#this one about sealife | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mangohgeckoh · 1 month ago

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Pirate!Silco x Mermaid! Reader

A/N: You asked and I delivered! Fair warning: I do not guarantee that I will be updating this fic as frequently as my current ongoing one: Chemical Reaction, but I do already have plot lined up and 5 chapters with 4k+ words within each one. Unlike CR, this will only be posted on Tumblr.

Tags and warnings: NSFW, smut, MDNI, fluff, nudity, betrayal, violence, interspecies relationship

A quick thank you: Thank you to anyone who commented and voted on my original post! Here are the lovely people who were enthusiastic enough about the project to comment on the original post: @sarynnah @pinklunarprincess @teriyakiitae @bloodyshadow737

I hope this lives up to your expectations!

Gunpowder and Green Shells

Chapter 1

1781

Curtains of light cerulean danced underneath the dark waves. Moonlight pierced through the waves in small increments while a prominent trail of red followed the body descending the depths. Bubbles outlined the body as the ocean began to accept it, the surface becoming a faint memory.

The part of the ocean you had called home was littered with shipwrecks and discarded items that those above kept losing. Your residence was in between two warring islands, a very poor choice for a place to live. But the ocean floor you had chosen as your territory had not been a battle zone between the two islands when you claimed your place among the wreckage. Why leave an area so abundant with shiny objects and food? In the past you attempted to leave for the open ocean, but was almost eaten by a larger creature.

So you were content with your choice.

Somewhat.

It was quite lonely for you, but you always blamed where you lived. Still, no other creature resembles your half fish-half woman body. It presented many complications, namely the inability to communicate with the sealife.

But a very odd smell wafted through your gills while they filtered the water in and out of your system. Blood. Curiosity and animalistic desire snapped you out of your monotonous routine.

Your powerful tail propelled your body with a sideways motion, following the smell of human blood out of the dark depths of your home. Your body halted at the silhouette of a man drifting in the salty water above you. He seemed lifeless as blood streamed from his eye in a disturbing dance.

Another victim of war perhaps?

You swam above him, turning to get a better look of his features. The unharmed eye of his was closed, undoubtedly weighted by the water surrounding him. Body hovering over his own, enthralled in seeing a human man for the first time, you surrendered to the stillness of the ocean. Your eyes danced around his body, since this was your first time seeing a human up close, you were naturally curious. Not feeling your body move, you felt your webbed hand becoming drawn to his face. What does human skin feel like? You pondered.

Your thoughts were interrupted when a sharp kick to the jaw made your body thrash from his body. The man, who turned out to be very much alive, was fighting against the cold water. Testing the damage, you moved your bruised jaw around as he tried to swim away from you. The man hardly covered any distance and you watched as his movements started to dull.

Oh.

Oh!

Remembering that humans live above water, they must need air! Your tail thrashed against the water, propelling you past him. The man’s body fought against your grip as you swam as fast as you could to the surface. Despite his flailing, you sensed his life diminishing as he’d been without air for a dangerous amount of time.

After a final thrash of your tail, you had breached the surface. Rain splattered against your skin and your gills closed at the contact of air. Your grip under the man’s arms tightened and you hoisted his body so his face had emerged from the water. His unharmed eye was intense, staring into your own. You had no idea if his lungs was registering air, but his gaze weakening confirmed that something was wrong.

Quickly, you recalled a few sea stacks near the coast of Zaun which a sea cave resided in. The time that it took for you to race there must have been record-breaking, but that wasn’t what you were concerned about. What concerned you was the man’s skin now starting to pale.

His body was difficult to push onto the shore of the cave, his clothes catching the sand of the cave. But with one final push, his body was completely out of the water. Now it was time for you to figure out how to tend to him without drying out. The position your body found itself in was also awkward, your tail looped and winded into the water while your stomach was laid flat against the sand. You’d never been on land before, and the consequences were unknown. But finally you had something to break you out of your normal routine, and you’d be damned if you had to return to eating crabs in the depths.

Time was being lost, so you crawled with your front arms to reach his body. Suddenly, once your tail lost contact with the foamy water, you felt the air dry your tail. It was a strange feeling, as you watched the grey scales of your tail recede into what now look like human legs. Shaking your head, you reminded yourself not to get distracted.

You never walked on human legs before so you crawled to meet his face, which still proved to feel very unnatural. Your ear met his chest, just above where his heart should be.

Quiet.

He was dead.

Your fascination with humankind cost this man’s life. If only you weren’t so easily distracted. “Why am I like this?” You whispered to yourself as you watched his skin dull in pigment, the life finally leaving his body. A stinging sensation made your eyes burn, wiping them you found that they were wet. You had heard of tears before but assumed that only humans could produce such a strange liquid. The strange feeling continued until tears streamed down your cheeks, light twinkling in them. You watched as some fell onto the man’s face, but were perplexed when they suddenly absorbed into his pale skin.

When a few more tears fell onto his cheek, your hand reached out to smear the wet against his skin. It was the sudden movement of his chest that startled you. His eye was still closed when water forced its way out of his mouth as he began to violently cough. Spooked, you quickly found shelter in the water, your tail returning and making contact with the water.

Your head barely broke the water as you watched the man from the shore. He was still retching the salt water onto the beach, his body’s desperate attempt to empty out his lungs. Interest captivated you as your eyes followed his hand, slicking back his soaked black hair. It was mid length and had bits of seaweed tangled within it. The man’s hand hovering over his injured eye made you notice that the fresh wound had completely disappeared. Granted, there were still large slashes passing through his eye, but they looked healed.

Your mind had drifted off again, this time to the peculiarity of his injury miraculously healing, to notice that the man had spotted you.

The glint of a dagger shined in your eyes. You were still a bit off shore, just enough to allow your top half to be pressed against the sand, your back beneath the water, only leaving your face visible.

The man’s intense gaze returned as he clutched the dagger, pointing it intently at you. The slit pupils of your eyes studied his face. He was a beautiful example of his species. He had a pointed chin, and sharp cheekbones framing his thin face. It wasn’t the way his lips curled into a scowl, or the way his wet locks stuck to his face, that intrigued you the most.

No.

It was his eyes. They were stunning. You were sure you’d seen the color of his unharmed eye before in the ocean but couldn’t quite place it.

The words blurted through your sharp triangle-shaped teeth. “Seashell.”

Dagger lowering slightly, the man was caught off guard. “I beg your pardon?” An eyebrow raised as your head emerged slightly from the water.

Excitement washed over you. “I just now remembered where I’ve seen your eye color before!” You say proudly. The man didn’t look at all impressed, more like he was bored. Your eyes locked as you slowly descended back into the water. “Stay. Right. There.”

With a flick of your tail, you turned around and rushed out of the shore. You were quick to scour the reefs that lined the shore. They weren’t as active and diverse as the ones near Piltover, but you knew they had what you were looking for. A shell, that was blue-green in color, caught your eye. “Gotcha!” Your words were muffled as you were well under water.

To your surprise, the man was still there. This time, though, he had torn a piece of fabric from his shirt to cover his eye in a make-shift eye patch.

The seafoam green shell clicked against the back of the man’s head, startling him. “Sorry!” You apologized from the safety in the water. Apparently throwing was not a skill of yours.

His eye scrutinized the seashell that he caught in his palms. You watched him from the safety of the cave’s mouth as his lips parted. Before he could say anything, a large gurgle coming from his stomach interrupted him. Your lips curled in a smile, knowing exactly how to help. Though the man didn’t seem to appreciate the toothy smile, he stayed put when all he could see was your tail smacking against the surface.

Since the organisms on the menu for you were usually crustaceans and seaweed, you did know how to kill a fish or two. So when you found a fish, catching it within your jaws was like second nature.

Your body curled sideways, following the movement from your large tail as you made your way back to the sea cave.

“Food.” Your words were barely comprehensible as your voice was muffled by the fish in your mouth.

This time, the man was occupied with building a pile of driftwood. It was clear that he didn’t know how to label you. For all he knew, you could've just been a strange woman who saved him just to rob him. His eye was heavy with exhaustion as it watched tentatively while he made his way to where you were.

Your bottom half was still submerged under water, while your chest was barely covered by the foamy surface. This fish laid limp in your jaws as you watched him slowly approach.

His thin lips parted as he made to reach for the fish. “Who are-” You raised your body off the sand, to make it easier to reach but in doing so your top half was now completely exposed.”Naked!” The man hopped backwards, startled. Not knowing where to look, his eye darted all over the cave, so he could look anywhere but your body.

Your lips formed a frown. “Naked?” You looked down to your chest. Yes, you did indeed possess human breasts but human males can be seen without wearing any kind of clothing on their chests on ships, why was this any different? Shaking your head, you laughed. “You’re mistaken. For one to be naked they have to have the need to wear clothes.” Water trickled from your tail as you lifted it out of the water. “I don’t wear such.”

Stumbling backwards, the man fell onto his arse as he snarled. “Stay away from me!” His movements were sharp and quick as he tried to put as much distance between him and you as possible.

The fish dropped from your jaws as he started to kick sand at your body as a threat. Startling from the intimidation, you swerved backwards into the water. You knew humans were…delicate with their emotions as well as how they perceived unusual events.

Though this did rub you the wrong way, making you feel a little hurt due to the sand now stinging your skin. But you knew one thing about humans…

They loved to eat.

Silco’s POV:

Body aching, Silco finally amassed enough wood for a proper fire to ensure he doesn't freeze to death tonight. His good eye kept glancing over at the mouth of the sea cave where the creature was once laying.

His teeth gritted. ‘What the hell was happening?’ Today had happened too fast. His lungs still clogged with ash from one of Piltover’s warships. Skin burned in patches around his body where the cannon balls struck the ship, causing the wood to splinter into any skin that wasn’t covered by fabric.

Vander.

Silco felt his throat tighten at the memory. Arms grabbed my throat, holding my body in the air.

His jagged teeth gritted as he recounted how his friend, comrade and…brother, discarded him in the sea like old ale.

Skin splitting under his dagger, stabbing through his eye before flinging his wounded body into the sea.

A yawn escaped Silco’s dry mouth as he tried to fight the feeling of sleepiness taking over. He knew he had to stay strong, to not fall asleep. There are monsters in these waters, after all. But the fire he had just lit and was now huddled near was all too enticing…

Sun penetrated through his eyelid while an odd smell crept its way to his nose. Silco woke up to see the sunrise making the large stack of fish next to him glow.

And he could of sworn that he saw that creature again, diving back into the sea.

Chapter 2

#arcane #silco arcane #arcane fandom #silco #silco fanfic #fanfic #silco x reader #pirate Silco

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thetxtdevil · 5 months ago

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Underwater Adventure

Shark!Taehyun x Marine Biologist!Reader *repost*

summary: You work at a marine life hybrid shelter and was assigned to take care of the sharks. One shark is one to look out for as he appears aggressive.

content: hybrid au, hybrid taehyun, human.fem reader, hybrid Kai and Beomgyu make a brief appearance, blood is mentioned, SMUT (minors dni), water sex, manhandling, underwater oral (f.rec), slight choking & gag, mating/breeding, biting, refers to reader as prey

word count: 2.2k

You love the beach and studying the sea life. Something about the cool breeze of the ocean, the taste of salty sand, and fish jumping out of the water makes you happy. Going through years of school, many hours of internships, and a lot of tears to become a Marine Biologist.

Once graduated you got yourself a job at Hybrid SeaLife Shelter. Not a job that you were hoping for, you wanted to work strictly with just animals not animals that were part humans but it pays the bills. It was fascinating actually, animal instincts clashed with human tendencies.

"You're assigned to the shark hybrids, Ms y/n." Your coworkers shivered, wide eyed at you when hearing your assignment as the manager looks without a care in the world. The shark hybrids weren't bad, you liked that they got their own pool with a nice view of the beach, plus two of the shark hybrids are less scary in nature except for one.

