#shipping real people is already murky territory as it

[thesingingrevolution]

“(ship/pair name) is over” some of you guys need to remember these are real people with real feelings and even if you aren’t getting “ship/pair content” for whatever reason, it’s really weird, insensitive even, to insinuate someone’s relationship is “over” just because it’s not as public or over the top as it once was

[tetrakys]

5 reasons why you should play Moonlight Lovers Neil

Is this post propaganda? Yes, it is. It totally is. In my opinion Neil’s route is the best thing Beemoov has ever given us and people should know. So, I’m gonna do something I never do, tumblr’s immortal sin: crosspost. I think people from some specific fandoms would like this route. So here is the list of reason why you should play this game:

5. THE ROUTE We are romancing a villain. The villain of the previous routes. So this makes this route already quite different from the others and very interesting. He is a complicated man (vampire) with a long and complicated past. If you have never played ML I suggest you play Vladimir first (and maybe Beliath too if you have the capacity). You don’t have to, because the story is understandable anyway, but I recommend it because it’ll give more flavour to Neil’s route once you get to him. Everything is sort of flipped here, we learn to see things from his own experience and point of view first and then the other vampires, so what we took from granted as correct and just in the previous routes, gets questioned and revaluated here. Morality and actions are questioned and black and white blend in a very murky grey.

4. NEIL  He’s a really hot dilf... ehm... I mean older guy 😌

And he’s SASSY. I love it. He keeps roasting the other vampires like the king he is 

and yeah he’s an actual real life ancient Irish king (Niall "Noígíallach"), with very interesting lore.

3. ELOISE  Eloise (the MC) is a total badass. Differently from the other routes, she’s turned into a vampire from the first moment and she owns it. She’s great and not in a Mary-sue unbelievable chosen-one style, she’s just very talented and smart. She actually has agency and is at the centre of the plot. This route is really her/our journey, where we are discovering our power and what we’re willing to do for it.

We also get to suck dry a wannaby r*pist early in the route, which is one of my favourite scenes.

2. THE RELATIONSHIP 

The relationship between Eloise and Neil is top tier. Despite him being the villain and trying to kill her on all the other routes, here she is his protégé. For this reason, it’s not a real enemies-to-lovers route, but more a mentor/mentee romance. And, despite that, there’s no power imbalance, and he is very respectful of her. There’s no way anyone could call this relationship toxic. He likes Eloise being fierce and strong and lets her take charge whenever she wants.

Also, him being older, he’s a true gentleman

--

Now, if you are like me and like “problematic” ships, this may potentially sound boring, but it isn’t at all. The spice lies in the fact that Eloise is basically slowly being seduced to the dark side and turning into a villain herself. This is the dream of anyone wishing to join team evil in Eldarya or people who always wished to romance a sith and join them.

--

--

1. THE ENDINGS On the other hand, if turning bad and killing people doesn’t suit you, you can choose to remain faithful to your inner humanity and goodness. You have choices on directly impacting the ending 

So, in the end, if Neil really isn’t your cup of tea but you still like the idea of being a badass vampire, you could end up siding up with the “good” guys and probably kill Neil, or banish him, I can’t say yet because as at the time I’m writing this (November 2021) not all episodes have been released yet, but these or similar outcomes are very likely.

Here is my list, I won’t say more to not slip too much into spoilers territory, but feel free to check my ‘ml neil’ tag if you want to know more.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[google-plexed]

Up Above

Loosely related to Down Below.

Prompt: you are dropped in the middle of your favorite book and get to meet the characters

Prompt: “No windows, no doors, not a single crack in the wall as far as I could tell. I had woken in this white room minutes or hours before- time seemed to have stalled- and hadn’t heard a sound. If this was a dream, it wasn’t like any dream I’d had before. No, this was very real. All at once...”

The first thing I saw was white, which was weird because my bedroom wasn’t white and I had those thick curtains to block out the morning sun. I pushed myself up and began to look around. No window, no doors, not a single crack in the wall as far as I could tell. This was definitely not my bedroom. 

