#sea master

[queenmeriadoc]

The Sea is always right — The Sea Master — The Great Wave

[raointean]

Day 4 - High-men

“What do you suppose the catch is?” Valandil asked, looking out over the western coast of Númenor.

“What?” Ontamo was caught off guard. “Why should there be a catch?”

Valandil scoffed incredulously. “You cannot honestly believe that we are simply meant to sail around the island and camp for a night on the beach. That’s too easy!”

Ontamo rolled his eyes at his friend’s dramatics. “We are practicing going ashore without a dock, setting up a military standard camp, and taking watches. All skills we shall need on deployment.” Almost as an afterthought, he muttered, “Not everything has to be a challenge.”

Valandil shot him an annoyed glance, but got back to work. 

As they neared the shore, the sail master appeared behind them. “Cadets.”

Valandil and Ontamo straightened and saluted instantly, startled. “Sailmaster!” they chorused.

The sail master did not look particularly impressed, but neither did he correct them. “I have an additional task for the both of you tonight.” Valandil held his breath and he could sense Ontamo doing the same beside him. Additional tasks were usually assigned as discipline, but occasionally, the sail master would give out extra responsibilities as opportunities to prove oneself.

“Your friend, Cadet Isildur, I want you to watch him tonight.”

Valandil and Ontamo shared a glance. “Watch him, Sailmaster?” Valandil asked.

“Yes.” The sail master towered over them and they tried not to be intimidated. “I fear he will do something particularly foolish tonight. Prevent him.”

“Yes sir!” That was… a fair request, Valandil thought. As talented a sailor as Isildur was, he was not known for his common sense. The west side of Númenor was sparsely populated, rural at best. Who knew what sort of trouble would await the man who acted first and thought later?

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Isildur…” Isildur shook his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of the voice. She was always louder the further west he went. Luckily, his regiment had no women, so all he had to do was ignore any female voices and pretend he wasn’t going mad. Or that the ghosts weren’t driving him mad.

“Isildur.” She plagued him all throughout evening drills, Her voice rang through his ears as he laid out his bedroll. No matter how hard he tried to block Her out, Her voice was there, beckoning.

“Isildur!” Isildur tossed and turned late into the night, oblivious to his friends’ worried glances. He couldn’t possibly sleep with someone shouting in his ear, but he could hardly tell someone about Her without his madness becoming known. He just had to wait until they sailed back east. He had to leave before…

“ISILDUR!” Her voice rang from the mountains like a fallen temple bell and Isildur could take it no longer. Like a man possessed, he leapt from his bedroll and took off towards the mountains, quick as an arrow from a longbow.

Valandil, who had been resting nearby, followed hot on his heels, pausing only to kick Ontamo to wakefulness. He didn’t even stop to salute the sail master as he tore past, just called over his shoulder, “I’m in pursuit!”

Isildur dashed up the slope and crashed through the underbrush, heedless of the scratches he was surely collecting. Up and up and up they climbed, Valandil always just a few steps behind his friend.

Just as Valandil thought his legs would give out from under him, they reached a clearing on top of one of the smaller hills and Isildur skidded to a stop. “Isildur?” Valandil tried. “Isildur, we need to get back to camp.”

Isildur didn’t respond. Instead, he entered the clearing as if in a trance and walked towards the shrine in its center. The shrine was clearly ancient; a cracked, moss-grown pillar with a statue of a woman on top. It was surrounded by deep blue, faintly glowing flowers.

“Isildur, this place is creepy. We are going. Come on.” Valandil made to grab him by the wrist, meaning to drag him back to camp, but was crashed into from behind by Ontamo. They fell to the ground in a heap and, before Valandil could stop him, Isildur reached out and took the statue-woman by the hand.

The very air seemed to freeze in its place. All of the night animals ceased their noise. All save the nightingales. Dozens of the birds gathered and began to swarm the clearing, screaming, clicking, and warbling.

Valandil recovered first, rushing into the swarm with Ontamo close behind. The birds repelled them at first, pecking their faces and clawing their hair, but they dispersed soon enough. There, at the center, Isildur lay crumpled at the foot of the statue, unharmed save for the blood streaming from his nose.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isildur woke to a pounding headache the next morning back on the ship. Her warning still rang through his mind. “It is too late to turn back. They are going to destroy your people and you with them if you do not go soon. Flee to Middle Earth, you and all those who are still Faithful. Go!”

