#the writing in me go brrr

[majorproblems77]

Well, now I have to make a Zelda puzzle....

I dont think I'm experienced enough of a Zelda player for this

Whoops?

Does anyone have any fave dungeons I can get some references from?

[xisadorapurlowx]

[holy--milk]

people be like "stop calling mxtx a genius, she's not even the best author in her particular niche",

and i'm like "but have you considered that i don't care if she's not objectively the best author as long as she's able to write characters and stories that make me go Insane for literal years?"

[hearts4lilith]

currently thinking about how tommy said that ctommy waking up underwater every day in exile was a metaphor for his mental health, and that the further and further out to sea he got and the further he was sinking the more deteriorated he became and eventually he would end up unable to resurface had they not done something about cdream.

currently thinking about how if ctommy couldn't resurface, he'd drown in his own thoughts, believing his friends and family all hated him. nobody would see the kid they once knew in him anymore. maybe he'd never be seen again at all.

currently thinking about how ctommy saw one anxious, forgetful enderman lad, roped him into a crime, and took 100% of the fall when they didn't get away with it. ctommy could have ignored the situation. he didnt have to go to ctubbo and say "it was just me, man". as cranboo said, he could have said it was all him. there was evidence it was him.

but i think that after everything, ctommy would still be unable to live with himself if it'd been cranboo in exile instead of him. on the surface, he's a child. a soldier and a veteran and a criminal, yes, but still a child.

but beneath that, he's learnt. he's decided he'd rather throw himself into trouble than let his friends go through any amount of suffering.

i think that if cranboo were to ask, "why did you do that?" ctommy would sigh, that familiar shaky sigh we all know, and he'd speak quietly in reply, "i know what some of those bastards are capable of. i'd rather go through all that than have you do it for me. plus, it wasn't your fault."

or maybe that's just me.

[godnectar]

showered, getting sleepy + entering chilling mode, and now 'm somehow fighting the urge to ramble + shitpost abt yandere santa, dilf ver. 🥴

[good-beansdraws]

Mutual left this tag on one of my Fuuta analyses and yeah...

Part two of "Fuuta’s central theme is invasion of privacy and he has extreme anxiety over being watched, so it's interesting that we get to pick him apart and see all his worst, most private thoughts" :(

[lawva-girl]

A Taste of Her

Nami x fem!Reader

Happy pride month :D

Warnings: cunnilingus, fingering

WOMEN omfg women! Also Nami?!??? I just know you two would have nightly catch ups, the two of you just sitting with eachother talking about nonsense, staring into each others eyes in a straight way.

WC: 2764 (I went crazy i fear)

Nami looked like an angel. She was sat in the bathtub, bubbles surrounding her. It looked like she had just finished her shower in the Sunny’s large bathroom. It has been a hot and miserable day. There were two storms Nami had to navigate the crew through, and zoro was sick on top of that. The whole crew was tired and scared for him.

You decided to care for Nami instead.

“Hey, do you want me to braid your hair?” You asked her, through the slightly cracked door.

“Uh okay… you aren’t charging me right?” Nami asked back.

You opened the door, closed it, then made your way to the shower. Before stepping in to rinse off you shed your towel and call out to her, “I wouldn’t dream of it!”

The shower water was cool, something you needed. Nami (and you for that matter) usually took incredibly hot showers and baths. After a day like today? It was nice to have the cold wake you up before you relaxed in the bath.

You rubbed soap onto your body with a portion of netting, making sure to scrub and lather. Once you finished you turned the water off, and took a deep breath.

You liked Nami, a little too much. Ever since you had joined the crew you felt like you two were magnets. Always sitting together during meals, often going the same places once on an island. You liked to say it was to protect her. You almost always had two guns on you, and you could use them incredibly well.

If anyone would protect her it would be you. It just felt like you two were very fast friends. But there were moments. Undeniable and quick, Nami would say something and you suddenly forgot how to breathe.

If it was a quick “your eyes are beautiful” or if it was her running her hand up your inner thigh, it didn’t matter. You were sure they meant something to her, like what they meant to you.

“Hey! Are you doing it or not!?” Nami yanked you from your thoughts.

Finally leaving the shower you strolled over to her, grateful she wasn’t glancing behind her to see your fully exposed form.

“Sorry sorry, here move forward so I can braid it.”

Nami slid forward smoothly, and you slipped into the water directly behind her. Thankfully you had a hair tie left on from your own ponytail. Looking at it you wondered if it would have Nami’s red hair left on it when she was done with it. You wondered if your own hair would tangle with hers, on the hair tie.

“Okay I’m gonna do one, look up.” You spoke while running your fingers through her hair.

“Okay… random question, when was the last time you got fucked?” Nami looked up and you saw the top of her eyebrows, they were lifted with curiosity.

“Uhhh probably a while before I joined. How about you?”

“No way! You don’t get any?”

“No not really… it’s hard to find my type.”

Nami paused, letting you braid a bit more.

“Wait what is your type?” She essentially threw the question and ran, she spoke it so fast.

“I’d say women who… well I guess just women honestly.” You said, mainly focused on making sure the braid came out well, “like there’s not a woman I wouldn’t love to be with? They are all just so, lovable.”

Nami grimaced, most likely due to the braid.

"how is that hard to find?" Nami asked, using a tone between disbelief and anger. you knew the anger wasnt directed toward you, more towards the world, on your behalf

"well most women are into men, nami." Your tone matched hers, and the two of you laughed. You figured she realized once you said it, and got less angry.

The silence washed over the two of you, Nami was relaxing onto your hands and under the water, onto your thighs. You felt her soft skin brush against you, and the water move around the two of you.

Her hair slightly curled around your fingers, you would probably make a journal entry about it later. But in that moment? You were happy.

Just braiding her hair made you happy, feeling her slowly rest more of her weight onto you. Seeing her slightly fall asleep, due to you braiding her hair.

You tied the hair tie around the end of the braid, her orange hairs curling around it. It was like they knew the tie belonged to you.

“Okay, now you tell me why you asked” you spoke with a playful tone, trying to cover up the fact that you were dying to know.

“Well it’s just that today made me so stressed and I swear I’m gonna kill sanji, I just need like some type of physical contact you know?” She laughed then sighed, you couldn’t look away, “like I just need something to tide me over till the next island. I’ll probably use my hairbrush or something.”

You were blushing, embarrassed at the thought that instantly flooded your head.

“Yeahh.” You looked awkwardly to the side.

“What? You seem like you want to say something.” Nami moved a little closer to you, the bubbles were clinging to her thankfully.

“Nothing. It’s embarrassing!” You turned to look her in the eyes and she was much closer than you thought.

Startled, you lowered yourself into the water more, now covered up to your lips.

“Tell me!! You can trust me!” Nami copied you, using the water to level the ground between you.

“Okay, okay! I basically thought that if you really wanted I could help you.” You raised just to speak, then immediately hid under the water again.

Nami did not seem like she wanted to joke anymore. “Oh yeah? How exactly would you help me?” She stood up and was almost entirely exposed to you, her tone was deeper and unmistakably flirty.

“Oh uhm like I could do things, physical things," pause... "to help you relax! Like a massage, or maybe I could force franky into building a massage chair! Or like I could find you a guy to fuck! Haha so many things!”

This was pathetic.

Sure you realized she was being flirty, but she did that with guys she had no intention of sleeping with too.

