#rocking back and forth in the corner of my enclosure

[philbolesbo]

people died

[squilfmybeloved]

"everyone who knows, and- and loves you- we would forget about you."

gnawing at the bars of my enclosure screaming sobbing rocking back and forth in a corner

[jacks-tracks]

2Days behind

The zoo was good, mostly because it was in Chapultepec park, a cool shady green space. Sunday, so there were a lot of people picnicing, waking dogs, or just loafing. Entrance to the zoo was free(sunday) and the crowds did not show till noon. As zoos go, this is a good one, with the animals in large outdoor spaces with vegetation, fake rocks,and even streams for the bears. My first turn on the winding path was to the large animal area, and some deer. The keepers had just put out the grass food, so all the herbivores were out. I drifted to a glass walled wire roofed enclosure labelled Bengal tigers. Sure enough the female was loafing up on the rocks, and as I pressed to the glass for a pic, the male came sliding around the corner, inches from my face. Heart stops! These babys are big! Huge head filled with fangs, feet the size of tennis rackets, and a long powerfully muscled body with a sinuous annoyed tail. He was interested in the deer which he could smell but not see, and he paced back and forth with controlled power. What a start to my visit!

I slid quietly away, no eye contact, and made the tour of the other cages/enclosures. Giraffes, gnus, several antelope species, brown bears(with a stream and rocky hideout) , black bears, grizzlies, peacocks, I could go on,but it,s a zoo and well stocked. I wandered against the people flow, dodging the noisy children(go rap on the tigers glass!) and really enjoyed the walk. Skipped the reptiles, enjoyed the birds, and had a pleasant traffic free afternoon. Across the main street,part closed for cyclists, and into the Rufino Tamaya art gallery. Call me old fashioned, i like realism in art, and smashed pianos , one eyed monsters, and plain abstract junk glued to canvas was pitiful. My grandkids make more comprehensible art. Glad it was free!

Back on the subway, which stops one half mile short of my street, closed for repairs but no signage. it,s fast and outside of rush hour it's good. I got another chicken taco to go for super(25 pesos) and the cook first made the tortilla, then cooked it, then stuffed it as full as possible with a big handful of shredded chicken and cheese. Full meal deal! It was good to have the secure clean and safe hotel to flop in.

Next day was an out of town excursion to Teotihuacan ruins 50 K north. More subway travel (only went the wrong way once, there a re no signs because everybody knows the deal), and got to the Autobus del Norte station, from which any bus going north anywhere in Mexico departs from. Huge halls, hundreds of buses and thousands of people. Good instructions online, and the taquilla was almost where they said. Even avoided the obvious mistake which would have been to take the bus labelled archeologica because it goes to a nearby town, not to the ruinas. Right bus , comfy window seat and 1 half hour ride just to get to the suburbs, Gads Mexico city is huge! Favelas climb the hillsides in a pastel block pile, small corn fields squeeze between factorys and bodegas, and overall runs a sky tram with swinging gondolas for miles. ? Once on the Autopista we made good time and it was only 1hour total to the ruinas. Now my guidebook was the source and I dodged the hundreds of sellers of tourist crap and took the backroad to the museum. Bloody hot, and no shade except one tree where I stopped to swill water. I bekieve that's the first time I,ve been apart from people for weeks, and it was pleasant to rest and birdwatch(bright red bird?). More hot walk and into the museum filled with artifacts. It amazes me how much stuff they find for display. i know 10,000 people or more lived in these places, but they sure left a lot behind, dishes, tools art.

The actual site is miles across, and is centered around a broad walkway from the lesser pyramids a up to the huge ones at the far end . These ruins are ruined, flattened by time and weather, bare walls rise up to where temples topped painted platforms. The archeologists say alot about the use of the structures, ranging from Markets to sacrificial stones, but really they are just guessing, nobody left a record, and what they had the invaders trashed. Regretably the tombs and underground rooms a re off limit, so no frescoes could be seen. Millions of tourists come here, and if everybody walked the steps there would just be gravel left. All I can say, having climbed the major pyramids from here to guatemala, was that this was the most massive one. No climbing of course, and frankly it was so hot i would not have gone up if i could. Out the back exit, caught the bus and home to relax. A nice time outside the huge city.

[theramseyloft]

Beginner’s housing for a pet pigeon

We can go into the complexities involved in housing multiple pigeons at a later time.

Right now, we’re going to focus primarily on setting up for a single bird who is intended to be a companion animal.

The biggest problem you are going to run into is that the housing commercially available for birds is designed either to display a finch or a parrot.

Finch cages make excellent hospital cages for pigeons, but that is their only useful application.

A Hospital cage needs to be small to discourage the bird from moving around too much and doing anything other than eating and drinking, so that their recovery, be that from disease or injury, can progress with as few delays as possible.

A healthy bird cannot tolerate this degree of confinement for long.

Parrot cages are huge and expensive, but too narrow for a pigeon to be physically able to use.

The bare minimum requirements for any cage a pigeon will be housed in for more than an hour a day is that it be two inches wider than the full wingspan of the bird at the narrowest point, to allow their wings at least an inch of clearance on either side.

They are cliff nesters that don’t roost on branches. Round perches hurt their feet, so they need either flat platforms or square perches.

Pigeons cannot climb the way parrots can. They can only walk or fly, and they cannot comfortably fly if their wings will clip into things like hanging toys or ramps.

So they tend to prefer their enclosure be as uncluttered as possible.

Socialization is best done outside the enclosure, so that’s where most of the toys should be.

Dog kennels set up like this one above are kinder to both the pigeons and the wallets of their care taker than pretty much any indoor bird cage available.

A Labrador sized (usually marketed as a “Large”) kennel will fit bird about homer sized and smaller.

Larger breeds or breeds with longer flight and tail feathers will need a larger size as a base line.

These are very simple to modify.

The nest box is a bunny/ferret corner litter box, about $8-10 at most pet shops. Easy to clean and comfortable.

The perch is a garden stake cut to length, about $5 from the garden center at Walmart or a hardware store like Lowes or home Depot.

Honestly, if I had this to do over, the birds would get a wider, shallower food dish.

Pigeons are ground foragers. It’s easier for them to eat comfortably from a shallow dish than a deep one.

The water dish can be as deep as the pigeon can reach the bottom of.

This is the upper level of a ferret nation Double modified for my first breeding pair of Lucerne waaaay back before my loft was built, when I had a grand total of four breeding pair of pigeons and 16 pairs of Ringneck doves.

This one also has a garden steak cut to fit as a perch.

Their nest box is a large dog bowl full of timothy hay.

Notice that this enclosure has a single hanging bell toy exactly at standing head height for the birds, well out of the way of their wings.

This probably looks unbearably spartan, especially if you come form a parrot back ground.

Remember that pigeons cannot climb and will not fly in a space where their wings may bump into clutter.

The cage for an indoor pet pigeon should serve the same function as the kennel does for an indoor dog:

That is NOT where the dog lives!

At most, it’s where they sleep at night, and where a puppy stays when they can’t be supervised until they’ve learned the house rules.

Pigeons are absolutely smart enough to learn house rules just like a dog or cat.

And pet pigeons are happiest when they have the freedom of motion to exercise, play, and interact with their human flock mates at will.

While they can free fly an entire house, a single bedroom is enough space for most breeds to move around happily.

Pigeon proofing is pretty simple.

They aren’t capable of chewing like parrots, so no need to worry about your electrical chords being damaged and your bird giving them self a nasty shock.

They can’t damage wood or drywall or fabric by chewing.

Pigeons don’t eat plants, but do like the feel of ripping them and will use strips of leaves as nest bedding, so house plants may need to be protected by glass covers.

Things displayed on shelves in the room or rooms the pigeon will have access to need to be heavy enough or well enough wedged in that the bird can’t pull them down if they land awkwardly on them or push them off if they bump into or try to squeeze past them.

Papers need to be stored where they won’t be scattered by the wind that their powerful wings kick up in flight.

Any crevices too high or awkward for you to easily clean need to be blocked some how.

Poop is simple.

The poop of a well fed, healthy pigeon with a good diet should be round and solid enough that it can be easily picked up with a square of toilet paper or a tissue when wet or vacuumed up when dry.

Once you know your bird’s favorite perches, you can make clean up even easier on yourself by laying down puppy pads under them that you can just change out as often as needed.

Once a pigeon has mastered the house rules, you can do away with the cage entirely.

This is the feeding station we set up for Ankhou and Bird-bird.

On the little feed tray for cats were the feeder and waterer with oystershell offered free choice from a dish between them.

Pigeons are one of the very few animals that recognize their reflection in the mirror as a a reflected view of themselves, instead of another bird.

Most like to practice dancing, strutting, their sweeping charge, and bow-cooing in front of mirrors, so those are excellent enrichment for them.

Being cliff nesters, bricks are simply the most comfortable thing for a pigeon to stand on.

Strutting back and forth on the rough surface in front of a mirror will help them keep their claws blunted.

The bricks are holding down a crinkle sack for cats, laid out flat. 

Pigeons love noise stims. Particularly crinkly, jingly, or chiming.

The noise it made made dancing in front of the mirror extra fun on the crinkle mat.

The dead keyboard serves a similar function.

This beans box from Walmart full of straw served as Bird-Bird’s nest box.

She laid eggs fairly regularly, and slept in there most of the time.

Ankhou was a man of simple tastes. 

This baby doll blanket on the nightstand at my bedside was where he slept at night.

Social bird was social and wanted to be as close as possible to us at all times and involved somehow in everything we did.

Pigeons like to take baths, and our free flying pet liked to be offered the opportunity to take one when we showered, but did not like to actually be in the shower with us.

So we got him a little pyrex casserole dish about as long as he was that stayed on the side of the bathtub and made a habit of filling it for him before we got into the shower.

Anhkou didn’t care much for forage pans or puzzle toys, but many pigeons do and they are very simple to make.

A pan or tray with a few fists full of straw, paper strips, sand, or a mix of all three with a high value treat like Safflower seeds sprinkled in to find mimics the way rock doves would forage for seed in the wild.

Puzzle feeders for pigeons are as simple to make as crumpling a sheet of paper with a few high value seeds inside.

Pigeons love crinkly sounds and tugging on the crumpled paper or blowing it around by flapping at it will reward them with a few spilled seeds and a fun noise.

The little wicker balls for kitties with a jingle bell inside complete the holy trinity of stick-texture, shiny, and jingly, and many pigeons love to kick, peck, and toss them.

They like to pick up and shake and toss bread ties with a small jingle bell fastened to the end.

Bird-Bird’s favorite toy was the bell intended to go on a kittens collar. 

She liked to strut around with it holding it by the loop by which it was supposed to fasten and very softly jingling it.

Q-tips with the cotton tips removed and toothpicks with blunted or clipped ends are basically pigeon Legos.

Miniature wind chimes like this little angel and her harp are fun auditory stims too.

If you can swing it (ha!), pigeons enjoy swings, as long as the perch is flat.

Experiment with your birds and see what kind of enrichment they enjoy. ^v^

[gottawriteanegoortwo]

Mermay - Yanois

POV You're a merman who has spent as long as he can remember as the glorified pet of a crime lord and is now spending time in rehabilitation (the aquarium part of a marine sanctuary) to adjust. One of the staff comes by on his breaks to talk to you and you're not sure whether you want to kiss him or bite him.

Had to try my hand on a Yanois Mermay AU! Yancy takes inspiration from a moorish idol. If you'd like a story to go with this, click the read more.

(Word count under the read-more is 2,706)

-

Several weeks ago, there had been a police raid at the headquarters of one of the big gang bosses in the state. During this, a merman was discovered in a large tank like a glorified pet, something deemed illegal in the state. Members from the local marine sanctuary were called in to safely transport the furious merman to a more suitable location. They learned his name was Yancy through files on the computer, which was the name of a merchild that had disappeared from the same sanctuary years earlier.

He was brought into the open water and reintroduced to his family… and it went badly. There seemed to be a language barrier, as Yancy didn't appear to fully understand what they were telling him. Not only that, he didn't recognise any of them and seemed agitated that they knew him. He had been separated from merfolk for so long that he had likely forgotten the cues and language, as well as who his birth family were to begin with. The staff who had brought Yancy out had to quickly rein him back in before he used his sharpened teeth to bite his parents when they tried to approach to offer comfort. After that, he was brought to the aquarium.

The aquarium was on the grounds of the marine sanctuary and posed as a way for the general population to learn about the diverse life in the protected waters without causing any human impact. Yancy was brought into a large tank, far larger than his old one, and was allowed time to adjust to his new life without the gaze of the public eye. On one hand, having more room, new things to explore and interact with, and new food was a great benefit. On the other hand, Yancy had been warned by Boss while growing up that other people may pull tricks like this to get him to talk and spill important info. Don't trust anyone, he was told time and time again.

Because of that, Yancy took an oath of silence the moment he was noticed by the police. He made sure not a soul knew he could speak, and he was left alone as ‘one of those noise-only merfolk’. Even the staff that brought him to the marine sanctuary seemed oblivious. He quickly learned that his tactic of keeping humans away from him by using his fangs earned him a warning of “unpredictable and hostile” from the man he only knew as Warden. This became his badge of honour, a way to let out the frustrations of being taken away from his home and from Boss. For the aquarium staff who only wanted to give him medical check-ups, this was a worrying problem.

After three days of aquarium staff nearly having their hands bitten, Illinois was assigned to help with the job since he had an understanding of what Yancy was like from the very start. A man with an extensive history of working with merfolk and dangerous marine wildlife in the sanctuary - without even starting on his work outside his marine studies - he was utterly unfazed with any of Yancy's attempts to scare him off. He took several bites with little reaction, even going as far to use his hand as bait so he could hold Yancy in a way that the aquarium staff could complete their tasks. Yancy learned quickly that there was no point lashing out when Illinois was there and reluctantly accepted his fate…. Only to realise that the humans were telling the truth and they were only trying to make sure he was healthy.

Not only that, Illinois made it a habit to spend every single one of his breaks with Yancy. At first, he played innocent and insisted it was because he liked having someone quiet to practice his tour guide talks, but it gradually shifted to him talking about whatever was on his mind that day. Some days he would bring in photos from the newspaper, other days he would within the kelp forest in the far corner of the enclosure, Illinois kept the one-sided conversation going.

As the days turned to weeks, Illinois began bringing in videos or photographs that explored aspects of merculture. Despite his efforts to ignore Illinois, they sparked Yancy's curiosity. He was in the same enclosure for as long as he could remember, with the only interaction with anyone of his own kind going terribly wrong. Learning about his culture was nice, if somewhat bittersweet. As much as he wanted to ask questions, he had to keep his oath of silence. He didn't want the questions being thrown at him about what he could or couldn't remember. The past belonged in the past - he wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Times like this intrigued Yancy about Illinois himself, bringing forth questions on what feelings he had toward the human. Why was Illinois so nice to someone who was clearly hostile? Why did Illinois talk like they were friends? Boss never did that. It was always focused and to the point. As much as being in the same space as Illinois annoyed him, Yancy gradually found that he didn't want to lose these moments. Was there an attraction to Illinois? Was that even something that he would be allowed to act on if that was the case?

Thankfully, before Yancy could stress too much over it, Illinois would do something to remind Yancy of how annoying he was. He would make certain quips while talking, or give one of those looks over his shoulder. A subtle gesture, but one that was loud enough to remind Yancy of Illinois' inflated ego. It got worse when another staff member would be in the room! Illinois would use a certain turn of phrase, He’d raise an eyebrow and give a cocky smirk when he would lament over a minor misfortune that befell whoever he was with.

On a few different occasions, he would wink and give a smile that would leave the other human briefly flustered. It was an irritating case of Illinois knowing he could capture anyone’s attention and using it against them. Maybe a pang of jealousy sparked it, but Yancy would remember what Boss said about being used, and bury any potential feelings as deep as possible. It would only be a matter of time before this was used on him. He wouldn’t be fooled.

Despite this stance, Yancy accepted that this cocky bravado was never on display when it was just the two of them. Without the eyes of anyone else on him Illinois was calm and confident in his knowledge of a range of topics, but he was also more reflective and observant. On days like today, where Yancy lay on one of the rocks at the bottom of the enclosure beside the large window, Illinois would turn his head to gauge Yancy's reaction on the new posters that had been put up on the wall opposite the pair. They could have a conversation without Yancy needing to say a word. It was like Illinois knew that the merman grunting meant a disagreement, or that a hum was asking for further clarification. Nothing could deny that Yancy had missed being able to talk with someone. 

(It also allowed the merman to take in the human’s attractive profile, the sun-kissed skin, those dark eyes that had a constant sparkle of intelligence as he spoke about topics that clearly fascinated him. Yancy could feel his lips tingle with the curiosity of wanting to know what Illinois' tasted like if they were to kiss.)

Yancy shook his head sharply, catching himself before he dropped his guard entirely. He couldn't admit he was in love with Illinois! It would be a weakness that the police could use to pull information out of him! That was what Boss always said! He had to snap out of it. Something had to help!

Both hands were planted on the ground as he shot up to the top of the enclosure. Illinois seemed oblivious, only moving to lift off his hat and shake out his hair. In the blink of an eye, Yancy scooped up a handful of water and dropped it over Illinois. There was a yelp as Illinois jumped and shot his head up to see what happened. Yancy propped himself against the edge of the wall and grinned down at Illinois. 

To Yancy's surprise, Illinois laughed. It wasn't the laugh he'd hear when Illinois was talking to other staff. It was different, more relaxed; and Yancy realised that it would not be as easy to distract himself from these feelings as he hoped.

At that moment, Illinois climbed the staff ladder in the corner of the room. It brought him up to the platform  at the water’s surface that was used when interacting with Yancy. The merman swam over as Illinois squeezed water out of his hair.

"I gotta say, you must be starting to feel rather comfortable if you're at the point of playing games," Illinois mused as he sat on the platform, "which is a shame. I would bet you would enjoy having a swimming partner here with you. There's plenty of space for someone else. I know there are staff who can and would swim, but I don't want any of them risking injury because of those teeth." Yancy showed off his sharp fangs again, earning himself an impressed hum from Illinois. "You're quite the charmer, aren't you? You'd be the most popular merman in the pod out in the ocean with those looks, I guarantee it. You'd have everyone looking to spend time with you, maybe even have the choice of any mate you want. It would be perfect."

Yancy didn't see the point of any of this. Why was Illinois bringing this up? He crossed his arms in an 'X' shape over his face.

"Why not? All we would need to do is help you find you manners and invite those who are closer in age to you. There are places we can hold introductions and -" Illinois was cut off by Yancy lifting himself higher to hiss at him. His eyes had narrowed to slits and his ear fins were spread out. An intimidation act.

Even so, Illinois was calm as he put three fingers against the middle of Yancy's forehead. "Right, right, sorry. I forgot you're a big, scary merman who thinks he deserves to be alone because he wasn't allowed to make friends when he was younger." As he spoke, he gently pressed against the white, smooth skin and slowly pushed Yancy toward the water. Yancy was briefly thrown by the nonresponse and did as instructed, only to regain sense and snap at the hand. However, by the time he did, Illinois had already moved it out of reach. Illinois shrugged and leaned back as he shifted his sitting position.

"I don't know why you're so guarded, Yancy. Not literally, of course. I know it’s likely a mix of the fear of your past combined with the uncertain future you find yourself in. I mean you yourself. You act as though everyone here is against you. We aren't. Warden put in a request that you not be called to be a witness in any upcoming trial. This Sanctuary is a new start. You don't have the pressure of the police over your shoulders. I promise you - if anyone asks you something, it's because they want to get to know you, not because they want information. This is a time to be just ‘Yancy’. No more, no less." 

Yancy lowered himself into the water until his eyes were at the surface. He didn't even try and hide the conflict on his face or in his body language. This went against everything Boss had told him. Everyone was against them. Everyone wanted information that could be used to hurt them. He had to stay on alert all the time. Anyone who betrayed Boss was sent in to Yancy so he could finish them off but… Was he scared of Boss getting revenge on him too?