He pondered on Her warning. Its meaning was obvious: the Faithful needed to flee before it was too late. The rest was not so clear. Who were “they”? Why had She chosen to warn him of all people?

He sat up in his hammock and immediately regretted it as his head started spinning. “Good morning, Singollo,” came Valandil’s tired voice from the hammock next to his.

“What’s the time?” Isildur grunted, ignoring the jab.

“I do not know, nor do I particularly care. The sailmaster sent me down here to rest since I didn’t get much sleep last night. Too busy chasing you through the jungle.” He slung his arm over his face dramatically. “He wants to speak to you, by the way. About what happened last night.”

“About what happened la- oh no…” The details were fuzzy in Isildur’s mind, save Her warning, but he did remember leaving the camp without the leave of the sail master. He flipped out of his hammock, landing semi-gracefully on the floor. “I don’t care what kind of flowers they use in my funeral, just make sure they are blue?”

Valandil huffed a laugh, ignoring Isildur’s struggle to get his boots on. As he dashed out of the room, he paused in the doorway. “I really am sorry about last night. I do not know what came over me, but I am sorry for leading you on a wild goose chase.”

“It is not the end of the world,” Valandil sighed. “Although I may use it as an anecdote in your eulogy if you do not hurry up and get to the Sailmaster. He will have your head if you are late on top of everything else.”

Isildur’s eyes widened comically and he all but ran from the room.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isildur knocked on the door of the captain’s quarters, willing his hands not to shake. He entered as soon as he was bid and stood at attention. “Sailmaster, I am deeply sorry for what happened last night. I do not know what came ov-”

“Peace, cadet,” the sail master interrupted him. “You are not in any trouble. Temporary madness is not an uncommon reaction to the West for the descendants of Elros.”

Isildur blinked. “It is not?”

The sail master shook his head. “No, although I admit yours was a stronger reaction than I’ve seen. The entire point of this exercise is to identify cadets such as yourself. Studying family trees is not always useful, as some of the Tar-Minyatur’s line are entirely unaffected and there have been many affected cadets who were not… related to him on paper, if you take my meaning.”

Isildur nodded. “I understand, Sailmaster. But, what is to be done about…this?”

“The solution is simple. You will only ever be deployed on the east side of the island, never the west. Now go,” he waved his hand dismissively. “Back to your post, cadet. You have slept long enough.”

Isildur saluted, a bubble of relief bursting in his chest. “Yes, Sailmaster. Thank you, Sailmaster.”

[egophiliac]

crossing my fingers and wishing upon every star that chapter 10 finally brings us the tweel cards 🤞🤞

[christreginlave]

Venus by Henri-Pierre Picou (19th Century)

[ts-the-blacksmith]

Lego MOC ship

French Frigate "Saint Germain" - PART 1

designed by TS Kang

Instagram - @art_house_colts

You may enjoy the ship’s short video on my YouTube with a beautiful music of ‘violin concerto’ by Jean Marie Leclair.

[jellyselkie]

Absent-Minded Master of R'lyeh Cthulhu Figure

[mxtxfanatic]

There are a few places in mdzs where, in the midst of Wei Wuxian trying to placate him, Jiang Cheng says something so terribly, egregiously misrepresentative of Wei Wuxian and his morals that all Wei Wuxian can do is stare at him—like an adult realizing for the first time that the tantruming child they are attempting to calm may just be spoiled—before deciding to give up on the conversation. “Sure, Jiang Cheng,” he says, “it’s whatever you feel. It’s whatever you want.”

People like to say that the problem with the Yunmeng friendship is simply communication issues, but I think the real problem is that when true conflict happens between them, they both realize that they truly do not like each other. The difference is that Jiang Cheng reacts to this realization by trying to force Wei Wuxian into the shape that he wants, which is submission—“Do as I say! Listen to me! Obey me!”—while Wei Wuxian stands at the other end of the torched bridge he plans to never cross again and goes, “Sure Jiang Cheng, it’s whatever you feel, it’s whatever you want.”

