#well...almost all of them~

[iamvegorott]

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt22

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Yet another week passed, a peaceful week, well, as peaceful as the Septiceye House could be with Anti always trying to find something fun to do. But nothing too chaotic happened in that week and Marvin had agreed to go out on another one of Jackie’s patrols, wanting an excuse to go to the little bakery and get a sweet treat. It wasn’t hard to convince Jackie to make a stop during his routine for something chocolatey. 

“I meant to ask you a while ago, but what other jobs do you do aside from security?” Marvin said after he and Jackie claimed a little booth in the bakery. He had a chocolate muffin in front of him while Jackie had a muffin as well but he also had two cookies and a slice of apple pie that he couldn’t resist getting since it just came out of the oven. 

“The security stuff is like my usual go-to ‘cause of my strength.” Jackie took a large bite of the pie, smiling at the flavor for a moment as he chewed. “Does being a bodyguard count as something different?” 

“I’d say so. Watching over a location and watching over a person seem very different.” Marvin picked up a fork and used it on his muffin. 

“Dude, no.” Jackie stared in disbelief. 

“What?”

“You’re using a fork for your muffin?”

“It’s cleaner to eat it this way.” 

“It’s a muffin.”

“You’re using a fork.”

“For a pie.”

“Same thing. Dessert forks.”

“I’m going to explode.”

“You’re not going to explode.”

“I’m dying.”

“You’re dramatic.” Marvin loaded his fork again and held it toward Jackie. “You’re not going to die if you eat some muffin from a fork.” 

“I can feel my atoms splitting as we speak.” Jackie exaggerated a shiver, noise, and all. 

“Eat the muffin bite.” Marvin leaned over the table and had the fork closer to Jackie. 

“My particles are parting.” 

“Your particles are fine.” 

“Death is coming for me.”

“I’m about to crawl over this table and shove this fork into your mouth if you don’t do it yourself.” 

“I want everyone to wear superhero outfits at my funeral.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Marvin rolled his eyes as Jackie ate the muffin from his fork. “Look at that. No atoms splitting or particles parting, you’re in one piece.” 

“I feel like I committed a war crime.” 

“You are such a-” 

“Dork?” Jackie finished with a chuckle when Marvin’s phone ringing cut off his comment.

“A massive one,” Marvin added, taking his phone out and seeing that it was Chase calling. “Hello?”

“Hey, Marvin. Let Jackie know he needs to charge his phone and I need you two back at the House.” Chase said through the phone. 

“Wait, why?” 

“You’re going to be meeting the Ipliers.”

x~x~x

Marvin thought the Septiceye House was large but the Iplier Manor was massive. He felt like a Barbie-sized doll going into a house and not a grown man. 

“People live here?” Marvin asked Jackie in a whisper, the two of them sticking to the back of the group as Chase knocked on the door. 

“Yeah. just wait, it gets fancier.” Jackie whispered back. 

“I’m so surprised.” Marvin’s voice was laced with sarcasm. 

“Welcome, come in, we’re just waiting for the others and we can begin.” Dark greeted them after opening the door, stepping aside and gesturing with his hand for them to enter. 

“I think my particles are parting,” Marvin muttered. 

“And you call me dramatic.” Jackie teased and quickly scrambled into the Manor when Marvin gave him a look. 

“Good afternoon,” Dark stated flatly to Marvin as he came into the building last. “Do you plan on behaving like a brat again?” 

“Do you plan on removing the metal rod from your ass?” Marvin matched Dark’s tone. 

“Bad idea, bad idea,” Jackie said to himself as he scrambled back over. “Should not have left you alone with him.” He slipped between the two and turned Marvin around by his shoulders and walked away with him. 

“I think me and Dark get along swimmingly.” Marvin’s sarcasm was back in full force. “Soon we’ll be braiding each other’s hair and talking about cute boys.” 

“I sure hope I make it into that talk.” A new voice said with a deep chuckle. 

“Cowboy?” Marvin said when he saw the newest Iplier, blinking as his form took on his unique one.

“Adventurer.” The Iplier corrected, tilting his hat before bowing a bit, taking hold of one of Marvin’s hands, and kissing the knuckles. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said with a wink. 

“A flirty cowboy.” Marvin hummed. The man straightened up with another chuckle. 

“Wilford wasn’t joking when he said you have a fun mouth on you. I can see why Jackie enjoys your company.” The man’s grin turned toward Jackie, gesturing to his hands that were still on Marvin’s shoulders. 

“Well, I just-we’re-we’re just-he’s a good-he’s a good friend.” Jackie sputtered as he dropped his hands and then used them to point to the person whose name he spoke; “Marvin, Illinois. Illinois, Marvin.” He tried to change the subject with his next sentence. “Illinois was the one that taught me the waltz.” 

