface, feeling the soft wood and slippery algae under his fingertips. Nothing in his world was made of this material. Everything was shaped rough coral or rock. Before he found these ships, Simon had never felt an object made of something so smooth. He giggled like a little kid.

“This is incredible,” he said, spinning in the water with his arms out.

“It’s certainly something,” Penelope replied, wiping the algae off her finger.

“Aren’t you just a little awestruck, Pen? Don’t you wonder how it came to be?”

“I don’t share your weird human fascination, Si. To me, it’s just…stuff.”

Simon huffed, then dived down through a hole in the deck. There was little light, only tiny beams shining through tiny holes. Even with his highly perceptive merfolk vision, he couldn’t see much. But he did see the smallest flash of something shiny.

“Pen! I think I found something!”

He swam towards it. It was poking out of a tattered cloth. He pushed it away, and gasped. Inside were strange silver objects. They were hard and cold to the touch, bent into odd curved shapes.

“What is it?”

Simon jolted at Penelope’s sudden appearance behind him. “Jeez Penny, give me some warning.” He went back to the trinkets, picking one up that had three spikes. “I don’t know. Kinda reminds me of Father’s trident, but smaller”

Penelope snatched it out of his hand. He frowned as she examined the object. “Hm, strange. Maybe they use it to brush their hair.”

She stuck it in Simon’s bronze curls and tried to pull through them. But it got caught on his tangles. He giggled and slapped her hand away. The tool stuck out of his knotted hair.

“Maybe. Who knows.” He tried to pull out the human object. But it took a few tugs before it released. He picked up the other human trinkets, smiling softly.

“These will work great in my collection.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “You and your bloody collection.”

“Shut up it’s important to me,” Simon said with a pout.

She sighed, placing a hand on his arm. “Yeah, I know.”

Without another word, Simon dashed off. Penny followed behind. She knew where he was off to of course. To the only place he truly loved.

———————————————-

Simon’s cave was innocuous on the outside. Just an underground little hovel. Except that it was filled to the brim with outlawed items from the surface.

Outlawed was a strong word, but it was the one Simon’s father had used. He thought that because he was a powerful magic user with a big trident that meant he could outlaw things for his son. That Simon had to hate humans like him. But Simon preferred to form his own ideas. And from all he’d found, he had a hard time believing such supposedly evil creatures could make such beautiful things.

He and Penny swam in through the small secluded entrance. Simon’s eyes lit up as soon as he entered. Bioluminescent algae covered huge parts of the circular interior, with one singular hole at the top to let a bit of natural light in from above. There were shelves upon shelves of treasures that Simon had collected over the past few years, towering above the two merfolk. A wave of pure calm and happiness washed over Simon as he looked up. Here, he felt safe and happy.

“Where should I put these?” Simon said with a grin. “Next to the these things?” He swam upwards and played with small multi coloured charms on the ends of strings. “Or this thing?” He picked up a strange curly silver object just above.

Penelope couldn’t help but smile. Simon always looked so happy here. Among his strange collection of human oddities. She shrugged, usually a gesture only he used.

“Up to you, Simon. You know this shit better than I do.”

Simon swam slow circles around the cave, observing his trove. He stopped near the top and grinned broadly.

“Right here!” He shouted down. “It’s perfect.”

He jammed the three pronged one into his “bendy three stick thing” as he called it. He’d found it with three white wax rods stuck in it, but these silver objects fit just the same. He stuck three different ones in. The tiny trident, the dull blade, and the curvy dip one. Penelope sat on a rock at the bottom

“Are they supposed to go there?” She asked, face screwed up in confusion.

Simon shrugged. “I don’t know. But they fit anyway. Good enough for me.”

Penelope sighed, scooping up some of the gold discs Simon had found last month. She lounged back and played with it between her fingers. It glinted as she spun it around. Though Simon was having fun, which was great, this wasn’t what interested her. She didn’t get her friend’s human fascination. She assumed it stemmed from equal parts boredom and rebellion against his father.

“Hey, I think I hear something,” Simon yelled. He was looking up out of the hole.

“Is it a shark?” she replied.

“No. It sounds like a party or something. Above the water.”

Penelope felt the panic run through her. She whipped her head up to look at Simon. He was gazing through the hole with wide eyes and hopeful smile.

“Simon,” she said harshly. “Don’t do what I think you’re going to do. If Davy finds out…”

He gave her a mischeavous grin. Then was off like a shot through the still open door.

“Simon!”

Penelope followed after him. But he was so much faster. He was a total blue blur as he shot towards the surface.

