#professional mermaids exist

[airconditionertm]

I find it so funny when those conspiracy videos are like omg this is footage of a real mermaid

as if you can’t just buy a mermaid tail and their is a massive community of people who are professional mermaids

[thrashkink-coven]

Genuine Red Flags in Spiritual Books, Grimoires, Occult Teachers or Mentors

Very often I see folks talking about things they consider to be red flags for beginners when entering witchy or occult spaces. Here are a few of the things that I’ve noticed over the years that will immediately make me put down a book or step away from a practitioner.

1. Claiming they know every thing about every sect of spirituality / occultism or witchcraft

Simply put, there is no one person who knows the deep inner workings of every craft, of every philosophy, of every practice. The guru that claims to know everything from Reiki to Jewish Mysticism to Native American Spirituality to Voodoo to Acupuncture to Chakra Healing, Tarot, Herb Wizardy, Alchemy, etc etc etc. No. They are lying. Even the most dedicated and wise practitioners devote years into understanding a philosophy or spiritual practice. And especially in regards to closed practices, it is impossible for one person to have read and done it all. Either they are straight up lying or presenting brief skimming over texts or conversation as “years of experience and practice”. No.

2. Constantly trying to convince the reader that they are a God, deity or some inhuman creature like a cosmic elf, mermaid, or angel

Now I don’t mean to confuse this with the idea that some Luciferian or Satanic spaces may adopt that all humans are gods in their own right, or you are the god of your own existence. I’m talking specifically about books that try to convince you that you’re actually a lost race of alien who has been trapped in a human body, or has been mistaken into believing they are human. I’m not going to get into my opinions on star seeds or deity ancestry, what I will say is that very often, and I mean uncomfortably often, these ideas are intrinsically tied to supremacist or xenophobic rhetoric You do not have to be an angel to be special and cosmically significant. You don’t have to be an elf to explore herbal magic, people who push these ideas are very frequently praying on those with delusions of grandeur or other dissociative mental disorders and that’s not cool.

3. Using pseudoscience to push miracle remedies. This includes denying things that are provable to push a narrative, like the fact medication can help the mentally ill.

My dears, please fact check what you read. Please see what educated people have to say about these authors before you take everything they say at face value. As many problems and rightful distrust as there is in the medical industry, usually, if a concoction is commonly dismissed by 99% of medical professionals, it’s usually not because they’re trying to cover up the holy grail, it’s because they know it’s… probably not that good for you or simply doesn’t do what it claims.

4. Trying to convince the reader that with enough practice, willpower, and a donation of $9.99 per month, you too can obtain some incredible power that will allow you to airbend, waterbend, firebend, and basically defy all the laws of physics in general!

The point of most occultism, spirituality and witchcraft is not to defy the laws of physics or to obtain some godly power. There most certainly exists the belief in many sects of spirituality that one can influence their reality through training, but I promise you, anybody that is promoting that they can walk on water is trying to make a fool out of you

5. Inability to disagree, contest, or dissent from the opinions of the mentor, teacher, high priest(ess) or leader

This is how cults form, guys. Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug. If the presentation of different ideas or even questions are met with harsh backlash and censorship, you need to get the fuck out of there.

6. Them automatically making the assumption within a very short time of meeting you, usually presented as psychic intuition, that you are suffering and have a “deep sadness” or energy blockage in your soul that only they can fix.

I understand that damaged people often seek mediums and whatnot for help, and sometimes it genuinely brings them ease, that’s fine and good. But so often I have been approached by people online that claim that “the angels have a really important message for me that they can only give after they’ve received an epayment of just a few dollars”. These are obviously scams, but often people who have been trusted for a reading or service in the past will fabricate these stories to trap a costumer in a loop of service. Some of these claims may be genuine but I guarantee you most are not.

7. Sprinkles of Fascism

No you are not superior to other people because you’re spiritually “enlightened”. No you should not separate groups of people or decide who should and shouldn’t procreate. No mainstream society is not being being deceived by the devil, and the devil is not more prevalent in any one group of people, sex, sexuality, gender, or race. You are not the only enlightened one in a world full of lost people. Mentally ill folks are not demons and trans people aren’t energetically unaligned. You will not inherit the Earth while everyone else dies. Uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shut the fuck up.

8. The claim that ancient societies of people were aliens. Presenting hoaxes and proven scams as evidence of a conspiracy.

This includes things like using documented hoaxes as evidence that aliens built the pyramids. I’m going to be so for real with you guys rn. This is just racism. It’s insane to think the Egyptians were smart enough to build the society they literally lived in, but nobody doubts the validity of the Roman Empire. Crazy concept but maybe Indigenous people of color aren’t savage idiots. And maybe white people aren’t the only ones capable of having societies and interesting architecture. The thing about this that annoys me the most is that… Egyptians still exist today, and the ancestry that dates back to ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan still exist today too. These were human beings, just like us. The alienation of black and brown people proves how little some people see us as normal people.

9. The promotion of practices that are directly harmful. Self mutilation, disorderly eating, or rituals that can induce psychosis or states of mania.

Guess what you actually don’t have to sit on a mountain naked and eat nothing but sunlight to be enlightened. You can definitely do religious or devotional things like fasting within a healthy degree, but I so so often see people promoting things that will very obviously lead to mania and hallucinations just by design. Starving yourself for two weeks while constantly blasting mantras and doing a bunch of psychedelics isn’t enlightenment… it’s a manic episode. While some devotees may feel comfortable offering blood to deities, this should always be in very small ways, a needle poke, not self mutilation.

10. Trying to do business with minors or promote occult topics to children specifically

Just no. I really dislike the idea of selling spells or promoting deity communication to kids still in grade school. They’re trying to manipulate a young mind into believing their dogma or spending their parent’s money. If a parent wants to share their craft with their child, that’s cool, but people who specifically target a younger audience are suspect to me. This isn’t to say spirituality isn’t for kids, it’s just that content that is created for kids is often created to be surface level and profitable in the algorithm.

11. Shitting on New Age Spirituality

Yeah I said it. This to me feels very much like a let’s hate on anything women, especially young women enjoy. Let’s delegitimize their experiences and paint them all as ditzy girls just clanging their crystals together.

There are some things that New Age Spiritualists do that I’m not a fan of, all of the things in this list. However, that doesn’t make this form of spirituality and witchcraft any less legitimate just because it’s somewhat trendy right now. Go fucking howl at the moon and have bon fires with your besties while you do tarot and talk about angel numbers, I don’t give a fuck.

New Age spiritualists aren’t inherently doing anything wrong or different than what ancient cultures have been doing for centuries, it’s just trendy and profitable now. But anything that young women enjoy will inevitably be exploited by the capitalist machine and that is not their fault. Wicca is still a legitimate form of spirituality and witches are not inherently doing anything wrong by being young women. So much of the criticism against NAS is literally just misogyny.

“I’m not into new age spirituality I’m a REAL witch”

omg please shut up

[pm-my-beloved]

heyo! i've doing some analysis on some lcb egos in my spare time but i can’t for the life of me figure out a semi decent analysis of wingbeat ishmael, so i wanted to see if you have any analysis on wingbeat! [sorry if this comes off weird! >.<]

I was asked about EGO analysis in DM's! I have made it! Preface, as stated earlier, I am not an Ishmael scholar, having read only a few chapters of her book as of now, but I will still try my best in interpretation

Lets start with what Fairy Festival itself is as an abnormality. They are the originators of the "Fairy" abno cathegory, where every abnormality has heavy ties to gluttony and predation, If I recall correctly, all of them also use trickery to try to lure their prey in, attempting to appear as hospitable. An interesting divergence that happens with Fairy Festival specifically, is that its Ruina form, and in Limbus, is more openly predatory, AND FAMISHED. My personal reading on it is that in a perfect enviroment for them, they are such hyperpredators that they run out of prey, putting them into starvation.

So, how does that relate to Ishmael? Partially it can be explained by my post about predatory themes in Ishmael when making prediction for the Christmass E.G.O., so I will focus on alternative angle of interpretation.

Remember who was Ishmael BEFORE even the voyage? She was a feather, so utterly bored with her existance that she sought out ANY way out of her current life, one could even say that she was starved for excitement. This goes along with early book presentation of Ishmael, where the character seeks to go out on voyage specifically because he's about to go nuts from boredom.

So what did our Ishmael do? She hard jumped onto ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS JOBS IN THE CITY, HUNTING MERMAIDS AND WHALES, Literally a form of predation of humanity upon natural life, solely to satiate that hunger inside for some adventure.

I believe of course, that this exists ALONGSIDE the Ishmael being perfectly suited to be a predator in her own right within the city, even with a persona of proffesionalism.

When it comes to her Awakening line "Very good. Sit still and be gentle. Scarred meat isn't... tasty." I think its mostly the abnormality channeling her metaphorical hunger into a more literal one.

Corrosion is more interesting on the other hand "Y-you suspected me, didn't you...? Bastards harboring such evil thoughts must be...!" This, together with the fact that Corrosion gains bonuses from harming its allies, leads me to specific line of thought. Throughout the story of Limbus and her Identities, we see how strongly Ishmael attempts to keep up her facade of detachment and professionalism. Thus, I think this might partially be a clue that Ishmael is very averse towards her persona being seen through, not wanting others to see her thriss seeking behaviour for what it truly is, even if she herself is unaware of it.

Lets move onto Sin costs now shall we? At 3 cost we have Gluttony, which just plainly makes sense as going out of ones way to get more thrill and excitement than one is exposed to is pretty gluttonous behaviour. Then we have 2 Pride cost, which is somewhat difficult of a read to me. The main one thought that comes to mind is a sense of superiority over other living beings that would be required to pursue hunting as ones way of life when its not some need (As opposed to bloodfiends) And lastly, we have 1 Lust cost, which in my opinion, reflects how Ishmael in spite of everything, genuenly enjoyed, and still enjoys, the thrill of the hunt.

The last aspect that is to read, is the Sin Resists. Pride Fatal, with weakness to pride being emotional subservience, imho relates to how Ishmael upon getting onto the voyage let her decisions be guided entirely by Ahab at the time. Envy Fatal I believe could reflect either the judgementality she put onto Ahab after the encounter with Pallid Whale, OR judgementality towards her own previous way of life that she grew so bored with. Gluttony ineffective I think reflects how in that life, her need and pursuit of that excitement were satisfied, not having to go out of her way in pursuit of more. And finally, Lust Endured comes from the reluctance that came from realisation of the struggles and issues that come from both being a sailor, and being Ahabs sailor specifically, she was not completly seduced by that world, which is also partly why managed separate herself from the crew after the failed attempt to defeat Pallid Whale. Phew, thats it. I hope this made some sense.