I began to blink furiously to force myself out of what I like to call my “pre-awake” state, where I’ve just woken up but I’m not quite awake. How did I end up here? I didn’t remember falling asleep or going to bed, which means there’s no telling how long I’ve been here. I started rubbing my temples in concentration- my mother does it sometimes, when she’s trying to remember something. The only thing I could remember was that I had been at home, reading about a marine biologist’s trek deep into the Mariana Trench. And now I was here. 

So, there was no telling how long I’d been here. There was probably no telling how I got here either, since there wasn’t any door for some cliched villain to casually stroll through and recklessly reveal the extent of his plans to me, and there didn’t even seem to be any intercom system attached to the wall. There wasn’t even a way to tell what time is was now, since there weren’t any windows. I held my breath, listening intently. I couldn’t even hear a sound. It was as if time had stalled. If this was a dream, it wasn’t like any dream I’d had before. No, this was very real.

All at once, the bed gave out from under me and I was falling. I felt my ears pop and the wind slap across my face, and then a cold tremor shook my entire body. I had fallen into ice-cold water.

“What?” I mumbled but it was muffled by scuba gear. Now I was wearing scuba gear? I hadn’t woken up in scuba gear. What was going on?

Treading at the surface, I twisted myself around, peering in every direction. There wasn’t any nearby land, or even a boat, so it seemed the only way to go was down. That wasn’t the end of the world- I had been studying marine biology for years, I’d be able to figure out where I was by the wildlife. The real question was if this wasn’t a dream, what was it? Whatever force was behind this had the foresight to give me scuba gear but not enough foresight to give me a boat or somewhere to rest when I ran out of oxygen. Since there really was nowhere to go but down, I guess that was a pretty dark thought.

On my way down, I couldn’t make out any fish, just murky waters and dark strands of kelp, the kind you think of when you hear the words “watery grave.” I really needed to stop having these dark thoughts. 

For what felt like hours, I kept sinking down, careful to not so much as breathe too loudly in the hopes of hearing something. The only thing I could hear, though, was the rushing of water past my eyes as I moved down, Eventually, I sunk low enough to reach a clearing of sorts. That’s when I saw it.

A dark cave, with rounded out edges, standing ominously a few meters away. I probably wouldn’t have gone in, but there was this small speck of light within, a soft glow amidst the dark. This cave had to lead to somewhere- that’s just how light works. I ventured inside, focusing of the flicker of the light. As I moved forward, the glow grew wider and wider, expanding to the walls of the cave. Both the ceiling and the floor opened up to something more incredible than I had even imagined. 

Tall, narrow towers of copper and bronze, sparkling as they pointed towards the surface. That indescribable feeling I got looking at a city skyline in person, where everything looks so still from so far away but still seemed to hum with activity. The unmistakable sound of people- or fish or something, but definitely sentient beings- going about their day. I had stumbled upon a city that kind of looked like a cartoonist’s depiction of Atlantis. 

I was about to swim for the city when I felt the water around me vibrate. Something was coming. 

The water rushed up against my back and then quickly receded. Whatever it was was coming through the cave! I ducked out of the cave’s opening, pressed myself to the its outer wall, and waited. 

Out came a submarine. It looked fairly new, although it had taken some kind of beating. It stopped for a moment, at the foot of the cave, before moving towards the city. I had to go after them- maybe whoever was in there could let me travel with them for when my oxygen gave out, or at least point me towards land!

The problem was that the submarine was a lot faster than me, and I was already behind since I had let the sub move first. Luckily for me, the sub halted about halfway to the city. As I moved to catch up with it, something shot out and wrapped around my waist, yanking me towards the sub. The water rushed past my ears, and I was helpless to fight it as I was pulled inside. 

Once again, I was trapped, in a room with no windows. There was a loud hissing sound, and the water suddenly began to drain out the room, leaving me soaked in scuba gear that now felt too heavy, clinging to my skin. The doors in front of me parted, revealing a tall man dressed in uniform and a short woman dressed in a jumper suit. 