[the-golden-vanity]

You're gonna need a bigger boat bookshelf.

[babybison]

behind the sea I ep. 9

[daystud]

runs for my life from them and you seeing this

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

okay here's part 6! this literally was not meant to be as long as it is, but i got carried away while doing some archery research... and here we are.

hope you guys enjoy! part 7 will be uploaded tomorrow!

(p.s if you're an archer/know archery and i get stuff wrong please don't yell at me, google can only give me so much info hdshdshdh)

the post/thread that started this whole au

dinner scene: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 7 | part 8

there's a masterlist now!

*athena had left not long after midday, but not before saying she’d see them all later at dinner*

*telemachus, odysseus & penelope are all together in the palace gardens*

*penelope is sitting on a bench, with odysseus also laying on it & his head in her lap as they watch telemachus practice using a bow and arrow* 

telemachus: *trying to aim for the centre of the target in front of him*

telemachus: *struggling but wants to show his parents what his training with athena is doing for him*

telemachus: *lets the bowstring go*

*the arrow flies through the air, but misses the centre of the target completely and hits the edge of the target*

telemachus: *drops the arm holding his bow to his side and sighs in disappointment*

penelope: *looks at her son and then looks down at odysseus*

odysseus: *looks up from his son to meet penelope’s eyes*

*both seem to have a conversation through their eyes*

odysseus: *smiles and nods at penelope*

odysseus: *gets up from penelope’s lap and walks over to telemachus*

penelope: *smiles while watching odysseus head over to their son*

odysseus: don’t be disappointed son, go ahead and nock another arrow

telemachus: *does as his father says*

odysseus: now draw and anchor, as you normally would

telemachus: *again does what odysseus asks*

odysseus: *looks at his son’s pose* ah i see some of the problem

odysseus: *gently takes hold of telemachus’ drawn back elbow* 

odysseus: ok your elbow needs to be a bit higher, and just straighten your back a little…

telemachus: *follows odysseus’ instructions*

odysseus: *stepping back so he’s not in the way* that's perfect! now breathe in as you would, but not to the point it hurts! 

odysseus: and then as you go to let the string go breathe out but not all the way, about only half way

telemachus: *breathes in as he aims for the centre of the target again*

telemachus: *steadily breathes out and releases the string*

*the arrow flies through the air again… and hits just slightly off the centre of of the target*

telemachus: *looks at the target in disbelief but in also joy*

odysseus: *cheers in happiness for his son* you did it!

penelope: *clapping and calling out to her son* well done telemachus! 

telemachus: *drops his bow and turns to his father*

telemachus: *gives odysseus a hug* thank you father!

odysseus: *hugging his son back* no need to thank me, i’m happy to be able to help teach you!

telemachus: *lets odysseus go while smiling*

odysseus: *looks down at telemachus’ bow then picks up it up and grabs an arrow*

odysseus: *nocks it with ease and shoots it in the blink of an eye*

*the arrow hits the dead centre of the target* 

odysseus: *turns and hands the bow back to telemachus*

odysseus: now, how about you keep practising? once you have this completely down i’ll teach you other things you can do with a bow

odysseus: *hand under his chin in thought* i’ll have to get an archer’s ring commissioned for you

telemachus: *stares at his father in shock at how easy he made that look* i didn't know you knew so much about archery- i mean…

telemachus: *thinks back to when odysseus shot an arrow through 12 axe heads*

penelope: *giggles to herself as she realises even their son doesn’t know about his father’s mastery & skill with a bow*

odysseus: *looks over at penelope, and then he understands just why she's giggling*

odysseus: *now looks at telemachus with an amused expression*

telemachus: *sees his father’s expression*

telemachus: *holds his hands (with the bow still in one of them) up hoping he hasn’t offended his father*

telemachus: not saying you didn’t know how to use one! 

telemachus: i thought you just knew the basics and that ‘trick’ you did to prove yourself, was originally just to impress mother?

telemachus: *puts his arms down and then looks down towards his father’s hands* besides, that ring you wear on your thumb is just a normal one like the other’s you wear isn’t it? 