[aurelim]

As the Ocean Lures Intro Post

As the Ocean Lures is an interactive novel about being a Merfolk. You will go on hunts, learn more about humans, and perhaps explore the land above.

As the Ocean Lures is a 16+ game with themes that may be triggering to audiences. This includes drowning, murder, death, body horror, dark humor towards death, potential transphobia, and the MC will exhibit sadistic traits with certain choices. This will be updated as the game goes on.

This game is loosely inspired by the Little Mermaid, and has taken inspiration from games like Beyond The Waves and Abysm's Veil. 

CHECK OUT THE DEMO HERE!

Everyone has heard of sirens. Mysterious humanlike beasts who use their powerful singing voice to lure sailors to their untimely death. However, the only thing modern mythology mistaked was the fact that sirens retained bird-like features rather than fish tails. 

You, on the other hand, are a Merfolk. As a Merfolk, you maintain most of the qualities often associated with mermaids and "sirens". With your family, you work to bring down sailors using your voice and abilities under the sea.

But do you actually want this fate? Is this what you want for the rest of your life? 

It was. 

At least, that was what you had always thought.

When you meet a captain who is dead set on showing you everything about the surface, you are quite literally pushed into a whole new world.  And you discover that perhaps the human world...is not as bad as you were told.

But now you have a dilemma. Will you question everything you know? Or will you remain a part of the ocean?

Customize who you are as a Merfolk, from gender, pronouns, looks and personality.

Helping your family to sink ships full of sailors (or not...)

Watch a captain drown or save them from certain death.

Maintain your relationships with your family—follow what you have been told your whole life or go against everything they have taught you.

Romance one of four characters: your best merfriend, the strange siren who assists your family on their hunts, the human captain you saved(?) or that royal who seems to love spending time by the sea...or no one since being a Merfolk is already hard as it is.

Will you live out of the sea or under the sea? The choice is yours.

Kai/Kaia (He/him or She/her): The Best Merfriend

Your best...er, merfriend. You have known them your entire life and they remain a constant in your life. K has always been interested in the surface, whether you agreed with them or not. If given an opportunity—any, really—to go on land, they would jump at the chance. Friendly and caring, K is loyal to a fault, never-ending when it comes to you and your family. But is there something underlying your friendship? Guess you'll have to find out.

Echo (They/them): The Siren

Echo is...in short terms, a mystery. They first came to your family's rescue during one of the worst hunts of your life, and has stuck around ever since.  Your mother treats them like her sixth child, though you are sure the sentiment is not reciprocated. Despite knowing Echo for almost eight months, you have yet to learn anything about them beyond their name and pronouns. It seems like they don't want to get attached to you or your family.  They are professional, keeping away from personal questions. Will you be able to break down their walls?

Louis/Eloise (He/him or She/her): The Royal

You don't know much about them, besides knowing they are the heir to the throne of Oceanic. They can sometimes be found standing by the ocean on their private beach, eyes closed as if they are in another world. They address the world with such maturity, garnering them fans across the kingdom. And it certainly helps that they are attractive. Many look forward to the day they take the throne from their father.

Anthony/Anne Maddox (He/him or She/her): The Captain

The captain who you (or someone else) saved from certain death. They once claimed mermaids existed, which brought a reputation that preceded them.  To prove it, they recruited a group of sailors to join them. The day they sailed out was the day you found them, the only survivor. A has a knack for getting into trouble, as well as a sense for adventure. Now knowing you exist, they want to show you the human world. Will you let them?

[femperor]

I've done a number of things with my HRT that any medical professional would call an unnecessary risk. I've poked myself multiple times with the same needle, looking for a spot with fewer nerve endings to do the injection. I've continued to draw estrogen from a bottle after pieces of the rubber stopper broke off and fell into it. I've used a needle that was shorter than recommended because the pharmacy gave me the wrong kind. Once, I fished a needle out of my sharps container while I was waiting for my next paycheck.

From a strictly scientific viewpoint, HRT is life-saving. We cannot find the harm that the opposition claims it does to a body, and we cannot prove the existence of the soul they claim is being tainted. The rational decision then, would be to ensure easy access to HRT and the methods of dosing them. Give trans people the option to live in the science-supported world, and to act squarely off of evidence and studies. These facts lie at odds with personally-held beliefs that are subjected onto the world. Trans people then have to navigate a world of truths and a world of lies in order to obtain whatever HRT is available to them.

The average trans person believes in the science surrounding HRT. Most also internalize the anti-trans beliefs of the world around them. When you swim in an ocean, the salt water sinks into your clothes and tries to work its way into your skin. Deny these beliefs, reject them entirely. Your skin is still wet. A better future for trans people would be to not make swimming necessary for transition. But until that day, we keep ourselves afloat.

Surrounded by water that wants to drown us, we begin relying on new beliefs, ones that are direct responses to the ocean below. Staying above water indefinitely is next to impossible; instead I found a way to breathe below the surface. The enemies of transgenderism mythologize HRT to restrict it from trans people. Trans people mythologize themselves to justify their right to access. We know the ocean exists and that we have to live in it. We fashion ourselves as sea serpents, or mermaids, or pirates cursed to continue navigating the seas long after they perished. Becoming the monsters that maps warn good honest sailors about.

And when you put this much effort into creating a self beyond the scope of documented indisputable fact, just for the ability to ask your therapist to recommend an endocrinologist or to make that grey market purchase. It's harder to follow every rule that medical experts suggest. I know my doctor's only concern is mitigating risks that have a small chance for terrible consequences. But regardless of the gills I have, I'm tired from swimming. I can't let errant , minor facts finish me off when I've gone this far fighting other people's opinions.

[catlover-multifandom]

(in a free mood again here we gooooo)

Free canon moments I think about a lot

Rin writing “fuck” in the elementary school yard

mecha salmon roe

the mr steal yo mako face (you know the one.)

Steve the cat existing

Haru and nagisa working at wcdonald’s or whatever it’s called in the freeverse

romio mentioning florida

haru makoto asahi and kisumi having a hangout in asahi’s apartment (at least I think it was his, it was in a df episode)

tomadoburiranchinburiranti!

makkou the dog

🎶 tabidachi no asa ni miageru sora ni 🎶

Haru and seijuro being friends

Haru’s mascot obsession (relatable im also obsessed with yuru kyara now)

Rei in the novelization

“Nagisa’s mermaid” video and then it got booed when they accidentally played baby videos of haru and makoto lol

Nagisa’s sister’s sketch friend that isn’t quite her boyfriend

Kaede coming back from the concept art grave in s3

the high of s3 in general because I remember counting down the days for it to come out and oh boyyyyyyy summer 2018 has such a special place in my heart. pure euphoria!!

Rin giving Sousuke a koala shirt

MATCHING FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS

everyone pointing out that Rin has cleavage

“no chips at the pool” **SHOTS FIRED**

Makoto’s mixer nightmare

Rei getting drunk on chocolate

the fact that makoto haru Nagisa and rei would have sleepovers together and haru gets so happy to be with them and he fell asleep early HES SO CUTE

Haru and asahi getting worried thinking makoto would fall for mlm scams in Tokyo

Haru’s profile picture being Iwatobi chan

the squid festival drama cd track and Rei’s puns from s1 that everyone ignored

Haru and Albert’s friendship happening because they just like the same fish and they don’t need words to eat mackerel together

Rin crying over the rat movie

shizuru’s existence in general. he’s so funny and silly and he looks like makoharu had a child

the mackerel body pillow that makoto gave haru for his birthday

continuing off the last one: the team thinking haru turned into a mackerel and nagisa telling makoto he has to kiss him to make him back to normal 💀

the scene in s1e1 where Nagisa kicks the can to scare makoto

Rei being uptight and serious and very professional man™ and then gradually loosening up and being less guarded and being his genuine silly smart self and having fun and you can see how much love he has for everyone as the show goes on… and the love and genuine affection he has for his friends keeps increasing even when you thought his heart was already the biggest it could get. it gets so much bigger. and the fact that he learned to swim and got to nationals for an individual event in 3 years. Rei I love you no one could ever make me dislike you you’re a beautiful butterfly

the general babygirlification of rin matsuoka as the series progresses

free mastering the “character that is a jerk at first but the second they’re forgiven/not a jerk you absolutely love them to pieces” archetype (rin, sousuke, hiyori!)

haru being an old man when it comes to technology: “sorry I haven’t looked at my phone in 2 weeks”

perfect body

haru almost dying like 10 times throughout the series

haru giving makoto his gold medal in that one artwork AAAAAAGGGHHHHWJFJEDJEKS

more of a fandom thing, but the whole makoto train scare back when fs1 came out

in df when ryuji is trying to teach haru and makoto translates it to haruspeak, they show you makoto smiling when haru turns around and half his face is cut off from the screen because he’s shorter than makoto lololol

Haru trying to escape the premises the second he sees kisumi

the scene of haru driving in Tokyo and makoto freaks out the entire time… guys I think they somehow got actual footage of me driving when my mom is in the passenger seat

the reigisa montage before their races at nationals in df. MY HEART

the entire show honestly… if there’s one thing you got from this post, it’s that I will never be free of free (I’m perfectly happy to keep it that way)

[the-authoress-writes]

Wherever You Go Chapter Two

Tom “Iceman” Kazansky x Aviator!reader (Callsign: Thorn)

Moodboard by @bradshawsbaby

Written for @roosterforme’s Top Gun Rocktober Playlist Fic Challenge

Synopsis: Tom Kazansky made a mistake.

Or rather, a series of mistakes.

1. He chose to take the assignment as an instructor at TOPGUN.

2. He fell in love with one of his students.

3. He broke her heart.

4. He chose to leave TOPGUN, and redeploy.

Now, he was stuck onboard the USS Nimitz with the woman whose heart he broke, with no way out.

Unbelievably, that’s not the problem.

Problem is, he still loves her.

Series Warnings: Teacher/Student relationship (but you already knew that), warnings will be updated as the series progresses.