“Who are you?” the woman got out first. I was opened my mouth, ready to explain that I was lost (though not quite ready to explain how I got lost), when-

“Now, now, Professor, it’s my ship, I’ll be asking the questions here.” The man’s voice was as smooth as butter. He advanced towards me, only stopping a few feet away. 

“Wanna take off your suit?”

That’s when I realized I hadn’t so much as taken off my goggles. I probably looked like an idiot to these people. Well, maybe I could score some pity points. I pulled my headgear away, yanking the goggles off my head. They were the bigger, square kind that covered your nose as well as your eyes. I never really liked them as a kid- they were uncomfortable and fogged up fast, and when you took them off you were still left with their square suctiony imprints on your face. Now was probably no exception, so I probably looked ridiculous. 

Both wore matching expressions of shock at the sight of my face. Maybe it was even worse than I thought. 

The woman strode forward. “How did you get here? We’re in the middle of the Trench!”

The man peered behind me with a raised eyebrow. “That tank’s not big enough to get you here, there’s no land for hundreds of miles.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Is there another sub around? Where’s your crew?”

“Professor-”

“Shove it, Captain!” she turned back to me, “And you! Where’s your crew? What are you doing out here? Are you all marine biologists too?”

“It’s just me, it’s just me!” The last thing I needed right now was for my would-be saviors to think I was some sort of competition. “And I don’t remember how I got here, I swear!”

The woman scoffed. “Oh, you don’t remember? You don’t remember getting your gear, boarding your sub, and diving down? How stupid do you think we are?”

I was half afraid the woman was going to have me ejected from the ship, but the captain seemed more amused than suspicious. “Getting territorial, are we, Professor? It could have been worse, at least she’s human.”

Now that was a weird thing to say. “Of course I’m human! Why wouldn’t I be human?”

“Oh, sure, like you didn’t run into that kraken out there. Oh, but you don’t remember that, do you?”

“Kraken?” Wait a second. I looked at the captain and the professor, really looked at them this time. A suave submarine captain. A kraken. A professor who was territorial over the idea of there being other marine biologists in the Trench. This was starting to sound like my book. Maybe I was dreaming. “Are we in the Mariana Trench?”

The woman rolled her eyes at me. “Y’know, you don’t need to pretend like you don’t remember where you are. No one accidentally ends up at the bottom of the ocean.” 

I was never big on coincidences, so it could only mean one thing. “Di-”

And then the professor and captain were replaced by two other figures. One was looking to the side while leaning close to me. The other was clutching a clipboard. 

“How long?” the latter asked.

“After she boarded? About 7 minutes, if you count the two minutes she was in drainage.”

“W-what’s going on?” I slurred. 

“It’s okay,” the one closer to me said, “you’re fine.”

“Where’s Diane?” I was about to meet my favorite book character of all time, about to call her by her name and convince her that I wasn’t trying to rob her of her research, and now I was here. Was it really all a dream? 

The next thing I heard answered my own question:

“You just finished the simulation. Your memory’s probably still hazy. Do you want some water?”

[isleofbants]

hi even though no one asked for my opinion I’m just gonna ramble for a quick sec ok?

I have often felt an incredible amount of guilt for shipping and creating content in the phandom because I felt doing so would inherently 1. be invasive to their private lives and 2. automatically result in a fetishization of gay male relationships. (both can happen but it is not inherent in writing fic! written below is the hot take on that)

Handling number 1, the negotiation of privacy, can be tricky but I feel like if you aren’t harassing them to reveal the actual real-life minutia of their relationship/personal life and you aren’t speculating for ‘proof’ of something they aren’t comfortable sharing then it’s pretty cool beans.

I know dnp aren’t characters so this is where it gets a little murky. But the dnp in my stories aren’t the same dnp I watch in the videos. I feel like if I were to try and make the characters in my story actually be them and tell the ‘truth,’ I would be overstepping my bounds into their personal relationship. (At the same time I don’t and will not excuse all action to the defense of “it’s just fiction!!” when I know these are people are real and cannot be excused as fiction.)