You looked at the folder with information about the hybrids. One paper titled "Kang Taehyun" accessorized with bold red statement, "agressive." You breathe deep, mentally going over a list of what to do with the great white shark hybrid. Don't go into his pool that’s his territory, cover any cuts you will have to get the scent of blood out of his sight, feed him plenty, remember to hide toys in the pool so he can hunt. This is not so bad right?

The other sharks were very cute and calm. One was a tall whale shark hybrid, she slowly swam throughout the pool, next pool was the nurse shark hybrid who spent most of her time on the pool floor reading a waterproof book about well... nursing. In a good mood, it was time to go to Taehyun's pool, it was big, dark, and full of rocks that stacked to let him hide. You look around not able to find him, you don't know if you should be worried or not.

Turning around to get the supplies ready you miss the sight of a dorsal fin above water gliding closer and closer to your way. You gasp at the feel of what seems like buckets of water being splashed on you. Whipping around to get a quick glance of the great white hybrid, his sharp toothy grin, paired with a few scars on his lips, his hair was wet shining the silvery color, water dripping down his neck accessorized with gills, his build was strong as you see his muscular arms flex as he dives into the water swimming away. You learned your first lesson, never turn you back on Taehyun.

"""

It was feeding time, the great white was picky he needed certain size fish of certain quantities. This made it a little difficult as you had to crouch at the end of the pool opening without a table or any other supplies so that you weren't getting a surprise shower.

The penguin hybrids were out playing, familiar with them they all said their "hi's" and waddled away until one of them, Kai, was playing with a polar bear hybrid, Beomgyu. You tell them to stop running along the pool but they don't and proceed to accidentally knocking you off balance cutting yourself while falling into the shark's pool.

Taehyun hiding behind the rocks waiting for his food catches scent of you. You're in his pool, your sweet blood is infecting his pool, his chest fills like it was burning, if he doesn't do anything now you're going to be his next meal.

You're mind is in shock, you have excellent swimming techniques, but the fact that you were pushed in a predator's pool, and the pain of your hand increases you don't know what to do with yourself.

Taehyun swims so fast the water makes a wave helping your drowning body come up. His arms wrap around you lifting you out of the water placing you gently on the surface. He stares at you waiting for any sign of breathing. He stares at your peaceful body glancing at the bloody hand although close to death you looked beautiful to him. He leans closer to get a better look but you choke back up water in exchange for air making Tae quickly reach for his bag of fish food and swim away.

"""

The next day you were cautious about your surroundings especially when it came to feeding time again. While getting supplies in your peripheral vision you see the dorsal fin. "Don't you dare splash me" to your surprise the shark's head pops up with a frown.

"How’s your hand?" your eyes widen at the voice this would be the first time the shark has every spoken to you. You look to see the shark studying your bandaged palm. "It could be worse."

The man's big sparkling eyes look up into yours. Was that concern in those eyes? Is this big scary predator caring? "Come here" you without hesitation you walk towards him at the end of the pool. Taehyun stares at you not saying anything, you then lower yourself on your knees to get somewhat eye level. You’re stunned when quick movements were made, Taehyun's toned torso splashes out of the water as his arm reaches for your neck. He pulls you down close to his face, "Don't ever go into my territory again unless you want me to split you in half."

Your eyes begin to water in fear, looking into his eyes you notice the pure joy of having dominance over you. Taking a deep breath as best as you could with the webbed hand on your throat, you raise your bandaged palm out. Taehyun looks at it confused until your fingers press down on his sensitive nose leading him back down to the water. Both of you hold intense eye contact this son of a bitch liked that the squint in his boba eyes and small smirk sitting at the water's surface had your head spinning you couldn't react fast enough before he splashes your face with water.

"""

Interestingly, after that encounter Taehyun hasn't been hiding every time you come along his pool. He tends to show off his swimming, and every time you got dizzy with his sharp turns and overly exposed muscles. He still playfully splashes you, he could never admit this but he likes how your wet clothes cling to your body. More and more you got to admire the pointy teeth as the great white shark hybrid smiled during his time with you.

Today was physical assessment for the hybrids, when you had to check their basics such as height, weight, temperature, and more. An addition to having water hybrids they needed to be tested on their abilities inside water. You were thrilled when you found out that the facility set up a private pool, a rocky crater along the beach. It is nice to have the hybrids leave their boring home and see something new.

The crater was big, a hole in a cliff next to the ocean clear water filled the hole making a deep blue pool perfect to swim in. A wooden bridge built above the water easy for visitors to get in and out of the water. The place had the assessment tools towels, water, measure tape, timer, paper and pen.

You did the assessments separately for privacy. The whale shark and nurse shark giggle and share results of their swimming time they left to join the other hybrids leaving you and Taehyun.

Your hands were shaking while assessing the great white shark. Wrapping the measuring tape around his naked slim waist, he smirks as you bite your lip in concentration. You ask him to turn around to check his dorsal fin, your soft fingers lightly graze over the silky flesh making the man shiver. You tap his shoulder as a sign to turn and as he does his body get a close to yours.

Your face becomes red by the intimate presence of the shark. You can feel his eyes burning into you. "y/n" you quickly look up getting a closer look of his dark eyes above his cute sharp nose "aren't you supposed to test my swimming?" Torn away from your heated fit you quickly get the watch timer set, "whenever you're ready." Taehyun smirks at your flustered state diving into the water. There you got to watch his effortless swimming techniques leaving you in awe.

He passed with flying colors, you seemed more excited about it than he was. Looking at his perfect numbers you realize he was in the water staring at you, "Aren't you going to get out?"

"I need help doing so," he reaches his hand out for yours. You were confused knowing that he was more than capable to get out by himself but you helped anyways. Grabbing his webbed hand you see his infamous smirk instantly telling you that this was one of his tricks again. You were pulled into the sapphire water quickly swimming up for air. Wiping the water off your eyelashes you smack the man, "What was that for?"

All Taehyun does is giggle "you're just too easy to mess with." You grunt rolling your eyes as you swim to the ladder. Reaching for the metal pole you suddenly felt his body against yours. Turning around you see a different look in his eyes, something dark, something to fear. "Why are you running away?"

"I'm not I-i'm just-" his face was close to yours, nose brushing against yours. Whole body looming over yours, you feel his hands grabbing your waist trapping you in the water. "You shouldn't turn your back on a shark, they'll think you're prey."

You let out a pathetic whimper making Tae smirk. Lips so close to yours, "You think I can have a little taste?" Before you could nod he already pressed into a deep hungry kiss. You're stunned by state of events you have yourself in but you couldn't stop. Humming into his sweet kiss told Taehyun that you were getting too comfortable. The tender moment becomes animalistic as his sharp teeth scrape your lips making you cry out so that Tae could dart his tongue in.

It wasn't long until you were clawing at Tae's shoulders pleading for a gasp of air. "You humans and your need for air" he says backing away. Still catching your breath you watch as his body disappears into the water, the calm before the storm.

You gasp as you feel his face shoved in between your legs, nose rubbing against your swimming bottoms. He rids the garment shoving it into your mouth. You cough out the water running down your throat but inhale more as you feel Taehyun's tongue lap up your wetness underwater. His pointy nose puts friction on your clit resulting in your loud muffled moans and hands gripping tightly to the bars of the pool ladder.

You ride the shark's face his tongue deep inside you he looks up watching small bubbles of air floating around your squirming body so pretty in all the blue hues. Giving more attention to your clit, sucking it and occasionally lightly scraping his sharp teeth on your sensitive flesh to eventually have your release disappearing within the water, your legs were shaking not able to swim.

Taehyun swims up to surface, hands brushing his silver hair out of his face exposing his beautiful forehead, "Damn you're loud I can hear you underwater.” You glare at him not so intimidating from the exhaustion and your panties in your mouth. The shark's lips curl up looking at your state, removing the bottoms from your lips his hands then travel down to your legs guiding them to wrap around his waist. "So pretty" Taehyun says as his lips graze your jaw lightly kissing down your neck, "does the pretty prey mind if I breed her?"

Your eyes widen at the question but nothing but a groan slips from your lips. Taehyun could tell you weren't opposed to the idea. Sounds echo through out the crater as Tae's kisses become bites and his aching hard cock slides between your folds.

The shark widens his mouth on the crook of your neck biting down to pierce the skin. You then knew there was no running away as his instincts locks you into place and the tip of his dick enters your weeping hole.

Water ripples as Taehyun pounds into you hard. He is thick so much so that you actually think he may split you a part. When you ask him to slow down he does the opposite. Thrusting fast, he knows his mate can handle it and you do. Tae groans against your neck focusing on every sound you make in his ear. Your voice pitch becomes high and whiny telling the shark your about to come undone. Your pussy clenches milking Tae as he releases his load into you.

Unlatching from you neck, the shark licks the small droplets of blood. He had blood in between the scars of his lips smiling to reveal his sharp canines. Anyone looking at the hybrid would shy away in fear but you didn't, that was your little great white shark.

"Can you help me out of the water?" you plead, Taehyuns dark eyes light up to its usual boba pearls. With his immense strength he holds you out of the water quickly wrapping you in a warm towel and then kisses the his mark on you.

A nuisance,

TxT’s Devil 🦈

taglist: @inkigayocamman, @naoristerling

P.S. this was supposed to be a short though NOT A WHOLE ASS 2K FIC and I didn't put much detail but there you have it. 🫤

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random-imagines-blog · 1 year ago

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Imagine having Siren-like abilities and using them to tease Arthur Curry when he's trying to concentrate.

Arthur was growing annoyed with you, that much was obvious, but to you, it was like watching a child about to have a tantrum because he realized he’s losing a game.

He was on the land, trying to track some fishermen who had been fishing over Atlantis, and disrupting the sealife around it, which was a big no no. He hadn’t exactly invited you along - you had done that yourself - and was enjoying trying to tempt him back into the water. Your song was irresistable to most, but Arthur was mostly able to hold strong against it, due to his more advanced powers.

“O, he’s dead as a nail in the lamp room door, and we say so, and we know so, and he won’t come worrying us no more, O poor old man,” You sang, your siren’s voice making the old sea shanty sound hauntingly beautiful. You’d been trying to tell Arthur all this time, but he just hadn’t been listening to you. Until now, apparently.

“What did you say?” He asked.

“We’ll rop him down with a long long ro’, and we say so, and we know so, where the sharks have his body and the devil take his soul! O, poor old man.”

“They’ve been dealt with this entire time and you didn’t think to tell me?” He grumbled, taking off his sweater so that he could come back into the water, giving you a damn fine view.

“I did try to tell you,” You said, your voice as sweet as honeysuckle. “But you never listen to me.”

“For good reason, you might actually snare me one of these days,” He said with a chuckle, as he dove into the water, coming rather close to you.

“My heart is pierced by cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,” You sang, swimming in close to him, your hands touching his hairy cheeks. “There is nothing can console me - but my Jolly Arthur Bold.”

Requested by: Anonymous

#Arthur Curry #Arthur Curry x reader #Arthur Curry imagines #Aquaman #Aquaman imagines #Aquamn x reader #DC #DC imagines #request #imagines #arthurc

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leorawright · 2 months ago

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Can you do Steb with a younger Reader who is absoulutely obssessed with the ocean and sealife stuff? Platonic/familial if you can please :) Love your works!!!