"How on earth would you get me a guy to fuck when we're in the middle of the sea?" Nami moved one step closer.

"I want to relax y/n... you told me you would help." Nami's voice came out as pure honey to you, and she made the whole situation worse by leaning towards your ear to say so.

Your head was the only thing above water, your eyes wide staring up at Nami. You were processing just what her intentions were, and your mouth was slightly open in shock.

You blinked once or twice then nodded yes to her.

She laughed, then got out of the water and grabbed a towel. She layed it out next to the edge of the bath, and sat on it. "Are you good?"

You stood a bit more, your chest being completely exposed now. (You were desperately trying not to think too much about it.) Taking a second too long to answer her question, since you were trying to comprehend it.

"I'm uhh... well why don't you decide?" You were desperately grabbing at any confidence you could find, but your voice betrayed you by going shyer and more quiet.

"What? you're mumbling."

"You should find out.. or whatever" Thankfully you were louder, and felt some rush to be more confident. You had looked to the side, but you'd take it.

Nami chuckled, and you looked back to her. She had a blush on her face and you decided you wanted to see it forever.

Feeling the previous rush of confidence, you put your hands on her legs. The area just above her knees was so soft and plush that you could see her skin dimple under your hands. Glad you chose that spot, you pushed her legs gently open.

She was beautiful all over apparently. Her pussy had a small bush around it, her lips pressing out just a bit. They looked like they wanted a kiss. You didn't want to stare too long so you pushed yourself up, placing your lips just above her knee, directly above where your hand was still placed.

You started kissing her leg, running your hands up and down her thighs as you did. Feeling her skin was unbelievable since she was still so soft from her shower and bath. You had closed your eyes, to focus on how her thighs felt on your lips, but you realized she might be blushing so you kissed and looked up towards her.

"hey don't... y/n..." not only did she have a blush still plastered on her face, she was also smiling and looking down at you before you even truly met her eyes.

You didn't listen, and kept staring while moving your way up her thighs.

Nami showed her embarrassment and frustration in one move of her hand. She put a hand in your hair and pushed gently, forcing your head back down. You laughed into her thigh before continuing your kissing tour.

Finally, you reached her hip, finding her bikini line and sucking. Nami let out a small laugh, that slowly morphed into a heavy breathing the longer you sucked. Feeling her pull your hair a bit, you took the hint that she was ready to move on. You brushed your hand up to her hips, giving them a small squeeze before pulling her thighs a bit more apart.

You looked up at her and situated yourself more directly in front of her. "You're so beautiful Nami..." your voice was deep and you were shocked at just how horny you sounded.

You kissed just above her pussy, feeling her hairs tickle your nose. then you moved down and placed one long and slow lick. If there was anything you were doing it was definitely savoring this experience.

She gasped when you started the lick, and you would've too, had your mouth not been occupied. She didn't taste like flowers or candy, she tasted just ever so slightly tangy. In another world it was definitely a flavor you would beg to taste nightly.

You finished with flicking your tongue on her clit, and she gasped again. "hah two gasps on one lick? so sensitive, aren't you nami?"

You looked up at her, surprised to see her smile gone and her breath heavy with pleasure. Despite you barely even beginning.

"Shut up its been a second, and you got me all riled on purpose."

You chuckled back, before going back towards where her hole was. You looked up at her and placed your tongue on her. Waiting a second before moving your tongue just barely inside her, then dragging up to just below her clit. You closed your eyes and kissed, before sticking your tongue out again and licking her. You were pretty sloppy here, but it was almost more for you than her. You took a second to lick her different folds, then found her bundle with your tongue, eyes still closed. You pressed flat against it before going a bit more pointy with the tip of your tongue and flicking.

You increased the speed a bit, and switched to sucking every once in a while. You brushed your teeth against her, then sucked a bit with them and your lips. She moaned, and the grip she had. in your hair tightened. You kept sucking there, drinking in her sounds.

Wanting to enjoy yourself too, you moved back down, taking another long and slow lick. Getting the chance to taste all the hard work you were putting in. She moaned again, this time a little more like a whimper. Like she was begging for more.

You used this opportunity to lift her leg on to your shoulder, using one hand to keep it there and the other taking advantage of the new open space. Sliding in one finger, your palm facing up.

"fuck Nami, you feel good." You didn't look up at her to tell her, instead saying it into her pussy so that she could feel the vibrations directly from your vocal cords.

"Y/n..." she said your name like a cry for help, and you knew what she was asking for.

You slid your finger out, putting it in your mouth. You looked up at her as you licked it clean, "You taste so amazing, I feel like I could eat you till I die." The hand she had rested on your head pushed you back down, a bit more forceful. "You are so embarrassing".

You laughed into her and slid your two middle fingers into her, "Tell me about it baby". You once again let her feel the vibrations, hearing your reward immediately after. Her moans sounded so sweet, they sounded even sweeter once you started fingering her and sucking on her clit at the same time.

You were pressing up onto her g-spot, moving your fingers on and off it in a 'come here' motion. She started humping your face a bit, so you figured she was getting closer. You started alternating between sucking, pressing your lips onto her, and licking fast. You felt her hump at a specific rhythm and tried to match it with your fingers.

She moved her other hand to your head and you felt her clench around your fingers.

"Y/n just like that... fuck please... don't stop" Her voice came off as needy and whining and you couldn't be happier.

Then it all aligned, you pressed into her with your fingers, sucked on her clit, and grunted into her. She gasped and let out a louder moan and jutted her hips into your face.

You felt her wetness spill onto your chin and your hand, giving her clit kisses while she came down and had some residual twitches onto your face.

Feeling her lay back and breath heavy, you slowly put her leg down to let her relax fully. You kept your hands on her thighs, tracing shapes into them while you watched her. Her chest was moving up and down, all you could do was sit and watch her.

You were frozen, not knowing what friends do after one of them get eaten out.

"Uh.. id say you are good... uhm... hmmm" Nami's voice was deep and she was still breathing pretty heavy. you were kinda amazed that you were the only reason for her state of being.

"Want me to lay next to you? Or we could get you to bed?" You asked, poking her thigh to make sure she wouldn't fall asleep right then and there.

"What? I don't get both?"

You liked Nami, a little too much. If she asked for all the money you had in that moment you would hand it over, "Yeah you can get both.."

You got out of the water, and grabbed two towels, first making sure yours is secured, then wrapping Nami in one as well. You bent over to her ear, "im gonna pick you up..."

Nami didn't even open her eyes, and you lifted her, bridal style.

Once the two of you were back in the girl's quarters you layed Nami into her bed, "Do you still want me to join you?"

"OF course! come here.." Her tone was more demanding than before, and she forced a hand onto your arm. while she was pulling you, you glanced over to robin. She had the widest smirk on, giving you a knowing glance as you fell onto the bed.

You figured it was obvious, the two of you in towels and Nami being carried, but seeing robin's face made it clear that soon everyone on the ship would know.

But that didn't matter. You could smell namis hair, the braid you did for her still holding up beautifully. Her wavy orange hair was curling around the hair tie still, so you figured you would give it something better. You held the braid in your hand, and the curl wrapped around your finger.

You put your other hand around Nami, it falling somewhere on her waist. Nami did you two the favor of pulling the covers up over your bodies. Once they were covered, the two of you twisted together like threads in a blanket.

This is how you were meant to be.

