#this is an older merfolk from a fishing community

[rxttenfish]

slapped down some initial colors onto this bad boy, as well as sketched out an idea for what the background might be

[mmkin]

Shark Bait - Arlong x Reader

Arlong x Fish/Human Hybrid AFAB Reader

Content Warning – This is a darker story than my other Arlong Pirates related work (and has no connection to said works, consider this my dark Arlong AU) and was inspired from a prompt/headcanons from @sheisabitchbicth here on Tumblr and contains elements of yandere, dubcon, and noncon. (and yes, this work is 18+/NSFW!)

If no likey, there’s the Back button. I have other OP stories or other works that may be more your taste.

If you like this kind of thing though, then read on. I’ve been wanting to do something dark for a bit, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so, so have fun with this guilty pleasure project of mine :) All feedback is very much appreciated. (Update - the story is now available to read on my AO3. The story will be updated here and there, follow where you wish. Enjoy!)

Shark Bait - Part 1

You had never met another fishperson in your life until Arlong’s crew came across you. Your parents were slaves who had escaped together, using their combined skills to make their way out. From what your mother told you, they became friends while they were slaves, and after their escape they were lovers for a while. Eventually, they parted, though on amicable terms. Your mother never told your father that she was pregnant, though.

She did not want to return to her family or native land, though. So she found an island that seemed out of the way, and settled there. People felt bad for her for being a former slave, so when you were born, they looked in the other direction, so you for the most part led a quiet life. Your father’s heritage gave you the ability to breathe underwater, so you would go fishing, or search for various items that would augment your mother’s meager income. Sometimes you might help out neighbors in a similar manner, so even though you were half fishwoman, you found some acceptance in your community.

By the time you were in your late teens, you were used to most people not noticing your gills, or the color of your skin. You stayed out of trouble and often out of sight. If you dressed appropriately and wore a large hat or hood, you could escape the notice of Marines who touched upon your island during their trips. It was a quiet life. Were you happy? Sometimes you were not sure. As you’d gotten older, you wanted to know more about your father’s people, and there was only so much your mother could tell you.

So one day, you’re out swimming, and looking for treasures that you can bring home. Since you’ve pretty much picked clean the areas closest to the island, you’ve had to venture out further, which hey, it’s great swimming practice. You feel at peace in the sea, feeling it move through your lungs as you move through the water. You know there are fish- and merfolk and Sea Kings and beasts out there, but at the moment it’s easy to imagine that you are alone in this world. You drift past the coral, admiring it.

Suddenly, you see movement out of the corner of your eye and turn around to see what you are almost certain is another person darting off in the murky distance, if it’s not a large fish. A few of the people on the island dive, but you know that none can dive this far or deep. So maybe it’s a big fish that would probably be a welcome meal for your mother. You’re debating whether you should go after it before a shadow passes overhead, and you look up, wondering if it’s another fish, when in shock you realize it’s a ship. You were so absorbed in your work that you’d failed to notice the coming of a ship, nor did you expect one as the Marines did not come by often. You drift towards the hulking dark shape before something much, much closer swoops down in front of you, close enough that you feel the water displacement against your body as he fills the space.

You see clear blue eyes and the longest nose you’ve ever seen, and there is a grin full of the sharpest teeth you’ve ever seen or even imagined. A short shriek bursts from your throat before a wave of lightheadedness overcomes you.

The next moments are a haze as you try to fight passing out. You are pulled to a strong chest before you are dragged to the surface, a red sun filling much of your vision as you stare dumbly at the chest of the person who’s taken you. You gasp softly as the two of you break the surface of the water, and your limbs hang limp as you’re hauled onto a ship that is most decidedly not a Marine ship. Or even a merchant ship, from the looks of it.

As your head lolls back, you get another look at the face of your captor. No, you didn’t imagine that serrated nose, or the mouth full of sharp teeth, and you start to panic, finding your strength and starting to push against him.

“Oh, we have a feisty one here,” Sawnose chortles, letting you go for but a moment before he grabs your wrists in his large hand, hoisting your hands above your head, leaving you helpless under his scrutiny, and he is not the only one staring.

“Let me go!” you cry, trying to kick him as other men surround you, with a variety of skin colors, some of them having fins, or other fishlike features, in a wide assortment. One thing they all have in common – and you do with them – are their gills. If you were not so frightened and anxious, you might be reveling in the fact that you’re finally meeting other fishmen for the first time in your life.

You are lifted off your feet, and can not help but feel like a hooked fish that is being held up by a fisherman for inspection or display. You try a few more kicks, but Sawnose is incredibly tall and his arm is long enough to keep you at just enough distance to keep you from any effective kick. He laughs as your feet graze his upper legs and stomach.

Your next instinct is to curl up as you see the hungry gazes that are fixed on your damp and near-nude form. You’ve found that diving is more comfortable the less clothes you wear, so you’re in a tank top and briefs, which both cling to you, your net bag hanging empty at your side. The way you’re being handled makes you wonder if these fishmen might try to sell you into slavery. You know your mother will worry about that if you do not come home.

“So, what’s a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?” Sawnose asks with an amused tone. You try to be silent, but he snarls at you, and it’s obvious he could cause serious injury, so you have no choice but to answer his question, and any other that he wants to ask you. You confirm that you are indeed the child of a fishperson. When asked what that parent’s name was, you utter it, and his eyes widen.

You are dropped to the deck, wincing as you land on the bare wood. It is then that you learn that your father was once a crewmate of the man who’d just kidnapped you. For a moment you feel your heart leap up in your throat. Will you have the chance to meet him? But your heart plummets to the pit of your stomach when you learn he’s been dead for years. You start crying, and surprisingly, Sawnose kneels next to you, stroking your hair.

“I want to go home,” you plead.

“Silly girl. You are home,” he asserts as you give him a confused stare. He informs you that since you are the offspring of someone from his crew, it means you belong to the crew, and to its captain above all else. So… this means you’re not going to be sold into slavery? You’re just going to be conscripted into a pirate crew?

Fuck. Your mind races as you wonder how you can find your way out of this predicament. Because this can not fucking happen to you. Just because your father was a pirate… a father you’ve never met, who’d never even held you in his arms after you were born. What cruel fate has wrought this?

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” you manage to inquire as you rise to your feet, crossing your arms to maintain as much modesty as you can. It’s one thing to dive near-naked, when there is no one else around to impede on your enjoyment of the sea, and another to be ogled at by so many eyes. When’s the last time these men saw a woman?

Sawnose laughs, and introduces himself and his crew. He is the mighty captain Arlong the Saw, leader of the Arlong Pirates, and Lord of the East Blue. Your island is his next target in the expansion of his territory, and his men have been scouting around it for a couple of days, staying out of sight. You are an unexpected – but not unwelcome, Arlong assures you – find. Since you’re now part of the crew, you will be spared the tribute that Arlong and his crew are going to extract from the island.

Your thoughts fly to your mother. As a single mother, your mother never had much money. Usually there was food in your belly, and always a roof over your head. Your mother occasionally managed to scrape together enough money for a treat, for what was life without small enjoyments, she would say. You knew she had a bit of money squirreled away for medicine or doctors, and to your dismay, you remember how she has needed more of these in the last couple of years. How will she be able to afford all that on top of Arlong’s tribute, especially if you’re not there to help her?

As Arlong’s words sink in, and the reality of what your mother and the rest of the village faces, you feel light-headed again. Since you were a child, you would get an attack like this rarely, usually after being dealt with an emotional blow.

And this isn’t just an emotional blow. It’s a fucking emotional sucker-punch, and you actually pass out.

Someone is stroking your forehead and hair, and for a moment, you think it’s your mother tending to you. But you’re not in a bed, you’re… on someone’s lap, and your head and neck is on top of what you’re pretty sure is an arm. You hear conversation going on around you, footsteps bustling about, commands being given as the island comes into sight. A quiet whine escapes your throat as you struggle to gain consciousness.

“Looks like the little clownfish is coming awake,” you hear someone chuckle. You would come to hate being called that, for your captor uses it when he thinks you are being silly or stupid.

Who is calling you that, you wonder, and it all comes crashing upon you. Arlong. Arlong the Saw. Who just claimed you for himself and his crew. Who just told you the ultimate fate of your father. And who will terrorize your island and collect tribute from villagers who only want to live a quiet life. You try to bat away the hand that’s touching you, and suddenly find your wrist ensconced in the iron grip of the hand you just tried to defend yourself from.

“Now, now, there will be none of that,” you hear him chide, and you open your eyes, seeing these bright blue eyes and that impressive nose hovering over your face. Your first instinct is to scoot back but the arm that had been supporting you now holds you in his lap in an iron grip. It’s hard to not feel vulnerable pressed up against this impressive specimen of a fishman. And as your gaze darts around, you realize that the other fishmen are pretty tall too. Taller than even the tallest man in your village.

Now you really do feel like a little clownfish, surrounded by all sorts of predatory sea creatures.

[the-huldras-back]

On the Boardwalk, On the Shore

Had this on a reblog on another blog that got censored almost immediately, so I decided to start a whole new blog for my writing about it! Anyways I was really gripped by the idea of mermaids transforming like salmon do in the wild.

Aluya’hicetya, A mermaid in her youth, was a darling girl in that time of her life when her kind felt the draw to rebel, swimming up to the surface to breathe the fresh, warm sea air. The old ones in her pod said it was good in moderation to keep parasites out of the skin, and the older ones said that they shouldn’t stray far from the deep waters, or entertain themselves with humans. “It’s not like the old days,” They’d say. “You can’t just sink a ship in a terrible rage like you used to.” But what none of them were willing to discuss, even in the safety and comfort of their warm undersea vents, were the consequences of letting lonely girls wander too close to the shore.

It was nothing so pedestrian as a simple kidnapping, one of those old stories of selkies captured by longshoremen or boys catching a fish bound to grant you a wish. The danger never came from the shore, but inside of the young who sat under dazzling human lights, listening to snippets of conversation on the wind. Some argued that the sea air could turn young merfolk strange, making them unrecognizable to their pods. 

Of course, Merfolk were dangerous to humans too. In the old days, plenty of sea creatures made easy meals out of the stupid and the unlucky, and there was no taboo against eating them, but most avoided it unless they were desperate. Search parties churning up their water and threatening their limbs with boat propellers were bad for the community, so in these days, only the witches made a habit of disappearing juicy morsels from the shore.

Aluya, though initially thinking about whether the stray boogie-boarder might make a good snack despite the warnings, was instead haunted by the sound wafting out over the chatter of folks on the boardwalk, resting in near invisibility on the rocks in the dark and listening to these strange beings with their strange chatter. Human tongues came easily to Merfolk, the pink muscles in their mouths just as capable of English as the haunting sounds in the deep. So one night after many years of listening and watching, there came a sound that made her heart ache, and she crept dangerously close to listen. 

Aluya was no stranger to the machines humans used to play what they called music, the sick, crunchy, compressed garbage that offended the ears and drowned out the voice, but this was different. She started to recognize it from her perch on the rocks, hidden by the blindingly yellow lights up on the pier. It always went the same way: “Can you play Sweet Child of Mine?” “Do you know ‘House of the Rising Sun’? The Dolly Parton one!” “Hey girl, you know any Nirvana?” 

Then the music would kick up. Slow at first, then with more confidence, a small rechargeable amp carrying the sound over the waves. Human technology was as impressive as old, deep magics to her, the way small sounds became large in their hands. It was startling at first, Aluya foolishly trying to match the keening with her own throat, forgetting she was being sneaky and that her song couldn’t respond to the call without water for her to speak into. Her kind didn’t have throats made to communicate above the waves. It made her red with embarrassment, but then she sat and listened for hours on the rocks, haunted by the clear tones of quality steel cords and even better chords. 

It took weeks of watching and listening on the rocks before she found who it belonged to, a young woman who walked the long way through the dark once the boardwalk closed, late into the night. Rough-looking and ragged, the scraggly musician was all bones, slinking like a stray cat through the night back to a small cottage by the sea. The ancient detritus of lures and netting in the bay outside the house told Aluya everything she needed to know. A pang in her chest, like the long prelude to a heart attack.A fisherman’s daughter’s daughter’s daughter, whiling away her hours on the earth by the sea, playing songs for money. It made her heart ache in a way that she didn’t expect. 

It wasn’t about rebelling anymore, she didn’t think. The night air wasn’t so great for its own sake. Instead, she would leave her pod in the afternoons when the sun on the waves made her impossible to see before posting up on a rock, sitting to listen, then escorting her home, all without any real plan or ability to reason out why she was doing it.

Her family and friends were quick to question her of course, but Aluya simply claimed the warm night air helped with an itch in her deep blue scales, and that she was rebelling, Mom. That seemed to satisfy her initially worried parents, and she felt so clever, sneaking off to listen and learn. Before long, Aluya knew every tune this strange girl knew, memorized them and their particular keenings like she would the voice of a friendly acquaintance. She followed along as well, with the snippets of people listening on the boardwalk or the girl’s own lilting tones when she deigned to do more than play the instrument. In this way, she learned her favorites, like Dokken, Whitesnake, and Genesis, and the ache in her chest grew with each passing evening.

Her dreams, though, weren’t of the usual mermaid things like salty fish and slippery eels and whatever else a mermaid might dream of. They were strange and dark, her inner eye drawn towards a cold, dark void in the shadows cast by instinct and the whispering of old, low voices. They grew harder to ignore, night after night, and as she listened, she learned things.

On waking, Aluya would find that she had spent her night's sleep swimming, or carving things into the walls of her grotto, or floating in the deepest, coldest part of her room, hot and irritable from bad sleep. All of this she could put up with, but the ache in her chest, like there was something she was missing out on, made her so jealous she could bite down on her tongue, that was the part that galled. It was miserable but became so much worse when she started to notice changes. 

Small crevices she had swum through since she was a guppy suddenly got tight, and she had to wriggle to get through. Some of her blue scales had started to flake off, and only in the yellow lights of the distant boardwalk could she see that new ones were growing in, a deep and vibrant pink that worried her. Her teeth! How could she forget. Mermaids had jaws of teeth made to fillet fish bones and suck down meat without choking, but what she’d worried were cracks or damage were instead obviously the smallest of serrations, appearing across her mouth in growing numbers each time she woke. 

Looking into her reflection in old glass and the family’s scavenged standing mirror, she was different. Pink all over where it mattered, when all the family’s scales were a deep blue, colors that would hide her within moments of swimming away, muscle and growth all over, so she towered and loomed in her own home, and a more powerful jaw, her muscles developing quickly to let her crush bone rather than work the meat off of it. She looked completely feral.

And magic! Mermaids didn’t do magic, she’d always been taught, only witches in the cold deep did, to warm themselves and bring storms down on disrespectful ships. She’d never heard of what made someone a witch, but now she understood as she carved on the walls of her grotto awake, using heavy metal fishhooks from the shore to scrape esoterica she barely understood and felt compelled to perform. With each dream, the old voices taught her a new trick or cantrip, and her family grew more worried, clearly on the edge of bringing up her changes but unable to bring themselves to do so until Aluya was towering over them, having grown at least a foot in a few short months, deep pink scales growing in where she used to have her mother’s blue. 

It wouldn’t be too much longer before they withdrew from her, giving only distant but polite answers to her questions about dinner and the weather topside, watching with disapproving eyes when she slinked out into the wider ocean to visit her musician and rest atop the sharp black rocks. 

Aluya knew the feeling she was experiencing, after feeling it tear at her guts for months now, all through the spring and into the hot, hot summer. Laying on rocks still warm from the sun, Aluya was absolutely certain that she was lovesick, and that it was causing the strange changes. She was becoming a witch, one of the feared merfolk whose strange ways and instinctive knowledge of the magic of their leviathan ancestors made them outcast from good and decent oceanic society. She’d grown too preoccupied to care though, finding freedom in her newfound size and strength. When it wasn’t worrying Ayula, she found it exhilarating that she seemed to be stronger and faster than before, able to kill and eat much larger, richer prey for her supper, even the mighty tuna unable to evade her in her new, monstrous state. She’d eat this rich food and feel it turn in her stomach, unable to fill the hole in her with food, and something even stranger happened to her as she listened to all those old rock songs on the pier. 

Opening her mouth, Ayula found she could speak! Some new adaptation with the change meant that as those chords wafted out into the air, she could catch them and sing along in time, even if only to herself, her deep, husky voice stirring from deep in her aching chest, crooning out her Void-laced tune across the night air, giggling to herself when her bewitched notes stunned animals on the shore or drunken beachgoers. Before long, she was testing herself, seeing how long she could leave someone spellbound on the shore, siren song keeping them in a stupor. She knew she was pushing it when that music kicked up on the boardwalk and she just couldn’t help herself, following along with her beloved’s clever fingers. 

“Yesterday, and days before. Sun is cold, and rain is hard. I know…” Her voice left an entire group spellbound, all of them still like deer in headlights around the fire they’d built up next to the water, a dozen humans all trapped in her spell till she let them go. It felt powerful and right, like she could sing them all into the sea for her next meal. But there was only one girl she wanted, and her song couldn’t beat out the cry of a steel guitar.