Simon’s head burst through the water. He sucked in a deep breath of pure air. His usually floating hair was soaked flat on top of his head. It took a second for his eyes to re-adjust to the water free environment. He gasped at the sight before him.

It was like the ship below, but even better. No rot or barnacles. Just pure finished wood that cut through the waves. The hull was carved with intricate designs that had a golden finish. Huge, loud bursts of light shot off the edge and into the night sky. They sparkled like starts. Simon watched with awe. How was it doing that? Was this what humans had instead of magic? He’d never seen anything like it. Voices cheered and shouted from the ship. Against his better judgement, he swam closer and closer.

He was right up against the hull, but still couldn’t see anything. He thought about magically lifting himself like his father did, but that would probably send Simon flying knowing his magic. So, with great effort, he scaled up the side instead. He sat on a little lip on the side of the boat and peeked through the opening. Then his heart promptly stopped.

The human leaned on the opposite edge of the ship, legs crossed over one another. While everyone else shouted around him, he stayed still, focused on the contraption in his hand. It sat on his arm and he rested his chin on it. He pushed and pulled a long stick over the it’s strings. Every motion elicited an eerie tune, changing with the way he moved his long fingers across the neck.

Simon dragged his gaze over him, lingering on his every feature. He was tall and thin but defined like a statue. The fire light on the ship made his reddish-gold skin practically glow. His face was made of sharp lines, from his cheekbones to his jaw, which were all screwed up in concentration over the strange machine in his arms. Lank raven hair hung in front of his grey eyes. They weren’t just grey though. They were dark blue and dark green mixed together, like deep ocean water.

He was the most beautiful person Simon had ever seen.

———————————————-

Chapter 2 will be posted next Monday! Hope you enjoyed this :)

[fantasyimmortal]

Crush Depth

A merfolk au inspired by @pixxel-princess′s drawings of the mertwins (here)! She also drew the picture above you can find the post here

Chapter 1

               This is amazing! It’s so beautiful! It had been months since I was able to go scuba diving. Now here I was, exploring a coral reef that had only recently been discovered. This wasn’t like normal corals reefs that sat at one-hundred and fifty feet deep, this reef needed special equipment including a specifically designed diving suit to counteract the pressure of the depth. The suit itself was patent-pending and I was the first to test it.

               I held up the underwater camera and released the breath I had taken in from my scuba tanks. Once the bubbles had cleared I snapped a quick photo. I looked at the screen and saw a small little fish had photobombed the picture I had lined up. I looked up and saw the cute little thing on the other side of my full-faced mask.

               I held out a gloved finger and smiled as the small fish gently bit at the tip. Bubbles escaped from my regulator as I laughed. You are rather adorable aren’t you? I held up the camera again to take a picture of the little one when it swam out of the shot. Awww! Hey wait!

               I followed after it and tried to take a picture again only to have it swim out of the shot again. Well you’re being rather stubborn! I thought you wanted your picture taken… I sighed and turned back towards the reef. Oh well. I took another photo of the reef and saw that the same fish has photobombed yet again.

               I looked up and saw it swimming away only to stop and turn to look at me. When I didn’t move it swam closer and nipped at my finger again. What does it want? I followed after the small fish and stopped to see if it would turn around. When it did I figured it wanted me to follow it. Well okay…

               I had never seen a fish that acted like this and my curiosity was piqued. I followed the fish to an entrance of some cave. That doesn’t look too safe. I stayed at the mouth of the cave as the small fish entered without hesitation. My eyes widened, and I was extremely impressed with the small fish’s courage.

               I continued to stay at the mouth of the cave when it came back out and I could’ve sworn it glared at me before turning tail and disappearing into the darkness once again. Clipping the camera strap to the belt of my suit, I reached for the flashlight at my hip and turned it on before inching into the darkness. If a fish that size can do it I can too right? And it’s a new place. Exploration for science! I made a fist with my free hand and shook it for more oomph towards my thoughts.

               I kept one hand on the stones of the cave as I ventured inward. This is fine. This is okay. It’s all for science. I shined the light from the flashlight ahead of me and saw something that looked like a hand reaching out from the other side of, what I assumed was a cave in.

               The small fish brushed against the hand in a loving manner than swam over to me and quickly back over to cave in. Someone…or something is trapped. It’s like no creature I’ve seen before. I followed the fish over and started to try to pull away some of smaller rocks. This could be the discovery of the century!

               I put my feet against the wall of the cave and braced body against one of the larger boulders and pushed with all my might. The boulder shifted slightly before it suddenly gave way and I quickly pulled back and hugged the wall to keep from getting hit by the rubble that followed it. Once the commotion stopped I shined my flashlight towards the direction of the cave in.