Chapter Warnings: Navy-level cursing, slight sexual humor, sexual harassment, assault, a sort-of bar fight, and period-typical sexism.

Author’s Note: I am quite happy with this chapter, because once I forced myself to write it, it sort of came together fairly easily.

We have more tidbits of Thorn’s backstory, and a whole lot more Ice/Thorn interaction.

I can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction to this chapter!

Thank you so, so very much to @roosterforme for hosting the Top Gun Rocktober Fic Challenge, and for allowing me to use one of my favorite 80s rock ballads, “The Flame” by Cheap Trick.

Lyrics from the song will be peppered in throughout this series, because it’s too good not to, and the song is the reason this story exists, as it is what birthed the plotline.

A huge thank you and shout out to @thatsrightice, who helped me so much with the hop maneuvers last chapter, by researching the F-14 and A-4 high and low for me.

Special thanks also to @valmare, the fact that I am writing Top Gun/Top Gun: Maverick reader fic is all your fault; but thank you so much for dragging me down with you, it’s been an absolute joy!

Previously on “Wherever You Go”…

It took a beat, but then, several people in the crowd moved, and he saw her—her hair cascaded down her shoulders, as sharp eyes surveyed The O like it was the skies, dressed, unlike everyone else in the Navy who occupied this space, in civvies; a loose, white blouse tucked into jeans, cinched with a thick brown leather belt at her waist.

And everything seemed to fade into the background, the sight of her drowning out the sound of the bar, and Mav’s howling laughter.

Eventually, Mav’s boisterous laughter, no—cackling—could not be ignored, the shorter man practically screeching into his ear. “I called it—I fucking called it!!!” In an undertone, he continued, “Hell of a woman, isn’t she?”

Tom was sincerely regretting not wearing his Shooters, perceived dickishness be damned, as he fought the widening of his eyes, and directed his attention to protesting, “What are you talking about?” in a last ditch effort to divert, divert, divert.

“You’re into her, you asshole,” the other man hissed, leaning in, having at least some delicacy.

“I—it’s not like that,” he stammered, foundering for words, knowing there was blood in the water, and Mav was the proverbial shark. “I find her… interesting,” he awkwardly finished.

Mav rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh, I’m sure you do; you’re lucky Sli’s not here to see your pining ass.

He’d probably say something stupid, like,” here, Mav deepened his voice in imitation of Slider, “‘I bet you’d like to invite her to study your NATOPS.’”

Tom cut his wingman a glare, before, as if magnetically pulled, his gaze slid back to Thorn as she moved through the bar. “I’m not pining, it’s—it’s purely a… a pilot-to-pilot professional interest, you know.”

He inwardly cringed at that, but knew that regardless of the word choice, this would definitely still be humiliating as hell, whether he admitted anything or not.

The smaller man scoffed so loudly, he idly wondered if the other side of the bar could hear it. “If that’s a purely professional interest, I’m a damn mermaid princess.

‘Cause you see, Ice, your mouth says no, but your eyes say yes.

They’re screaming it, actually.”

“Shut up, or I’ll tip you off your barstool,” Tom threatened without much heat.

“Like I’ll believe that, you love me too much.”

“And your flat ass is fucking lucky.”

Mav sighed, tapping the bottom edge of his bottle on the counter. “Insult to my magnificent ass aside, I don’t blame you, Ice, like I said, she is a hell of a woman.”

“I…” he paused, looking around to see if anyone was listening to their conversation, “—purely hypothetically; if I did have a… less-than professional interest in her—would you believe me if I denied it?”

His wingman looked at him as if he’d just randomly declared to everyone in The O that Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was the better pilot. “No.”

Exhale. “So, again—purely hypothetically—it’d be useless to keep deny—”

“—Yes.”

He rolled his eyes at the adamant interruption, but the silence quickly drew on as a viridian gaze looked at him expectantly.

Tom wrestled with himself, debating the implications and consequences of admitting, even to himself and one of his closest brothers, that he had a… decidedly un-professional interest in one of his students.

God, he felt like a creep even thinking it.

“I—as her instructor, there is a burden of responsibility upon me—”

Mav groaned, “Fuck’s sake, Tom, be honest with yourself and me, for crying out loud.

You don’t have to be “Ice-cold, no mistakes”, rulebook shoved so far up your ass you can taste each subsection, with me, of all people, the same guy who dated an Admiral’s daughter.

A fellow aviator is nothing.”

Tom sighed, “I don’t—I’ve never—” he frustratedly cut himself off, staring into the distance, attempting to collect the fragments of his dignity, Mav waiting patiently beside him, stalwart.

After a highly pregnant pause, he finally blurted, “It’s wrong, Mav, it’s so wrong.

How can I—she’s my student,” he desperately said.

“The heart wants what it wants,” his wingman replied, surprisingly gentle.

He buried his head in his hands, “Why couldn’t I have met her while I was deployed, Pete?”

A warm hand pat his shoulder. “Come on, Ice, it’s not that bad.

After graduation, when she’s no longer in your chain of command, you’re free to ask her out.

Until then, you’re bound by the no fraternization rule, but—”

“Are you trying to comfort me, or remind me of how pathetic I am?” he growled into his hands.

Tom could see the responding shit-eating grin even in the darkness of his palms. “Awww, you’re not pathetic, wingman mine, just a little lame—and I wasn’t done—no one ever said you can’t talk to her, Tommy boy.”

He lifted his head from his hands. “Talk.

To her.”

“No, to Ro,” the sarcasm dripped from Mav’s tone, “—yes, to her!

I mean, other than your repeated use of the word ‘what’ lately, you seem to be mostly capable of stringing together a sentence in front of her, so talk to her.”

“Well, fuck me, then,” he sarcastically moaned, the import of his confession hitting him like a 2x4.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d like her to,” the raven-haired aviator grinned.

Tom retorted, “Oh, fuck you t—” he stopped himself too late, realizing the plethora of jokes to be had with that retort.

And evidently, Mav had the same train of thought, judging from his chortle. “Didn’t think you were a—ménage kind of guy, Ice.”

After a quick glance around, he muttered, “Khuy.”

“Testa di cazzo.

Two can play that game, Thomas,” Mav smirked, making him snort.

(It wasn’t often his wingman whipped out the Italian, but it did come out every so often—it wasn’t really useful anyway; the only Italian the younger man remembered from his late Nonna were the curse words.)

Soon growing serious, he questioned, “How do I talk to her, Mav?”

“Generally, words work.”

“Pete!” Tom cried, lightly slapping his palm on the bar. “I’m serious here!

I’ve never met anyone like her—I—I don’t understand how—I mean—thank God you didn’t make a pass at her, or she’d probably never talk to me by sheer dint of being your friend.”

“Hey,” Mav pointed, “like I said, I don’t flirt with every woman with a pulse—I am capable of wanting relationships with the opposite sex that are not sexual.

And even if I was inclined to try and screw up a good friendship, I’d have less than a snowball’s chance in hell—not you, though, apparently.

Which; good for you!”

He froze. “What makes you think that I have a chance?”

The younger man took a relaxed sip of beer. “Believe me, you have a chance, and unless you want to remain a sad schmuck sitting at the bar with only his wingman for company, you have to talk to her.”

He sighed, gray eyes staring stubbornly ahead.

“Listen, do you need me to be your wingman here?

Because I’ll do it, Ice.”

“I’ll talk to her, okay?” Tom snapped, “Just… at least let me finish my drink?”

Mav sighed, and nodded, glancing over Tom’s shoulder, “Well, get sipping, Kazansky, because you’re not the only one who’s tallied her.”

One glance in the direction his wingman was looking made a furious, burning feeling rise in his chest; the eyes of quite a few men were tracking Thorn as she moved through the room.

She and Romeo were making a beeline for one of the tables near the back which seated most of their other students; Warlock and Shogun; Babe and Priest; and Belter and Elvis, which made the burning in his chest ease a little.

“She’s sitting with our students,” he observed.

“And?”

He smacked his lips, “That gives me some time, because one, I know they’re probably too scared of her, two, her RIO’s there, and three, no one’s going to try coming on to a woman sitting with seven other navy men.”

Mav’s gaze was incredulous. “I cannot believe you.

If I were you, I’d be over there right now.”

Evenly, he replied, “But I’m me and you’re you.

Are you on my wing or not?”

His wingman chugged the remainder of his beer, slamming the bottle down. “Fuck you, you know I am.

But let the record state that I am very much against this.”

Tom easily sipped the watering vodka on the rocks, confident he had time, while the other man frustratedly drank another bottle of beer.

He’d just signaled the bartender for another vodka on the rocks when he heard Thorn’s raised voice. “I told you, I’m not interested.”

His gaze snapped to the other end of the bar, where Thorn was standing, an enlisted navy man behind her.

The man said something into her ear, to which Thorn loudly insisted “No,” moving the slight distance from him the crowded bar area afforded her, and the next moment, when the man grabbed her arm, Tom rose from his barstool, Mav not far behind him, obviously having heard it too.

He began pushing through the incomprehensibly still-thick crowd, even as she wrenched her arm free, the action only sending the sailor into a fury.

“Bitch!” the man slurred, brutally yanking her back by her hair, causing Thorn to rightfully viciously elbow him in the gut, but unluckily, it only sent him staggering back slightly, his grip on her hair unrelenting.

The fury in Tom’s blood, which had surged back to the surface ever since he rose from his seat, froze into icy, deadly calm—he’d see this man arrested and dishonorably discharged by the end of the week, hook or by crook, he resolved.

Suddenly, his nebulously murderous thoughts and movement through the frozen crowd were interrupted by a loud, barked “Hey!!”

Romeo ran in, long legs eating up the distance, fury blazing in his eyes and emanating from his being, people parting for him like he carried the staff of Moses. “Get your hands off her!!” he said, pulling the sailor off of Thorn.

The enlisted man’s eyes widened, some of the drunken haze in his gaze clearing. “Easy, man, I didn’t know she was yours—”

“No one touches my pilot,” Romeo finished, snarling into his face.

“I—wait—pilot?” The asshole had the gall to frown. “You’re telling me the chick’s a—”

A dark hand smacked onto the enlisted’s shoulder, gripping tightly. “You just assaulted a TOPGUN student.

Meet Lieutenant __, also known as Thorn,” Warlock finished sternly, while Shogun also clamped a tight grip on the now-terrified enlisted man’s other shoulder.