That was when she began to feel the most miraculous transformation coming along, the whispers growing urgent in her dreams as she rested now in a shipwreck, the old metal hull of a tugboat caked in occult symbols, fetishes made by instinct making her sleep more lucid, easier to remember the words of the tutors in her blood. That was when she learned the greatest, most taboo of mer magic. 

Ayula waited though, afraid and frightened for the first time since her transformation began, until she couldn’t stand it for another night longer, putting on the things she’d need. Human clothes and human things, pilfered from the water. She dragged them ashore, and as she left the safety of the sea foam, getting covered in scratchy sand, her tail started to disappear, melting like it had never been there, and then she was just a tall, wet teenager, quickly changing under the pier. Dressed in shorts and a shirt that barely fit her powerful frame, Ayula recognized in the mirror of a nearby jeep that she could pass for human, just so long as she didn’t make a habit of showing off her recessed gills or big, razor-sharp smile. She tied her long hair back, shuddering at the sensation of being dry for the first time in her life, and then headed up the stairs next to the boardwalk, ready to use her newfound voice to make her feelings known, one request at a time. 

Peering down at her beloved, Ayula reached into her pocket and took out a mason jar of quarters she’d found and dried on the rocks for weeks now, counting out five dollars' worth of change, before dumping the sum into the guitar case in front of the blonde woman, stunned and shy now despite her monstrous size and ability by her beloved’s lovely, fair features, and asked in a halting voice, “C-could you, um, well… Do you know any Dokken?” She knew that was one of the girl’s favorites, and her smile made all of Ayula’s transformations worth it.

[o-avosetta]

Re: Coral Island 1.0

I've been playing Coral Island again after stopping earlier this year to wait for it to get to 1.0. It's been just the experience I hoped it would be.

I've already written about how much it feels like home, how refreshing it is to play a game so very clearly and lovingly inspired by maritime Southeast Asia. It feels even more so now, maybe because of where I'm playing.

I'm on December break, so I happen to be playing from my family's town, where I really can walk down to the beach and hunt for fresh urchins at low tide if I want. Mostly I walk out to a detached coffee stand much like Raj's (more of a hut than a stand, actually), admire my neighbor's dragonfruit vines on the way, and hope I get to say hi to dogs like the player gets with Bonbon and Taco. The town where I am has also gotten a lot more multicultural in recent years, so it really isn't a stretch that I'd run into people of different nationalities* and multiracial couples* and families in Starlet Town also. There's a Japanese man who set up an izakaya down the road from our place, and it's excellent.

[* Not to get into the sociopolitics of this, but maybe the fantasy of Coral Island for me is that none of the older white men are there looking for land to grab for their retirement and/or poor, younger, less educated women they can exploit as bangmaid brides.]

I don't looking forward to leaving town again, but I'm glad I'll have this game for a taste of home.

I'm only nominally a farmer, I think. Diving and clearing the sea has been my favorite activity in the game, and I think I'll continue even after I make the merfolk happy. I've been making decent money drying scallops and making kombu chips this Year 1 Winter, so making a living this way seems doable.

I've lamented elsewhere that farm life sim games set in seaside towns often forget how much the sea is part of the life of such a town — usually, such games make the ocean nothing more than another fishing spot. I love, love how much the ocean is very much a part of Coral Island. What happened to the ocean is why Starlet Town has been struggling lately. My progress underwater is tied to my progress overall. Merfolk have their own town, and I can befriend/date them; they aren't just blink-and-you-miss it sprites to liven up a fishing session. I still have a lot of seafloor to clear, so I guess I'll see if the ocean endgame is any good later. But just the fact that Stairway Games devoted this much of the game to the sea really touches me.

(I fucking love the ocean, okay? In another life, I was going to get a marine science degree right here in my family's town. But noooo, I decided to try being a writer, lol.)

As for dating, I'm not in a rush to woo any particular townie. There are almost too many attractive people in this game. So I just work on my farmer and on healing the island, and I let relationships develop naturally. Run into a townie? Stop and talk to them. Hand them a jepun blossom or a mushroom or a jar of jam. See whose stories and personality make me want to keep running into them once the first blush is past.

I've reached the winter, though, so I do have some clear favorites now.

I don't know if I want to marry Dr. Yuri, be her best friend, or be her. I just think she's so cool — the coolest person on the island even. I think I relate to her coming to the country after her adventures abroad and trying to do the best she can for the people around her. Maybe I want to be with another me-in-another-life, idk (after marine biologist and before writer, my next aspiration was pediatrician).

Mark recently won a popularity contest in the player community, and it's not hard to see why. In games like this, any scarred dateable who starts off gruff or mean is basically cotton candy left out for player ants. I haven't checked yet, but I'm willing to bet his dog-feeding cutscene launched a thousand fics ("Good girl" — woof). (Either that or something something garden rake up the ass something something.) Mostly I like him because he's the only one who actually seems to banter with the player, and he looks big and cuddly like my SO.

Chaem is the other initially aggressive character, and I think I like her, too. I was actually put off at first; in early access, she was only an aloof jock who was pretty focused on her workouts and her sport, not outright mean. I don't remember her being this rude to my farmer when I met her pre-1.0. Then I had a little think about why one would let Mark be a little mean to them but not Chaem. What do you know, getting to know her makes her warm up to you also.

I like Theo because he just gives off vibes that I need in my life.

Who else? I think I will always have a soft spot for Surya because he was my first crush in early access, and though the attraction has waned this go-round, I still want to be his friend. I want to be Eva's friend mostly because one of my friends really likes her. I want to be Lily's friend because I just want to know all about her and her bonsai. I haven't made enough progress with the merfolk yet, but I have a major crush on Princess Miranjani. (Agung, what we could've had if the devs hadn't baited and switched you with Semeru, hayy.)

Ah, and as usual, I have made it a personal mission to make the town grandma love me. Betty, I'm saving all my flowers for you, mano po, paturo naman po ng recipe sa mooncake.

Okay, I'm out of thoughts now; time to grab my diving suit again.

[gaywriting]

Out of the Blue book review

Out of the Blue by Jason June (2022)

⭐���⭐️⭐️✖️✖️

"I love you," I whisper. "I wish I could hear you say that forever. Keep it in a shell to press to my ear and listen to for the rest of my life." (p. 372)

I finished this May 21, 2024

The story follows awkward, rom-com fanatic, high school swimmer, lifeguard Sean and how his heartbreak after being broken up with by his boyfriend leads to him meeting a literal fish out of water, the merperson, sassy, sarcastic, nonbinary Crest (human name Ross). Ross is on The Journey, a mission every mer must go through. They have to be on the surface for a month and help a human, or they will turn into a human permanently. Ross is very unhappy with this, but decides to help Sean in getting his boyfriend back. This plan leads to a fake relationship, that soon starts feeling more real than anything the two have ever felt before.

This book tells a story of learning to appreciate your own self worth before anyone elses and the meaning of connection and community. Also a story with a nonbinary character, that explains it in their own way, and having the other characters just accept it so easily was lovely. It's very much a teenage romance book. The language was simple and the whole merfolk thing was done quite silly, in my opinion. As I've stated before, merpeople are one of my favorite mythology "monsters" and I've read my fair share, but usually it's a little more dark than this. June decided to go the disney route, but that's not necessarily bad. It fits the mood of this book quite well actually. The language felt very Wattpad-y and i nearly dnf-ed it because i'm almost 30, so it was a bit cringy for me. I don't feel like books written like this shouldn't be, because teens need to find representation as well as anybody, but just be aware that these kinds of books will often, if not always, age really badly. There were already outdated references and the book isn't even that old yet. Concidering how casual the characters were about them having sex, i would prefered them to be older than 16. I know 16 y/o do do it, but in media, maybe age them up just a bit more than that, so it doesn't feel Suuuper weird reading. I also found the ending a bit jarring. While i did like that it was different from what usually happens in merfolk romances, i dont know if this was the way to go about standing out. It made me feel like all the romance scenes and character development did not matter much in the end. Can't say much more without spoiling too much

I did enjoy the dates that Sean and Ross were on, it was romantic and welldone. The relationship and dynamic between them was cute. Ross was such an ass and i like characters like that, but i see that some people found it really annoying. Personally i found Sean to be the more exhaustive one of the two, since he really didn't know what he wanted, like ever, and kept going on about his ex that was just clearly horrible

If you love a good fake dating trope and wanna see a really good nonbinary character, maybe even some merfolk romance then I recomment checking this book out 💙🐠

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Black wenley

The black wenley is a fish belonging to the order Perciformes. It is a slow-growing freshwater fish that is often the apex predator of its habitat. Its colours range from all black to a dark brown. Its diet as a juvenile consists of zooplankton, and as it grows it starts hunting for bigger and bigger prey, moving to crustaceans, fish larvae, small fish and finally medium fish. Opportunistic adults will also feed on small mammals and young birds. While juveniles tend to band together, adult black wenleys are solitary and will readily attack and consume others of their kind if they feel crowded. They prefer cooler waters and tend to inhabit the deepest parts of lakes, ponds and rivers. Their natural distribution spans through Central, North and East Europe.

A young juvenile and a mature adult of a few years of age, respectively. Besides for the eel-ish appearance of the juvenile, the beginning and end of life stages of the black wenley are completely ordinary and unassuming. Likely this fish would've been entirely forgotten if these were the only life stages this most confusing animal goes through. But, no. The black wenley is among the most studied fish in the world, and it's all thanks to its older juvenile phase:

What in the world!! What is that? That cannot possibly be the same animal, let alone a fish! That's a strange frog, in no way can that be a black wenley!

That's an entirely sensible conclusion to come to! A good portion of people used to think the same, centuries and millenia ago. If a community of people lived in a place with no merfolk who could explain the real deal (merfolk used to be restricted to large bodies of water, before the two-legs spell was invented), they would often view the big black fishes that appear each spring and the strange froglike creatures of the late summer as separate animals. Most European languages give them separate names, in fact! Only when information became more available and the scientific method improved did it become clear that these two were one and the same...

So, how exactly does the life cycle of the black wenley work?

The fry hatch in late spring, and start their life as normal. They eat, ferociously! Once they reach about 10 centimeters in length, they not only grow in size, but change in shape, too. Their pectoral fins begin to develop into lobe-fins, then into legs, and two hind legs rapidly sprout from their side. During the summer months their appetite and search for food is neverending, but even then, they still absorb their tail fin and tail into their bodies to obtain any new bit of energy possible. Inside their bodies the swim bladder becomes highly vascularised, and on the outside their black scales slowly morph into a messy green colour. Perhaps the strangest change of all, the head of the fish slowly moves up its body, and its eyes migrate higher on its head to view the environment better. By the time the transformation is complete, it is already August.

That's when the migration begins.

The black wenley juveniles spend more and more time out of the water as they develop, but the moment their four legs are strong enough to carry their weight, they leave their home waters and venture out into the world. Their tall stance allows them to see their environment better and assess possible threats much more efficiently. Their swim bladder now a lung of sorts, the black wenleys can travel considerable distances through forests, through fields, through swamps, and through city suburbs to the amusement of onlookers.

Their stumbling is... very silly. Their flippers seem to be all awkwardly placed hind leg and no front leg, making their walking slow and waddly. It's common to see them fall on their stomach or their knees. For fish on land, they do rather well though!

The goal of the black wenley juvenile is to find a fitting body of water with few or zero conspecifics, many food sources, and deep water. Once the juvenile has found the home of their dreams, they settle down and resume aquatic living.

All throughout winter, the black wenley transforms in secret under the ice. The legs that it spent so much energy building shrivel up: they use the extra energy to sustain themselves in the harsh cold darkness. Slowly, their head moves back down to a straight continuation of the spine, and their body elongates once more. Spines begin growing from their back. In the spring they regrow their fins, as if nothing had happened at all. As if the black wenley had been but an ordinary fish all this time. A one-year-old black wenley is rather slim and small, but as the fish matures it grows in height and develops its distinctive large head. It remains this way for the rest of its life! Black wenleys seldom reproduce in their first year and tend to wait until they are two years old to begin their courtship. They spawn in the spring, and so the cycle begins anew.

The black wenley is a fascinating example of metamorphosis and how the influence of magic in the genes of animals can cause them to develop otherwise-impossible-to-achieve forms. Its semblance to frogs in its middle stage was a key piece in the creation of the theory of evolution, and in times of old before DNA testing became possible it was even hailed as a missing link between fish and land animals, an all new class of animal! Now of course we know that it is a perciform fish, just as distantly related to tetrapods as any bass or grouper. While it is fairly obvious this land-dwelling form is the species' unique answer to dispersal, it is not exactly known how the magic in its DNA causes this froglike form or came to cause it: few animals go through such large changes in their life cycle, magic-induced or not. The species is a common test subject to this day, for these reasons.

The black wenley is a beloved favourite of anglers, due to its aggressive nature and tendency to quickly bite into fishing bait. It is a symbol of change and escape from dire situations by any means necessary, especially in merfolk culture and literature. In everyday life, merfolk view it akin to a fox: it can bite, but only if you bother it or something is wrong with it, so it's best to leave it alone. Kind of cool if you spot it, actually. It's a very beautiful fish!

The black wenley is a species of least concern, though industrialisation and overfishing has made a dent in its populations and their average size is smaller in the modern day. While it is native to Europe, it has also been introduced outside of its range. Due to its extremely high affinity to travel from a body of water to another and eat everything that moves, it is classified as a harmful invasive species in North America and Asia.

Most importantly: yes! Some merfolk in the sirpaverse have the lower fish half of a black wenley. They develop into the older juvenile stage at about 5-7 years of age, and into the mature form at puberty. They don't feel the need to leave their home to find a new one as children.

[fun-steppe-vacation]

Oh boy, free writing prompt!

Aluya’hicetya, A mermaid in her youth, was a darling girl in that time of her life when her kind felt the draw to rebel, swimming up to the surface to breathe the fresh, warm sea air. The old ones in her pod said it was good in moderation to keep parasites out of the skin, and the older ones said that they shouldn’t stray far from the deep waters, or entertain themselves with humans. “It’s not like the old days,” They’d say. “You can’t just sink a ship in a terrible rage like you used to.” But what none of them were willing to discuss, even in the safety and comfort of their warm undersea vents, were the consequences of letting lonely girls wander too close to the shore.

It was nothing so pedestrian as a simple kidnapping, one of those old stories of selkies captured by longshoremen or boys catching a fish bound to grant you a wish. The danger never came from the shore, but inside of the young who sat under dazzling human lights, listening to snippets of conversation on the wind. Some argued that the sea air could turn young merfolk strange, making them unrecognizable to their pods. 

Of course, Merfolk were dangerous to humans too. In the old days, plenty of sea creatures made easy meals out of the stupid and the unlucky, and there was no taboo against eating them, but most avoided it unless they were desperate. Search parties churning up their water and threatening their limbs with boat propellers were bad for the community, so in these days, only the witches made a habit of disappearing juicy morsels from the shore.

Aluya, though initially thinking about whether the stray boogie-boarder might make a good snack despite the warnings, was instead haunted by the sound wafting out over the chatter of folks on the boardwalk, resting in near invisibility on the rocks in the dark and listening to these strange beings with their strange chatter. Human tongues came easily to Merfolk, the pink muscles in their mouths just as capable of English as the haunting sounds in the deep. So one night after many years of listening and watching, there came a sound that made her heart ache, and she crept dangerously close to listen. 

Aluya was no stranger to the machines humans used to play what they called music, the sick, crunchy, compressed garbage that offended the ears and drowned out the voice, but this was different. She started to recognize it from her perch on the rocks, hidden by the blindingly yellow lights up on the pier. It always went the same way: “Can you play Sweet Child of Mine?” “Do you know ‘House of the Rising Sun’? The Dolly Parton one!” “Hey girl, you know any Nirvana?” 

Then the music would kick up. Slow at first, then with more confidence, a small rechargeable amp carrying the sound over the waves. Human technology was as impressive as old, deep magics to her, the way small sounds became large in their hands. It was startling at first, Aluya foolishly trying to match the keening with her own throat, forgetting she was being sneaky and that her song couldn’t respond to the call without water for her to speak into. Her kind didn’t have throats made to communicate above the waves. It made her red with embarrassment, but then she sat and listened for hours on the rocks, haunted by the clear tones of quality steel cords and even better chords. 

It took weeks of watching and listening on the rocks before she found who it belonged to, a young woman who walked the long way through the dark once the boardwalk closed, late into the night. Rough-looking and ragged, the scraggly musician was all bones, slinking like a stray cat through the night back to a small cottage by the sea. The ancient detritus of lures and netting in the bay outside the house told Aluya everything she needed to know. A pang in her chest, like the long prelude to a heart attack.A fisherman’s daughter’s daughter’s daughter, whiling away her hours on the earth by the sea, playing songs for money. It made her heart ache in a way that she didn’t expect. 

It wasn’t about rebelling anymore, she didn’t think. The night air wasn’t so great for its own sake. Instead, she would leave her pod in the afternoons when the sun on the waves made her impossible to see before posting up on a rock, sitting to listen, then escorting her home, all without any real plan or ability to reason out why she was doing it.