Handling number 2, the age old question of mlm fetishization. The next part is really long so:

TLDR, a lot of fic is written by and for queer people to feel represented, seen, and serve as a stepping stone for their own self acceptance and cognitive normalisation. Seeing yourself in something and reproducing your own imagination of what a healthy, queer relationship is like can be liberating. While representation is one thing, using fic as sexual exploration for personal discovery is another that can easily slip into danger territory for personal fantasy and satisfaction.

Long version: I’ve only strongly shipped and written within the phandom but have casually shipped a range of relationships. Unfortunately, in the past mlm outweighed wlw pairs. BEFORE YOU YELL, LET ME TELL YOU WHY.

As a POC departing from the heteronormative, I supremely repressed a lot of things to the point of confusion and uncertainty. Do I like her or do I just want to be her? Is this feeling of violent discomfort with my body a response to the hyper-sexualization of women or do I not feel at home here at all? What does gender and sexuality even mean????

Being a cis, thin, white gay male was (and is) a more accepted image of queerness in mainstream society. So, subtle mlm shipping sort of became the outlet for which I could engage in LGBT+ without pointing to myself and going, ME ME ME. I was basically like:

While I now ship wlw relationships a lot more, I used to avoid them in fear of what it would say about me. All the same, I feel guilty that I used these representations of gay men to assert my existence somehow while denying my sweet wlws. I’m sorry Sapphic gods, I wish I could take it all back. I take accountability for my fear based oppression and internal hatred which I projected onto you. 

I also acknowledge what a pity it is that LGBT people (including myself) feel guilty for consuming queer media because of the blanket assumption of fetishization. 

But,,, fetishization does exist and writing sex in fic is ,,,, trickyy.

Something I always wonder is if dnp were a straight couple, would I have any qualms about writing sex. The answer for the most part is no (excluding my hang-ups about privacy and what is acceptable for rpf and sex).

HOWEVER, the historical and political context around these issues mean that in order to treat these situations with equity, sometimes they can’t be treated as the exact same thing. There is a long history of hyper-sexualizing the LGBT community and using this for fantasy. It gets even more complicated when we’re writing about people’s real-liferelationships. (When sexual representation and discovering sexuality turns to gratification for individual pleasure then it’s yikes)

YET, sex is a thing and making it more of a taboo in our puritanical society is not helpful either. People have sex and it can function as an important part of a relationship for couples who do engage in such activities. It should be normalized instead of clouded in shame and impurity.

My rule of thumb is, if it seems to fit naturally in the story and relationship dynamic, then it can sometimes aid in showing important aspects of the story/character. Example, my fic currently has sex because one main themes is about exploring sexuality and discovering new parts of yourself in relation to a queer relationship. But (maybe you’ve noticed), I’ve been abbreviating these scenes lately as I don’t feel they are serving the purpose I intended. Sometimes I think maybe I previously made them full length in fear that no one would read my story without it – when in reality, maybe a shortened version could’ve served it’s purpose as well??? But maybe it wouldn’t. Who knows.

Basically I’m just being mindful and I think everyone else is too. This post is redundant as most everyone has already said this. But I’m happy we can create works while respecting boundaries and celebrating all forms of love with pride

[thecompletebookworm]

Where the Sea Takes You

A very happy @maydaymenagerie to the incredible @findingtallahassee, who is an absolute saint and was far too willing to put up with me.  

This is very loosely based on the Adaro, a little bit of Solomon Islands' mythology.  Basically I've made the Adaro more humanoid, allowed them to be any gender, and veered away from the definition where it is just the evil part of a person's soul that is trapped on Earth terrorizing others while the rest of them can pass on.  Takes place post 3A, and ignores the Dark One Vault mythology. 

Available on AO3 as well.  

This was a stupid idea, an absolutely crazy stupid idea.  She skirted around the edge of the water, being careful not to touch it just yet.   Though to be fair, Belle had already tried most of the less out there ideas and her heart was aching. 