               There was now an open space and I saw a man’s likeness trying to squeeze out of the opening. His skin looked like it had some patches of scales and he looked like he had fins for ears. I gasped and dropped the flashlight, immediately reaching for the camera. I held it up only to have him take it and smash it against the stone wall beside my head. The flashlight had landed against the fallen stones and it continued to shed light on his handsome features.

               He stared down his nose at me, his white hair fluttering slightly with the water’s current. He looked angry as he raised his hand and I tightly closed my eyes. When nothing happened I gradually opened both eyes and crossed them as I focused on the small fish from before floating in front of me and facing him. He opened his mouth and looked as though he was talking to it.

               The fish swam around him and he turned his back and pointed at like they were arguing. I looked at his hair again and noticed that not only was it white but it had pink tips as well. What an unusual color. I looked down his the muscles of his back and my eyes widened when his skin turned to scales.

               Bubbles obscured my vision as let out the breath I didn’t know I had been holding when I saw a tail. Without thinking I reached out and held the tail in my hands. His back straightened and he looked over his shoulder at me before turning and slapping my hands away.

               I paid no mind to the small pain in my hands and reached up to grab one of his, intrigued by the webbing between his fingers. He jammed his other hand against my mask and I let him go and as I backed away in pain. It…it can’t be! I must be dreaming!! There’s no way there’s a merman in front of me!

               I pressed my back against the wall as he leaned in closely. He turned his head slightly and his eyebrow rose quizzically as he looked me up and down. He opened his mouth but closed it again as the cave began to tremble. I looked around frantically and felt myself being pulled further into the cave. What’s going on? My worry increased as flashlight disappeared along with the rubble left from the cave in.

               I tried to grab at any section of the wall that I could as the current began pulling me further into the darkness of the cave. I pulled my hand away from the wall as a sharp, pointed stone sliced through my palm. I tried to call out but only bubbles came from my regulator.

               I tried to swim against the current reaching out in front of me, kicking my flippers with all my might but it wasn’t enough and the darkness was swallowing me whole. I felt something grab my wrist before a stone smacked my head and I lost consciousness.

[anonymous-human]

Oh shit i had an idea! So what are the merformers lets say the bayverse transformers hc be? Like what are their daily mermaid lives like or whatever... (sorry i really like bayverse transformers, and ur blog is now my life💗)

(OMG that is totally coolio! I remember, before I had the blog, I really enjoyed reading like… @zenxenophilia and @peachcanwrite , and they were my shit. And I still enjoy reading their stuff, it’s good shit 10/10.

Anyway. I think you mean TF4 bc that’s what everyone wants.

The thing is NO ONE knows about merfolk lifestyle. Like all i got was “Merfolk have no special occupations or abilities, preferring to spend most of their time swimming, hunting, eating, preening, mating, and playing with whales.” If someone could just, like, link me to a book or website on merfolk and their species that’d be just great. 

Also, this took way too fucking long. I apologize!( i kinda gave up bc I don’t have a lot of… lifestyle that’d be different than they are as bots))

Alrighty, i would like to establish a thing before i get started (this is all headcanons for the merformer AU as a whole). There are the two factions and the ‘bots are the ones who think human life is worth is and the ‘cons hate humans and think they should all die. So, ‘bots live closer to the islands that humans live on while the con’s life in the deeper darker places humans haven’t gone to.

And, well, guns don’t work underwater, so, crossbows with different kinds of spears.

Optimus

(Great White Shark)

he’s the calmest of the pod. Also the Alpha male.

As the alpha, he gets to choose where they sleep and when they wake up and stuff. But he makes sure it’s a good spot that would benefit everyone!

But now humans don’t like mers, he’s gets himself in a jam often, but usually gets out with the help of Kade)

Has to promise people he’s not bad bc everyone’s afraid of sharks for some reason? (good going there, mother nature!)

Bumblebee

(Leporinus)

he’s the only one who can’t communicate through the English language like the others, but he learns quickly after time.

Noticeably the youngest.

Other than Optimus, the fondest of humans.

Crosshairs

(I was thinking a green sunfish at first BUT A STING RAY. YES. and then I’m a dumbass bc of crosshairs alt-mode is a damn green stingray. fml))

is obviously the most adventurous of the group,

He’s pretty much like how he is a bot.

Gotta keep his tail out of the way, a great weapon though. (It’s sensitive)

Hound

(I think he’d be like,,, a big-ass bass. Google big ass bass.)

He’s packed with big-ass spears and tech he found (nothing electrical, obviously).