Her family and friends were quick to question her of course, but Aluya simply claimed the warm night air helped with an itch in her deep blue scales, and that she was rebelling, Mom. That seemed to satisfy her initially worried parents, and she felt so clever, sneaking off to listen and learn. Before long, Aluya knew every tune this strange girl knew, memorized them and their particular keenings like she would the voice of a friendly acquaintance. She followed along as well, with the snippets of people listening on the boardwalk or the girl’s own lilting tones when she deigned to do more than play the instrument. In this way, she learned her favorites, like Dokken, Whitesnake, and Genesis, and the ache in her chest grew with each passing evening.

Her dreams, though, weren’t of the usual mermaid things like salty fish and slippery eels and whatever else a mermaid might dream of. They were strange and dark, her inner eye drawn towards a cold, dark void in the shadows cast by instinct and the whispering of old, low voices. They grew harder to ignore, night after night, and as she listened, she learned things.

On waking, Aluya would find that she had spent her night's sleep swimming, or carving things into the walls of her grotto, or floating in the deepest, coldest part of her room, hot and irritable from bad sleep. All of this she could put up with, but the ache in her chest, like there was something she was missing out on, made her so jealous she could bite down on her tongue, that was the part that galled. It was miserable but became so much worse when she started to notice changes. 

Small crevices she had swum through since she was a guppy suddenly got tight, and she had to wriggle to get through. Some of her blue scales had started to flake off, and only in the yellow lights of the distant boardwalk could she see that new ones were growing in, a deep and vibrant pink that worried her. Her teeth! How could she forget. Mermaids had jaws of teeth made to fillet fish bones and suck down meat without choking, but what she’d worried were cracks or damage were instead obviously the smallest of serrations, appearing across her mouth in growing numbers each time she woke. 

Looking into her reflection in old glass and the family’s scavenged standing mirror, she was different. Pink all over where it mattered, when all the family’s scales were a deep blue, colors that would hide her within moments of swimming away, muscle and growth all over, so she towered and loomed in her own home, and a more powerful jaw, her muscles developing quickly to let her crush bone rather than work the meat off of it. She looked completely feral.

And magic! Mermaids didn’t do magic, she’d always been taught, only witches in the cold deep did, to warm themselves and bring storms down on disrespectful ships. She’d never heard of what made someone a witch, but now she understood as she carved on the walls of her grotto awake, using heavy metal fishhooks from the shore to scrape esoterica she barely understood and felt compelled to perform. With each dream, the old voices taught her a new trick or cantrip, and her family grew more worried, clearly on the edge of bringing up her changes but unable to bring themselves to do so until Aluya was towering over them, having grown at least a foot in a few short months, deep pink scales growing in where she used to have her mother’s blue. 

It wouldn’t be too much longer before they withdrew from her, giving only distant but polite answers to her questions about dinner and the weather topside, watching with disapproving eyes when she slinked out into the wider ocean to visit her musician and rest atop the sharp black rocks. 

Aluya knew the feeling she was experiencing, after feeling it tear at her guts for months now, all through the spring and into the hot, hot summer. Laying on rocks still warm from the sun, Aluya was absolutely certain that she was lovesick, and that it was causing the strange changes. She was becoming a witch, one of the feared merfolk whose strange ways and instinctive knowledge of the magic of their leviathan ancestors made them outcast from good and decent oceanic society. She’d grown too preoccupied to care though, finding freedom in her newfound size and strength. When it wasn’t worrying Ayula, she found it exhilarating that she seemed to be stronger and faster than before, able to kill and eat much larger, richer prey for her supper, even the mighty tuna unable to evade her in her new, monstrous state. She’d eat this rich food and feel it turn in her stomach, unable to fill the hole in her with food, and something even stranger happened to her as she listened to all those old rock songs on the pier. 

Opening her mouth, Ayula found she could speak! Some new adaptation with the change meant that as those chords wafted out into the air, she could catch them and sing along in time, even if only to herself, her deep, husky voice stirring from deep in her aching chest, crooning out her Void-laced tune across the night air, giggling to herself when her bewitched notes stunned animals on the shore or drunken beachgoers. Before long, she was testing herself, seeing how long she could leave someone spellbound on the shore, siren song keeping them in a stupor. She knew she was pushing it when that music kicked up on the boardwalk and she just couldn’t help herself, following along with her beloved’s clever fingers. 

“Yesterday, and days before. Sun is cold, and rain is hard. I know…” Her voice left an entire group spellbound, all of them still like deer in headlights around the fire they’d built up next to the water, a dozen humans all trapped in her spell till she let them go. It felt powerful and right, like she could sing them all into the sea for her next meal. But there was only one girl she wanted, and her song couldn’t beat out the cry of a steel guitar.

That was when she began to feel the most miraculous transformation coming along, the whispers growing urgent in her dreams as she rested now in a shipwreck, the old metal hull of a tugboat caked in occult symbols, fetishes made by instinct making her sleep more lucid, easier to remember the words of the tutors in her blood. That was when she learned the greatest, most taboo of mer magic. 

Ayula waited though, afraid and frightened for the first time since her transformation began, until she couldn’t stand it for another night longer, putting on the things she’d need. Human clothes and human things, pilfered from the water. She dragged them ashore, and as she left the safety of the sea foam, getting covered in scratchy sand, her tail started to disappear, melting like it had never been there, and then she was just a tall, wet teenager, quickly changing under the pier. Dressed in shorts and a shirt that barely fit her powerful frame, Ayula recognized in the mirror of a nearby jeep that she could pass for human, just so long as she didn’t make a habit of showing off her recessed gills or big, razor-sharp smile. She tied her long hair back, shuddering at the sensation of being dry for the first time in her life, and then headed up the stairs next to the boardwalk, ready to use her newfound voice to make her feelings known, one request at a time. 

Peering down at her beloved, Ayula reached into her pocket and took out a mason jar of quarters she’d found and dried on the rocks for weeks now, counting out five dollars' worth of change, before dumping the sum into the guitar case in front of the blonde woman, stunned and shy now despite her monstrous size and ability by her beloved’s lovely, fair features, and asked in a halting voice, “C-could you, um, well… Do you know any Dokken?” She knew that was one of the girl’s favorites, and her smile made all of Ayula’s transformations worth it.

mermaid that transforms into something fucked up when she's horny like what happens to salmon during mating season

[cadaverre]

pt 2.

Narrator: As the years pass, their family grows, and their love only deepens. They continue to explore the ocean together, discovering new places and making memories that will last a lifetime. They remain the epitome of true love and partnership, proving that even in the vast ocean, a fish and a human can find each other and build a life filled with happiness and joy.

Narrator: After many years of wedded bliss, salmon and Wilby decide that they are ready to start a family. They are both curious to see what kind of children they will have, as neither of them is entirely sure how the genetics will work. But they are excited to find out and decide to have 78 children, one for each day of the year.

Narrator: As the years pass, their family continues to grow. They decide to build a small village near the shore, where their children can learn to fish, swim, and play together. The village is built with love and care, with each home designed to reflect the unique personalities of their children.

Narrator: One day, as salmon and Wilby are tending to their garden, they discover a strange egg floating among the seaweed. It is unlike any egg they have ever seen before, glowing with an eerie green light. Curious and a bit concerned, they take the egg back to their home and place it in a safe, warm spot.

Narrator: Over the next few weeks, the egg begins to change. It grows larger and brighter, and strange markings begin to appear on its surface. One day, it hatches, revealing a tiny creature unlike anything they have ever seen before. It has the body of a fish, but the head of a human baby. They name it Merfolk, hoping that it will be accepted by their community despite its unusual appearance.

Narrator: As Merfolk grows older, it becomes increasingly curious about its surroundings. One day, it ventures too far from home and gets caught in a current. It is swept away from the safety of their village and out into the open ocean. Salmon and Wilby are heartbroken, but they know that their child is strong and resilient. They hope that it will find its way back to them one day.

Narrator: Months pass, and Merfolk hasn't returned. Salmon and Wilby continue to live their lives, raising their 78 children with love and care. One day, while they are teaching their children how to fish, they spot something strange in the distance. It is Merfolk, swimming towards them, looking stronger and more confident than ever before.

merfolk: Mom, Dad! It's me, Merfolk! I've been on an adventure! I've learned how to breathe air and walk on land, just like a human!

salmon: Oh, my dear child! We were so worried about you! We were afraid you might not come back to us. But it's wonderful to see you again! You've grown so much!

wilby: That's wonderful, Merfolk! It's wonderful to see you back with us. You've become quite the adventurer, haven't you?

merfolk: Yes, Dad. I've been exploring the ocean and the lands beyond it, and I've discovered something amazing. There are other creatures out there, just like me - half-fish, half-humans. They live in a secret underwater city, where they have built schools and hospitals, and they even have their own language!

Narrator: The shock on salmon and Wilby's faces is evident as they process Merfolk's revelation. Their child's discovery of a secret underwater civilization full of other beings like them seems too incredible to be true. They exchange glances, unsure of what this means for their family and their village.

does it need at pt 3? also i have a quackity one

HELP I JUST REALISED IT WAS WILBUR SOOTTTT

okay then yes part 3 would be appreciated

also check ur messages omfg

[hoodoobarbie]

The mythology of the Siren, Mermaid, Water Spirits & Mami Wata and it’s origins within black feminity.

Today I had to listen to other another black woman rant about how mermaids/sirens/mami wata are evil low key. So this educational post was born in response. 

Did you really think the divine essence of the black feminine wouldn’t protect itself ? That energy exists for a reason.  Suddenly it’s evil, to have teeth and protect yourself from predators. Water is a precious resource. You will be tested to see if you are deserving of it or not. Also these spirits will defend natural resources so they don’t get fucked up by human greed. 

It’s common for some places in Africa for people to offer the Sirens/Mami Wata/Water spirits or make an offerings/contracts with them in order to use the resources on their land. It also keeps the white ppl away too because they cause so much trouble.

Sirens are also associated with being the killers of children and men, but often this is completely misrepresented intentionally.

Men fear the power of the siren because she can override the patriarchy at core and can completely unravel them. The orgins of many water spirits lie in matriachal societies, temples divine feminine and motherhood. This is why temples and sacred magikal knowledge was intentionally destroyed and stolen, especially to empower the white patriarch.

Sirens are also described as thiefs of children and child killers. Sirens have been known to kidnap kids who were being abused or have were murdered near water and take them to their kingdom to restore them.

Sometimes the child returns, sometimes they are not. However in general they are big on kidnapping people, mostly women and giving them powers, if they decide to return. The idea of them eating and killing children, was a lie perpetuated by Greeks to cover up some truly horrific acts. Unfortunate these false accusations have been allowed to continue to perpetuate.

If a siren is acting in a predatory way, there is a reason why as their energy as been disturbed. Sirens are natural guardians. 

So the real question is . . . what did you do ? Did you destroy their habitat ? Abuse a child or a person ? Commit an egregious act against a woman ie rape/murder etc ? Disrespect a sacred place, the land, the seas or rivers ? Steal precious resources that weren’t yours to take ?

These sacred traditions are more than just deities, spirits and our ancestors. All forms of ATR are access to our spiritual mind state as an entire community. When you move in Vodou, you can sense the whole of black consciousness and all of our problem spots, specifically  areas that need healing. 

Oxum-Oshun, Olokun, Yemaya, the Mami Wata, La Baliene, La Siren, Met Agwe, The Simbi - these are all spirits with a connection to waters. Water is life and has always been inherently associated feminine energy. I’m not going into detail about all these cross connections but let’s chat about La Sirene, specifically.

La Sirene, Queen of all Mermaids is more than just a powerful sorceress and queen of song/music and dreams, she is also a keeper of secrets an a guardian of sacred memories & knowledge.

Many of the souls of slaves, from the Transatlantic slave trade that were thrown off the boats into the ocean are her children, citizens and warriors now. She comforts them eternally & they live in paradise. That doesn’t mean all of these souls are at rest, plenty continuously ask their mother if they will be avenged, especially the young children. She also has a close connection with the Indigenous Taino. The isle of Hispaniola also known as Haiti (Ayiti) & the Dominican Republic is her most known domain. 

Let’s not act like slavery and colonization was a cake walk. Rape was common place and mermaids, water spirits offered African and Indigenous women protection and power over men. They became demonized overtime for their hypnotic powers and killing men, who often overstepped their boundaries. Women could leave offerings to these spirits, work or commune with them and be quickly avenged or gain great power and wealth. All of this was threatening to the white patriarchal standard.

La Sirene’s presence in Haiti and other merfolk tales that float around the Caribbean/West Indies, is not without purpose. She has ties to many people and many different cultures. Her sacred symbols are global. This is why I speculate she is much older than people think. La Sirene, is a fairly young evolution. She clearly has ties to much older things. Her older names might have been lost but she has evolved, to save her self and also document other forgotten elements of history in the process. There are those who speculate that La Sirene is the embodiment of a cross mixed culture, the evolution of Indigenous & African water spirits combined, due to the excess trauma of colonization and so the Mermaid Queen was born. Others will argue that she is the Orisha Yemaya but a newer avatar of her.  I hate to argue semantics but I will say this, she exists and her presence is felt to this day, all around the world. 

La Sirene is often depicted as a mulatto woman with eyes like the sea but if you have been blessed to see her in dream state, she does appear sometimes as a brown or dark skinned skinned woman of possibly mixed Indigenous/African ancestry with glowing hypnotic eyes.  Alot of her older depictions, deal with colorism and slavery, but as things have grown in the modern world this imagery has begun to change. However mermaids, are known for their shapeshifting powers - to truly behold her true form, is a gift reserved for the rare few. 

As a keeper of the mysteries, La Sirene also access to many forgotten things in the black subconscious. The element of water is an intensely psychic sign.  Water is her domain, and what is the human body 80% of? WATER! The truth does not hide from her hypnotic eyes. This sacred connection to water and her essence, also means you can  track forgotten elements black history and connect to other deities/cultures who’ve had contact with her & her whole court or other black water spirits as a whole. So let’s take a short historical trip down memory lane.

The Greeks & Black women. Sirens, Aphrodite, Sibyls and other Children of Water 🧜🏾‍♀️

The deity Aphrodite/Venus is of Grecian and Roman legend.  

A little known magikal fact is that Aphrodite/Venus is half siren. She is a child of the water, she was literally birthed this way after Uranus got his balls cut off & thrown into the sea. Much of her Venusian influence and powers of love and beauty come from this element. Now my Mambo doesn’t like mentioning it but Aphrodite, is tolerated by the oceanic court of sirens/mermaids. Any child of water, falls under the domain of the queen. La Sirene has a sort of strange fondness for her and so does Aphrodite for her. However this doesn’t mean they are best friends.  It’s tentative friendship at best and comes with some perks. Aphrodite works quickly for children of water sirens and often will send mermaids to her devotees who misbehave. She has deliberately placed me around her people have pissed her off, to cause mischief. She’s quite petty but also  very generous. I won’t go as far to dare and say she is in the queen’s court, but she does curry favor with the queen. Being born of water, her half siren/mermaid influence has definitely attributed to legends of her beauty in myth but also her treachery with men 🧜🏾‍♀️😂. She clearly also has some sort of homesickness for the world underneath the water, because many of her offerings are gifts of pearls, kisses, sea shells, beauty products etc. Anyone who serves the Mermaid Queen knows the meaning behind those gifts. If you’re a black gyal with water or siren energy and decide to work with Aphrodite, do it!  If you ever irritate her, the least she’ll do is give you pimples and fuck up your skin, she won’t have the full power to completely fuck up your love life like she does with the white girls.  And let me tell you, she has completely ruined some white girls lives by giving them terrible lovers or men.  

The trident 🔱 is known for its connection in Greek and Hindu cultures.  However La Sirene or other African water spirits are depicted carrying it, which is largely ignored in the occult world.

You can track the trident in Hinduism, with the serpent spirits, the nagas or Lord Shiva but let’s focus on it’s Grecian connection. The usage of the trident and Poseidon, even in mainstream society today is associated with him.  This lets us know there is a connection between the mermaids, merfolk and La Sirene/African water spirits. Poseidon’s trident was rumored to made in Athens by the Cyclops - this is the city of Athena. So now we can track an element of black history all the way to Poseidon & Athena. Keep that in your thoughts we’ll come back to that later.

Tridents were also used ceremonially in Africa & India as well, as scepters, tribal weapons and religious symbols.

They were also associated with the sea faring people and fishing. It’s highly likely the origins of the trident are cross mixed between these two societies. Indo-African relations, go back to the Bronze age and the Indus Valley civilization. Which means traveling over by sea to reach each other was necessary. There is historical evidence of African millet being found in a Indian city Chanhudaro, including a cemetary or burial ground for African women.  Maritime relations between these two groups existed before Grecian & the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasties.

Now of course there are some deranged historians that will try to whitewash history and say the trident has its origins from the labyrs but the Ancient Greeks & Africans/Indians interacted regularly. The trident also looks nothing like a labyrs, which is quite literally a double sided axe.  This is one of the more painful obvious pieces of white washing and historical revisionism. 