“Congratulations, genius, you just attacked a superior officer—I’m sure the court martial’s going to love your suave charm,” Priest smarmily declared, a sarcastic smile on his face.

“C—court martial?” Seaman Dead Man, as Tom mentally dubbed him, stammered.

“Yeah,” Priest affirmed, “I’d say what you just literally pulled is some serious Conduct Unbecoming, am I right?” He turned to a serious Babe, who had his arms crossed.

“Yep,” his pilot replied.

“I—“ the sailor weakly protested.

“Save it for the MA, sailor,” Warlock warned, sharing a look with Shogun, before the two of them began to drag the enlisted man out of The O.

Behind him, Mav called out, “Hey Brian,” addressing one of the bartenders, which brought Tom back to reality.

As he made a beeline for Thorn, who had been rather forgotten in the ruckus, Tom faintly heard a man reply, “Already called the Masters-at-Arms, Mav,” which ever-so-slightly thawed the icy fire within him, knowing that the man who dared to touch Thorn was going to be arrested.

“Hey,” he softly said, carefully approaching, maintaining a polite distance, mindful of the dozens of eyes in the bar, “you okay?”

She looked up, face calm. “Yeah,” she breathed, but he could see that she was a little bit shaken—he didn’t blame her. “Nothing I’m not used to,” she smiled sharply.

Anything else was halted by the arrival of Romeo, whose uniform shirt seemed slightly more untucked than it had been moments ago, and whose knuckles, upon a swift glance, seemed a little redder than usual.

He looked into the placid face of the backseater, whose eyes held a challenge, daring Tom to call him out.

He nearly laughed at the surprise in Romeo’s eyes when all he gave was a minute nod, but the man seamlessly leaned down, hand on her shoulder, showing the concern he had the luxury of displaying as her RIO, “Thorn, I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner, I should’ve been faster in the bathroom.”

“It’s fine,” she waved off, “it’s not your fault, Ro.

Blame that dickwad.

Or fuck, blame me—if I’d just worn my whites—”

“No,” he interjected, drawing the gaze of both pilot and RIO. “Whites or not, no means no.

Anyone with half a brain knows that.”

“Not him, apparently,” she smirked.

Another voice interrupted, “Lieutenant __ and Lieutenant Kinford?”

“Yes,” they replied in sync.

To his credit, the MA froze for only the minutest moment once he realized that Lieutenant __ was a woman. “Uh, I understand there was a disagreement?”

Tom stepped forward. “Yes.

The seaman Lieutenants Bates and Han were holding outside assaulted Lieutenant __, and her RIO, Lieutenant Kinford, defended her appropriately.

I can testify to that.”

The MA nodded. “And you are?”

“Lieutenant Tom Kazansky.

I’m Lieutenants __ and Kinford’s Junior Instructor at TOPGUN.

My co-instructor, Lieutenant Mitchell, and four more of our students can attest to the same story, as well as anyone in this bar; we all saw what happened.”

“TOPGUN, huh?

I’ll have to make a call to your CO, and you, Lieutenant Mitchell, Lieutenants __ and Kinford, and all your students will have to come with me back to base.

But if everything played out like you said it did, you should be free to go before it gets too late.”

“Thank you, I’ll let them know.”

“Be outside in five,” and with another professional nod, the MA made his way out.

“I’ll help round them all up,” murmured a Mav who had suddenly appeared at his elbow.

“Thanks.” Turning to Thorn and Romeo, he continued, “Thorn, if you’re physically alright, the two of you should get outside immediately—let’s not keep the MA waiting.”

She nodded, running a hand through her hair. “Yes, sir.”

He returned the nod, and went in search of the rest of their students.

In no time, Tom and Mav had gathered their students outside, and the MA scanned the row of naval officers, eyes landing on Thorn and Romeo at the end. “Lieutenant Kinford, you’ll be riding with me.”

His pilot immediately spoke up. “Sir, I don’t think that’s a wise decision.”

“Relax, Lieutenant, he’ll be in the front seat.” Addressing the whole group, he continued, “Due to regulations, you’ll all have to ride back to base as separately as you can.

Pilots and RIOs can ride together, but no more.”

Thorn’s face fell almost imperceptibly. “Sir, my RIO and I walked here from our housing, we came here straight from a deployment, neither of us have a car here at Miramar.”

“You can ride with me,” Tom spoke up.

She and the MA turned their gaze on him, the MA breaking the sudden silence. “It’s not ideal since you’re her superior officer… but I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you, sir,” she nodded.

“I’ll see you all on base.” The Master-at-Arms’ tone held a slight note of warning, promising repercussions if anyone decided to skip out on reporting tonight.

The group quickly dispersed, as Mav approached Thorn to give her a gentle shoulder punch, murmuring, “You okay, Acey?”

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, you don’t have to baby me, Mav.”

“I know.

But we all promised, remember?

We’d look out for each other.”

Her eyes softened, “I know.

Sorry.”

“No problem.

And… you’re in safe hands with Ice; he’s one of a very few I’d trust to have my back and my wing.”

Fraternal warmth rushed through him at hearing the level of trust the other man had in him, a trust which was impossible a year ago.

“Thanks, Mav,” she breathed. “I’ll see you on base.”

Mav grinned crookedly at her, softly tapping her arm and walking to his bike, but not before sending Tom a smirk as he passed.

Tom decided to ignore the smirk, tilting his head in the direction of his car. “I’m over here.”

When he reached the driver’s side door of the Chevelle, he heard an incredulous, “This is yours?

I thought the truck was your car.”

He chuckled, “They both are.

I don’t usually take the Chevelle out, but… I felt she needed a drive today.”

Thorn ran a careful finger over the passenger’s side door, reverently breathing, “She’s gorgeous.

Is this the original paint?”

His smile widened, “Yeah, it is—my grandfather had it custom painted.

This was his; he left it to me in his will.”

“Wow, you’re lucky.” She paused, “That didn’t come out right—I mean—I’m sorry your grandfather died, I—”

“I know what you mean, it’s okay,” he laughed. “Come on, get in, you can admire Mally more later, I’d be happy to tell you about her.”

They both slid into the driver’s side and passenger’s side respectively, Thorn scanning the interior in awe. “The interior’s original too, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, my grandfather did the hard work, he kept her pristine, and all I had to do was keep it up.” He turned the key with a smile, knowing that Mally’s engine was in perfect condition, and if Thorn held the paint and interior in such reverence, the engine would elicit the same, if not a greater reaction.

Mally’s engine roared to life, evening out to her familiar purr, making Thorn’s jaw drop as she met his eyes, and he revved the engine with a smirk.

“Wow,” she breathed, “she sounds amazing.”

“I know,” he grinned, and cautiously reversed out of the spot, turning out to the main road back onto base.

There was a pause before she inquired, “If I may ask, why is she named Mally?

It’s an unusual name.”

Tom hesitated.

Very few people knew he could speak Russian, and even fewer had heard him speak it.

It was something that could be received negatively in this time of Cold War, but… something told him this secret of sorts was safe with her. “Malysh.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My Dedushka, my grandfather, was the one who named her.

Malysh is Russian for baby, but he shortened it to Mally.”

“Oh.”

For a moment, he feared that he was wrong about her, but then she huffed a laugh. “That completely tracks.

I actually should have seen that coming—I mean, it’s right there, for God’s sake: Kazansky.

That’s a big Eastern European neon sign,” she gestured grandly.

He waited for the question he expected, but was surprised when it didn’t come. “…That’s it?

You’re not going to ask me if I’m a Russian spy?”

Thorn sent him a wry glance. “Even if you were, would you really tell me?”

That startled a laugh from him. “I’m not, but good point.”

“Here’s the thing, I believe you, but…” she leaned towards him, making her perfume overpower the scent of his cologne and the leather polish he used on Mally’s interior, “let me just say that that’s exactly what a spy would say.”

He fought the urge to swallow thickly at her proximity, and instead coolly replied, “I plead the fifth.”

She laughed again, and leaned back, allowing him to relax into his own seat, and a comfortable silence filled the car.

Soon, however, he registered her fidgeting. “So, uh…” she began, “the other guys kind of got a head start on us… do you think we’ll be the last to get onto base?”

Tom frowned, “They didn’t get that much of a head start on us, I think we’ll be fine.”

She inhaled evenly, and he could practically hear the gears turning in her head, which made him glance at her.

A moment later, it clicked. “…But, just to be sure… maybe a little afterburner won’t hurt anything.”

Thorn looked at him with pure joy and excitement, and warmth rushed through him at the fact that it was him who had put that joy and excitement in her gaze.

In that moment, he knew he’d do anything to keep that light in her eyes.

And as he gunned the engine down the road to her jubilant whoop, he knew.

He was really fucked.

When they arrived at Viper’s office, they saw that Mav was already there—not surprising, given the unholy speeds at which the other pilot rode his motorcycle.

“Hey,” Mav greeted, “you beat everyone else here.”

“Yeah,” Tom replied, “we took a shortcut.”

His wingman sent him a mildly skeptical look, but he refused to budge.

“Lieutenant __.”

A look down the hall showed a determined Jester striding towards them, sending all of them to attention, the three of them chorusing a “Sir.”

“At ease.”

“Would you like us to report to you now, sir?” Tom asked.

“No, they called Viper in, you’ll be reporting to him, I just thought I’d—check on you—all of you.”

“I’m alright, sir, nothing I can’t handle,” Thorn replied.

“Lieutenant Kinford… defused the situation, sir,” Mav interjected, sending Tom a glance as if to say, “See—I can say things diplomatically.”

“I see.”

The doors opening halted anything further, and they all turned to see the MA flanked by the seaman and Romeo, the rest of their students taking up the rear.

Everyone stood at attention upon stopping in front of Jester, who repeated the command of “At ease,” before addressing the MA. “Captain Metcalf will be here momentarily.”

As if the statement had summoned said man, the doors opened yet again, admitting Viper, whose ever-so-slightly rumpled khakis were the only indicator of the late hour call-in.

After getting the bare bones from the MA, Viper directed him and the seaman to one of the unoccupied offices, calling Warlock and Shogun to his office first.

Pair by pair, the students reported to Viper, each one taking no more than a few minutes.

Romeo was eventually called in, Thorn sending him a supportive look, and after a slightly longer duration of time than the others, the RIO stepped out with a warm smile. “You’re up next, Thorn.”