[entomolog-t]

GtWAC Day 1:

Reblog your go to comfort fic

If you have not read The Stranding (and by extension, The Rescue) by the darling @belethlegwen you are deeply missing out! The sheer amount of content is truly a blessing, and considering its still being updated?? ASDFJHSLK

Belle is an incredible story teller, and this shines through in her writing so well I feel like I'm getting flashbanged by talent.

You know that typical writing advice about not introducing too many characters, especially early on as it divides the reader's attention?? BELLE STOMPS ON THAT.

AND

IT

WORKS

I genuinely can't get over how much I am in love with her characters. I must admit- I am the typical reader with one too many bonks to the head that can't seem to focus on/ remember/ care about more than 3-5 characters- that is not the case here.

Every character she introduces has my interest piqued- each one feeling alive and at home in their setting. And its not just likeable in the sense of "oh I'd be friends with them" (and she absolutely has many characters I'd love to be friends with)- its these raw and real characterizations that make you like them as a character.

They have their own mystery to them too- even if its not direct. Her characters make you wonder more about their past and why they act the way they do. They can be frustrating, immature, stubborn, even cruel- but they feel so deeply real.

Both written works from Sizeable Ship Wrecks are among my favorite things I've read- both inside and outside of the G/t sphere to the point I feel as though I could shamelessly recommend this to someone outside of the G/t community and be confident they would enjoy it.

[amaya-writes]

SUBBY BOYS WITH FLUFFY HAIR AND WHINY VOICES OH MY GOD-

[nellasbookplanet]

I know I'm about a decade late but I've been replaying the Mass Effect trilogy for the first time since I was a teenager and I'm going absolutely bonkers trying to figure out if the endings are actively and stupidly working against the core themes of all three games, or if they actually thematically work but in the bleakest way imaginable.

All three endings are the embodiment of what we've been fighting literally from the start. In ME1 Saren thinks the Reapers cannot be defeated and so strives for Synthesis, thinking it will save us but not realizing he's already been indoctrinated and has basically willingly turned himself into a husk by the end. In ME2 & 3 the Illusive Man thinks destroying the Reapers would be a waste and that we should instead control both their technology and them as a species, ignoring that this is not only a heinous thing to do but also incredibly arrogant, seeing as anyone poking at Reaper technology gets indoctrinated. Both Synthesis and Control are actively argued against by the very narrative. That in combination with Destroy being the only ending in which Shepard survives, it’s no wonder many fans seem to consider it the only "true" ending (and it’s also not very surprising the indoctrination theory got so popular).

But Destroy comes with its own issues. Aside from the ethical implications of only being able to win by committing genocide against your own allies (synthetics in general, geth and EDI in particular), like with the other two it seems to be actively argued against throughout the narrative.

You are the strongest at the end by striving for cooperation throughout the games, showing time and again that destruction isn't necessary. You save the krogan from extinction, stop the geth and the quarians from wiping each other out. From Javik we find out that the strength of this cycle compared to his is the diversity and cooperation between alien species; from the Leviathan DLC as well as the history of the geth and of EDI we find that synthetics are only violent by mirroring their creators, and can be peaceful just as much as organics. And yet here is an ending arguing for completely wiping out all synthetics.

Assuming the writers were not actually trying to work against their own themes, this makes all three endings incredibly bleak. With the constant emphasis on making hard choices throughout the trilogy, is the point that there is no way to achieve a truly "good" ending? That you'll have to compromize your morals or your allies or both to stop extinction? That Saren or the Illusive Man's solutions could have worked had they not been corrupted, similarly to how synthetic implants (a step toward synthesis) did not automatically corrupt Shepard (with Kai Leng as a foil of cybernetic implants instead leading to indoctrination), or reaper code upgrades didn’t automatically corrupt EDI or the geth?

But if so, why are all endings presented as... happy? Why is Synthesis lifted as the epitome of evolution and peace while never touching the sacrifice of agency in the name of survival? Why does Control lift the "power in control" and "wisdom of harnessing the strength of your enemy" while ignoring the ethical implications of basically indoctrinating and enslaving the reapers in turn? Why does neither of these endings lift the risk of them turning sour the way they did for Saren and the Illusive Man? Why does Destory lift victory and rebuilding while ignoring the literal genocide that took place to allow for it? None of these are presented as bittersweet endings in which morals had to be sacrificed in the name of survival and a better future, but they also work against the themes in such an obvious way that I refuse to believe the writers didn’t notice. There must be more to it.

[sagau-my-beloved]

Share the suggestive sagau content please, if your writing/creating it I know its good!

-Rapid anon

You're all way too nice to me 😭

But I guess since I now have a general consensus I'm not gonna hold out, so warning it gets slightly more than suggestive a bit down the road, starts off pretty safe though

So I wasn't kidding that this concept, in one form or another, has been floating around in my head for like two years now

Obviously it didn't start out as sagau centered but it transitions so easily into that universe so I've expanded upon it

Basically the general structure is based off of how in sagau fics it's always kind of implied that the very land of Teyvat itself reflects the creators emotional/physical state

Like heavy storms/rain in imposter au where poor reader is getting hurt/killed by the characters, and the less seen counterpart where the day is just beautiful and perfect when reader is happy

Soooo, taking that, why don't we apply it to characters as well?

And by that I simply mean that the reader's emotions quite literally extend from themselves and can be felt lowkey by anybody close to them

So if the reader is happy then it's almost as if it's impossible to be anything else in their presence, happiness and bliss just permeates throughout the room lifting the spirits of anyone that comes in contact with

Then of course, if the reader is sad, every living thing near them suffers the same pain

It's also considered a universally good thing even if the reader is experiencing negative emotions, which are then also felt by other people in the general vicinity, because at least then all the acolytes know exactly what their beloved creator is feeling and the moment when they're feeling bad, it's not as if it can be hidden, which then allows them to jump right in and try fixing it

I headcanon that this sensation is obviously stronger the closer to the source, aka the creator, that a character is, the strongest of this sensation being felt when the character is physically touching the reader

I feel like there's just a very big variety of what you can do with this concept, like having usually sad/depressed characters finding relief in the creators presence, happy energetic characters instantly feeling waves of negative emotions and just booking it to where the creator is to calm them

You could even extend it further and have this happen in a less dramatic way with the creator statues, if the reader is still in their own world

Like it becomes a daily ritual to visit the creator statue to touch it and feel exactly what they're feeling, it's a sacred place of relief for tired fighters, stressed akademiya students, and sad acolytes who want nothing more than to just bask in the warmth of the divine creator, and if they're met with a negative emotion it's customary to leave an offering and a prayer for the creators wellbeing

Now, moving into the more suggestive aspect of it, and I'm sure you can see exactly where I'm going with this but—

All feelings are amplified for others near them, including pleasure and arousal

Sooo, just saying, there's a lot of potential for some fun drabbles where maybe a particular character quite literally gets addicted to the intense bliss felt from merely touching our dear reader

Or maybe something more like said character can get off on focusing solely on pleasing their creator and the effects of that (not as if they couldn't already, but now it's a bit more literal)

And, in a few things I've written, I've also extended this concept so that the previously mentioned euphoria gets so intense that it becomes something of a baseline, as in there's an actual feeling of pain or at least discomfort from being without it, cough character abandoning all dignity and begging to touch the creator cough

Taking the phrase "addicted to your touch" to a whole new level 😀👍

[personalzombie-tv]

There's so many things i wanna say re: informed consent and aftercare in regards to ttrpgs and other roleplay situations but i can not get the ideas in the right order. Gonna give it my best shot though.

