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dinofelissnow1985 · 1 year ago

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Peas in a Pod

by DinofelisSnow1985

Summary:

The wonders of life, a first time ever and something new.

----

Cranberry groaned and rubbed his belly.

He felt absolutely bloated, his flesh strained from the stretch.

It's been almost a year now. The next mating season was just around the corner and he was yet to give birth to the pups he conceived last year.

He didn't understand.

Not the long pregnancy, this was normal for his kind. When he still had been with his shiver he always dealt with the ones that had gotten pregnant during the season one year prior.

What he couldn't get was why he was so big. His kind only had one or two pups at once. Yet he felt like he was carrying as many as Cross had.

The laughter of the pups, playing oustside, supervised by Cross, Lust and several of Dust's pilot fish, floated in to him, light and bright like sunlight, playing in the waves at the surface.

While lively and impossible to ignore, the audible delight and happiness of the little ones soothed him and lulled him to sleep.

Back then, when Cross had his eggs, Cran had slipped back into his role as midwife easily.

Later, when everything had calmed a little, the pod as well as the resident couple had realized that they were stuck for at least a few years.

You don't go wander with a bunch of hatchlings. Even if the pod decided to stay in the area, which hadn't been decided on yet, it would take a few years for the pups to grow strong enough. That's why most wandering mer species had established travelling routes they hardly ever changed or wandered off, including nurseries, where the expecting parents could stay and raise their pups until they'd be old enough and join the pod with their parents when they came by again.

Two days after Cross, Lust had his clutch of seven, making it a total of nineteen eggs, later pups, for nine adults to look after.

Well, not instantly. Until the pups hatched it had mostly been Cross, Lust and Cran who watched the eggs while one or two of the pod kept watch and the others were hunting and exploring with Dust, learning everything he knew about the territory.

Cranberry chewed him out when one day Horror brought him back home after he passed out from exhaustion.

Like when he'd nursed Cranberry back to health, he'd ran himself ragged since the whole pod had been exhausted and hungry, gone a long time without enough food before they arrived at their territory.

Dust had insisted that he was fine but Cran wouldn't have any of this. "Th' others 're g'nna be okay. Ya nee' ta res'. Cr'ss 'n' Lus' have f've ma'es ta take care a'em, i've 'nly you!" Cranberry had broken down in tears, being emotional and afraid of what might become of him if anything happened to his beloved, strong, wonderful mate. He didn't say it but he doubted the pod would burden themselves with a shark that couldn't kill and, probably, two additional pups to feed and protect.

He got a little hysterical and it took a long time for Dust to calm him down. Cranberry only stopped crying when Dust eventually promised to stay with him for a while to recover and keep watch in the meantime. Cranberry allowed the watch under the condition that Dust would cuddle with him. Dust smiled, wiped the residual tears from Cranberry's face and kissed him gently, sealing the promise.

The both of them had lain pressed to each other as close as possible and traded sweet kisses and soft touches.

Nightmare had approved of Cranberry's insistence, having gotten worried for Dust. He patiently convinced Dust that he and his pod were in good enough shape to take care of things for a while, knowing every nook, rock and algae in the territory by now.

Dust had only sighed and nodded, begrudgingly admitting to himself that he was running on fumes and was in need of a rest.

Cross and Lust, knowing Dust well enough, helped Cran keeping an Eye Socket on him, teasing him as being the first pup they watched in the crevice.

Of course Dust puffed up, protesting that he wasn't a pup. "But you act like one. Little brat," Cross teased, he, Lust and Cran snickering.

"Three against one is unfair," Dust huffed, pouting like a brat. "Awwwww, ya c'n tak' i', b'lov'd. Ya are so s'rong. An' han'sum. An' brav'. An' ya tak' s'ch goo' care a' me. S'ch a goo' ma'e. Da bes' ma'e," Cranberry purred and cooed, wrapping his arms around him and nuzzling and scenting him. Dust melted. His body went lax and he lay down with his cute little shark to wrap himself around him and snuggle with him.

Cross and Lust's expression softened at this display of affection and they cuddled next to the nests.

When Dust had recovered about a week later Killer asked him about Cran when they were out hunting. "Dude, Cranberry's pregnancy is going a while now. Cross and Lust had the eggs something about three weeks ago. Are you sure everything is alright?"

Dust nodded. "Yeah, it's normal. Cranberry told me that sand tiger sharks have one or two pups after about a year. So they'll be born around next mating season."

Killer had stared at him as if Dust had suddenly grown a pair of legs. "Are you fucking serious?! A year?! You gotta be kidding me."

Dust shook his head no. "Cran explained it to me. Sand tiger usually grow pretty big, every pregnant shark, or mer, produces a bunch of eggs in each uterine horn. The eggs develop and hatch inside of the mother, the first one to hatch in the respective side eats the others and the unfertilized eggs while they keep growing inside of the mother's womb. When the pups are born after roundabout a year they're already pretty large and full developed. For the long pregnancy they don't stay as long in the nursery as other species."

Killer was astonished, he never heard of anything like that. On the other hand, he'd never left his reef before it got destroyed and Nightmare and the others found him. So, what did he know.

"Does that mean he doesn't have as many siblings as we have?"

Dust shrugged. "As far as i know there's only his brother. You know, Mr. big and ugly. But i guess we could ask him. More than him turning us down won't happen."

In hopes to make him more talkative they brought him his favorite, crabs. After they shared their catch with everyone Dust and Killer settled close to Cran and, while opening the crab shells for him, Dust asked him, "Babe, Kills brought something up that we would like to ask you." With his words came a piece of crab meat, offered by Dust.

Cranberry ate it straight from Dust's hand and nodded for him to go on.

"Cran, beside your brother, do you have any other siblings, i don't know about yet?"

Cranberry looked at them with wide Eye Sockets. "Wha' brough' tha' up?"

Killer explained since he brought it up. "I asked Dust why you hadn't had your pups yet and he explained to me how pregnancy works for your kind. That made me wonder how much siblings you might have." With his last words Killer offered him a piece of crab meat as well. Instead of eating it from Killer's hand, like he did with Dust, Cranberry took it before eating it. They weren't each other's after all.

"Th' ans'er 's s'mpl', 's jus' me 'n' 'im. Ou' moth'r neva go' pr'gn'n' ag'n."

"There a reason?" Killer asked before shoving a bite into his own mouth and giving Cran another.

Cranberry took his time, chewing the delicious crab meat, before answering. "'Ccord'n' to mah ment'r i shou'n' exis'. When mah modder was s'ill young she go' 'ttacked by a bigg'r hun'er. Tor' open de side of 'er belly, bar'ly s'rviv'd. Mah ment'r wasn' jus' de midw'fe o' mah shiv'r, bu' th' closes' th'n' we 'ad ta a heal'r. Patch'd 'er back up, tol' 'er she migh' neva 'ave a pup from da 'urt side.

When she was ol' 'nough she go' a ma'e. Go' pr'gn'n only sum years la'er. Go' me 'n' mah bro'er. Eld'r said 'm from da scarr'd side, tha's why 'm a run'. Mah bro'er was pre'y big an' 'avin' me from da scarr'd side and mah bigass bro t'k a toll on 'er. She neva go' pr'gn'n eva ag'n. An' dey kep' tryin'. 'Ntil pop died. 'N 'cciden' durin' a hun'. Mom died few years 'go, in a figh'. Th' bull wi' mah bro'er ya 'now 'lready."

While Cranberry had told them the story of his mother, Dust and Killer had kept feeding him.

"Huh, you've got quite a story to tell with your life and family background, Cran-Cran," Killer mused.

"Yeah, bu' mom 'n' pop were no' so ba'. Pop was a goo' hun'er an' made s're i go' mah share. Mebbe 'e hop'd i woul' s'ill grow big wi' 'nough food. 'E din' know wha' ta do wi' me when i s'ayed smol an' 'e foc's'd on mah bro'er, taugh' 'im 'ow ta hun'. Mom taugh' 'im 'ow ta figh'. An' i was dum'd on de el'er tha' b'c'me mah ment'r. Bu' dey fed us. 'T leas' 'nt'l i learn'd ta hun'. Guess dey though' i woul' ge' ova mahself an' kill mah own pre' soon'r or la'er. We know i' neva happ'n'd."