Regardless, the trident is associated with water, ceremonial/religious purposes, fishing, battling in the coliseum and the symbol of power for a few African,  Black diasporian an Hindu deities.

🧜🏾‍♀️ Oracles & Sibyls

Some sibyls/oracles were known to be African prophetesses/Mamissi to the Mami Wata/Sirens in Africa, some were stolen or captured by Greeks or Romans, sold into slavery and made to be oracles, some of whom became quite famous in legend. Their connection to these water spirits, is what gave them their gift of prophecy. Not every sibyl or oracle was African but SOME were.  This lead to the sharing and theft of sacred knowledge. It’s likely these women shared this sacred information, with their colleagues, some whom may or may not have been enslaved or kept in these temple and likely this information was traded, for their freedom, power or money etc. This gave way to the usage of sacred spirits and magick being used by men. A great example of this is the snake spirits of the genii, genius spirits (not to be mistaken with genies) and which then evolved into a diluted lesser energy in Greek society being known as daemons (not to be confused with goetic demons) Instead of a woman commanding these specific energies/spirits, the patriarchs decided that these specifics powers were only worthy of being used by men. These spirits were whitewashed, adopted into their religious practices and said to only be given to men at birth. No woman was allowed to possess them anymore.

🧜🏾‍♀️ The whitewashing of Medusa & Lamia. 

In mainstream society these two women stories have been white washed but also to hide a very shameful history and narrative. These two were beautiful women, in older stories of black black mythology were known to be black and they were children of water & daughters of the powerful water spirit/snake/siren divine mother/feminine goddess. 

Medusa was raped by the GREECIAN GOD OF THE SEA, POSEIDON  and Athena covered it up, refused to avenge her and punished her by making her ugly to everyone. It’s speculated in several magikal circles that the snakes in her hair were actually dreads, due to their lack of understanding of black hair and also allegorically might have been a reference to her devotion to the fish or water snake, great mother goddess. A child of the divine feminine, mother goddess was assaulted in a temple by a man and a woman covered it up & celebrated it.

Let’s start there ... cuz this story says a lot! It’s one of the first historical cases  in myth that really documents the issues that surround the black feminine specifically and it was intentionally whitewashed. Then to add insult to injury, Athena made her hideous to all men and her chopped off her head and used as a symbol of protection but also a subtle sign of disrespect to the fullest. This still goes on to this day.

In fact ALGOL, the demon star, which is considered to be strongest protective magick talisman in the occult world today is the HEAD OF MEDUSA. The child of water! BITCH! This energy is invoked constantly and the spirit of medusa is never allowed to rest.

However these egregious acts did not come without a price. Athena at time was a goddess of fertility. However desecrating a child of water or the sirens, is seen as an attack by the divine feminine and can will cause people to be afflicted with fertility and other mental health issues as well. This is speculative but it’s also likely that after this they were constantly visited by droughts, floods or repeating issues with water sanitation & purity after this. Lowered fertility rates and miscarriages might be more prominent, for Athenians and Athena devotees & likely continues to this day.

Devotees of Athena may also develop severe issues when it to their mental health because of this connection. They completely lose touch with their feminine energy and become extremely misogynistic after continued work with her.

Not only did Athena, cause Medusa to be seen as hideous throughout the land but she celebrated when she was murdered and proudly wore Medusa’s decapitated head on her shield. From the feminist eye this virgin deity/woman was extremely male identified and adhered to the patriarchal standard. She was tested by the divine feminine and failed.

Even more strange, Athena’s birth allegorically proclaims her essential character: her wisdom is drawn from the head of a male god; the bond of affection between father and daughter; her championship of heroes and male causes, born as she was from the male, and not from a mother’s womb. A dreaded goddess of war, she remained a virgin and a servant of the patriarchal society and remains so to this day. She is the misogynistic cool girl and very asexual at the core. In fact if you explore more of her mythos, it becomes very clear she hates women. I’m bewildered at how she has become associated with lesbians and the feminine at large, when it’s been very clear that she was intent on transcending her gender from the very beginning, but never managed to escape it.  

To top it off, I’ll leave you with this quote from Aeschylus’ Oresteia by Athena:

“There is no mother anywhere who gave me birth, and, but for marriage, I am always for the male with all my heart, and strongly on my father’s side. So, in a case where the wife has killed her husband, lord of the house, her death shall not mean most to me.”

Queen Lamia was a said to incredible beauty who seduced Zeus, (a literal man whore) which as made Hera jealous. Hera cursed Lamia with infertility and insomnia. She went insane and is said to have killed her own children and ate them. Zeus is said to be the one who gifted her prophecy and gave her the ability to take out her eyes, so she would not be irritated at the site of other happy mothers.

She became associated with a child eating monster who was half woman and half snake, which ties into the Libyan snake cults. She was associated with phantoms, the shapshifting laimai or empusai and the daemon spirits.

Medusa and Lamia were Libyan by heritage and came from a place in Africa where temples to the water snake mother goddess & divine feminine were common before they were destroyed by invaders intentionally. These women likely had extreme gifts of seduction, mind control and other abilities etc. It’s highly likely that Queen Lamia used her powers of seduction, at the behest of her people to save them from colonization and was demonized for it. Zeus’s temple was in Cyrene in Lybia, so this is far more than an allegorical story. This may be a real life story that was disguised in mythos. Unfortunately deeper research into this subject has turned up many dead ends for me. It’s highly likely Medusa was a priestess of the the matriarchal Mami Watas or water goddess/snake spirits and was likely raped intentionally in Athena’s temple, as a show loyalty to the rising patriarchy by descrating the symbolism of the great mother and the divine feminine. This was likely an attempt to lessen power and status of the matriachal societies that existed at the time. Rape was common war tactic amongst colonizers and news of such disgrace would likely spread like wildfire. This also solidified Athena’s place amongst the male gods and gaining her their respect. Athena and her devotees went a step further to show their allegiance to the patriarchy, by stripping Medusa of her beauty supposedly and exiling her, then parading her decapitated head on shields, when going into battle likely with Libyan enemies.

This is just a brief explanation of a few horrific acts in history, which were whitewashed & explain why the essence of the black feminine has evolved to become more protective, predatory and fierce. She learned to defend herself. Now she kills those who threaten her. 

Fun history tip: Usually anytime you see a snake in Grecian mythology, just know something got whitewashed, because the truth was really fucked up, made them look really bad & a black woman was there.

🧜🏾‍♀️ The black feminine is capable of more than you know.

Yes, mermaids/sirens/snakes & the mami watas can be scary at times but that’s what stepping into mysticism of deep waters is like. Water is capable of many things, it is one of the most powerful elements on earth. It can nourish you and kill you, and that’s the beauty of it really.

We should all be grateful the black feminine is so beautiful, fierce & scares the living daylights out of everyone.

You would be dead if it wasn’t.

[thinking-outside-the-giftbox18]

The Stanley Parable AU - MerStanley [and maybe Fisherman AU]

TL;DR Narrator being a fisherman (he doesn't like his job) and Stanley is a merman who lives in solitude and likes human-watching.

Stanley likes to watch the humans near the lighthouse docks, especially this one older human who complains often about his job of catching fish. He's funny, but also intriguing as he followed that human as they go to the lighthouse and read his stories aloud, thinking no one could hear them.

Then one day, that human slipped from the docks and fell, normally Stanley wouldn't interfere as other humans would be around to save them. But that wasn't the case, they were alone, they couldn't swim, and they were going to get tangled in the fishing nets. 

Swiftly, Stanley catches and rescues the human and takes them to a rocky slope nearby to climb back up to the dockside, before the human could thank them, Stanley goes back to his hidden home. The human saw the ripples and a silver fin, and wondered if they're going insane from the saltwater.

Stanley remembers that day but remains hidden and up to his usual routine of human watching, yet he could sense his favorite human being more alert of their surroundings. He complained less, but he still reads loudly by the ocean on his chair and their fellow humans ignore him for being annoying.

Here starts Narry's safe-level obsession of merfolk.

Points of this AU:

- Narrator has like a glass cabinet where he keeps all of Stanley's gifts in display.

- Stanley likes the cats and pets and feeds them. Some like him, some don’t.

- Stanley, like Ariel, collects human stuff in his underwater cave home. Lots of buckets, gemstones, portraits, etc. 

- Narrator wondering why Stanley is alone, where is his merkind?

-  Narrrator hates saltwater until he kissed Stanley

- Narrator has Thalassophobia

-  Stanley can’t talk above water because of his respiratory system. Though he and Narrator communicate by sending each other bottle messages.

As fun and soft as this AU goes, of course there would be angst...

It’s under “Keep Reading”  Warning: First half is about Narrator’s fear of deep water, and some people finding out about MerStanley but nothing too bad. However, the rest is about Character Deaths and a BitterSweet Ending. (More Bitter than Sweet)

Narrator’s Thalassophobia:

Narrator’s Friends being d!ck$:

When/If Narrator’s friends finds out about Stanley:

When/If a friend of Narrator found one of the bottle messages:

Before I get to the final parts, I MUST WARN THAT THE NEXT PART INVOLVES A LETTER OF DEATH, turn away if you’re uncomfortable with sensitive topics like this.

Start of Letter//

"To the one who found this letter, it is a sign that I had died.

These are the last words I will share with the world.

I was once a lonely man who saw the world as cold and gray and had seen no delights in the years I had been alive. I didn't have close friends, just the faces of those who never bothered to stay a while and talk for a while. I was certain that my dreams of living a bright happy life would never happen... That was until I met him.

The one who watched over me like a guardian angel.

The one who had to hide yet still appeared just to see me. 

The one who saved my life once, and who I've saved as well to return a favor, and to see his face once more. 

He showed me a new world through his eyes, it was brighter and warmer than the sun. Even when I could never hear his voice...We had a language that felt forbidden to share with anyone else. Just the two of us, together alone...Alone Together. 

Sadly...My days have dwindled and I don't think my new dream of being together in a lighthouse with adopted children to break the silence would ever happen... 

But I am happy. 

Because I can and will spend my last days with the love of my life, I want to see his face, his eyes, his smile, his happiness, his tears, and, his sorrow. 

Just one last time. 

If there is a higher being up there who could see this through you, dear reader, I could only pray that he and I are together on our next life... 

That is all I ever wanted. 

Goodbye 

Yours Sincerely, 

The Narrator"

//End of Letter

This letter was found by Curator in the Narrator's lighthouse after his funeral. It gave answers and more questions.

Though he never said it in the letter, Curator decided to honor both Narrator's home and his grave, saving everything that he had and all the gifts that Stanley gave him were in display at her museum along with his letter.

Curator claims to not know what happened to Stanley, but she does when she found Narrator. She kept that a secret and took it to her grave.

[frostbitten-mind]

Heavens Above

Simeon had lived quite a sheltered life staying in the depths of the sea. Warned time and time again that the surface only held dangers to which were unimaginable. Faithful to his elder an experienced older merman, Michael, he listened. He however always did have a burning curiosity for such things. No matter how Michael described humans as creatures who killed for pleasure, teeth sharper then their kind, claws able to break even the hardest of clams.

The only good thing Micheal had to say about them was the fact that they couldn’t swim to save their lives. And that’s what limited them to the surface away from their utopia. He wondered what a life they could live if not for the sea providing for them. He was a trusted hunter and while he’d gone as close as he could get to the surface he could only perch himself on rocks and strain his eyes to see the dry sand as opposed to the wet rock he leaned on to get the view.

It was this infatuation that led him to create his infamous series “The Tale of the Seven Lords.” A of tale of seven merfolk forced to live even deeper than him. Down in the trenches where they must adjust to such a creature of light, a human, Henry stepping into their dark domain.

Which brings us to what he was doing right now. Imagining a way to make the Henry in his story more human like while swimming around in the open sea. Fish and other species alike knew to be cautious when he was swimming so openly. He was a hunter after all and one greatly respected at that which is why this encounter was like no other.

As he looked up from his daydreams he caught sight of something most peculiar. An animal he’d never seen with striking blue fins, ebony skin so dark he swore this was a floating piece of the trench itself. He stared at the creature in front of him with wonder. He wanted to approach but you were a new creature as far as he was concerned so he had to been on guard.

Meanwhile you were freaking out hoping that was just some dude in a costume. Which even if it was there was no way he would be this deep without the proper gear. Not wanting to stick around to see if some mystical water breathing man did exist you highfinned it as swiftly as your legs could swim. Which in hindsight wasn't very fast and rather energy consuming, this had been your first time so deep which was more than enough reason to panic.

All he could do was stare at your clumsy "fins" as they tried pushing upwards towards the surface. He sighed in disappointment, a creature belonging up there not even able to push itself up? While he wanted to help like the "gracious" person he was and totally not because he wanted to see more of the surface. He knew approaching to close in your panicked state would only worsen it so he opted for hand gestures in the off chance that you did have the mental capacity to understand him. He calmly lifted his hands and bended them slightly frontwards so that he was making a calm down gesture.

You attention was throughly captured after all not only had you never thought you'd see a mermaid before but he was avidly trying to communicate with you. While you'd never doubted their existence you did suppose this was probably the best place to find them, an abandoned beach which you so happened to fancy coming to visit to get away from things. However these thoughts would have to wait as you paid attention to his gesture your wild body movements ceased and you regained some composure.

He was pleasantly surprised the creature he'd never seen before was able to communicate in such length, other than his own species and a few select others down below there wasn't much conversation to be had. So seeing that you'd understand him made him wonder just what other secrets you and your kind held. With your body language as a sign he came just a little closer slowly swimming upwards in encouragement to take you back.

Having understood him you followed alongside him staring in wonder at the fluid movements of his tail, the appendage swaying gracefully as it steered his movements. Such a striking ghostly hue compared to his eyes, whites and blues mixed together to form a beautiful celeste, a fitting color for such a heavenly looking creature.

When the two of you made it to the surface Simeon had led you to a rock so you could perch on it, he then distanced himself so you had enough space to do as you pleased. You glanced up at the sky and deduced that you'd been out a lot longer then you intended. Your phone had been long left forgotten on the beach and you were sure there'd be calls and texts galore. With that thought in mind you couldn't stay very long, you turned back to Simeon and not quite knowing what to say you simply waved and left just as quickly.

As your figure left the water you somehow "shed your skin," the same skin he thought was darker than a sea urchin changed dramatically as the sun kissed it. And the blue fins he saw earlier, removed and replaced by the most peculiar appendages he'd ever seen. The way you moved so unnatural to him as you turned over waving back again this time he raised his hand and did so back. So many questions blossoming but he couldn't ask them then after all you were quickly becoming a disappearing figure in the sunset.

[yandere-sins]

Ayo mind if I request some Mermaid Korekiyo x pirate reader? I crave for some more good Kiyo content 😌

Absolutely! Thanks for requesting ♥

»»———————— ♡ ————————««     

♡ There has always been something drawing Korekiyo to the world of humans. If not for the predicament that his tail makes it impossible, he would have roamed the land as much as he could since his heart is so fascinated with what he can’t have. Even if he happened to come across corpses after a shipwreck every now and then, his curiosity could only be stilled in terms of learning their bodies. However, their ways of thinking and communicating are still beyond his grasp.

♡ He even took risks to further his knowledge, approaching harbors and swimming with ships. However, almost always, he was met with fear or anger from the humans. Knowing how his species approaches them, he could understand a little why they’d be so reluctant to be in his presence. If only there was a better way to learn about them, but until he finds it, Kiyo keeps watching them from afar.

♡ Until, one day, the pirate ship he had been observing is caught by the royal navy, bringing it down to the ground of the sea. Korekiyo knows what that means - more dead bodies - and is devastated that all the humans he had been watching talk, work, and celebrate together are now perishing between the waves. He’d have almost turned and left without seeing the aftermath, not feeling like watching the humans being eaten by seafolk, when he notices an unusual trash, a body desperately clinging on to a piece of wood and gasping for air.

♡ Part of him tells Kiyo not to do it. That there’s nothing good that can come from approaching this person. He can hear his late sister - killed by her own curiosity for humans - telling him in the back of his mind that the human won’t thank him, and the other mermaids aren’t going to approve of it, and who knows, it might all be in vain if the human dies anyway. But he also knows that if he doesn’t do it, that poor human won’t even have a peaceful death when he gets ripped apart by fish or Kiyo’s kin. This chance is as good as any to get closer to his dreams of learning about the humans he so admires.

♡ Thus he approaches, and he wouldn’t have expected any less than the human looking at him fearfully, using their limbs to get away from him. He can see it in their eyes. He can see himself in their eyes. Reflections are rare to recognize for the seafolks, but they seem clearer than anything in the human’s eyes. He lifts them away from the wood they cling to, hearing the calls of his tribe. Taking off, he does his best to keep them above water, but they struggle to not drink enormous amounts of saltwater, clinging on to Kiyo in a desperate attempt of not drowning. And Kiyo? Kiyo notices just how warm they are, even after being in the water for so long.

