inkblot-inc - Tumblr blog

inkblot-inc · 6 days

Text

Where's Don Lino?

Summary: Our trio have some time to themselves since they're left to there own devices while Their presence on the living island gets is bring discussed.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Mutant!TigerShark!Reader

[AU Masterlist] Arc 2: [Part 1] [Part 2] This is Part 3

Warning(s): Getting into some more subtle notes of discrimination, but no violence....and strong language I'm pretty sure.

Note(s): We got another chapter for Arc 2 bud! Reading this back, I just think it's funny that every single body is uncomfortable with this situation except for Jaws. They're just vibing and going with the flow. Except that doesn't really work when the situation surrounding them requires Jaws to be more cognizant...Anteeways, I hope y'all enjoy :3

Word Count: Past 2k

*squints* I give NO ONE permission to repost or translate my work. Make your own shit!

Once you, Natasha, Wanda, Sienna, and the others make it to the heart of Enoka, you all are immediately taken to Sienna’s office.

It turns out that Sienna is now one of the “acting leaders” on the island, specifically the one in charge of the security of it.

Enoka essentially runs itself, she just has a number of people in charge of the maintenance of the island and the people living on it.

These acting leaders were going to take time to deliberate and come to a course of action in terms of your presence on the hidden isle.

The “acting leaders” make up something called the Council of Nine, which is basically their government on Enoka outside of Enoka herself.

With a warning from Sienna to stay out of trouble in the meantime, the three of you left the council room while she stayed to explain the situation in full to the others inside. Natasha’s gait was unusually hesitant as you walked. “So the island is…alive?”

You chuckled as you reached for her hand in a soothing gesture. “You can relax, Natty. Enoka hasn’t physically moved in centuries. Once we’re born, we’re taught that she uses all of the plants covering the land to speak to us, kinda like mini speakers everywhere. The council of Nine just carry out her will more directly.”

Natasha’s shoulders relaxed slightly as the three of you made it back out into the open air. It was a relief you were able to convince Sienna to let the three of you leave on your own without an escort. This way, the three of you could spend time together and actually make use of your vacation time.

You briefly squeezed Natasha’s hand before you took it upon yourself to put the wind back in all of your sails. “Now who wants to see some real cool shit?” Wanda nor Natasha were definitely more receptive to the lighter turn of events, what with your enthusiasm being as contagious as it was reassuring.

Even with all of the visible changes to Enoka, you are actually excited to show Natasha and Wanda around the parts that you do remember.

Remember the core of the cruise/expedition/vacation was based around getting closure on your previously thought to be GONE home.

So in a way we’re doing that just with extra steps-

The natural energon produced by the Enoka herself contained in all of the foliage is used as a medium for the living island to communicate through. Kinda like mini speakers all over the island.

You simply have to start listening…

Speaking of, there was fuzzy gibberish that Wanda was able to pick up on. The tone of it led the brunette to zone out from time to time as she attempted to understand what she was hearing.

You took them up to one of the summits called the Hollow Point, that has a cavern on the side of it. Inside the Hollow Point are a series of mines for iron, but the biggest area has a ceiling of glittering quartz geodes.

Once your stomachs began protesting the long exploration the three of you were on, you wound up being led back to the more populated area of Enoka to get something to eat.

The only problem with going further into the localized area of the island is that there were more eyes on the three of you.

Enoka is an island full of people with extra abilities and features, people born like you and Sienna; an island exclusively of mutants.

The citizens of Enoka see Wanda and Natasha as outsiders, yes, but they can also immediately tell that Natasha specifically is human.

Sienna was also not afraid to remind her of this on their way to Enoka.

You came across one of Sienna’s guardsmen as you walked down the beaten path. She seemed to be heading in the same direction the three of you were walking in. The woman was clearly still on duty with her silvery blonde hair and suntanned skin mostly hidden under her armor.

Wanda took the initiative to start a conversation by waving her hand in the other woman’s line of sight. “Excuse me,” The blonde glanced in Wanda’s direction, but didn’t really look at her. “Did you need something?”

Her accented voice was softer than any of you expected, but Wanda continued undeterred, “Is there a place to eat down this way?”

The guardsmen didn’t respond right away, “Assuming that you want something on the surface,” She briefly eyed Natasha, “There’s a Brine-Baker down this trail on your right. You cannot miss it.”

Wanda gave a small smile, “Thank you…I don’t think we got your name before.”

The woman simply stared at Wanda before squinting. “I didn’t give it.” There was a small upturn in her lips, “It’s Zal.” She turned to face forward again before taking her leave, effectively ending the brief conversation.

With the three of you making your way down to the Brine-Baker, your eyes widened at the building. “That’s what she was talking about. Come on, this stuff is great!” You almost dragged Natasha and Wanda into the establishment in your haste to get food to eat.

The BrineBaker’s hut was on the smaller side, but it was comfy enough. You found an empty booth for the three of you to sit at before looking at the menus that were already set in each booth. There were options ranging from saltfish, mussels, crab, shrimp, octopus, and even hagfish, to pretzels, salted caramel pies, dark chocolate tarts, and peanut brittle.

Natasha looked away from the menu, “I take it all the salted foods are why it’s called Brine-Baker?”