A lot of people who suck have been yelling on tiktok about consent surveys and checkins becoming more popular with mainstream DnD. And like- it's just like in bdsm really. You gotta know what you're getting into, provide continuous consent to it, and have a way out if it gets to be too much. The only real difference between sexily pretending to be someone's maid or whatever and pretending to be an orc in a massive collaborative storytelling session is the content of the pretending and how likely anyone involved is gonna get their rocks off to it. It's still the same kind of effect on the brain and you're gonna be processing emotions that come from that. It's super important to know exactly what to expect and be able to set hard (and soft) boundaries about what you are and are not ok with experiencing there.

There's a reason safewords are considered so important in a lot of bdsm circles even when the scene isn't a situation where a plain "no" might go ignored. It's an immediate stop and return to the real world outside of the play. Having that in non-sexy rp is an amazing tool. It lets the gm or other players know "hey this needs to stop now" without having to say those words or worry about whether it's a full stop or a pause. It pulls everyone out immediately and gets them on the same level. I think anyone who's unexpectedly encountered more than they could handle in a game can appreciate the ability to do that.

The thing I haven't seen talked about as much as that though is the concept of aftercare. Like, especially in high rp settings where emotions are running high you gotta be able to take the time afterward to calm down. You need to be able to talk to your friends and remember you're playing a game, they still care about you even if your character and theirs just tried to murder each other. Maybe it doesn't get talked about much cause there's no real word for it that doesn't have the sex connotation but we really should be. I've seen first hand how dropping after intense rp can hurt someone and leave them not wanting to continue playing. You gotta make room to take care of your friends. Especially in online gaming where you can't exactly just hand them a slice of pizza and tell them how well they did acting and how much you love them.

I don't know how to end this. I've just been thinking a lot about these things. I'm glad consent forms and check ins are becoming more normalized in the gaming space. Good for everyone that that's happening even if the old guard dudebros are pissed off about it

[pancakes-with-grounded-hazelnuts]

hsr: references to jingliu, jing yuan, and yanqing's backstories. interpretations + hcs roughly based on anything up to 1.4

(hi i don't make proper theories or analyses. i just scream my feelings into a void in a chaotic barrage of words.)

thinking about sword family again.

how jingliu’s readiness to teach anyone swordsmanship regardless of fame, talent, or circumstances transformed jing yuan’s life. i think about little jing yuan, whose passion for swordplay went against his parents' wishes, whose talent leaned far more into cunning than the blade. and yet jingliu acknowledged his desire to learn and acknowledged him as he was. even now, he still speaks of her with respect and fondness.

i then think about how jing yuan now, many years later, is mentoring a student of his own, yanqing. a boy with no known background but had a fiery passion for swordplay. how he went against public opinion to give him opportunities on the battlefield at a young age. the dubious ethics of this aside, i can see little yanqing felt his passion and abilities acknowledged.

i think of them being acknowledged by their masters, for not only their strengths and weaknesses, but their dreams. i can imagine a great sense of hope dawning on them. they will never forget it.

(extra headcanony territory) and then i picture, the student of her student, standing before her, hungry for another contest, hungry to learn more techniques from her. he knows she's deemed a criminal by the xianzhou, he knows her past is full of painful complications beyond his comprehension, but through all that, jingliu is still a brilliant swordmaster, and that's what matters to him. he will acknowledge her as she is. he will cut through her punishing memories with his sharp tongue. "what's the holdup? it's time for swordplay!" and she will smile the sweetest and most sincere smile she had for years, for there's fun to be had.

and so the cycle of hope has come full circle.

>> disclaimer: i might be too paranoid about this, but i feel the need to note that the positive way i wrote this (and other posts) doesn't mean i think what these characters do for each other is necessarily the best or healthiest (even by in-universe standards, let alone my own). i acknowledge the flaws and greyness of this world, but i prefer to read them in the context of its own setting and focus on the positives for a lot of these posts because it gives me the most joy.

[grape-writes]

Trapped in a Net

A/N: A lil somethin ive had rotating around in my brain for a while! Me and one of my friends have been brainstorming this one!!! Inspired by Subnautica and a few others fnaf fics floating around that really stuck to my brain

It's a bit rambly, but I'm happy with it :D

Masterlist

Ao3 link

Warnings: Oceans mentioned and shown/described, isolation, blood mentioned, violence implied, [to be added to]

--

[Day One]

Fazbear Technologies, or FazTech, was a rather well-known company across the galaxy, known for starting as a simple pizza diner and later becoming a conglomerate big enough to have its own space program. Weird? Absolutely, but it was profitable for the company to move with the times, especially as humanity began to search the stars for new places and homes to inhabit.

One such place was a planet several dozen light-years away from earth with a mostly water surface. One of FazTech’s scientists had found it while searching for another planet. From the pictures, it was a gorgeous giant planet covered in different shades of blue, dotted with islands (the biggest being about the same size as Australia) and vast deep oceans. It had two moons, one far larger than the other.

And so, FazTech decided to try and send squads of people down to the new discovery, claiming it to be a mission for humanity. Yet they kept sending people down... and no one ever came back... not a word ever came back from the planet's watery depths. It was effectively radio silence on the planet's surface since they’d been sent down.

That was, until the twentieth or so squad, a desperate little team made of five or so recent college graduates that applied for the mission to prove themselves. They'd sent out a distress signal, finally. And for the first time, was FazTech made aware of what was happening in the ocean planets waters. Just FazTech, not the public, or even any of humanities governments were made aware of it as they tried to keep it under wraps.

So FazTech decided to send out one final squad.

Well, sort of; it was just going to be a small group of scouts to get a confirmed status of the survivors then leave with however many of them they could. The mission was canceled after the company board reviewed the situation and decided it wasn’t worth the time, resources, or money. Unfortunately for one of the members of the squad, they had yet to inform any of them or the robot in charge of the ship to the planet.

Thus, the singular member who arrived early, Yvette North, was sent to the ocean planet alone. And she was fucking pissed about it. Or she was, when she was awoken from cryo sleep days before they landed on the planet and found out about what had happened. She stood on the ship with just the robotic pilot keeping them on course.

Yvette was a diver who’d been hired by FazTech for previous missions (all on Earth), had accepted this one mostly out of a desire to see the stars. It seemed perfect, being on a planet made mostly of water, searching for a group of survivors while exploring new aquatic places. Maybe she was just fascinated by the ocean, but it sounded like a breathtaking experience.

Until Yvette was stuck on the planet, alone, anyway. Because no, they were not sending anyone out to get them after this. This was FazTech we’re talking about, they swept things under the rug all the time. FazTech had been doing this all the way back when they first started and got into controversy with one of their cofounders being accused of something bad (Yve genuinely forgot what, too busy to really do any meaningful research) and they had tried everything to cover that up.

Yvette was pulled from her thoughts by the ship shuddering, almost falling from her chair in the cockpit as they approached the planet's surface. She straightened, tugging her luggage closer to herself so it wouldn’t go flying, and clutched onto the arm of her chair.