telemachus: it certainly doesn’t look like any archer ring i've seen before at the markets…

odysseus: *laughs to himself and holds up his hand* oh this? you’re right it doesn’t look like an archer ring.

odysseus: *rubs his thumb along his index finger* that's because it isn’t a normal one

telemachus: *looks again at his father’s ring to see it now has a point to it like any standard archer ring*

telemachus: *looks up at odysseus’ face, then back down to his hand and then back up to his face again* 

telemachus: but- you- it- hOW?

odysseus: *rubs his thumb against his index finger again and the ring is back to looking like any standard ring* 

odysseus: *looks from telemachus to penelope* ask your mother, it was a gift from her

telemachus: *immediately swivels to face her*

penelope: well, as you’ve now found out…your father isn't one to let people know he’s a skilled archer, so i ‘commissioned’ an archer ring to be made for him that could hide as a normal ring when not needed. 

telemachus: wow! the jeweller who made this certainly is skilled then

penelope: *thinks back to asking athena if she could try to get hephaestus to make one*

penelope: yeah skilled indeed 

telemachus: *turns back to odysseus* so why didn’t you want people to know? about your skills as an archer i mean.

odysseus: sometimes it's best to not reveal all your strengths

odysseus: *grins while shrugging* keeping people guessing is also fun

odysseus: *walks to telemachus and ruffles his hair* anyway, back to practising! i’m going to head back over to your mother, but call me if you want me to assist with anything ok?

telemachus: ok!

*time passes as telemachus keeps on practising, odysseus is back to laying in penelope’s lap while she caresses his hair*

*odysseus wants to keep watching his son but is struggling to not fall asleep from penelope's motions*

*telemachus notices so decides to discuss some final dinner plans with his mother*

telemachus: so the cooks have everything they need for tonight, right? are you sure you don’t need me to quickly run down to the market for anything? 

penelope: *smiles reassuringly at telemachus* they do, and if on the off chance they don’t i'm sure one of them will go to the market themselves. no need to worry yourself my son.

telemachus: *nods while getting another arrow ready* 

telemachus: *starts pulling the string back when he has another thought*

telemachus: oh what about the seating plan? i should probably tell fathe-

penelope: *who knows about athena’s seating plan, and also knows that odysseus doesn’t (hey she wants to have some fun too ok?)*

penelope: *forgetting about her husband peacefully half-asleep in her lap*

penelope: *jumping up from the bench* NO-

telemachus: *not expecting his mother’s outburst*

telemachus: *lets the string go accidentally and also having lost his aim*

odysseus: *falls off penelope’s lap and the bench with a startled yelp*

*meanwhile the loose arrow now wizzes straight past the target, through the garden trees and over the palace cliffs, heading into what looks to be its final destination of…. the sea*

telemachus: *turns to face his parents* mother, are you ok? why did you yell no?

penelope: oh um… i’m sorry for shouting telemachus 

penelope: what i meant to say was, there's no need to spoil anything. we’ll keep it as a surprise!

telemachus: uh ok…

odysseus: *face down on the ground and groaning from the sudden series of events*

odysseus: *pushes himself up and looks at his wife*

odysseus: penelope why?

penelope: *laughs a little at odysseus’ rumpled state* 

penelope: *helps him up* 

penelope: i’m sorry my love *kisses him on the cheek*

odysseus: *smiles at the kiss and then brushes his clothing free of dust*

odysseus: what were you two talking about anyway?

telemachus: uhh-

penelope: -the final bits for dinner! speaking of which, we should all go and start getting ready!

penelope: *points at the sun starting to set* helios is not long from being done for the day, and i'm sure when selene takes to the skies, our dinner guests won't be long!

penelope: *starts to head inside* come along you two!

telemachus: *to odysseus* what about the archery equipment?

odysseus: *shrugs* we’ll deal with it later

*telemachus & odysseus follow penelope back into the palace*

[queenmeriadoc]

You are off the sea guard, all three of you — The Sae Master — The Great Wave

[biggest12fan]

WHAT IS THAT HAND DOING THERE DOCTOR? AND THE WAY THEY ACT SO COMFORTABLE AROUND EACH OTHER WHENEVER THEY'RE NOT TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER?????? I'M GOING CRAZY

[shy-sapphic-ace]

List of queer books I read, loved & recommend!