Yesss my beloved fish man🥰

Steb with platonic reader who's obsessed with the ocean

Steb was your babysitter most of the time, not that he minded

You absolutely adored Steb, and he adored you

Every single time he was nearby, he'd let you touch his scales, especially the ones by his eyes since you liked the way they moved

Steb basically saw you as a younger sibling/kid so he was extra protective of you

You and him always went to the aquarium on little field trips and you'd ride on his shoulders while he carried you around

Even though he knew most of the fish species, he enjoyed listening to you talk about the facts of your favorite ones

He'd get you all sorts of plushies and trinkets of your favorite ocean creatures, and if he couldn't find anything for the ones you liked, he'd make them himself or commission them from someone

Since he doesn't talk a lot, most of your adventures together are filled with you rambling or with comfortable silences as you watch the fish swim by at the aquarium

#arcane legends x reader #arcane x reader #steb x reader #platonic #steb x reader platonic

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nellasbookplanet · 3 months ago

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Book recs: monster/creature friendships

Do you like movies like Alien vs Predator, Venom, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? Do you enjoy dragon riders and talking animal companions? Friendly yet deeply inhuman aliens? Monster children and monster parents? Consider yourself less of a monster fucker and more of a monster best friend? Watch horror movies and fantasize about befriending the horrifying ghosts and ghoulies? Then this is the list for you!

A note: some of these books do have romance subplots, but not as the most important relationship or focus.

A (second) note: the criteria for "monster" are subjective. I looked mainly for titles featuring creatures who neither look nor act/think human. In cases where they are more human looking, I wanted a distinctly inhuman mind and morality, meaning most books featuring vampires, werewolves, fey, etc are excluded. I may have included books you feel aren't monstrous enough, or excluded ones you feel are sufficiently monstrous but I don't agree about. Again, it’s subjective.

Feel free to leave your own recs in the notes, but please know that if you rec books featuring mostly human vampires and werewolves I will be judging. I have separate lists for those, go look there instead.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir*

Ryland Grace just woke up from a coma, unable to remember anything. He finds himself alone on a space ship, and as his memories slowly trickle back, he realizes he’s been sent on a mission: to find a solution to the impending doom of the earth. Still struggling with holes in his memories, Ryland tries to fulfill his mission, but as he gets closer to his goal, he discovers someone else got there first. And they aren’t anything close to human. Funny, heartfelt, and heavy on the science.

Fragment by Warren Fahy*

The reality TV show Sealife is having a rough time - as it turns out, a ship full of scientists doesn’t make for the kind of drama they hoped for. Hoping for some excitement, they reach Hender’s Island, a fragment of a lost continent that may contain an interesting new ecosystem. But as they step foot on the island, they quickly come to realize the ecosystem isn’t just new, it’s highly dangerous and very hungry. Among all this life is one single species that may be more dangerous than any other, but which may also be the salvation of the scientists on the island. A bit wonky, but genuinely one of the most fun books I have read, I love it so much.

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis*

Francie has just traveled to Roswell to attend her college friend’s wedding to a UFO conspiracist. Not a believer herself, Francie is shocked when she finds herself abducted by an alien. Her abductor is not much what popular media would have you believe, looking more like a tumbleweed than a grey alien, and is clearly on some kind of mission it isn’t willing to put on hold for the sake of Francie attending to her duties as a bridesmaid. As more people get roped along - among those a conman, an old lady, a ufo conspiracist, and a retiree with an RV - Francie finds herself getting closer to the alien and wanting to help it succeed.

The Last Human by Zack Jordan

Young adult. Sarya is a human - the only one of her kind. Living with her adoptive mother - a vicious, insectile alien - on a space station surrounded by hundreds of other alien species, Sarya spends every day staying below the radar and hiding her true identity. But when an odd new alien arrives on the station, she may finally get an answer to her biggest question: why humanity was deemed too dangerous to be allowed to exist.

Alien vs. Predator: Prey by Steve Perry & S.D. Perry*

On desert planet Ruyshi, businesswoman Machiko Noguchi is about to take over the leading position in a small human colony. Her job is made infinitely harder when the colony comes under attack on two fronts as two species of vicious aliens choose it as their battle ground. If you're reading this list, you probably already know of the movie by the same name. The book, while completely different in setting and cast, does feature many similar plot points, among those a third act team-up between a human woman and a murderous alien.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

Millenia and generation spanning scifi. After the collapse of an empire, a planet once part of a project to uplift other species to sentience is left to develop on its own, resulting not in the intelligent monkeys once intended but in sentient giant spiders. Millenia later, what remains of humanity arrives looking for a new home, only to be met by the artificial remains of the ancient woman who once led the uplift project - and she is not willing to let them on her planet.

The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre

You can’t go wrong with a Vonda McIntyre novel just, like, in general. This one is set in 17th century France, where a young woman and her brother travel to live at the royal court, where they are to care for and study a strange captured sea monster fabled to have the ability to grant eternal life. A lot of focus on court politics as well as the cultural and biological differences between the humans and the mermaid. Also available as a movie (but it’s not very good, please just read the book).

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys*

Lovecraftian fishpeople! Aphra and her brother are the only survivors after the government raided their home, Innsmouth. Their only living family are the amphibian people of the deep, whom they will one day join, but until then they are bound to land where they struggle to build new lives for themselves after the great loss of their home and loved ones. Then rumors start to spread of a russian agent seeking dangerous and ancient magic, forcing Aphra to involve herself as they try to stop it. Does contain horror elements but is generally a much more optimistic look on cosmic horror than most lovecraftian stories, told from the perspective of one of his monsters. Lots of focus on found family and rebuilding of community.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people and species into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist. Together, can they find a way to save the multiverse?

The Spider and Her Demons by sydney khoo*

Young adult. All teenager Zhi wants is a normal life (and possibly for her harsh aunt to be a bit nicer), but it’s hard when she’s half spider demon. Every day she must conceal her true nature and hide in human guise. When she slips up and eats a man in front of her rich, aloof classmate Dior, Zhi thinks her life is over. But Dior has secrets of her own, and she is dead set on making herself a part of Zhi's life.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Young adult fantasy. Artemisia prefers the dead to the living, and is training to become a Gray Sister, a nun who helps the souls of the deceased pass on to the afterlife rather than remain as dangerous spirits. To defend her convent, Artemisia accepts the help of a dangerous revenant, a powerful spirit which grants her great power but also could possess her the moment her guard is lowered. As evil threatens her homeland, Artemisia and the revenant must find a way to work together.

Slewfoot: a Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Historical horror. Young Englishwoman Abitha has only recently arrived and married into a Puritan colony when she unexpectedly becomes a widow. As she strives to save her small farm from going under in the wake of tragedy, something dark and dangerous stalks the surrounding woods. He doesn't know whether he's spirit, devil, or god, doesn't even know his own name, and in requesting Abitha's help, both their lives are changed forever.

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal*

Young adult. Priya had plans to go to Stanford, but is derailed when the fallout from lyme disease puts her back, making her question if she'll ever get back to normal. Luckily she has her discord support group with whom she can chat and vent about her illness. Even more - she has Brigid, online fandom friend and fellow chronic illness sufferer. But when Brigid disappears from the web without warning, Priya must drive to Pennsylvania to make sure her friend is okay - and finds that Brigid's condition is a bit hairier than she expected.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Young adult. Elisabeth is a librarian, trained to handle grimoires - books of magic which, if mishandled, can turn into horrifying monsters. When an act of sabotage leads to the release of one of the library's most dangerous grimoires, Elisabeth finds herself implicated in the crime. Forced to team up with an enemy sorcerer and his loyal and unpredictable demon servant, Elisabeth sets out to find out the truth of what happened.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

In a post apocalyptic, zombie-infested wasteland, a group of characters try to stay alive and hope to find a cure. One of the characters is Melanie, a young girl who carries the contagion inside of her and hungers for flesh, but like many children of the apocalypse has kept her humanity. Is she and children like her the answer to the cure we are looking for? Or are they the start of something entirely new? This book has also been adapted as a movie!

Malevolent by Harlan Guthrie*

Lovecraftian horror mystery. Private detective Arthur Lester wakes up in his office, his partner dead, memories fuzzy, vision gone, and the voice of a malevolent entity in his mind. Unable to see, Arthur is forced to rely on guidance from the entity as he attempts to solve the mystery of what it is and where it came from. Is this a book? No. But as someone who reads mostly audiobooks, the difference between a book and a fiction podcast is negligible, and also I love this story and its characters and want all of you to do so too.

Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaka*

Horror manga, heavy on the bodyhorror. Shinichi Izumi wakes one day after a strange dream: that an alien parasite crawled into his arm. Soon he realizes it was more real than dream, and that an inhuman creature, having failed to eat and take over his brain, now controls his arm. Forced to cooperate, the two do their best to survive as more parasites quietly infiltrate society, meaning to devour our entire species. Also available as a very faithful anime!

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy*

Young adult. Twelve-year-old Stephanie Edgley's uncle, famed horror writer, just died mysteriously and left her his entire fortune. As it turns out, the stories he wrote weren't entirely made up, and that which killed him wasn't entirely human. In trying to avenge his death, Stephanie joins forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, sorcerer, detective, and living, walking skeleton.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon doesn't know what he is. Having lost his family young he lives on the move, shifting his shape to hide his true form. The only ones similar to himself he's ever encountered are the vicious, bloodthirsty Fell, but he knows he cannot be one of them. When chance leads to a meeting with someone like him, he hopes his days of loneliness are over. But his new people stand against a dangerous enemy, and not all of them welcome Moon's help. A departure from other titles on this list in that it features only creatures, with not a single human on page.

The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco

Young adult horror. Okiku died three hundred years ago, her body thrown down a well. Now she spends her days hunting for and punishing murderers like the one who once killed her. When a strange boy bearing odd tattoos appears in her area, he catches Okiku's attention - as does something that follows after him. To save the boy, Okiku will be drawn into a journey taking both of them from American suburbia to a faraway shrine in Japan.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

When Magos loses her son Santiago to a longtime illness, she loses herself to grief and cuts out a piece of his lung. After hearing old folktales, she begins feeding it - and is shocked to find it growing and alive. Soon finding herself in charge of a hungry and bloodthirsty creature, Magos and her family must come together to care for what they can only see as a second chance for Santiago.

Semiosis by Sue Burke

A generational story following a group of humans trying to survive on a new planet, where a strange and unkowable intelligence is finding ways to use them to its whims. As the humans come across an abandoned city wrapped in the roots of a strange plant, they slowly come to the realization that mutual communication is the only path to peace and survival. Meanwhile, the alien finds itself tied all the more tightly to the growing human community.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

Maya Hoshimoto used to be an art thief, and a damned good one to, until a disastrous heist made her retire into academia, hoping for peace and coping with an alien disease which causes her to see glimpses of the future. When an old friend tracks her down and asks her help to find and steal a legendary artifact that could save his entire species, Maya is convinced to do one last job.

Magical Girl Dandelion by Mizuho Kaeru

Manga. Tanpopo Ohanami's parents were killed by a phantom monster when she was young, but her life was saved by Shade, another phantom. Ever since then, Shade has been her friend, watching over her and keeping her safe. But then Tanpopo is revealed to be a potential magical girl, meant to fight the phantoms and protect humanity. Her and Shade are meant to be enemies, but can they instead work and fight alongside each other?

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

It’s the height of the Napoleonic Wars, and soldiers on dragon back fight each other in the air. Will Laurence isn't a dragonrider but a sea captain, but when his ship captures a French frigate and discovers a dragon egg about to hatch in his cargo, his life changes forever when he and the dragon hatchling bond.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Middle grade. In Lyra's world, every person has a daemon: a talking animal companion who follows them throughout life. When children begin being stolen off the street, among them Lyra's friend, she must embark on a great journey to save him, taking her to the furthest north - and beyond.

A Redtail's Dream by Minna Sundberg*

Graphic novel inspired by Finnish mythology. When an irresponsible fox spirit accidentally traps an entire town in the dreamlands, it’s up to slacker Hannu and his talking, shapeshifting dog Ville to save everyone. Together the unwilling heroes must travel the dreamlands and locate the townsfolk, returning them to the waking world before the fox spirit sends them all on to death to hide his mistake. While the physical copy is all but impossible to get a hold of, the original webcomic can still be read for free here.