The landing was a bit rocky, especially entering the atmosphere, but as soon as they entered it was smooth sailing to the coordinates of the distress signal. A scan from before they arrived told her that it was on an island, not The Big One, but a decently sized island. It must've been around the same size as – maybe – the United Kingdom? No, maybe a bit bigger. It was difficult to tell without having them side by side.

The distress signal was made a few weeks before they set out to the planet; which would’ve been impossible to get there within a quick timeframe. Even with warp technology, the nearest warp is months away from the planet's system, much less the planet itself. But the group knew that going into this, so hopefully they stayed put.

Hopefully.

The ship slowed to a halt overtop the island itself, landing carefully on a clearing made into a cliffside, the ship's front window providing a decent view of the foliage of the island, the ship lights illuminating the forest in the dark of early morning. It was lush and green, even atop the rocky cliff, with trees and bushes filling the land to near capacity. The clearing was obviously cleared away by one of the squads to make way for new arrivals or provide a space to escape from the ocean blue around them.

Once they landed on the cliffs edge, the robot, a typical Pilot Bot with a vaguely humanoid upper half and a wheel for a lower half, turned on its wheel and rolled out of the cockpit. Pilot Bots were modeled closely after the old Staff Bots FazTech used to use in some of their facilities. The only major difference between the two is a hat and programing.

Yvette sighed and got up to follow, luggage rolling behind her. She’d only really packed a suitcase and a carry-on bag, believing this mission wouldn’t take more than a month at most. She had a feeling she was under packed.

Time to check the signal out, she supposed.

The planet, despite being much larger than earth, had a breathable atmosphere. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent anyone down, obviously. But it was a comfort to say the least, being able to take a deep breath of almost familiar air. It had this heaviness to it that seemed to stabilize her, if not drag her down. It was also warm, indicating the more tropical climate of the area, if not most of the planet itself.

The robot led Yvette into the foliage and down a little path, stopping at a hatch in the ground at her feet. It was large and rectangular, with a panel stuck up from one of the corners nearest her. The panel was just a keypad, and a larger set of buttons lower on the panel.

Oh, that’s how she gets in.

“Thank- ah.” Yvette watched the robot roll its way back to the ship and away from her. She sighed when it closed the door to the ship and began to take off. “Okay, that’s fine.”

A part of her felt like she should’ve run back after the stupid thing or stayed on the ship. But she knew she couldn’t, not without seeing this through. The last squad sent a distress signal and could be in trouble, and alone or not it was her job to help. Though she wished she wasn’t alone in this endeavor.

With an annoyed huff, Yvette pressed one of the buttons; the door opened with a harsh hiss, allowing the stairs down to be visible. With a tug to pull her suitcase along, she made her way down into the depths of base beneath the earth. At the bottom of the stairs was an elevator door.

When Yvette stepped down to the elevator door, the doors to the stairs slammed shut. With a jolt, she cursed under her breath. A glance around the space told her there wasn’t an obvious way to open that back up, so she’d probably have to go around. Annoying.

The elevator trip was short, leading into the cave the base resided in. The cave was easily three stories tall, human construction cutting into natural rock formation to create a usable space. This was how they typically made bases for exo-planets in the past, apparently, using natural formations to use as a foundation rather than building directly on their own. Not that they never started from scratch, but this was more efficient in terms of time and resources.

The room the elevator exited to was massive, it was the main dock, framed by the giant curved window where the cave would have opened out and into the water. The cave was under the water itself, the window and metal flooring by its entrance being the only things keeping the cave free of water. The floor just by the elevator was just stone from the cave, cut around the metal docking area. Said dock was just a railed off opening into the water covered by a metallic door.

The wall deeper into the cave was a mix of rock, doors, and windows. They’d managed to build a second story to the base, install a catwalk above, and make it look nice. To the immediate left of the elevator was a set of doors with the words ‘Meeting Room’ plastered above them. The next set of doors appeared to be just to the main space of the base. The second story had a few windows looking into some of the rooms, but with the angle she stood at made it nearly impossible to catch a glimpse of what was within. That was probably by design.

The place looked and felt... abandoned. The whole building was entirely silence, equipment around the docking bay was scattered about, a couple of the doors looked like they’d been left open, vines from the surface seemed to have been growing through the ceiling and into the rocks. It was as if they’d all run, or potentially worse, and left the base abandoned and empty of life. Despite sending the distress signal.

Yvette just hoped she wasn’t too late.

“Okay... distress signal...” Turning on her heel, she pulled the sliding door to the meeting room open. “There's gotta be a terminal in here somewhere...”

The room was, unsurprisingly, in tatters; the table was knocked over, chairs scattered about, papers torn and tossed about, A pool of blood dried on the floor by the desk. Evidence of a scuffle clear as day. The pin board on the far end of the room contained a map of areas the group had scouted out, beautifully drawn by the previous squad's resident navigator, and on it was a string.

The blood was… concerning. Especially considering it was splattered on the wall by the pool, followed by bloodied footprints moving from the pool towards the door.

On the desk, thankfully, was a terminal; turning it on allowed her to turn the distress signal off and scan the computers files for information. Most of it was mundane updates on the base's workings; they had quite a few issues getting the solar panels to work, and sometimes the dock bay doors would get jammed. Typical issues for a base of this size.

There was also a slew of strange happenings in the waters around them. Strange lights moving in the dark of night, alerts on the security systems that vanish in a second, something making noise by the secondary doc when everyone was trying to sleep.

Brushing those off, she clicked into the final message left on the terminal, labeled ‘signal’.

--

To whoever finds this message,

If you're reading this, we left. And we’re either dead or going to.

This was a suicide mission. There are things in the water, and I don’t mean the monsters who live here. This planet... changes you, and if you don’t go along with it, you die in the process. We’ve already tossed so many to it. Our captain, Fritz, didn’t make it...

I didn’t want to send the distress signal, but Dave was insistent. So here is my warning, get the hell off this world, warn whoever you can, I don't care. Just leave. The discoveries are not worth the risk The Change entails.

FazTech should never have found this god forsaken planet.

Signed, Jeremy

--

Well... shit. Now she was really regretting not running back with the stupid Pilot Bot back to the ship home. And now, not only was she stuck, but she knew no one was going to send a squad down to help. They sent their rescue ship and that was all they would do; less people to pay when they're stuck on an alien planet. Or dead.

God, she should’ve quit working for FazTech years ago.

The file was helpful, she supposed, but mostly confusing. Where did they go? Were they all alive? Most worrying of all for her was the mention of monsters; fear can drive people to do irrational things, but what was frightening enough to drive a group of grown adults out of their generally well-defended base? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

But, since she had nowhere else to go, she had to stay in said well-defended base.

Alone.

Because a squad couldn’t stay in one place until the rescue team arrived. And while she sympathized, and somewhat understood, she couldn’t help but be annoyed by this. It was not a good idea to leave after asking for help, foolish even.

The silence in the base made her skin crawl, knowing something had happened within its walls. The mess of blood on the floor, the implication of it seemed to make the feeling of isolation it presented worse. And it only made her question why they left even more.

Sighing, Yvette made her way back to the docking bay to collect her luggage, grabbing the handle of her suitcase to drag it away from the mess that was the meeting room.

It was probably best to find the rooms, so she made her way towards the other set of double doors.

The new room was large and open, giving way to a lounge area, dining area and kitchen, a large wall to ceiling window was set against the far wall, a glass door was set into said window and into the secondary docking bay. A spiral staircase by the window led her to the second story, which gave way to the living quarters.