"If you're happy to stay inside, that's okay." Yancy was sharply pulled out of his thoughts by that warm, trusting voice. "I've heard of merfolk in other places that enjoy living inside. If you're like that, then we're happy to make this place a proper home for you. We can show you the plans we were thinking to help this space be one that is brimming with life." That… Actually sounded nice, and Yancy's ears perked up at the idea. Boss never offered to do anything like that. "And if you want a friend or even the company of some aquatic creatures that you can spend time with, we can have something arranged. You shouldn't punish yourself to stay alone like this. Or if you want to find a mate to bring back here, I've already told you how easy that can be to set up."

Once again, Yancy made an 'X' with his arms. This time, it was with such speed that his movement splashed Illinois.

"Okay, that's a 'no'," Illinois laughed, before a thought crossed his mind. "Just so you know, it's okay if you're interested in having a *male* partner. This is an inclusive place. We host events every summer as part of the Pride festival for the LGBT community - which is to say anyone whose romantic and/or sexual attractions go beyond the expected norm." 

On Illinois went, giving Yancy a brief run-down of important terms, but Yancy wasn't fully paying attention. Illinois had given him food for thought. Clamming up as he had over recent weeks had been lonely, even more so than usual. He might have spent his entire life on his own, but this was different. Illinois and the other humans were openly trying to be nice to him and Yancy was pushing them away. What good would that do? He was already here for the long-term. Plus, if Illinois spoke the truth, then there might be a chance to start again. So then...

What would happen if he wanted to trust Illinois more? Could he risk letting his guard down so he could follow his curiosity? Even if Illinois was annoying, he always respected Yancy's refusals to cooperate, always kept him company on his time off - twice a day, five days a week. The two days without him were lonelier than he'd like to admit. The human made something in Yancy's chest flutter with the need to be closer. Illinois had been there from the start, and made it clear that he was trying to do what was best for Yancy. He had watched Boss develop relationships over the years, why shouldn't he? 

It was why he lifted a hand so he could beckon Illinois closer with a wag of his index finger. Illinois was amused and, thinking he had simply moved too far back, did as instructed. Moments later, he repeated his request and Illinois obeyed again. Illinois was close. It would be easy to change his mind and bite him.

Instead, Yancy reached forward, wrapped his arms around Illinois' neck, and sharply pulled him in for a kiss. Before Yancy could take the lack of reaction as a bad thing, Illinois returned it, letting a hand rest on the back of the merman's head to keep him close. Yancy couldn't describe the taste, but it seemed so 'Illinois' that it really didn't matter what they were beyond that.

When Illinois pulled back to catch his breath, Yancy was delighted to see that the action had stunned the other into silence. It would be the perfect time to use his ace:

"Think youse can handle being quiet for a little longer?"

Even if he hadn't spoken in weeks, there was no denying that it wasn't a sentence parroted by the staff. Yancy's accent perfectly matched Boss'. Along with a teasing tone in his voice, this was proof that Yancy’s fluency of English went beyond listening skills.

All Illinois could do was nod, words completely failing him in a revelation that no one could have predicted. Yancy grinned and tugged him back in for a second, deeper kiss.

[bittersweetmelxdy]

Hi again! Thank you so much for answering my ask! Can i ask a scenario for victor with a (super hero?) S/o who can control animals and talk to them and use their natural habilities? Like bread under water like fishes, run super fast like a chita etc? Thank you!

You sent this months ago and guess who only now got around to it, me! Jokes aside, thanks for you continued patience dear, hope you enjoy this, it was interesting to imagine MC with another Evol, apart from precognition, so I had fun with this, hope you like it xxx

Title: a hidden side of you Pairing: Victor x MC Words: 1,438

Victor at first did not believe you possessed an Evol, and thereby was fully committed to be your knight in shining armour. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe you couldn’t survive on your own, but he was surprised you had survived this long on your own. He had literally seen your clumsy self knock into the same table twice, in the span of five minutes, and you would have done it a third time if he had not moved it out of your path of movement. So, Victor felt he of all people knew the extent of your abilities, but like always, you never failed to surprise him.

You rocked back and forth on the balls on your feet, tapping the cellphone in your hand as you waited for Victor to answer.

“Hello?” Victor’s deep voice answered.

“Victor?”

“Who else would answer my phone, idiot?” Victor deadpanned, chuckling as he heard you huff and he could see in his mind’s eyes your puffed out cheeks, and pout on your lips, “Do you need something?” he asked, his tone more tender.

“Are you free on Wednesday afternoon?” you asked, worrying the nail on your thumb anxiously.

You could hear Victor tapping his pen on either his papers or his desk, and you deflated knowing Victor was keeping you waiting on purpose, checking his schedule slower than necessary just to mess with you.  

“I’m free.” Victor finally replied, and you let out a quiet sound of excitement, and over the phone, Victor felt a smile tug at the corners of the lips, “So, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, just pick me up at 2 on Wednesday.” You stated happily.

“Alright, see you then.”

“See you, love you Victor.”

“...”

“Victor?”

“Hmmm?”

“You going to say it back?”

“...”

“Victor!”

Victor laughed for a minute, “Dummy, love you too.” and you hung the phone, smiling as you went back to work.

Wednesday rolled around before you knew it, and once work was over you were dusting off your skirt, checking your hair in your pocket mirror, as you felt someone sling their arm over your shoulders.

“Wow Boss, you dressed a little too nice for a simple pre-shooting outing.” Willow teased, wiggling her brows at you teasingly.

You blushed, ducking your head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Willow whistled, “I see... your using the company as an excuse for a date.” she continued to tease, her volume alerting Kiki and Anna who were close by.

“A date?” Kiki asked, “Wait, is this why you said you were fine going by yourself? You sly girl.” you rolled your eyes, as they continued to poke fun at you, when Anna cut in.

“Alright, I think her ride’s here, so let her breathe.” Anna smiled at your grateful look, and you waved at them as you left.

“Tell the CEO, we said hi!” they called, as the company door swung shut.

Reaching Victor’s car, you opened the passenger side door and climbed in, giving Victor a quick kiss on the cheek as greeting and then sitting down and clicking the seatbelt. He smiled wryly at you, watching as you inputted the address into his car’s GPS system, theatrically trying to hide the screen from him. He played along, pretending to be more confused as the ride went on and the city blended into the countryside, relishing in how proud you were that you had kept this such a secret. Once he had parked the car, and killed the ignition, he turned in his seat to look at you.

“So, why are we at Loveland’s animal research centre?” Victor asked.

“Surprise!” you beamed, shaking jazz-hands at him, “We’re doing a documentary, so they said they’d let me walk around today, before we start shooting.”

Victor nodded, and then the two of you left the car to enter the facility, he actually knew exactly where you were going, as you had mentioned to him excitedly over the phone weeks ago how you had secured the approval for the documentary. But it was more beneficial for him to feign ignorance, especially since he got to see the expressions you made. One of the researchers gave each of you a pass, and since the animals were all in enclosures, you were free to walk around freely, they would only monitor you on the video surveillance.

You and Victor walked around, and you filled him in on the history on the animals as you passed, stopping suddenly in front of an enclosure containing chameleons.

“These were rescued from some rich family that were keeping them as pets as mistreating them. You said softly pressing your hand against the glass, Victor seeing the empathy in your eyes, moved closer to you, wrapping a hand lightly around your waist.

“Do you see them?” he asked, trying to distract you slightly from your sadness.

“They’re a little scared, so they’re hiding.” you said, pointing a little further into the thicket, “Hey, don’t worry, we aren’t here to hurt you, in fact we’re going to make a show about you guys, so please come talk to me.”

Victor furrowed his brows, confused by your choice of words, but watched raptly as you looked to locate the cameras, as once you knew they wouldn’t see you, you stepped closer touching a branch one of the chameleons was on, and he was beyond surprised as he watched your hand changed. Your skin tone shifted before his eyes, changing from its usual tone until it resembled the wood of the branch, in colour and texture, your hand becoming almost an extension of your arm. The chameleon shuffled slowly over to you, before crawling onto your finger, it made a series of noises, and Victor watched, still shell-shocked, as you appeared to understand exactly what the creature was telling you.

“Wait, you understand it?”

“Him. Victor, him.” you corrected, “But yes, I do, he says he happy to meet us and he’s very happy here in the facility,” you turned to the chameleon, stroking it gently with your other hand, “I’m very happy to hear that, I know you’ve suffered.”

You spent more time with the chameleons, introducing yourself to each of them, before moving on to the other enclosures. As there were still other researchers walking around, Victor didn’t question you, afraid someone may overhear you, but he continued to observe as you displayed other abilities normal people wouldn’t be able to do. But once you were back in the car, he didn’t start the car, and the two of you sat in silence for a couple minutes.

“Um Victor, are we going home?” you asked.

“How long?” he asked, “how long have you been able to do all that?”

“I’ve always been able to talk to animals and use their abilities,” you admitted, “It’s my Evol.”

“And you couldn’t tell me?” Victor said, softly, his voice barely audible, hurt clear in his tone.

His stare was becoming a bit too much for you, and you looked down at your hands, fiddling with your fingers nervously, “I’m sure you know that most normal people don’t possess an Evol. So, when I was little, all the other children saw me as a freak and bullied me for it. So, I stopped using my Evol in front of others and pretended I didn’t have one.” You looked up at Victor, self-depreciatingly, “That didn’t stop me getting bullied in high school, but you can’t have everything, right?”

Victor reached across the console, and wrapped his arms around you, bringing you close to his chest, and breathing in the scent of your hair. You wrapped your arms around his neck, reciprocating the hug, and as you could tell Victor was struggling with his next words, you patiently waited.  

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t have to hide from me.” Victor smiled into your hair as he felt you nod into the crook of his neck.

Retracting from you, Victor started the car, and you began to feel a little shy having unloaded your past onto Victor and clasped your hands tightly in your lap. Before you could spiral into your thoughts, Victor placed his warm hand atop yours, coaxing your hand to turn over so he could interlace your fingers as he never took his eyes off the road, and continued to drive safely. You squeezed his hand in gratitude, and the two of you made your way home in a comfortable silence, hearts much closer than they had been before.

[youidiotprince]

hi! do you have any sobbe headcanons? everyone is talking about skam france and elu and it makes me miss sobbe even more.

lmao I feel this. since elu got a pet (if only for a few hours and I’m still so bothered by that), let’s talk about Robbe and Sander getting a pet!

A few months after Robbe and Sander move in together once Robbe starts University, they decide to get a puppy. It’s mostly Robbe’s idea bc he’s always wanted one but was never allowed to have one bc his papa thought it would be “too much stress on the family.” Robbe and Sander take a few trips to some local animal shelters, revisiting them each a couple of times to try to find the perfect dog for their family. Robbe ends up getting attached to quite a few of them, but Sander hasn’t really connected with any of them yet, and Robbe can tell. He knows all he has to do is say “I want this one” and Sander will agree to whichever one he chooses, but Robbe wants Sander to be just as excited as he is.

He’s growing more and more discouraged the longer they go without adopting one, feeling like maybe Sander just doesn’t want a dog, but then they go back to one of the animal shelter’s they haven’t visited as much and find out that they’ve recently put a new puppy up for adoption. She’s the only one of the litter they were able to locate, so they’re not sure what her story is, but she’s healthy and sweet, if a little bit shy. Robbe’s excited to meet her.

When they go back to, Robbe’s instantly intrigued by her. She’s a terrier mix of some sort, but they’re not sure exactly what. She has fluffy golden fur sprinkled with black to add texture and character, and she has big, warm brown eyes. Robbe squats down in front of her enclosure, sticking his fingers through the fence that stands between them so he can touch her, if she wants. She walks over to him slowly, almost lazily, sniffing at his hand when she finally reaches him before giving him a soft, sweet lick. Then, she sits down right where she is and looks up at Sander, those big brown eyes staring up at him. Robbe looks up at him, too, and Sander, looking awestruck, murmurs, “She kind of has your eyes, Robbe.”

“What, my puppy eyes?” Robbe teases, giving Sander his best sad pleading puppy look. Sander snorts and kneels down beside Robbe, holding his own hand up to the fence. she trots over to him excitedly, sniffing much more energetically at his hand, tail wagging already. Robbe can’t even bring himself to be jealous that she already likes Sander more bc the look in Sander’s eyes silences him. He looks so vulnerable, eyes full of surprise that she’s so happy to see him, that she could like him so much without even knowing him.

He raises those raw, surprised eyes to Robbe’s and declares, “She is the one,” and Robbe’s already nodding his head with a happy grin, bc of course she is, and Robbe tilts his head adorably at Sander and responds, “Yeah, she is, isn’t she?” Sander’s lips turn up into a grin that almost rivals Robbe’s, and he turns back to their puppy, who’s still wagging her tail at him with such force that it rocks her whole body. Before they leave, they start the paperwork so that the shelter will hold her for them as they get their apartment ready for her.

In a few days, they bring her home for the first time, Sander cradling her in his arms. They’ve decided to name her Rebel, and she now wears a rainbow collar with a tag that labels her as theirs, their Rebel. They bought her a dark purple bed that’s basically an oversized pillow, though they know she’ll end up sleeping in bed with them anyway. She’s nervous when they first set her down in her new home, following Sander around at his heels, but she warms up to it pretty quickly and starts to explore, a little bundle of curiosity. They give her her first toy, a plush microphone they saw at the pet store and just had to buy, and she trots around the living room with it in her mouth, seeming proud, holding her head high.

For the first month of having her, it feels like they’re always on the internet looking up tricks for training puppies, and when they’re not on the internet looking them up, they’re trying to apply them in real world, doing their best to train her on their own. It’s going well, she responds to her name, she knows a few basic commands, but they’re struggling the most with house training her. Every time they seem to be making progress, she’ll have an accident on the kitchen floor or right next to the door or, worse yet, the carpeted floor of their bedroom. They’re both starting to grow frustrated, wondering if they’re doing something wrong or if maybe they just aren’t cut out to be pet owners. But every time they start to feel like they want to give up, she comes galloping over to one of them, tail wagging with her whole body, smothering them in kisses and gentle little nibbles, and they know there’s no way they could ever give up on her.

It’s been a few weeks since Rebel’s last accident, so they’re starting to feel like maybe they actually succeeded and she’s outgrown that phase. They’re lying in bed together one Thursday evening before going to sleep, Rebel acting more rambunctious and playful than usual at this hour as she runs back and forth between them, diving for their hands, their noses, anything she can nibble at, having more and more fun with the game the more they flinch or move their hands and faces away from her. They’re laughing at each other’s jerky movements, taking a special thrill from every time the other gets a particularly strong bite from her, goading each other with taunts like, “Come on, it doesn’t hurt that bad,” until the other is made to eat his words when she comes back and bites him. Despite the pain, they’re having just as much fun as she is.

They finally get a reprieve from her reign of terror when she goes down to the foot of the bed, sniffing around their ankles, which are tucked safely under the comforter. “I love nights like this,” Robbe says through a lazy, content smile. “Me too,” Sander answers, leaning forward to kiss Robbe through their smiles. They both let themselves get lost in the kiss until Robbe starts to feel something wet and warm against his foot, seeping through the blanket and sheet. Alarmed, he jerks away from Sander, looking towards the end of the bed, and sure enough, Rebel’s there, squatting just above his foot.

“Fuck, Sander, she’s peeing!” Robbe shouts as he grabs her around the waist and jumps out of bed, stumbling as he gets caught in the blankets. Sander rolls out of bed to the other side, landing on all fours as he scrambles to his feet. Once Robbe’s out of bed, he starts hopping around on one foot, his unsoiled foot, and he’s barking at Sander to grab the blankets off the bed before it seeps through to the mattress. Sander acts as quickly as he can, ripping the sheets and blanket from the bed and dropping them in a messy bundle on the floor, wrestling with the fitted sheet bc it’s caught on the corner of the bed farthest from where he’s standing. He yanks on it as hard as he can, and finally it gives way, forcing him to stumble backwards a few steps before falling on his butt.

He can’t help it anymore, he bursts out laughing in a loud, uncontrollable kind of way. In a hiccuping, gasping for air kind of way. Robbe, still balancing on one foot, snaps, “Sander, this isn’t funny!”

Between laughs, Sander barely manages to get out, “Robbe [gasp for breath] she peed on your foot!” Robbe looks from the innocent, nervous looking puppy in his hands, to his raised, peed-on foot, to his boyfriend, who’s a mess of hysterical laughter on the ground, and Robbe can’t help himself either. He collapses to the floor beside Sander, laughing so hard now that he can barely breathe.

“If you think it’s so funny,” Robbe gasps out, “then you can clean off my foot.” He stretches his soiled foot towards Sander, who shrieks and shoves it away, only making them both laugh harder. Robbe moves to bury his face in Sander’s chest, the both of them laughing against each other now, tangling together. Rebel’s sniffing around them nervously, not able to tell if what’s happening is a good thing or a bad thing. She starts to yip, which draws Robbe and Sander our of their giggle fit a bit, and their laughter slowly starts to trickle off.

“We need to take her out to make sure she’s finished,” Robbe says finally, panting a bit as he recovers.

“I’ll do it,” Sander says as he kisses Robbe’s cheek. “You have to go take care of your pee foot.” He shoots Robbe a teasing look that earns him a shove in return. Sander just laughs as he picks Rebel up and heads out of the room to take her out.

Robbe hops to the bathroom, where he rinses off his foot with some soap and water and dries it with one of the towels that are hanging up. He’s not sure if it’s his or Sander’s, but he gets a wicked grin at the thought of it being Sander’s. He goes back to the bedroom to gather the soiled bedding into a bag they can take to the laundromat the next morning. When Sander and Rebel come back inside, Sander helps Robbe make the bed with a fresh set of sheets and a throw blanket from the couch. They curl up together in the cool crisp feel of them, Rebel now lying peacefully between their legs like usual, bladder empty.

“I thought we were making progress,” Robbe says softly, feeling disappointed and discouraged all over again, now that he’s come off the high from all of his laughter a bit.

“We are,” Sander reassures him, placing a kiss to Robbe’s shoulder through the fabric of his t-shirt. “This was just a minor hiccup. They happen. We’ll get there, eventually. Together.” It’s the reminder of “together” that succeeds in reassuring Robbe, because when they’re together, even the lowest of lows don’t feel that low. Even getting peed on by his own dog can be funny, with Sander there beside him, laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. So, as Robbe places a kiss of his own to the top of Sander’s head, he echoes Sander’s last word back to him.

“Together.”

[whumpster-fire]

Whumptober 2020 Day 14: Heat Exhaustion

Jurassic World Fandom

Content Warnings: Female Whumpee, Animal Whumpee, “Velociraptor” that isn’t scientifically accurate but it’s film canon

The desert air shimmered in the midday heat, and the sun beat against Blue’s scaly skin with oppressive intensity. It brought back memories from when she was a hatchling, so small Owen could pick her up with one hand, back when the whole world was what she now knew as ‘inside.’ The heat lamps on the ceiling and walls of the enclosure where she’d spent the first few weeks of her life kept it comfortably warm, but standing too close to one started to hurt, and made her skin prickle. It was so far back that all she could really remember was the reddish glow, but it was familiar all the same.

But there was no comfort in this heat, and there was no escape from it. At home there was always shade nearby – trees, buildings, decaying cars and trucks she could crawl under. But in this place the land was barren, nothing but rocks and small scraggly bushes and spiny, thorny plants. The forest, not the kind of forest she was used to, was far behind her, and she knew she couldn’t go back. It was an evil place, a place full of cages and thunder-sticks and the black monster that was like her yet not like her. The creature was like something out of her nightmares, a twisted reflection of the pale giant that had taken her sisters away, covered in the smells of fear and sickness, and it had tried to finish what the pale giant started. She’d stopped it – she’d killed it – but with the knowledge that there was more than one of the Not-Quite-Raptors, she’d hadn’t slept since she ran away from the enormous human nest.

The night, another day and night, and part of a second day had passed since then. Blue hadn’t slept, she’d only eaten part of a small furry thing she’d found that a moving nest had stepped on, and she hadn’t drank. At home there was always water somewhere, running through streams or pooled in buildings where the broken roofs caught the rain. It wasn’t always good water, and sometimes she got sick from drinking it, but it was better than nothing.