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sanyu-thewitch05 · 4 months ago

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Just thought of this idea just now.

Can you do a smut with a yandere greek god of war x water nymph reader, with the nymph being chased by the god until he caught up with her and takes her to his bedroom, and the whole love making thing is more consensual?

Sure!

A/N: Also, sorry I'm answering this late again. Hurricane Helene came over my state so I was literally(and still am) preparing for the worst.

You were a water nymph. A lonely one at that. Also, a confused one, because you grew up alone with only water and the sealife to keep you company. You didn't even know what type of water nymph you were, all you knew was that both of your parents didn't want you. And so, here you are, living your life on the shore of some tourist beach.

"Do you always sit there?" A man with brown skin, red hair, and purplish-blue eyes asks, sitting next to you.

"Yeah, pretty much. I don't exactly have anywhere else to go," You respond, enjoying the feeling of the waves touching your feet. "What about you? Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Of course, I do. I go to lots of places," The man answers, blushing a little. "Say, what's your name, cutie?"

"Aqua...Aquata. Or at least that's the name others have given me But I prefer Y/N." You answer, getting up.

"Y/N, where are you going?" The man asks, seeing you walk into the ocean. "Y/N? Y/N!"

And with that, you're in the sea filled with inspiration. If he could travel everywhere, then you can too. Your first stop was the island that the sailors call Sirenum Scopuli. It was flowery and pretty, and the women were welcoming. For some reason, they said you smelled familiar to them.

Your next stop was the island of Thrinacia, where you found a crying cyclops.

"Excuse me, if I may ask, why are you crying?" You ask, standing in front of the cyclops.

"He took stabbed me in the eye! I'm blinded! I'm blinded! I can never see my beloved sheep again!" The cyclops cried, making you feel pity for the poor creature.

"Oh, I can fix it if you want. I've healed many eye injuries before," You say, getting an idea.

"Really, you'll fix my eye? I'm in your debt for eternity," The cyclops exclaims, a smile on his face.

"Yep!" You say, diving back into the water, and returning with the eye of a giant sea squid. "I've performed this plenty of times on animals. Hold on, I need to get the eye out."

You pull the cyclop's eye out and put the squid's eye in its place. You work your magic on the eye and use the liquid inside it to weave your magic through his nervous system.

"Ok, try blinking. Do you see anything?" You ask, standing back.

"YAY! I CAN SEE AGAIN!" The cyclops yells, jumping around and clapping. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"

"Don't mention it, big guy," You exclaim, kissing his cheek.

"Here, take sheep's wool. It can be used to warm you up during the cold," The cyclops replies, giving you a cloak.

You accept the gift and continue on your way. As you travel through the ocean, an arrow strikes your arm. You scream in pain, your blood dying the water around you red. You hear men screaming above and force yourself to see the same red-haired man from the beach.

"YOU FOOLS! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY GODDESS?!" The man screams, letting his wrath decimate the soldiers above him. "My goddess, are you ok?"

"You? What are you doing here?" You ask, gripping the wool cloak.

"My dove, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Good."

He kisses your lips, and a wave of memories comes flooding back. You haven't been back on that beach in years. You've been living with him, your dear husband, Ares. One day you got into a fight with him, ran away, and had been aimlessly wandering through the human world until you eventually pushed everything concerning Ares and your life with him to the back of your mind.

"Ares?" You gasp, feeling his hands cupping your cheeks.

"The third. Ares the third," Ares says, looking into your eyes. "I had been looking for you for five long years. Do you know how much it hurt me to see you not recognize me on that beach?"

"Ares, listen, I...what were we even fighting about?" You ask, straddling your husband.

"I...we were arguing about your family-our family-both. Your family wanted to reach out to you, I was talking about wanting a baby, it all piled up and we had a really bad fight, and no words could describe how sorry I am. I should've let you reach out to your family, and I shouldn't have tried making a family of our own as if it was an acceptable replacement for your family."

"Oh...Ares. I-Is my family ok?"

"Yes. They've been living at my castle since you disappeared. They'd love to meet you."