"There's nothing wrong about it, i hope you know that, sea cutecumber," Dust told him and snuggled close.

"Of course there's nothing wrong," Killer agreed. "You are you, Cran. If you were like any other sand tiger you weren't something special. You would've probably never met Dust, never become his mate. He would've either travelled on or got killed, and we would be in deep shit, coming here, hungry and tired and easy pickings for your shiver. Maybe not all, but some of us would be dead by now, including Cross and Lust and our eggs. You being the way you are made a big difference. For each of us. Please never change."

Cranberry blushed and didn't know what to do or say.

Suddenly Dust snorted. "Good currents, did Nightmare rub off on you? That sounded like something he would say." Killer only grinned.

---

The pups, after they hatched several weeks later, turned out to love Cranberry the same as they loved their actual parents.

Over the course of the following year, while they grew stronger and livelier by the day, Cranberry got rounder and heavier, until he decided that it was safer for him to stay inside.

That had been four months ago.

Now he could barely move without help and felt utterly useless.

And the longer his pregnancy went on, the more afraid he got of the day he would go into labor.

---

Then mating season started.

The whole pod, except Cross and Lust, went into heat and how things looked, this might be for Dream, Error and maybe Killer to carry offspring.

A few days in, Cranberry woke up one morning having contractions. They became stronger and closer after each other and Cran had to fight down his panic.

He was an experienced midwife, dammit. He had helped dozens of pups to be born, he knew what to do.

Yet he had never given birth himself before.

He tried to remember what his mentor, and later he himself, always told the first-timers when they went into labor.

So he focused on his breathing and tried to not fight the contractions. He knew he had to endure them to loosen his entrance so the pups could fit through.

When the pain heightened to agony he gritted his teeth and wished his mentor would be with him to help him through this ordeal.

Eventually, just when the others began to stir, he failed to contain a cry of pain, alarming everyone else immediately. Dust was at his side in an instant.

"Cran? Babe? What's wrong? Talk to me starfish." Gently he cupped Cranberry's cheeks and pressed his teeth softly to his forehead. Cranberry whimpered and gripped his mate's wrists hard like a vice.

"Pups... 're comin'," he got out past the pain. "S'ay?.... Pl'se?" He sounded meek and small.

Dust kissed him again. "Won't even think of any other place, love. You're stuck with me, if you want or not." That wrung a gasped out laugh from Cranberry and he kissed Dust's knuckles, grateful for having him.

"What's wrong with Cran-Cran?" Killer asked worried. "The pups are coming. I don't know how long this will take, so can you take the little ones outside and hunt without me?" "Course we can," Horror said and went to gather the yearlings to take them outside.

Cross and Lust looked at each other and, in silent agreement, decided to help Cranberry like he had helped them one year ago.

Killer and Error followed Horror outside to keep watch over their pups and the crevice while Dream and Nightmare went out to hunt.

After hours of painful contractions, assisted by Lust and Cross and comforted by Dust, Cranberry finally felt the urge to push.

He pushed as hard as he could, but somehow a part of his abdominal muscles didn't cooperate with him.

The pressing contraction went by without making much progress and Cran dissolved into fearful tears. "I can' do i'... can' pr'ss hard 'nough... can' push 'em ou'..." he started to panic.

Dust kissed Cranberry's tears away and murmured soft reassurances. "You'll be fine, love. We'll help you. Breathe, babe, and then tell us what you need. Calm down, you're safe. I'm here and Lust and Cross are with us to help too. You're so strong, starfish. Just breathe."

Cranberry gulped down water and tried to breathe through the haze of pain and panic. "M-mah mus'les... dey won' func'ion... when i pr'ss... mah ol' woun's 'member?"

Yes, Dust remembered. He remembered Cranberry having a deep gouge reaching from right beneath the side of his lowest ribs slightly diagonally to somewhere near his slit. The scar was still there, deep and ugly, the torn flesh never reconnected right, causing Cran trouble moving. And seemingly not being able to contract to push the pups out.

Cross gently massaged the taut flesh, feeling for the place where to press to help Cranberry to give birth. When he found the not-functioning parts of the muscles he took Lust's hands and guided him to the right spots. Lust just nodded when he understood.

Cross took the lead. He was a fast learner and had assisted Cranberry when Lust had his clutch. He kept massaging Cran's belly, feeling for the pups and guiding the first one towards Cran's entrance.

When the next pressing pain rolled through him, Cranberry pushed as hard as he could while Cross and Lust helped him along, taking over for the damaged muscle to do the work.

Cranberry felt something inside him move downward and with the next contraction he pushed his firstborn out. He slumped, exhausted.

Cross frowned. "Cran, dear, i think there are more than one still inside. I can feel..." Cross felt over Cran's womb for the pups, furrowing his brow in concentration, "at least three more, maybe even more."

Cranberry hissed in tired disbelief on the thought going through this several times again.

---

It took most of the day until Cranberry had given birth to a total of five healthy pups, each one as big as the yearlings. They were two sharks and three Mackerel looking, but with sharp teeth.

Cranberry was utterly spent and fell asleep as soon as the contractions and the pains wore off.

Dust was so proud of his astonishing mate. So small and gentle yet still so strong, capable and managing to bear not two, but five pups at once. Obviously they hadn't eaten each other, most likely only consumed the unfertilized and undeveloped eggs. The newborn pups snuggled close to their mother and fell asleep as well, just as tired.

While Dust watched over his exhausted mate, the pod took care of the pups when they woke up an hour later. They were hungry and chirped to signale they wanted to be fed.

They turned out to be as developed as the yearlings of the pod and mingled with them quite natural. They were groomed by the adults just like the others and got familiar with them.

This night they all gathered around Cranberry and the pup pile of twenty-four, and slept closer to each other than ever.

While the mating season went on for most of the podmates, Dust sent out his pilot fish to watch out for dangers and cared for his mate and the two dozens of pups with the help of Cross and Lust.

From time to time one or two of the others would show up to bring them food. Once Dream brought a fat crab and clams, gave them to Dust, then nuzzled him and pressed a kiss to Cran's forehead.

Dust was dumbfounded. And Cross and Lust blushed heavily while some of the pups giggled, not understanding what was going on. Well, they weren't the only ones.

On another occasion, when Cranberry finally had woken up, Killer and Horror returned, giving most of their catch to the pups and then chirping and purring at Cran, making sure he was fine and feeding him what they brought for him. They'd happened to come across a school of sea breams, managing to catch several fat ones.

Dust didn't know what to make of the behavior of the pod. They doted over his mate like he was theirs, and didn't leave him left out either. They offered him food as well. Dust began to think his friends might be a little too driven by mating instincts. But, he didn't complain. He felt a little flattered, if he was completely honest.

The days went on, Cranberry slowly recovered from the strainous birth and he and Dust got used to the small affectionate gestures from the others, be it food offerings, nuzzles, chaste kisses or napping cuddled up to each other.

On one of the last days of mating season the whole pod, including Cross and Lust left to gather a special feast. They left the pups in the care of the couple.

Later when they returned they fed the pups and put them to sleep in a big shared nest.

Then Nightmare took the word, seeming a little nervous. "Dust, Cranberry. It's been about a year now since the two of you took us in, helped us in any way possible and accepted us without caring about everyone of us being a different species.

Before we came here, everywhere where we met other pods we were shown that we weren't welcome, while you, after that first misunderstanding, took us in unconditionally, not caring about if we were prey or predator. You, Cranberry, helped Cross and Lust during delivery without hesitation.

Our pups make no difference between you two and our pod. And, uhm... we would like to make it official. If you want to."