Right now everything was pain. Her head throbbed, and the glare of the sun made her eyes hurt. Her mouth was dry from panting, and her tongue felt sticky, or dusty. It hurt the worst where one of the humans had shot her, and where the monster had bitten and clawed her, but her body was covered with cuts and bruises and scrapes. The wounds had scabbed over, but some of them were oozing bad-smelling yellow-white stuff, and she’d given up trying to keep them clean.

Yesterday, when it got this hot, she’d rested and waited for the sun to go back down. But she couldn’t sleep, not in daylight in such an open, exposed place. And today, she was too thirsty to sit still. Walking was hard too. She felt dizzy, like in the cage where she’d been strapped down and the few moments she could actually remember it had felt like the floor was moving back and forth. She wanted so badly to just lie down and close her eyes, but if she did, she didn’t know if she could get back up.

Blue couldn’t stop moving, but she didn’t know where she was going. None of the plants or the sounds or even the rocks in this strange world were familiar. She had to find water, and fast, but where? There was nothing here. All she had to go on were the faint human smells – not the humans themselves but fire and oil and the stuff they sprayed on plants. The first few weeks she was alone, before she’d learned to hunt enough to feed herself, the abandoned human nests, and the food left inside them, was all that kept her alive. Humans were dangerous, but it was her only chance.

Somehow, she was still alive, still running, as the sun neared the horizon. Struggling over a hill, she saw the flash of reflections in the distance, the kind that could only come from a lake or the unnaturally shiny surfaces around human nests. It disappeared behind an outcrop of rock, and she ran to find it again even though her legs felt like they would shatter under her weight. It wasn’t water… but there were human nests below her spread out across the entire valley she’d entered. There were trees, and green vegetation everywhere, not just scattered dry bushes. There had to be water there. There had to be.

Without thinking, she raised her head and let out a series of distress barks. She didn’t know who she thought would hear her. For two years she’d never gotten any response besides attracting the attention of other, usually larger predators, but the habit was too hard to break. She desperately wanted for Owen to be somewhere out there waiting for her. He’d wanted her to go back in the cage, and she couldn’t make herself do that again, and let the other humans hurt her and strap her down so she couldn’t even stand up, let alone run. But maybe if she found a safe place on her own…

No. She couldn’t keep hoping. The pack was gone. Owen had come back, but the bad humans had been with him again. He couldn’t protect her. And he seemed to have a new pack now, with the red-haired female human from before. Barry hadn’t come back at all. Either he’d died, or he didn’t want to come back. She was alone.

The hill leading down into the valley was almost too steep to climb down, and the gravel and rocks were slippery. She fell more than once, sliding down into sharp rocks and sharp plants. By the time she made it to mostly level ground she was limping, and she’d jammed one toe claw against a rock so hard half of it broke off. The whole toe throbbed with every step, and keeping it lifted was excruciating.

It was dark now, which brought welcome relief from the heat. Tiny suns were everywhere, and insects flitted around them. But Blue’s path to the human nests was blocked by a wide, straight stretch of pavement. She’d come across these in the abandoned park, and crossed a few as she made her way to this place, but always empty. She saw the blazing eyes of moving nests coming towards her out of the corner of her eye, but even the closest of them was a long way off. They’d see her if she crossed now, but they’d probably already seen her standing at the edge of the pavement.

She stepped confidently out into the road… and a horn roared and tires screamed. Blue knew how quickly human vehicles moved, or at least thought she did. But she’d only ever seen them run on grass and rough dirt roads through the jungle. A highway was completely outside of what she’d ever experienced. And in her dehydrated state, and with the darkness and the almost blinding glow of the headlights off to her side and only seen with one eye, she’d completely misjudged the speed and the distance. She saw how fast it was coming too late, and tried to leap out of the way, but the car just swept her legs out from under her. Something hit her in the back, knocking from the breath from her lungs, and she slammed into the rough pavement again, pain exploding across her side. She kicked wildly at thin air, and tried to roll back to her feet, but her legs weren’t working! They wouldn’t move the way she wanted them to, and when she tried to put any weight on one of them it hurt so badly she let out a hissing cry of pain.