“Now, that’s not shocking,” Marvin picked up on how Illinois seemed to like to tease. It wasn’t too far of a stretch for someone very flirty to be like that as well.  

“Did he dip you?” Illinois asked.

“He did,” Marvin said with a light nod.

“I was showing off,” Jackie weakly laughed. 

“A dip is a good way of doing that.” Illinois chuckled, eyes shifting to the side before returning and he grinned. “And I am going to steal Jackie here for a moment.” He wrapped an arm across Jackie’s shoulder and walked off with him. 

“A good friend?” Illinois asked in a soft tone, making sure no one else could hear them over their own conversations. 

“Yeah. Like, we clicked really fast and he’s a good friend.” Jackie matched Illinois’ level. 

“Usually good friends don’t look like they want to yank off my head for doing my usual introduction.” Illinois hummed.

“I’m protective, you know that. When we went on that security job together some creep was like, being all creepy with him and I…I might have almost broken his shoulder.” Jackie admitted the last part quickly, it sounding like one word. 

“Jackie,” Illinois said the name in shock. “You’re not one to normally do something like that.” 

“He was making Marvin uncomfortable.” Jackie rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Are we still going with the ‘just a good friend’ route? Because that sounds like you’re getting jealous.” Illinois poked Jackie’s chest. 

“No. No, it’s not.” Jackie pushed Illinois’ hand away. “If the creep was creeping on anyone, I would have done the same for them.” 

“Would have stepped in, of course, you are a hero after all, but you wouldn’t almost shatter a shoulder,” Illinois said. “Did you tell Chase about that?”

“No. He would have grounded me big time if I did.”

“Maybe you should talk to him. I know we’re pals but he knows you a lot more than me, might be able to pick at your brain and see if you were just being a hero, or if there’s more going on in that heart of yours.” 

“Nothing is-” Jackie stopped himself and sighed. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I talk to Chase.”

“You know it.” Illinois winked.

“Fine.” Jackie slumped his body in a bit of a pout. “But I’m not going to like it.”

“You might.” Illinois patted Jackie’s back and then let him go, walking off while Jackie turned to see where Marvin was. He chuckled when he saw Marvin standing with the Jims, the other set of twins, and wasn’t shocked at how Marvin looked very confused as the Jims rambled to each other.

“Magic.”

“Magic.”

“Not chaos magic.”

“No, no. No chaos. Just magic.”

“No demons.”

“No demons.” 

“Jackie, I can’t tell if I’m having a stroke or I really need a nap,” Marvin said as Jackie joined him. 

“They are the Jims. He’s RJ and he’s CJ.” Jackie first pointed to the Iplier with a microphone in his hands and then to the one with a camera on his shoulder. “Reporter Jim and Camerman Jim.” 

“They’ve been calling me cat Jim,” Marvin said. 

“They do that. I’m hero Jim.” Jackie had a proud grin. 

“I can’t tell if this is adorable or if I should be running for the hills.” 

“Everyone has a Jim name if that helps.” 

“Guess I’ll get my cardio workout in later.” Marvin chuckled. “How many more do I need to meet?”

“Five, well, six if you count Blank.” Jackie counted with his fingers, putting down four of them and then pointing. “That guy talking with Henrik is Dr. Iplier or Edward as we all call him. He’s the Iplier’s doc like how Hen is ours.” 

“So, he’s their dad?” Marvin asked with another chuckle. 

“I think Dark has that title.” 

“The way I would always be running away from home if Dark was my parent. Not even teenage rebellion, I’d be running right after birth.” 

“Would you believe me if I said the newest Iplier did?” Jackie chuckled. 

“Oh? Now you have to give me all the details.” Marvin couldn’t help his curiosity from peeking through. 

“Maybe not while he’s in the room.” Jackie scratched his cheek with a finger. 

“Hey, dude! You must be Marvin!” One of the Ipliers Marvin hadn’t met yet rolled on his heels over to them. Marvin had to admit, with the other Ipliers he’s experienced, he wasn’t expecting someone with bright orange sunglasses and a black tank top. The b that was on the shirt looked familiar and he swore it was glowing.

“You are going to scare him, you nearly did the same with Madrick when he arrived.” Another Iplier joined, this one wearing basic glasses, and his blue t-shirt had a glowing G. Did they have lights in their shirts?

“Maddy’s warmed up to me, man. He just had to get used to the vibe.” The first Iplier did a little wave with his arms. “Plus, like, the dude was ready to literally set everyone but Mare on fire, so I have some laxness in that. Robbo loved me though when we first met.”

“Does he own a skateboard, by chance?” Marvin asked Jackie. 