Dust and Cranberry stared, stunned to silence. After several seconds Killer rumbled lowly, "great, i think you broke them, Nighty."

The couple blinked, looked at each other, blinked again. Finally Dust found his voice. "You want WHAT NOW?"

"We want you and our pod become one. We all talked about it and we all agree. We want you two become ours and we want to become yours," Nightmare elaborated.

He came closer and offered each of them both an Oyster. When he retreated Dream came forward, blushing heavily and offering two Oysters as well. After him came Cross, then Lust, Horror, Killer and Error. Dust and Cranberry didn't know what to say. They looked at each other, then at the pup pile, then at each of the podmates.

They saw nothing but open affection and hope. They looked at each other again, and when a hopeful smile spread across Cran's face Dust had his answer.

He slung an arm around Cranberry's shoulders and grinned at Nightmare. "Yeah. We accept. Happily. To be honest, we have grown quite fond you lot too. And of the little shrimps as well."

To seal the courting bond they gathered their Oysters and began opening them.

They both gasped when each of them found a pearl in their first Oyster.

They inspected the others, each one hasn't been opened before so there was nothing manipulated. Yet each and every Oyster carried a pearl. This was unheard of. They all were in awe. And faced with such a miraculous blessing Cranberry began to cry happy tears.

Instantly the whole pod, their whole pod, huddled around their newest additions and showered them with affection.

They collected the fourteen pearls in a clam shell and Dust made the first move, loosening the flesh from one of his Oysters, keeping it between his teeth and pulling Nightmare close, sharing the morsel in a passionate kiss. The whole pod blushed at the display and Dust grinned wolfish at them after he and Nighty broke the kiss.

He grabbed Killer with one hand, an Oyster with the other, scraped the meat from the shell with his teeth and captured Killer's mouth in a deep breathtaking kiss.

Lust wrapped his arms around Cranberry's waist and pecked him on the cheek before grinning at him playfully. Encouraged Cran mimicked Dust, biting the meat out of the Oyster shell before sharing it with Lust in a kiss.

That way they shared kisses and the courting gifts with their new mates, accompanied by soft noises and sweet, affectionate touches.

After the Oysters were gone they shared the food, hand feeding each other to deepen the fresh bond.

The crevice was filled with unconditional love, soft, gentle and passionate.

This mating season might be at its last days, soon Cranberry would have three expecting mer on his hands again. And Error could be quite a handful of his own.

But there would always be the next year.

They weren't a couple and a pod anymore, they were one strong pod. And their future was bright and full of hope and love.

Notes:

I actually looked up how sand tiger sharks reproduce when i settled on this species for Cranberry.

I have the HC that mer deliver the same way their 'natural' counterparts would in regards of laying eggs or giving birth. Only that, since mer raise their pups, they have less. Partially depending on the species and the size of the mother.

When two mer with different ways of delivery mate, the pregnant one will deliver depending on their nature.

So, Dust is a Rainbow Mackerel (egg laying) and Cran is a sand tiger (life birth) and since Cran is the pregnant one he gives birth to living pups instead of laying eggs.

And yes, Pipefish are related to sea horses, carrying their offspring in a pouch until they hatch, but i have decided that Lust still lays eggs but keeps them in a nest bc he's a mer, not a common Pipefish.

#dusttale #dust sans #horrorfell #horrorfell sans #horrorfell papyrus #merpeople #merskeleton #skelemer #strangers to friends #strangers to lovers #pregnancy #hurt/comfort #courting #childbirth #pups #sharkpups #bonding

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vampirefreakzx · 3 months ago

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Tkmaxx haul!!!

#goth #emo #metalhead #skull art #skull collecting #skeleton #skull #halloweencore #halloween memes #halloween #all hallows eve #halloween haunt #halloween vibes #happy halloweeeeeeen #halloween lover #skeletons #skelemals #blanket #haunted house

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itskthello · 2 years ago

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This is Maeve! Shes a teenage necromancer from my senior thesis and would like to interest you in her vast collection

#skelemancy #its everyones favorite bonelass.....#art

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dreemurr-skelememer · 7 months ago

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kia dreemurr skelemer what do u think of Spatoon……

words being forced into my mouth

#Anonymous #anwyay i think its cool!!! its so neat and the lore is great #i love squid game

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asexual-spongebob · 2 months ago

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I gave into my urge to make an another zadr smeet for wots. I am insane. (sorry about my godawful handwriting.)

Her name is Vela! (That isn’t her given name tho, Zim named her something really stupid as, hes awful at names so she just renamed herself.) :3 it means “Sail” in Italian and it’s also the name of a star constellation.

she’s a goth baby. blame her parents. and aunts. esp her aunts. she’s also half siren, and becomes one when in salt water. just like her stinky ass dad. and she doesn’t haven’t a water allergy. her tail is black with white accents. She also has a pet spider named Silky, who’s actually kinda like a snarl beast? I think that’s the word.

she used to be Sev’s annoying little sister but she later became the cool younger sibling. And she sees Ska as her cool older cousin. She listens to goth music. like joy division, the cure, sisters of mercy, specimen etc.but she also likes other stuff. she frequently steals Dib’s lemon demon cds. and she also loves Whitney Houston! :)

her room is pretty dark most of the time. she likes it that way. And Sev doesn’t understand. Be like.

“Why do you like your room so dark?”

“Because I like it that way. It’s nice and dark, like my soul. Now get tf out of my room before I tell Pap that you ate the last lick-a-stick.”

She also probably owns some skelemals (?) which were gifts from Dib. She also likes gothic poetry like Edger Allen Poe.

And her favorite show is Ruby Gloom, which her aunt’s showed her. :) and here’s some doodles of her! :3

#kitty giggles #invader zim #wail of the siren au #zadr #zadr smeet #invader zim fanart #vela membrane (oc)#kittyz scribblez #wots: next gen

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yellowsigns · 11 months ago

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Here’s a Horror Sans that I’ve been brainstorming the story of these past few days! The locals (both fish and human) call him Harbor :]

Transparent version and some more information about him under the cut!

⋆｡𖦹 °.🦪⋆❀˖°

Horror, who I’ll be referring to as Harbor from now on, is a skelemer that is a part of an ongoing AU of mine called submergeverse! You follow him and many others as they navigate their way through the waters and get themselves into several acts of mischief. (Giving the marine biologist tracking him a hard time all the while.)

As stated in his reference, he’s an Oceanic Whitetip Shark!

He has a gruff personality and seems to be uninterested in most things, unless he’s angry, surprised, or finds it to be entertaining, he’s usually not one to pay much attention to it.

Harbor is usually not safe to approach, as any who get close are likely to be attacked, no matter if their fish or human.

Harbor is a tagged shark! He is very aware of this fact, though he barely remembers the event, let alone where he got the tag or who did it…

Harbor has trouble maintaining his powers due to the injury to his head. Usually, skelemers like him use the gaps in their bones to convert properties in the water into useable magic, but injuries like cracks in the bone can cause irregular movements of these properties, leading them to end up in places in the body where they shouldn’t be. Thus, he struggles to maintain his magic.

Tyy for reading through this all if you did! Here’s a digital fishie as a gift :]] …𓆝

#undertale #utmv #horror sans #horror!sans #horror tale #horror!tale #digital art #submergeverse #may change a few things like the name of the AU and how certain things work in it but #I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING CONCRETE FOR HIM ARAGGAGA #*CONFETTI SFX*#sign’s art

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glitch-e-stardust · 2 months ago

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Still one of my fav skelemals...

#glitch.bat

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dinofelissnow1985 · 1 year ago

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Connections, new and old

by DinofelisSnow1985

Summary:

A Bonito, a Yellow-fin Tuna, a Lionfish, a Whaleshark, a Swordfish, a Barracuda and a Pipefish are swimming in the sea.

No that's not the beginning of a fish-joke but the possible end of a journey. And the beginning of something new.

They had been travelling for so long. Too long. They were tired.

They were running out of time.