She hadn't stayed too long with the other Storybrooke residents once she was back. If she was going to feel all alone, she might as well feel alone where she felt at home.  

Not that it was anyone's fault. The Charmings had an entire kingdom to run and their daughter's absence to grieve.  She'd been happy to see Robin again, to play with the little boy who had been saved by a deal made what felt like ages ago.  Still, even as she helped with finding blankets and sorting through other supplies, Belle felt empty.  Sure she was helping people, and maybe she was being selfish, but right now the only person she wanted to help was her True Love.  

She refused to believe he was dead.   Even though that was probably the safest assumption, with his dagger through his chest.  But Rumplestiltskin had disappeared in a blinding flash of light.  His lifeless body hadn't hit the ground.  She hadn't cradled it to her chest, her tears soaking into his suit that only in death could look unkempt, as his lifeless eyes stared up at her.  While those images had haunted her nightmares, they were not reality.  Only his dagger had clattered to the ground.  

The others didn't quite see it that way.  She didn't need her pitying looks.  Her true love was out there and she was going to do everything in her power to find him.  

Belle had scoured the Charming's library and then the Dark Castle's.  While never one to shy away from research, there was something troubling about especially difficult about hunting down a way to find Rumple with no clues.  She could write a better book about the Dark Ones than any of the ones she found, although that was probably by design.  She could practically hear Rumple's voice in her head, muttering about wanting to know the monster's weaknesses.  

Like she needed a book to do that.  Experience had taught her well.  While technically Dark Ones do not need sleep, they should not be left working magic for longer than 15 hours at a time if you want a sociable Dark One.  Provide cookies at teatime for a smile.  Warm patches of sunlight were irresistible when grouchy.  

Although looking back, maybe she just knew what made Rumplestiltskin tick, not the dark one specifically.  

Belle's foot grazed the water and she jerked it back.  She was not going to summon the creature before she was ready, or at least until she had taken the precautions so that she knew she was summoning the right creature.  

Belle had found the first mention of the creature when she'd translated some of the ancient Fairy texts.  These waters were haunted by fearsome beasts, the Adaro, if she'd read it correctly.  At first Belle had dismissed the creatures as just another name for merfolk, but after talking it over with Ariel she decided a little more research was necessary.  Ariel had never heard of any merperson with a shark's dorsal fin or a sword extending from their forehead. And the line proclaiming, the Adaro to be affected by the darkest of magic and forced into serving penance, seemed to fit too perfectly.  

Her heart had swelled with hope when she had finally found a ship willing to take her to an island in the heart of Adaro territory, but Belle had tried to not let her hope get the better of her.   The Adaro were by no means her first theory, failing the intervention of fate, they were her last.   She had traveled to countless forests and enough ominous caves to know that just because something worked on paper, there was no guarantee that it would lead her to her True Love.    

Belle shuddered in the cool ocean breeze, more from anticipation than anything else really. She moved a few steps further in land to avoid the tide as she pulled the final ingredients to summon the Adaro from her satchel.  A lock of her hair, a handkerchief she'd just happened to have in her pocket when they left Storybrooke, a tiny square of leather from her favorite pair of his pants and their chipped cup.  Nervously smoothing out the handkerchief one last time, Belle kicked off her shoes and approached the water, her feet sinking into the wet sand.  

She closed her eyes and stepped forward.   As her toes touched the water, Belle drew forth her last memory of Rumplestiltskin.  

"I love you, Belle. You made me stronger."   She echoed his last words to herself.  

Belle kept walking forward into the sea, the water rising higher and higher up her legs.  While she stumbled over a rock on the seabed, she did not open her eyes.  When the water reached her chest, she began to drop the items one by one, visualizing Rumplestiltskin as she did so.  

The Handkerchief floated for a second before it sank in the murky water, practically glowing under the light of the moon.  She thought of when he first found her again and they were headed back from the well in his car.  She had started crying silent tears.  This world was new and overwhelming but Rumplestiltskin was somehow there with her.   He couldn't very well dry her tears while driving but he had pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her.   He'd held her hand the whole ride home, which she now knew from experience, was not the safest idea.  But Rumplestiltskin had been a better driver than her and when they made it home in one piece, he had clutched her to his chest and promised he was never going anywhere.  