“He does,” Jackie said.

“I knew it.” 

“Let’s get our introductions finished so we can continue with our day. We are completely off schedule and this new vision is only making it worse.” The second Iplier sighed.

“Vision?” Marvin was asking Jackie again.

“When everyone gets here, it’ll be explained.” Jackie gave a nervous smile. 

“Alright, man, alright.” The first Iplier faced Marvin again. “I’m Bing and this mud-puddle here is Googs.” 

“Google.” The second Iplier corrected.

“Like the search engines?” Marvin was going to ask if those were nicknames, but given how ‘Googs’ seemed to be the nickname, it was likely their actual names. Not too odd considering some of the other names he’s experienced. 

“Exactly! We’re androids, dude.” Bing had the biggest grin.

“Androids?” Marvin definitely wasn’t expecting that. Magic he was used to, androids that moved, breathed, and looked like the average human, was sci-fi and he didn’t dwell much into that genre.

“Yes. We were formed with wires.” Google placed a hand on his arm and opened his skin like a panel, showing said wires and lights and other technical gadgets Marvin would never understand the function of.

“Googs!” Bing quickly closed the opening. “Come on, man, you know we can’t just show off our insides. You’re gonna, like, traumatize the newbie.” 

“Madrick was interested in it,” Google stated.

“Maddy’s a big nerd, he likes that stuff. Not everyone is the same, dude.” 

“Oh. My apologies.” 

“I have no idea how to feel about this situation anymore.” Marvin blinked a few times. Did seeing an android’s wires under their…skin count as gore? Should he be traumatized?

“Hey, look, it’s Yancy.” Jackie waved a hand over to an Iplier that came out and went over to Illinois. The Iplier, Yancy, shot a smile and wave back to Jackie before his hand was taken by Illinois and they walked off together.

“Is he in a prison outfit?” Marvin asked. “Or does he just really like black and white stripes?” 

“Prison. I don’t know the full story, the only person that does is Illinois.” Jackie shrugged. “He likes musicals.”

“I’m getting whiplash.” 

“Sorry, we’re late.” Mare’s voice spoke as he, Phantom, Mad, and, who Marvin assumed was Blank, appeared in the middle of the room.

“I’m really getting whiplash.” Marvin rubbed his temples with his hand. 

“Blank’s change came in late and we wanted to wait until he finished before using magic on him,” Mare explained. 

“Robbie!” Blank, a young child, squeaked as he ran over to Robbie, also a young child. “I’m six!”

“Me too!” Robbie was also squeaking, the two children were very happy about being the same age. 

“RJ, CJ, take Blank and Robbie to the playroom and I will come to get you all when we are finished.”

“Yes, dad Jim!” RJ and CJ both saluted before taking off with the children. 

“Dad Jim?” Marvin repeated with a snort. 

“Hush.” Dark snapped as he walked past. Marvin was about to snark but stopped when he noticed the weird shift in the air, everyone moving and following Dark.

“It’s time to do the thing,” Jackie said. “The vision thing.” 

“Then we can go back to the House?” Marvin walked alongside Jackie.

“Yeah. Wanna play Stardew Valley tonight?” Jackie offered. 

“That sounds nice.” Marvin smiled, watching everyone go through a set of double doors. He stepped in before Jackie and paused when he saw the last Iplier. 

He sat at the end of a table, arms resting on the surface and hands on top of each other. He sat up straight and faced forward. None of that was strange but the bloody cloth wrapped around his eyes is what caused Marvin to hesitate. 

“That’s Host,” Jackie said. “He’s our vision guy.” 

[noopypng]

nice moment before the inevitable

[cerealmonster15]

PITAYA DRAGON COOKIE PLEASE WEIGH IN ON YOUR BATTLE WIFE'S NEW LOOK

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[shadesoftheshield]

Seth Rollins on WWE RAW

June 2, 2014 | April 14, 2025

[tommygotwrittenoff]

i literally do not care about big emergencies on abc's 911. i want to see my characters talk to each other and have stories that are parallels to small, everyday (everyday for first responders) emergencies

[simkoos]

╰┈➤ hot singles in your area 💘💌

⇢ caiphus buchanan, 25 - sweet, mysterious, ideal date consists of smoking a bowl, watching old-school horror movies and ordering snacks from uber eats at 2am

⇢ alexis oliver, 21 - 90's fashion aficionado, was told she looks like aaliyah once and won't let anyone forget about it smh. will probably swipe right on any guy with frosted tips

⇢ benson hedrick, 26 - works a boring 9-5, recently moved into a townhome in san sequoia and adopted a puppy but still feels a bit lonely

⇢ claire roberts, 27 - nepo baby, nursing student, always gets what she wants except a date to the bi-weekly galas...