She couldn’t get up.

~~~

A/N: Man, I like… I prefer my AU where all four raptors survived the events of Jurassic World and while the park did eventually close they kept the lights on long enough that Owen and Barry found a research facility somewhere that was willing to give them a home to the trainwreck that is Fallen Kingdom. And it’s partly because poor Blue being left all alone with her entire family either dying or abandoning her and having to learn to survive in a world full of enormous, scary monsters is too cruel even by my standards.

Seriously, after Fallen Kingdom Blue is pretty much the official Canon Whumpee of the Jurassic Park Franchise. Literally none of the other characters who’ve appeared in multiple movies and survived have gone through this much combined physical and emotional hell. Not Malcolm, not Owen, not Grant, not Claire. They went back to having normal, safe lives, and chose of their own free will to go back to the island full of huge aggressive dinosaurs that want to kill/gore/trample them. Blue was trapped there for two years, dodging Baryonyxes and Carnotaurs and Suchomimus and Allosaurs and… not so much Rexy since she apparently knows that attacking raptors is more trouble than it’s worth… but the point is Blue was raised in captivity and never knew about these creatures and is a social animal with no pack and it’s a goddamn miracle she survived. And then when Owen finally comes to rescue her she gets shot and almost dies and spends days strapped to a table in a boat and finally get shot at again and almost mauled to death by Indoraptor.

So I made it worse for her by realistically depicting what life is like for a resurrected dinosaur unleashed on the human world. Seriously, something that fiction doesn’t usually depict is that literally any carnivorous dinosaur could easily die from being hit by a car; even a full-grown t. rex or other giant theropod could easily get its leg broken by a vehicle (which is probably not survivable for a two-legged animal that size), plus they’re so big that just getting their legs swept out from under them and their torso falling eight feet onto pavement would be life-threatening.

[bates--boy]

          Peter shouldn’t be here; being here messed up his headspace, made things all topsy-turvy, like he was in a simulation and one misstep, one error in a line of code, and he was going to blip smack dab into an unfamiliar plane that he would spend the rest of his existence feeling wasn’t right, but unable to explain why while pretending normalcy. How else was he to feel after that misadventure? For those few days, he had a taste of godhood, far superior to the nationhood he had craved as a child. To come down from that and return to the semi-human life he had built for himself, it was a crashing and tumbling spiral that looked his egomania right in the eyes while crushing its nuts with steel toe boots.

Peter needed more recovery time to adjust and remind himself that he was here, that this was his body, that he couldn't go toe-to-toe with celestial bodies, that he had more pressing matters to attend to, anyway, such as one with his cursed journal and the elusive intruder that always tempted him to look over his shoulder. And also that he needed a nap.

But he had made a full physical recovery, so that meant coming to work. He followed his coworker down the gated corridor, nodding along to the updated animal care regimen while only able to note half of the lecture while trying to make the exploding and spinning stars slow down into a manageable equilibrium.

"Right now, we have the tortoises on stimulants and steroids to encourage increased breeding," the coworker whose name Peter's overwrought mind couldn't draw forth. "But it has to be at a certain time because, you know, you don't want them fucking in front of kids."

They stopped in front of the gear station, which was nothing but padded and plated vests, rubber boots, and face shields hanging on metal hooks with tranq guns sitting on racks. They donned these protective layers over their regular uniform, as the coworker continued on:

"The lions are doing well, and we're mostly sticking to the same regimen. We're just going to increase their food intake a tad for the upcoming season. Get them fattened up for the cold."

Peter nodded silently, and they approached the gates with the coworker giving a thumbs up to the camera peeking through the rocky upper corner. They waited for the barricade to lift and stepped on through the opening, and the coworker inhaled deep into his lungs the tangy, wild air of the lion enclosure.

"Okay, I'll go hose down the resting rocks, and you can clean up their toys. Got your tranq ready?"

Peter gave his handgun a quick look. "Yep."

"And radio?"

Peter reached within his best and pulled the little handheld device out, wiggling it in his hand as a gesture before putting it in his outer vest pocket.

Nodding to each other, the two men wandered off to their tasks. Peter filled the power hose container with soapy water and carried it over to one of the play sections. The ammoniac strength of urine marking the tire wheels had already made Peter's eye watered. He had tried to rip apart a great big body of singularity before this, yet this had somehow made his nose drip.

He continued wiping his face, spitting thick snot that found its way into the wrong sinus tube. In some part of his mind, Peter was still on that kitchen floor, rocking and hugging himself and letting his bleeding hands stain his sweat shirt. He turned away, hacking and coughing, heading to the next section.

He stopped, his head whipping to the side. He blinked over and over, practically digging the heel of his hands into his eyes, but what caught his attention was definitely real.

A charging lion, eyes set and head low, hainches pumping with power and all paws kicking up clouds of dirt. Peter had noticed it too late, or it was running too quickly. In either case, he couldn't train his gun on the lioness for an accurate hit, nor could he radio for help. Some part of him was aware that he could survive this, that even if he was ripped to shreds and -- god forbid! -- his insides eaten, he might come back from this. Still, the chill of fear rippled from his back, spreading to shoulders and fingers and toes, opening up to the strength of his fort as he fully faced the running creature.

Then, and only then, did Peter pick up on the odd loping of the lioness's gallop. Then, the looping tongue hanging from the side of her mouth. Finally, as she drew closer, the speckled dark spots running from her left paw up to her face.

He had managed to say one word, as eyes widened and mouth hung open--

"Nala?!"

-- and in that split second, Peter's body softened, retaining enough strength to catch the goofy lion cub in unexpected arms. They both tumbled to the ground, Nala drowning Peter in her purrs, trapping him in her arms, and bumping and rubbing her head against his. "Nala!" Peter called out in a disbelieving laugh. "Oh, my god, my baby girl!"

His sense of the world shifted, everything felt right in those few moment, as he shifted himself and his baby girl, not so much a baby anymore, around in the ground so he could cradle the overgrown cub on his lap. This way, it was easier to place smooches all over her face and play nibble on her gigantic paws while cooing, "Awww, sweetheart, I missed you, too!"

[maple-writes]

Midnight Aquarium Visit

Hiding in the aquarium until after closing turned out to be easier than I thought it would be, but I guess none of the staff were really on high alert for stowaways. I stayed put, crammed out of sight in the interactive children’s discovery zone, as the minutes turned to hours. I didn’t want to get spooked by any late shift cleaners or keepers making their final goodnight checks on the tanks after all. The wait wasn’t so bad though, not with all the mindless games I downloaded to my phone that afternoon.

Midnight hit and I crept out from my hiding place, surrounded by dimly lit cartoon fish and their slightly too human grins. My bones cracked and popped, almost loud enough to echo over the constant rushing tank waters as I stretched tall and long. The carpet, thin and worn down by hundreds of visiting feet, muffled my steps as I slipped out into first exhibit with a smile so wide it made my cheeks ache.

My arms swung by my sides as I hurried towards the first tropical tank. Corals branched towered in the center of the tank, circled by colorful fishes. More hid between gaps and crevices, scraping out a spot away from the shrimps and the clams competing for space. The next tank held a pair of electric eels, peering up at me with muted confusion as if they couldn’t figure out why I was there, but they also didn’t particularly care. Part of me thought to take a picture, but I quickly changed my mind. I wasn’t supposed to be in here in the first place. I didn’t need anyone asking questions later when they saw photos.

Into the next hallway lined with tanks full of fish native to the different coves and islands of our coastline, I slowed again. I paused by each glassy window to peek at vermillion sea stars, curious copper rockfish, and doe-eyed ratfish that drifted like kites over their sandy substrate. One seemed to watch me, with a head that reminded me a little bit of an aged, cracked porcelain doll. I couldn’t help but smile as it followed me up and down the glass. She reminded me a bit of my brother’s new dog, following my finger with wing-like beats of wide pectoral fins like the fumbling gallop of a puppy after a ball.

But there were other fish in the sea, so I waved goodbye and practically skipped the out into the main foyer. All the way I could almost feel those round black eyes boring into my back.

Twinkling jellyfish displays hung from the ceiling, glowing and shifting like northern lights over the massive central tank. I leaned all the way over the railing, giddy with the thought that no one could tell me otherwise. Just under the surface tall fronds of kelp swayed in the artificial current, breaking the surface every now and then just to dip back below the depths. Fishy shapes moved, streamlined and dark far beneath the surface. Some kept to tight knit schools, but others struck out on their own as lone explorers in the midnight waters. Did they ever find anything new in there? I rested my chin on my folded arms and barely stifled a yawn. Surely, they must sometimes, otherwise why would they keep looking? The staff probably switched things—rocks, plants, toys maybe—every now and then anyway.

I held out a hand, marveling at the shadow of my outstretched arm on the inky surface of the waves. The water looked cold, freezing even, but I couldn’t help but wonder how the fish would react to meeting me head on. Would they be scared? They saw people all day every day, but maybe it would be different if I were in the water with them. After all, there was a big difference between seeing cars drive by your house and finding one in your bedroom.

All the same, the water looked deceptively inviting.

No. I sighed and pushed off from the railing. If I got wet now I’d be wet all night. If I was wet all night I would have some serious explaining to do once I got home, and I could just imagine how well that would go over.

I left the big tank and slipped outside, peeking at otters sleeping together in their rafts as I made my way towards the pinniped pavilion before it got too cold. The pathway narrowed, snaking around the backs of two enclosures until it widened out. On one side posters and displays lined the wall, all about seals and their adaptations, but I went straight for the enclosure itself, smiling as I saw they were awake.

Three seemed to pause their lazy paddling when they noticed me watching. Dark eyes studied me, whiskers twitching. They probably didn’t get much visitors this late at night. The fourth, an older seal with a cruel scar around her neck drifted into sight, swimming with her head and the curve of her back just above the water. When she was a juvenile, the mammal team found her after reports of a seal struggling with abandoned fishing gear wrapped around it’s throat, and she’d lived here ever since. All four of them had names, but I only knew that this one was called Marina because she was my wife’s favorite.

A sharp wind blew through the night air and I shivered. It was getting cold faster than I thought it would. Time to head back inside. I gave the seals a wave goodbye and hurried back the way I came.

Deep blue lights bathed my shoulders as I stepped into the next exhibit, face to face with a massive tank of drifting spotted jellyfish. Each pulsated in its own little rhythm, carried along by a circular current. Sure, they were pretty, but I’d never been a fan of jellies.

Instead I turned left, under the dimming lights, until I stood before a wall-to-wall panel of glass between me and the sharks. Sleek reef sharks patrolled the waters, eyes wide open if searching the water for intruders. As if seeing me, and asking what I was doing there out of the corners of their staring eyes before turning with a flick of their cartilaginous tails. Round rays drifted over the bottom like thieves beneath the circling sentries. Both seemed to make room when the biggest, a lone female zebra shark swam by with even strokes of her elongated caudal fin. She noticed me standing, watching, and circled back around.

Her small eye met mine as she passed, slow and unhurried along the glass. I felt my shoulders start to fall, staring up at the spots and ridges along her sides. The only light came from above her, dancing dappled across her back from the night spectrum lights over the tank. It was meant to simulate moonlight, at least, that’s what I’d always thought.

Slowly, I sat on the carpeted floor, leaning against the wall opposite from the sharks and crossing my legs like a little kid waiting for grade 2 story time. My neck cracked when I looked up again, resting my head against the wall. I guess I hadn’t done enough stretching earlier, huh.

The zebra shark disappeared back into the shadowy back of the tank, the tip of her tail slipping around a colony of carefully placed corals. The reef sharks quickly took her place again, swimming back and forth along the glass as if trying to get a good look at me, the stranger. The stranger who had no business being there at all. And they were right, technically I was trespassing. But I had a feeling that none of them really knew what the word trespassing meant, nor did they care. They probably had much more important things to think about.

I checked my phone again. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No one suspected a thing.

The zebra shark was back, but this time, she wasn’t looking at me. Tiny eyes trained on something around the corner, something out of my sight, but when I got up to check for myself, there was nothing.

Nothing except wet, bare footprints on the carpet leading back into the foyer.

I crept along the wall, leaning around the corner, but the main room was empty. No one in the lobby, no one leaning over the big tank to see the fishes. Nothing but wet footprints, wet footsteps echoing against the hard walls. I hurried along the edge of a tank leading to the main room, colorful cichlids following my every move.

A lone figure slipped though the doors to the outdoor exhibits.

My breath caught. She hadn’t been in any of the tanks, had she? What was she doing here anyway? I knew what I was doing, but I’d thought I was alone. I swallowed, worry starting to settle deep in my gut. It was cold out there, and she looked like she was soaking wet. Was she okay?

I left my place in along the wall and followed her watery trail under the pulsating jelly fish lights, past guest services, and through the outside door. The night air hit cold and fast, sending a shiver across my arms.

A shadow moved, ducking behind the sleeping otters.

“Hey!” I rushed forward, stumbling in the dark over a short concrete staircase. “Wait!”

She didn’t slow as I rounded the tanks, head swiveling as I made my way back towards the pinniped pavilion.

The walkway widened, and there was no where else she could have gone. She turned to face me, standing against the opposite wall in a long fur coat. It reached all the way down to her knees, and buttoned up all the way up to her throat, not quite hiding a nasty scar circling her neck. She held my gaze with an icy stare and her hands deep in her pockets. Her eyes flickered to something beside me, and I jumped as another woman in a long seal-fur coat emerged from around the corner. Then another from my right.

I turned around as another approached, the three of them blocking the way I came. None of them said a word. I held up my empty hands and backed away, trapped between them and the one at my back.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The one behind me, she could only have been Marina, spoke low and rasping like ocean saline. I turned, slowly, and she was feet from my face. My heart skipped and I staggered backwards, tripping over my feet and falling hard to the cobblestone ground.

She stood over me, shoulders bunched and hands still hidden from sight. I tried to get up, to prop myself on my elbows, only to be held back down by her heel bearing down on my chest. The other three drew nearer. They stood around us, surrounding me, glaring with hard masks.

Marina sneered “You’re lucky to have gotten so far without drawing attention to yourself, but it looks like your luck has just run out.”

The seals closed in, looming over me. Hands clamped around my wrists and they dragged me backwards over the rough ground. I tried to pull out of their grip, to wrench my hands free and kick my legs out, but it was no use. The two of them hauled me closer and closer to their habitat. The third ran ahead and the tell-tale sound of latch and gate swinging open made my stomach plummet. I stared, wide-eyed and pleading at the scarred seal woman. She almost stared right through me with eyes as black as night and a gait at steady as dawn waves.

“Unhand him this instant!”

A woman stood at the opening of the path, dark brown spots scattered across scaly skin and ridges running down the length of her body. She stood, small eyes locked on Marina with her chin high and arms crossed tight.

Smaller figures slipped out of the shadows around zebra shark, spreading out along the edges of the pavilion, small and fast. My seals dropped me and scooted back, earning a glare from their leader. They went to grab me again, but all at once, the reef sharks attacked.

I think I screamed, drowned out by the shouts from seals and sharks alike. Rough skin scraped quickly reddening rashes into my arms and snagged on the fabric of my jeans. My heart raced in it’s cage and claws hooked and tore at my shirt as the reef sharks hauled me to my feet.

“Quickly!”

A hand closed around mine as one of them ran me away from the pavilion, the other’s following in a frantic school. The placoid scales on his palm rubbed rough against my skin like I’d fallen and caught myself on an old sidewalk, but I did my best to keep up.

“Hurry, the otters are coming!”

Shouts erupted into the night air, spreading out behind us. I tried to glance back over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything past the reef sharks running at my side.

One threw open the door and they rushed me indoors. The noise of hundreds of voices hit me at once, shouting, yelling, screaming, laughing. A pair of copper rock fish lurched straight for me, tackled to the ground by two of the sharks. They rolled, growling, slashing, drawing blood.

“Come on!”

The hand on my wrist yanked me forward, leaving the two behind to their struggle. Above our heads the jellyfish lights flashed and pulsed with red and yellow lights like a canopy of wildfire. More sharks fell off, fending off eels with second jaws hidden in their throats and teams of piranhas with teeth flashing white.

“Don’t look back.”

Before either of us could react, one of the seals appeared from around the blind corner of an interactive display. She grabbed the reef shark by his shoulders and he let go of my hand to fight back and I stood, frozen as she slammed him up against a wall.

“Run! Hurry!”

I did as he said, my feet hitting the ground harder with every stride as I ducked under snatching arms and startled groups of perch scurrying out of my way.

A side door caught my eye and I veered towards it, nearly stumbling over my own scrambling strides.

Marina stepped out from the shadows in front of the door with a low light glare. I skittered to a stop before her, chest heaving and legs shaking, but she stood still, so still, so solid. She’d trapped me here, between the wall of noise at my back and her body blocking my only escape.

I swallowed, backing up as far as I dared without showing myself to the chaos just around the corner. “Why are you doing this? Just let me go, I swear I’ll never come back here again if that’s what you want.”

“It’s too late for that now.” She slid her hands out of her pockets and squared her shoulders. “You should never have come here in the first place.”

She lunged, clawed hands opening straight for my face. I threw my arms over my head and squeezed my eyes shut and—

Something shot between us and the seal shrieked. My eyes flew open. A girl in a speckled capelet stood with her back turned. She held a thin dagger, tip pointed to the ground dripping blood and venom. The seal fell to one knee clutching the wound on her side.

The ratfish glanced at me over her shoulder with big dark eyes gleaming green in the light. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, and she motioned to follow. The seal glared as I followed, but made no move to rise as pain contorted her face.

“Don’t worry, she’ll recover.” The ratfish’s cape seemed to drift along with her as she walked like broad, graceful wings. “But I think it’s time for you to go home now.”

She pushed the door open and the cool night air flooded in along with the yellow glow from parking lot lamps. Before I could even thank her, she planted her hand between my shoulder blades and shoved me out into the night.

The door shut. Silence rung loud in my ears, broken only by my own ragged breathing. The chill of the night crept through my clothes and washed over the sweat on my face. Trees that bordered the parking lot swayed, branches rustling against each other and sending pine needles drifting down to the cold concreate. I probably should have kept running and put as much distance between me and the aquarium as I could, as quickly as possible, but I just stood there, staring at the empty parking lot.

When my heart calmed down and my limbs stopped trembling, I started towards the nearest bus loop. There was no one else waiting, and no one else on the bus when it pulled up and I took a seat towards the back. I leaned back in my seat and opened up my wallet to slide the bus pass back into it’s pocket, and pulled out my aquarium membership card. My face smiled back at me in low pixel greyscale. It expired in a couple months from now. I sighed, slouched against the back of the seat and closed my eyes.

Was it worth trying to explain to my wife that I probably shouldn’t get it renewed this year?

[hiddendreamer67]

Tiny Mer!Sanders Angst pt. 1

So, @secretglittersauce made this post talking about tiny saltwater mermen sanders sides being put in separate containers in a pet store. It’s absolutely adorable and heartbreaking and it inspired me to write this!

(I’ll link the original post in my reblog because tumblr = dumb with links)

It was hard to remember where it all went wrong. Patton had been swimming along with his brothers in the reef, patiently waiting for Virgil. The youngest had always had a bad fin.

Of course they heard the boat coming. From time to time a human vessel would disturb their waters, but the brothers knew what to do. They hid amongst the rocks, waiting for it to pass.

Except instead of passing the mermen by, the ship stopped. A toxic cloud was squirted into the water, causing Patton to gasp as his breath was forcibly taken away. He tried to escape, but everything around him suddenly seemed so blurry. What was happening? Where were his brothers?

Patton was forcibly yanked out of the water, one quick movement and the tiny merman was ripped from everything he had known. From there it was just a series of various cages, often kept in the dark as Patton shuddered in his corner. It was hard for Patton’s gills to work properly. Patton tried to call out to his brothers, but it seemed he was alone in his prison. He hugged his tailfin tightly to his chest, praying the others had escaped. Logan was smart, he could get away. Roman was fast, he’d outrun any human. But Virgil… well, Patton gulped, a fresh set of tears coming to his eyes as he realized the youngest merman had never really stood a chance.

Patton was torn. He wanted to see his brothers more than anything, hug them one last time. Why couldn’t he just be with them? At least if they were together, they could survive. That’s how they had always done things, ever since their parents were taken in a similar incident.

Patton gave a startled cry, shivering slightly as he was dumped into a new container.

“Whelp, last one.” Patton looked up, seeing the distorted human figure before him. He looked out through the glass, trying to figure out where the humans had taken him. There seemed to be rows upon rows of similar containers as far as the merman could see. Patton looked to his left and right, realizing he had a neighbor.

“Virgil!” Patton cried happily in his mermaid tongue, spotting his little brother. Quickly Patton swam over to him, only to be stopped as Patton ran into a very hard wall. He groaned, cradling his head slightly before patting at the glass.

Virgil swam up to the other side, his mouth moving as though he were trying to frantically speak, but Patton couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“Virgil, it’s alright.” Patton tried to press himself even closer, noticing how much his brother was panicking. “Virgil, please, it’s okay-”

It was no use. The more Patton tried to communicate, the more frightened Virgil seemed to get. Already the isolation was getting to him. Patton frowned, desperately looking around for any way to help.

A series of thuds shook Patton’s container. He glanced up, realizing it was a set of human footsteps. Patton’s eyes widened, getting an idea.

“EXCUSE ME!” Patton yelled as loud as his lungs could manage, waving his arms desperately to get the human’s attention. “PLEASE, HELP!”

“Look at this one, honey!” A human woman stopped, staring in at Patton. Patton froze briefly, before realizing this might be his only chance.

“You have to help me.” Patton pleaded, trying to gesture between his own cage and Virgil’s by swimming back and forth. “Please, there’s been a mistake, we need to be together.-”

“Aww, it’s like it’s trying to talk.” The woman cooed. Why couldn’t she understand how desperate this situation was?!