They needed to find a safe place as soon as possible, but the ocean ground beneath them had been empty. Of food. Of hiding spots. Of anything.

Nightmare sighed. They all were tired and hungry. But he was the most concerned about Cross and Lust. The both of them needed to preserve every speck of energy they could.

They kept close to Horror, in the middle of their patchwork pod, despite Cross usually being one of the protectors. Now he had to leave the protecting to the others. And it frustrated him.

At least no one was hurt.

Nightmare sighed again and turned his gaze ahead again.

In the distance the water appeared a nuance darker, like the slightest shadow.

His brother Dream came up at his right side, where Nightmare was blind since a run-in with a bad-tempered Moray Eel during his Puphood, and squinted his eyes at the shadows ahead. "Brother, do you think we'll find a place to rest there?"

"Right now we don't even know what that is," Nightmare grumbled tiredly.

Dream looked back at the others, thinking.

"I volunteer to swim ahead and scout things out, Brother. I can take a look and see if it's worth going there."

Nightmare looked at his brother, then at the shadowy formation ahead, back at his brother. "Be careful," he finally relented. "We've never been here. We don't know what dangers might lurk around."

Dream beamed at him. "Promise," he chirped. "I come back as fast as i can."

With that the was gone, one of the fastest swimmers of their pod, alongside Cross and Error.

Nightmare sighed again and turned to the others. "Come. Let's follow him for now. If he finds something we won't waste time."

The others nodded and they all followed the direction Dream took off.

They had been swimming for a while and Nightmare began to think Dream might have either gotten carried away, what happened often, or found something and took his time investigating.

He didn't want to think of the third option. Namely that something had happened to him. But he was too fast, his tail too powerful to ever get caught by any predator.

Then he caught sight of a golden glimmer in the distance.

Dream. Thank the currents.

When they met with him Nightmare instantly noticed the scratch wounds. Those looked like they were left by horribly sharp claws. But otherwise Dream seemed fine. Excited even.

"I think i found something!" he exclaimed.

"More like something found you," Nightmare grumbled while he fussed over his brother.

"Yeah, well. It's not perfect, but it should be safe enough."

"What did you find, sunshine? And why are you hurt?" Error asked.

Dream huffed. "It's not that bad. Okay listen. Up ahead the ground rises up and changes into a rock formation. While i swam along a cliffside i got attacked by a sand tiger mer. A pretty big one. And, if i'm honest, pretty ugly. He only got me because i didn't expect him and got surprised. Before he could do any real damage, though, another mer appeared and helped me. He actually managed to fight the shark mer off.

I asked him about any safe places around and he told me that there are deep crevices on the topside and plenty of food around, not much big game but a lot of smaller fish, sea urchins, shellfish, sea weed and so on. He said the only danger around besides some fishermen were the shiver of the shark mer that attacked me. And some normal sharks."

"That other mer, was he alone? What about his pod?" Lust asked.

Dream shrugged. "I didn't get to ask him. He told me to be careful and stay safe, then he took off. He was pretty fast."

"If he knows the area and was already willing to help you, maybe he will help us get settled. And if he is on his own we can take him in, if he wants to join us," Killer mused.

"Maybe," Nightmare replied and nodded to Dream to take the lead.

They swam for a while, but eventually they reached the rock massif.

Dream flitted up and down, catching small fish and bringing them back to his hungry podmates.

They lingered a short while halfway up at the cliffside to satisfy at least their worst hunger for now. They all went stock still when Error gave a warning growl. They looked around to see what alerted him and saw three bullsharks being hunted down by a group of sand tiger mer. Most likely the shivermates of Dream's attacker.

Covered from sight by Nightmare, Error and Horror, who were better disguised because of their more dull coloration, Cross, Lust, Killer and Dream, slowly, made their way up the cliffside, keeping an eye on the sharks all the time.

When they reached the topside they found a plateu littered with crevices, patches of different plants and boulders covered in corals. The whole place seemed to be moving, overflowing with small creatures, sustained by nutrient-rich ocean currents.

"Finally," Cross whispered. Nightmare looked at him, noticing the fatigue in the swordfish's posture. He turned back to the others. "Let's find a safe place so Cross and Lust can rest. Dream, the same goes for you."

Dream opened his mouth to protest but one stern look from Nightmare made him shut his mouth again.

So, they began to check the bigger gaps and crevices to find one that might fit them all and woul be deep enough for them to be safe.

Suddenly they heard Error yelp in surprise, followed by an angry growl. A second, unfamilar growl answered from the crevice Error had been checking.

Hurriedly the others gathered around Error and looked down into the fissure.

Down there sat a small sand tiger mer snarling and hissing at them. He had red Eye Lights and flesh, like the shiver they saw earlier, and a bashed in skull.

Killer was the first to speak his mind. "We should kill it. It's alone and this place is big enough for us all. I say we cull this runt and take the crevice for ourselves."

"If we do that we'll have to deal with the shiver as soon as they come back, and we're in no shape to take those brutes," Cross reasoned, still looking at the shark mer, who was snarling at them, but it was obvious it was all for show. The runt was scared to death being faced with a pod of mer which were, mostly, bigger. The only one even slightly smaller was Lust. He eyed the shark thoroughly.

"We should leave him be," he finally said. "He is pregnant."

The expressions on Dream, Horror and Nightmare's faces softened. Cross only watched the small shark.

But Error and Killer growled. "Great. That means more sharks. To me it's only one more reason to get rid of him," Error rumbled, grinding his sharp teeth.

At that the aggressive mask of the shark mer slipped and gave way to pure terror. He flared his fins, which were scarred and ripped, and suddenly he was surrounded by a school of purple glowing pilot fish.

One swam up to his hands and the shark grabbed and squished it in his grip. The fish popped into sparks of purple Magic and disappeared.

Cross and Lust stared at the pilot fish, both lost in their own thoughts while the others were just confused about the Magic made fish.

"We should leave," Cross finally said, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "We don't want this shark's friend against us."

"What are you talking about?" Nightmare asked, but before Cross could elaborate Horror rumbled. "Somethin's comin'."

Everyone looked in the direction he was watching and they saw, indeed, something approach at rapid speed.

Cross and Lust retreated from the crevice hastily.

The thing shot between the others, that were still hovering over the shark's lair, and slammed into Error who the newcomer apparently saw as the biggest threat.

While Error tumbled through the water, stunned from the impact, his attacker swam a loop and returned, sharp bone in hand and mismatched eyes flaring angrily.

The stranger growled, the pilot fish surrounding him keeping their eyes on everyone.

No one dared to move.

Eventually Dream shook of the scare as the first. "You're the one who helped me!" he exclaimed.

The other stared coldly at him. "You have a strange way to show your gratitute, lightspeck," he growled back. "Is this how you repay someone who saved your scales? By attacking their pregnant mate?!"

Dream and the others flinched and shyed back from the boiling rage.

Then two voices broke the tension by exclaiming one single word in unison. "Dust?!" Cross and Lust called out to him.

The angry mer stilled and turned to the two. His Eye Sockets went wide. "Cross? Lust?" He stared at them. And the rest of the pod stared at him.

Down in the crevice the shark mer kept silent and watched, sensing that the danger might be over, but that didn't mean he trusted those strangers out of the blue. Of course not.

Nightmare, as the leader of his pod, finally broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Ahem, so uh, i think we have a misunderstanding to clear up here."

Dust turned to Nightmare, scowling at him. "I'm curious how you want to explain your actions."

Nightmare bowed his head. "First, i want to apologize for threatening and scaring your mate. We didn't know he is yours. We assumed this to be the lair of the shark mer. If we had known, we'd never lifted a finger against him. I swear on my Soul."

Dust looked around, took in each of their appearance. His gaze settled on Lust and Cross. "You two look like shit. At least these morons managed to keep you alive. What are you doing here, anyways? You are pretty far from your home territories."

"We are with Nightmare for a few years of now," Cross answered. "I lost my family to fishermen and wandered the oceans alone for about a year. Then i met the others while i was hunting. Lust was already part of their pod. And since Nightmare offered and i was tired of being lonely, i joined."