"I'd love to meet them too."

~~~~~~~~~

"Welcome home, my goddess," Ares says, removing his hands from your eyes.

"Mom? Dad?" You say, seeing a siren and Triton.

"Hi, sweetie. We've got a lot to explain, but I think your husband really wants to talk to you. We'll be waiting at the dinner table," Your mom says, nudging your dad to say hi.

"Don't worry, I will return your daughter to you in a walkable manner," Ares says, guiding you to his bedroom.

The door shuts, and Ares is already kissing your body.

"Do you know how long I've missed you, missed your body?" Ares murmurs, kissing your neck as he slips his dress off your shoulders. "Please tell me you remember my touch?"

"I'm sorry..." You say, guiltily looking at Ares.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make you remember again," Ares whispers, feeling you up.

"A-Ares!" You moan as your husband kisses your breasts.

Ares sucks on your breasts as he pushes your dress off your ass. The two of you fall on the bed, and Ares grasps your hands. You see his toned chest peak through his white v-neck blouse and stare at it.

"Oh, you want my clothes off too?" Ares asks, holding back a smirk as he looks at your cute face.

"Yes, please. Take it off. Take it all off," You plead, rubbing your leg against his crotch.

Ares does as you say and you gawk at his glorious body and skin.

"What? Never seen a god before?" Ares mocks, stroking his 7 1/2-inch cock.

"Wow..." You gasp, closing your legs as Ares crawls towards you in all his glory.

"Don't worry, babe. I won't make a mess out of you," Ares responds, kissing your pussy and lining himself up at your entrance. "I'm going in."

"Mm!" You moan, your husband not moving to let you adjust.

"You're ok, you're doing good. I know it's been a while since you've had me inside you," Ares moans, resisting the urge to thrust. "Are you ready, my goddess?"

You nod your head and he begins to thrust. You gasp as a wave of pleasure washes over you, your hands gripping the sheets. Ares grabs your hands, guiding them so they're gently around his waist.

"You look so amazing!" Ares moans, speeding up. "I love you. I love you so much! I love you so much, I'll be with you even after the mortals move on to the next set of gods. I love you so much I'd kill the entire world and the pantheon for you."

"I love you too, Ares!" You moan, making your husband tear up.

He orgasms inside of you and kisses your sweet lips. His tears fall on your cheeks, and you look at your husband with pity. The genuine love for you flowing through his tears, send you over the edge, and you cum on his cock.

"Aw, honey, don't cry. I'm sorry I forgot about you," You apologize, kissing your husband's head.

"I've seen the bloodiest of slaughter and entire people wiped out from genocide, but you're the one thing I could never forget," Ares cries, laying his head onto your boobs. "Please don't leave me like that again."

You start to cry and wipe your husband's tears away. You kiss him, feeling his heartbeat calm down.

"It's ok, I won't leave you again," You say, touching your forehead with his.

#yandere smut #yandere god #yandere x reader #asks #sanyuthewitch05

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goatcheesecak3 · 1 year ago

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Could you possibly write something small about a beach date with Rodrick 😍

Rodrick x reader

Sorry this took so long! Me mam tried to sell me to one direction so I was slightly preoccupied 🙄

Anyways enough jibber jabber, here's a lil fluff about a beach date with Rodrick :^)

The heffleys had invited you on a trip to the beach, since you and Rodrick had been together for some time now, it was pretty much routine for you to come along to family events at this point.

You and Rodrick drove in his van separately from everyone else, truth be told, you were relieved. You loved the heffleys but you weren't so keen on the music they played in the car.

"You excited babe?" Rodrick turned to look at you

"Can't wait! I was looking up the beach on Google, there's quite a few rock pools so we might see some cool sealife!"

Rodrick's face lit up at this

"Like a crab?!" He asked

"Yes honey, like a crab" you smiled at your easily amused boyfriend.

"Awesome. I fucking love crabs" he said.

Upon arrival Susan and Frank were happy to see the pair of you, they both approached to greet you, when seemingly out of nowhere Greg appeared, flinging his arms around you.

"Hey lil dude! Nice to see you" You beamed down at him

"Great to see you too! I've got all the stuff set up!" He replied excitedly

You were confused for a second, before looking just past him and seeing an abundance of different sized buckets and spades. You finally remembered, last time you'd seen the Heffleys you'd promised Greg you'd be on his team against Rodrick for a sandcastle building competition.

"Rodrick I love you, but you are so going down" you said, playfully poking him in the ribs before running off to the equipment with Greg.

"Hey no fair! You guys don't get a head start!" He called after the two of you.

The sandcastle competition was definitely pretty tense, you and Greg had opted for a "bigger = better" strategy, and had come up with a 3 storey castle.

Rodrick's, while much smaller, was more detail oriented. He'd decorated it with little stones, and even carved out little battlements.

When the time was up, the three of you went to get Susan and Frank to judge, but when you'd returned only one castle was left. It would appear that Manny had decided that Rodrick's Castle was the perfect race course for one of his toy trucks, and in the few seconds you were all gone, he'd reduced it to rubble.

"Ha! We won!" Greg jeered.

You looked at Rodrick, who seemed genuinely disappointed.

"Aw baby," you stroked his arm, "I think your castle was Manny's favourite at least"

He smiled slightly at this, but still seemed slightly miffed that all his hard work was ruined.

Never mind, you knew exactly how to cheer him up

"How about we go check out those rock pools?" You asked.

Rodrick grinned excitedly, immediately forgetting about the sand castle, "oh yeah! I hope we see something cool!" He beamed, grabbing your hand and eagerly pulling you in the direction of the rocks.

You carefully climbed onto the glistening wet rocks, made just that bit more treacherous by the odd bit of seaweed and sharp barnacles. You held onto Rodrick tightly, fearing that his clumsy self would slip and accidentally keelhaul himself.

(A/n if you don't know what keelhaulling is, look it up at your own risk. It's pretty gnarly).

"What are those things?" Rodrick asked curiously, pointing towards tufts of purple sticking out from the sides of the rock pools.

"Sea anemones! Be really gentle and touch them, see what happens" you encouraged him.

Rodrick looked slightly nervous, but he trusted you. He dipped his finger into the shallow water and felt the tiny tentacles grip his finger. He giggled high pitch and very amused, before pulling his hand away and shaking it dry.

"It was like, sticky?" He said

You laughed at his reaction, he was adorable when he was confused.

"That was it trying to eat you! It thought your finger was a little fish!"

"Really?!"

"Mhm"

"That's so funny," he bent down to look at the anemone, "you're no match for me little bro" he said cockily.

You were unsure as to whether he was joking, or if he was genuinely proud of not being eaten by a gelatinous blob the size of a penny. Probably the latter, knowing Rodrick, but either way you find it endearing.

You spent quite a while trapesing around the rock pools, Rodrick seemingly fascinated by everything- particularly the little clusters of sea snails. He likened their pointy shells to his studded bracelet, affectionately giving them the title of "most metal animal he'd seen all day". His day was made, however, when you called him over to a tiny pool right at the edge of the rocks.

"Baby, come quick!"

He rushed over, abandoning the clump of seaweed he'd been popping like bubblewrap, and turned his attention towards what you'd been pointing at.

There, nestled inbetween a few tufts of seaweed, sat the tiniest little crab, it's body not much bigger than the tip of a pinky finger. As Rodrick kneeled down to get a closer look, his face was graced with a wide, goofy smile. He looked between you and the crab for a few seconds, before blurting out "it's a little baby!", his voice high and girlish.

You let out a chuckle at this, watching your boyfriend's eyes grow in amazement and glee at the sight of such a small crab. His attention was fixed to it for as long as it sat there, until the crab must have decided that staring back at the squealing Rodrick had become tedious, and scuttled away under some pebbles.

Rodrick finally stood once again, and reached out to hold your hands.

"That was so cool," he said, his eyes twinkling and his smile somehow even more loveable than ever.

"You're so cute," you replied, unable to contain your adoration any longer. You placed your arms over his shoulders, while instinctively, Rodrick held your waist.

You leaned in and planted a delicate kiss on his lips. Sometimes it was hard to remember he was a hardcore punk guy with a big beat up van, and an affinity for moshing. At times like this, all you saw was an innocent, precious sweetheart. You just wanted to hold his face and pepper it with gentle kisses, while showering him with compliments like "my handsome boy," and "you're the cutest thing in the whole world". You probably would later, but not right now. He'd never live it down if his family saw him being such a big softie.

You allowed yourself to get lost in his big brown eyes for a moment longer, before you heard Frank calling the two of you to come and get some food.

I love you, you thought to yourself as Rodrick carefully guided you down the rocks. As if he could read your mind, he threw an arm round your shoulder and whispered in your ear

"I love you, y/n"

A/n requests are open! I write hcs and short fics for a couple characters, check my pinned post for details! :^)

(Pls request something I need ideas lol)

#rodrick #rodrick rules #rodrick heffley #doawk #diary of a wimpy kid #rodrick hefflei #rodrick headcanon #diary of a wimpy kid rodrick #rodrick x reader #devon bostick #fanfic #rodrick fanfiction #rodrick fluff #fluff #not my rodrick

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tagsecretsanta · 1 month ago

Text

From @gumnut-logic

From @gumnut-logic to all of Thunderfam.

Author's note: I didn't know if I could write this year, so I didn't enter any prompts to avoid disappointing anyone. However, I did manage to write nearly 4000 words of something with a prompt from my Hubby. So please, everyone enjoy this for what it is, and I hope you have/had a wonderful festive time.

-o-o-o-

Scott was used to working in loud environments but this was ridiculous.

There were people yelling orders and running back and forth, hammering, power tools screeching, and worst of all, singing.

So much singing. He was glad Virgil wasn’t down here. The cacophony hurt.

“I’m sorry, sir, what did you say?”

“Commander Tracy, from one secret organisation to another, we need help.”

Scott blinked.

The old man frowned. “I said we need help!”

“I know that. That’s why we’re here.” He drew in a breath. “Is there anywhere quieter we can talk?”

Watery blue eyes stared at him a moment before turning and waving for Scott and Gordon to follow.

It had been an interesting half an hour since John reported this situation. They had received a call from Molloy Deep, basically a deep hole in the Arctic Ocean. This would have been a Tuesday call out as there were deep sea habitats all over Earth’s oceans (and unfortunately of varying funding and consequently quality - a bug bear of Gordon’s and the source of many a post-rescue rant on the part of the aquanaut).

However, there were no recorded deep sea habitats in or near Molloy Deep, mainly because it was so deep and because, well, Arctic Ocean, anyone?

But John was able to locate…something…at the requested geographical spot and as they were a rescue organisation, the rest was worked out en route.

Thunderbirds One, Two and Four sped across the planet until they reached the spot between Greenland and Iceland.

As per John’s report, there was something down there.

Scott had elected to go down with Gordon, something about this had him on edge and he couldn’t define why.

And it had absolutely nothing to do with all the times Gordon had gone down this deep and not come back in one piece.

No, not at all.

He earned himself a frown from both Virgil and Gordon, and Alan had to transfer over to One, but he went anyway, Commander’s prerogative.

And there definitely did turn out to be something in Molloy Deep.

The usual midnight zone darkness was gradually broken by spots of light on the cliff they were following down. Closer inspection revealed creatures hovering in the water column like Christmas ornaments.

Gordon was going nuts about new species discovery and the percentage of life that was unknown in the deep, etcetera, etcetera, but they had a mission. He could come back next time he had leave.

In any case, they quickly became less individually important as they navigated deeper, a golden glow emanated from below them, the glowing ornaments increasing in number until the midnight landscape was lit…well…like a Christmas tree.

The glow became a huge dome glittering in the water, surrounded by unique sealife that now had Gordon throwing a full-on fit.

But ultimately, they located an airlock and backed Four into a secure connection, and the pair of them embarked into a very strange world.

A world where it was gently snowing.

It was obvious that the area they entered was some kind of docking space. Several factory-like buildings were crowded about and it wasn’t long before they were grabbed by a young worker and hurried in the direction of a portly old man sporting a white beard and moustache.

He would have been totally cliche and straight out of a children’s story if it wasn’t for the Motörhead T-Shirt, jeans and sneakers.

But considering they were several miles underwater in a giant snowglobe, the list of unbelievables was already maxed out.

The old man led them out of the factory building and into the snow.

“I’m sorry about the cold. The environmentals aren’t happy at the moment.”

The man sighed, turned and stalked through the snow to a house…which might as well been made of gingerbread. Hell, Scott walked past a red and white striped candy cane a foot thick and, taller than him, sticking out of the snow beside the path.

“Scott-“

“Gordon.”

“Do you think-?”

“Focus on the mission.”

“But-“

They reached the house and were ushered into a warm living room complete with an open fire and…yes, a Christmas tree… in July.

“Have a seat, gentlemen.”

Scott hesitated. “We were called in for an emergency.”

The stocky man turned to frown at him, his bushy white eyebrows colliding with his nose - not unlike what Virgil’s did on a fairly regular basis.

“Yes, this is an emergency, but we have time. Just enough.” And as if to prove the point, he walked across the room to the mantlepiece, opened the face of the ornate clock sitting up there and pushed its long hand back by a good fifteen minutes. He closed it and turned back to Scott. “See? We have time.”

It was Scott’s turn to frown. Gordon nudged him and pointed to his diving watch on his wrist.

It matched the time on the mantlepiece.

What the-?

The old man gestured them both to the sofa. “C’mon, you have questions, I have answers, sit down so we can get to the meat of the problem.”

Of course Gordon moved first, practically bouncing across the room to take a seat. Scott moved a touch slower, eyeing everything, assessing and questioning.

“Sit down, Commander. I don’t bite.”

Scott had no choice but to obey.

The fire crackled and bounced as the old man sat in a large sofa chair opposite them He scratched his beard a moment as if pondering where to start.