Belle bit her lip, trying to keep herself on the task at hand.  As soon as she got him back, Belle was going to keep him to that promise.  

The leather fragment was next.  He had always looked so good in those pants.  She had thought she was coming down with something the first time she saw him in them.  Her heart rate had sped and she felt clammy.  Looking back it was almost silly how much worried she'd been, but to be fair it was the first real taste of attraction.  And she certainly was heartsick in the end.  

Her hair, the hair of a lover, was one of the strongest summoners.  It was why many deemed this ritual too difficult or risky.  The Adaro were supposed to be the most fearsome of men and women in their pasts.  Finding a love, or even someone they cared about was supposed to be the most difficult step.   But in their case, it had been the simplest ingredient.  

Belle turned the chipped cup over in her hand, running her hand carefully over the fractured edge.  She had been so worried upon her arrival at the Dark Castle, but even when he was pretending to be indifferent, Rumplestiltskin had known exactly what to say to calm her down.  

She finally opened her eyes, the cup still clutched in her right hand.  It was hard to see, but she thought she might see some movement in the distance.   As the movement drew closer, she saw not one, but nearly half a dozen dorsal fins sticking out of the black water.    Belle stood her ground despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to run.  The sea captain had laughed at her; called it a suicide mission claimed her gold was just as good as any, but still refused to take payment for the return voyage.  Belle understood now.  The mere presence of a human, especially one alone and desperate on a moonlit night, would be enough to draw attention to herself, just not necessarily the attention she wanted.  

Still the creatures stopped several body lengths away from her.  They were close enough that she could see the sharp swordlike point extending from the tips of their heads, but not close enough to make out their faces.

Belle clutched the cup tighter to her chest.  Do the brave thing and bravery will follow.  

"I'm looking for Rumplestiltskin."  

She wasn't sure if they understood her.  Still one swam closer to her and Belle's heart picked up.  "Rumple," she allowed herself to whisper.  

But as it grew closer she could tell it was not.  The women, if you could call this Adaro a woman, had long dark brown hair that seemed matted against the small grey scales of her skin.  It's twisted expression allowed Belle to see the large fangs bared menacingly at her, head tilted downward so she could strike Belle's chest.  

This had been a fool's errand, and now it was going to be all over.  Belle squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact.  A part of her hoped that she had been thoroughly wrong and just in denial about Rumple's death. Because if he was actually dead, she'd merely be joining him, instead of leaving him cursed and lost somewhere by himself.  She heard what she could only describe as a snarl and knew that one way or another she was about to find out.  Hopefully, it would be a quick death, a painless one.  

But the blow she expected never came.  Belle opened her eyes a sliver to see exactly what was taking so long.  

Another Adaro had joined the first.  They were fighting, heavy tails thrashing around the shallow water, heads turning this way and that to use their swords.  

It was with a whine that the black haired Adaro conceded, fleeing back into the small circle.  With its opponent gone, Belle was able to get a closer look at her savior.  

His hair was shaggy and brown, the ends curling from the salt water.  He peered at her with deep brown eyes that she would recognize anywhere.  

"Rumple!" she wanted to throw her arms around the creature that was also her husband, but he shrunk back from her.  

He didn't remember, couldn't remember in this form.  Still she had hope.  He was closer than he'd been in months, even if he didn't recognize her.  Belle dipped the chipped cup in the water, filling it to the brim before dumping it over her outstretched hand.  

His eyes seemed to light up at the cup, although it might just be because it was something new and unfamiliar.   He offered her his own scaled hand and did not pull away when she clasped it.  

Staring with determination at their interwoven fingers, Belle dipped their cup into the water once again and poured it over them.  She felt his grip tighten for a second, before he pulled away.   As soon as his hand left hers, she wanted to scream.  They were so close.  He couldn't leave now.  