There were a handful of rooms, the ones that weren’t locked were left in tatters like the Meeting Room. Furniture knocked over, blankets and clothes tossed about. Personal items appeared to still be in the rooms, left scattered and abandoned by their owners.

The dread in her stomach twisted.

Yvette chose one of the few rooms that weren’t locked, the one off to the side with the captain's quarters. It was one of the smaller rooms, and only had a few scattered clothing at the most. That and it had a floor to ceiling window out into the ravine the base was partially built into.

Her scanning through the files earlier told her that a lot of the life on the planet was bioluminescent and would provide a light show at night. And while she wasn’t the type to be able to sleep with light, there were thankfully curtains the previous owner had set up to block out the glow.

Setting her luggage down on the floor, she made quick work of the mess in her new space; putting clothes into a laundry basket and collecting personal items she found into a box. She decided she was going to leave the previous squad's personal items in storage.

Day one here, and Yvette was cleaning up a mess. She ended up cleaning up a lot of messes day one; reorienting furniture in her new bedroom and picking up some of the fallen papers in the meeting room, picking up laundry to do later (if she ever found the laundry room), cleaning out the fridge. It was all a good distraction for her mind, something to focus on that wasn’t her current situation.

At around noon, she found herself in the secondary docking bay, rummaging through crates of supplies for swimming gear. Of course, there was, as FazTech would’ve been in trouble if they didn’t provide their squads with the basic necessities when sending them on missions to water worlds.

Typically, the swim gear was supposed to be a full body swimsuit with flippers and a rebreather. FazTech almost never supplied those, instead offering (at least for women) a one-piece swimsuit with optional leg and arm pieces. Supposedly it was to allow better movement in the water, keeping joints clear of restrictive fabric. But anyone with half a mind could see it wasn’t very appropriate in a workplace environment.

Regardless, Yvette didn’t care whether it was appropriate or not, considering she was obviously alone. She was a diver and was originally assigned to this mission because of that fact, and she wanted to swim. She wanted to get a feel for the ocean around her, familiar yet so foreign compared to home.

Once she found the new swimsuit, she held it up to get a good look at it. It was not actually a one-piece swimsuit, but a two-piece swimsuit; the two parts were just clipped together with cheap, light weight, metal clips along the place where the two pieces met. Finding the leg and arm pieces wasn't a difficult task, they were right next to the suit itself.

Altogether, the swimsuit was a deep green, with lighter green along the center of it and under the limbs. It was lined with purple rings down the limbs and center piece. She remembered reading a manual on these, the rings lit up to ward away dangerous creatures on foreign planets, modeled after an octopus.

Slipping into the swimsuit was rather easy, as was getting the flippers and rebreather on and adjusted. All of it fit like a glove, the material was lightweight and comfortable, though a little snug. But that was better than it being too loose fitting. It would do for now. After a bit of stretching, she decided it was time to go.

The secondary docking bay was a lot smaller than the primary one, but it was easier to cover from the other side. It was simply a hatch she could lock shut with a bit of effort. The primary docking bay was for transporting items or loading aquatic vehicles, while the secondary bay was for human only entrance.

Tugging the valve to the side, she pushed the hatch open, dipping her feet into the water below. After a moment, she slipped out fully, allowing the cool water to surround her entire being.

The water felt... tingly on her skin, like invisible needles were pressing into every inch of her exposed flesh; it wasn’t painful, but mildly uncomfortable. It almost made her want to leave the water at the sudden sensation, but she was determined to stay put and acclimate herself to the blue.

She floated there for a moment, slowly getting used to the sudden pressure of the waves, it was heavier than Earth's oceans. After a moment of floating, she pushed herself up and pulled the valve back down. She probably didn’t need to do this, but it made her more comfortable to know it was properly closed.

With a deep breath from behind her mask, she began her swim.

Yvette kept mostly to the rocky wall of the island, decided it best to be cautious in new waters. The plant life of this new planet was gorgeous, faintly familiar yet alien all the same. Vibrant corals in shapes she’d never seen coral grow into, anemones and kelp, underwater flowers. Not to mention the fish that lazily floated past her, each strange and unique compared to fish from Earth. It was all so calm, she had to pause to take it all in, leaning onto a rock by the cliff to simply observe her surroundings.

Only that calm did not last.

A flash of yellow and red darted amongst the rocks directly below her caught her eye, moving far too fast to be like the rest of the fish above it. Whatever it was, it was quick in the water and probably hunting. Though its movement only seemed to startle some of the smaller fish, it obviously wasn’t very good at hunting yet. She followed the flash of yellow until it moved too fast for her to see where it had gone off to, darting between rocks and plants beneath her in the ravine.

She leaned over the edge of the rock she was leaning against to try and get a glimpse of whatever it was. Nothing, it must’ve swum off, weird. With a shrug, she turned and pushed herself off the rock to continue her route around the base. The primary docking bay should’ve been relatively close.

Yvette yelped when something grabbed ahold of her ankle, tugging harshly. As she was pulled down, she kicked at whatever had grabbed her ankle as best she could in the water, flipper coming into contact with a solid mass. It took a few clumsy kicks for the grip to lessen and for her to be able to tug her ankle away.

Now she could see what grabbed her-

Her vision was fuzzy for a moment, tears stinging her eyes in her panic. This made whatever she was looking at look like a blob of yellows, golds, and reds, but a few blinks allowed her to get a good look at it.

It – they? - were a vaguely humanoid creature with a fish's tail, like an alien's depiction of what a mermaid should look like. Above the waist they were a lanky thing, with long arms and large webbed hands; their head was also notably larger than Yve’s, framed with frills that made them look like a sunflower or a child's drawing of a sun. Notably was the fact those frills surrounded red spikes that stuck up from behind some frills that hung in front of their face like bangs. Their upper half was a pale yellow, spotted with an even paler tone across their flesh; it covered their face in a crescent moon pattern. Below the waist was their tail, the same yellow their upper half that faded into a shade of gold that could only be described as sunset gold. Their body was dotted with small red frills, lighter in color than their tail.

What in the goddamn...

The creature (Yve was going to call it a mermaid) had swam back to rub their face, expression scrunched up for a moment, then they blinked at her with wide pale blue eyes. And in a moment, they shrunk in on themselves, their brows furrowing nervously, and frills twitching atop their head.

The two of them seemed to stare at each other for a while, before the yellow mermaid let out a series of chirps and chitters that she could just barely hear under the water. The mermaid swam closer to chirp and chitter at her, large hands reaching forward.

Yvette froze in place as the massive palms cupped around her face and breathing mask, clawed fingers tapping against her mask’s protective layer. After a moment, it moved to pick at her hair, swimming about around her. It was a surprisingly gentle creature, barely tugging at her braided hair before it moved on to mess with her hands. Once curiosity there was satisfied, it moved to grab her flipper, wiggling the end in fascination.

A part of Yvette was cursing at herself for freezing up. But really, what was she supposed to do? The thing could clearly chase after her, and who knows, it probably only hunted things that ran- er swam off. Some speed predators did that, cheetahs were a great example that came to mind.

The mer chirped at Yvette again, finished in their prodding, and swam back to give her some space. It seemed to be content and mostly just curious about her. So, free from the prodding, she just... swam off. The mermaid hadn’t really given her any indication that it wanted anything, and she had a job to do.