She inhaled, and rose, spine straight, carrying herself as if she were in whites like everyone else, and he admired the confident way she walked into Viper’s office, nerves for her sake bubbling up as the door shut behind her.

Against his will, his knee began bouncing, and he forced himself to breathe evenly, trying to keep his composure.

“Speed it up a little, Ice, why don’t you,” Mav muttered, dropping into the seat next to him, which Thorn had vacated.

“Like you’re not worried,” he muttered back.

“I am worried, but Viper’s fair.

And if everyone told the truth, which I think they did, Acey’s gonna get off without too much trouble.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong, Mav, she defended herself,” he indignantly murmured.

A heavy sigh. “I know, but… I know from experience that she’ll still be punished to some extent.

Viper can’t let her off the hook completely.

It’s just how it is for people like me and her.”

“It’s not right,” Tom grit out.

“It’s not.

But you can’t do anything about it right now.”

“I will, one day,” he promised.

Mav chuckled, “I can easily see you as CO of Miramar one day.”

He pulled a face, knowing his hopes went higher than CO of an Air Station.

“Higher, huh?” The other pilot read him like a book. “What, you aiming for COMPACFLT or something?”

“I’d settle for that,” he grinned.

His wingman burst into laughter. “I can see you as an Admiral, Ice.” Sobering, Mav continued, “I know you’ll get there.

But I’m still going to be the better pilot.”

The well-tread argument was stopped by Viper himself opening his door. “Kazansky, Mitchell.”

The two of them sent each other uneasy glances before rising and entering the Captain���s office, flanking Thorn out of instinct, and snapping off crisp salutes.

“Lieutenant Kazansky reporting, sir.”

“Lieutenant Mitchell reporting, sir.”

The salute having been returned, the Captain declared, “At ease.” Viper pinched the bridge of his nose. “Everyone’s stories lined up; Lieutenant __ was assaulted by a drunk seaman, and she used appropriate force to defend herself until her RIO… defused the situation.

And I’m assuming your stories would be the same.”

“Yes, sir,” the two wingmen chorused.

“Now, I have a dilemma.

As I’m sure you all understand, Lieutenant __ here is in a unique position, as the first female naval aviator selected for TOPGUN.

I will make it very clear; I believe that Lieutenant __ was perfectly in the right to elbow that seaman, and I will ensure that he is demoted and reassigned at the least, and dishonorably discharged, if I can help it.

However, there are those who will not see things the same way, and they will believe that doing what is right is wrong.

So… I have no choice but to discipline you, Lieutenant __.”

Tom’s indignant, “Sir!” rang out at the same time as Thorn’s resigned, “Yes, sir.” and determined to be heard, he continued, “Sir, this isn’t right; you can’t kick her out of TOPGUN—”

“I was not done yet, Lieutenant Kazansky,” Viper warned, not unkindly. “I am not kicking Lieutenant __ out of the program, that would be a waste of talent.

But she will be disciplined.

Because if I do not, with the scrutiny that she is naturally under, due to her gender, it will be called into question why she was not disciplined for assaulting a seaman.”

“Sir, he attacked her—we all saw it!” he replied, ire building, earning a glance from Mav.

“I understand that, Kazansky, but interrupt me or raise your voice again, you leave me no choice but to discipline you as well,” Viper evenly stated, warning in his tone.

Tom swallowed thickly, clenching his jaw tightly.

His CO leaned forward in his seat, folding his arms on his desk. “Now, the only reason I am doing this is because should I not discipline her, some asshole Admiral—of which there are many, believe me—could decide to question my judgment upon hearing of this event, due to the report that I must file, and he could choose to take Lieutenant __’s discipline into his own hands; and his punishment would be much harsher than mine.

Her being stripped of her wings is a possibility, depending on which asshole sees.

I am not going to allow even the possibility of that.

Again, you understand why I am doing this, Lieutenant __?”

“I understand, sir,” Thorn evenly replied.

“Good.” The venerable aviator opened a drawer in his desk, and pulled out a file, Thorn’s service file, Tom realized, when he saw her service photo on the top page. “I see you have a degree in aeronautics and are a certified mechanic in both motor vehicles and aircraft, Lieutenant __?”

“Yes, sir.”

Well—no wonder Thorn and Mav got along like a house on fire.

The Captain nodded, having reached a decision. “Lieutenant __, this is your punishment: you will assist the aircraft maintenance technicians after hours, with any work they assign you, for four weeks, to be supervised by Lieutenants Kazansky or Mitchell.” Viper shifted to look both Tom and Mav in the eye. “You two will organize a suitable schedule depending on your respective classwork.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied.

Despite the fact that Thorn didn’t move, Tom could feel the relief course through her. “Thank you, sir.”

Viper smiled slightly, nodding at her. “You’re all dismissed.”

And trailing Thorn and Mav, as Tom walked out of the office, just as he was also about to relax, he realized just what Thorn’s punishment entailed: he would be spending time after hours, alone—

With her.

God, he was really fucked.

To be continued…

Previous Part Next Part

Faceclaims

Russian and Italian glossary

Disclaimer: translations are from the interwebs.

Please don’t kill me.

Khuy: this is both a prayer and a word that inexplicably means dick or dickhead.

Testa di cazzo: again, dickhead.

I headcanon Mav as having Italian heritage, because… well, all that fire and passion—I don’t know, I just get Italian vibes from him.

Masters-at-Arms are the US Navy equivalent of the Army’s Military Police.

Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman is Article 133 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

(Technically, enlisted personnel cannot be prosecuted under this law, but let’s just say that Priest was just trying to scare the seaman.)

However, a clause of Article 134 makes punishable conduct which has a tendency to bring the service into disrepute or which tends to lower it in public esteem, and I’d say what that seaman did counts.

Special thanks again to @valmare for the Ice has a Chevelle headcanon!

Upon a little research, I couldn’t find any evidence of black metal flake paint being a factory paint option for the Chevelle, so… custom paint job it is!

Cold War

What “I plead the fifth” means.

Service Whites

Taglist

@valmare

@callsign-skydancer

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

@tadomikiku

@malindacath

@aviatorobsessed

@lynnevanss

@djs8891

If you’d like to join my taglist, just send me an ask!

[marinerainbow]

Mermaids- and sea creatures in general- are some of my favorite creatures ever. So here are my thoughts/headcanons; what I imagine they'd be like in real life if they existed. I took inspiration from many sea animal facts, and I am in no way a professional biologist so these may not be the most accurate.

Biologically accurate Mermaids (probably)

There are many subspecies of mermaids, though the two main types are deep sea and surface types. We'll be looking at both of these types today, along with the general facts about all species.

Surface Mermaids:

The surface Mermaids are kind of like humans in length, interchanging between 5-7 feet (1.5-2.1 meters) in size, similar to sharks. They also range in bright colors to blend into coral reefs.

They travel in packs, referred to as pods. Pods usually contain 10-20 members, though there may be some groups that travel in smaller or larger groups. Some groups have designated leaders, while others don't.

As natural carnivores, they eat other sea life. From crustaceans to fish, big and small. There is very little that mermaids wouldn't hunt.

Since they live closer to the surface, these are the merfolk people would most often see. Surface-level merpeople don't feel fear for humans, and are actually curious about them. The way they see it, these odd, tailess creatures seem to resemble them the most. At least their upper halves do. So they want to know more about us.

Which can lead to a big problem with poachers; although some deep-sea mermaids have been caught, it's usually a surface level that a hunter would find.

Deep-Sea Mermaids

Deep sea mermaids are more drastic in size difference. They can range up to 10-15 feet (3.048-4.572 meters), though there could easily be bigger species we haven't found yet. They also have deeper, darker colors. Not muddy, just darker. And they also have bioluminesence.

Although these merfolk can travel in packs too, it's more common to see them on their own. Or in smaller packs. Why this is the case is unclear.

Deep sea mermaids that travel in packs will take whatever precaution necessary to ensure they don't lose each other in the darkness, without attracting predators in the process. They can be seen holding onto each other's hands and tail fins or moving as little as possible when they find a place to rest. Though if they need to, they'll call out to each other despite the risk.

Like their surface level cousins, the deeper level merfolk are also carnivores. But they are scavengers, too. You can easily find these guys around carcasses that fall to the ocean floor, either tearing apart the dead creature or hunting the other sea life that came for the free meal.

In General

The reason why groups are so diverse is that, like dolphins, mermaids are scarily intelligent. They are most likely on the human level of intelligence, and as such have the brain capacity to experience and understand complex emotions and thoughts. Resulting in each mermaid and pod having their own morals and ways.

Like whales and dolphins, merfolk communicate with clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls, along with using physical cues and body language to communicate.

Like humans, mermaids have complicated mating traditions, though for the most part, they mate for life. Some groups are more polygamous however.

During mating season, the females will all choose a cave or crevice to lay their eggs and, like octopuses, will stay beside their clutches to protect them. Since all the females tend to stick together, with some exceptions, they often take turns watching over each others eggs while one or two of them leave the cave to go find food. Also, while the females take care of the eggs, the males will stay and protect their mates and the nursery during this time, and at least one will follow the females when they go hunting to make sure no predator harms them.

Mermaids will often lay two to three eggs. Once the babies hatch, the whole pod works to protect all the children, at least until they are old enough to swim on their own. Some groups may choose to stay in the nursery spot for longer just to make sure the babies won't get lost or snatched up by predators.

Although they can be born male or female, if there are a shortage of females, some of the mermen will transition into female. Kind of like clownfish.

I hope you guys enjoyed these! Happy MerMay! ^^

[margotfonteyns]

GLYNIS JOHNS (1923-2024)

"Why Miss Johns is ever off the British screen is one of the unintelligible idiocies of our film industry. A young Athene Seyler or Marie Tempest, this delicious actress has an impudent wit, a croaking mockery and an imperturbable matter-of-factness which makes anything from mermaids (Miranda) to Anglo-Vosnian misses (State Secret) real and funny." — Freda Bruce Lockhart, 1950

"I became a professional at 12, so it's always been my life. Later on, I wanted to lead what I thought of as a 'normal' existence, but I soon found I wasn't as normal away from the theater as in it. Acting is my highest form of intelligence, the time when I use the best part of my brain. I was always told, by my married friends, for example, that I could apply that intelligence to something else, some other aspect of living, but I can't."