“As the Commander of International Rescue, you are aware of the need for secrecy when working for the good of all?”

Those blue eyes held his own. “Yes, sir.”

“We both need that secrecy, Commander Tracy. So I am hoping we have the confidence of you and your organisation.”

“Of course.”

He paused a moment. “I have no doubt that you have your suspicions as to mine and my organisation’s identity.” Beside Scott, Gordon was fit to burst. “But I will ask for no extraneous questions.”

Gordon froze. “But-?”

Those cool eyes turned to pin the aquanaut. “Do you like coal, Mr Gordon?”

His fish brother gulped. “No, sir.”

“Neither do I. It is one of the reasons why I need your help.” His attention turned back to Scott. “The ice is disappearing and with it, its protection. We have to move, to find a new base of operations. I have a place in mind, but I need to get there.”

“How many are needing rescue?”

“Four million, five thousand and three.” A soft blink. “And myself and my wife.”

Scott’s jaw dropped.

“It’s a lot, I know, but from what I’ve seen of Thunderbird Two, it should be able to do the job.”

“Four million…sir…that would take years!”

“We will make time.”

“Sir!”

“We have less than six months.”

“Not possible.”

Those watery blue eyes stared into his soul. “Do you have dreams, Commander?”

Scott’s lips hardened. “I thought we weren’t asking extraneous questions.”

“Hmm, I guess it could be seen that way from your point of view, however, dreams do lead to possibilities, do they not? And I need to move our base of operations as soon as possible to these coordinates.” He reached down to a table beside his chair and handed a piece of neatly folded paper to Scott.

Opening it, he found a set of coordinates written in perfect copperplate cursive.

Cursive or not, the location was clear.

“You want International Rescue to help you move to Antarctica?”

The old man shrugged. “It’s land, it’s a geographical pole, and it’s basically empty. Though note it is East Antarctica - I fear West Antarctica will befall the same fate as the Arctic.” He looked up at the ceiling and glanced around the room. “I will miss this place.”

“Sir…” Scott sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Nikolas.”

Beside him, Gordon twitched.

“Nikolas, I want to help you, but moving four million people is just not possible, much less in six months.”

“Five months and fourteen days.”

Scott sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The logistics - Thunderbird Four can only carry a maximum of ten people at a time, maybe fifteen at a stretch. You are over five kilometres below the surface. Thunderbird Two can carry many more, yes, but getting them up there…four million…”

“Commander, the four million are the easy part. If I were you, I would be more concerned about the reindeer.” With that he pushed himself to his feet. “Come along, time is a-wasting.” He turned his back and walked out the door.

-o-o-o-

More to come @gumnut-logic in the next few days :D

#thunderbirds are go #tag team secret santa #thunderbirds #tag team secret santa 2024

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katerinaaqu · 2 months ago

Text

Remembering this traditional Greek song made me think of Penelope:

youtube

Sea,oh sea the seamen, my beloved sea don't strike them with your waves, my beloved sea and bring back my little bird * Rose water, become rose water, my beloved sea and sprinkle their course, my beloved sea my beloved sea you are my love and pain * Sea and salty water I can't forget about you * Sea, oh sea, you have drowned, oh, no oh no the maiden's husband my beloved sea you are my love and pain * And the maiden, and the maiden is young, oh no oh no and black clothes don't suit her, my beloved sea blow my beloved Northwest Wind * Sea, I embark, for you I stay awake at night Sea and salty water I can't forget about you

Now this song probably originated from the Aegean sea, possibly in Kalymnos, an island with tradition of fishing sponges. The men that were doing this job oftentimes left in the summer for a long time traveling often all the way till North Africa. They would freedive often even 50 meters below the surface to catch sponges and their job was expremely difficult and dangerous. Often they died either from nitrogen narcosis effects or attacked by sealife or even dying in sea. Thus the song speaks on a woman singing for the sea to bring back her husband, brother, fiance etc back. The traditional song has many variations to the lyrics depending on the singer, the area etc.

Now the term "little bird" (πουλάκι) is a nickname used in greek to show a tender relationship with someone. It indicates your beloved one; family or lover etc

The term I translate as "my beloved sea" is the nickname of the word "sea" (θάλασσα -> thalassa) which is θαλασσάκι (thalassaki). As a term and nickname it also means "little sea" but is also used tenderly to speak more on something you love so I thought it would be more fitting to say "beloved sea" than "little sea"

Likewise the word μεράκι (meraki) is not translatable exactly. It means something you do from your heart or with love and care. It also means love and care for something. However when spoken more sadly it also means some love that causes you sadness and pain this is why I translated it as "my love and pain" in here.

The song speaks on a woman being young and "black clothes do not suit her" aka it is a pity for a young man to die and a woman wear mourning clothes at young age (plus in small villages it kinda was a tradition for a woman once widowed never to marry again although the tradition is not followed to its totality by every person)

The clips are from an old dramatic movie called "The girl with the black clothes" starring Elli Lambeti and Dimitris Horn

#greek mythology #tagamemnon #the odyssey #odyssey #homeric poems #penelope #penelope of sparta #penelope of ithaca #traditional greek songs #greek music #greek tumblr #odypen #odysseus and penelope #odysseus x penelope #homer odyssey #greek culture #Youtube

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squiddokiddo · 11 days ago

Text

Thinking about Squirt and Gordon hanging out on the beach.

𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹

Gordon showing Squirt which of the sealife hanging around Tracy Island is safe or not:

"No."

"Not that one."

"Ah no!!"

"Don't touch!!"

"Ok this one's fine."

"Oh did you know, this one has venom strong enough to ki- wait, stop- SQUIRT NO!!!"

𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹

Squirt brining Gordon random animals to be identified:

"Gordon!! I found this guy chilling in the sand, aren't they supposed to be extinct??"

"Squirt... That is a horseshoe crab, put him down..."

"What about this octopus? It's yellow and blue..."

"OMFG SQUIRT NO!!!"

𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹*⊹.𖦹

Gordon now just realising that this is the same kind of hell he puts his older brothers through constantly:

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderfam #gordon tracy #sea-squirt tracy #thunderbirds oc

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 3 months ago

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Thalassophobia

Thalassophobia: The persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water, such as the ocean, seas, or lakes.

Deuce sighed as he trudged through an empty base, trailing puddles onto the floor. The others were still out exploring, since their biomes were way less harmful to humans than the oceanic one that Deuce had gotten. Spending too much time in the water on Earth was liable to make you slowly waste away, cell by cell, and humans are actually made to live on Earth.

He pushed damp hair out of his eyes, tossing a wasted battery into the recharging bay. He hummed as he replaced it, watching his tablet flicker to life once again.

Not that the tablet had much data on it, not yet. The nearby sealife did not trust the new outpost that had been built in the water, and were steering clear.

Also, he wasn’t particularly good at the whole… ‘formal speech’ thing that their superiors tended to prefer. He was nowhere near as bad as Epel, but it still took him far more time than it took the others. The idea of making a Log right now was exhausting.

But there wasn’t much else he could do…

After some thought, he jotted down that the wildlife was wary. It was probably a hostile environment with a decent amount of carnivorous animals, if they were this distrustful.

That would make things harder than they had been on the last planet, where almost all of the sea life he had come across were herbivores. The ‘fish’ had allowed Deuce to swim right up to them, just as curious about Deuce as Deuce was about them, not even minding when he poked and prodded them, so long as he came with food to sate them with.

It had been so easy then. Now, though…

He sighed, unzipping his wetsuit, peeling it away from his chest, looping the sleeves around his waist so it wouldn’t fall in an indecent way. He had half a mind to go change, but he liked to think that tracking water over the pristine tiles was a tiny act of rebellion. The quality of the wetsuit was not great, but why would their superiors ever bother giving one of their ‘favorite’ exposable workers something that might actually protect them?

Ugh. If he died here, he was going to throw a fit in the afterlife. When he had said he wanted to be a biologist, since they earned a lot of money, he had meant that he wanted to observe alien lifeforms from the comfort of a controlled lab, and the grunt work he had been assigned was hardly high-paying. But, if he ever wanted to get to that point, he had to keep this up for a few more years.

This is what he got for not being born into a rich and influential family, he supposed.

The airlock hissed as it opened, and Deuce heard a high-pitched scream.

Deuce rolled his eyes.

“I know this is the first time you’ve ever seen a person’s body and all, Ace, but chill out. I’m shirtless, not naked.”

Ace’s hands were still determinedly covering his eyes despite his extremely sound logic. “Put some clothes on!”

Deuce sighed and disappeared into his room to change into something far more casual. A tank top and jeans. The slightly too acidic water was probably slowly eating at his skin and clothes, but he was just going to have to deal with that, because Ace had stolen the shower.

Ace stepped out ten minutes later. At least he was nice enough to let him have some hot water.

“One day I’m going to feed you to the fish,” Deuce said, regardless.

Ace snorted. “I’m going to let the not-snakes I found in the desert today bite you.”

Deuce raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you found a specimen? Did you bring it home?”

“Several specimens, actually,” Ace said, smirking widely. “Want to meet them? I still need to collect a couple of samples from them, I could use some help.”

Deuce grabbed him by the hand. He wasn’t particularly interested in helping collect samples, but collecting them with Ace was usually a fun time.

“... take a shower first,” Ace said, tugging his hand out of Deuce’s, frowning at his palm, which was already redder than it should have been.

Right. Acidic water.

Deuce groaned and slunk into the bathroom.

By the time he came out again, Jack was back, too.

“... please tell me you didn’t take all of the hot water.”

“You spent all day in the jungle, Jack, I think you need to cool off,” Deuce said.

Jack groaned, tucking sweaty bangs behind his ear. Said bangs fell right back in front of his face immediately after.

He flashed a wink, and then headed off in search of Ace’s lab. It wasn’t hard to find, all of the labs were in the same wing of the facility. Say what you will about NRC (they all certainly did), but at least they knew how to design intuitive research facilities.

Deuce stopped for just a moment to poke his head into his own lab. It was relatively bare, save for a giant aquarium in the center, stretching from floor to ceiling, and then some. It was accessible from the ocean, which was convenient, but cordoned off enough that nothing should be able to escape. There were currently no animals in it, Deuce had been spending most of his day simply exploring and getting his bearings underwater (and he couldn’t find any fish, besides).

He hummed, pleased, before continuing on.

He had samples to collect. He pulled a lab coat around his shoulders, nearly skipping into the room dedicated to Ace’s animals. The snakes he’d mentioned were lazing beneath a sunlamp, apparently unconcerned with the fact that they had been stolen from their homes.

Ace was leaning over a table, his lips pursed into a thin line. A dead snake lay before him, and he was carefully taking a scalpel to its mouth, probably trying to extract venom.

Deuce smiled, tiptoeing over.

“Hey, Ace.”

Neon green blood spurted over Ace’s gloves, and the redhead cursed quietly before turning to glower at Deuce.

“You did that on purpose.”

Deuce blinked back at him, oh-so-very-innocent. “I could never. I’m very stupid, actually, you’ve seen my test scores. I had the lowest grades out of any of us.”

Ace sighed, peeling off the bloodied glove and throwing it into a container. Probably intending to test the blood later.

And then he reached out and flicked Deuce’s ear.

“Ow?!”

“Deserved.”

Deuce disagreed. He was helping. Now Ace could test the creatures’ blood, too. He was a great friend.

The snakes, however, were… less great friends.

“They’re pretty chill about you dissecting a snake right in front of them,” Deuce observed, stepping closer to the tank. The snakes stared back at him, slitted eyes barely open, as if they were on the verge of falling asleep. “Did you drug them or something?”

“No. They’re just… weird, I think. They didn’t care when I picked them up. Even this one over here –” Ace jerked a thumb toward the dead one on the table. “– didn’t seem to care when I came at it with a knife.”

Deuce tipped his head to the side. “You sure they can die?”

Ace gave him a flat look.

He cleared his throat, awkwardly, blushing under the flat look sent his way, scrambling for a better explanation: “Complacency?”

“Must be. Can’t think of any other reason why they’d be so…” Ace squinted at the snakes for a minute, before shivering. “If we ever get kidnapped by some higher being, and I’m super chill about it, you need to kill me. ‘Cause that ain’t me.”

Deuce grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m always down to kill something that looks like you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“No problem!”

Ace glared halfheartedly at him for a minute, before his expression softened. “Whatever. Help me get some samples?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Deuce said.

This was, of course, a teensy-weensy white lie. Deuce wasn’t like Epel, who had gone into this field because he was genuinely curious about alien worlds. He was like Ace – someone who had simply ended up here. Ace got good grades, and he hadn’t had any preferences for what field he went into, so he had gone into science. Deuce was intending to provide for his mom, and the people who survived this job were paid well, so this was where he was.

In the end, neither of them were genuinely all that interested in the scholarly aspect of things.

Maybe that was why they had gravitated to each other.

Much to their supervisors’ chagrin. Frankly, Deuce was stunned that the vein pulsing in Riddle Roseheart’s forehead hadn’t burst yet. It was only thanks to Trey Clover and Cater Diamond that they didn’t get thrown out within the first month, and it had been a close thing.

Regardless, they weren’t a particularly productive pair.

Which, really, wouldn’t matter all that much. Despite Rosehearts-senpai’s insistence that their work might one day get picked up by higher-ups like Divus Crewel, Mozus Trein, or (Seven forbid) Dire Crowley himself… well, it had never happened before, and at this point it didn’t seem likely that they ever would.