“Please, he’s my brother!” Patton insisted, getting as close as he dared to the human’s face. “Don’t do this! He needs me!”

“C’mon, Harley.” The human male next to her pulled at her arm, tugging Patton’s chance away.

“NO!” Patton chirped desperately, swimming around frantically in little circles. “No no no no no-”

“Oh, alright Brian.” She wasn’t even paying attention to him anymore. All she did was give Patton a condescending smile. “Bye, cutie.” She tapped harshly on the glass as if to say farewell, but all this did was produce a booming sensation that shook Patton to his core. Patton let out a small screech, desperately clamping his hands to his ears.

By the time the pounding in his head stopped, Patton opened his eyes to see both humans had left. Looking across the aisle, Patton’s eyes widened as he saw another familiar face.

“Roman!” Patton called out, hitting his palms against the glass to try and get his brother’s attention. “Roman, over here!” But Roman seemed preoccupied with his own escape tactic. The red and gold merman was ramming into the wall relentlessly, as if trying to break the glass with his shoulder alone.

Patton’s eyes wandered over to the cage next to Roman. “Logan!” It seemed both his older brothers hadn’t escaped after all. Logan also didn’t see his frantic hand waving. Instead, the dark blue colored merman was busy ripping apart his enclosure to shreds. Every so often a piece was tossed out entirely, splashing water down onto the floor far below.

It wasn’t long before the first human returned, muttering about ruined Starbucks breaks as he mopped up Logan’s mess. With a heavy thud, a cover was placed over the top of Logan’s cage. The dark blue merman winced, as did Patton in sympathy. Even though there was several feet of open air between them, Patton couldn’t fight the rising urge to go and comfort his brother.

A loud splashing noise caught Patton’s attention. He looked over in Virgil’s direction again, eyes widening when he saw what the youngest was attempting to do.

“VIRGIL!” Patton rushed back over to that side of the glass, chattering at about 100 words a second. “VirgilWhatAreYouThinkingOhPosideonGetBackInTheWater-”

For indeed, Virgil was currently caught up on the lip of the cage after having launched himself out of the water. Virgil looked over at Patton, eyes wide with both determination and fear as he seemed to be prepping himself to try and jump further. Patton frantically shook his head, desperately trying to communicate for Virgil not to do it.

Of course, Virgil still couldn’t hear him. Virgil pushed himself fully out of the water, but failed to make it the remaining distance into Patton’s cage. Instead Virgil fell to the hard surface below with a thud, already panting slightly from the lack of water.

“Virgil!” Patton swam desperately back and forth in front of him, tail twitching nervously as he watched Virgil gasp for breath. Roman and Logan seemed to have taken note as well, both of their cries muffled by glass. Tears sprung to Patton’s eyes. “Virgil, please, no, don’t do this, we can’t lose you!”

“Hey!” The human seemed to have finally noticed the commotion, coming over and directly grabbing Virgil up in his huge hands. “Gurl, what are you trying to do, get yourself killed?” A second later Virgil was dropped back into his own container. The youngest merman sat at the bottom of the tank, panting as he filled his gills with saltwater again.

Patton almost felt relieved when he watched the human put a roof on Virgil’s container, not wanting to sit back and watch his little brother get killed. In fact, the human put a roof on all of their containers for good measure. It seemed the human was done taking chances.

[lupinlongbottom]

Thinking With Your Heart 

Charlie Weasley x Ravenclaw!Reader

Summary: (Y/N) (L/N) has been working as a Dragonologist in Romania for some time now, along with her best friend Charlie Weasley. Of course, the dragons couldn’t have possibly been the only reason for going to Romania, right? 

Prompt: I just wanted to ask whether you could do a Charlie Weasley x Reader, where the reader also becomes a dragonologist and Charlie and her were friends at Hogwarts. Can you make it really fluffy? Thanks, can the reader also be Ravenclaw?

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: a few swear words. I think?

A/N: I. AM. SORRY. FOR. THE. WAIT. (also, being a ravenclaw isn’t really tied in with the plot, so insert your own house as needed!)

__

(Y/N) (L/N) was never late to class. Ever. She knew the importance of punctuality and professionalism even during her schooling, but her alarm hadn’t gone off that morning for whatever cosmic reason. Thus, she was left scrambling from Ravenclaw Tower, nearly tripping over her robes she haphazardly threw on. The jelly slugs she had tossed into her mouth—a possible substitute for breakfast, she assumed—were sticking to her teeth like glue.  

“I’m dead,” She mumbled, chewing rapidly on the sweet candy. “So unbelievably dead.” The click-clack of her shoes rang out throughout the empty halls—obviously everybody was in class by now—the sound was making (Y/N) grow more anxious. Of all the classes to be late for, Potions was not the class she wanted to miss. (Y/N) had often woken up in the middle of the night, completely drenched in sweat, from frequent nightmares of Professor Snape punishing her for tardiness or a basic mistake. How could one professor possibly strike that much fear into one’s heart? (Y/N) wasn’t quite sure. She quickly turned the corner and practically flew down the stairs, reaching the dungeon.

“(Y/N)!” A voice hissed, coming from the top of the steps. (Y/N) turned around, only to find one Charlie Weasley—equally disheveled as she was—standing at the top of the stairs.  “There you are!” He hurried down the cobbled steps.

“Charlie! Why aren’t you in class?” (Y/N) asked, finally catching her breath. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had Potions at the same time. “Professor Snape will—”

“Will understand that we’re both late because you,” He held up a slip of parchment. “Were in the hospital wing last night. Dreadful cough, couldn’t sleep a wink.” Charlie smiled, waving the parchment lightly.

“Charlie!” (Y/N) beamed, momentarily forgetting her current position. “That’s amazing! How did you get that note?”

“You know how often I spend my nights in the hospital wing,” Charlie mused, rubbing the back of his neck. “Quidditch really takes a beating. Madam Pomfrey and I have gotten pretty close, so I asked nicely.”

“Why?” (Y/N) asked, cocking her head slightly to the left. Her eyes scanned Charlie’s freckled face. He had acquired a few more than normal thanks to his time out in the sun for Quidditch of late.

“Why what? Cover for you?” Charlie asked, his smile fading lightly. (Y/N) nodded. “We’re friends, aren’t we?” His megawatt grin grew twice it’s size, as if to persuade her answer.

(Y/N) felt her face heat up. “I suppose we are.”

“Suppose? That cuts pretty deep, (Y/N)!” Charlie laughed, the tone ringing through the damp corridor. “Who else would listen to me lament about dragons all day?” 

“Perhaps your brothers?” (Y/N) shrugged.

“My brothers?” Charlie gasped. “Merlin, (Y/N)! You think those blokes like listening to me drone on and on about dragons?” 

“Well, you asked who would listen to you,” (Y/N) rocked back and forth on her feet. “Your younger brothers look up to you and listen to you rather intently.”

“And,” Charlie said, sharply pointing his finger upward. “They zone out when I start talking about the best magical creatures ever imagined. You,” His finger turned to (Y/N)’s face. “You, on the other hand, actually pay attention and respond.”

“Of course I do,” (Y/N) laughed, her cheeks growing hotter. “Dragons are so fascinating."

“You should know,” Charlie said, readjusting his book bag. “You’ve read every book on dragons the library has to offer.” 

“Only the interesting ones!” (Y/N) quipped.

Charlie paused. “Which happen to be all of them.”

“You get me, you know that?” (Y/N) sighed, eyes scanning towards the Potions classroom. “We should probably get to class though. Snape’ll have our heads either away.”

Charlie sighed, a tone matching (Y/N)’s. “I guess…”

“Don’t look so dejected, Weasley,” (Y/N) smiled, punching his arm lightly. “We have an open period after this. We can talk about dragons then.” 

“You’re right,” Charlie said. He started walking towards the closed door, only to stop halfway. “You know,” He turned around, now facing (Y/N). “We don’t have to go to class.”

“Charlie,” (Y/N) chuckled, examining his pleading eyes. “Yes we do. Our N.E.W.T’s are coming up and we need to pass Potions if we ever want to see a living and breathing dragon.” 

Charlie groaned, his head flinging backwards. “But why? Snape sucks all the life and any possible fun out of Potions.”

“And,” (Y/N) began to walk towards the classroom. “You could get your life sucked from you if you don’t know any antidotes or healing potions.” She said, passing Charlie.

“Why do you make it sound important?” Charlie groaned again, this time a bit quieter, hoping (Y/N) wouldn’t hear.

(Y/N) smiled, having heard every word. “Make sure you have that note ready to go, Weasley.”

Charlie nodded as he pushed the door open, ready to face whatever punishment lay before them.

—

“I just can’t believe we got away with it!” Charlie exclaimed, slamming his butterbeer down on the oak table. His fellow dragonologists laughed with him. 

“I can’t believe that (Y/N) went along with it!” A burly man added, gulping the rest of his drink away. “Such a stick in the mud, she is.”

“I mean, Snape was less than enthused by our tactics,” Charlie chuckled. “But he seemed in a slightly positive mood—only gave us an hour each of detention for it—so it worked out in our favor.”

“Charlie,” A blonde woman wearing a mauve scarf spoke up. “If you didn’t tell us these stories about (Y/N)—with such vigor and passion I might add—we’d hardly believe you.”

Charlie laughed. “Why’s that Maureen? (Y/N) isn’t a stick in the mud like you lot say she is.” His voice grew slightly quieter, tapering off near the end.

“You’re serious?” Maureen sniggered, her pointed nose turning upward ever so slightly. “You don’t have to share a barrack with her, I suppose. She’s so… so terribly boring, Weasley,” She pulled her scarf off, growing far too hot. “She also tells me about what book she just finished reading, always making them sound like the best fucking novel she’s ever read in her entire life—even the boring ones. Such a Ravenclaw, that one.”

“Hey, not all Ravenclaws are boring!” The burly man added, clearly offended.

“You’re right, Keller. My mistake,” Maureen rolled her eyes. “You’re one of the interesting ones.”

“Thank you,” Keller slurred, nodding gratefully. “I appreciate it, Maur.”

“Why do you guys have such a hostility against (Y/N)?” Charlie asked, turning the conversation back to the topic of (Y/N). “She’s a wonderful person and doesn’t deserve near the amount of hostility you have towards her.”

“Don’t take it personally, Charlie,” Maureen nodded. “She’s terribly bright and knowledgeable—probably the best note-keeper we have—but she just doesn’t click with anyone else here, you know?” Maureen finished off her mug of butterbeer, glancing at the cup as if contemplating another.

“How do you reckon?” Charlie’s eyebrow twitched upward. 

“Well, do you see her here?” Maureen gestured around the tent. Charlie’s brown eyes flicked across the canvas enclosure. Sure enough, it was just Keller, Maureen and him. “My point exactly.”

“She just doesn’t like socializing too much after work, that’s all.” Charlie shrugged, hoping to make a case for (Y/N). It was true that (Y/N) didn’t enjoy chatting or drinking too much after work, she was more of a homebody and would rather enjoy a cup of tea and a good book. Honestly, Charlie didn’t blame her for it.

“Look, Weasley, we’re not trying to attack your girlfriend—”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Charlie spat, a little too quickly. He felt the tips of his ears grow hot, a nasty habit that happened a bit too frequently of late.

“Yeah, okay,” Keller laughed, eyes rolling towards the canvas ceiling. “Whatever you say.”

“She’s just a good friend from school, that’s all.” Charlie muttered, his voice barely audible.

“Lauren was a ‘good friend from school’ too,” Maureen smiled lightly, sipping her new glass of butterbeer, flaunting her new engagement ring. It wasn’t much, but it clearly had depth and meaning to the singular stone. “Look at where that ended up.” 

“She’s got a good point!” Keller said, laughing deeply. “Lauren and Maureen are a living example!” 

“Yeah, Keller, I got it,” Charlie said, pushing his chair out. He turned quickly on his heels. “Also, the way she talks about books? At least she has a passion for something other than drinking herself half to death every evening after work.” He began his way to the exit of the tent, an echo of Maureen’s laugh following behind him.

“No need to be such a sour-puss Weasley!” She laughed, the sound rattling the tent.

“Give (Y/N) our best regards!” Keller added, joining in Maureen’s jovial laughter.

Charlie rolled his eyes as he exited the tent. How could they speak so negatively about (Y/N)? To Maureen’s point, (Y/N) was excellent at her job, but she did tend to keep to herself. Not that that was a bad quality, Charlie quite admired that about her.

Before he knew it, he found himself facing the rather tiny lake near the dragon camp. He often came to this spot to sit down and just think this thoughts, alone, in the quiet of the night with no one to bother him. Why did his feet lead him here? Now of all times?

“Charlie?” A voice spoke, the sound as sweet as honey.

“(Y/N),” Charlie sighed, feeling his entire body relax. “What are you doing out here?”

(Y/N) smiled against the moonlight. “I needed a good place to think.”

Charlie felt his breath hitch in his throat. Her skin was practically glowing against the reflections of the lake, shining against every feature across her face. He had realized his feelings for the Ravenclaw girl near the end of their 7th year at Hogwarts, but never could buck up the courage to say anything. He felt truly vulnerable in this moment, afraid he’d let his most precious secret spill at any tick of the passing time.

“Yeah, me too.” Charlie said, chuckling airily. He glanced up at the moon, it was nearly full, only a sliver missing.

“Something on your mind?” (Y/N) asked, patting the space beside her, inviting him to sit down.

Charlie nodded, joining her on the grass. The sharp blades scratched his ankles as he sat, mentally screaming at himself for not wearing taller socks. “Something like that.” He hummed, eyes not leaving the silver orb in the sky.

“How was the gang? Did they give you any grief today about Harriet?” 

Charlie’s ears began to burn. “They did,” He coughed. “But it wasn’t entirely my fault! Keller easily could have restrained her more, he even said so himself!” 

(Y/N) laughed lightly. “Harriet’s a baby. She didn’t know any better, Charlie, you know that.” 

“I know,” Charlie huffed, his fingertips grazing the bandage on his jaw. Harriet had grown attached to the Weasley boy ever since she hatched, so naturally, every time she would see him, the young Common Welsh Green would grow excited to just be near him. This time she got a little too close. “At least she hasn’t honed in on her fire-breathing yet.” Charlie chuckled, removing his hand.

“Does it hurt?” (Y/N) asked, eyeing up the bandage.

“Not much anymore,” Charlie said, his shoulders lifting up slightly. “All thanks to your spare bottle of Insta-Skin, of course.” 

“And who was the one that always moaned and groaned about not needing Potions?” (Y/N) said, a shit-eating grin plastered to her face.

“Oh shove off.” Charlie laughed, pushing (Y/N) away playfully. (Y/N) tilted nearly onto the ground, bouncing back up with laughter.

“Do you need some more?” (Y/N) asked between her fit of giggles. “I have my bottle in my bag if you need—”

“I think I’ll be okay,” Charlie raised his hand in protest. “It was nothing major. It’s not like I’ve never been scratched by a dragon before,” (Y/N) smiled to herself, glancing down at her lap. “What?” Charlie asked, voice thick with curiosity.

“I was just thinking,” Her (Y/E/C) eyes flicked across her hands, she was picking at her fingernails—a nasty habit of hers—rather intently. She laughed. “Just thinking about how completely jazzed younger Charlie would be to know that he’d ever utter that sentence in the future,” (Y/N) glanced at Charlie. “Scratched by a dragon, that is.” 

Charlie felt his face automatically break into a smile. “You’re right,” He laughed. “Younger Charlie would probably faint at the mere thought of getting close enough to a dragon to be scratched.” 

“Only faint? He would’ve probably pissed his pants too.”

“That’s a bit uncalled for,” Charlie said, unsuccessfully suppressing his laughter. “But probably true.”

“Do you ever think about that?” (Y/N) asked, almost wistfully.

“About pissing my pants? No, I can’t say that I—”

“You didn’t let me finish!” (Y/N) giggled. “What I meant was, do you ever think about how far you’ve come? Like, working with dragons? In Romania?”

Charlie paused, letting (Y/N)’s words soak in for only a moment. “I do. All the time,” He felt a smile creep onto his lips, something he found himself doing a lot lately. “Do you?”

“Yeah…” She muttered, barely audible.

“But?” Charlie asked, probing her rather unusual reply.

(Y/N) sighed deeply, her chest rose almost dramatically as she did so. “But,” Another deep breath. “I’m not sure I made the right decision. Coming to Romania, that is.” 

“Of course you made the right decision!” Charlie exclaimed, grabbing at (Y/N)’s hand. (Y/N)’s eyes flicked down at the contact as Charlie pulled his freckled hand away as quickly as it came, retreating it to his unruly ginger curls. “What I meant—I’m sure you made the right decision.”

“You’re probably right,” (Y/N) shifted her weight onto her hands, leaning back, head craning to the night sky. “Working with dragons is a dream come true and I love every second spent at work, but something feels off? I can’t quite explain it.”

“Off?”

“I came to Romania,” (Y/N) said, voice barely above a whisper. “To chase down what I loved… but nothing.” Her voice crescendoed to her gut, a self-deprecating laugh following shortly after. “All for what? To feel miserable for an unexplained reason?!” Another laugh.

“(Y/N)…” Charlie said, not really knowing what else to say. “Is that what you needed to come and think about?”

(Y/N) merely nodded.

“I can’t say that I wasn’t thinking the same thing,” Charlie hummed, ignoring (Y/N)’s now piercing gaze upon his face. “About the ‘follow your heart’ rubbish,” A laugh. “Though, I suppose it’s only terrible advice if you don’t listen to it.” 

“What do you mean?”

“My mum always told me the same spiel—day in and day out—all about listening to what you think is right, following your gut,” Charlie shrugged, feeling a sudden heat rising from his chest. “I suppose I’m not the best example of heeding that advice all the time…”

“You can’t always go with your gut, though,” (Y/N) laughed. “Look at where that got you in your final Quidditch match!”

“Yeah,” Charlie snickered, remembering the wicked fall he had taken to catch the Snitch. Was it worth it? Gryffindor didn’t win, but if (Y/N) still had remembered that moment from all those years ago, Charlie was partial to think it was. “Maybe so.”

(Y/N) fell flat on her back, fully facing the starry sky above her. She let out a loud groan. “Why can’t succeeding in life be as easy as memorizing spells or lugging around heavy books the rest of my days?” 

Charlie shook with an inaudible laugh, letting his eyes close momentarily. He noticed that (Y/N)’s perfume overtook the scent of the lake lilies, it was slightly sweet with the slightest bitter note. “Your back would get tired.” Charlie said, taking a deeper whiff. Vanilla and sugar.

“Perhaps,” (Y/N) sighed, eyes flicking across the constellations above. “But you’d help carry some, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course,” Charlie replied without missing a beat. “If your back is going to go to shit, mine might as well too.”

“Promise?” (Y/N) rolled to her side, holding an extended pinky out to him.

Charlie smiled softly at the gesture, moving his hand to meet hers. He wrapped his pinky with hers, linking their hands together.“Promise.” He smiled, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin against his.

“I’m glad,” (Y/N) laughed, gently removing her hand from his. Charlie felt his face fall slightly as they parted, only to bounce back up when (Y/N) looked at him. “You know,” (Y/N) sighed yet again. “Thanks.” 

“For what?”

(Y/N) shrugged. “For listening. You’re the only one I can really talk to—about anything really.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Charlie said, noticing how her hair melted into the patchy grass beneath her. “I know that everyone else here is hard to chat with, they’re all rather big pricks and can’t seem to—”  

“Not just here,” (Y/N) interrupted. “I meant it sincerely. You, Charles Weasley, are the only person I can truly talk to about anything and everything.”

“I—well—that’s nice,” Charlie stammered, thrown completely off guard. If it wasn’t for the darkness of the night, (Y/N) could have easily have seen how red his face had surely gotten.

“‘That’s nice’?” (Y/N) chuckled, throwing her hand to her face. “I pry open my more sincere compliment I think I’ve ever given, ever, and all you have to say is ‘that’s nice’?” 

“I’m sorry! I’m not good with words, you know that,” Charlie felt his face heat up even more than it had before. “But…”

“Something to add, Mr. Not-So-Good-With-Words?” (Y/N) snorted, feeling rather proud of her remark.

“But… you wouldn’t have come out here,” Charlie motioned to the glittering lake before them. “To think so deeply about something that is fixed by a five minute conversation with me,” A low laugh escaped Charlie’s throat. “As wonderful as I am to chat with, I’m not that good.”

(Y/N) smiled lightly. “Am I that transparent?”

“No, I’d say you’re pretty solid.”

“What? I don’t—oh,” (Y/N)’s face dropped, a deadpan expression settling where her smile once was. “Very funny.”

“I try to be.” Charlie mused, a crooked grin growing slowly.

“I suppose,” (Y/N) hummed, a wistful air escaping her lips. “But you’re right. I guess it’s not entirely fixed.” 

Charlie picked at the grass beneath his fingers, rubbing the blade tenderly. “I know you came to Romania to do what you loved—training and studying dragons, that is. You really excel at it too,” He smiled, pulling a blade from the ground, examining it closer. “Even those co-workers—who you claim hate you—agree that you’re amazing at your job.” 

“Thank you.” (Y/N) whispered softly.

“I mean that,” Charlie said, a determination in his voice, the grass all but forgotten. “You are the strongest, wittiest and quite possibly most stubborn woman I have ever met,” His chocolate eyes lit up, as if they were a stoked fire. “Even if you decide that dragons aren’t your niche, that’s okay. You’ll succeed in anything you do.”

“Thank you.” (Y/N) repeated, a bit louder.

“I’m so incredibly lucky,” Charlie placed his hand atop of (Y/N)’s, unlike the time earlier this evening. This time it had meaning, a weight felt only through the simple touch. “That you’re in my life,” His thumb grazed over a healing scar—a nasty scratch from a few days prior. “That I can call you my… friend.” Charlie’s voice was rich with hesitation, but somehow he squeaked it out.

“Friend…” (Y/N) mumbled, eyes flicking down to their now intertwined hands. Her fingers naturally curled into a fist, fitting into the palm of Charlie’s warm hand. “When I said I came to Romania, to chase down what I loved, I wasn’t…”

“You weren’t what?” Charlie asked, voice small.

“I wasn’t,” Her (Y/E/C) eyes shifted to meet Charlie’s brown ones, locking in on their warmth. “I wasn’t talking about dragons.” On the cusp of her last word, her eyes fell to the ground, almost ashamed of meeting Charlie’s again.

“Oh,” Charlie felt his breath hitch, caught directly in his throat. His hand instinctively grabbed ahold of hers tighter. “Oh.” He repeated, feeling his entire body grow warm.   

“I’m sorry!” (Y/N) peeled her hand away from Charlie’s, frantically trying to stand up. “I shouldn’t have—damnit (Y/N)!” She muttered, half under her breath. “Forget I even said anything, okay?”

In an instant, Charlie felt his hand grab onto (Y/N)’s shoulder tightly, the force forbidding her from moving upwards. “No.” He retorted cooly. 

“What?” (Y/N) blinked, surprised by his reaction.

“I won’t,” Charlie said, voice unwavering. “I won’t—no, I can’t forget what you said.” He relaxed his grip, feeling (Y/N)’s shoulder drop.  

“I’m such an idiot,” (Y/N) laughed, an echo of self pity rang off her lips. “Please,” (Y/N) brushed his hand away. “I don’t want this to ruin our friendship. If you can’t forget it, just ignore it.”

“I don’t want to.” Charlie responded, his voice child-like.

“What are you, five?” (Y/N) laughed, momentarily forgetting her previous woes.

“Five and a half actually, but close enough,” He shrugged, happy he could ease a laugh from (Y/N)’s lips. “You know, this doesn’t have to ruin our friendship.”

(Y/N) cocked her head to the side ever so slightly. “Oh? How do you reckon? You obviously don’t intend on forgetting I ever said anything of the sort and probably intend to hold it over me for the rest of our days.”

Charlie chuckled. “You’re right, I do intend to hold it over you for the rest of our days.”

“See! That’s what I’m talking ab—”

“But only as a promise.” 

“Promise? What are you going on about, Charles Weasley?” (Y/N) laughed airily, the noise barley audible.

Charlie replaced his hand atop of (Y/N)’s once more, this time, without a flinch of hesitation. His thumb grazed carefully over her knuckles, slowly tracing figure eights atop them. “A promise,” A deep breath. “That you won’t break.”

“I’m still not following, Weasley.” (Y/N) repeated, eyes flicking down to their joint hands.

“This isn’t exactly how I intended on doing this,” Charlie laughed, a faint smile dusting his lips. “But, I guess reality is always different than fiction, right?” Another laugh.

“I still don’t—”  

A spark of electricity ran across (Y/N)’s lips. It was a soft jolt, a warm sting. It took only a fraction of a second to comprehend her best friend’s lips were on the other end of the spark. (Y/N) felt her entire body stiffen at the realization, only to immediately melt into the kiss. Charlie’s freckled hand slid up her arm, sending shivers down (Y/N)’s spine, and gently rested under her jaw, thumb tracing lazy circles.

The two released, pink lips slightly parted. The air around the couple had never felt so dense, almost pushing each heavy breath deep into their bodies. Charlie’s brown eyes flickered with life, like a stoked fire finally tended to.