"I like being a woman, and it may be small-minded of me, but I also like being given flowers, having the door opened for me, being cherished by a man. I'm a complete romantic - and very happy to be one."

"I throw away a lot of lines, but as someone once said to me, 'At least you know where you're throwing them.'"

"I don't believe in age. I don't believe in death."

[phoenixcatch7]

Just finished oracle of ages!!! Good game, good game. I have Thoughts.

I actually really enjoyed the story and characters! I figured going into the oracle games that it'd be a simple, cliché story, not much nuance or depth, and with Seasons that's basically what I got: din gets fridged in a crystal at the start of the game -> go get her -> you need a set of maguffins to do so -> fight big monster.

Admittedly it was the first game, which meant less story, but even if I hadn't linked (heh) the games for extra end game content Ages just did so much more.

Unlike din, naryu has someone else willing to help her. Ralph (the twinkiest twink to ever twink) was a young man who was her devoted friend (there was a weird crush triangle thing going on with him, Link and naryu, I always felt like I was missing subtext) and, spoilers for a 20yo game?? I guess?

He was the dethroned descendant of the ancient queen Ami. His family definitely still have big money though. He was pretty clearly supposed to be a comic relief character with a twist, but I ended up really liking him! He was over enthusiastic and over confident, but not unintelligent, a decent swordsman (I think) who was incredibly loyal to his friends and held some deep rooted responsibility for the people his family used to rule. Kind, determined, good with kids and people in general, he was terrified but willing to sacrifice his very existence to save the people.

The world building was also great! I don't think I've ever played a zelda game without gorons, but hylians were in short supply. To be expected outside of hyrule, I guess? Anyway, there were also lizard people on an island (tokay!) whose entire deal was.. A bit outdated? Rude, brazen and aggressive to outsiders, they lived in crude huts, worshipped things they didn't quite understand and were generally the old Hollywood stereotype of an isolated jungle tribe.

There was also, like, zora racism? There's a zora village underwater, and one of them was like 'us sea zora are nothing like those river zora 😒' which handily solved both my question of if the river/ocean zora divide was canon or fanon and the relationships between the two. Are they even the same species?? It just makes the rito even weirder but hey lmao. In all honesty I was pretty sick of the river zora at that point too, I swear there were two of them popping up in every screen that had even a sliver of water deeper than the knees and they CONSTANTLY shot fireballs istg they were such a pain. They were literally everywhere and so hard to kill.

On the plus side mermaid suit ^u^!! A dungeon item (the mermaids cave), the item had a desc like 'the skin of the mythical beast' which raised SO many more questions than it answered. The zora were delighted to see a young mermaid! The use of 'maid' implied either a) the zora all thought link was a girl and he didn't correct them (eyo genderqueer androgeny) b) the zora don't subscribe to gender the way humans do (eyo genderqueer androgeny) or c) all fish people look like mermaids regardless of their specific gender (eyo genderqueer androgeny). It literally could have been all three who knows. Maybe one day we'll actually meet a mermaid in zelda.

Also, there's a mini game in Seasons, which I played first, the subrosian dance. It's a pretty popular part of their culture, it's got music, it's got professional dancers. In Ages, you find the gorons doing the exact same dance! Rosa, a subrosian performer you meet in Seasons, is also there, saying her people's dance is better (tbf it is), but if you go to the past you'll find the gorons actually invented the dance first, as part of their love of games and entertainment, and you can talk to two subrosians who are talking about bringing the dance home! It's so interesting to see little details like this, where the travelling subrosians visited their fellow cave dweller lava eating people centuries ago, brought it back home where it exploded in popularity and centuries later became refined as a whole folk dance with spinning and everything, with the people forgetting where it came from, where the gorons keep their dance exactly the same (having to do a rhythm game without rhythm is hard).

Actually, there was so much political fantasy drama going on in the past?? Like, you've got the childless queen taking care of her people, a budding village and a few more settlements across the kingdom. Early in her reign she tried to build a tower to act as a beacon to her fiancé lost at sea, which is a romance story all on its own, but it was cut short (maybe because of funding?). Centuries in the future, it's just ruins. You've got people living on an ACTIVE VOLCANO starting a symmetry cult around a artifact called 'tuni nut' which, presumably, stabilises the volcano? And it's entirely cut off from the outside world. The goron elder is crushed under rocks and their economy is failing. The zora king got poisoned and he's about to die without an heir because a witch turned the fairy queen into an octorock, but the man in charge of the only cure refuses to hand it over until someone passes his tests.

Most of it is solved relatively easily by link and a copious amount of time travel, but the thing with the ruling queen only gets worse. When the evil witch invades the kingdom, she possesses the oracle of ages, naryu (who's a little implied to be the Actual Creation Goddess Naryu reincarnated) and travels back to the past to bring about an age of despair in the present. She does this by slipping into the royal court and befriending the queen as a serving girl, rising up the ranks to become her closest advisor and corrupting her (pretty sure mind control magic is used a li'l). She convinces her to restart the black tower project, pouring all of her and the towns resources into it - forcibly conscripting every able bodied worker and working them to the bone, all while monsters start to circle the tower. With all the fear and resentment, it quickly becomes a beacon of dark energy, a perfect focal point to perform black magics.

Link (and Ralph) end up in the past and get hauled in front of the queen, with possessed naryu at her side, who basically jeers at them and ensures the queen won't listen to their untrustworthy lies. The townsfolk are getting increasingly stressed as their village fills with rubble and their men are worked to the point of collapse. Armed guards start to appear to keep the workers under control. Eventually, Ralph uncovers a hole in the guard rotation, and he and link sneak into the palace through a secret entrance Ralph oh so casually knows about. Link and naryu fight, but with stupendous timing the queen walks in to see naryu collapsed on the floor, Link standing over her with a sword. She calls for the guards, but before anyone can react, the witch, banished form her first vessel, leaps into the queen herself instead. Ralph shoves past the arriving guards and into naryus arms, while link moves in from of them. The queen orders the guards to attack, but naryu, reawakened, pulls them back to the present in the nick of time. In the present, the black tower is magically growing, reaching higher and higher into the sky, terrifying the people of the city.

Then! Ralph, who at this point is suspiciously invested now his actual goal is completed and naryu is safe, vows to go back into time again, away from naryu, to live under the now evil queen and bring protection and comfort to the villagers as a direct act of resistance, because the witch is feeding on their sorrow to power an unknown ritual (link knows. Link, canonically, has told nobody). So this teen in fancy robes and cape goes back to the oppressed, poverty stricken town under the thumb if someone who wants him dead and lives there for weeks if not months dedicating himself to supporting the village and bringing people's hopes and spirits back up, presumably while living out of someone else's wooden hut. In the middle of a literal depression inducing miasma that's sapping everyone's joy and will to live.

That just. Takes insane strength of character. That's a feat of pure, distilled, compassion as anarchy.

Link's off bouncing between past and present doing dungeons and solving easier issues through either sword or magic item, but Ralph is out here doing the long hard slog for little reward.

Link finally returns to the black tower completed, affecting even the people of the present, and, preparations complete, rushes to the past. Ralph is nowhere be seen. Talking to the villagers reveals several have a crush on him, but an old man saw him running for the tower, sword drawn. There's a man pacing by the entrance, who saw the kid run in, tried to stop him. He said Ralph said that he no longer cared what happened to him. That the man realised that Ralph had quietly succumbed to the same curse of despair they all were under. Link fights his way up to the top of the tower, where Ralph confronts the evil queen, sword at her heart, but every step she takes into it, he steps back. The witch laughs. She asks him if he's really willing to write himself out of existence - being the queens descendant, and all. Ralph leaps back, into links chest. He's shaking and stuttering, but he lunges, and is knocked out in one blow. The queen now asks link the same question: is he willing to erase Ralph? If he strikes her, kills her, the queen will die, childless, and he will never live. She leaves, and link rushes to Ralph. He's awake but unresponsive, defeated. With a heavy heart, Link leaves him to chase the queen. It's naryu who finds him, brings him out of the tower.

When the witch is defeated, the curse is lifted, and Ralph is once more energetic and kind. He's a little quieter now, though, sticking close to naryu. For all he was a loud and headstrong kid, I gotta say I was very impressed.

He would have made a good king.

[therealdoctorjellybean]

I think when it comes to being transgender some people hear it like a child going, "I want to be a fairy princess!" This being that fairies don't exist (that we know of.)

Except that they do. In video games, in stories, people even become professional mermaids and princesses for kid's birthdays.

It's not that you "can't", it's just people think the world should work a certain way. That instead of it having magic and making people happy, it should be gray without imagination, difference, or creativity. People want things they can understand, and when there is something they don't understand, then they get confused, angry, and hate that thing. When their dreams were never fulfilled because they lived by these rigid rules, and they see other people living happily, they want to take away and make them a bitter adult. Well, don't be a bitter adult, create, be the magic fairy princess, be the person you want to be.

[everythingblackblack]

Do you have any thoughts/headcanons about Kaito's phobia of fish? It's an interesting character trait considering Kaito's personality and the lack of backstory given to it.

i love the concept of Hakuba being great about it, him canonically being kind to people with irrational fears is wonderful for his relationship with Kaito. Hakuba the human shield against fish! He'd be capable of being subtle about helping Kaito and I can imagine him getting protective if anyone hurts Kaito with it.

How do you think Shinichi and Akako would handle it?

Actually, I do have several thoughts on that.

Have you seen movies like "The Little Mermaid", "PONYO" and "NEMO"?

Well, they are scary movies for Kaito. He must have seen Ponyo and Nemo at some point when he wasn't that aware of his phobia or didn't know what they were about, he definitely has never seen "The Little Mermaid", and the name terrifies him.

I feel like Hakuba would be more proactive in helping him with his phobia and would even encourage him to go to therapy to treat it professionally, because as we know Japan is surrounded by sea, and seafood is their main source of food, I imagine it must be hard for Kaito to have to see fish all the time.

I feel like with Akako, Kaito has a conversation like:

"If witches exist, does that mean mermaids do too?"

"Yes, they do, why? Do you want to see one?"

"Oh, no, not really!"

Akako raises an eyebrow and looks at Kaito, judging him, she knows there's something more to this, so she pressures him to confess and when he tells her, she would definitely tease him a little.

"I'm surprised that the great Kaitou Kid is afraid of something like that."

"Don't make fun of me, Akako!"