But soon Belle felt him nuzzling up against her side, almost as if he couldn't get enough of her.  

This time she was the one to pull away and a small smile broke out at his whining.  But she had only pulled him off his position plastered at her side so she could face him.  

"I don't know exactly what is going to happen Rumple.  I know before you needed your curse to find your son, and he needs help finding his.  But please,” Belle bit her lip. "I don't even know if you can understand me, but let my kiss you.  Let me at least break this one.  Come back to me Rumple."  

She leaned forward and although he didn't pull away, it wasn't exactly the great reunion kiss she'd been hoping for. He was stiff as a board at first, his webbed fingers plastered to his side.  But even as she watched, as the grey scales melted into flesh, he grew bolder, pulling her closer and running his fingers through her hair.  Belle could feel the tears running down her face, but she didn't stop kissing him, didn't pull away until she absolutely had to.  

Gasping for air, she could only stare at her love and try to enjoy the feeling of all the places where his very human body was pressed up against hers.  

"You saved me."  His face was so full of awe she almost giggled.  

"Of course I did.  I couldn't very well live my happily ever after without you."  

He pulled her in close once again, running his hands down her body, affirming that she was here, that she was real.  He could feel her shivering and placed a hand at the small of her back to guide her out of the water.  

"And that's exactly what we're going to do, just as soon as we get you into something dry."  

Belle gave him a slightly disapproving look.  Her soaked white chemise was nothing compared to the fact that his transformation had left him completely naked.  "I thought you didn't believe villains got happy endings."  

Rumplestiltskin gave a dark chuckle at that.  "Let's just say I'm not about to stand in the way of the happy ending of the bravest hero I've ever known, and if she just so happens to be in love with a beast-"

"Madly, madly in love with the beast" Her cheeky grin betrayed the fact that just this once she wasn't going to argue with him over calling himself a beast.

"If she just so happens to be madly in love with a beast, I see no reason to deprive her."   Rumplestiltskin kissed her, nearly making her fall onto the sandy shore with the force, but catching her.  

"Good.  Because my happy ending only works if your get yours too."  

"Anything for you sweetheart."  

[lovely-flutter]

A siren’s night

“Don’t go,” said the man who had been fighting for his life only a few moments ago.

“Do you really?” said the man who did not believe in love before hearing their voice resonating from the dark of the sea, “Please take me,” giving themselves to the cold sea, to them, it almost made them laugh the first time they practiced hunting. These people who had been fighting for their lives on the ship, now we’re surrendering to something as pointless as love or lust or that one guy that fell for the feet kink. Making a siren materialize feet was nothing for them but being able to show them to the tourist while swimming was a kind of a hustle but doable. They were used to calling themselves a professional.

There was a murky sky that day. If you even can call the sky murky on any occasion. The sun was was only visible through the sea of dark and darker clouds. It wasn’t particularly cold at the time and a new ship had just arrived on their territory. It wasn’t big enough to be a cruise ship. It wasn’t small enough to be a sailing ship. It felt menacing in it’s own way with only one man on deck but it was a quite day, so you wouldn’t need many to people to man the ship. The siren could already see how they would drag every person to the depths. They could smell their blood plumping through their skin. They could hear their heartbeats.

There were 4 people under the deck. They could guess two of them were asleep and two others were still moving. They could almost smell their desires.

The man on deck? He had had weeks on sea and was lusting after someone on land. Taking the form of the woman would be easy. Lust. Love. Food? Well that was an unexpected one.

Human’s are starving for something at every moment. And their desires we’re so easy for her to discover.

You might say “her”, some might say “him”, others more experienced people might call them “it”. The simple delusion that sirens we’re all beautiful women came simply because at times when siren were not nearly extinct, male sailors we’re mostly the ones at sea. But no, these creatures can’t be qualified as men nor women. Their real form after all doesn’t resemble to anything human at all. Half fish half extension of fish, they are one of nature’s most deceiving predators. This one particular siren was just closing in on their new prey.