“You,” (Y/N) smiled, acknowledging Charlie’s hand still on her neck. “You certainly have had practice doing that, haven’t you?” 

Although it was hard to tell in the darkness of the night, Charlie’s ears practically shone a rosy red. “No!” He ripped his hand away, holding it up in protest. “I mean—I’ve kissed someone before, but it was never—no, never—like that! I swear you’re the only person I have ever—”

“Charlie,” (Y/N) laughed, sound flowing like honey. “I’m giving you praise. Take it like a man.”

“Oh. Right,” Charlie flopped back in defeat, or perhaps bliss, flat on his back to stare up at the night sky above. “I was trying to say—”

“It’s never felt like that before? I agree,” (Y/N) joined Charlie in the grass, sharing a gaze at the moon. “I mean, I’ve only kissed Anthony Yang. Kissing him was like kissing a Crup, too much tongue and far too slobbery.”

Charlie laughed, recalling the Hufflepuff boy (Y/N) had dated for a few weeks in their 5th year. “I would hope that… our kiss would have been better than Yang’s.” 

“It was, believe me.” 

A comfortable silence fell between the two, both enjoying the night sky and each others company. The moon had never seemed this bright, and yet, the entire landscape before the couple felt silvery and glowing with a bright new halo.

“Why,” Charlie spoke up. “Why do you think it felt like that? Felt that different?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” (Y/N) hummed, folding her hands on her stomach. “I think maybe… no, never mind.” 

Charlie turned his head, gaze tracing (Y/N)’s perfect profile. “You think what?”

(Y/N) felt the heat rush to her face, as if this moment was the most embarrassing one of the evening. “I think, maybe, it’s because… well, we, well at least I—”

“I love you.”

(Y/N)’s head jolted to the side, eyes locking with Charlie’s. The softness that resided in them were a contrast to the fire shining before.

Charlie grinned. “I think I always have, really.” His shoulders automatically touched his ears in a shrug. “I never had the courage to tell you—and before you say anything, I understand this is comical coming from a Gryffindor—but that’s the truth.”

“How did you do that?”

“Do what? Love you? Pretty easily, I think it really started to blossom after that time you nearly knocked out that Slytherin bully with your own two hands—”

“No,” (Y/N) stifled a laugh. “Take the words out of my mouth.”

“Oh, the Gryffindor thing?”

“Yeah, sure,” (Y/N) rolled her eyes, wriggling slightly closer to Charlie. “That’s exactly what I meant.”

“You usually say something smart like that,” Charlie says, embracing (Y/N) into his side, holding her shoulder tightly. “You’re rather smart.”

A soft peck graced (Y/N)’s temple, the featherlight touch tickling her skin. “Thanks.”

The evening silence fell amongst the two yet again, only the swooshing sounds of the wind whipping through. (Y/N) snuggled closer into Charlie’s side, fitting perfectly with the shape of his body. Smiles spread across the couple’s lips, both not saying a word, enjoying the bliss in the moment. They could talk about where their relationship goes from here at a later date, as neither wanted to spoil the scene set around them.

. . . .

Bonus:

“Oh…” Charlie moaned, his hand taped his forehead lightly. “The words I took out of your mouth, they were—”

“I love you,” (Y/N) replied, rather monotonously. “Yeah, they were.”

“I’m such an idiot.” 

“Maybe so,” (Y/N) chuckled, resting a hand on Charlie’s chest, fingers curling slightly into the fabric of his jumper. “But the Gryffindor thing is accurate too.”

“Oh bite me.”

__

General Tag List: @maralisa124​ , @leighxlover , @hey-its-me-rai​ , @missihart123 , @biatheintrovert​ , @luna-xxxxx​ , @chocolaterumble​

Charlie Weasley Tag List: @sungoddessra​ , @crescent-ia , @phantom-pheonix , @dccomicnerd-world​ , @marveltrash99​ , @graymountaingal​ , @storiesbycaroline​

want to be added to a tag list? hmu in the replies or ask box with what characters you’d like to be tagged with!

[jiminisjamin]

Pairing: Jimin x Reader

AU: Disney / Merman!Prince

Rating: Fluff/Angst

Warnings for Chapter: Language, minor-suggestive content.

Title: Under the Sea

A/N: Obviously, for the sake of convenience, “merpeople” speak…English…because, obviously…actually in the little mermaid?? They do, so, that’s why. That’s my reason. There you go. Poof.

Word Count: 6,744

 Waves crash against the barrier, much like the way his heart hammers against his chest as he swims further up, searching for any way into the peaceful water blocked off by a few inches of clear walls. His gaze lands on the black, curious gaze a blue dolphin and it chirps at him, alarmed as he’s thrown against the wall once more by the furious waves. “I’m okay,” he coos, “it’s okay.” His gaze darts around as storm clouds gather overhead, raging lightning and rain crashing down against the water. His breathing is slightly labored as he goes back down under the water, searching again for some sort of door, only to notice the dolphin following him down. His gaze turns again and for a moment a smile slips across his plush lips as he tilts his head. The dolphin jerks in the water, chirping as it moves its body again, as if motioning somewhere. His lips tip up in a larger smile, “you lead, I’ll follow.” His voice cuts through the water smoothly and the dolphin shoots downwards. With a quick flick of his tail, despite the raging waters that still attempt to throw him against the clear enclosure, he moves downward quickly, easily matching the speed of the dolphin as the dive deeper down.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the floor, seeing as how the area is fairly shallow, and his gaze lands on a small cage like door. Why it’s there, he’s unsure, but he moves down to it, quickly working with the latch to guide it open. The waves rock against his body as he fights to fit through the large opening, the waves tugging at his body and beckoning him back into the open sea, however a quick, firm swish of his tail surges him forward, a commanding “no,” echoing past his lips as he swings back around, shutting the gaze and sliding the lock back into place before turning up towards the surface, smiling again as the dolphin follows him.

When he breaches the surface, he takes in a grateful gulp of air, blinking the water from his eyelashes as his body bobs up and down with the gentle, artificially produced waves of the enclosure. Water drips from the tips of his hair, his smile only growing as time passes, as more dolphins move to greet him, leaping around him and singing with joy when he swims down, surging up with them and flipping, letting out a gleeful laugh alongside their cheers. His actions still and he breathes in deeply again. Now that there’s a barrier between him and the open sea he takes a moment to survey his surroundings, his gaze lifting up to the sky, head tilting as it slowly lowers to find the top of the wall. It seems to be manufactured to give the feelings of being out in the sea, although the water is crystal clear- completely opposite of the stormy, dark ocean that crashes against the enclosure in waves. His expression darkens slightly at this, as if remembering something.

“You might as well stop,” he murmurs, “I won’t be coming back. You can’t bring me back, it’s over now.” The sky splits open as thunder strikes down far away, the water surging up against the tank. He laughs, flicking his tail under the water. “It’s no use.” In an instant, everything stills.

The water goes deadly silent and the blanket over the stars is lifted as the rain stops, bright, shining stars winking down at him as the moonlight shines down on him, illuminating his eyes. They shift, ever so slightly, the blackness lifting into a lighter hue as his heart expands, his chest filling with a sigh of relief as the storm ebbs away. His tongue darts out to lick the water from his lips, his breath coming out in small pants as exhaustion quickly takes over his body, all the anger and sadness fading away to joy and relief- his eyes reflecting the light in a way the brown changes to match hue of one of his new friend’s silvery skin. He tilts his head back, floating across the water with slow, lazy flicks of his tail to slowly move towards the opening that leads into a medium sized tank with multiple objects floating around in the water, the floor stretching out into the water. He frowns when one of the dolphins nudges a brightly colored, spherical object towards him, chirping in excitement as it hits his head, bouncing off and rolling further into the artificial enclosure. He tilts his head, rolling over onto his stomach and sighs as he flicks his tail, swimming over to the dolphin.

“Do you throw things at all of your new friends?” He hums, reaching out and petting its smooth skin, smiling when it yelps a reply at him, lifting its head and showing its teeth in a small greeting before splashing back into the water, surging back up at the ball and tossing it into the air. Laughter bubbles out of his throat as he gently taps it when it flies towards him, more dolphins coming over and chirping in excitement as they bounce the ball back and forth, only stopping when he lets it fall in the water in front of him, his eyes closing briefly. One of the dolphins nudges him lightly and his eyes open as he sighs, flicking his tail once to move over to a slope in the ground where the floor slowly rises up out of the water. He lays his back on the cool ground, his tail floating out on the water, his upper half tingling against the cool air as his skin slowly dries and his eyes drift shut, a soft smile gracing his delicate features once again as he murmurs, “thank you, for helping me to forget my troubles.” The last sound he hears before he slips into slumber is the sound of a delighted, yet slightly mischievous chirp.

Y/n wakes up and begins her day like every other day for the past three years. She dresses in her work uniform, grabs a small breakfast to go, hops in her car and hurries through the short, six-minute drive to Jeon’s Underwater Wonders. Most of her friends wouldn’t be this chipper on their last work day of the week- but she was more than excited to pick up an extra shift and go to work, a part of her wishing she could just stay there the whole weekend. She hums slightly to herself as the wind blows in through the opened window, a smile appearing on her face as she smells it: salt. Not just any salt, but saltwater- a smell she’d become very accustomed to over the past years. Her smile widens when the building comes into view. The building is dome shaped, white and blue, and connects out into the ocean, sectioning off a large portion for each animal.

Y/n quickly pulls into the parking lot, jumping out of her car and fumbling with her door before running towards the building, the smile on her face growing even more as the scent of the ocean fills her lungs. Home. She picks up her pace, moving faster as she enters the lobby, swiping her badge to gain access to the dolphin enclosure and hurrying forward, laughing lightly as she kicks off her shoes and strips of her shirt off, her bathing suit top and swim shorts baring the logo of her workplace.

“Hello, friends!” She calls out, her heart lifting when she hears the dolphins splashing in the water. She hurries over to the small fridge and pulls out a bucket, walking out onto the strip of floor that extends out and stretches in a small circle, setting it by the edge of the pool as she surveys the dolphins as they line up around her, chirping and moving backwards, doing various tricks to try and get her attention. She begins tossing out fish, making sure they each get one, her face lighting up. “Wow, good job, you all look so happy to see me, hm?” Her eyebrows furrow, “I wonder why that is? Couldn’t be these fish here, hm?” She frowns as she notices one fish left, and one dolphin that she hasn’t seen. “Where’s Aqua?” She calls out, as if they will point her in the direction of their slippery, flippered friend. However, a splash and flash of a tail alerts her to his position and she shakes her head, grinning as the dolphins disperse when she dips down into the water, curiosity quickly sparking her interest when none of them try and tempt her into retrieving the meal in her hand. She shrugs, takes a breath and dives down into the water to wet her hair before going back to the surface and swimming lazily in the direction she saw the dolphin go. “It’s okay, buddy, I’m just here to feed you,” y/n frowns when the dolphin doesn’t swim up to her in greeting. Worried that something may be wrong, y/n sighs and sets the fish on the edge of the ground near the corner that dipped down into the water before taking a deep breath and diving down, her eyes closed as she reaches her hand out, making contact with a smooth, yet very unfamiliar surface. Her hand curves around it slightly as she realizes it is definitely not any part on a dolphin and just before her eyes can open, she feels something grab her wrist- something obviously not belonging to any sort of aquatic creature, and she sharply inhales when her gaze meets a warm, brown pair of eyes.

Which are on a very, very human face- connected to very tan, and very human shoulders, which are flexed as its very human arm reaches out, hand wrapped around her wrist. The part that shocked her the most- and caused her to take another painful inhale of water as her mouth opens and she attempts to yelp- was the long, strong, salmon-pink tail that curls at her feet, as if to try and give her something to stand on. Her gaze quickly snaps up to its torso to check- yep, it fades into an orange color as the smooth scales fade into his skin.

Y/n chokes, feeling the urge to breath- and cough out the water of her lungs, and its eyes widen in concern, strong arms wrapping around her as they surge upward, breaking the surface in only seconds. She’s lifted into the air and set on the floor, her legs dangling into the water.

He moves forward, one arm staying around her, his hand resting on her back as his other falls to her thigh. He sees her raise her hand, slapping at her back as she chokes, her eyes shut and expression twisted painful as she coughs violently. He taps her back with his hand, rather lightly, only to shoot back when the water finally falls from her mouth. His sudden movement sends her flailing back into the water and the dolphins chirp as the fish falls down, the blue dolphin swooping forward to eat it in one swift bite before chirping at the man, flipping backwards and swimming back out to the group.

Y/n shrieks as the man’s face comes back into view, looking at her with concern. He jerks back again, his tail flicking wildly underneath his torso as he tilts his head.

“That’s a strange way to greet someone,” he murmurs, his plush lips pursing slightly as he moves forward with caution when her scream dies down.

“W-what the hell?” Her gaze falls back down to his tail as it flicks once more, carrying him slightly closer to her.

“Are you okay?” His eyes and demeanor are cautious still, but he seems much more concerned for her well-being as he feels the alarm rolling off her body in vicious waves.

“W-what the hell!” She jerks away from him her eyes wide as they move up and down, looking at his face and then his tail, over and over again. He tilts his head.

“Is that all you know how to say?” His voice is slightly teasing as he tries to ease her stress, but it seems to only worsen as her gaze moves back to his tail and he sighs.

“W-what are you?” She mutters, her eyebrows furrowing as she swallows roughly.

“I’m Jimin,” he holds his hand out and smiles. “I’m…me?” She stares at his hand and grabs it gently.

“You’re…a mermaid…merman? Mer…person.” Jimin’s head tilts at this.

“What would you call yourself, aside from human?” He asks, a soft smile gracing his features.

“I’m y/n,” she says.

His gaze drops down her body, taking in every feature as it moves up and down relentlessly, his head tilting more as he moves forward, his hand moving forward in the water to fall on her hip, his other hanging at his side. “You really don’t have a tail, no fins, nothing…that’s so interesting,” he murmurs, his tongue darting out to lick the water from his lips. “Legs look so…different up close.” His hand grabs at her thigh, his eyes sparkling slightly as he kneads her thigh muscle, his eyebrows shooting up as he tips his head down slightly. “It’s so soft,” he whispers, his eyebrows furrowing when she yanks away from him.

“What the hell?” Her voice comes out a growl and Jimin tilts his head.

“What?”

“You can’t- you can’t just touch me.” Jimin’s head tilts and his hand lingers near her.

“What do you mean?”

Y/n’s eyebrows furrow and she glares at him. “Is this some sort of prank? Did someone put you up to this?” Jimin frowns.

“You’re the only person I’ve met,” he replies. Y/n’s eyes roll, sending a wave of irritation his way. Jimin recoils slightly, his expression briefly shifting as he tries to shake off her negative energy.

“Listen, you got me, really, this was good. You can take of this…where did you even get it? How did you make it blend into your skin so nicely?” Y/n reaches down, her fingertips grazing his abdomen as she tries to find a way to remove the tail from his torso.

“Hey!” Jimin’s tail flicks violently as he moves away from her touch, his skin tingling slightly where she touched him. A light blush tints his cheeks as his tail stills underneath him.

“W-what the hell?” Her eyes scan the room, looking for any hidden camera- or coworker- who could’ve put him up to this.

“You sure do say that a lot,” he mumbles, his head tilting down as he reaches up, rubbing the back of his neck lightly. Y/n frowns, tilting her head as she pushes away from the floor, moving over to him.

“Are you…blushing?” He swallows roughly, eyebrows raising slightly as he looks at her, eyes wide.

“I’m…” Jimin’s voice gets caught in his throat at the almost angry look on her face as her gaze flicks back down to his tail.

Y/n huffs, still unsure of how it’s so seamlessly attached to his body. She can’t even see the outline of his legs.

“H-hey, stop! Stop looking at…at my…”

“Your what? Tail?” Y/n scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Listen, I’m tired of this, okay? Mermen? Mermaids? They aren’t. Real. Now I don’t know how the hell you got in here- and I don’t know why my dolphins don’t seem to mind, but you need to cut the act and leave, now.” Jimin’s face heats up more.

“I’m not lying to you, y/n. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because this is ridiculous, not to mention impossible.” She crosses her arms over her chest and his gaze follows, lingering for a few seconds too long before her arm whips out to the side in frustration.

Jimin flips away, casting an angry but embarrassed glare at her before diving down into the water, leaving y/n stuttering as her mouth falls open. “Hey! Get back here,” she treads forward, not nearly as fast as him, “don’t just swim away from me! Jimin, hey, Jimin!”

Her eyes briefly catch his face turning to look at her from under the water before he’s popping up right in front of her, water dripping from his light brown hair as he eyes her cautiously. “Are you going to hit me? From what I’ve heard you humans can be…very violent.”

“No…” Y/n squints, willing away the headache that is beginning to form at her temples. “I’m pissed that you’re pranking me…but…”

“Why would I lie?”

“Someone must’ve put you- augh, I don’t have time for this! I have a job, you know! One that you’re keeping me from doing right now. So get out!”

“I can’t.” He murmurs, looking away briefly before raising his gaze to meet hers again. “You’ll just have to believe me.”

“Oh, yeah.” Y/n’s eyes roll, “believe that you’re…a merman? You have a tail?” Y/n bites her tongue to keep from saying anything more offensive, opting for a stern, “prove it then.”

“How should I do that? You don’t seem very convinced by my tail, or my swimming.” Jimin’s head tilts. “In fact you seem really stubborn. You won’t even believe what’s right in front of you. You have eyes, don’t you? Do they work? Can’t you see my tail?”

“Anyone can buy a costume. I don’t have time for this bullshit, get out, before I call the police. Trust me- whoever put you up to this- whatever you’re trying to accomplish, it’s not worth the breaking and entering charges.” Jimin’s shoulders tense as he watches her.

“The police?” He seems genuinely confused by her statement, mulling it over in his head before sighing. “I’m telling the truth.”

Y/n curses, covering her face with her hands and thinking of the quickest way out of this. The sooner she gets him out, the sooner she can just be with her dolphins. “Take the tail off before I take it off.”

Jimin’s face heats up and he stutters, his eyes darting around quickly. “I…uh…” His voice grows quiet as he keeps his gaze on the water. “I already said, I can’t just…remove it. And, you can’t touch it.”

“Of course you don’t want me to- I’d be able to tell it’s fake and your game would be over.” Y/n scoffs, “I hope for your sake you’re wearing something underneath,” y/n comments, reaching out to feel for the edge of the costume.

“Don’t,” he grunts, squeezing his eyes shut before grabbing her wrist and swimming over to the small slope, propping himself half out of the water much like he did when he slept. Y/n’s swallows roughly, her eyebrows furrowing at how nicely the fabric seems to blend in with his skin- not to mention his smooth, tanned skin. She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, her gaze darting up and meeting his nervous stare, which quickly darts away. Y/n coughs slightly and looks back down at his stomach. Her touch is light as she touches him, attempting to find a seam, some sort of waistband to prove she hasn’t gone fully insane.

Jimin hisses slightly when her hands glide over his stomach, his eyes fluttering shut as he leans his head back. His gaze falls on her once more, a small smile quirking across his lips as her face contorts in confusion. Her hands glide around his waist to his back and she leans into him slightly, peeking around to look for a zipper, Velcro, a button- anything. Y/n huffs, pulling back and tilting her head as her hands slowly move to feel the actual tail itself. Jimin’s eyes close again and he swallows roughly. “Could you not, uh…” She stops as her hands feel for his legs somewhere under the fabric- but are met with nothing but a strong, very, very tense muscle. Her eyes widen and her eyes meet his chocolatey ones and she shudders out a gasp, her gaze falling back down to her hands.

“I- I’m so sorry, oh my god,” she rips her hands away, “I practically just felt you up, I’m sorry-holy shit you’re a…mermaids are real? Or…am I dreaming? Did I fall and hit my head? Oh god, what if I’m drowning right now…” Jimin smiles and laughs, his head tilting again.

“Humans are real? How do I know these legs aren’t fake, hm?” Y/n blushes and swats his hand away as he reaches towards her teasingly.

“I just…I know I’m going to wake up.” She frowns at how real the water feels, how real his skin felt- how warm he felt and how vivid everything around her is. “I mean… assuming this is a dream…if it makes me late to work, I’m going to be really angry.” His smile falters slightly and he looks away.

“Hm…” Y/n follows his gaze out towards the outdoor enclosure and she tilts her head.

“Do you…uh, need to get back out? How did you end up here anyways?” Jimin smiles, his eyes darkening slightly, changing hue right in front of her to a smoky, dark grey.

“That’s…complicated.” Jimin sighs, contemplating whether or not to explain his situation when he hears a door swing open and his eyes widen in confusion.

“Whoa, what the fuck?” Jimin dips into the water at the sound of another voice and y/ns gaze turns to the door, her mouth falling open.

“Yoongi? W- you’re never early, why are you…”

“Really y/n, the fuck? I would’ve never guessed you were into that.” He shakes his head quickly before ruffling his hand through his bleached hair. He yawns, taking a few steps over to her and lowering himself into the water, completely ignoring Jimin as he pops back up, glancing at them tentatively. “He your new boytoy or something?” Yoongi stretches slightly, a small smile slipping across his face when one of the dolphins chirps at him in greeting.

“N-No!” He tilts his head, yawning again before closing his eyes for a few moments.

“So, what’s with the costume?” He opens his eyes, his gaze falling back to Jimin.

“It’s…it’s not a costume.” She mumbles, covering her face. “I don’t have time to explain it- and I don’t even understand it…”

Yoongi blinks a few times. “You expect me to believe he’s a mermaid?”

Y/n shrugs, smiling at him sheepishly. “I didn’t expect you to be here early- I don’t even know why you’re here so early.”

“I knew you’d be here,” he turns his attention back to Jimin after answering her, his mouth opening before she can stop him, “so, where’s your dick?”

“Yoongi!”

“My…?” Jimin’s eyebrows furrow, his cheeks heating up when he notices how freaked out y/n is. Yoongi smiles lazily, amusement filling his eyes.

“Your cock? Or whatever you guys call it,” He quirks an eyebrow. “Do you not have one? Didn’t get that part of being human, huh?” Y/n’s face heats up along with Jimin’s and she slaps her friend’s shoulder.

“Yoongi,” he sighs before shrugging, turning his attention to the dolphin that nuzzled up to him.

“You had to be wondering too.” His voice is flat as his eyes scan over Jimin once again. “Anyways, I saw your car here and thought I’d pay you a visit. Didn’t know you had company.” Yoongi’s eyebrows quirk as he goes back to watching Jimin, subtly moving his body in front of y/n’s. “How do you know him, anyways?”

“He was just…here. Why are you not more freaked out by this anyways?” Yoongi shrugs slightly before casting a calm yet suspicious glance at Jimin, who stays quiet as the two talk, gliding back slightly when Yoongi’s expression twists.

“You don’t know him, yet you were just…talking to him? Supposedly he’s not even human…what if he wanted to hurt you? He could just drown you and leave whatever way he got in.” The moment those words leave Yoongi’s lips, y/n glances at Jimin.

“I mean, he seems harmless…” Y/n thinks to add the part that he actually saved her from drowning, but considering it was his fault she almost drown in the first place, she doubts it would help his case any.

“Yeah? I seem harmless too, but I could drown you in this pool right now. If you go trusting any doe eyed boy you’re going to get hurt, y/n.” Yoongi turns his back to Jimin now, gently grabbing her hand. “Be more careful.”

“For what it’s worth, I wasn’t going to drown you.” Jimin speaks up, looking at her timidly. “I just…I can’t be out there right now.” Y/n’s gaze turns to him.

“Are you…in trouble?” Jimin’s eyes glaze over slightly and he looks away.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t.” His tail flicks underneath him. Y/n frowns, ignoring Yoongi’s attempts to keep her back as she moves over to him slowly.