"No, calm down, even if I like to tease you, I wouldn't stoop that low, don't worry about the fish, or the mermaids, as long as I'm here, you just have to worry about being cute, I'll take care of the rest."

I like to think that even if she would tease him a little (because that's her personality), she wouldn't really expose him to that, in fact, I see her covering his eyes discreetly so he doesn't see them.

I think that Kaito seeing that Shinichi loves sharks wouldn't tell him, and he would end up finding out until it's too late.

Something like:

"I have tickets to the aquarium!"

Kaito forces himself to smile, even though inside he's screaming. Shinichi looks so happy that he can't bring himself to say anything about it.

When they enter the aquarium, Kaito drags him first to see any non-fish animals. Shinichi starts to get suspicious that something is up, but he ignores it because he thinks Kaito would tell him if it was important.

It's not until they move on to the fish section that he feels something is wrong. Kaito is clinging to him too tightly and has his eyes closed.

"Kaito, are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, just, you know, I love you and all that." "You're being weird, and not your usual weird self." "Just ignore me, I promise I'm enjoying this." "It doesn't seem like it."

In a moment of bravery Kaito opens his eyes, but it's a grave mistake because he faints. Shinichi takes him to the infirmary and when Kaito wakes up he forces him to tell him what's wrong.

"I'm sorry, you seemed really excited." "No, it's okay, but I'd like you to tell me these things, trust me I don't want to bring you to basically your version of a house of terror." "You know, I don't really mind sharks, I just can't stand fish." "I hope you're being honest, I don't want you to suffer because of me."

[oracle-cassandra]

What are Radblr's thoughts about this? I'm on my way to take a test when this article popped up on my screen, and I wanted to post this before I leave, especially given that this is published by Scientific America. However, Im personally skeptically that "social contagion" doesn't play a factor at all; I wouldn't doubt it plays into this even a little bit. I'm sure everyone knows about articles posted in favor of this fad from, like, two years ago from even big names like Mermaids, who have either been proved wrong or backtracked.

I have pasted the article below. There are links in the original article.

----------------

Health Care

Evidence Undermines ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ Claims

Fears of “social contagion,” used to support anti-transgender legislation, are not supported by science

By Timmy Broderick on August 24, 2023

A recent study claiming to describe more than 1,600 possible cases of a “socially contagious syndrome” was retracted in June for failing to obtain ethics approval from an institutional review board. The survey examined “rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” a proposed condition that attributes adolescent gender distress to exposure to transgender people through friends or social media. The existence of such a syndrome has been the subject of intense debate for the past several years and has fueled arguments against transgender rights reforms, despite being widely criticized by medical experts.

The American Psychological Association and 61 other health care providers’ organizations signed a letter in 2021 denouncing the validity of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) as a clinical diagnosis. And a steadily growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that it does not reflect transgender adolescents’ experiences and that “social contagion” is not causing more young people to seek gender-affirming care. Still, the concept continues to be used to justify anti-trans legislation across the U.S.

“To even say it’s a hypothesis at this point, based on the paucity of research on this, I think is a real stretch,” says Eli Coleman, former president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Coleman helped create the organization’s most recent standards of care for trans people, which endorse and explain the evidence for forms of gender-affirming care.

Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, meaning that the gender that was assigned to them at birth and their gender identity don’t align, causing distress. ROGD was proposed as a gender dysphoria subtype in a 2018 paper by physician and researcher Lisa Littman, then at Brown University.* Littman’s survey asked parents of transgender adolescents—recruited predominantly from anti-transgender websites and forums—to describe their child’s “sudden or rapid onset of gender dysphoria” and to state if it coincided with increased social media usage or the child’s friends coming out as transgender.

Littman later issued a correction that updated the methodology, including a brief description of the websites and forums, and noted that ROGD is not a formal diagnosis. But the concept had already been taken upin books and podcasts—and by politicians—to promulgate the idea that peer pressure and social media are making kids transgender or that being transgender is a form of mental illness. As legislation targeting trans people has reached an all-time high in the U.S., ROGD’s alleged social contagion has been invoked by lawmakers in states such as Missouri, Utah and Arkansas to justify banning or restricting gender-affirming care for young people.

“This is just a fear-based concept that is not supported by studies,” says Marci Bowers, president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The term ROGD is being used to “scare people or to scare legislators into voting for some of these restrictive policies that take away options for young people. It’s cruel, cruel legislation.”

Like the 2018 study that coined the term rapid-onset gender dysphoria, the recently retracted paper, which was published this March in Archives of Sexual Behavior, surveyed parents of transgender children about their children’s experiences. The study was co-authored by Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, and Suzanna Diaz, a pseudonym used by a mother of a child with gender dysphoria. Diaz is not affiliated with an institution and had already collected the survey data before collaborating with Bailey on the paper. The study was retracted because Diaz and Bailey did not get consent from the survey’s respondents to have their responses published, although Bailey disputes this. (Bailey declined to answer questions about the retraction from Scientific American.)

The participants in both the 2018 and the retracted 2023 studies were recruited from online communities that were explicitly critical about many aspects of gender-affirming care for transgender kids. Littman’s research was inspired in part by parents’ posts on these skeptical websites.

In response to criticisms that recruiting parents from anti-transgender websites may have biased the results, Littman says, “I reject the premise that parents who believe transition will harm their children are more likely to discredit their kids’ experiences than parents who believe that transition will help their children.”

Most experts cite the survey of parents rather than transgender children themselves as another major flaw in the methodology of both studies.

Diane Ehrensaft, director of mental health at the University of California, San Francisco, Child and Adolescent Gender Center, concurs. “To talk about what children are thinking, feeling and doing, particularly as they get old enough to have their own minds and narratives, you need to interview them,” she says.

Parents can often be the last to know about their child’s gender identity, Ehrensaft says. Coming out can be terrifying for many transgender kids. Family members often respond with violence or distrust or may even kick the child out of the house. Almost 40 percent of transgender youth experience homelessness or housing instability, according to a 2022 report from the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis support for young LGBTQ+ people. Many kids who wait to discuss their gender identity with their parents before appearing to “suddenly” come out are simply keeping themselves safe, Ehrensaft says.

“It is not rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” she says. “It’s rapid-onset parental discovery.”

Many experts have also questioned what length of time qualifies as a “sudden” experience of gender dysphoria. Both the 2018 and 2023 studies left the definition up for parental interpretation. Complicating this, there isn’t one pathway or time line for being transgender, says Tey Meadow, a Columbia University sociologist who studies sexuality and gender. “For some people, it can evolve slowly. For others, it can evolve quickly,” she says.

For most transgender youth seeking gender-affirming care, considerable time elapses between when they realize they may be transgender and when they receive such care. A recent analysis of 10 Canadian medical centers in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 98.3 percent of young people seeking gender-affirming care had realized more than a year prior that they may have been transgender. “If ROGD were a real thing, we would expect to see two discernible streams of patients coming in [to receive care],” says Greta Bauer, a co-author of the study and director of the Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. There would be a distinct group of adolescents with more recent knowledge about their gender identity going to clinics and another group that had had such knowledge for years. “But we didn’t see that,” she says.

Thomas Steensma, a psychologist at Amsterdam University Medical Centers who provides gender-affirming therapy, says he has not seen evidence of the “social contagion” component of ROGD, and he cautions against even using these terms. “Rapid means out of control, and contagion signals a warning, and that warning induces fear,” he says. “There’s no evidence that certain developmental pathways are more problematic or less beneficial or helpful than others” for a child’s gender identity.

Steensma reports that he sees two “peaks” of referrals in his clinic: young adolescents and 15-year-olds. In a 2020 study Steensma and his colleagues looked at adolescent referrals from 2000 to 2016 and found no measurable difference in the psychological functioning or the intensity of the gender dysphoria between more recent referrals and those who came to the clinic starting in 2000. If adolescents are presenting with a different form of gender dysphoria, Steensma has not seen it.

The researchers did observe a change in their referral population in recent years, however. More kids assigned female at birth have been transitioning in recent years than those assigned male at birth. Many studies have captured this difference—including the 2018 survey proposing ROGD—but experts are unsure of its cause. Littman suggests that female-assigned kids are more susceptible to the “social contagion” of gender dysphoria because they feel social pressure more acutely than male-assigned kids. But Ehrensaft says nothing in the clinical literature corroborates this assertion. Instead she attributes this discrepancy to shifting cultural factors that influence how children express themselves and explore their identity. In our culture, Ehrensaft says, “there’s a lot more gender stress for the boy in the tutu than the girl in the football uniform.”

Other forms of gender incongruence, such as identifying as nonbinary or gender nonconforming, further challenge the idea that children should be forced to abide by traditional gender categories. And the best way to understand what kids are experiencing is to ask them questions and listen to their answers, Ehrensaft says.

“In some ways, [kids] are far more advanced than I am, as somebody in my 70s, about how they live and understand gender,” Ehrensaft adds. “So if we want to really understand gender, turn to the experts—and that would be the youth themselves.”

*Editor’s Note (8/24/23): This sentence was edited after posting to correct Lisa Littman’s occupation and her affiliation at the time of her 2018 paper.

[cosmicmermaidwitch]

mindful reminders ✩｡⋆⸜ 🦢✮

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ from your mermaid 𖤓

𖦹 it is okay to take breaks: if a task takes up to much energy, add small breaks in between. if the day is too hectic, take some time to come back to yourself and calm your body and mind.

𖦹 you dont need to know: why someone doesnt like you, why some people are shitty, why some things happened the way they did. sometimes its okay to just accept the way life goes and detach yourself from it.

𖦹 it is okay to be you: you dont need to follow trends just to fit in, you dont need to change things you love about yourself just because someone else might not.

𖦹 you are beautiful: ´beauty is subjective´ might be true to some, but beauty is everywhere and within everyone. not only are you unique on the outside, but also on the inside. you are one of a kind, your soul is irreplaceable. appreciate your existence, stop worrying about fitting in, no one is you but you.

𖦹 gratitude: keeping a gratitude journal helps you appreciate the smaller things in life too. listing 3 things you were grateful for for the day is a great thing to add to your night routine in order to end the day on a positive note. dont be discouraged if some days have only 1 thing on the list.

𖦹 take time for hobbies: including a part of your hobby even during a busy day is a positive activity that could lift up your mood and motivate you. this could be as simple as listening to a song.