♡ He sets them off on a lonely island, returning to the water after Kiyo pushes them - coughing and cursing - onto the sandy beach. They only briefly turn to him, asking a question. It takes some time until Kiyo can put together the meaning from his insufficient knowledge of their language. However, even so, he can’t answer their, “Why did you help me?” and sinks back deeper into the sea, frustrated that his first encounter with a human... isn’t going as well as he had hoped. He showed them his goodwill, but it might not be enough, the human staying wary as they get up and bolt away, hiding away further on the island where they know Kiyo can’t reach them, and it frustrates him all the more.

♡ But the island stops at some point. Running won’t get them far away. Worried, Korekiyo circles the landmass, only receiving more and more horrified stares from the human until he can’t take it anymore. He leaves them alone for the first night, but he comes back with fish for the human when the sun starts rising. It takes a while to gain trust, but Kiyo had waited for this chance all his life, so he can wait a little longer. Once the human seems to relax a little more at the sight of him, Kiyo starts bringing more things, medicine at first, showing how to apply it, almost too eager to do it himself and scaring the human again. Then, Kiyo starts bringing gadgets, things he collected over the years from the human world. With only Kiyo around them, the human starts opening up a bit, and soon enough, they start teaching him simple words and their meaning.

♡ They learn the human language day in, day out, Kiyo constantly repeating these words wherever he goes. With him being an eager learner, he is quick to pick it up on a level they can speak sentences with each other. Kiyo has things he never imagined opening up for him. The human was a pirate and their foes the navy. Pirates aren’t good, but the navy isn’t good for them either. It feels like one of the stories the older mermaids kept telling the young ones, but this is real no matter how fairytale-esque it appears to be. But with words, there are also emotions and longings that Kiyo can’t understand yet. Still, the human keeps telling him they need help from Kiyo to go back to the cities - home as they call it, and Kiyo starts to question what this would mean for the merman who finally has it all.

♡ Thus the lies start. He knows they are lies because the human told him what lies are. “It’s too far.” and “There are too many dangers.” These words keep the human satisfied for a while, but skepticism rises almost as quickly. But Kiyo realizes that without him, the human can’t do anything. Instead, they tell Korekiyo of their family, their darling lover at home, and how love feels, hoping Kiyo might start to understand. However, even if the human tells him, Kiyo never tried to make his human understand how the merfolk lives. There is nothing to compare and no emotions like the human ones, down there in the water. And so the days continue, survivor’s guilt and depression catching up to the poor human stranded on the island with only a mermaid to keep them company.

♡ One day, Kiyo catches them crying, trying to hide it when the mermaid approaches and laughing it off. He has never seen water spilling from their or anyone’s eyes before, a fascinating process indeed. Kiyo climbs on the beach, approaching them until his body mass overwhelms the human pinned under him. Even if he is selfish, even if he can’t be that family or home the human talks about, Kiyo begins to understand the meaning of some of the feelings the human has been telling him about. Especially the ones that make him want to not let go of them, not lose them again like all the other failed attempts of approaching humans, not give them back to anyone else like their darling partner.

♡ As if to clean a wound, he uses his tongue to make the tears vanish, hoping that the pain he can see on the human’s face will disappear as well. Salt on his taste buds, the warmth of the human and their beating heart beneath him, and his own reflection in the human’s eyes - they are all way too special to pass up on. Even if uncomfortableness spreads all through his human, Kiyo is only now realizing how much more there is to explore. More expressions, more feelings, more words! They can’t leave him yet, after all... after all, they might be his ‘darling’. His darling human. Even if it is all a risk for both of them, this almost sounds too good to be true, right? Like a story to tell the young mermaids in the future. One, only Kiyo will be able to tell the end off.

[lapinbunwrites]

Title: The Merman and The Fisherman

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Relationship: M!Byleth Eisner/Claude von Riegan

Additional Tags: Mermaid AU, Fluff, Some Angst

Word Count: 2,790

Ao3 Link

The ocean was as deep as it was vast. It held many creatures, many different types of fish, sharks, dolphins, and creatures no one has ever seen. However, there was one such creature that sailors and fishermen were said to have seen, but remains elusive, merfolk. No one has ever been able to catch one to prove one another wrong. Not until recently anyways.

Claude swam through the deep seas, communicating with all sea life. Being their prince, he made it a point to talk to everyone he could. Even though he talked to everyone, the one creature he was never allowed to talk to were humans. They always intrigued him, especially one human that he saw. Claude always saw him sitting on a pier, or sitting in sand on the beach. This man always had a fishing pole with him and he always looked so serene. Sometimes he was with someone, sometimes he wasn’t. The man fished at the same time everyday. It was odd to Claude, but it was interesting to him at the same time.

On one particular day, Claude swam until he saw the pier, where the man was in one of his usual spots by himself. Every time the man fished, he wouldn’t get much. Just some small fry fish that probably won’t last him, and his family, very long

It gave Claude an idea. He dove back into the ocean, finding, and catching, any big fish that he could. When he went over to the pier, he placed the fish on the hook, smiling as the line disappeared. He continuously gave him fish until he had enough chasing them. He bobbed part of his face over the water to see the man’s reaction. Claude became confused, because his expression hadn’t changed. Was it the fish that he caught and gave away? Or was it something else. The human he had focused his attention on perplexed him. He was so odd, he only interested him more.

The next day, Claude saw the man again, only with someone else this time. He did the same thing as the day before. The only difference between the two days was that the older man was happy with the bounty. Why was the one man he was interested in so indifferent and the older man with him so excited about it? Claude wanted to know why the man was acting like this deep down in his bones, but the repeating words of his parents echoed in his mind to never talk to humans.

He shook his head, he didn’t care, he was going to talk to him the next time he was alone on the beach. The day the fisherman was alone, a grin swept across Claude’s face. He swam close to the shore, letting part of his face appear over the water. At first, the man didn’t realize; he only noticed Claude when he tugged at the fishing line.

“Hello,” Claude said, swimming closer to him.

“Hello,” the man said, calmly.

“What’s your name,” Claude asked, tilting his head.

“Byleth,” he responded, reaching his hand out.

Claude shook his head. “Why are you here everyday?”

“Because it’s nice,” Byleth said, reeling his line back in. He placed down his fishing pole next to him, stopping his fishing for the day. “What’s your name?”

“Claude,” he smiled.

“What a nice name,” Byleth said, nonchalantly.

“Thank you, my parents gave it to me,” Claude chuckled. He looked at Byleth with confusion. His expression had changed.

Byleth gave him the same expression. “What is it?”

“You seem sad,” Claude replied. “Is everything alright?”

Byleth sighed.

“Is it the older man that’s always with you,” Claude asked, swimming back and forth.

“Oh, hmm,” Byleth paused. He let out a little sigh before speaking again. “He is my father.”

Claude became confused. He swam closer to him, reaching out his webbed hand out towards him. “Did something happen to him?”

Byleth moved his face away from him.

Claude retracted his hand quickly back into the water, swimming backwards.

“Sorry,” Byleth sniffed. “Touch isn’t my strong suit right now.”

Claude let out a little sigh as he backed away from him.

“My father passed away,” Byleth said, trying to hold back tears. He wiped off the tears that still fell from his eyes.

Seeing the man cry, Claude felt sad. He swam back into the ocean, looking deep into the vast waters, searching for something. He searched and searched until he found one thing that might pique Byleth’s interest. When he swam back to shore, he saw him clutching onto his fishing pole.

“Here,” Claude said, holding out his hand. “For you.”

Byleth dropped the pole, rushing over to the fish, placing it in his bucket full of water. “Wh-What kind of fish is this? I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s called a Leafy Sea Dragon,” Claude replied, faintly smiling.

“I will cherish it,” Byleth smiled.

Claude looked around, seeing the setting sun.

“Is something wrong,” Byleth asked, wiping the tears off his face.

“I have to go, before I get in trouble,” Claude huffed. “I will be back tomorrow.”

Byleth reached out to him as Claude swam away, seeing his tail.

Swimming up to the beach the next day, Claude saw Byleth, giving him a big smile. He held out his hand, handing him a seashell. “When I was younger, my parents would find abandoned shells and give them to me to make me feel better.”

Byleth smiled as he took the seashell. He held it close to his ear, hearing the wispy wind that flowed through it. “My father did the same.”

“What are you doing,” Claude asked, titling his head.

“Hearing the wind in the shell,” he replied, holding it out to him. “It sounds like the ocean is with you wherever you go.”

“For you that’s more than true,” Claude chuckled, taking the shell from him.

Byleth laughed a little harder than he should when he saw Claude’s face.

“It really does sound like the wind!” He said in shock, giving Byleth back the shell.

Byleth smiled, holding the item close to his chest. He let out a sorrowful sigh, remembering that his father won’t be around anymore.

“Are you okay,” Claude asked, swimming closer, making his way to the sand.

“Wait, don’t!” Byleth said, bruskly. “Don’t let yourself be seen, you’ll get hurt.”

Claude nodded, moving his way back into the ocean.

Byleth took off his boots before walking into the water.

“Anyway, are you okay,” Claude said smiling as he re-asked the question.

“I, I don’t know,” he sniffed, feeling tears roll down his face.

Byleth sat in the shallow part of the waters, Claude swam closer to him, sitting between his legs. “It’s going to be alright,” he reassured him, wrapping his arms around Byleth’s neck.

“Thank you,” Byleth sighed, moving Claude to his side.

“Hey, Byleth,” Claude asked as he turned to face the ocean.

“Hm,” he hummed.

“Do you want me to take your mind off of everything,” Claude smiled.

“Yes, please,” Byleth said.

“How well can humans see underwater?” He asked, swimming into the ocean.

“Not very well, it’s all blurry,” he replied, following him. “We also can’t hold our breaths underwater very long either.”

“Well, we won’t go very deep into the ocean or stay down there for very long,” Claude chuckled.

Claude took his hands, jerking him into the water. As Byleth dove beneath the waters, he held his breath, moving his body around  until he saw a giant blue glowing light.

“Over there is my home! That’s where a lot of merfolk live,” Claude said, pointing into the direction of the light. “One day-” He was cut off when Byleth started to gasp for air. He laughed some more when Byleth moved his head above the water. “Heheh, you weren’t kidding when you said humans can’t hold their breaths.”

“Glurbel gurlble, bleh,” Byleth coughed hardly. “Some, gurlble, gurlble, some people are better than others.”

“Hehe, you’re a fisherman, you should  be well equipped,” Claude said, pulling him closer to the shore.

“I have never actually been on a boat before,” Byleth replied, feeling the after effects of his coughing.

“Hehehe, that is so weird,” Claude laughed. “A fisherman that never goes out to sea on a boat to fish.”

“My father never took me on one and I never had any care to be on one.” Byleth moved his body, scooting his way back to the water. “He never took me because he was fishing one day, and when he came back home, my mother had died.”

Claude felt his heart sink. He never lost his parents, both were alive and well. He couldn’t imagine how it would feel to lose not one, but two parents. “By, I’m...I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, my mother died shortly after I was born. I have no real memories of her,” Byleth said, softly, reassuring him. “By the way, what were you saying? When we were underwater,” he added, trying to change the subject.

“Oh! That!” Claude smiled as he looked around the area. With the sun setting, there were less and less people. When he thought he was in the clear, he placed his head on Byleth’s chest. “One day, I want to be able to show you my home!”

Byleth sighed. As much as that sounds nice, to escape the pain and the sorrow, it wouldn’t last long. “How would that work if I can’t breathe in water?”

“Hm,” Claude said, sitting up and placing his hand on his face. “There is one way! I can give you a kiss and you can turn into a merman!”

Byleth stayed silent. His offer was very tempting.

“The only problem with it is you will be a merman for the rest of your life.”

He was not helping his case.

“I don’t know. I have a few friends here that I don’t want to leave.” Byleth looked at the darkening sky. The stars were slowly starting to appear.

“I know the feeling. My mother told me of a story of a mermaid that met a sailor fishing on his boat and how hard it was to leave,” Claude started. He laid on his back, enjoying the star gazing. “The two fell in love and the woman told her friends. She also told them that she didn’t want to leave them since she was so close to them.” He looked over to Byleth and smiled, the story having piqued his interest. “But mermaid and sailor’s love was forbidden. They weren’t supposed to interact with each other because of a war that had been waged between each other.”

Byleth started to laugh as he positioned himself to face Claude. “How is that even possible? Both humans and merfolk would be at a disadvantage.”

“Heheh, I know. It’s a bit more complicated when you get down to the nitty gritty of it,” Claude smiled, facing him as well. “Anyway, the royal family wasn’t pleased with it. She pleaded her case again and again, since they were the only ones who can change merfolk to humans and humans into merfolk. Eventually the royal family caved in. They gave her the wish she desired and she became a human. She lived happily with the sailor she fell in love with. She felt a hole in her stomach as she left her friends, but knowing that she would make new friends, the hole didn’t last very long.”

“What a wonderful story,” Byleth smiled. “Do you think it would be the same for us?”

“Only if you allow it,” Claude responded, moving closer to him.

“Do you know whatever happened to the woman?”

“Ah, I think my parents told me that she died sometime after she became a human,” Claude sighed. “They never specified when or how.”

Byleth felt a pit in his stomach. He looked around, hearing some footsteps.

“By,” Claude softly said. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine,” he sighed. “I have to go.”

Claude nodded as he watched Byleth leave.

The next coming days, Claude would talk to him, asking him many questions about his life, and Byleth would do the same to him. He would come back time and time again, to talk to him and to watch him. There were days where he wouldn’t show up, and Claude would just shake it off. It was just him trying to deal with his father’s death and him having to bury him. After a while, however, he became more and more concerned when Byleth wouldn’t show up, though he made sure to show up every day on the off chance he wanted to talk.

From afar, he would watch Byleth when he couldn’t talk to him. He would watch him talk to a few other people. From what he saw, it would be the same fisherman, or sailors. It always ended up with everyone yelling at each other. Were these the people that Byleth said were his friends?

Claude swam up to the shore, letting part of his face bob over the water, waiting for everyone to leave.

“Claude,” Byleth said, rushing into the ocean.

“Hm,” he asked, swimming towards him.

“We can’t meet anymore,” Byleth told him, clutching him close to his body.

“What, what do you mean,” Claude asked, moving his head out of his grip.

“They are out for you,” he started, catching his breath. “Those people you saw me yell at, they are out for you. They are going to hunt you and kill you!”

Claude held onto Byleth’s body tightly. “That can’t be true!”

“It is, and, and I’m sorry…” Byleth released his grip on Claude’s body, slowly backing away from him.

Claude could hear the twinge of sorrow coming out of his mouth. “What? Where are you going?”

“The sailors,” he said, tears flowing down his cheeks. “They are getting suspicious of us and trying to make me hunt with them. They want me to lead them to your friends...your family. Please...Please don’t come back here.”

Claude watched Byleth leave the ocean, walking back to the city.

Claude came back to the shore every day after the conversation. Byleth was nowhere to be found. He could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces. He didn’t want to believe what Byleth said was true.

He didn’t believe it until he came back to the shore one evening. Claude watched as the sailors forcefully carried Byleth onto the boat. When the boat left the harbor, he followed it from afar, not losing sight of them. As they kept floating, Claude noticed a big storm brewing. He swam as fast as he could, weaving through the waves. He saw Byleth being led to a part of the boat where there was a plank that they surely would throw him off the boat.

His eyes became wide as he started to swim faster, being thrusted around by the waves. His heart sank as soon as Byleth was thrown into the stormy waters. Claude dove into the ocean, quickly rushing over to him. He did everything he could to wake him up, to see him gasp for air, but nothing was working.

In a last ditch effort, Claude pressed his lips against Byleth’s. After a few seconds of nothing, Claude felt his heart seep into his stomach. As his eyes fell down to Byleth, Claude could see the seashell he gave clutched in his hand.

With a green glow, Claude could see Byleth’s body changing. His skin was becoming scales, his hands were becoming webbed, his legs were becoming a tail. When his eyes opened, Claude clutched onto his body, swimming in a circle.

“By! You are alright,” Claude sighed in relief.

“How, how am I breathing,” Byleth asked, looking at his hands. “I’m, how?”

Claude smiled at him with more of his scales falling off.

“You are...royalty,” Byleth softly asked in shock.

Claude nodded as he took Byleth’s hand. “My parents won’t be pleased, but I’m happy to see you alive.”

“Me too. I’m also happy I finally get to see your home,” Byleth said, placing his forehead against his, and taking his other hand.

“Yes, let’s go,” Claude said, leading the way.

Byleth took one last look in the direction of his home. He looked at his hand, smiling as he looked at the seashell. He could only hope that his friends, and his Leafy Sea Dragon, would do okay without him as he followed Claude to his new home.

“By the way, are you going to be okay without your pet fish,” Claude asked, looking back at Byleth.

“Yes,” he sighed. “They are in good hands with one of my close friends.”

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sdfgadsjk;gkljdslafk my second piece I wrote for the Claudeleth Zine I modded and participated in. While coming up with ideas for an AU, I couldn't just pick one, I had to do this one too. Even if there was someone else doing a mermaid au.

Again, this fic was beta read by the lovely Blahzor.

His Twitter

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[thecandywrites]

Micro-mermaid Chenera Part 1

So, I know I'm, like two months late for Mermay, BUT. I had this amazing dream about micro-mermaids.