⇢ daniel nevarez, 23 - made an account because a friend dared him to, has already gotten a few messages (mostly from women in their 40's but he's not complaining!)

⇢ julianna lin, 24 - party girl, probably the toxic one in relationships, prefers men up to 3x her age

⇢ noah palamo, 31 - originally from selvadorada but has recently relocated to brindleton bay. single and hating it. wants his future partner to love the outdoors as much as he does and won't mind living off the grid by the lake

⇢ rebecca noble, 26 - nursing student, dog mom, claire's quirky best friend. they also constantly match with each other on dating apps....

⇢ rosaura mendez, 34 - bartender, knows how to have a good time (iykyk). recently went through a messy break up with her ex-boyfriend, now wants to explore her options

⇢ avyaan parekh, 28 - professional dj from san myshuno, recently came out to his parents (who suggested he'd hop on one those dating apps to find true love. wish him luck!!)

⇢ theo stone, 36 - gym coach, health nut, wants someone to show him there's more to life than repetition, routine and choosing the right pre-workout

⇢ kendra jameson, 22 - 1st grade teacher's aide from oasis springs, kinda shy, has a crush on her mentor but knows it'll never work out so she created an account instead

⇢ kira travis, 26 - small jewelry business owner from willow creek, loves to travel, moves way too fast in relationships. once married a guy while on vacation in windenburg and got a divorce a week later. let's hope that never happens again!!

⇢ fred "manfredi valentino" valentine, 63 - owns 2 casinos in tartosa, 3 maseratis and a luxury penthouse but is pretty lonely since his wife unfortunately passed away. spends his free time going to yacht parties, gambling and spoiling his 8 grandchildren

⇢ kole fuller, 27 - in a band (guitarist and main vocalist), knows a lot of sims but doesn't have many friends outside of his bandmates and neighbors, would probably be the sweetest golden retriever boyfriend

[violentdelightshavevioletends]

“Dain is just an imperfect 21-year-old kid who trusted his dad, and is a little over-protective telling his chronically ill friend to sit the fuck down.”

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Just made one of my favorite gifs ever methinks

[keferon]

Two Peas in a Pod: part 4/?

Hopefully the dialog isn't confusing.

______________________________

"Still dizzy?" 

"Not really," Jazz answered with a comfortable smile, though stole a quick glance over to the gate. The first since Blaster had arrived for the morning routine. The other mer wasn't awake yet last he saw, but he was shifting more. The medication had obviously long worn off by now, but Jazz still hoped they weren't in too much pain. 

But Blaster noticed and it prompted him to pause his checks to ask, "did he wake up last night?" 

"Kinda? He could have been talking in his sleep though." 

"Hm, there's a good chance he'll be up soon, then." 

Jazz's expression of his usual cheerfulness shifted, just slightly and if it had been anyone other than Blaster, they would have missed it. He flipped the clipboard over in his lap and rested his elbows against his crossed legs. 

"You're nervous," Blaster pointed out gently and gave Jazz an encouraging smile. "Is this about their injuries, or is this about making a friend?" 

The mer's face soured and he looked away. "I thought I wasn't supposed to ask." 

"That was about the gate, and I'm sorry about that." It was just the two of them on the pier, but Blaster still practised a surveying sweep of the area with what looked like stretching. Then with a lower voice, he continued, "The Vet Chief wanted to fully isolate them from you, to keep them in a transfer-crate, at least until the injuries had a low risk of reopening. I argued that it would put them under a lot of undue stress, and you because you knew the Mer was here. Which is part of why it took so long for–" 

"–and it's fine to say this now?" Jazz snapped and turned back to him with a small scowl. 

"Jazz, how many staff members were in your area yesterday? When we talked about the gate?" 

He paused, trying to recall. Blaster was with him and the group that went into the bay had five… seven? 

"There was thirteen, Jazz," he supplied, knowing that any answer coming would be incorrect. It was a lot of people, and with Blaster already known for making waves on the regular, the sudden addition had eyes and ears on him. That, and because he had fought so hard against the 'great idea' brought up in the first meeting after emergency treatment had ended. "You didn't even clock the vet on standby at the pier entrance." 

Jazz huffed and laid out flat, resting his chin on his crossed arms. Okay, so he wasn’t paying attention to who was around. "Then what is it about the gate? I get the bit about climbing the walls, but…" 

"That one is on me, I was – am – being overly cautious. Not of you, but of others misunderstanding your excitement or anxiety as aggression. And I know how persistent you can be when something catches your interest. But that's not the point, what is, is that if the team reports you showing signs of aggression, they'll… remove him." 