So off Yvette went, heading around the curve of the rock towards where she gathered where the cave was. She swam around a bend of rock, eyes trailing from the rock to the life all around her. So much was going on that she so easily got distracted; it reminded of her diving in a coral reef on Earth, breathtaking.

Much to Yvette’s surprise, the sun-finned mer swam after her leisurely, almost lazily. She only really noticed when she’d briefly turned back to watch a fish swim past her, only to spot the yellow being following her. It chirped when she made eye contact with it, speeding up to meet with her again.

In a mild panic, Yvette chose to swim faster, to get away from the beast following her. Yet they didn’t seem dissuaded. In fact, they seemed to take it as a challenge, propelling themselves after her with their strong tail. They followed her as she carved around the bend of rock.

Ahead of Yvette was a break in the wall, the entrance to the cave. Bingo! Picking up speed, she darted around the break in the rock. She was right, as a quick glance proved the mer had simply swam past. She let herself relax behind a rock wall, the grips of her gloves keeping her from floating away from its surface.

The yellow mer came to a skidding halt in the water, arms flailing to keep themselves from swimming too far. The expression on their face, from Yvette’s angle at least, seemed startled. A nervous warble came from the mer’s throat as they frantically looked about for the suddenly missing human. Almost like a dog with separation anxiety yowling for their human to return.

Yvette snorted to herself at the comparison.

Yvette took this as a chance to head for the docking bay, leaving the strange yellow mer to their own devices. The cave leading to the docking bay was shallow, but deep enough that the shadows hid her from prying eyes. The window in the base had been built above the cave, a few feet of rock hiding the secret entrance.

The docking bay, unsurprisingly, was closed. Yvette hadn’t opened it on the other side before she left. Cursing to herself, she swam up to the small control panel beside the massive door, gently pressing at the buttons. It was a number pad, simple enough; she just pressed the enter button, hoping that it would just kick start into opening.

No dice.

All Yvette got in return was a beep and a red light blinking at her. Fuck, there was a code. Why was there a code for opening the door into their base??? What on this planet could even open this door? Regardless, none of the aquatic species could even do anything once inside, no legs and all that.

After a few minutes of guessing, she growled under her breath in frustration. Great, now she’d have to swim all the way back and that fish was still outside the cave.

Today was not her day.

The warm presence of something behind her made her jump. A familiar yellow hand came up behind her and reached up, pressing in a four-digit code and hitting enter. 0742. She registered the code and stored it away in her mind for later, to not forget it later. She would have startled more had the door into the base not opened seconds later.

Yvette didn’t waste any time, pushing herself onto the metal platform. Once mostly above water, she tugged her mask up and off her face, gasping in a breath of cold air. The base was frigid after her swim, air biting at her exposed shoulders and thighs. Her wet hair seemed to stick to her back in its braid

She probably should see if one of the other suits in storage that don’t leave her skin exposed would fit. Probably not, considering most of the men on the previous squads were far taller or bigger built than she was. Maybe she could modify it...

Modifying FazTech suits was technically worthy of an infraction, or even firing if the higher up it was reported to was particularly stingy. But considering they sent her off and left her here, she didn’t really care what FazTech thought. They sucked as a company anyway, from their attempts to cover up rumors back when they were still just a pizza restaurant, to recent rumors about their android program.

Apparently, the rumor was that they were trying to replace their staff with android copies, but Yvette didn’t really believe in any of that.

A chirp from the pool broke her from her thoughts, the yellow mer had swum to the edge, rayed head sticking up from the waters. They seemed curious, as well as concerned. Not that Yvette was very good at reading people's expressions, but the furrowing of their brow helped a little.

Up close, Yvette could see how blue their eyes were, a sharp contrast to the yellows, golds, and reds of the rest of them. Their pupils also seemed to grow from slits into white circular dots at her, like a cats or snakes. Thinking it over, snakes were probably the more apt comparison, seeing as they were scaley.

She could also see slits in the middle of his face, like a human nose; though she doubted they served the same purpose. On the Mer’s neck and around where his ribcage ended were slits decorated in red frills, where his gills must have been.

“Can I help you?” Yvette found herself asking the beast without really thinking about it. She shifted on the metal to get her legs out of the water to pull her leg guards and flippers off.

The mer went still, a strange warble leaving their throat, nervous leaning on wonder. They watched her remove her leg guards as they rested their claws on the metal by her feet, tapping against it. “...Help? No...?”

Yvette all but froze at the rasp, eyes darting to the yellow mer’s face, “Did you just talk?”

Their fins bobbed up and down as they nodded, the air making them flatten against their head. “...Yes? Yes!!”

The voice was strange, alien as the being who it belonged to. The mer knew English, if just barely. Which meant the previous squads communicated with the local wildlife.

Gods, she needed to read their logs as soon as possible.

“Holy fuck.” Yvette didn’t stop the words from falling from her mouth, staring at the mer- merman? - like they’d grown a second head, “Holy fuck.”

The mer’s nose (or what was where a human nose was) scrunched up at her cursing, “No... bad.”

...And she was being scolded for cursing by an alien mermaid.

“I’m sorry, but this is bizarre!” Yvette leaned closer to peer at the beast in front of her, “Do you have a name? Are there more of you? Can all of you talk?”

The mer chittered softly to themselves, whistling in the air. When she tilted her head at the noise, they huffed, tapping the metal beneath their claws, “…Uh!! Sun! Mm… yes! Maybe?”

Curious answers.

Of course, his name was Sun, looking back to when he was chasing her, his fins reminded her of the sun's rays. Though now they were in the air and flopped uselessly against his skull. Like a wet sunflower.

His other answers were especially curious. There was more of him, and they could maybe talk. If they could talk, that meant there could’ve been an entire society on this planet covered by ocean. And that by itself was both a fascinating and terrifying possibility.

“Huh… very fitting.” Yvette offered a half smile, “I’m Yvette.”

Suns face scrunched, mouth moving to try and sound the new word out. He sighed when he couldn’t, “…Not good at… words...”

“That’s okay. It happens all the time.” Yvette laughed softly, offering a hand to the mer, “you can give me a nickname instead?”

Yvette wasn’t sure why she was inclined to befriend this strange creature, but she wasn’t opposed. It may have just been because he didn’t try and kill her earlier. Or because of how friendly he was right now.

He perked up curiously, taking her outstretched hand, a chitter sounding excitedly, “I see!!! Nickname?”

“Another name for people?” she offered, letting the mer mess with her gloved palm, “Like, growing up, my family would call me Yve instead of Yvette.”

The yellow mer made an ‘oh’ sound, “Oh! Yes!! Other-You's called me Sunny!”

That confirmed her previous suspicions. Humans will see a creature and ask, ‘anyone gonna pack bond with that?’, and not wait for an answer. That thought made her snort.

“Well, Sunny is very fitting! You look like the sun at sunset, very pretty.” Yvette offered a small smile. She kept her tone light, mostly to help the mer before her understand it was a compliment.

Sun seemed to understand, lighting up at the praise with a chitter between his teeth, “Pretty... like you?”

Oh my.

A flustered smile broke out on Yvette’s face, rubbing the webbing on her gloves between her thumb and index finger, “You think I’m pretty?”

“Yes! Yes! Like... when the...” the mer waved a hand towards the top of the window behind him, clearly trying to get a word.