Lust looked sad when he started to recount how he met Nightmare. "Not long after you left to find a new pod a fleet of trawlers came. They devastated the whole place. Only few escaped the nets. I lost my family, my friends and my home within a few days.

I didn't know what to do. My folk doesn't migrate. You know that." Dust nodded. Lust sighed, fighting down the tears. "I scrapped up whatever food i could find in the ruins of our former reef. It was far from enough and i was faced with the realization that i was gonna starve to death. Eventually i was to weak to look for anything edible. I was closer to death than life when i was found by the others.

Back then it just had been Nightmare, Dream and Horror. They took me in and shared their food with me. While i was recovering Horror would carry me so i could safe my energy. When we neared the end of what had once been an overflowing well of life we found Killer. He was in a similar state as i had been. We took him with us as well.

Later we met Cross and saved Error, who had gotten tangled up in a fishing line pretty badly. Since we are not really welcome in any other pod's territory because we have two dangerous hunters in Cross and Error, and a shark with us, even if it's a Whaleshark, we've been drifting from place to place all the time and even got caught up in mating season in the middle of nowhere.

Now we are in dire need of a safe place. We all need rest and Cross and i are carrying. We're due any time now."

"Fuck," Dust mumbled. "Okay. Introduction first. In case some of you missed it, my name is Dust." He pointed down to the crevice where the small mer had mustered up the courage to come out of hiding. "This is my mate Cranberry.

When i got here last year i found him tangled in a fishnet and a bunch of bullsharks were about to rip him apart. I chased them of and got Cranberry here to nurse him back to health. One of the sharks had bashed his skull with its tail. His speech and movements are a little impaired since then."

His face softened."You won't find a gentler mer. My little sea cutecumber can't even hurt a shrimp. Literally. While he has quite a mouth to him and can defend himself to a degree he never could bring himself to take a life." Dust seemed in fact proud of his gentle little shark who he loved with all his Soul.

"Okay. I already know Lust and Cross since years back, uhm, Lust mentioned that Killer is a reef dweller like him, so i guess that would be you," he turned to the Lionfish mer. Killer nodded. "Congrats, you guessed right at the first try. You won an Oyster." Dust snorted, he had to admit he liked Killer's sense of humor.

He looked at the others, focusing on the huge Whaleshark mer. "I guess you're Horror? You're big enough to carry any of your podmates." Horror nodded. "Won 'nother Oyster."

Dust grinned, then looked at the brothers. "Since you're both some kind of tuna and two of the three names left sound matching you must be Dream and Nightmare." The brothers nodded. "Indeed," Nightmare confirmed. "I'm the older one, Nightmare. I take after our father, who was a Bonito. Dream takes after our mother, a Yellow-fin Tuna. Its nice to make your acquaintance. Again we're really sorry about what happened." Dust accepted the apology with a hum and turned to the mer he had rammed into.

"That leaves you to be Error then." The Barracuda mer nodded. "Right again. That would make five Oysters as a whole. You really can pack a punch, by the way. Remind me to not piss you off." Dust snorted. "Don't worry. I will. And maybe i should mention that Oysters were a traditional courting gift in my birth pod," Dust added, grinning.

The others looked at him shocked and he gave a hearty laugh that broke any residual tension.

"You're kidding, right?" Killer asked, grinning nervously and sweating by the mere thought one of his stupid jokes could bite him in the tail like this.

During their conversation Cross had become more and more silent and let himself sink to the rocky ground.

His Eye Lights met Cranberry's and they stared at each other for several seconds. Finally Cranberry's gaze wandered towards Cross' tense belly, heavy with eggs.

With his electroreceptors the shark mer noticed the minute spasms that rolled through Cross like waves. He couldn't stay mad at someone who was in pain, especially not a fellow mother-to-be. And Cross and Lust had also been the first ones of them who had voted against attacking him.

He grabbed Cross' hand without a word and pulled him gently into the crevice, helping him onto a bed of sponges.

In the meantime Dust and the others exchanged stories. Dust and Lust, who happened to grow up together and being lifelong friends, shared some stories about their puphood shenanigans and how Dust happened to lose his birth pod, including his first mate he never got to bond with, to fishermen and predators, which was the motivator for Dust to train and learn how to fight to protect what was his in the future and might also have a role in why he was so fierce in protecting his small mate.

Dust told about his travels and where he had been. A lot of those places turned out to be resting places and shorttime homes for Nightmare's pod as well, and a lot of the pods they met during their journey had known and even mentioned Dust. He also told them that the shark mer he saved Dream from earlier was actually Cranberry's brother, and as such technically Dust's brother-in-law, and he went more into detail of how he saved Cranberry's life and became his protective mate.

Killer asked about the Oysters again and, after keeping Killer in the dark for several more minutes, Dust finally elaborated that, yes, Oysters had been a traditional courting gift in his pod and if there was a pearl in the Oyster it was considered as a sign that the bond was blessed.

Suddenly one of the pilot fish swam up to Dust. He grabbed it and it glowed and dissipated. Dust's Sockets became bigger.

Without any explanation he dived down into the crevice, the others followed. What they saw made them freeze on the spot.

Cranberry was fussing over Cross, who lay panting and in obvious pain on a bed of sponges, his gills flaring, his face scrunched up in pain and his tail thrashing.

Cranberry murmured soothing nothings and rubbed Cross' belly in slow circles, highly concentrated. When Cross groaned through gritted teeth Cranberry shushed him patiently.

Eventually he lay next to Cross, pressed into his back, slung his arm around Cross' middle and massaged the strained flesh, permanently talking to him.

Sweat beaded on his skull and after a while the first tear rolled down his cheekbone.

Cranberry pressed impossibly closer to Cross and started purring to soothe the other.

He looked up at Dust for a moment and told so much with just this one look. Dust nodded and began to herd the others out of the crevice.

"What's going on? What's wrong with Crossy? You know something, Dust, don't you?" Nightmare asked, worried. Dust nodded silently and motioned with his head for them to follow him a little distance away.

Dust took a deep breath and sighed, letting his shoulders sag slightly. The others, unconsciously, did as well.

"Okay," Dust eventually sighed out, "first and foremost, Cross is save and nothing's really wrong with him. At least not in the usual way. Cross is in labor."

Six pairs of Eye Sockets stared at him, big and round.

"We knew he was close, but not that close," Lust finally stammered out. He had his hands on his own belly.

Dust sighed deeply. "There are a lot of factors that could have made his body to go into labor early. Maybe Cran can tell you more. Don't worry, Cross is in good hands with him."

"Why?" Dream asked, "why would your mate's presence be better for Cross than our's?"

"My little sea cutecumber is an experienced midwife," Dust replied, not without visible pride. "As the runt he stayed in the nursery of his shiver longer than any other pup. The eldest, who earned their stay in the shiver by watching and teaching the pups and acting as midwife taught him what they knew.

They died of old age just when they had nothing to teach him anymore and he would've had to finally leave the nursery and learn how to hunt. But shortly after the elder's death mating season hit and when the submissive partners got pregnant he had to take over as midwife. The mothers took turns watching the pups, not trusting that a juvenile runt could handle a nursery full of babys.

So he went out to learn to hunt after the last pup was born. He turned out to be an exorbitant tracker, but he never could get over himself and kill anything himself. He just led the ones, who actually could kill, to the prey, helped trapping them, but left the killing to his shivermates.

When the next mating season came and went he returned to the nursery to be the midwife again.

And the next year.

And the year after that.

He preferred the nursery way more than the hunt. He was the lowest member of his shiver, despite how much he was needed in the nursery. They thought of him as useless because he never brought home his own kill.

Then the fishermen and the bullsharks happened and, as i already told you, his shiver ditched him and i saved his life and protected him.

And after he chewed me out for starving myself for his sake we decided to stay together. And we became close pretty quick.