Now looking worried, Jazz glanced from Blaster to the gate. "But what if he shows aggression?" 

"We're expecting that, at least at first." Blaster wanted to reassure him, but there were still too many unknown variables. "Unknown place with an unfamiliar face, and likely limited communication. There is bound to be backlash." 

Jazz looked down with an expression of growing despair, before dropping his face against his arms. His words muffled, "so whether he stays or not depends on me being able to talk with him." 

Blaster reached out and placed his hand on the orca's shoulder. "Listen, buddy, this might be hard to hear. But let me explain, okay? … So far it looks like there are no issues and the current plan is to have him released once he recovers." As he feels Jazz tense, Blaster frowns in understanding and begins to rub his shoulder to comfort him. "There is only one reason that the aquarium wouldn't go through with it, and honestly, I don't want that to happen. It's all sorts of fucked up and would only make things worse– but I don't want you to distance yourself from him. I want you to try and befriend him." 

"… why," Jazz asked weakly, cursing him for telling him the truth – for reminding him of the truth – for breaking his small piece of hope of not being alone anymore. If he was going to be taken away, if he was just going to lose him no matter what, then it would hurt less if he just ignored him. 

All sorts of answers bounce around in Blaster's mind. From wishful thinking – because I want you to go with him. To long term goals – anything we could learn could help Mers everywhere. But he settled on as close to the truth as he could. "Because I'm trying to make sure that no matter what happens, it's the best result for both of you. But I can't do that if the two of you can't at least work together. So, I'm asking you to try." 

"Right," because he doesn't need to be kept here to survive… he just needs time to heal. Where I – "–right. Okay, I'll try… but where do I even start?" Jazz took a deep breath to compose himself before he lifted his head. 

"Well, why don't we see if sleepy-head is waking up? Maybe he'd like breakfast." Blaster offered, first with a reassuring smile, but then twisted it into something more mischievous. "And maybe you could find out if he's got a beautiful name, too." 

It took a second to realize what Blaster was getting at, and for the first time in his life Jazz felt bashful. "W-what are you talking about?" He hid it terribly. 

"He's beautiful~" he whispered dramatically, and Blaster learned that mers could in fact blush. 

— 

When Blaster left to get food for the wild mer, Jazz calmly made his way over to the view port. Only to be taken by surprise, he was looking directly at Jazz. Though, glaring, might be more accurate with how his face was pulled tight with focus and the sheer intensity of his stare. 

But otherwise, they were completely calm. Jazz wasn't sure if that was a good sign or bad. Yet, it didn't stop his nervous excitement from returning. He waved with one of his best smiles – one without teeth – and greeted him with a friendly, "hello!" 

What he got in return was a slightly more intense furrowing of their brow – irritation or confusion? 

"Oh! Sorry, habit." Jazz switched to mer. {Hi!} 

The tension didn't leave his face, but there was slight movement and, again, Jazz didn't know how to interpret that. But he did answer, {||၊|။||||•။၊|။|။|၊|။||၊၊၊|?} 

"Uh…" Yep, didn't understand any of that. 

Then the door opened on the edge behind them and Jazz for a moment thought that it would startle the wild mer. But they didn't even flinch. And while their eyes remained on him, Jazz was fairly sure now that they had been using their sonar to track the human's movement. 

"Are they still asleep?" Blaster asked, puzzled. 

"Nope, very much awake." He shifted lower to try and get more than the man's boots in his sight. 

"Ah…" He sounded uneasy and began to make small careful steps around the edge closer to Jazz while he spoke as calmly as possible. "Well, I'm going to keep talking, just so you don't think I'm trying to sneak up on you." 

When he reached the point where he was straight across from the wild mer, they lifted their head to turn their glare on the human. Blaster to his credit did not flinch, but he did freeze. "Whoa– that's – wow, t-that's quite the look." 

A series of slow clicks came from them, but their lips did not move. Jazz didn't think it was echo-speak, as it reminded him of his own searching clicks when he was trying to get a better picture. "Oh! I think he's trying to see what you have." 

The wild mer glanced to Jazz, becoming silent once more before looking back up at Blaster. 

"Fair enough, alright new buddy, I'm going to be real slow about it okay?" Back to narrating his actions calmly as he knelt down. Showing the long pole with a thin, blunt hook, "just an arm I don't mind losing if you decide that you don't like the breakfast I brought," and poured out the fish from the bucket. 

Still the wild mer glared, unblinking and watching every little movement. 

"Okay… I'm not sure what to make of this, so far everything has been nothing like previous encounters." 

"Ya, didn't you say he'd be freaking out?" 