𖦹 it is okay to ask for help: from friends, family, professionals and people who offer it to you. it is not selfish or annoying, every human needs some social interaction and sometimes that consists of talking about the things that are going on in your life.

𖦹 set boundaries: whoever doesnt respect those, should not be in your energy. you should be the one deciding what you let slide and what crosses a line for you. dont let everything slide past you though.

𖦹 speak, even if your voice shakes: it is okay to be vulnerable, to cry when talking about a sensitive topic or to be nervous when speaking with someone you might not know. you are strong.

𖦹 you matter: even if it feels lonely sometimes, there is always someone who cares. if you dont know who to talk to, I am here and so are many others. you are not alone.

𖦹 take time to enjoy: food, drinks, songs, friends, clothes, hobbies etc... being mindful while doing something you enjoy helps you develop a closer relationship to it, while being more fun.

𖦹 stop obsessing over love: while it is okay to manifest your desired relationship, obsessing over it can be very unhealthy.

𖦹 your past does not define you: people change and so can you, you just need to find a healthy way to learn from mistakes and bad situations you were in once.

𖦹 breathe: close your eyes, take a breath and accept positivity into your life. you deserve everything good.

.・✫・゜.・✫・゜.・✫・゜.・✫・゜.・✫・゜.・✫・゜.・✫・゜

note: if you need help, please go to a professional and dont take these options as an ´end all be all´. this is for entertainment purposes only !

[ashersbraincell]

The Roblox pressure fandom has me in a chokehold, so I have succumb to the urge to make an experiment fishe oc except I cannot draw so you’ll have to use your imagination here(while also probably looking up pictures of the species I list😅). The amount of time I have spent looking up aquatic species is outstanding, but here goes!

Fair warning, I consider myself rather cringey at making ocs so, yes, if it is so obviously a cringey self insert I am aware of that

Name: Z-19, codename “Dragonfly”

Nicknames: Shrimp, Firefly, Spark, Nemo

Main story: Used to be really good at swimming as a kid and were talking to their coach about possibly getting their dream of becoming a mermaid/professional swimmer, while also being like a superhero if they came with and so being a stupid kid they agreed. They were kidnapped and experimented on in order to make them optimum for exploring. They made it seem „cool” and tried their past to reduce pain as much as possible, and so by the time they finished their training sometime around the age of like 20 they basically had Stockholm syndrome and moreso gratitude towards Urbanshade than anything. They only begin to open their eyes to how much childhood was taken from them after they meet Sebastian and decide to become a shop assistant and aid in his plan for escape and getting revenge.

DNA donor species:

REDACTED-gives tentacles sharp edges that can be used for self-defense or otherwise harm. Also makes them generally resistant to radioactivity, aiding them when exploring more radioactive sites

Clownfish-mainly influences colour(making what would be otherwise blue parts orange with red hues), allows to be omnivorous despite preference for meat, occasional popping+clicking noises in communication

Humbolt squid-entire body flashes red when threatened or flustered

Firefly squid- glow in the dark specs all over body, used for light navigation

Blue glaucus-main external physical feature structure determinent, ear fins as well as additional fins on both legs and arms resemble these but in orange colour(see “Clownfish”), as well as small, stubby black horns on the forehead. Behaviouristic characteristics include curling into a ball as a protective mechanism as well as a suspected tendency to float carelessly on their back when on the water’s surface, though this cannot be confirmed as this was a habit even before DNA transplant

Sea Anemone-allows for retraction and lengthening of tentacles

Generally: genderfluid because of many donor species being flexible in sex, high preference for meat due to majority carnivorous donor species, can exist in any temperature water(for exploratory purposes), short fluffy ginger hair remains suprisingly intact, skin is largely, but not completely, covered in orange scales, eyes are entirerly black in colour including the sclera, teeth are noticably sharp due to various donors. Note: tentacles come from the back of the subject for ease of movement, they have retained their limbs even if having fins on them. Said tentacles are also black in colour, like the little nub horns

Silly little fun fact section(because I might add random trivia here as I come up with it):

•They don’t exactly remember why they do it(having long forgotten their parents because they were kidnapped at the age of like 5, 6 tops) but because they used to lightly guilt trip their mom into not smoking as a kid they now do so to Sebastian once they get to know each other more and there’s yk, an actual bond and trust(albeit most likely unsuccessfully). Before a bond was built they probably just silently judged him for it and perhaps occasionally held their breath/coughed

•The code name “Dragonfly” comes from the combination of both the firefly squid and the Blue glaucus, which has the more common name Blue Dragon!

•I imagine, since they’re immune to eyefestation’s radioactivity, this would lead to a rather humorous interaction when they’re avoiding looking at the shark but eventually get annoyed with the insistent pleading and just snap back at it and stare it down, much to eyefestation’s suprise(because, yk, they’re not used to people staring them down bc it usually kills them?). Tbh I imagine Eyefestation would he so taken off-guard by this that it would swim away, confused and flabbergasted, the poor puppy shark 😭

•even if they wanted to, they could not ever really befriend the squiddles considering how they automatically produce light from their bioluminescencent spots in darkness

•the Firefly squid wasn’t considered in their initial DNA plan, it had only been included as a „bandaid fix” after Urbanshade realised that they tended to get claustrophobic in dark unlit places, not wanting to spend extra resources on providing them with light equipment

•game-role wise, I’m pretty terrible at fitting characters in-universe well so excuse any cringey mary-sueness. They would play a role very similar to Painter, as in being allied with Sebastian to thwart Expendables in making it to the Crystal, but they would be more deceitful than Painter in their intentions. They would act almost as a guide, occasionally helping, doing stuff like helping Expendables out of a dark room if they stay there long enough. Their biggest role would be in replacing the second appearance of search-lights as the main threat at the end of the game. Twist-villain basically. Not quite sure what their gameplay mechanic would be(obviously they would kill with their tentacles but I’m not sure what you would do to avoid it. All I know is that, like painter, they would have some voice lines when they kill you, probably things like „sorry”, „it had to be done” , „we can’t let it happen”, „*shaky sigh*”, „forgive me”, etc.

•they can both easily feign niceness, maybe even genuinely having a little bit of fun helping out the expendables, and are genuinely silly and affectionate with Sebastian and some other entities(room for expansion, haven’t considered it yet). They, however, HEAVILY dissociate to a mostly robot-sort of carrying out orders state when killing, mostly as a result of their past combat conditioning by Urbanshade

•Originally, their primary objective was to kill Sebastian. Obtaining the crystal was also in their mission but it wasn’t their main goal. But [plot] , [character development] and essentially Sebastian opened up their eyes to how much their childhood was robbed from them, and wanting revenge they, at first reluctantly(because of how much of a prick he can be, be fr) joined forces with sebastian in his mission of blackmailing urbanshade yada yada, only gradually over time forming a genuine connection

•Aside from „helping” Expendables+Their role at the end of the game, they mostly do drop-offs at the beginning of the game, occasionally bring some items with them to sell to Expendables in a pinch(for example, if they get stuck in a Turret room with a keycard, theres a chance for them to show up with a Code-Breaker, that kinda thing. Running low on health? Might bring a med-kit. Basically extending Sebastian’s data-gathering business by taking advantage of situations where expendables might desperately need certain items, under the guise of being helpful. Occasionally, they will also attempt to sell “pretty trinkets” they find around the Blacksite/the nearby perimeter of it; they’re not worth anything and don’t do anything either. But they’re pretty cheap and mostly just a little hobby of theirs. They also, as mentioned before with their role at the end of the day, essentially do Sebastian’s „dirty work”, which includes picking apart the bodies for items to recycle into the shop business etc. This is mostly to utilise their ability to dissociate somewhat well when performing horrific actions in contrast to sebastian who(despite probably not wanting to admit it) wants to preserve his humanity atleast somewhat(I headcanon he can sometimes flip out and rampage on people but is freaked out by the aftermath :<) TLDR: Sebastian’s little henchman/sidekick, whatever u wanna call it

•The Imaginary Friend gets voicelines like „don’t trust them” when around them, so they’re not very fond of the imaginary friend. Besides, they find them pretty freaky and creepy

•they are likely somewhat friendly rivals with Painter, both secretly trying to outdo one another to impress sebastian(hence why they like to offer code breachers in the turret rooms to make Painter’s work pointless >:3)

•when you climb on sebastian and you can see the little area post the railing above the desks, that’s where their little living area would be.

(I’m probably bigging myself up big-time saying this but if anyone feels inclined to draw this silly enby feel free, just pls don’t claim the character idea as your own :< I’d greatly appreciate being tagged or otherwise notified too!)

…I can’t believe I just made a fishsona

[backtothefanfiction]

Can anyone help?

So as some of you may know from some of my posts lately, I have recently finished writing my first novel and I am now fully in the editing stage. I’m wanting to release it at the end of November but the problem is, I really can’t afford a professional editor right now. So I guess this is my plea for some help from the community that has helped me grow and develop my work, skills and voice these last few years. I’m looking for a few people to beta read and help me find any problems in my manuscript so it will be ready in time for November. In exchange for your time and effort I will send you a copy of the finished book when it is released.

If you have some time over the month of October and would like to help me out, please send me a message.

The book itself is a cursed mermaid pirate adventure romance. It’s the perfect story for fans of The Pirates of the Caribbean, The Little Mermaid and even the Vampire Diaries. It has an easy read feel, similar to popular romantacy novels of the moment like Fourth Wing or ACOTAR but has a more mature cast of characters (all main characters are over the age of 25) to match the mature themes and occasional spice.

Click read more for a cover reveal and blurb…

After sacrificing her fins to save the man she loved, Ariadne has been cursed to roam the seas for nearly 500 years, doing the bidding of He she made the deal with all those years ago. Trapped in the form of a human, she has passed from ship to ship, feeding off the blood of sailors and feeding their bodies back to the sea, searching for a way to be free once more; ever since her lover left her for pretty eyes on distant shores.

Meanwhile, Captain Elias Hale has been waging a war across the seas his entire adult life. He’s determined to get his revenge on the beast that stole his family from him when he was just a boy, the fearsome Kraken no other pirate actually believes exists.

An unlikely encounter between the two may just in fact hold the key to them both getting what they want. But she knows more than she’s really letting on. And he doesn’t even know her real name. Will both of them finally find satisfaction, or will her secrets only act to doom them all?