(There isn't any particular order, I wrote these as I remembered them)

Master Of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett (mlm, fantasy, very cool worldbuilding and magic system, funny, cool characters)

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree (wlw, fantasy, very soft & chill vibes)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (wlw, high fantasy, cool worldbuilding, kinda reminds me of LOTR but with more dragons and feminism and lesbians)

Even Though I Knew The End - C.L. Polk (wlw, supernatural noir, cool 1930s detective story with angels & demons, I loved this one!)

The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich (mlm, science fiction, very cool concept)

The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black (side mlm, fantasy, cool fae lore)

The Weight Of The Stars - K. Ancrum (wlw, not quite science fiction but space stuff is involved, lovely and complex characters)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (mlm, fiction, very nice in general, there is also a sequel)

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee (mlm, historical and vaguely fantasy, nice story but I preferred the sequel honestly)

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy - Mackenzi Lee (wlw, the sequel to the one before, more fantasy elements than the first, asexual main character!!)

Gallant - V.E. Schwab (no romance, but in the background one of the characters(?) uses they/them pronouns, very cool dark fantasy vibe)

Stranger Than Fanfiction - Chris Colfer (gay main character, trans main character, coming-of-age, nice book)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (yes it's the Love, Simon book, mlm, fiction, pretty nice)

They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera (mlm, sci-fi ish but mostly fiction, cool ideas, but the ending is sad! Very amazing book though, I haven't read the prequel yet)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (wlw, bi main character, historical fiction, cool story, just a neat book in general)

This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw, sci-fi, very cool time travel stuff!! and very beautiful, it felt like reading poetry most of the time)

One Last Stop - Casey McQuinston (wlw, background trans & pan & queer characters, sci-fi or fantasy idk, but time travel, I loooved this book, great)

The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, THIS BOOK oh my gosh you should read it!!, just cute and lovely and good)

Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, this book is also sooo amazing, great character development and awesome relationships and stuff, it's been a while since I read it but it was so good)

In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Klune (mlm, ace main character!!, sci-fi, now THIS is found family, oughh feelings. argh, tj klune you’ve done it again, a human and his family of funky robots… I love them)

And They Lived... - Steven Salvatore (nblm, fiction, about gender identity and learning to love yourself, read it a while ago but it was very nice)

I Wish You All The Best - Mason Deaver (nblm, fiction, about finding your identity and people who care about you, very cute and sweet)

The Song Of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (mlm, historical, very good in general)

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (mlm, background wlw in the third book, fantasy, it's a trilogy, basically Harry Potter if it was gay and also better)

Silver In The Wood - Emily Tesh (mlm, fantasy, very pretty, lots of fae stuff and lovely descriptions, it has a really good sequel too)

Pretty much anything by Alice Oseman (all cute and lovely and great, though I've only read Radio Silence so far I hear only good things, Solitaire is on my to-read list)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuinston (wlw, fiction, it's been a while but I liked this book)

The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth (wlw, fiction, this book was so cute and funny and deeply emotional it made me Feel way too many things, I'd definitely recommend it)

What Big Teeth - Rose Szabo (a bit of queerness all around, fantasy, werewolves and monsters, this one was pretty cool!, lots of original ideas for the world/character building)

His Quiet Agent - Ada Maria Soto (mlm, asexual, fiction, about like spies but this book was so gentle and sweet I wanted to cry in the best way possible)

Some By Virtue Fall - Alexandra Rowland (wlw, historical fiction(?), theatre drama!! rival romance!! duels!!, a very good read in general)

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend - Emma R. Alban (wlw, historical fiction, I’m not usually one for regency romances, but I really liked this!!, very cute and lots of drama, and there’s a sequel coming out soon!)

[vladdyissues]

Day 27: Treasure

[nyaskitten]

One the One Hand I think all the designs of Wu, FSM, and Lloyd with non-human features (big chompers, claws, horns, tails, etc) are Extremely cool I love them keep up the good work gang, on the Other I think it's really funny to draw them all as Just Some Guy and then Garmadon is just there, the Least human .