"You got anything to calm or reassure our new buddy here that I ain't going to hurt him?" Blaster was doing his absolute best at trying to remain calm, but even his hands were starting to tremble under the pressure the wild mer was giving him. He wasn't even moving, just watching, but it felt like the human was being stalked. 

Honestly, Blaster was probably one bad move from being lunged at. Though, if that was the case, he had maybe one chance to get away. The hammock would throw him off on the first strike, the supports could probably take two or four hard thrashings before it snapped under the mer's strength. Injuries be damned, this mer was in peak physical condition. 

Jazz gave a small chirp to try and gain the other's attention, and failed, but continued with trying to talk. {It's okay, you're safe.} 

He was given a very tiny dip of his finial facing the gate – a tell that he had heard him? 

{You're safe,} Jazz repeated. 

The mer didn't look away, but he did at least respond. {•၊၊|•|၊|။။၊|။•|||။||||။၊|။•၊၊||၊|။||||။•၊|။•၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|။•} Though, far too fast for Jazz attempt to understand. 

"I'm hoping you two are talking about your favourite fish." Blaster joked to cover his nervousness. 

Jazz sighed and admitted the truth, "I haven't a clue to what they're talking about…" 

"Just let me know if I should run, kay?" He shifted slowly on his knees, trying to find a comfortable spot without making himself too vulnerable. 

But Jazz hadn't given up yet. {Hungry?} He tried instead. 

More chirps and clicking that didn't translate. 

{Hungry? Yes? No?} 

The heavy huff that came from them caused Blaster to flinch, but the mer finally focused on Jazz. There was clear irritation in their face now on top of glaring. And the damns broke, he started ranting at him loudly. 

"Hey, don't yell at me, I'm trying okay!?" Jazz glared back, not backing down. Though wasn't all that intimidating with him just having a little porthole to look through. 

"Jazz, buddy, please don't aggravate him." He, after all, was the one in the room with the wild mer. 

"He fuckn' started it!" 

Silence came quickly as the wild mer plunked his face into the soft floaty that had been his pillow. Blaster would have found it utterly hilarious if not fearing for his life currently. With another heavy and long huff, the wild mer looked back at Jazz, still glaring, but slightly less than before. {•|||။||||။၊|။•၊၊||၊|။? Yes? No?} 

Jazz blinked at him for a moment, depending on the question, no could be a yes. {No…?} He answered tentatively instead. 

{It's safe? Yes? No?} And he pointed his nose towards Blaster briefly, but clearly wasn't happy about it. 

{Yes!} Jazz nodded vigorously and smiled for extra encouragement. Out of all the staff, Blaster was safe, Jazz held some trust in the human after all. {[Blaster] safe.} 

"What about me?" 

"He asked if you're safe and I told him you were. Relax a bit or something to show him." 

Easier said than done. Blaster cursed, but did his best to ease the tension from his shoulders and smile a little. Even, daring to slowly lift a hand to wave. 

The mer did not seem convinced, but his glare lessened some more and looked over the human with more curiosity than before. 

{Hungry? Yes? No?} Jazz tried again. 

There was a long pause, but they sighed and answered. {… yes.} 

"Progress!" He cheered and then stuck his hand through the little window. "Blaster, hand me one of the fish. He's hungry, but I have a feeling that he'll trust you more if he sees me eat what you have." 

"Okay." He made sure that it was clear as possible what his intentions were. Taking a fish under the gills, Blaster looped the blunt hook in and out the mouth. Then, very slowly, began to feed the length of the pole towards Jazz's waiting hand. Once Jazz felt the tail touch his palm, he grabbed it and waited until Blaster twisted enough for the fish to slip free. Then the pole was just as slowly drawn back. 

The whole time the wild mer watching the exchange intensely. 

Jazz pulled the fish over to his side, chirped for the other's attention before he swallowed it whole. Smiling once more as he said, {safe.} 

Blaster had to admit, he was surprised when the mer shifted slightly in the hammock, and then cautiously held out his right hand. The glare never left, but this one felt like a threat, that if he messed this chance up, there would not be another. 

Though this was the first time Jazz had been able to see any of his injuries. The colourful tape-bandages almost covered every inch of his skin from his hand up to his bicep. It reminded him that just yesterday he had been mortally wounded. Which was probably a key reason the wild mer seemed so calm, they had only started to recover and every action was either painful or exhausting. Likely both.

Jazz watched closely as Blaster went through all the careful steps as he had with Jazz and held the fish out. The only difference, was that the human's grip was loose, just in case the wild mer decided to try and yank him into the water with it. But they didn't, doing exactly as they saw before, allowing Blaster to release the fish and retreat. The whole process was so slow that the wild mer's arm started to shake from being held out. 

But both Jazz and Blaster let out a breath of relief as there had been no backlash. 