The only thorn in my side is his brother. He holds a grudge against me since i'm in his way of either dragging Cran back to their nursery or eating him, like he intended when i met him for the first time, returning from hunt and witnessing him harassing Cran."

...

"So... what do we do now? Error asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them.

Dust eyed the pod. Calculating.

"I would advice Lust to accompany Cross and Cran so Cross isn't all alone with a stranger while in pain and probably afraid. The rest should split up to either gather nesting materials for Cross and Lust or guard the crevice. I think it would be best if Error and Killer go back with Lust to protect your and my mates. Nightmare, Dream and Horror come with we to get the materials. Maybe we even find some food. Cross and Cran will need it after this ordeal."

The others looked at Nightmare for his opinion. The Bonito thought Dust's words over and finally nodded his agreement. "Sounds reasonable."

And like that they split up.

When Dust returned to the crevice with the brothers and Horror, ladden with sea weed, they found Killer and Error nervous and jumpy. From inside the crevice came a weak, breathless, panted out cry of pain and frustration.

"He's screaming since shortly after we came back with Lust," Killer whined, distressed. "It's hard to listen to it and being unable to help him," he confessed.

Nightmare, Dream and Horror exchanged a look, then put their load down next to the crevice and went to hug Killer and Error to comfort them.

Dust watched them silently. A touch of something like sadness, or maybe exhaustion crept into his expression.

The moment broke when Lust left the hideout. "Oh good. You're all back. Come and see. But be quiet. Crossy is tired and needs rest."

Dust drifted a little to the side so that the others hadn't to swim around him.

After they passed him Dust followed, his arms still full of sea weed.

Inside the crevice Nightmare's pod surrounded Cross, who laid on the sponges, curled around a clutch of a full dozen of eggs, glowing softly in the colours of each of the podmates' Magic. Cranberry sat at his side, visibly tired, but also really proud of himself.

Dust came closer and nuzzled Cranberry's face, purring affectionately. Cranberry answered with his own purr before he took some of the sea weed from his mate and began arranging a nest. Dust sat beside him and gave him more materials when needed and left the nest building wholly to Cran. He seemed to enjoy this kind of work. The others got the materials that had been left outside and Cran began with a second nest as soon as the first was finished. While Cranberry made the second, and then a third nest everyone settled down and relaxed.

When someone's stomach rumbled Dust got up again and went out to hunt. When he handed over his catch to Nightmare and his podmates and went to go out again Error and Nightmare got up and followed him to help him with the hunt.

The next time Killer and Dream accompanied Dust, who showed them the best hunting grounds and other important places in his territory, including its borders.

After everyone had eaten they went to sleep, guarded by the pilot fish, safe and sound and undisturbed.

Notes:

Nightmare = Bonito

Dream = Yellow-fin Tuna

Killer = Lionfish

Horror = Whaleshark

Cross = Swordfish

Error = Barracuda

Lust = Pipefish

Dust = Rainbow Mackerel

Cranberry = Sand tiger shark

I'm a sucker for the whole gang, so yeah. If you want a bite ya get the whole seafood plate.

For the missing backstories:

Dream and Nightmare had been shunned and banned from their pod after their parents, who'd held a high position in the pod, had died. They were seen as bastards, being born from parents of different species.

Horror had gotten into the crossfire of a leakage on an oil rig and the brothers had helped him clean off the oil and cared for him when he got sick from it. He never told how he got the hole in his skull

#dusttale #dust sans #horrorfell #horrorfell sans #horrorfell papyrus #merskeleton #merpeople #skelemer #strangers to friends #strangers to lovers #pregnancy #hurt/comfort

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alusniper · 1 year ago

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I just wanted to how u were doing?

And how the next chapter of Wardtale was going (very excited for this chapter btw. Esp. given the sneak peeks we have gotten of it so far)?

(Honestly. Wardtale is just so great and interesting in general. Like; I love Sans being a former military general. Now newspaper delivery person, is that right? Idk, I just love that kind of past live(s) and/or multiple side stuff when it comes to Sans. Plus; I am suck for science stuff, military, spy, tactician, or assassin, etc. stuff for Sans. Think ur series, or the amazing Timetale. With one of the best Sans and Alphys and Sans and Alphys relationships I have ever seen. Or think The Golden Quiche series. Or TLD series, by the same person who did TGQ, and is a really great and unique DustTale take. So I love that for ur Sans. Alphys' and more cold (if I am remembering correctly) role in WT is very interesting too! And it is interesting that Sans hates her. I wonder what Alphys thinks and/or feels about Sans. Ur Frisk take and design is great too! Tbh; u are just so good at designs in general.

Also, I love the sprite game art style kind of thing that Wardtale has! It is so different and unique. And it gives me the vibes of sprite comics, which, I wish say more of, esp. ongoing and/or completed ones in the fandom(s). Though, the ones we have are great. But still different, and very developed. Anyways, I am very excited (though also sad, but also happy the series is going to be getting closure) for the next chapter and the last 2 (I think) chapters in the Wardtale. And I am very interested to hopefully still see ur take on Wardhorror. I love horror and/or horrortale takes. And I already love ur takes on Sans and Aliza for example.)

Or about the next part and/or chapter of The Ebott Books is going if u are working on that instead?

(Loving this so far too. I love ur sprite video series for Wardtale, but ur comics are so well done too! And it helps even more to give each series a really unique feel to it. Loving the kind of fairy tale elements, designs, and curses in this! It is all very interesting. Sans, Paps, Frisk's, and I think Asgore was in this and had a cool design, all look awesome and cool and cute and stuff.

Though, I won't lie, seeing Paps more mainly in blue, and Sans mainly more in a brown-ish color; even though they both look great, kind of threw me off. '^^ Because, I more connect blue to Sans. At least usually. Or like, they both have blue clothes and stuff; like in some Outertale versions. Like, The Ebott Books Paps is not the only blue Paps I have seen. There is also CP from Under/Source. But like, blue just works for me w/ CP (not that it doesn't ur Paps) and doesn't throw me off as much for some reason. Maybe because also, a couple of the main Sanses and characters are mainly purple and blue (so still one blue, and another cool color. Plus; I just like purple on Sans). So maybe that helps in me not getting as thrown off.

Last thing: About ur " • S A N S ' S • • F A M I L Y•"

Post:

That post and art was really cool and interesting. I would have loved to see it in the series proper or maybe some kind of side video or something, because idk, I just find it cool and interesting. And exploring Sans, Paps, Gaster, and skelemom a bit more as a family sounds cool. And I like seeing people different takes on the skelebrothers family. But I get why u decided u can't. If u ever do post more and/or etc.; I will defin. be interested though.

Also, I know it is because you don't want to show the Mom (which, honestly, I wouldn't minded seeing ur take on Skelemom. I like seeing more takes on Sans' and/or Paps' parent(s), and we know more of that in the fandom(s) imo. Like, there is Timetale, Reminiscence, The Golden Quiche (and kinda The Lone Defender), etc. have good takes on the skeleparent(s). As a few examples), but the way u have ur part of the picture missing and/or ripped is quite ominous and mysterious.

If don't know or don't want to answer about how stuff is going with Wardtale or The Ebott Books and/or etc; I would totally understand and get it!

Wowwww this the great ask I received :>

• (this makes me happy) Thank you for liking sans' relationships and him being a former general who gave up his life to be a newspaper delivery boy, I always liked watching documentaries and I did well at school when they were about revolutions and wars. Alphys doesn't hate but doesn't like Sans either, she supports him more because of Papyrus and Gaster (even though Gaster sees Sans as a soldier rather than a son and Papyrus for having fought with Sans but still cares a lot about him) The only common thing they have in common is that they think that humans should be left alone and that they don't transmit the virus to monsters, but they have totally opposite ways of solving this problem.

Sans is also jealous that Papyrus admires Alphys and listens to her more than Sans, after Sans arranged for Papyrus to join Asgore's army and try to place him in an important position.