So hear me out- mermaids- half fish half human right? Deep sea mermaids/sirens would get HUGE to combat the pressure and stuff right? Well take it the other direction tiny pools in the amazon or the tropics, where we find guppies and betas and little very vibrant, very little fish but with a fantasy twist- micro-mermaids. Adults as big as your fingers, with kids and babies the size of your fingertips and finger nails, based on real fish, like betas, guppies, oscars, mollys, tetras and the like.

My mom ALWAYS kept at least one fish tank growing up, usually fresh water, one time she kept a brackish tank too, saltwater tanks were always too pricy for us BUT SO PRETTY TO STARE AT- AT THE FISH STORES. It's a life long hobby for her that she passed down to at least one of my sisters, my other sister is into guppies and betas almost exclusively and the different kinds and colors just within those two varieties are almost endless. And watching fish swim in a beautiful and healthy fish tank is documented to help out mentally and ease anxiety and even depression. Imagine what it would be like to have a tank of micro mermaids! Especially multiple kinds the way most will have multiple kinds of fish in a tank. I also got the idea from watching a documentary about how TINY little seahorses can be and of course My Little Mermaid- inner tween said 'tiny seahorse needs tiny micro-mermaid to ride it!' And of course seahorses especially are notoriously difficult to keep in captivity. If micro-mermaids were real, I'd imagine the same kind of thing. An expensive hobby that most would dump money into just for the privlidge of having their own wonder of nature.

And just like we have fish stores and fish breeders, think micro-mermaid breeders. Some are really good, others can be crappy, and this story follows a responsible, loving breeder, (more or less based on my mom who I love immesurably)

But me, being...well me, I can't write anything and not have a bit of angst, a good pinch of romance, eventual consentual smutty goodness and eventual happily ever afters. So...heads up.

Also since little fish tend to have shortened lifespans of only a few years, I'd imagine a micro-mermaid's lifespan would be similar in that they'd be shortened as well, so when you read cycles, that's in days. But also don't think of it as to the mermaids being years, if a micro-mermaid is 22 cycles, aka 22 days old, it's approxomately 11 years old in human terms so these guys are literally babies and kids when we meet them and get to watch them 'grow up' so to speak. So again, cycles=days divided in half= human years as point of reference.

But considering most merfolk in the ocean would live for who knows how long- if the average beta can live 2-5 years, lets say micro-mermaids can live to be 5-8 years old. Which compared to most little freshwater fish, is still, practically ancient. time passes differently for different beings, like dog years/human years/elven years kind of thing.

Cool? Cool. Let's dive in! (pun intended)

Micro-Mermaid

Chenera

Part 1

Ethel watched with baited breath from outside the glass as your parents gently used their billowy fins to circulate fresh oxygenated water across their eggs that had they laid in their small cave, made out of a large, fancy geode that Ethel had put into their tank to use as their cave to lay and hatch their young, the pockets of facets in the geode assisting to keep the eggs secure so that they would stay put and hatch successfully.

Ethel was a micro-mermaid breeder, and your parents were considered “royal chameleon” merfolk, a breed made special in that they could, like a chameleon, change their colors to suit their environment, but their fin structure and body confirmation was as if you crossed a beta with a mermaid, but in the micro scale, their large, billowy fins, long hair and plump bodies, an ethereal ideal for the subspecies.

And at a certain stage in their lives, she would put the adolescents into a much brighter colored tank, with things like hunks of gold and platinum and special rocks surrounded by color shifting fabrics on the outside of the glass so that the adolescents would always change into fancy, bright colors with precious metal accents and shifts of colors and special effects to their fins so that they could attract an equally colorful, healthy and vibrant mate and therefore, be worth much more on the market to enhance already immaculate genetics.

Ethel’s other tanks had schools of other micro mermaids of all kinds, from guppies, oscars, swordtails, molly’s, tetras and the like. Ethel was quite the collector and seemed to have every variety of micro mermaid both in nature and that could be bred in captivity and she was highly sought after in the industry because she treated each micro mermaid with the same tender loving care that she would treat her own children, if she had ever got to have them and her home might as well have been a mini aquarium since she ran one of the high end, micro-mermaid aquariums in the city and her home was where she bred the majority of her stock and her personal favorites that she was especially attached to.

Ethel preferred to sell mated pairs of micro-mermaids since micro mermaids preferred to mate for life but others preferred the “harem method” having a few females to a single male to get more clutches of eggs and thus, more micro-mermaids to sell since all the females could be laying clutches of eggs but that was usually harder on the female since she would have to care for the eggs mostly on her own since the male’s attention would be divided among all the clutches of eggs and even in the harem style, the male would prefer the company of his favorite and thus her eggs as well, and while that method got more micro-mermaids in volume, it usually always lacked in quality, the micro-mermaids would be slim, aggressively competitive and prey driven and would only live half as long, but wild caught micro-mermaids usually died before they could produce a clutch in captivity and capturing wild micro-mermaid clutches could be almost impossible since they usually hid them so well. Especially since male micro-mermaids could be very territorial once as mated adults. But before the mating process as adults, males could be housed together as kids and teens while in captivity.

Ethel had one particular tank though where she called it the “odds and ends” tank, where usually the last of her older micro-mermaids had clutches and died before the eggs could fully develop, where she would move the clutches into the large tank to be cared for by the community, something like an orphanarium for micro-mermaids that had a little bit of everything in it and to see so many varied individuals, and sometimes divided off into schools, it was one of her favorites to sit and watch and drink her tea.

She would even get clutches from other breeders, who would usually get overwhelmed or would run out of funds to keep the tanks going since micro-mermaids could be a very expensive hobby because they had a very specific and very demanding feeding and housing requirements depending on the subspecies, the salt water varieties being the most so. But in this particular room, was the “freshies”, she had other rooms in her house, the “brackies” or brackish water types, and her most coveted, the “salties” that room she kept under lock and key since the occupants of that room were worth thousands of dollars each and everything had to be controlled specifically and carefully.

Ethel usually had the laying and hatching process down to a meticulous science, she liked to keep her tanks at a specific temperature for the “incubation” process, where the eggs themselves would incubate at what Ethel had found over the years- was the “perfect” temperature so that almost all the eggs would hatch, the adults would be comfortable, but at the same time, the food she would put into the tanks to feed the micro-mermaids would not rot and attract flies or other scavengers who would try to fly into the house and prey not only on the mico-mermaid’s food but on the micro mermaids themselves.

You were one of the first to hatch, the egg’s shell breaking to allow you to break free as you squirmed out and into your father’s hands before he caught a few of your siblings who did the same before he cooed to you and greeted you happily as you opened your big eyes up at him and snuggled into his chest before he waited for your siblings to get their first and only milk from your mother, that would set up your gut to eat for a lifetime, before you were swapped out with your siblings and once you had your first milk, then you were brought up to the surface to get just a small breath of air so your air bladders would be filled and so you could navigate the whole tank easily before both of your parents touched your head, and the heads of all your siblings to the gold nugget in the tank so that all of you would have golden heads and hair, a trait that both your parents and Ethel prided themselves on.

It also served as a marker for which group you came from, your parents were the “gold standard” of the subspecies of beta-micro-mermaids. And other pairs had different metals or different colored stones so that each pair and their children would have that “mark” to signify which ones came from which parents for future breeding purposes, so that just by looks, they could decipher your genetics instead of having to go to the master gentics manual to decipher it all the time.

Now with the air in your air bladder and your first milk in your system, now your life fully began as you fully woke up and became conscious and thus wriggly and your siblings began exploring the tank as Ethel sprinkled in “baby bits” which was a composite of larve, krill, mackerel, anchovy, feeder-fish as well as algae as you and your siblings happily began “hunting” your first real meal, some of them using the surprise attack, whereas you and a few of your other siblings used the “stalking” method, hiding behind the roots and foliage of the plants at the top of the tank before you “pounced” and grabbed ahold of your favorite little bit and bit down into it, like a big loaf of bread that got softer to eat the more it was in the water as your tiny little teeth helping you eat it as you chewed it and held it between your two tiny hands and swam down back down to the bottom and sat in the soft sandy area, which was affectionately known as “the sand pit” with your other siblings who had hatched within the last few moments as your parents were busy helping the others that were hatching and repeating the process over and over until the whole clutch hatched.

“Well hello there beauties!” Ethel greeted as she waived with a big smile as you looked over and while your first instinct was to freeze and change into the color of your surroundings, to see your parents waiving back seemed to relax the rest of you.

“It’s ok, that’s Ethel, she’s the one who takes care of us and feeds us.” Your parents introduced before you used your tiny hands to waive back like your parents had as Ethel’s smile grew wider and more excited before she sprinkled in more “baby bits” for your siblings that would be hatching in the next few hours before she left and went to her other tanks to check up on the couples and the other clutches of eggs to repeat her process as she then tried to take notes of the other hatchlings and trying to count to see how many had hatched that day and once you were all full, you piled up in the silky soft sand to take your first rest from your first full day.

Since micro-mermaids aged quickly, it was only a few weeks and all of you had grown into playful rambunctious kids, swimming and chasing each other around the tank, building up strength and stamina, Ethel had turned the temperature of the tank down to a cooler temperature to incite your appetite and help you bulk up and gain a layer of fat over your buddening muscle and your parents had given all of you names to keep you accounted for as you learned language and all the various kinds of communication, at this point in time, all of you had the same gold heads and hair but could take on the colors of your surroundings so that some of you took on the sandy color of the “sand pit” or others had taken on the green color of the foliage of the plants that grew in the tank or the colorful geode and if it wasn’t for your gold heads, Ethel would have the hardest time finding any you in the tank besides your parent's who's colors for the most part had "fixed" into permanant colors. Your mother a colorful pearlescent, your father a striking metalic green, blue, purple and black.

The very few eggs that didn’t make it, your parents had given to Ethel to dispose of respectfully so as not to incite cannibalism and in the exchange you each got to touch Ethel's larger, but wrinkled hand and had carressed it as Ethel cooed at you, watching you all fondly and noting each one's unique colors and personality.

You had been one of the ones who liked to play in the foliage and plants at the top of the tank, often leaping out of the water to splash in the water at the top of the tank, a few times, hitting the lid, at first, it was on accident, then it was on purpose, to let Ethel know that you and your family were hungry as Ethel often chuckled at your antics when you would watch her make her rounds and feed the rest of the tanks.

“Who is keeping who here?” She would often chortle as she laid a few pieces of raw mackerel into the tank to watch your parents, you and your siblings, use little shards as "weapons" from the geode as well as little pieces of bones from previous meals to stab and attack the pieces and devour it, often having to fish out the bones out later with her little net. Micro-beta-mermaids had one of the most demanding and specific diets whereas the others wouldn't be so picky. But the better the food now, the better quality the micro-beta mermaid and better health and long life you would enjoy in later life. For Ethel, it was worth the money, time and effort to make sure each little being thrived the best they could.

Ethel's younger "adopted children" who she employed were more tech savy and had cameras set up on Ethel's most beautiful tanks with the more precious and prized occupants and set up a YouTube channel and live feed channels and seeing baby micro-mermaid babies hatch was always popular and Ethel's business boomed.

And while Ethel didn’t have children of her own, she seemed to adopt many who came into the micro-mermaid hobby and you saw many of the same people, most who worked for her would come and check up on Ethel on her days off and bring their children who often stared with big, starry eyes at you and your siblings as well as the others so that all of you got used to seeing different people so that when you would eventually be mated up, being moved into the store front wouldn’t be that big of a deal to you. It had been a tried and true method for Ethel for the last forty years and most followed her excelent example.

Then, one day, a small group fairies broke into the place and roused you from your sleep as you saw the glittering glows move around the room as you left the sleep pile in the sand pit to see what was going on and swam to the top and by now, you had grown big and strong enough to lift the lid as you cracked it open just enough to see better. But that seemed to be just what another was waiting for as you were grabbed and yanked from the tank as you screamed, all the water in your lungs splashing out as you watched in horror as other curious ones had also been yanked from their tanks and were being moved to a large plastic bag with hardly any water in it, as you squirmed and thrashed and took your little stone pick like blade that you always had tucked into the longer scales around your tailfin and stabbed at the vicious creature trying to fly you to the bag as the bag was picked up and several fairies were trying to fly it out of the house.

But your attempts to free yourself from it's grasp worked, it let you go and you thankfully landed onto the back of the other fairy, pick first so as to stab it by the heart, before you bounced off of it’s back into another lid of the tank, this tank being the odds and ends one, but the force of you hitting the fairy, bouncing off the fairy, and hitting the lid- shut the lid to keep anything else from getting in or out and had actually drowned the little vicious fairy trying to steal what it could from that tank and in the darkness, you swam until you felt the gravel of the bottom of the tank and swam until you found the deepest depression, under another cave and hid yourself in the darkness, using it’s dark nature to turn yourself as black as the night’s darkness itself, except for your gold head and hair which you used to hide in the deepest part of the little crevice like cave, moving the gravel around under it to make room for you to ball yourself into.

Come morning Ethel awoke to the horror to see that her home had come under attack as none of the micro-merfolk would come up from the bottom of the tank as she opened all the tanks and once opened the odds and end’s tank to see the drowned fairy floating on the top which caused rage to fill her as she knew that someone or something had incited the fairies of all beings to break in and steal her precious stock as she immediately tried to do some damage control and try to figure out who and what was taken as it seemed each tank had micro-merfolk-children missing because a full adult would have been too big and too strong to steal and would have drowned whoever or whatever might have tried to take them as she went to her other rooms, the brackish room was thankfully locked, but she could see little scratches and claw marks at the doors and especially around the saltwater room. But the freshies were in her livingroom and thus, open to the rest of the house, that’s why it got hit. Almost all the tanks were missing at least one child, the name of each child missing being written in the little bit of algae that had accumalated on the glass since the last cleaning as Ethel used a big magnifying glass to see it and then translate it from the merfolk's language as Ethel just kept crying, her tears streaking down her wrinkled and weathered face and falling onto her reading glasses.

Ethel offered her condolences to the families that lost little ones and made a memorial for the ones who had been taken and fed all the tanks a “funeral” meal, which was the most expensive and most comforting food she could as she made some calls to her friends and business partners and employees, as well as the police to see what could be done as soon the police arrived and detectives arrived along with all of Ethel's friends and neighbors came to give Ethel comfort as the police and investigators tried to document the break in and get statements from everyone about the theft and make notes so that Ethel, who had each and every single one of her micro-merfolk insured, could contact her insurance company and begin the claim process.

Meanwhile Nona had awoken to see a couple of his adopted siblings had been attempted to be taken but something had shut the lid on the fairy so their particular tank had survived from losing anyone. Although with it being the odds and ends tank, not much of really high value was in the tank to begin with. But looking out over to the other tanks in the room, he could see that the other tanks were mourning the loss of their own as the police were there, although they were finishing up the investigation and leaving with the drowned fairy and other pictures as proof of what had happened. But that also meant that they got a whole raw mackerel for the whole tank as everyone was feasting on it while he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, something gold - flashing, catching the light before it disappeared again.

He paused in eating and took off a hunk and went over to where he thought he saw the glint of gold and heard the gravel move under the cave before he got down on his belly and peered into the crevis under cave that was it's own little cave he supposed but he didn’t see anything but black but felt the most subtle pressure wave, as if something was moving around in the crevice under the cave. He took a chance and simply set the hunk of mackerel down at the mouth of the cave and went back a fair distance to see if anything would come out and take it and hid behind the base of one of the plants and waited a few long moments before he could just barely see a small glimmer of gold again, before a small, light sandy colored hand attached to a small goldish sandy colored arm reach out and grab the bit of mackerel before it quickly took it back into the crevice and he could have sworn he heard munching sounds of someone eating it.

He quickly went back to the whole mackerel and tried to swipe a larger piece and carry it back to the crevice and tore it into two pieces and laid one at the mouth again as he slowly chewed on the other half, only he didn’t swim away, instead he sat and tried to peer in to see what was in there before he saw a glimmer of gold then it quickly vanished.

It was definitely another micro-merperson. He just had never seen anyone like it before.

“Hello?” He called into the crevice but you were still too scared to venture any closer.

“Are you ok in there? Are you hurt? What’s your name?” He asked but instead you just tried to sink down into the darkness. The water was different in this tank. It didn’t smell or taste like home. It was foreign to you and you didn’t know what tank you had fallen into. You knew some micro-merpeople did not tolerate intruders and you were afraid that if you ventured out, you would be attacked, you were unarmed and only an elder child, you were no match for an adult or even subadult.

So instead, Nona finished his hunk of mackerel and gently used his colorful tail fin to push the rest of it into the crevice before you took the offered piece and ate that too, not knowing when you would get another chance to eat again.

“See? I’m not gonna hurt you. But I just really want to know if you’re ok. Are you’re ok in there?” Nona asked worriedly as he came in and you backed up as far as you could and tried to make yourself as small as you could, folding up your own billowing fins as small as they could be before he came in and started gently grasping around the crevice for you.