“If you…need a place to stay, I might be able to keep you here. I’m usually the only one back here besides Yoongi, and he knows now…you can stay as long as you’d like?” Jimin smiles softly.

“Thank you.”

“Y/n, are you fucking serious? What did I just say?”

“If he wanted to hurt me he would’ve done it by now, there were plenty of chances.” Y/n frowns, looking down at her hands. “He’s scared and lost, Yoongi. Have some sympathy.”

“He’s not some lost cat out on the street, y/n, he’s a literal mythical fucking creature, you have no idea what his intentions are, what he can do…nothing.” Y/n frowns, put off at his sudden aggression.

“I’m weirded out by it too, Yoongi. I just…I can’t explain it, I guess…I mean, I have a good feeling about him? As good a feeling as you can have about a…half human…merman.” Y/n squints, shaking her head at her own reckless behavior, but once her gaze meets Jimin’s her stress melts away and she smiles. “I mean…look at him.”

Yoongi scoffs but doesn’t protest anymore, instead just turns and hoists himself out of the water. “Fine. Have fun with fish boy,” he hisses, “I’m going to go dry off and take the day off. I don’t really feel like being here anymore.” Y/n squints at his sour expression, not looking away from him until the door is shut and the only sound left is the light splashing of the water as the dolphins swim around, exiting to their outdoor enclosure for some sun.

“Oh!” Y/n’s eyebrows pull together as she looks back at Jimin, worry clouding her mind as she realizes he must’ve been here all night. “What do you eat? You must be hungry- you do eat, right? Do you eat fish, or, is that like, partial cannibalism?” Jimin frowns and tilts his head.

“I’m…yes, I eat.”

“Do you eat like…seaweed? Plants?” Y/n grins, “come on, kelp me out here.” Y/n pauses for a moment, praying that merfolk understand puns.

Jimin’s face lights up slightly and he laughs, his eyes crinkling as he looks around the building, his eyes widening in curiosity slightly. “We do mainly eat plants, but we have to hunt a bit as well. For the most part, we’re a very…docile species.” Y/n frowns for a second, opening her mouth before quickly shutting it and shaking her head. His head tilts at this as he swims around the space leisurely. “If you want to say something, say it.”

“I don’t want to…pester you with questions- you seem upset about something- you must be scared and tired…” Y/n chews her lip and he grins.

“Go ahead. This must be big for you.”

“Do you know anything about…humans?” He hums, turning his gaze upwards as his eyes shine slightly.

“Me specifically, or my kind?”

“Both.”

“Ah…” Jimin sighs, “we aren’t really…fond of humans. My dad- he thinks that they’re cruel and uncivilized. He doesn’t see any reason for them to know of our existence- or for us to know anything about them. It’s sort of…taboo, I guess.”

“Why?”

“He thinks humans are dangerous.” He replies, “doesn’t want to risk anyone getting hurt trying to learn about them.” Y/n tilts her head, nodding slightly as her eyebrows knit in confusion.

“You seem to know quite a bit, though.” Jimin sighs, smiling as he flicks his tail to move back over to her.

“I don’t agree with him,” he pauses, thinking for a moment before continuing, “at least not all the time. I think…some humans,” he blushes slightly, motioning forward to her, “take you, for example, are perfectly fine…aside from…” Jimin coughs slightly, “accusing me of…pranking you. Which I’m not entirely sure what you mean but I can only assume it’s a bad thing, from how angry it seemed to make you.” Y/n’s face hearts up exponentially and she sputters slightly, waving her hand in the air.

“I’m sorry- about that. I just…it’s early in the morning and I wasn’t thinking straight and…well, you have a tail, so I was sort of…shocked.” Jimin shrugs it off, his smile returning as the kindness shines through his gaze again.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replies, “I learned more about humans thanks to you.” He pauses, his eyebrows knitting as he looks at her legs once again. “I’m sorry, for staring. It’s just…what’s it like? How do you…move?” Y/n grins, kicking her legs in the water slightly.

“Oh, these?” She laughs, “I’m assuming you can’t…go on land?” Jimin’s head tilts.

“I’ve never tried, but I doubt this would be any good for walking.” Y/n nods and pauses, watching him carefully as he returns to looking around the room, his eyes briefly landing on the door that Yoongi left. A mix of emotions clouds his complexion as he falls quiet, sinking slightly in the water as he retreats further out to where the enclosure stretches out into the ocean, his gaze becoming shy. “I’m sorry- I’m distracting you…you were feeding the dolphins.” He ducks his head slightly, his shoulders slumping. “I didn’t mean to startle you, earlier.” Y/n frowns, shrugging as she wades out towards him.

“I mean…I’m done feeding them. For the most part I just…need to clean things up. This technically is an off-day, I guess.” Jimin frowns at this.

“Who would’ve fed them?”

“Ah- I mean…I don’t really have to be here right now. I called in because I wanted to show up- extra hours I guess? So I was going to feed them and then…hang out for a bit before leaving.” Jimin’s eyes cloud slightly as he nods, eyebrows furrowing.

“You really care for them.”

“Yes, I do.”

“They care for you- I mean, I think it’s obvious, but uh…” Jimin shrugs, playing with the water slightly as he avoids her gaze. “I can tell.”

“Oh my god,” y/n’s eyes widen as she gasps, “can you speak to dolphins? Holy shit, that’s so cool-”

“No, no!” Jimin shakes his head, amusement twinkling in his eyes as she looks disappointed, pouting slightly as she looks over at one of the dolphins that swims over, chirping playfully and nudging Jimin slightly. “I can…uh…pick up on emotions- I can feel them, you know? Not just me- we…can sense emotions.” Jimin’s words seem reluctant and y/n frowns.

“Sensing dolphin emotions is pretty lame.”

“Well…” Jimin frowns, raising his gaze to meet hers. “It’s not just…dolphins.” Y/n quirks an eyebrow.

“Whales too? Hm?” He scoffs at her remark, flicking his tail to swim back.

“Everything.”

“Wh- everything? Like…anything? You can- me?” Y/n stumbles over her words before finally pointing at herself, moving forward in the water to try and keep up with him, huffing slightly when he easily reaches a few feet away from her. He turns, eyebrows raising and lips parting as he smiles lightly.

“Yeah, anything that has feelings, that is. We just sort of…feel it. When I was younger it was hard- I couldn’t understand what I was feeling and what others were feeling- but I learned the difference a while ago.” He looks at her, smiling proudly as he swims around.

“Do you sing?” The words fall past her lips before she can stop herself and she winces when he looks at her quizzically. “I mean…like, sirens, you know?” Jimin frowns. “Luring sailors to their death by…singing? Enticing them? No…?” Y/n blushes slightly when his head tilts, his eyes filling with confusion.

“Why would I lure someone to their death?”

“I- I wasn’t saying you would, I just…” Jimin’s expression shifts in an instant as he laughs lightly, moving over to her and practically caging her against the wall of the pool, his head tilting to the other side as his eyes twinkle playfully.

“I know what you meant,” he reaches forward, tapping her temple lightly and grinning, “or what you meant to mean at least. I know you weren’t accusing me,” his hand falls from her temple, resting in the water by her hip as his gaze trails down to her legs again.

“I’m no emotion-reader but…” Y/n pauses, holding her breath as she gazes down at his hand before raising her eyes to meet his, “you seem to look at my legs a lot…do you ever get tired of being in the water all the time?”

“I never did before,” Jimin replies softly, his fingers finding the hem of her swim shorts and playing with them slightly, his plump lips twitching into another small smile. “Recently though…it’s been different.” He sighs, his hand stilling on her thigh. “I don’t want to get into that, though.” Y/n swallows when his sullen expression is suddenly replaced with another playful one and he tips his head down. “Why are you so nervous? I’m not going to hurt you- should I not touch you? Tell me if I’m making you uncomfortable. I may know when you are but I don’t necessarily know what it’s directed at.” Y/n’s breath hitches and she shakes her head.

“It’s fine…I’m just not super used to…being super touchy feely- plus I barely know you.” His head tilts again- his hair falling into his eyes as he smiles gently.

“Is it bad?” His voice is a bit deeper- warmer and fuller- and y/n’s heart calms in her chest as she meets his gaze.

“I…w…what…” She closes her eyes briefly, almost jumping when his other hand rests on her hip, “it’s not…bad, I just…it’s weird.” She shakes her head, frowning as she looks up at him, her voice taking on a scolding tone, “you can’t just assume everyone’s okay with being touched, Jimin.” He flinches away at her sudden change, ducking his head as his expression turns serious.

“I’m sorry, y/n.”

“It’s fine- I just…I thought you studied humans, or something?” Jimin frowns.

“I’m interested in them, and I’ve watched some- but it’s not like we have any way to learn that much about you.” He smiles brightly. “But now I have you to teach me.”

A low rumbling stops any reply y/n had prepared, and her eyes widens as she watches Jimin, who clutches his stomach slightly and blushes in embarrassment.

“Oh my god…” Y/n covers her face. “I totally forgot- I was even talking about it, and I got distracted- fuck, I’m sorry, are you okay? What do you need? I can get something if you need it.” Jimin looks shy as y/n ushers him back over to the slope that he’d slept on earlier, scolding him slightly, “and you’ve been swimming around, using a bunch of energy- no wonder you’re hungry, when’s the last time you ate?” Jimin looks sad as he hoists himself onto the ground slightly, wrapping his arms around his chest as he watches her sit criss-cross next to him, examining him as if he was going to wither up and die at any moment.

“A few days ago, I think…I’ve sort of…travelled a long way.” He smiles wryly, “but that doesn’t matter. If you could get food…” Y/n watches him expectantly and he frowns slightly, “just no seafood…” She covers her mouth to keep from laughing, her eyes bugging out slightly as a small giggle escapes despite her efforts. Jimin’s head tilts as he looks at her questioningly, a smile still gracing his features due to the joy that radiates from her.

“Sorry- it’s just, you’d think you’d eat seafood. Since you’re…in the sea.” Jimin nods, pursing his lips slightly. Jimin nods.

“I want to try food that you guys eat. Bring me something…human, something…something that I can’t get back home.” Y/n laughs at his earnest expression and she shakes her head.

“What if it makes you sick?”

Jimin pauses, not having considered that before hand, and sighs, looking down. “You’re right…” He pouts slightly, holding his stomach. “I don’t think that would be good, it’d kill me instantly.” His eyes widen as he pouts at her, laying against the cool ground. “Just, you know, something you think I’d like,” his eyebrows raise as she shuffles slightly, moving forward and placing her hand on his shoulder.

“I will find you something that won’t make you sick- something to fill you up. Trust me, Jimin.” She pulls her hand away and clenches them both into fists, shaking them slightly as she grins, “I will take care of you.” Jimin grins, closing his eyes as he hums softly.

“Thank you, y/n,” his voice takes on a sing-songy tone as he takes a few deep breathes, sighing, “where will you go once you bring the food?” Y/n pauses, half standing as she stares down at him, weighing her options.

She’d been here a while- it was already almost time for her to be heading home, but the thought of leaving him here by herself tugs are her heart strings and she chews her bottom lip, standing up fully. “Who said I was going anywhere?” Jimin’s eyes pop open and he watches her quietly as she stretches slightly, “what? Someone has to take care of the dolphins anyways,” she doesn’t mention the automatic feeders that would normal be set up, instead raising her eyebrows and motioning at him, “not to mention you. We need to figure something out- you can’t stay here the whole time. Eventually someone else will find you.” She holds up her hand when his mouth opens and it snaps shut as he allows her to continue, “I’m going to bring a few things- I won’t be gone for too long though, if someone comes in- which no one should, but if they do, do out there.” She points to the quickly darkening outside enclosure and Jimin nods. Y/n smiles, “I’ll bring enough food for the both of us- everything I need for the weekend, and we’ll figure out a place for you to stay.” She turns, eager to get back home and collect everything she needs, when his hand wraps around her ankle.

“Wait, y/n.” She looks down at him and raises an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“No matter what, I can’t go into the ocean. No lakes, ponds, nothing. I can’t go back.” Y/n frowns slightly, irritation rising in her as she tries to think of a way to keep him safe while keeping him in water- but out of the ocean. Jimin smiles reassuringly. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out, y/n.” She nods slowly and he laughs, letting go of her ankle, “it sure would be nice if I could have a pair of those,” he mumbles, “I could just walk out of here.” Y/n tilts her head, staring down at him as she grimaces.

“There’s…some sites that may have suggestions on how we could give you legs,” Jimin tilts his head.

“What?”

“I mean- I don’t know how reliable they are- I always thought it was stupid, but then again I never believed in merfolk, so…I guess everything’s thrown out the window at this point, huh?” She laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ll try to be back as quickly as I can- with as much stuff to try as I can, okay? Hang in there.” Jimin grins.

“You’re starting to repeat yourself, y/n. You should hurry so you can come back and rest.” She nods, taking a few steps towards the door before turning and huffing.

“I swear if you’re gone when I come back I’m signing myself into a mental institution.” Jimin grins and waves his hand at her.

“Hurry up before this merman starves to death.”

Y/n laughs with him, tripping towards the door and nodding. “Goodbye, Jimin.”

“See you soon, y/n.”

[katedrakeohd]

The Royal Honor 👑

Masterlist

Chapter One

________________

A 'The Royal Heir' Fanfiction

Last Night in Paradise (Rated: Mature 18+)

The warm surf lapped over their feet as they walked along the beach hand in hand. The golden peachy glow of sunset set the ocean on fire, and the soft tropical breeze soothed their sun warmed skin. After a week in this Paradise they were reluctant to leave, but they had memories to last them a lifetime.

Kate smiled up at her husband Drake Walker, his handsome face bronzed by a week in the tropical sun. The toned and generously proportioned muscles of his chest and torso matched his arms and powerful legs. He was truly a prime specimen of masculine perfection, power and sex appeal. Feeling her eyes on him he turns his face away from the glow upon the water, the white of his smile rivaling the sparkling sea foam that lathered their ankles. The playful smirk at the corner of his mouth brought a sparkle to his dark eyes, making Kate's stomach flutter and her knees go weak. No matter where they were, that smirk and sparkle always made her melt inside and love him more.

The first month of their marriage had been a pure bliss of laughter, lovemaking and utter joy. Their honeymoon had been more of the same, except with less clothing, and there had been days they'd barely worn anything at all. You'd have to look very closely to find a tan line on either of them, except for in private places they only shared with each other.

It was their last night on the island, and after enjoying a sumptuous meal of steak, seafood and fresh fruit they were taking their time during their evening beach walk.

Turning to Kate and drawing her into his arms, Drake chuckles, leaning in to kiss her smiling mouth.

“So Kate, tonight what will it be? Sex on the beach and then skinny dipping, or skinny dipping and then sex on the beach.”

Kate laughs, holding onto him tightly as the surf ploughs and scrapes the sand from around their feet. “How about skinny dipping and then sex at the villa, I've had enough of rinsing sand out of intimate places to last me a lifetime.”

As his fingers deftly untie the back of her bikini top for the countless time that week he couldn't agree more. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Kate giggles as he stuffs her bikini top into the pocket of his shorts, and then hooks his thumbs into the top of her bikini bottoms and quickly forces them down off of her hips to fall into the surf at her ankles. Kate steps out one foot and then kicks her soggy bottoms out onto the dry sand.

In the dying light of sunset, with her long hair blowing on the breeze and her toes burrowed into the soft sand, Kate positively glowed like a goddess. Her sun kissed skin took on a coppery tone, and her sapphire eyes glittered like the waves. Drake felt his whole body grow warm and tingle at the sight of her, and it had nothing to do with the sultry tropical air. She stepped in close, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her breasts to his chest. Inhaling deeply, he relished the feel of her every curve and angle pressed up against his hot skin. She smelled of coconut, beach sand and sunshine. He knew her lips would taste salty and sweet, where she had been in the sea breeze all day and had eaten the majority of the fruity offerings at dinner.

Dipping down to grab her ass, he picks her up and she wraps her legs around his waist. When she presses her lips hungrily to his, his tongue jockeys for position in her mouth. When she flicks the underside of his tongue playfully with hers, he groans. Bucking his hips upward and bouncing her against his hardened cock in his shorts, makes her break off the kiss and drop her head back with a moan.

“Drake, I want you so bad..”

Kissing her neck and holding her tight, he whispers, “And you have no idea how much I want you Kate, how much I always want you..”

Gripping him tighter with her legs, she tugs at his hair and nips at his lower lip.

“Show me,” she hisses, teasing his lips with hers, making him work to establish a lock. He growls, kissing her roughly, his heart pounding and his lungs screaming for air when he finally breaks contact.

Kate gasps for air, feeling giddy and drunk off his kisses. His hard muscled body flexed and strained to keep her tightly held to him as he turned to walk into the ocean. Feeling the water lick at her toes as the waves crash against his knees, makes Kate giggle.

“You wouldn't drop me would you?”

Drake smirks at her and winks, “Who me? I wouldn't dare.”

As he wades deeper, it becomes more difficult for Drake to keep his footing under their combined weight. He bounces her again and her ass splashes against the water, making her shriek and clutch him tighter around the shoulders.

With a chuckle he says, “Kaaate, you're getting mighty slippery. Don't know how much longer I can hold on.”

Kate looks around nervously, trying to judge the depth of the water around them in the growing darkness. Drake starts to rock side to side, testing the limits of Kate's grip on him. Her eyes go wide when she realizes what he's planning to do. Laughing and shrieking as his rocking intensifies, she protests, slapping him on the back. “No..no..no. Draaake!”

With a laugh, he launches her into the air with a grunt. She screams and then hits the water with a big splash. Drake holds his sides laughing when she comes back up sputtering, cursing and splashing water at him.

“Oh it's on Mr. Walker!” she laughs, lunging forward to push him down into the water.

They both go under and Drake grabs for her hand and struggles to stand back up. When they surface, he manages to get to his knees, pulling her tightly to him. After turning his head to cough the saltwater out of his mouth, he goes in for a kiss. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, Kate relaxes against him, letting the waves rock them back and forth.

Under the water Drake's hands slide down her back and he grabs her ass, clamping her tightly to him. “Hold on tight my little mermaid, I'm going to stand up.”

Kate holds on as tightly as she can as Drake struggles to stand up. As he finds his footing she wraps her legs around his waist again, sending him off balance. Laughing as he wobbles and then straightens up, Drake walks back to the beach. When the water is ankle deep he twirls her around splashing, making her shriek with laughter. “Stop!..Drake, stop!”

Laughing some more he kisses Kate's smiling mouth, his chest heaving from the exertion of carrying them both out of the water. Kate lets go of his waist, and Drake sets her down on the wet sand. Breathing hard they rest their foreheads together, smiling. Kate runs her hands down the front of his body, feeling the grit on his skin, her fingers stop at the waistband of his swim shorts.

“I think these need to go.” Kate says with a grin.

Drake unties the drawstring on his shorts and after a brief struggle drops them to the sand. Kicking them off, he reaches for her hand and they make their way back to the villa. The warm evening air blows the salty droplets off of their damp skin, and by the time they walk up to the building they're mostly dry apart from their hair.

Drake looks down at the sand caked on his feet and ankles. He leads Kate around to the patio at the back of the villa, grabbing a beach towel off of a lounge chair, and then heads for the outdoor shower. The shower enclosure wasn't big enough for two, but that's never stopped them before. As Drake reaches in to start the water, Kate hugs him around the waist from behind. She can feel the grit on his skin as she slides her hands lower. Drake stops her hand before she reaches his groin. “Nah ah, there's enough grit down there from being in the ocean, I don't need you rubbing it around.”

Kate withdraws her hand, “Oh right, sorry.”

Drake steps to the side when the water's warm. “Ladies first.”

Kate nods, stepping under the warm water. There wasn't any soap, but she was more concerned with rinsing off the sand. As she closes her eyes and turns toward the shower head Kate feels Drake slide in behind her. It was a tight squeeze but Kate didn't mind having hot naked Drake pressed up against her back. Sweeping her hair off to the side, Drake kisses her shoulder, the water beating down on the back of his head. He slides his arms around her middle, his teeth nipping a trail up her neck. When his tongue traces the shell of her ear, Kate shivers despite the warm water beating down on them both. She tips her head to the side, reaching back to grab a handful of his hair. Drake groans, his hands sliding up to cup and squeeze at her breasts. Kate brings her hands down behind her ass, grabbing two handfuls of Drake, stroking and squeezing. With a growl he rocks his hips, intensifying his pleasure. “Turn around Kate, I want you right now.”

Carefully shuffling around to face him, Kate reaches up behind Drake's neck as he mashes his mouth hungrily down onto hers. Drake turns her toward the corner of the stall, lifting up her leg and forcing her shoulders up against the walls. Sliding his hand down between her legs he teases her clit and then tucks in two fingers.

Kate throws her head back with a moan, “Oh fuck Drake, quit teasing me.”

Drake grabs his cock and tucks himself into Kate. “Hold onto me, I'm going to lift you up.”

Kate nods, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he grabs her ass and lifts her up. The walls of the shower shudder and shake as Drake drives up into his wife over and over. Waves of pleasure crest and then crash through her body, causing her to cry out.

“Oooh..Yes, fuck yes! Drake, Oh my God yesss..”

Kate's cries of passion fuel his own, encouraging him to drive that much harder. Throwing his head back he growls as the tight wet sheath of her body squeezes and sucks at his swollen cock and balls.

“Fuuck, sweet Jesus Fuck, I love you Kate.”

Kate gasps, her thighs clenching tighter around him. “Oh God, I love you too..”

Panting heavily he slows down, making each thrust long and deliberate. Each push getting more difficult as Kate felt the pulsing ripple of her orgasm overtake her. As Kate throws her head back moaning loudly, she digs her nails into his back.

Drake grits his teeth against the stinging pain, thrusting up harder and faster, intensifying her orgasm as he feels his own release bubbling up out of his tightening cock and balls. With a shuddering gasp he erupts, his ass clenching as he mashes up hard against her.

Leaning into each other they both pant heavily as their limbs turn to jelly and Kate releases her grip around his waist. Drake kisses her trembling lips over and over as they struggle to catch their breaths. Stepping backward, he clumsily turns off the water as he pulls Kate with him out of the shower. Standing together on the patio, they rock side to side as their heartbeats come down to a normal rhythm. Nestling her head into his chest, Drake strokes her back. Kate's rubs her hands soothingly up and down his back as well, feeling completely at peace.

“I love you Drake,” she whispers.

Kissing the top of her head he mumbles into her hair, “I love you too Kate.”

…

After gently toweling each other off, they cuddle together on one of the loungers using the beach towel as a blanket. The warm breeze washes over them as they gaze up at the stars.

“I can't believe we have to leave the island tomorrow and go back to Cordonia, and home to Valtoria.” Kate sighs, gently stroking her fingers up and down Drake's arm.

“Yes I know, Duke and Duchess Walker of Valtoria at that.” Drake mumbles

Drake had never imagined ever having a title in front of his name other than Mister. But now he had become Duke Drake Walker, Guardian of the Realm. From nobody to Noble within two months. He wasn't sure how or when he'd ever get used to having such responsibility. Or if he'd ever get used to being called Duke anything. Being called Your Grace made him squirm.

Kate tilts her head back to look at his face. “I know you're not big on titles Drake. But there are two I think you'd be most comfortable with.”

“Hmm? Like what?” he mumbles, lacing his fingers with hers.

“Husband and Daddy.” She says smiling.

Drake smiles back, his eyes filled with love, “Yes those are my favourite too.”

With a happy sigh Kate sits up on the edge of the lounger, turning to hug Drake around the waist as she leans against him. She places his hand on her belly, stroking his fingers lovingly with her own. “I can't wait for the day when I get to call you Daddy Drake.”