• Yes, after Wardtale ends I want to do two ideas that popped into my head (which won't be canonical in the story) but after it's over I'm going to do some drawings of Au, either events that happened in the series or from each Monsters past.

• ebott books I left on hiatus because I want to focus on finishing wardtale and war fragment (an old sonic comic of mine with the main couple from infinite x gadget) on Wattpad since both are not long before they are finished.

• The idea was for Papyrus to be white or black, but it didn't work very well (because they are both inspired by wild wolves) so I thought about putting a gray color but it looked quite dead, then finally I decided to put a more bluish gray color since the Au's colors are shades of blue and white to represent ice (yes, I confess that it's not every day that there's a papyrus with blue that reminds me of a sans lol)

• I can even show more of the past two two (there's a part ready about this that I haven't posted yet) and also if I have space I'll put more of Alphys' past or at least mention about their and Alphys' childhood and more about the asriel and sans relationship

• At first I thought about Sans and Papyrus's mother being a parody or something funny like featuring Temmy or another character (maybe an NPC that no one knows the existence or importance of) but since Wardtale took a more serious path I thought about what she could be like or who she could be, so I thought the fans could interpret what her face would look like... BUT I WANTED TO MAKE A POINT OF DESIGNING THE DRESS BECAUSE I LOVE DESIGNING DRESSES.

No problem, I'm happy that you love the series a lot, I'm still doing Wardtale, but due to the accident that caused my cell phone to die and me losing a lot of things, it made me feel discouraged, but thanks to my girlfriend, my sister and some fans encouraging me to continue little by little I came back and I'm redoing some sprites that I had lost

#alusniper work #undertale #au #undertale au #sans #papyrus #alphys #undyne #mettaton #wardsans #wardpapyrus #wardalphys #wardundyne #ebott books

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tttinytrash · 2 years ago

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The long awaited siren fic! Decided to go for Lust for maximum sass levels (sorry/no worries depending on your preferences here, but despite the AU nothing spicy here, just light sexual humor) Unzipping and food turning to liquid magic are both concepts stolen from @shamedump.

Siren skele and arctic researcher reader instead get acquainted by accident, then skele helps out their little human before being stuck with the consequences. Enjoy the awkwardness!

The cold never bothered you, but even given that this was a bit much. You were bundled in all the best thermal gear of course, being in the arctic required it, but couldn’t help the shiver as a particularly vicious gust threatened to throw your fluffy hood down. Ah well, get the equipment checked quick and you and Taylor could get back all that much sooner.

Taylor, your previously mentioned research partner, was slightly ahead of you in the ankle deep snow as you both slowly shuffled towards the ice shelf that harbored the frigid water you two were studying. Coring ice and checking for fossils and chemical dating, monitoring water currents and other various data to guide the calculations required, all of it was rather dull. The crunching of numbers was more your taste, Taylor was the one who loved all their equipment. They each had names, in fact. They treated the machines like they were their kids. You might tease, but you were glad for the levity in what would normally be a tearjerkingly boring job. You didn’t appreciate their insistence to not go alone near as much, however. But you also couldn’t blame them.

After all, sirens were about.

There were precautions against their fabled charms, sure, but the thought of man-eaters being out was terrifying. So with Taylor you begrudgingly went.

Taylor approached the mooring spot of one of their submersible probes, and activated the winch to bring it up for inspection. It had stopped sending data a few hours ago, which is what started your trip outside. To be honest, you weren’t fully sure what the probes should look like, but the mangled pile of scrap that game up on the end of the line was clearly not correct.

“No! They killed Trevor!” Taylor wailed.

“This was Trevor?” You asked.

“Yes! And he’s dead!”

“Clearly. We’ll need a whole new probe at this point. Better load this hunk of junk up.”

“Rest in peace, Trevor. You will be missed.”

Any funeral rites were interrupted when your proximity sensors went off. As precautions against sonic attacks (read as: siren song) you both were wearing noise cancelling headsets with communication links specifically between both of your headsets and the home base. You both also had sensors that would ping when something moving besides you two got within range, and you had a sinking feeling you knew what it was before you whipped your head around to find the offender.

Yep, definitely a siren.

It had the lower body of a spotted seal, but the torso of a skeleton was plopped where the neck should have been. Vibrant pink eyes were oddly hooded seductively at you two. Even deaf to it, you could tell by posture and movements it was singing to you.

Nope, no thank you.

“Leave the scrap, we’ve gotta move!” You urge, pulling Taylor up by the arm.

You both move as fast as possible back to the snowmobiles, luckily not too far away, and begin to book it. As you jet away, you scream over your shoulder “Not today, Pinky! Find something less sentient to eat, ya jerk!”

To your shock, the thing looks legitimately offended, and even blows a raspberry at you before it dives into the water.

Did it actually understand...?

You didn’t give it any more thought, instead flooring your snowmobile back to the warm, safe base. You didn’t want to be lunch, and were also pretty excited to feel your toes again.

-----

Repairing that damn probe took so much longer than it should have. But that was mostly because Pinky was very much Not Helpful™.

Taylor made fun of you for naming the killer skelemer, but you solidly blamed their habit of naming everything rubbing off on you. Regardless, Pinky had become the thing’s title and at this point you were near certain it knew its name too.

Pinky surfaced not too long after any attempts to retrieve, replace, or repair Trevor’s remains. You were always on guard duty while Taylor worked, so you were the one to spot it first. You’d raise the alarm and you and Taylor would scram, but it was alarming how quickly the mer picked up on what your tiny team was doing. It quickly figured out neither of you could hear their song, so it gave up on that and instead posed in what was probably supposed to be alluring poses, literally beckoning you to come closer. It eventually got nearly lewd.

The first time Pinky went fully sexual, you busted up laughing. He looked offended right up until you posed while channeling your best Jessica Rabbit on the back of Taylor’s snowmobile during your retreat. From that point, he seemed to take it as a challenge and almost seemed to be laughing along at his own ridiculousness. He also seemed to pick up on the meaning of your habitual flipping of the bird as you escaped inland and would return your one finger salute, or even rise up out of the water sometimes with the raised middle phalange the first thing to break the surface.

Ugh, you’d seen this thing too many times. You were personifying it.

It hadn’t ever gotten more than 100 yards off, barely in range of the proximity sensors. So your sightings were seconds each. You’d rather keep it that way.

Fate did not comply.

The day you finally got Trevor 2.0 ready to submerge was the day everything went wrong. You and Taylor lifted the equipment, shuffling towards the edge of the ice shelf to chuck the machine into the depths. Pinky had yet to be seen despite you two having been out here particularly long without disruption. Had it finally given up?

No, the sensor went off which startled both of you, enough so that the equipment was fumbled and ultimately dropped. Trevor 2.0 hitting the ice caused a chain reaction. Both of you stumbled back, Taylor luckily onto solid ice shelf, you less luckily onto rapidly cracking ice. You hit water, and shock made you instantly black out.

-----

Sans lazily went toward where the humans would be. Ever since wrecking the probe, they’d been out there daily. But while his plan for easy lunch didn’t work since they were somehow deaf so his song, he didn’t even mind at this point. Playing with the spunky human, or Brat as he thought of them, was a highlight to his day.

Originally he had tried to lure them other ways besides song, but their ability to sass back at him had gone from vexing to charming, the same way his usual insult for them became an affectionate moniker. As a reward for getting a good chuckle out of him the previous day, he’d decided to give them a little extra time unmolested.

Any plans went out the door when he saw Brat hit the water.

The other human was flailing about on shore and froze when it saw him, but he paid it no mind. He instead dover underwater after Brat’s panicking form. He watched as shock made them gasp, the precious air they needed becoming a cloud of bubbles around their rapidly sinking body.

Forget plans, all thought went out of his head and a protective instinct he didn’t know he even had kicked into overdrive. He didn’t wanna eat them anymore, but apparently human was on the menu again. At least, in a way. He briefly surfaced, less than a moment and just long enough to flush the water out of his system to replace with air before he dove, snatching their eerily still form. He shoved their head into his mouth and gulped greedily, dragging their unresponsive frame into his body. He had to get them warm, and he was the warmest thing in the vicinity. The air in his belly would let them breathe, and the warmth of his magic would keep hypothermia at bay.