“It’s ok, I promise it’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you.” Nona tried to reassure you as his fingertips grazed your fin and you quickly dove to another corner of the crevice to get away from him, but your movement caused the little bit of light to glint of your golden head and the shimmering black of your body as you moved and Nona could hear your labored breathing as he felt the water move around as you moved and settled again before he found the back of the cave and stretched out his hands as wide as he could and began to go forward again before you dove for the other corner on the other side, this time your outline was shown against the light coming in from the mouth of the crevice and all Nona saw was gold from your head, down your hair before it flowed into a shimmering pitch black again before Nona realized that you were no bigger than he was, in fact you were a little smaller than him and the scent on the water told him you weren’t from this tank, from another but he couldn’t recognize the scent because a clutch had never come into this tank from yours before. You were a kid, obviously from another tank, you must have been dropped in by the fairy, having grabbed you from another tank and trying to grab a second from his own tank.

“My name is Nona, and I’m 22 cycles old and we’re in the odd’s tank. You’re ok, you’re safe, no one is going to hurt you, not in this tank. Ethel’s really good about if there are any bullies, she pulls them out and puts them in the bully tank. You are not in the bully tank so you’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you. I won’t hurt you and I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you either.” Nona tried to reassure you as he came forward again as he closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of your breathing and even he could feel your fast heart rate pulse in the small crevice’s water, this time his hands forming an open reaching motion before his hands settled on your face and jaw before he opened his eyes to see two gold ones blinking back at him rapidly as he could feel your fast heart rate stay fast before it eventually started to slow before he chanced a small swipe of his thumbs on the apples of your cheeks as he just stared in awed wonder at you before you finally broke down and flung yourself at him and pinned him down onto the floor of the crevice, clinging to him and crying.

“It was awful, I saw all these pretty moving lights, it was glowing and glittering like the jewels do only it was from on the outside and I swam up to the top of the tank and once I did I was yanked out of the water and my mother always told me to keep a weapon in my tail so I took it and I stabbed at it as much as I could and it dropped me and I hit another fairy and I lost my blade and I fell down and I could feel the other monster that was at the top begin to drown but I just dove down and tried to find the safest spot I could but I didn’t know what tank I’m in and I thought I was in one of the shark tanks and I thought if I left, I was gonna get eaten!” You wailed into his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and comforted you.

“Do you know what tank you’re from?” He asked.

“No, I just know that my parent’s names are Avarian and Miralia.” You shook your head no.

“Ok, well I’m sure when Ethel cames back for dinner, once she sees you, she’ll know which tank to return you too so you can be with your family.” Nona consoled you.

He had never felt another mergirl’s hair as soft as yours, it was like it was softer than anything he had ever felt before, or felt one who was so young to have hair so as long, it went to your tail and usually only the elder micro-mermaids had hair that long but they kept it in braids to keep it from being tangled. But you were also a bit heavier than most girls would be at your age and your fins were bigger than his! He was a delta guppy micro-merman himself, known for their massive and colorful tails but his own was dwarfed by yours.

“So, what’s your name?” He asked again.

“Chenera.” You sniffled.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Chenera, like I said, my name is Nona.” He repeated.

“Do you know how old you are?” He asked

“I think only 19 cycles, 20, counting today.”

“Ok, so you’re younger than me.” Nona realized.

“Are you sure you’re ok? You’re not hurt or anything?” He asked again.

“I am.” You finally admitted as you could already tell there was bruising all over you and scratches from that vicious fairy’s claws.

“Ok, well do you want to go to the healer or do you want the healer to come to you?” He asked.

“Can they come here? I don’t want to leave.” You admitted.

“Ok, well, stay here then, and I’ll go get them, I’ll be right back ok? Two flicks of a tail.” He reassured you before he gently eased you off of him before you curled in on yourself in the darkness and he got out and raced towards the eldest merperson in the tank, who was especially inept at healing magic.

“I found someone.” He said as he tugged on her arm as she sat and ate the head of the mackerel, the best part of the fish.

“Found who?” She asked.

“The fairy that drowned in our tank, trying to steal the little ones, it was carrying another from another tank, she got away and hid under the big cave where we keep the half clutches. She got really hurt. Her body is all puffy.

“If she’s a goldfish micro- her body should be a little puffy.” She argued.

“She’s not like any other goldfish micro. She’s something I’ve never seen or smelled before.” He insisted.

“She’s hurt, she’s scared, she’s younger than me by a few cycles, she’s in the wrong tank and thinks if she leaves, she’s gonna get eaten. It took a lot just for me to get her to talk to me. Her name is Chenera, and she doesn’t know what tank she’s from. All she knows is her parent’s names. She says she’s hurt, she needs you.” Nona pleaded desperately.

“Ok, ok, I’m coming, I’m coming.” She finally relented before Nona practically dragged her to the mouth of the crevice.

“She must be a young one to fit inside here.” The elder- Thya noted.

“Chenera, I have the healer here, but she can’t fit in there, can you just come to the mouth of the cave so she can see you?” Nona asked before he stuck his upper body inside.

“It’s ok, she’s not going to eat you.” Nona reassured you.

“Here, I wouldn’t introduce you to anyone dangerous. Take my hand, it’s going to be ok.” Nona encouraged as he reached his hand out to you before you tentatively took it and he gently guided you to the mouth before you stuck your head out, your long golden hair suddenly picking up the cross current and being taken away in that.

“Oh my gills.” Thya murmured in awe.

“Hey Chenera was it? Hi, I’m Thya, I’m the eldest mermaid here and the healer of the tank, can you show me what hurts?” She asked.

“My head, and my back and, my arms, and most of my tail, just, everything.” You answered as you looked from her to Nona, back to her worriedly.

“Nona, go get Abaria and Fonta, she’ll need a mother’s touch.” Thya urged Nona but your tightened your grip on his hand ,kept him from going.

“Here darling, take my hand, let him go get some more help, he’ll be right back ok?” Thya offered as she offered her own hand to you before Nona simply put his hand next to hers so it wouldn’t take much for you to let go of him and hold onto her before you hesitantly transferred your hand from Nona’s to hers before he quickly swam away again and came back with three mother looking figures, the two Thya suggested and his own.

“Oh you poor thing! Did that vicious fairy drop you into here?” Abaria asked as she came and sat closest to you as the other mothers crowded around you as you nodded.

“Well you’re in the best tank in the place, we’re all found family here. No one is going to hurt you here. It’s ok to come out. Or are you too hurt to come out?” They asked.

“Come here darling. It’s ok. I know you must miss your mom something awful, but until we get you sorted out, I’m adopting you and I can be your mom until you’re reunited with your other one ok?” Abaria offered before you looked from Abaria back to Nona.

“She’s one of the best moms in the tank besides my own. She’s mom to most of the kids in the tank and she takes care of everyone like she laid the eggs herself.” Nona reassured you before you hesitantly crawled out of the crevice as the others scooted back so that all of you could come out.

“My goodness, how did all of you fit in there?” Thya asked once you were out and your fins unfurled. You had bigger fins than the adults even.

“Like this.” You contracted all your fins until it was just your body and a thin folded fin was behind you.

“You’re a plump little thing aren’t you?” Fonta noted.

“Not any more than any of my siblings, we’re all shaped like this.” You defended, unfurling your fins to cover yourself- self consciously as you pouted under her scruitinging.

“Well that’s good, that means that you and your siblings are well cared for and are fed well. And with a head like yours but a body like yours, it’s hard to know what tank you’re from.” Abaria sighed with an apologetic smile as she pet your head, feeling your silky soft hair before the other kids came around to curiously look to see you, all of them of different ages, some as young as three cycles and some as old as 30, one of the oscar-micro-mermaids, who was 27 cycles, already seeing all he needed to see, you were, in his opinion, the prettiest girl in the tank, therefore, you were going to be his future mate as the other girls in the tank looked at you with both weary suspicion, jealousy and a bit of pity because you clearly didn’t belong in the tank and with as black as you were form the chest down, you stuck out like a sick fin, but with a head and hair like gold, it was still a beautiful combination.

“Who’s that?” They asked.

“The fairy that attacked us last night, took her from her home tank and dropped her in here while they were trying to steal you guys.” Thya answered them.

“She didn’t fall from the fairy that came into our tank, she fell from way higher, like another was carrying her from way higher, she hit the fairy, hit them into the water, bounced off of their back, hit the lid and made the lid close and drowned the fairy, she saved us.” The kids that had been involved offered.

“Oh my gils, is that what happened?” They asked you as you nodded yes as Thya used the glowing of her hands to highlight all your bruises and cuts so that most of body glowed blue from injuries before she went through and healed each one, and noticed that the black then took on a midnight blue appearance, which she had never seen before and puzzled everyone around you.

“Oh you poor baby, come here.” Abaria gathered you into her arms and comforted you, and held you to her chest and gently rocked you comfortingly once your upper body was healed while Thya worked on your tail.

But sadly, Ethel left to go to work before the others could grab her attention. You spent the rest of the day talking to Thya and Abaria about what your tank looked like and what the names of your siblings were as it was clear to them that you were one of the more ‘special’ tanks but because of your coloring, you didn’t look like any of the other tanks that they could see from there.

By night time, though, the automatic feeders fed all the inhabitants of all the tanks and then not long after, the lights shut off, signalling it was time for bed.

But when Ethel came home late, the movement of her and her using the flashlight in her phone to make her way to her bedroom, was too much like the fairy’s light as you quickly squirmed out of the sleep pile and dove for that crevice again, hiding away as she passed and went to bed herself but once again, you were scared of coming out.

Your squirming had caused Nona to wake up again since he was nestled close to you, his hand in yours as his own instincts told him to stay put on the bottom of the tank until the light passed by but when he looked over to see where you had been sleeping with Abaria, her mate and their brood, you were gone but he had a feeling he’d know where to find you.

But the thought of sleeping on the gravel instead of the soft sand just hurt him to think about, so he swam around and collected bits of moss and leaves so he would cover the inside of that crevice so you would have a comfortable place to sleep for the night at least.

“Chenera,” Nona whispered when he came closer.

“Nona?” You asked as your head peeked out and saw him.

“A cave under a cave surrounded by gravel is no place to spend the night. Here, all this should make it a little more comfortable at least.” He offered what he had collected before you smiled gratefully at him, your white pearly teeth and golden head a sharp and beautiful contrast to the darkness before he passed each thing to you before you had Nona come in and help you to move even more of the gravel out of the way and dig down so that there was a deeper and more comfortable depression inside before Nona and you set the leaves down first and used the moss to make something of pillow before you laid down and refused to let go of Nona’s hand.

“Can you please stay here with me?” You asked, your big golden eyes too much for him to resist, even at his relatively young age before he laid down beside you, keeping himself between the mouth of the crevice and you as you cuddled into his chest, your fins wrapping around him as his’ tried to wrap around you in turn as he used his arm as your pillow as your hair was almost like a blanket for both of you as your colors changed again, a dark emerald, shimmering green now with black and gold as you settled down before he soon felt you relax completely and fall asleep before he did the same.

[stormgardenscurse]

“Fairytales are just that, right?”

A Twisted Wonderland AU + childhood-friends situation with the Octatrio. There’s a backstory written for the reader, though, so if you’re uncomfortable with that you might want to skip this post. No gender is specified as usual, hope you’ll enjoy this!

Word count: 1.1k

Everything’s the same, except Twisted Wonderland and the world we’re from exists together, where magic folk live secretly from us.

The merfolk reside in the oceans, with a sort of barrier at the end of their territory that keeps us out and filters pollution away. Areas nearby these barriers (on our end) are said to have cleaner waters and are home to rarer species of sea-creatures.

There’s usually a form of security keeping people from crossing the barriers (it’s the same for the other kingdoms/lands), so you’d need to have some connections and good reasons in order to travel in or out

In this scenario, you’re a child in our (magicless) world. At an age where it’s still completely normal for you to believe in fairytales and not freak out if you do encounter something weird.

Let’s say your parents are loaded, right? And they own this residence/holiday home that’s submerged underwater. You can see ocean-life through the windows - there’s this one side of the building where the entire top-half of the walls are just reinforced glass, and if there’s a school of fish crossing by you like to run next to it and pretend that you’re swimming with them.

You guys go to this holiday home every vacation, and you spot some different fish this time around! Your parents came to check out what you were so excited about, only to inform you that by its colour and appearance it looks like a moray eel.

It’s twirling around so gracefully! You’re transfixed on the creature’s movements as it swims about a colourful school of fish.

Your parent’s didn’t miss how the eel lagged a bit upon sensing an audience, though, or how its top half was certainly not fish-like at all.

Backstory time: Your parents are actually a couple from Twisted Wonderland! One’s magicless and the other didn’t mind moving to the mortal world (since they can use their magic as long as they don’t get caught.) Other than the not-so-pressuring jobs they have here, they’re also being backed by some officials in twst because they’re acting as a form of surveillance/researchers here, occasionally going back to twst themselves in order to hand in documents and such.

They haven’t told you yet, of course. But they are planning to when you get older.

In the meantime… They suppose letting you have fun with some merfolk won’t be too bad. The residence you’re at is actually in the Coral Sea, nearby the barrier - which is only possible because your parents are who they are.

The next time you see the creature again, it’s brought a friend! You’re absolutely delighted at the sight of two almost-identical eels. It takes a few days for them to get comfortable enough to approach the glass wall, but when they do they’re caught off-guard by how much smaller you seemed compared to them.

You gasp when you realize they’re merfolk and wave shyly at them. One waves back politely while the other gives you a bright grin, further piquing your interest.

Sometimes you guys try to communicate by writing on the glass, or (more often) you find a sheet of paper to write on while they bring their own.

When Floyd gets bored with the conversation you guys play games and sometimes race by running/swimming close to the wall (they observed that you seemed to tire more easily, though. Maybe it’s because of the legs?)

One day they bring another friend along! It’s an octopus-merman this time, and you couldn’t help but admire his tentacles (there were so many! It’s so cool!) and how he swam differently from the twins. You soon learn he’s called Azul and told him his name was real pretty, earning a blush from the boy.

You then continue to say that Jade’s is like a precious stone as well, and that ‘Floyd’ sounded really fun/cool! (Honestly looking back the last one made no sense, but it was good enough for you guys at the time and Floyd was happy with it.)

But after your vacation you had to leave the residence and wasn’t sure when you’d be back, but you promised to meet them again. Your parents listened to your stories and took note of them well, afterwards telling you that it’d be best to keep this a secret from the other children once you got home (and even if you end up blabbing they could just play it off as your wild imagination. You were at a convenient age for that.)

You see the Octatrio a few more times throughout the years (it’s hard to coordinate schedules when you’re young and have no phones) but the visits stop when you’re a little older and get caught up in academics and extracurriculars (you wanted to make your parents proud!)

Then the canon story happens and you find yourself at NRC with this wacky looking cat that can talk. And during the opening ceremony Azul sees you and is shocked into surprise at how familiar you looked - but throughout the chaos you hadn’t noticed him (someone was set on fire and you were just thrown into a random world, so it’s reasonable for you to not notice him yet. You were too panicked and worried at the time.)

But once things settle down a bit Azul is distracted for days and eventually sends Jade to check on you. The eel wasn’t sure why until he got close enough to see you properly, then he gets struck by nostalgia. Is it really you…?

They hold a meeting with Floyd later in the evening and the guy almost rushes to Ramshackle to find you himself

People grow and change, of course, but the three manage to pick out your features and match them to memory (also your little quirks and habits that’ve stuck throughout the years) and finally determine that it is you. The name everyone addressed you with fitted the old nickname you gave them, as well.

At one point you mention their mer-forms and “It’s a shame since Azul’s really cute when-” the guy almost trips in his efforts to rush over and shush you. Don’t expose his secrets like that!!

“It’s true, though?” “Forget about it! Please erase it from your memory!” “Fufu… I’m afraid that’s impossible unless you make a potion, Azul.” “Shrimpy’s right~ Back then you were so squeezable~”

Azul and Jade are quick to adapt to calling you by your full name (unless you told them otherwise) but Floyd will just stick to “Shrimpy” and/or your nickname.

Maybe someone worries for you since you spend a bunch of time with the Octatrio. The person asks if you’re alright and if they’ve been giving you trouble, only for one of them to appear on-cue and join the scene.

[hollenka99]

Whenever and Wherever

This is ridiculously late because I didn’t have much time to work on it thanks to irl stuff so sorry about that but happy (belated) birthday @bupine. Have some bench trio.

1.

2.

The first time their paths cross, it's in the tailor shop run by Tommy's family. Tommy seems to be manning the counter while his brothers and father are supposedly in the back. The customer is clearly an enderman hybrid if his facial features are anything to go off of. He's just here to order a suit for a new job as a stenographer for the mayor apparently. Ranboo lingers longer than he likely expected to when he walked in as the three of them make conversation together. Before their latest acquaintance heads off, they decide to meet up again outside of work hours.

Talking to Ranboo comes easy. Before too long, you could tell Ranboo's work schedule based on where he was found lingering. At the tailor's shop? Well, it was likely one of his days off and he wanted to keep Tommy company for a while as the owner's son worked. At the bakery? That usually meant Ranboo was on his lunch break and hoped to sneak something sweet into his midday meal. He occasionally buys a few flowers for Tommy with the excuse of 'livening up his workspace' and offers Tubbo his attempts at baking. Whenever possible, the three of them either made time during lunch or in the evening to hang out together.