Having already chosen what you were going to get, you set your menu down. “Brine-Bakers are seafood shops/diners that specialize in serving dishes made with their harvest from the brine pools under Enoka in the deep sea. Brine Pool Farming is actually a profession here as far as I know, since you had a good few people on the island that were unaffected by the pressure of going so deep underwater.”

Natasha took another look at the menu with that explanation. “All these creatures get put in these brine pools? They have to be pretty big I imagine,”

You nodded along, “Sea creatures get big as hell the deeper you go, but they don’t last long in the pools, since they’re even bigger. We weren’t allowed to play anywhere near them as kids cuz we’d probably fuck around and ‘get stuck and die’.” You briefly chuckled at the familiar threat you heard as a child. “Once they’re in the brine pool for long enough, the salt forms a shell coating around them, preserving the creature inside. You just gotta pay attention when they’re ready to be taken out. It’s not as salty as you’d expect though, it’s just the way it’s prepared.”

Wanda closed her menu after picking what she wanted to eat. “Well, you learn something new every day.” She stacked all three of the menus on top of each other, “So are we all ready to order?” With the three of you ready, you called over an available waiter to take your order...

Not gonna lie, that food was scrumptious. And very filling.

After the three of you ate, you walked around the more isolated parts of the island since it seemed that you were still left to your own devices.

You were currently making your way through one of the denser forests. You wanted to see if there were any remaining flower fields on the surface that you could show Wanda and Natasha.

The fuzzy noise Wanda was hearing was louder around her as she zoned out once again. You and Natasha noticed this once again before both of you asked what was going on.

Wanda’s eyes focus on one of the thicker trees with her eyes slightly squinted. “I haven’t stopped hearing this faint gibberish since we got here…”

Natasha stopped to listen out for said gibberish, “I don’t hear anything, and no one else seems to be around.”

You turned to look at the brunette with your brows slightly furrowed, “What kinda gibberish is it?” Rather than try to explain what she was hearing, Wanda just mentally projected it to you as best as she could.

{Solt hclid, --rwe ve-- u-- en--. Solt hclid, oml---- --o rhee}

“Well It makes sense, since you can read minds and all…” The partial translation you were able to get just made you confused as you tried to piece the rest of it together. One thing was clear though, “Enoka’s calling out to you. She doesn’t project very often, since I don’t think there are other telepaths on this island that can reach her by themselves,”

Wanda attempted to digest what you’d just explained. It was one thing to have someone mentally project to her, as she hasn’t come across anyone else with telepathic abilities, but for it to be an entity that they were currently standing on threw her for a loop. And it presumably wanted her to respond.“Why would the island be calling out to me?”

To you, there were a few other things to consider, but you continued your musings aloud. “You’ll have to meet Her in person at some point. Both of you will probably,”

“Both of us?” Natasha watched as you gingerly picked a flower off of one of the taller exposed stems on the path.

“It’s cool that Wanda can hear Enoka directly, but neither of you are able to understand Her or anyone else on the isle because she hasn’t gifted you with her energon. All Enokan plants have it, but the sap from her main vessel should allow you to speak and understand the mother tongue. We should’ve brought you there first, really.”

Wanda and Natasha shared an uncertain look with each other before Wanda spoke up. “I don’t think that that’s a good idea, gup.”

You look back at them, confusion plain on your face. “Why not? You need to understand what’s going on if we’re gonna spend any amount of time here, and I can’t teach it to you two until you have that foundation. I don’t think you want me playin’ translator for all three of us.” You chuckled at that idea before you realized you were the only one laughing. “What’s up with you two?”

To you this was a simple problem with an even simpler solution:

Natasha and Wanda are suffering from a language barrier, you know how to get rid of said barrier, so that’s what you should do.

Your excitement is what blinds you to most of Natasha and Wanda’s trepidation at even being on Enoka.

But why are these two so standoffish to be there even though they were just as adamant to go on this vacation? WELL there’s a number of reasons:

This was not originally part of the plan.

While they’re glad to actually visit your home, Natasha and Wanda exclusively have not had the most warm welcome from, not only Sienna and her troops, but also from the other citizens of Enoka.

The Enokan language is not just a cultural difference in language, but it also acts as a security for everyone that lives on this (again) hidden island.

Freely giving Wanda and Natasha a clearly exclusive buff is not a good idea, nor would they probably be allowed had that idea reached the ears of anyone else…

** footnote: I wanted to use a completely different script for the Enokan language being spoken, but I couldn’t find a way to import it so that it was shown, so instead I made a simple code using typoglycemia (aka just unscramble the letters of each word). To make it so that it didn’t look as clunky, I sometimes replaced (i) with (y). Some words that end with vowels may have an apostrophe that takes the place of the vowel. Apostrophes can also be found at the beginning of words with vowels for fluidity’s sake. I didn’t think swears should be scrambled cuz that just *looks* off to me. The point of these changes is to have this resemble a spoken language more than it is a blatant tactic to confuse you.

Here's a word unscrambler in case you need it

#24 hour reblog

18 notes · View notes

inkblot-inc · 7 days

Text

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015) dir. Joss Whedon

825 notes · View notes