Once they were down, he panted with exertion, feeling their body through his own.

...SHIT.

The hell did he do now?

-----

You woke slowly, not knowing where you were.

Then you remembered and suddenly waking up was very fast. Still didn’t know where you were though. You flailed around in surprise, finding everything rather squishy, wet, and ...pink?

“human?”

“Huh- what?!” You cried in response to the sudden voice, falling backwards and sliding to the bottom of this weird rounded space you were in.

“delta, i’m not used to shit moving around in there like that. dunno how i feel about that yet.”

“where am i?” panick straining your voice up an octave.

“uh, currently inside a siren. in neither a food way or a fun way, if that helps.” He said, blandly.

“PINKY?!”

“that’s usually what you call me, among insults of various quality and originality. ‘pink tailed prick’ was always my favorite.”

You’ve somewhat realized you’re in his gut now, and a quick once over of your body reveals that it’s intact, if damp. “....why am I not dead?”

“i already said it wasn’t in a food way. you nearly drowned, don’t you remember?”

Crap, now you did. “The question stands.”

“fair. easy answer though; i begrudgingly like you, brat.”

“I’m a brat? You tried eating me- wait, did eat me!” You clap your hands over your traitorous smart mouth, god please don’t piss off the thing that can easily kill you if he had a mind to!

“well, i didn’t. not for lack of trying, though. and you’re still not food, you’re actually safer in there then out here. even i know you’d freeze to death if i just let you out on shore. you need to be dry, which isn’t really attainable for a mer.”

“...oh.” You can’t really object to the logic, even if your brain were in a place to.

“yeah. i did try to bring you back. other one tried to shoot me.”

“Damn, Taylor has shit aim.”

“they do. which leads us to now.”

“Oh... the ‘how the hell do we get me out’ phase.”

“yeah. and at this point without death. if you’re going to be making such a drastic impact on my impeccable figure for this long, it’d better not be in vain.”

“Excuse me Princess!” you guffaw, tone dripping sarcasm.

“sans.”

That stumped you. “Come again?”

“my name. it’s sans.”

“Oh. Well, I’m y/n.”

“well, y/n, you’re stuck in there until we find a way to get you back on dry land without near immediate hypothermia. so get comfy, because we’re sleeping now. even if i do look pregnant, i need beauty rest.”

“Oh. Uh. Guess I can’t complain. And uh... thanks for the lack of murder.”

He hums in reply, movement finally ceasing.

You slide into a maintainable, comfortable position and finally take in your surroundings, since you’ll be stuck here awhile. The walls do softly glow pink as you’d initially seen. Less obviously, they also have a subtly wavy texture, and a bouncy give almost like a waterbed. The walls are slick and frictionless, but don’t appear to leave slime on your questing hands.

“that feels nice. feel free to keep that up.” sans interrupts your exploration.

There’s a brief flare of guilt before you take his advice and keep playing with the plush walls, as if pawing will grant you extra knowledge.

You don’t really remember falling asleep, but apparently you did. The soft sounds of his body around you make excellent white noise apparently.

-----

It had been days. Inside a siren’s belly. What is your life?

It was weird, but not too bad without the death to go along with it.

Sans encouraged you to play with he odd texture of his magic, but that got old after awhile. You would say however, that you were extremely comfortable. The walls had a lovely give, and tended to mold to your body in whatever position you took due to their plush nature. They even moved in a soft undulating pattern, which felt kind of like a massage. Oddly, you had gotten used to this enough to almost enjoy it.

Then you were doused with liquid magic. Again.

“Dammit, warn me!” You cried, wiping the pink glow out of your eyes.

“why would i? that’s so much less fun.”

“Pink tailed Prick.” You muttered.

“ah, my favorite title.”

-----

As nice as having a constant companion and warm weight inside was, he was at his wits end with this arrangement. Honestly not even because of y/n. They could come back to visit his gut again after this whole thing was over as far as he was concerned, but they other one was incredibly dense.

The perceived loss of their companion really made it impossible to break through. Especially since they couldn’t hear him, and wouldn’t get close enough for him to get the headphones (which y/n told him were what made them immune to song) off. If he charmed them, the violence would stop long enough to prove y/n was ok. But lack of communication was a big issue here. Of course, the water had rendered y/n’s pair defunct.

Y/n appeared to have adapted to their space decently too, they didn’t struggle and once he was used to it their readjustments and stretches felt divine inside. They were bewildered by the fact that his magic could sustain them, meaning they didn’t have to eat as long as he intended to care for them. Them playing with the liquid magic his body converted his actual food to was hilarious, if maybe gross under other circumstances.

He was going to miss his internal companion desperately.

But that wasn’t the goal for now. Y/n came up with had to be plan H (he’d lost track of where they were in the alphabet by now) which was risky but the best shot they had yet. He’d just unzip on shore and show Taylor that y/n was ok. That meant that his human was risking hypothermia, and he would be in no position to bail if Taylor shot. (They were a bad shot, but that wasn’t a risk he was thrilled with.)

He didn’t really like this plan, but he hauled himself up out of the water by where Taylor would be sure to patrol, and waited for the human to arrive.

Eventually, an indignant “You bastard!” heralded the misguided human’s arrival. A bang indicated a gunshot, but no bullet whizzed by. Wow. Strormtrooper level bad aim, Taylor.

He turned to face them, then raked a finger down his belly, letting y/n throw their damp top half out into the frigid air. “TAYLOR, STOP!” they screamed, waving their hands in a ceasefire gesture.

Taylor either panicked or didn’t see, firing another shot. y/n screamed, pulling their now bleeding forearm close to themself.

Sans reached a hand down, healing magic already summoned and tending to the new hole y/n had been gifted.

“that’s it, this didn’t work. get back in, we’re out.” Sans growled.

“W-wait! N-N-” y/n protested, blue lips and chattering voice making it difficult.

Sans was about ready to shove them in himself when Taylor called in utter shock “Wait... y/n?!”

Taylor stumbled forward a step or two, grip on their gun slack.

Thank Delta, this was the opening he needed! He used his magic to rip off their damn headphones, and before they could reorient their grip on their gun, he began to sing. With the charm in place, they could finally talk.

He also got to eat y/n again now, which was another bonus.

-----

You strode confidently to the water with Taylor beside you, going to check on Trevor 2.0 like normal. Most things were back to normal, but what wasn’t was far more interesting.

You got three things from the ordeal in the end, and they were as follows:

One, your hair was now pink. Prolonged exposure to Sans’ magic had affected your hair’s natural pigmentation, and there was no indication as to whether it was permanent or not. Eh, at least you’d save on hair dye.

Two, you got a scar. Taylor was endlessly sorry for it, but the bullet hole had left a definite mark on your forearm. Had to think of a cover story for that before shipping home. That was concern for later, though.

Three, you got a new friend or constant pest depending on how you felt at the given moment. The smile that broke on your face at seeing the familiar glow beneath the frigid surface of the water said you were currently leaning friend.

Sans chilled with you while Taylor did their thing, Taylor also chipping in on conversation as they worked. The typical flow was interrupted when Sans’ belly growled.

“Too lazy to hunt again?” You asked.

Sans shrugged. “guilty as charged.”

“Just go, don’t do your usual beat around the bush thing.” Taylor butted in.

“Hey! I didn’t even do anything!” You groused.

They raised a brow at you, smiling mockingly. “You brought extra clothes.”

“...shut up.”

Sans and Taylor both laughed at you.

From his spot in the water, Sans looked up at you and said “i’m game if you are.”

You hesitated.

“Just go, I’ll have dinner ready by dark. I can get back to base on my own.” Taylor said, retreating to their snowmobile.

You turned to Sans, who wordlessly opened his mouth wide and waited.

Smiling, you obliged.