So, who cared if they slacked off a little? Lived a little? Had some actual fun instead of working all the time?

It wasn’t like Rosehearts-senpai could fire them at this point. They were good at their jobs in a field where a lot of people didn’t make it past the first few weeks – they were keepers.

By the time Ace and Deuce had finished for the night (because they were hungry, not because they had reached any real stopping point), they found that Epel and Sebek had both returned from their own expeditions.

Yuu was tending to Sebek, who must have fallen at some point, as he had scraped up his knees.

This was all well and good, Deuce preferred it when his coworkers weren’t injured… but, if they were tending to Sebek, then who was cooking dinner?

“Yuuuuuuuu…” Ace said, slumping over the kitchen table. “I’m hungryyyyyyyy.”

Yuu rolled his eyes. “Good. Starve.”

Ace squeaked.

“I miss when you first started out,” Epel said, his chin in his hands. “You were waaay nicer then.”

“I’ve been cleaning up after you lot for the past seven missions. I’m sick of you,” Yuu said. He shuddered. “If you guys make me clean your sheets again I’m going to kill myself, I swear.”

“What’ve they been doing to the sheets?” Epel asked, frowning.

Deuce’s face flushed. “Do – do you need help making dinner, Yuu?”

“I don’t trust you to know how a microwave works, but thanks for the offer.” He stood up straighter, patting Sebek on the arm. “You should be fine, now. Tell me if you have any weird reactions to the flora you touched.”

Sebek nodded, firmly. “Thank you for your help,” he said, solemn and genuine.

“Aw, he’s so cute,” Epel teased. “He still has respect for everyone ‘n everything. How long do you think it’ll take for that to get beaten outta him?”

Sebek’s face flushed. “I’m simply –.”

“Three weeks, max,” said Ace. “That’s our record. Congrats on setting that, by the way, Jack.”

Jack gave a vague grunt, taking a seat. “Live to please,” he said sarcastically.

“I thought I had the record?” Deuce said, frowning.

“You’re in denial, that’s different,” Yuu said.

“I will be beating everyone,” Sebek said. “This is an amazing opportunity, and I intend to make the most of it.”

“Adorable,” Deuce said, exchanging nods with Epel. Newbies are always so sweet and full of hope. Of course, most newbies ended up dead within a few days, since alien planets aren’t exactly the most hospitable places, but they’re pretty cute in the meantime. And the ones who survive tend to realize just how terrible their situation is after a while, so they aren’t hopeful long enough to get annoying.

“Rosehearts-senpai isn’t here, he can’t hear you badmouth him, go wild,” Ace said, bluntly.

“They won’t date you,” Yuu said, even blunter.

Sebek’s face flushed beet red. He spluttered. “I don’t want –!”

“Here, we can start for you,” Jack said, patting Sebek on the shoulder. “Dire Crowley is incompetent.”

“Scathing insult,” Deuce said, rolling his eyes. But he could admit that insulting people when you don’t swear is an art – one that very few people can master.

“Thank you. Now it’s your turn, Sebek.”

Sebek was busy staring at all of them, openly horrified that they would say anything mean about their leader.

“A week,” Deuce decided.

“Mmmmm, I give him two,” Jack said.

“What’ll you do if he beats your score, Jack?” Yuu asked.

“Cry myself to sleep, I guess.”

“Alright. I’m betting four weeks. Don’t let me down, newbie,” Yuu said.

Sebek seemed to have realized that he had no say in this, as he flopped back onto the table, his hands over his face. “M’name’s Sebek,” Sebek grumbled, halfheartedly.

“See, you say that, but every time you say your name all I hear is ‘Fish’,” Ace teased.

Sebek peeked through his fingers just enough to glare at him.

Deuce wasn’t particularly pleased, either. He had spent several years with fish, and Sebek didn’t look nor act like most of the ones he’d seen. “If you have to dehumanize him, at least call him, like, ‘Fresh Meat’, Ace.”

“I like ‘Frosh’,” suggested Jack.

“‘Newest sucker’,” Yuu said.

Sebek finally had enough. He gathered his things, and then stormed off, probably towards his private quarters.

Epel rested his chin in his hands. “Y’all’re kinda the worst, ya know? Don’t’cha remember how it was when you were still new?”

“Exactly like this,” Deuce said.

“You guys literally hazed me,” Yuu said.

“In our defense, that was funny,” said Ace.

“It was not.”

(It was.)

Jack raised an eyebrow. “What did you do to Yuu?”

Epel opened his mouth.

“Tell him and go to bed hungry.”

“We did nothin’ at all,” Epel said, sweetly.

Yuu narrowed his eyes, as if he wasn’t sure whether he liked that response, either.

But, he did make them all food, so it must not have offended him too much.

(He set a portion outside of Sebek’s door, and regardless of whether Sebek had forgiven them all yet or not he still ate it).

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful, save for a couple of debriefings about what they found – nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed, which makes sense, there’s a reason why it’s called ‘the ordinary’, after all.

They turned in pretty quickly, tired and sore from traversing unknown environments.

The following week was… also pretty uneventful, all things considered.

Deuce couldn’t call his job fun. It was, in the end, a job – and one that paid a low wage at that. He would spend a few hours underwater, looking for and trying to capture various fish, and then head back to the base to analyze any specimens he happened to lure into traps.

The most interesting thing that happened was that one of his traps ended up broken, somehow. It had probably lured a fish that was a little too big for it. Deuce hadn’t seen any fish large enough to do that yet, but they surely had to exist. He made a mental note that, if he wanted to use that particular type of bait again, he’d have to make the trap larger.

Outside of that, it was pretty boring. Hell, even considering that, it was still painfully dull.

You would think that exploring an alien planet would be interesting. It had been on the first few missions. But, in the end, fish were still fish. Slick body to traverse water faster, something sharp to tear apart food if it didn’t simply swallow it whole, fins or webbed limbs…

Well, frankly, Deuce couldn’t say he entirely understood why any of his work was seen as ‘necessary’. He was happy to be paid, of course, but the only benefit he could see to any of this was a possible food source. And they weren’t even sending the specimens to NRC, nor were they putting any of them in their mouths to taste test them, so it wasn’t that!

He groaned as he dragged himself ashore, his body aching just slightly as gravity was forced upon him once again. Deuce set his bag of collected fish in the tank. The temperature of the water wasn’t any different from that of the sea he had just been in, so he wasted no time in releasing the fish. He watched them rush out, into the water, crowding in the corners, as far away from Deuce as they could get, joining the other fish in the tank.

Some of these were natural predators, cowering alongside their prey, but in the face of something larger than them the fish weren’t all that hungry, it seemed.

He watched the fish swim around for a few minutes, mulling over the pros and cons of getting some decorations for ‘his’ aquarium, before turning his attention back to the task at hand. He pulled the mouthpiece of his oxygen tank from his mouth, grimacing as the planet’s air rushed into his lungs in its stead.

The air wasn’t necessarily bad, it was breathable, but it was about akin to the air on a mountaintop – crisp, fresh, and entirely too thin for comfort.

Deuce took a few gulps of air, his chest already aching just slightly, before waving frantically at a nearby security camera.

It only took a few minutes before a familiar face stepped out. Yuu walked over, visibly taking a moment to steel himself before taking his own oxygen mask off. “We should be doing this inside.”

“I’m saving us both time,” Deuce shrugged. “You’re going to be out here for a while. A couple of the fish I’ve found can jump out of the water, so I can’t contain any of those live specimens right now. Can you increase the walls’ height some?”

“Sure,” Yuu said, though he seemed preemptively exhausted at the prospect of doing more work. “How much higher do you think I’ve got to go?”

“Maybe a meter?” Deuce said. He hadn’t seen the fish jump that high, yet, but it would be best to keep things on the safe side, he thought.

Yuu flashed a thumbs up, and Deuce headed inside, and that was that.

For the next few days.

Deuce dragged himself over the wall, flopping into the aquarium, fighting the urge to pant, as he really didn’t need seawater in their lungs.

He pulled his bag o’ fish from his waistband and turned to the tank at large.

Only to pause.

Slowly, he let go of his bag, barely paying it any mind as it slowly sank to the bottom of the tank, the fish squirming inside making it ripple strangely. Not that he watched it for long. He looked around. The aquarium hadn’t been fully furnished yet, it only had a few places for fish to hide.

But they weren’t anywhere to be seen.

Bubbles streamed from his nose as he groaned, and he pushed his way back up to the surface. He clambered right back out of the tank, and strode over to the airlock, his foot tapping impatiently as he waited to get inside. The moment he could, he yanked out his oxygen feeder, ignoring the slight burn in the back of his throat, and yelled, “Yuu!”

It took several minutes for his coworker to appear, and when he did it was reluctantly, poking his head around the corner and eyeing Deuce like he was scared Deuce might take a knife to him. He was considering it, so this was a valid fear to have.

“What’s up?” Yuu asked.

“I told you to let me change the water in the tank,” Deuce said, pointing at the now-empty water. “They’ve all escaped, now, and I’ll have to –.”

“I didn’t change the water, though?” Yuu cut in, frowning.

“Wait, what?” Deuce said, utterly bewildered. If Yuu hadn’t let the fish go on accident, where did they go? He frowned. “You’re lying to me, aren’t you.”

“I’m really not…?” Yuu said, slowly approaching the glass, squinting into the brine. He seemed genuinely confused to find that the fish really were all gone. “Do you think they escaped or something? You said they could jump and all…”

“I said that some of them could jump,” Deuce said. “And none of the species I caught yesterday could.”

Yuu could only shake his head. “It wasn’t me. Check the newbie, maybe?”

But Sebek didn’t know anything, either.

Deuce ran a hand through his hair, turning around to go to check the security cameras, only to jump when a hand caught him by the arm.

Deuce glanced back at Sebek. “Yeah?”

Sebek, absently, shook out his hand, his palm red from the remains of the acidic water Deuce had long since learned to tolerate. For a moment, he didn’t speak, mulling things over with a slightly red face.

“Uh…”

“Is there any chance that there are intelligent lifeforms on this planet!” Sebek burst out.

For a moment, thanks to the tone, Deuce didn’t even register it as a question. He just stared, blankly, at Sebek as his mind struggled to catch up.

And, even once he had processed it, he remained silent, unsure.

The short answer was ‘No’, but that probably wouldn’t be enough of an answer to satisfy him. Deuce was stuck trying to recall what they did before sending people to new planets. It had been on a test, once, but Deuce had never been one to go over past exams to see what he got right and wrong, so he wasn’t sure whether he even knew the answer then. Ace would have been a better person to ask.

But Sebek was looking at him, surprisingly vulnerable, and Deuce couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for him.

The first few missions, regardless of the wonders you might come across, were always the most nerve-wracking. And Sebek had gotten assigned to the Wastelands, so it wasn’t as if he had all that much beautiful stuff to look at to make up for all of the terror.

“Let’s see… I mean, firstly, we try to pick up radio waves on the planet to see if anything has developed tech yet, and then we start looking for complex cave systems…”

He was probably forgetting some things, but those were the most important ones, he was pretty sure.

Sebek didn’t seem that much calmer, but he nodded once and said, “Thanks!”

Deuce nodded, slightly, and then continued off towards the camera room.

Yuu was sitting in their usual chair by the cameras, their eyes glued to the screens.

“How did you miss what happened to my fish when watching over things is your literal job?” Deuce asked.

Yuu glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, briefly, before fixing back on the camera feed once again. “Besides the fact that I need to eat, sleep, and bathe sometimes?”

Deuce winced a little at the pointed tone, feeling a little bit like a child being reminded that their mom actually had a life outside of them. “Send the camera feed from today to my tablet?”

With a few swipes of Yuu’s fingers, Deuce now had a huge file to scrub through. He dropped into the chair beside Yuu’s, smiling a little when the wheels rolled him back a few paces, and then started going through the footage.

It was, for the most part, uneventful. The fish darted about their aquarium at super speed thanks to the magic of video editing, but outside of that it wasn’t all that stimulating to watch. His eyes glazed over.

Until something large dropped into the tank.

He didn’t get a great view of it, it was large to the point of being excessive. A long line of deep green scales, writhing about, covering the camera on accident.

Ah, so this was one of the larger predators of this world. Deuce had to admit, it was quite the jump from the smaller-than-his-torso fish he had been observing thus far.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. They could build the walls of the aquarium higher, but then Deuce would have to climb it while soaking wet, and the fish he brought back might die in the process of climbing up and down. This also assumed that the animal couldn’t climb ladders either, which wasn’t guaranteed…

“Yuu, I need you to do something for me,” Deuce said.

Yuu gave a quiet hum to show he was listening.

“If this thing –” Deuce held up the tablet for Yuu to get as good of a look at it as was possible “– comes back, I need you to tranquilize it.”

But, two weeks later, Deuce came back to an empty tank.

He groaned, frustrated, and started making his way through the base…

Only to stop cold when he noticed blood trailing along the floor, slowly leading toward Yuu’s bedroom.

Deuce knocked, quietly.

Yuu, inside, hissed a curse. Things collided with other things on the other side of the door.

At least he wasn’t dead.

After a few seconds, Yuu’s door slid open, to reveal that it might have been a close thing. Yuu’s skin was paler than it should have been, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.

“What happened?” Deuce said.

“Tranqs didn’t work,” Yuu said, shortly.

The door slammed shut in his face.

Deuce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Alright, well. He supposed he would just have to trap the thing through other means.

The next month was… frustrating.

Nets wouldn’t keep it for long (the net he used was sliced to shreds, it had sharp teeth and/or claws). Slamming a ‘lid’ shut on top of it ended in a hole burrowed through expensive metal (a large portion of the scratches were made on the outside, suggesting it might have had help). It learned what sensors looked like, forcing Deuce to hide them better and better.

Deuce wanted to catch the thing alive, but that seemed less and less possible as time went on.

He sat in his lab, watching the aquarium, his eyes drooping as he waited for it to show up.

Deuce couldn’t say for sure how intelligent the thing was. Even the most simple of creatures were capable of learning patterns. All he knew was that it was actively ruining everything he tried to do, and the higher-ups were going to get impatient sooner or later.