He eyed the fish in his grip with a mild sneer before he swallowed it and then held out his shaky hand for another. It was clear that the pain was getting to him, but nothing in his expression showed weakness. 

The feeding got easier and quicker as Blaster relaxed a bit, not fearing that a normal pace would come off as threatening to the wild mer. 

When the shaking got bad enough, the mer rested his arm back in the hammock, but kept his eyes on the remaining fish. As if to convey he wasn't finished, just needed a break. Blaster was more than happy to comply and gave him a few praises, even if they didn't understand. 

"Hey," Jazz called gently, chirping for the other's attention. He waited until they looked his way, then pointed at himself. "Jazz," and then to the human, "Blaster," and back to himself once more, "Jazz," before pointing to the other mer with a questioning tilt of his head. He hoped it was clear what he was asking for. 

When the silence stretched on for a bit, the human also joined in. "Blaster," to himself and to his mer, "Jazz." 

There was a brief moment that Jazz could see that they were working over something, opening their mouth a few times before the sound of a sharp zip came out. "… 'tzz?" 

Jazz snorted, before breaking into a few chuckles. "Ya, missing the Ja, but you'll get there. I'm Jazz." He placed a hand over his heart. 

The gesture was reflected, {•၊||၊။} 

It was his turn to try and work out the sound in his head. Jazz tried the word out soundlessly on his tongue once. It was like a popping roll? {•၊||၊၊၊၊၊?} 

{•၊||၊။} they repeated, firmly correcting him. 

"Nice to meet ya, {•၊||၊၊၊၊၊}!" While the mer scowled at him for not even trying to fix his pronunciation, Jazz just smiled brightly.  

"So... what is his name?" Blaster asked for a translation, very interested in the development between them.  

Jazz laughed, "I have no idea." 

______________________________

Don't ask about my attempt to make sound-wave-like-text, it's gibberish, lol, and going forward only •၊||၊။ (Prowl) & •၊||၊၊၊၊၊ (Prowler) will be used until Jazz has a English (common?) name to attach an understanding to.

Keferon, I just wanted to say that every comment or tag you leave on the fic is like serotonin being injected into my veins. Every silly little image is like rolling down a grassy hill in the warm sun while I laugh with manic joy. When you add art, it's like an adrenaline shot to the heart that makes me want to run across the globe just to frantically wave hello with both hands, give you a hug and run back to get started on the next part.

And the next part will be Prowl joining Jazz in the main pool and Jazz learning just how fast he is, even while injured. >:)c

-GLC

𓆝 Previous 𓆟 Next

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Me looking in my inbox and seeing that there's two peas in a po

Odjndgdjdkfhdkm PLEASE. Blaster is so nervous EVERYONE IS SO NERVOUS Ooohhhnooo he's gonna freak out and kill everything he can reach oh no we all know how all those wild stupid creatures are oh no watch out While Prowl is trying to blow their pancakes with mind

And I juswannasay I love it so much ehehejgknfbfkdn THE SOUND WAVE SPEACH? I LOVE THE LOOK OF IT EHEHEH

Always a big fan of creative ways of showing imaginary languages. This thing?? ||ll•|Il It looks hella stylish >:O

Aaannnndd I got excited and made some art hehe

[inkedinserendipity]

one of the reasons i think that the murderbot diaries’ emotional moments hit so hard is because of a scarcity effect that the author has set up really, really well.

because, like—murderbot, as a character, is an answer to the question how do you “show and not tell” emotional moments from the lens of a character who point-blank will not acknowledge any affection directed their way. or, instead of overtly stating that characters are friends (“tell”), how do you demonstrate it with text (“show”)? well, most authors go ham on characters smiling at each other, laughing, joking, expressing reciprocal loyalty.

murderbot does none of those things. murderbot probably never smiled before preservation, and definitely didn’t laugh. (this is only partially an exaggeration.) telling jokes? hell yeah, MB’s funny as fuck. to other people? hell no. that would require conversations and it’d rather die, thanks.

add that to the fact that murderbot treats any expressions of affection toward it—internal and external—like being bit by a snake.

so you have this character + writing style that bars most conventional ways of establishing relationships between characters. you also have this character who is basically incapable of feeling any sort of reciprocated, positive emotion toward itself. so what do you do?

you work around your character. murderbot will never pick up on affectionate body language. it hates hugs. every sentence it hears passes through about fifteen different filters of self-loathing. so you make your relationships clear, and when you hit, you hit hard.

you summarize snapshots of characters panicking about the main character getting hurt. you drop your character’s performance reliability (and their walls) and have them banter. you have your character walk in on the tail end of conversations that expose concern for it.

and then you do things so overt that even your shit-self-esteem character can’t talk its way out of. you have its friend tell it directly that it can’t lose it too. you have its friends accommodate it and understand it without it directly expressing a single need. you have its friends stand up for it in conversation when it is too tired to do so. and then, when you really want to hit, you have your character pretend to be physically compromised rather than have to feel one (1) positive emotion toward itself.

positive emotions toward itself can’t really pass through murderbot’s walls. so you have to establish relationships by beating your main character over the head with them. and it can’t be all the time—because that’s not how relationships and emotional recovery, yknow, works—but it can be sometimes, and it can be very powerful, and that is why i think murderbot diaries in particular is very, very effective.