This only severed to distract her momentarily on his hands, webbing formed between each finger. The ends of Suns hands were the same pale yellow as half his face. The color bled into the webbing between each finger, partially transparent compared to the skin besides it.

“Water?” Yvette offered, forcing herself to focus on the conversation at hand, squinting at the window when he shook his head rapidly, “uh... glass? Air?”

Sun frowns, gesturing again, focusing more upwards than he was previously, “...No... above? With the... white poofs?”

Oh! He was talking about the sky. Where was this going...

“The sky?” Yvette concluded, running a hand through her slowly drying hair.

The mer lit up like a firework, nodding rapidly, “yes! That word! Sky! Like when the sky- uh... is dark? And the lights fall?”

With a laugh under her breath, Yvette rung water out of her hair, “Oh, shooting stars.”

“Yes!!!!” Sun chirped, his tail swishing wildly in the water behind him. “Pretty like shooting stars.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet. But I must insist you are prettier.” Yvette teased, poking his nose.

The flesh above it scrunched in Suns surprise, the spines along his scale twitching upwards. His pupils had slit at the sudden movement.

Yvette retracted her hand quickly, “Oh, sorry. Habit. Used to do that with my siblings.”

Sun tilted his eyes, pupils returning to the size before, “is... okay? Sudden...”

Yvette tugged at her arm guards to pull her gloves off, “Right, I’ll warn ya next time, okay?”

If there was a next time... oh what the hell, there definitely was going to be a next time. Where else was she supposed to go? The only ways out of the base were the water exits and the surface exit. And the surface exit was most definitely locked tight, if it slamming shut on her earlier said anything about it.

Sun hummed, nodding. He tapped his claws against the metal again, thinking for a long moment, “Are... you? Staying here?”

Yvette shifted, pulling one of her gloves off as she thought about the question, “Well... yeah? Nowhere else to go, really. I need to find the others... who stayed here, and- I don’t know...”

Sun’s face shifted into a frown, frills drooping, “...You will... come back? And... be careful?”

“Yeah, okay...?” Yvette’s brows furrowed at the questions.

He seemed to accept that was a hopeful expression.

The two talked for a while more after this; it was mostly Yvette trying to explain her gear and teach the mer a few more words in English. She ended up learning that the previous squads had interacted with Sun a great deal, even letting him watch a few ‘guppies’ they had, as Sun put it.

Guppies… there were children in the base? Why the hell were their children??? And they trusted a mermaid - merman? - with them?? Sure, when she looked at their files before going on the mission, it said two of them were married, but FazTech wouldn’t be so irresponsible to allow children on missions like these.

Would they?

The conversation after that became stilted, as Yvette forced herself not to explode with frustration at not only her situation, but also the events surrounding it.

The setting sun painted the window a brilliant gradient of red and purple, tainting the water to darken with it. She watched it for a long moment, Suns own form leaning against the metal to get a look at it through the railing.

Yvette collected her gloves and leg guards into one hand, pressing her other hand onto the metal beneath her and using it to stand, “Well, it’s getting late... I should go, sorry bud. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Sun’s face perked up, hand lifting to wave Yvette off, “Oh!!! Okay! Bye bye, Shooting Star!”

And then, the sun disappeared below the darkened waters. The darkness leaving barely a trace of him behind. There were spots along his frills and spine that faintly glowed under the cover of dark.

Okay that was cute.

Yvette waved him off, closing the door to the docking bay behind him. It closed with a harsh shudder.

Turning away from the docking bay and into the rest of the base, she left her gear by the door. She would need it for later, as she promised Sun she’d be back in the waters.

Once she made it to her newly acquired room, she took a shower. Her hair had mostly dried since her swim, but the sea left a sensation on her skin she wanted off. Thankfully the water in the base was filtered.

Yet that didn’t stop the prickle along her skin that occurred while under the rain of water.

Yvette chose to dress into a tank top and shorts for the night, paired with an oversized jacket she wore everywhere when she wasn’t swimming. It was a random find at a thrift store, oversized so it’d cover everything when she wore it properly.

Slumping into the beanbag by the window, she let herself relax for the first time since she’d arrived.

She’d gotten stuck on this ocean planet… because she arrived early to work; which was a normal occurrence for her. She was too anxious about being late to not be early, plus it helped get her ready and in a cryo pod quicker.

Common procedure, to cryogenically freeze squad members as they arrive rather than at a certain time. It was so no one would complain about others being late, or something. So that everyone was prepared and ready to go before they took off.

And she arrived an hour or two before they decided to cut the human part of the mission. No higher ups knew she was there and didn’t tell the robot in charge of the ship to remove her from the ship. The last ship they were going to send.

The robot probably took off so quickly because the people it was assigned to ‘rescue’ were not in the place they landed. FazTech wasn’t one to wait around.

And now she was stuck.

It was partially her own fault for getting off the ship in the first place. She’ll admit that. That was fucking stupid.

But she… couldn’t help it. It was a giant ocean planet, and she was a diver who adored the oceans of earth. Only this one… was free of the pollution that plagued Earth’s oceans. Even her brief dive earlier proved that much, the water was so clean. Free of mankind’s waste.

Yvette scowled to herself, resting her forehead against the cold window. She was still stuck, trapped literal light-years away from any family or friends she did have on earth.

Because FazTech was fucking stupid. And greedy, and negligent, and had no respect for their employees. This hadn't even been the first time they’d lost squads sent on interstellar missions. It was a desert planet last time. Squads either dried out, starved, or were eaten by the weird alien life on it. Only a few survived long enough to get rescued, spewing tales of all that occurred.

Of course, they’d do it again, waiting at least a decade since the last time. This time it was an ocean planet, they probably thought it’d be fine. It wasn’t. So, they’ll probably give up on it and try to cover it up. Claim there were complications with the alien life.

Stupid fucking FazTech-

Her mental ranting was silenced by a ‘tap tap tap’ next to her ear. It came from the other side of the glass, sharp, like it was from a clawed nail.

Something about it made her veins fill with ice. Maybe it was how slow and methodical it was, a sharp contrast from how quick Suns tapping against the docking bay was earlier.

Yvette jerked up in the bean bag, almost falling to the floor to get away from the glass. The little light from the LEDs around the bed allowed her to see the general silhouette of the being on the other side of the glass.

It was another mer, their lithe form longer than Suns, with less frills and more spiked fins. Their eyed pools of black, dots of red narrowed into slits on her face as they grinned. Their coloration was a dark blue, with similar splotches of paler scales formed a crescent shape on half their face, like Suns. Behind their head was an appendage that ended with a bulb, like an angler fish; though its shape reminded her of those old timey sleeping caps. Dots of bioluminescence trailed across it and their tails were like stars in the night sky.

Their grin widened when she finally fell to the floor, razor sharp teeth breaking as they opened their lower jaw. It was almost as if they were laughing at her, bubbles floating from their open maw. She could almost hear the cackling through the glass.

Yvette wasn’t sure how long she laid half ways on the floor, but when she got the courage to stand and pull the curtain closed on the mer, she could still almost hear the bubbling cackles on the other side.

It was decided, the curtain stayed closed at night.

-

Word count: 7,111

Bonus! Concept art <3

[al-hekima-madara-blog]

Madara - konoha founder version, new intro from the chinese mobile game

[glitzybunny]

New profile picture just dropped!! >:DDD

Made it flippable, I think it's pretty neat if I do say so myself~