So, it had to go. One way or another.

A loud splash drew his attention, and he jolted into awareness.

It was long and green – it had probably evolved to hide among the kelp-like fauna nearby. He couldn’t tell where it ended, the tip of its tail was hidden somewhere in the mess of swirling limbs.

It was looking right back at him. It didn’t have a face in the way humans did, certainly wouldn’t be expected to emote like one, but the way it had gone as still as anything in the water could spoke of an otherwise unexpressed surprise. It looked like asking Yuu to head out into the water in his stead had worked, it had been convinced he was gone for the day… it had been waiting for him to leave.

Deuce peered into the animal’s eyes. It didn’t blink, but then again most fish don’t have visible eyelids.

Slowly, it drifted closer to the glass, peering at him. Inky, black eyes, and yet he had no doubts that it was looking solely at him.

The glass separating them would keep it from trying anything. It had arms, but no legs, so it was an entirely water-based creature, and the oxygen in the base was even more concentrated than the air outside. It wouldn’t last long in here.

Despite knowing this, Deuce longed for the knife that he carried around with him while diving. For it had a wicked set of claws, and its mouth was full of long, thin, razor-sharp teeth. It was definitely a carnivore.

Deuce took a deep breath to steady himself, before approaching the glass, slowly circling it. The animal followed him around the tank, making it hard to get a good gauge of its actual size.

He sighed, pulling his tablet from beneath his lab coat and pressing a button.

A lid slammed down on top of the tank.

The being floated there, once again, seeming almost offended.

Deuce sighed, and with another tap on his screen, the water in the tank began to slide out through a barely visible set of tubes at the bottom. It was supposed to be used to clear out the water before it got too dirty and made the specimens ill, but it was perfectly capable of killing a particularly annoying specimen for him, too.

Said specimen didn’t seem… particularly thrilled that the water level was shrinking.

It threw itself at the new ceiling, beating against the metal.

It wouldn’t be able to get out in time. Deuce was pretty sure that it knew that.

It threw itself at the ground, trying to stop the water from spilling out. Then, it seemed to realize that this wasn’t going to help in the long run, because it’s head jerked right back up to the top of the tank. For a moment, it wavered, before it swam right back up to the top, banging its fists on the metal, trying to make even a dent.

Deuce swallowed thickly.

It had to be done. If not for the sake of science, then for the sake of his job security. This thing was messing with his ability to do his job, and Deuce’s superiors weren’t exactly known for their leniency. If it was between Deuce’s ability to support himself and his mother, and… whatever this was…

Well, the choice had been made.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t horrifying to watch. Usually, Deuce tried to ensure that all the specimens he took had the quickest, most painless deaths possible. Yuu had said that the tranquilizer gun hadn’t worked, though, so Deuce really wasn’t sure how to incapacitate the thing, let alone put it out of its misery.

Should he – should he leave?

His job had never felt particularly invasive. Sure, he was dissecting dead animals, but it wasn’t as if he did it in a particularly cruel way. The deaths were quick, the dissections were purposeful and never extended past what he was required to do for his job.

This was just…

And then the specimen threw itself at the glass.

What the – huh?!

Sharp claws and teeth scratched at the glass. Its tail beat against the thin wall separating itself from Deuce. But it didn’t seem like it was doing it blindly. The second its tail managed to make a small spiderweb of cracks appear in the glass, it zeroed in on that area, beating its fists against it.

It was a water animal! It wouldn’t last in the lab! What was it doing?!

Deuce hugged his tablet to his chest, his eyes wide.

Was it… trying to take him down with it?

A shiver ran through Deuce.

He’d faced off against plenty of beasts in his time working for NRC, and none of those fights had been done in the comfort of his own home, but at least in the water he was prepared to fight for his life at any moment.

This was his home turf. He should have a home-field advantage.

But he felt terribly wrongfooted. He was supposed to be safe here.

He turned tail and ran, making sure to close the door to the lab behind himself, locking the entire room off. He couldn’t care less if all the equipment flooded and ruined. It was an expensive debt to get into, but he could worry about the bill when he got his nice, cushy job as a lab manager instead of an assistant.

He would much rather deal with debt than death.

But, when he finally mustered the courage to check the security cameras to see whether it had managed to break through the aquarium, an hour later…

Well, he found the ‘cage’ empty.

And the question of debt versus death became much more serious.

He couldn’t go back into the water. Whether the thing had escaped on its own or with help, whether or not the thing had died, none of that mattered. Its ‘helper’ wouldn’t be fond of him, and they knew that he left the base every day for work, and he was dead.

Deuce sat in his bed for the next few days, staring at the ceiling.

You would think that someone would spend their last days doing… something. That one thing they’d always wanted to do, but what could he do? He was on an alien planet, and all of his coworkers were stuck in their jobs, so all he had was a tablet.

Nothing on the Internet seemed interesting.

Hell, it was so boring that he almost wanted to go out into the water and get things over with.

Almost.

He ran a hand through his hair.

Being bored was better than being dead.

Should he write his mom a letter? He certainly had the time.

But that would make it too real.

Was it selfish of him to want his mom to think that his last days were normal? Happy, even?

He didn’t know.

He wasn’t sure whether he would ever know.

But he had a lot of time to think it over.

The aquarium was broken, so he had an excuse not to go out (where would he put the fish he captured?), but they would expect him to get back into the field once everything was fixed.

Deuce asked Yuu to take their time with the repairs. Yuu did slow down, but Deuce wasn’t sure whether this was because he had asked or if Yuu was just that tired – the bags under his eyes were getting large enough to hold some of the fish Deuce caught.

But all of this was just stalling. They weren’t set to go home for a few more months.

Silently, as they waited for Yuu to finish cooking dinner, the day construction had finished, Deuce added up all of the money he now owed NRC, thanks to everything the monster had broken in its desperation to get out. It was… not a meager sum, to say the least. If he never took a break ever again, it would take him ten years to pay it off, even if he managed to get promoted within three years like he was supposed to. If he didn’t get promoted – and he definitely wouldn’t, if he were to abandon a mission – it would take upwards of thirty years for him to pay it all off with his current salary.

And there was no way he would survive thirty years of this.

On the other hand, if he simply died, his debt would be cleared in an instant.

Deuce felt a hand clap him on the shoulder. He sent Jack a wobbly smile.

“It was nice knowin’ ya, Deuce,” Epel said, leaning back in his chair. He said it in a joking tone, but it didn’t feel quite as lighthearted as he was probably intending it to be.

Deuce thought back over the time he had spent at the Corporation. They had never had something like this before, where they knew ahead of time that someone was on their last few days. It was always sudden, someone taken from them ‘too soon’.

He wondered if this was better or worse.

“Don’t talk like that,” Ace said, grinning. “The guy has plot armor or something, he’ll probably luck his way into killing those things and clearing his debt all in one.”

Yuu set a plate of omurice down in front of Deuce. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. Unfortunately, he felt sick at the mere thought of crying – water was the last thing he wanted to touch him at the moment.

The next day, he stood at the small hatch that would let him out into the ocean.

No one had come to see him off.

Work waits for no man, he supposed.

Deuce swallowed thickly.

He shoved his breathing tube into his mouth, grimacing just slightly as he felt it stick to the front of his throat, carefully winding its way down his larynx, before spreading itself out to make sure that nothing but its oxygen could sneak its way into his respiratory system.

He hadn’t missed this.

But he almost wished he was young again, that he had gagged and struggled to get it down his throat like he had back in his early days, that he had more time.

He didn’t.

He dove into the water and started swimming, as close to the surface as he could get, as far away from anywhere the monsters could hide…

But they didn’t try to sneak up on him, instead the monster simply poked its head out of a small gap in the rocks, not even large enough for Deuce to squeeze through without fearing he’d scuff up his oxygen tank.

Slowly, languidly, it swam up to him.

Its tail seemed to stretch on forever.

He kept his hand on the knife at his hip.

It swam around him, just out of reach, in large circles, its winding tail following it wherever it went. Deuce got the impression of a boa constrictor just waiting to tighten around its victim.

His heart thudded wildly in his chest. He wondered if it could feel the vibrations in the water.

Deuce flinched when he felt a touch, almost feather-light, on his oxygen tank, immediately jerking away from the curious hands, his knife at the ready.

It almost seemed to smile at him.

No, that was ascribing human traits to animals.

It was baring its teeth. A warning he wasn’t stupid enough to ignore.

But one he wasn’t fast enough to react to.

There was a hissing sound, and Deuce’s mouth filled with water. He gasped instinctually, only to choke. It burned his throat, his lungs, his eyes –.

He turned to find himself looking at another, identical creature.

It spat a piece of metal at him.

Oh.

That…

Wasn’t good.

He kicked off of its chest, taking a moment to get his bearings by looking for where the kelp touched the ground, before booking it towards the surface.

His fingers brushed against the crest of a wave, slipping out into the open air.

A hand grabbed his tank, yanking him downwards once again.

He spat the tube out of his mouth, ignoring the way metal scraped up the inside of his throat, sliding the oxygen tank off of his shoulders. He threw it at the creatures. It was useless now anyway. If they wanted it, they could have it.

He kicked his way to the surface.

Never had the thin air ever been such a relief before. He coughed up water, the taste of blood on his tongue, his legs still swinging wildly to help him tread water even as he struggled to clear his lungs.

Something grabbed him by the ankle and he screamed as he was dragged back under, the little air he’d gotten spilling from between his lips.

He found himself staring into the eyes of a creature that was more of a congealed mass of limbs than anything else. Millions of eyes stared back at him; trailing after the bubbles that were slipping away from him; watching the two creatures from earlier as they neared, one of them holding his oxygen tank like a prize.

For a moment, Deuce was frozen, simply staring at the creatures that he should be observing, but were instead watching him, as if he were something interesting.

A shiver ran through him, and it wasn’t just because of the frigid waters.

He tugged, frantically, at the tentacle wound around his leg, digging his fingers into the flesh, poking at all of the eyes that he could reach. The creature didn’t seem to care. If it was hurt by his efforts, then it was too enthralled by drowning him to do anything about it.

Deuce’s vision blurred at the edges, a black vignette washing over his vision.

And then he was pushed back to the surface.

Deuce nearly choked on the air. It was as if his body had gotten used to the water, and was now protesting the idea of oxygen, as if he hadn’t breathed it for his entire life.

He keeled over against the tentacle that he had just been attacking, digging his fingers in once again, but this time for support.

He gagged on his own tongue.

He threw up nothing but water.

Despite the sorry state he was in, he couldn’t help but be relieved.

They were toying with him… which meant, eventually, they would grow bored, right?

Please.

The creatures lay just beneath the waves, watching him.

Slowly, a hand reached out of the water, scales shimmering in the sunlight, and poked at his goggles.

He didn’t try and bat it away. He’d learned his lesson with that. And, besides, he wasn’t sure his body was really responding to him anymore. The lack of oxygen made moving strange, like he was still underwater, moving through the murk, his movements sluggish, dragged down by an unseen force.

They continued to pull at his goggles, until the band holding them to his head snapped.

He whimpered.

His fingers, slowly, detached from the creature, fumbling to his waist. His tools. His bag for fish – he wasn’t sure why he’d even bothered to bring it. A flashlight. The place where his knife usually rested, though he had lost that to the brine at some point…

His emergency flare!

He pointed it directly at the monster beneath him, and fired.

A hole tore itself through several of the creature’s limbs. No blood entered the water, the flare’s heat had instantly cauterized all of the wounds it made. But that didn’t keep it from hurting. The monster screeched, flinging him away from itself.

Deuce was skidded across the surface of the water, and then began to sink.

His goggles were gone, and any attempt to open his eyes to get his bearings only ended with pain and blurry vision. He was helpless. Literally blind and deaf and he was going to die.

But he had to swim. Somewhere. Anywhere. Away.

Hands grabbed him by the shoulders, and within seconds his back was slamming against the sea floor.

The air left his lungs again.

A heavy weight settled atop him, forcing him further into the ground, forcing the surface just that much further away.

He was deep underwater. There was no light poking at the back of his eyelids. No sunlight could reach quite this far beneath the waves. Even if the monsters let him go again to watch him struggle, even if he swam at top speed, he feared he wouldn’t make it to the surface in time.

Nonononono…

He shoved at the monster, broken sobs spilling from his lips, even if all sound had been muted by the currents, kicking and punching even if he knew that the water was weakening his blows.

It was useless. He knew it was useless. But what choice did he have? He couldn’t just let them kill him.

Sharp claws dug into his clothes in return, yanking his wetsuit open, tearing his tools away from him.

Another set of hands joined the first one, digging into the skin of his sides, and he writhed as teeth sunk into his ribs. He couldn’t even scream anymore. There was no oxygen left, simply more water, and if it was cycling in and out with every ‘breath’ then he wouldn’t know.

Until he did. The taste of his own blood filled his nose, his mouth, his lungs.

His tears were lost in the water.

#deuce spade #ace trappola #twst yuu #jack howl #epel felmier #sebek zigvolt #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #octavinelle #first years twst

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