Red-neck shit. Probably learns how to drive a golf cart or a fishing boat, (don’t ask, it just came to mind).

Drift

(he’s a blue koi)

Same old, same old, calm and collective mer a short, short fuse.

He’s just starting to like humans, and have really taken a liking to what it has to offer.

(can we safely assume he’s similar to IDW Drift in the sense he used to be Deadlock. It’d make sense of why his temper is so damn short.)

[of-the-starlit-night]

Mermaid AUs are my jam so here is my lovely Aurex as a mer with long hair because what’s the point of being a mermaid if you don’t have ridiculously long hair that probably gets in the way? She also wears a “top” specifically for the purpose of wearing more shiny things on her body.

For those of us who can’t draw, there are three mermaid doll makers in this style: Neptune’s Daughter & Neptune’s Son & Merfolk (which is just the two combined so you can do more than one in an image with a few differences)

[xeirily-blog]

New Art Blog!

Hello! I’m a new art blog! I will draw characters/things from anime/manga/books. I mainly draw Haikyuu!!, Ajin: Demi-Human, Tokyo Ghoul, and Voltron!

I also will draw Death Parade, Free!, Yuri!!! on Ice, Hunter x Hunter, PJO/TLH, maybe some Steven Universe (I haven’t watched SU for a long time though), and more that have slipped my mind!

AUs are my jam. Definitely merfolk, apocalypse, and TG AUs are my favorite! I am still working on digital art, but I’m getting the hang of it quickly!

If you want, you can request for me to draw something! It might be a day or two before I post it (my ADHD gets it the way of my creativity sometimes...). Thank you for reading!

[eccentricandfantastic]

Tag you're it! Post about 5 things that make you happy. Then, send an anon to the last 10 people in your notes and spread the happiness!

Oh god anon, thank you for this I needed to recall happy shit rn

1) My friends tbh. They’re not things, but they do make me happy so shoutout to @aikascupcake, @terriblybeautifullytragic, and @skadoosh-silent-death. Thanks for listening to my rambles and nerdy jokes and all of your support in every low point I have.

2) Yuri on ice, Sense8: two shows with gr9 representation of not just the lgbtqiap+ community but w different races and ethnicities as well

3) Mac and cheese

4) Mermaids/Mermen/Merfolk aus. That’s my jam right there

5)Music

[icecat45]

tsukimi-chan replied to your post: I should be working on my WIPs...

MERFOLKKKK

Yes, merfolk! And there’ll probably be other mythical beings and creatures in this AU, too, because writing about that sort of thing is my jam. lol

[softpadawan]

Does Mer Ezra age the same way as a human does?

This is something only God (aka the author) knows 😆 None of the characters in this AU are sure how Ezra ages, especially since he’s the first and only merperson the world (aka Rex, Wolffe, Gregor, and eventually Kanan) has ever seen, and his uncles aren’t even really sure what his actual age is. They estimate he was between 3-5 years old when they first found him, given that he had all of his baby teeth and could talk in his native language, and had reached other developmental milestones equivalent to human children. He is roughly 15 when this story takes place. 

What I know is that merpeople are highly intelligent and experience physical development earlier than humans, due to the dangerous underwater environment they live in. Merbabies are born with excellent eyesight and much more developed brains than a human infant, but they’re also born smaller than human babies, typically averaging between 4-6 pounds for a healthy child. (Bigger brains = bigger skull = more difficult to pass through the birth canal, even for merpeople who don’t have to worry about the size of their pelvic outlet.) Because merbabies are born sooner, they are instinctively wired to run and hide, and are much quieter than their human counterparts. Crying would attract predators, you see, and merpeople have 10x more sensitive ears than humans, so the merbaby doesn’t have to make much noise to get their parents’ attention. 

Technically merpeople are mammals in that they breathe through their lungs, make milk, and give birth to live young, but they are actually in a class all their own, a hybridization between mammals and osteichthyes. They have scale-covered skin on their tails, which they shed and regrow continuously, rather like hair, and antifreeze proteins in their blood to allow them to dive down into freezing depths. Not to mention all the special physiological features like scotopic (night) vision and being able to adjust the pressure in their bodies (controlled subconsciously by the pons and medulla of the brainstem; humans don’t have to consciously think about blinking or breathing, we just do it, and that’s how it is for merpeople).

Ezra has no idea just how special his body is because he’s never been given the chance to really exercise his abilities. He’s lived in “shallow” water (<100 ft) all his life. 

It’s also important to note that, in certain situations (based mostly on environmental factors, but may be preferentially induced), mermen can get pregnant and merwomen have the ability to inseminate :)

Sorry, anon, this was way more than you asked for!