Drake sits up, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her gently, “I dream about that day too, and of seeing you holding our beautiful baby wrapped in a blanket. I want them to have your beautiful eyes and your smile.”

Kate runs her fingers through his thick, dark hair, laying her hand against his cheek, “If we have a boy I want him to look like you.”

Drake leans his cheek into her touch, closing his eyes. Shifting his position on the lounger he tucks his head against her shoulder. Kate kisses him on the forehead, cuddling him to her like her 200 lb baby. Off in the distance she sees a streak of light blaze across the sky. A shooting star. Now this moment is perfect, she thought, closing her eyes too.

[thotful-writing]

Purpose (1)

Jacob Seedx F! Deputy

Description: After the crash on the bridge the deputy ran, well, she tried to run but didn’t make it far before Jacob and his Judges caught her. Now she was stuck in a cage at his disposal.

Warnings: Violence and torture

The wind was cold on her face as she ran, the scent of rain in the air. She couldn’t see far in front of her, but it didn’t matter, all she could think of was getting out of there. After the crash on the bridge with Burke she had no choice but to run. Her vision was blurred, her head pounding but she didn’t let that stop her. Her lungs ached as she breathed heavily, her clothes were soaked and weighed her down, but still she didn’t stop. Nightfall had come and she rested against a tree, just for a moment she thought, that was until she heard a voice.

“Deputy, I know you’re out there.” A voice echoed through the woods as thunder boomed overhead. Her ears perked up trying to figure out which way the voice was coming from. She pushed herself off the tree and started to run again, her feet were sore, her legs tired, but she kept going.

“My Judges are on your trail, Deputy. Might as well come out now.” The man shouted again.

She could hear the animals howling and barking as they closed in on her. She forced herself to keep moving, unsure of what would happen if they caught her. Her heart dropped the second her foot caught on a root and she tumbled across the ground. She struggled to get back up, her ankle ached, as she pushed herself up on her hands she was face to face with a wolf. She stared at it’s snarling teeth, a red cross painted across it’s face. She swallowed hard, frozen, unable to move. Her eyes shot up to the man approaching her, she had seen him before, back at the church. He stared down at her, a wicked grin spreading across his face. Before she could react the butt of his gun came down hard on her forehead, her consciousness waning.

Darkness enveloped her, but she could hear dogs barking and voices in the distance. She fought to open her eyes; her head was pounding so hard she could almost hear it.

“Up. Time to wake up.” A man’s voice boomed over her.

She finally opened her eyes and sat up, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust but when they did her heart pounded. Metal bars surrounded her, barbed wire around the top, a cage, she was in a cage. She crawled towards the bars and looked out, it was a row of cages, set up together. She could see other people, like her, huddled in the corners or passed out, at least she hoped they were passed out. Before she had a moment to think the man shouted again, this time banging on the bars of the cages as he walked down the aisle.

He stopped when he got to her, crouching down. She scooted back, away from him. He stared at her, looking her over, his gaze made her uncomfortable. She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to get as far from him as she could.

“Good to see you’re still with us.” He smirked before he stood and continued down the row.

She slowly crawled forward, glancing out of the bars, trying to get a baring on where she was. She could see a big building to her left, but nothing else. The man continued his stroll, waking up those who hadn’t yet, kicking the cages. After a few moments a few men came to the cages, each unlocking one. She moved back from him as he opened the door.

“Come here.” He demanded, but she remained in the back.

He sighed and walked in, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her out. She kicked and screamed, trying to fight out of his grasp. Once he got her out he shoved her to the ground, placing his foot on her chest and pressing down. He aimed his gun at her head.

“Stop fucking fighting or I will put a bullet through your pretty little skull. Got it?” He pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead. She nodded hesitantly.

He eased off her and stepped back. She rolled over and tried to stand but a shooting pain went through her ankle and she fell to her knees.

“Up, let’s go.” He nudged her with his gun.

“I can’t, my ankle.” Her voice trembled as she looked up at him.

“Better find a way to move.” He pushed her again.

She sat on her hands and knees and began to crawl. The ground was hard and rough against her hands, rocks bit into her skin as she moved. The man laughed as he watched her moving.

“What’s wrong with this one?” Another man asked.

“Got a busted ankle or some shit.”

“Might as well just put her down then. Boss ain’t gonna want one that’s wounded.” He cocked his gun and aimed it at her.

“No, he wanted this one. We’ll let him decide what to do.” He pushed the man’s gun away and nudged her to continue.

As she crawled, she couldn’t help but look at the others with her, they were beaten, bloodied and filthy. She wondered how long they’d been here. They stopped once they were out of the aisle of cages, all lining up in a row. The man from before paced on front of them, checking each of them out, until he came to her.

“Tired, pup?” He glared at her as she sat on the ground.

“My ankle-“

“Up.” He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her to her feet. She staggered as she tried not to put any pressure on her hurt ankle.

“That’s better.” He grinned, releasing her and turning to the others.

“Now, some of you have been here a few days, others just got here. We like to have a full house before we get started on training. You’ve been brought here because you’re weak, useless, and sinners. My job is to weed out the ones who are not worthy, those who will not survive in the new world when the end comes. You will be put through trials and tests, only the strong will prevail. Any questions?” He paced back and forth, his hands behind his back as he moved with precision.

“I-I’m not-“ The man next to her spoke, without a warning a shot was fired, the bullet going through his head in an instant. Her heart raced as she watched in horror, his blood now covering her as his lifeless body hit the ground.

“Rule number one, you do not question me.” The man holstered his gun, glancing at her once before leaving.

She started to panic, feeling like she couldn’t breathe. She wasn’t prepared for this, the academy never trained her for being fucking kidnapped and forced into dog cages. She knew it was only a matter of time before she had a bullet through her head. She tested her weight on her ankle, the pain was bad, but she figured she could fight through it. She looked around, the forest was her best option, she could run down to the river and lose them. She watched as the men talked amongst themselves, the man who appeared to be the leader was speaking with them. Now was her chance if she was going to do it. Suddenly she took off running, pain radiating through her ligaments, but she pushed through it.

“Shit!” She heard one of the men shout.

“Don’t shoot her, I want her alive.”

She didn’t dare look back, she knew if she did she wouldn’t make it. Each time her foot hit the ground a shock ran up her leg. The lining of the forest was close, she pushed herself harder. Just as she felt like she was getting away, something hit her in the back and a fire ran through her body, stopping her in her tracks. She convulsed on the ground as her body shook. A man approached, out of breath and pulled the barb out of her, stopping the current that ran through her. Two more men stood over her as they bent down and grabbed her up by her arms, pulling her to her feet and dragging her back. She wanted to scream, to fight, but she was breathless, and her body was weak.

“We got her, Jacob.” One of the men carrying her shouted as they approached. He strode over to them, his hand grabbing her face and tilting her up to look at him.

“You got some fight in you, pup. I like that. Means there’s still something to break.” He released her and nodded to the men.

She was taken back to her cage, tossed in and locked back up. She curled up against the back of the enclosure as tears began to stream down her cheeks. Her mind wandered to what was going to happen, what Jacob was going to do to her.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of someone banging on the cages, she didn’t sleep much that night. She sat up and peered out of the bars. A man walked through the aisle carrying a pot with what she could only assume was food. He took a spoonful and filled a dog bowl, sitting it inside one of the cages. She watched as the woman clambered to the bowl, scarfing down the food like an animal. The man continued down the row, filling bowls and placing them in the cages. He approached hers and filled a bowl.

“Not that one.” Someone shouted out.

He looked down at her, “Sorry, girl.” He poured the food back into the pot and walked away.

“Wait, that’s not fair!” She moved to the front of the cage, shouting through the bars, reaching for him as he continued.

“Come back!” She yelled. She was starving, she hadn’t eaten since before they went to the compound to arrest Joseph.

The day waned on, the sun high in the sky as she waited, hoping for something to happen, waiting. She picked at the peeling paint on the bars, it was all she had to do to occupy her. She glanced up at the men as they took turns walking through the aisle of cages.

“Hey, hey. Can I get some food or water?” She reached out to one of the men. He stopped and turned to her.

“You ain’t too bright, are you? You get fed when he says you do. And for your little stunt yesterday I don’t imagine you’ll be eating for a while.” He smirked and returned to his duties.

She sunk back against the bars; how could he do this? Would he let her starve to death? The days passed, no food, no water. She waited, begged, and pleaded, but still nothing. Her body was weak, no longer able to stand or move about the cage, she laid in the corner and prayed for death.

The rain was cold on her skin, her body shivered as she froze. She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to hold onto any warmth she had left. It had been raining for 2 days straight, no break, no sign of it stopping. She was soaking wet and barely able to think straight. She squinted her eyes when a bright light was shone into her cage.

“Think this one’s still alive.” A man shouted.

She was vaguely aware of a set of footsteps coming closer, the sound of the cage being unlocked and the door creaking open. Jacob loomed over her before kneeling.

“Still with us, pup?” Jacob’s gruff voice echoed through her head as his finger tips lingered beneath her chin.

“Bet you’re freezing out here and probably starving. You want to go inside?”

She opened her mouth but no words came out, she nodded her head weakly. Jacob stood up and stepped out of the cage, beckoning for her to come to him.

She grabbed the bars of the cage, using them to help her stand, but her hands couldn’t grip them due to the rain. She slumped back down to the ground.

“When you make it out of the cage, you’ll get some food.”  Jacob stepped back and crossed his arms.

She knew she wasn’t walking out of there, she hadn’t stood in days, her muscles were weak, not to mention she hadn’t eaten either. She placed her hands and knees on the ground and braced herself. She moved slowly, her arms shaking as she made her way closer to him. She glanced up to see a smug smirk spreading across his face. She wanted to curse him to fight him, but she couldn’t not with the state she was in now. Her entire body ached from the cold but she pushed herself, she took the last step outside the cage and looked up at Jacob.

“Good, pup.” He nodded to one of his men who grabbed her and pulled her up, carrying her as he followed Jacob.

She was finally able to see where she was, the Grandview Hotel. It had been taken by the Project months ago. She watched as Jacob walked in front of them, each step falling heavy to the ground, his stride purposeful and concise. Once inside the man abruptly dropped her to the floor with a thud. Jacob paid no mind to her and left her there, knowing she didn’t have the strength to run. She looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on a fire place across the room. She slowly crawled towards it until Jacob returned. He strode by her and sat down in a chair next to the fire. He placed a small bowl on the floor with what looked like raw meat in it.

“Come.” He spoke in a stern tone without turning to her.

She returned to her task and moved slowly towards the fireplace. Her knees throbbed as they moved across the hardwood floors. She was starting to get some of the feeling back in her fingers as her body warmed up from being out of the rain. She finally reached him and sat at his feet.

“Eat, pup.” He moved the bowl closer to her and watched.

She reached for the food and took a piece of meat between her fingers, it was completely raw, still bloody. She never would have considered eating it before, but she had been starved for days, she had no choice. She ate the meat quickly and dove in for more. Manners and decency were out the window, she pushed her face and hands into the bowl, shoveling as much of the meat into her mouth as she could.

She tensed when she felt his hand on her head, briefly stopping her from eating. Her heart pounded at his touch, away but she slowly returned to the food. His hand weighed heavy on her head as she continued and licked the bowl clean. She thought about where she was and what she was doing, was this really her life now? Reduced to eating raw meat from a dog bowl? She promised herself this was temporary, a means to an end until she could escape.

[wangjiplayingwangji]

Good afternoon time for part 4! (I will make a master post eventually) 

WWX woke to a continuous knocking sound. It wasn’t the sound of someone pounding on his door but it was steady and continuous, probably WN trying to be considerate of the neighbors.

WWX rolled out of his bed with a groan and checked his phone for the time. Apparently WN had called him 5 minutes ago so who knows how long he’s been standing in the hallway. He crosses the room with a yawn and peeks into the snakes box with a yawn to find it already awake and blinking at him.

“There’s Wen Ning with your new fancy digs.” WWX says smiling down at the snake. It blinks at him.

WWX doesn’t bother getting dressed properly and throws open the door in a ratty tshirt and boxers with his hair half out of its ponytail. “Wen Ning! My sweet summer child come in come in!”

“Xian-ge.” WN sighs with a fond kind of exasperation. His arms were loaded with a glass tank, a bag of sand, some assorted fake plants and an artificial rock with a cord running out of it. “I brought a lot of things, did you figure out what kind of snake it was?”

“Mm? Oh yeah yeah it’s a water snake.” WWX replied. “I couldn’t figure out what kind though, he’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen and no one seems to recognize it. Even Reddit had no answers!”

WN hummed noncommittally as he followed WWX into his room and up to the desk and peered into the box when WWX directed him to have a look. The snake was curled up in the corner once more, watching warily at the newcomer.

WN made a sad little noise “you’re right that it’s probably been through a lot.” He tsked. “It’s so scared and snakes don’t miss young scales like that unless they’ve been taken forcefully. But! The injuries look old and the scales are already growing back.”

WWX sighed, throwing a dramatic arm over his eyes “Aiya that’s a relief.” He then turned to smile down at the snake. “Don’t worry little buddy, I’ll protect you.”

The snake poked its head out from its coils again as WWX smiled down at it but as soon as WN moved closer it retreated back once again cowering in a tight ball in the corner.

WN chuckled good-naturedly “it seems it’s already more comfortable with you compared to strangers. Did it eat last night?”

“Yeah yeah, I gave it like two shrimps. He wouldn’t touch anything else though, he’s quite a picky eater. Aren’t you little guy?” WN smiled encouragingly. “That’s good! It wouldn’t eat if it was stressed.”

WWX leaned over the box to coo over his little snake friend again. “Awww you like me, don’t youuuu? I like you too!”

WN smiled softy. “Alright we should probably get its new home set up don’t you think?”

WWX smiled brilliantly. “Of Course! My new friend only deserves the best!”

The next hour was spent unloading supplies and organizing and reorganizing how things were laid in the tank. It seemed the snake knew something was up because it started wiggling against the side of the box again. Much to WWX’s delight.

By the time they were finished they had a tank that was more like a turtle enclosure then that of a snake but assuming it was amphibious WN assured that the snake would be fine. They used the sand to build up a beach type part of the tank with the heated rock pad on top with some fake leaves and plants for hiding and humidity and filled the rest of the tank with water.

“Do you think it’ll like it?” WWX asked for the 20th time.

“He, I’m pretty sure, and yes I’m sure he’ll like it just fine.” WN patiently replied also for the 20th time.

WWX was rocking back and forth on his heels in anticipation. “Alright, alright I want to put him in. How do you pick him up?”

WN rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. “Ah well it depends. Has he shown any signs of aggression or pain?”

“Not really. He’s been very cute and polite, haven’t you?” WN rolled his eyes as WWX dissolved into more cooing and fawning over the snake.

“Well, actually it’s a good thing that you’ve put your shirts in box to keep him warm because now he’s probably gotten used to your scent as something comforting. In terms of picking him up you can usually just, pick up the nonaggressive ones just around the middle and snakes are basically solid muscle so they can support themselves. Here let me just-“

As soon as WN reached towards him the snake recoiled. Not too attack but definitely to dodge. WN’s hands circled the box as the snakes slithered around like a little race car, weaving this way and that until he finally dove under the tshirts to hide.

WWX laughed as he watched the exchange and ultimate failure.

WN blushed and laughed himself a bit shyly “Well obviously he doesn’t like me. But he’s certainly not being aggressive. Maybe you should see if he’d respond to you better.”

WWX smiled brightly. “Really, you think it be okay?” At WN’s nod and warning to pull back at any sign of aggression or coiling in order of attack WWX reached down into the box.

At this point the snake was poking his head back out from under the shirts and upon seeing WWX’s hand lowering slowly into the box he slithered out from his hiding place and very quickly wrapped himself around WWX’s wrist and forearm.

WWX made a delighted and surprised sound. “Well hello there!” He said, raising his arm to his face. “This is the first time we’re seeing eye to eye isn’t it? Pretty pretty boy.”

Next to him WN made a considering noise. “Well he’s certainly imprinted on you as someone he likes but I must say I’ve never seen a snake like this before.” He had a strange and complicated expression on his face.

The snake watched him back, almost too intelligently and there was a a brief but heavy silence before the snake made a puffing noise and laid its head down, facing away from Wen Ning.

WWX stuck his tongue out. “What’s that face for? Your just jealous he likes me more that you and that he’s so pretty.” He stroked the snakes furred little head absently as he said so and felt a small shudder and rumble along his arm in response.

WN shook he head fondly. “Whatever you say Xian-ge. You should probably put him in the tank now though. He might not be used to being handled so much.”

WWX rolled his eyes. “Fine, and how many times I’ve I told you to call me Wei Ying?”

WN smiled. “Too many to count.”

WWX smiled back before turning his gaze back to his knee bracelet. “Alright little guy time to let go.” He lowered his hand into the tank and smiled crookedly when the snake refused to get off.

“C’mon little buddy. Time to let go.” WWX tried to gently pry off the clinging snake but instead it just climbed higher around his arm and eventually was wrapped tightly around his bicep.

WN watched the whole exchange bemused. “Apparently, he likes you so much he doesn’t want to let go. He’s too small to hurt you and it doesn’t seem like he wants to. So you should be fine you decide to keep him with you. If not though I can unwrap him if you want.”

At the offer the snake coiled itself tighter around WWX’s arm and buried his head under WWX’s sleeve. “Ah I don’t know about that, I mean if he wants to stay for awhile he can. I’m just gonna be doing some job apps online. I’m sure he’ll get tired of it eventually.”

WN made another considering noise “Speaking of him, he needs a name don’t you think?”

WWX gasped, “Oh yeah! I had an idea actually. What about Qiào?” (俏)

“As in shell?”

“No, handsome! Because QiàoQiào is so pretty, aren’t you?” There was another shudder that ran through the snake and he seemed to almost consider retreating into the tank but stayed where he was in the end.

WN smiled before checking his watch and making an alarmed noise. “Oh no! I have to leave or else I’ll be late to class.” He grabbed his remaining things in a rush. “I’ll see you later Xian-ge, im glad you and Qiào are getting along. I’ll let Qing-jie know she has nothing to worry about.”

WWX chuckled softly as he walked WN to the door. “Do you need a ride? I’ve got nothing to do today.”

WN smiled. “Maybe another time, I don’t think Qiào is going to get off anytime soon.”

WWX laughed again. He’d almost forgotten that the snake was there. “Alright well have a save trip.”

“Will do!” WN was just outside the door when he paused, thoughtful for a moment. “Uhm. Xian-ge when you get the chance could you send JieJie a picture of Qiào? I think she might now what kind of snake he is.”

“Oh? Yeah sure I’ll do that. See you later Wen Ning!”

And then WWX was alone with Qiào once more.

He smiled down at his newest attachment and his grin widened as it blinked sweetly back at him. “Don’t you want to see your new tank? I made it special just for you.”

The snake just tightened around his arm once more. “Alright alright I’ll leave you alone about it for now. Youll have to see it eventually though, we can’t sleep together! What if I crush you?”

A puffing noise was the only answer.

“Yes your highness.”

The people have spoken! So here’s my smoll dragonji/WWX being oblivious to magic in the world agenda

This is just a part 1! I will write more soon but I have to do adult things so bear with me!

So WWX is new in town and he’s doing the usual new town snooping. Darting in and out of local shops, casing new bars to hop the usual.

Then something catches his eye down an alley, adhd brain said “ooo shiny” and he’s pushing past the door next to a flickering “open” sign

The strange store is barely larger than a generous utility closet and there are boxes cages and aquariums stacked to the ceiling, each more precarious than the next and all barely illuminated by a single halo form a dirty hanging light that looks to be on its way out.

The guy behind the counter is cloaked, hood pulled over his face and he speaks with a weird sssssss to his s’s. Weird but no one said WWX’s self preservation was particularly high. He welcomes WWX to his exotic pet and supplies shop and invites him to peruse, although most of the cages seem empty.

Not wanting to be rude WWX smiles tightly and says he will, but is secretly glad the shady ass shop seems to have low stock. And by the end of his circling it really seems like these little to nothing on display. Mostly frogs, turtles and lizard things but they all seem content in their habitats.

He’s about to leave when a tiny plastic container stands out to him. On a bottom shelf barely visible next to the larger containers surrounding it, with a barely functioning heat lamp threatening to go out bowed over it.

WWX crouches down for a better look and spies two golden beady little eyes peering back at him.

The, snake it looks like, is obviously terrified of him. It’s curled into the farthest back corner of its enclosure and it’s coils were tightly packed around itself like it was ready to attack if it needed to. But despite its obvious discomfort WWX got the feeling it was too dignified to hiss or spit at him.

WWX tried to smile at it but it only shrunk back further. It was quite clear that the poor thing had been mistreated somehow.

Anger flared sharp and hot in WWXS gut. And the closer he looked the more angry he became. WWX didn’t know much about snakes but just from this vantage point he could see that the poor guy was missing some scales and he looked almost blue from the cold.

He sat there for awhile, trying to come up with something to do before the shop owner appeared at his arm.

“Oh a fine choiceeee ssssir! Were you looking for some sssscales perhapss? A fang maybe?”

“I’ll take him.” WWX said without much thought. “I want this guy.”

The shop keeper seemed a bit surprised for a moment but then smiled with too many teeth and grabbed a box to pack up the snake without much further chatter.

While he has his back turned WWX kneeled closer to address his new, pet? Friend? “Don’t worry little guy” he whispered, “I’m breaking you outta here okay? Living with me won’t be so bad. Especially not compared to this place.” He smiled again for good measure and this time the snake didn’t cringe away from him.

Now WWX wasn’t be any means well off, especially since he’d been booted from the Jiang household. But he’d scrounged and saved enough to move and he’d even managed to keep a decent cushion for himself in order to take his time searching for further employment.

But let’s just say he’d need to find a job much sooner than anticipated after he stepped back out into the dirty alley, with the cardboard pet carrier in hand.

Still, he couldn’t find it in himself to be angry about it. He’d regret leaving the little fella behind and he new himself well enough to know he’d have been back with cash in hand the next day regardless.

He glanced down at the box on his arm again, he couldn’t see the snake through it but he hoped it felt a little safer now. Then with a little bit of a spring in his step he pulled out his phone to call Wen Qing and see if she or Wen Ning knew anything about taking care of snakes.