Then Ranboo seems to realise he gets off work around about the same time the bakery owned by Tubbo's family closes for the night. That mixed with the fact he really isn't the best with anything kitchen related... Listen, Tubbo was simply being a good friend by helping him out. Plus, who wouldn't want to take advantage of an excuse to spend more time with one of their best friends? It becomes a... thing, their evening practice sessions. Tommy once comments on it during a lunchtime meet-up, only to tease them but it kind of hits Tubbo how often Ranboo swings by so they can bake together.

It becomes blatantly clear everyone knows what's going on between the two of them when they hang around at the back of the tailor's one afternoon.

"If one of you doesn't ask the other out, I will break into your homes, steal your clothes and alter them so they're unwearable. Then I will make you pay to have them fixed."

"We... We uh, aren't-" Ranboo begins defending.

Tommy glances up from his sewing machine as he switches it off. "Fucking hell, just kiss or something, I don't know. But please stop forcing me to watch the two of you make eyes at each other whenever we hang out. We haven't been 16 for years. Sort yourselves out or whatever."

So they clumsily arrange a 'date' and let things go from there. It goes... well. A second attempt to make sure the first wasn't a fluke wouldn't hurt, nor would a third. It soon gets to the point where this new dynamic feels entirely natural. Tubbo's only worry is that Tommy might feel like a third wheel. Their mutual friend assures them he doesn't care about that. Besides, they know him, if he was actually bothered by it, he would have complained a ton by now.

Getting engaged isn't a big affair. In fact, it is a complete mess that occurs on Ranboo's sofa following a lull in conversation. He trips over his words, segues into various rambley detours and eventually manages to get to the point where he asks the all important question. Tubbo knew his answer the moment he realised where his boyfriend was headed with the conversation.

"So Tommy," Tubbo leans over the counter. The way he very blatantly holds Ranboo's hand only causes his attempt at acting nonchalant to come close to failing. "How much for a couple of wedding suits?"

"You're not getting a friend discount. In fact, I think I'll double the typical asking price purely because you are my friends."

"I hate you, you know that, right?"

"Hmm, might even make it triple."

"I will personally uninvite you."

Tommy and Tubbo maintain straight-faced eye contact for all of five seconds before the taller of the two breaks into a grin. Before the new fiancees can react, Tommy has his arms around both of them, drawing them in closer.

"How could neither of you tell me you were looking at rings? Absolute crime, that, if you ask me. Especially since I'm obviously the bestest man around. Disgraceful, the both of you. How can you sleep at night knowing you left me out of the loop? Gonna have to quadruple the price as punishment."

An elbow to the ribs leads to a slightly pained inhale before the three of them descend into snickers.

3.

Is it bad that he forgot land-dwellers need air?

Tubbo had been watched the two of them from afar. The one with sand-coloured hair makes himself round as he falls a significant distance towards the water. After a few repeats of this odd practice, he decides he will greet the human when he next appears in his domain. Tubbo grabs him by the arms with a friendly smile but it doesn't seem the human is so keen to befriend any merfolk. In the struggle, he gets a weird appendage to the face. Not one to be easily put off, Tubbo swims to the surface in time to see the boy communicating angrily with one whose hair colour resembled those of a beast he's been warned about. He thinks he'll dub them Sand and Orca for simplicity.

Orca spots him watching their conversation and walks over, positioning himself close enough to include Tubbo in any discussions they may want to have with him but far enough that Tubbo couldn't physically reach either of the boys with his arms. Sand greatly disapproves of this supposed fraternising with the enemy. Orca keeps attempting to communicate but their languages are vastly different so all it amounts to are gestures. When they leave, Tubbo finds it funny how the one named after a deadly predator is the most willing to be friendly while the one whose namesake he loves lounging upon occasionally had a tendency to come off as hostile.

The pair of humans don't visit him everyday and even on the days they do, the position of the sun isn't always the same when they arrive. Nevertheless, they continue to come as often as they are able and Tubbo appreciates that. He can't replicate any of their human vocalisations and though they try, neither of the human boys are particularly great at whistling and chirping properly. The constant gesturing seems to be the only way for them to communicate but they somehow manage to become firm friends despite it all.

One thing Tubbo definitely understands is fish. He is perfectly capable of getting his own food and honestly prefers catching it live anyway but if they want to offer him a snack as a sign of friendship, he's hardly going to say no. There's always the option to share the food with his family later. He brings Sand his namesake as a way of thanking them. Even if he knew a good place to observe orcas so he could extend a similar gesture to his other friend, Orca apparently can't swim. At least, that's how Tubbo interpreted it when his friend once pointed to himself, motioned as if he was pulling himself forward in water and shook his head afterwards. So Sand is the only one who sometimes joins him in the shallower water. And Tubbo has learned from his mistakes now, he makes no attempts to keep Sand below the surface longer than the human boy can manage.

One day not long after they meet, Sand tries to tell him something he can sense is important. He gestures between himself and Orca, points to the sun and makes a wide circular motion with his finger, extends his arm so it rises above their heads then ends the message by pointing to the shore. It takes another round of reiterating before Tubbo begins to potentially understand. They will get big with the sun and be here? It sounds odd but he supposes he can't physically stop them from leaving.

The sea grows warmer and cooler then back again over and over. He visits their spot each time the temperature rises. They never come. Or maybe he just keeps missing them when they do show up. He's not sure. Either way, he gets older and grows into young adulthood as the years continue to pass. He hopes the same is happening to them. They did promise to return once they got bigger too, after all. Although, the thought he might have wildly misunderstood Sand's parting message isn't always easy to not dwell on.

His waiting finally pays off and he couldn't be more ecstatic. They've both grown weird shells on their backs that he feels would be ineffective at defending them, their feet are disproportionately longer and their faces are practically unrecognisable with protective shells around their eyes and mouths. They are much larger than the last time they all saw each other too. But it's them, it's really them! Not to mention them seem to have developed the ability to breathe underwater somehow. Unsure how to greet them properly after all this time, he rushes off to the seabed with a grin and presents them with a fish as well as a fistful of sand. They look between themselves before accepting the gifts gratefully.

As the sunlight wanes on the surface, the humans sit on their familiar secluded spot of a caved area while Tubbo lets the water lap around him. The human duo have suddenly lost their strange shells now, both on their backs and faces, as well as returned to having better proportioned feet. Orca offers his own reunion gift. If Tubbo were human, he might have made use of non-existent tear ducts to inadvertently express how moved he was by the object. Because oh wow, he was never able to communicate Orca's

4.

Tubbo knows what it is like to be displaced by war. He'd been born in a time of technical peacetime, though everyone knew this would change sooner rather than later with all the tension.

He's 9 when the war seems to decide it's time to directly come for him as the son of the president, more than the resource shortages or street violence ever could. An attempt to assassinate his father that he'd been too close to lands him in hospital. It's officially too dangerous for him to remain a symbol of how safe their country was. All those not old enough to potentially enlist get evacuated, Tubbo especially.

Snowchester is... alright. It's isolated and out of the way, which is probably for the best in the general scheme of things. But at his age, all he really cares about is making the most of the snow before the novelty wears off and questioning how long it will be before he can go home to his family again. The answer was less than a month and 'we don't know so you'll just have to sit tight. Okay?'. So he reluctantly settles into his new life. He makes an effort to get to know the handful of other kids from the village in the hopes of gaining at least one friend to help him through this, he wanders around the marketplace on Tuesdays to find the sweet highlight of his week and for the hell of it, he challenges himself to become a master snow sculptor. Tubbo also writes to home to let his family know how he's doing but it feels like it has to go through 50 hands just to reach them for the sake of maintaining his secrecy which really sucks. By the time he celebrates his first birthday without them there, he had given up on arguing about the risk of just ringing them.

Then when he's 11, men posing as sea merchants arrive on their frozen shores during the night. Before he's even fully woken up, he's on a horse in his goddamn pyjamas and clutching a pitiful bag filled with whatever he and foster father had managed to stuff into it in 2 seconds. He doesn't get to bid Snowchester a proper goodbye. They're already on a rowboat they'd kind of stolen after racing through the trees when reality finally begins dawning on him. The man who'd looked after him explains they were headed to a new place that would hopefully prove to be safer than his old home.

He's used to the cold of a tundra by now. This place is more landlocked than Snowchester but not everything can be on the coast. He guesses the isolation and lack of enemy reinforcements arriving directly at a village is a good way to decrease the risk of attack. He hates it here. Snowchester might have been a fair distance from other places but at least there had been a bunch of people around. This was literally one guy looking after two kids, now three, in the middle of actual nowhere.

Phil does his best to be accommodating, he will give him that. And the other boys he's living with aren't too bad half the time. But it's too much. He decides he'd rather keep to himself. Ranboo, like Phil, is a bit more patient with him than Tommy is. Ranboo is willing to play a chess game he has no chance of winning or solve the same jigsaw for the 5th time that week. Tommy, on the other hand, will talk at him or encourage him to go outside.

"If nothing dangerous happens, you have to... make me a hot chocolate. Yeah, that seems like a decent payment."

"Payment for what?"

"For getting you to stop sulking and enjoy the snow obviously."

He humours him but he makes sure his reluctance is unmistakeably evident. It turns out Tommy has excellent aim when it comes to throwing snowballs. When Tubbo complains about this, Tommy simply shrugs and reveals his brother is the commander of the army so what did he expect? It doesn't matter whether you're hunting for food or stopping the enemy from getting you first, precision and accuracy are important for survival. That's part of the wisdom Wilbur had bestowed upon him before going off to lead their side to victory anyway. Tommy then ends his speech by standing next to Tubbo in order to cram a previously concealed handful of snow down his back in a surprise attack. Tubbo swears he is going to work out how to dislodge half the roof's worth of snow on Tommy's head tomorrow for that. When they finally head back inside, Tommy lets him know he'd like his drink to include whipped cream and those tiny marshmallows if they still have some lying around.

In time, he learns Tommy had been sent far from home the same as he had. Logsted had been 'a tiny shithole with nothing on offer to do' that eventually fell prey to the same exploitable feature that Snowchester had. Phil had been an old contact of General Soot's so when the initial relocation efforts fell through, Tommy was sent to Phil. No big deal. Well... listen, Tommy can act like a prat at the best of times but he supposes it is nice knowing he's not the only one paranoid this will abruptly end terribly one night.

The days, weeks, months roll by swiftly. The three of them have snowball fights at least onc

5.

Technically, it's Tommy's fault they nearly die. He'd been so insistent on fighting the dragon like his father once had that Tubbo had lost the will to try dissuade him. To be fair, he was all for it. It was only that Tommy was eager to jump right into the challenge while Tubbo… would prefer to actually survive.

They agree it will be an 'in and out' affair. They'll sneak down to the nearby portal at night, kill the dragon and hop back to the Overworld before their absences are noticed. If their families are unaware, they will never get in trouble for this. It can be an epic tale to impress future acquaintances but one to keep to themselves within earshot of those who'd scold them for it.

So that's what they do. With diamond armour and arrows they 'borrowed', the pair of 15 year olds face the dragon. They've already assigned themselves roles with Tubbo being in charge of destroying the crystals and Tommy tackling the dragon as a distraction. The plan is to take on the beast together once Tubbo's initial objective is complete.

It goes to shit when Tubbo barely makes a water clutch after being pushed off a tower by the force of an exploding ender crystal. Tommy had tried to get closer to him to provide support but ended up getting caught in the dragon's toxic breath. And then one of them must have accidentally triggered hostile attention from the surrounding endermen. A perfect example of sod's law, everything that could go wrong seemingly does. They tire themselves out too much by trying to return to more neutral odds. It doesn't happen. The cherry on top was the dragon knocking Tubbo into a pillar with her wing.

He's definitely had enough of this bullshit by the time he lets the developing concussion steal his consciousness. Let them just respawn in the bed they'd set up right outside the stronghold's portal room so they can be done with this. He really doesn't want to lose a life, especially not to a stupid stunt like this. But by this point? Fuck it.

When he wakes, it is not on the ground. It seems to be in a building on some sort. Has someone taken him home to work through his injuries? Tommy couldn't have since the next time Tubbo sees him, he has a haphazardly constructed splint on his leg. They bicker about their disastrous exploits until Tommy grouchily alerts them to the presence of their host, a young looking enderman.

It passes them a written message and Tommy, being the son of someone who is pretty much a jack of all trades when it comes to learning about other cultures, has a go at reading it. It's nothing too elaborate, just a summary of what happened while Tubbo was unconscious. The End native had spotted their plight as Tommy continued to get bombarded by aggressive endermen and toxic fumes courtesy of the dragon. All it had done was bring them home and attempt to give them medical assistance. Now here they were. At the bottom is a word Tommy's never seen before.

"Dunno what the fuck a Ranboo is."

"Maybe it's his name, idiot. Look at where it is, it's a signature."

"Oh, yeah maybe. What kind of stupid name is Ranboo though?"

They can't go back without the dragon dying and neither of them are in a position to make a second attempt, especially at the start when they are still both recovering. With no way home, they resign themselves to their new reality of living permanently in the End. The least they can do, in Tubbo's opinion, is try their best to communicate with their host by learning enderspeak. That goes... very slowly. Even with Ranboo helping out and Tommy's head start, it's not the easiest thing for them to learn. The humans share some of their language with the enderman in return.

Either way, they start living in their new home as Ranboo's guests. Their diet becomes saturated with chorus fruit and the first time either of them accidentally teleports during a meal, it's a shock. Their new friend waits until Tommy's broken leg heals before occasionally showing them around the islands that make up this dimension. They visit an end city that happens to have a ship nearby at some point and Tubbo resists the urge to lightly smack Tommy at the back of the head for acting like he's not impressed. They may possibly never be able to go home but come on. there is a literal massive ship floating in the sky.

Phil comes for them as soon as it feels like they might finally be getting used to their new way of life. They get the scolding of a lifetime mixed in with Phil making his relief and worry painfully obvious. They introduce Phil to Ranboo and of course the guy is conversational in enderspeak. At one point, Tubbo catches Tommy making a jabbing motion towards his father with his thumb incredibly subtly before rolling his eyes. As deeply in trouble as they are, as much as they were settling into what they believed to be a more permanent life change, the promise of home fills Tubbo with anticipation. He can't wait for the four of them to return to the Overworld.

Because you're coming too,

+1.

He's never been so eager to go to an airport in his life. His mum half listens while concentrating on the road as he rambles about all the plans the three of them had started making for the upcoming two weeks. There were so many games on their list for them to try. And yes, he knows they won't be able to get around to them all but they'll be damned if don't make an effort to dent it. Oh and then also all the stuff that got picked on the spinning wheel from Ranboo's stream a while ago.

Tubbo is beside himself as they wait in the arrival meeting area. There's no word of delays so come on, get here already. Then there he is, wearing his signature sunglasses and mask in the midst of the emerging crowd. Once the pair are close enough to do so, Tubbo throws his arms around his friend. And god, he knew Ranboo was much taller but he doesn't feel he'll hear the end of this, especially not once Tommy shows up.

They've already established this in preparatory voice calls but as they head towards the car, Tubbo explains that Tommy isn't due until tomorrow. So maybe they could watch one of those Starkid shows tonight since Ranboo's internal sense of time will be screwed by the long journey and Tubbo's hardly the best at maintaining a circadian rhythm as it is. His parents and sisters will go to bed and that's when the party can really start. Ranboo suggests The Trail to Oregon purely because the scene where Slippery When Wet threatens to murder god lives rent free in his head. But it would ultimately be up to Tubbo when the time came tonight.

Just outside the car with Ranboo's luggage in the boot, he asks his mum to take a picture of the two of them. He dms it to the missing member of their trio with a smirk.

Tubbo: Bet you're so jealous right now

Tommy: No because he's going to hang out with me more after I get there

Tubbo: As if

Tubbo: Can't wait for this week

Tommy: Same

Tubbo: Ranboo says hi btw

Tommy: Wow cringe

Tommy: Can't go on call rn but I say hi too

Tubbo: Whos cringe now?

Tommy: Shut up

He and Ranboo spend the entire journey home chatting about everything and nothing. Oh, these next two weeks were going to be amazing. Tubbo can't wait.

Tubbo wakes slowly. He doesn't tend to be startled by Ranboo's lack of eyelids as often nowadays. They may not share a bed that frequently, separate homes and all that, but he's seen his husband crash on his sofa after an exhausting day enough times to gradually get used to it. Michael had managed to snuggle up between them at some point in the night too. The little zombie piglin boy is fast asleep as well. Tubbo readjusts his arm so it encompasses their adoptive son, drawing him closer slightly.

Distantly, he recalls he's planned to meet up with Tommy later and it makes him think. A husband who cares about him enough to make Tubbo one of people whose side he'd stand by if necessary, a son whom they both love and would defend with their lives and a best friend who still stuck by him despite how much they've changed in the several months since they first met. He'd like to think that regardless of the timeline or universe, he'd always have them or close enough copies.

Content with his situation, he lets his eyes slip close once more and drifts back to sleep.