[kandavers]

I've met/been with 3 girls and as it turns out, all those 3 girls have been with each other TOO and now we're basically one whole group of sexy girls who kiss each other

[chimerafeathers]

i love that isafrin can be the most straightforwardly romancey, wholesome pairing on a surface level and then you go one (1) level deeper and run into siffrin’s seething guilt and convoluted feelings around touch and intimacy and the extent to which they want or don’t want those things in a specifically romantic way or if he was trying to seek connection and love in any way he could once he knew that Isabeau wanted those things from him in that context, and the combined power trip/self disgust at “manipulating” Isabeau’s desires without his knowledge to make themself feel wanted and in control. and then you keep going and there’s also Isabeau’s own warped self image (still, in spite of all his changes, fearing that he’s someone that would be shameful to know), his “emotionally stable pillar” role and self-taught therapy talk masking his deep fears of real confrontation (struggling loop after loop to confess, not wanting Odile to confront Siffrin about their weird behavior in the sus quest bathroom talk) and how Siffrin’s fear of vulnerability and Isabeau’s fear of Pushing Too Hard allow both of their issues to fester unspoken long after it’s clear that the problems exist.

all this to say. duality of isafrin. makes my heart full and warm and happy to see the sweet, fluffy, silly love and connection between them (mutually romantic or otherwise). and then also. the delicious, delicious complications. gnawing on them like a dog with a beloved bone

[bukashki]

@ninadove YOU.

Thank you for making me appreciate the tragic nature of slithering-out-of-grasp design of Aspik. I could not resist :(( I BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING <3

rest of you read It brings the world back into tune

Bonus: A familiar voice

[peace-hunter]

tfone au where OP is created as the last of the primes but way after them, a sparkling born at what were thought to be the last days of the war against the quintessons, the beginning of a new generation of peace after eons of war. a child meant to be loved and raised knowing nothing of war nor sacrifice.

he's kept mostly out of the spotlight by his siblings, who don't wish to expose him to everyone's optics so young, and want to wait until the war is done and over to properly introduce him to their people.

except of course the primes are betrayed and murdered by sentinel, the war is lost and everyone who knows and cared for the truth is either banished or outright killed in order to suppress it.

and the high guard, the ones the primes trusted the most, the ones that were supposed to protect them, the ones who failed in their most important duty, have to make a choice. to take the last prime, their last hope, with them to the surface, a hostile environment where there's little to no supplies and where they'll be hunted down by both sentinel and the quintessons as the biggest threat to their regimen.

or hide him in plain sight. place him where sentinel won't think to look for him. one more sparkling among many. and hope it will be enough to keep him alive. pray to primus that he'll protect his last child long enough for them to come back for him when it's safer (even if most of them have already lost their faith on him when he allowed the rest of his children to be massacred like that)

they almost lose their resolve when they realize they will have to take the little one's cog away in order to make him blend in with the rest of the newborns (and oh do they burn with murderous intent when they see what sentinel has done to their people but it's not the time yet-) but in the end they decide an impaired little prime is better than a dead one.

and so in the chaos of thirteen dead primes and a sudden energon crisis, a little sparkling who very few mechs really knew about and even fewer had seen completely vanishes. and in the depths of iacon a mech in charge of a new batch of newborns scratches their helm in confusion as they realize they must have miscounted the first time.

optimus prime is quietly erased from any official records by sentinel, written off as dead when they find a sparkling's frame mangled beyond recognition after an attack on the base of those rebels that insist on being a thorn on his side. killing the sparkling hadn't been precisely in his plans, he probably could've found some use for it after all, but he's not particularly upset about it either.

and orion pax grows up with an ache on his spark that tells him he's missing something far more important than a t-cog and dreams of gentle and loving hands, cradling him against the frames of mechs he cannot recall the faces of.

[suntails]

ESMERALDA - A TWST ANIMATIC

finished a quick love letter to my fav event in the entire game!!! glorious masquerade you will always be famous 🫶 so so honored to get to share this with everyone!!!

full video link, in case the video above doesn't work!