#I still like that blog title | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

huffle-dork · 28 days

Text

Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 4: Septnautical

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read Septnautical

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

The fall is long- the rush intense. Enough to make their heads spin.

So- landing onto water is just another jarring surprise. They splash into a semi warm but mostly cool body of water. But… it’s not just a body. It’s an ocean. A wide expanse of ocean… there’s no end in sight. They don’t fall too far away from each other for once- but that might be because there’s nothing to see for miles but water.

"Holy fucking shit!" Jackie splutters, almost sinking but managing to stay on the surface through wild flailing.

Schneep doesn't even have time to curse, he's immediately confused and disoriented. There's nothing to grab onto! He can sense the others nearby—what the hell is this?! Water?! Where are they?! "H-help!" It's lucky he's a strong swimmer. But where is land?!

JJ gasps, kicking wildly. The cape he's wearing is heavy with water. He looks around and starts swimming towards Schneep. As he gets close, he puts a hand on the surface of the water, and part of it freezes into a small island about the size of a card table. He steers it over to Schneep, who grabs onto it the moment it bumps into his side.

Bro tries to stop his momentum with his flight, just barely managing to avoid getting halfway submerged before he gets airborne again. He looks out at all the water. “What the fuck?!”

Alt isn’t so lucky- he gets submerged for a second before he scrambles back up to the surface to desperately gasp for breath. He looks around in confusion. “W-what?!”

“Is everyone okay??” Bro calls, hurrying to fly over to Schneep and help him up onto the ice.

"Y-yes, f-f-fine," Schneep says, carefully balancing on the ice with his hands and knees.

JJ gives a thumbs up.

"I'm fucking drowning!" Jackie shouts. He is not actually drowning, but he's clearly not that good a swimmer, just treading water.

JJ sighs a little and uses that same spell, pushing the new ice floe towards Jackie and Alt's direction. Then he shivers, losing strength for a moment and ducking under the water before scrambling back up, half-on the ice floe. His magic isn't at its peak.

"Wh-where did we land?" Schneep asks. "Where is—the land?"

"Uhhh... bad news... I don't see any," Jackie says. He grabs onto the second ice floe, helping steer it towards Alt.

Bro quickly helps JJ as best as he can before he hovers a bit higher. He pales as he looks out to see. “Yeah it’s just… it’s just water… I guess we’re pretty far out in this ocean…”

Alt scrambles to hold onto the ice floe and shivers against it. “Rifts are awful… the TRVLR n-never put us in the m-middle of the fucking ocean…”

"The ocean?!" Schneep gasps. "W-well... ah..." His eyes dart slightly as he thinks. "How... do we get... out of the ocean?"

"I don't know, it's the fucking ocean!" Jackie shakes his head.

JJ looks despondent for a moment, but then he shakes his head. Well. This is as good a time as any to try this spell he'd recently found. He makes sure his mask is secure on his face and grabs onto Schneep's hand, concentrating.

Schneep jumps in surprise—especially as a bit of blue magic flows down JJ's arm and onto his, up along his body into his chest. "Wh-what was that?!"

Can you hear this? JJ signs.

Schneep nods as he hears Jameson's voice come from beside him. "Y-yes... your voice sounds less gravelly, did you do something?"

A spell to translate my sign language into a voice that you hear in your head. It only works on one person at a time, so I thought it wouldn't be useful, but I kept it anyway.

"Ah. Well, it is certainly very helpful. How long does it last?"

I should be able to keep it up for a while, it doesn't take much power, JJ says. But if I suddenly run out of magic, the spell will end.

"Hmm. Alright, I understand." Schneep nods slowly.

Bro watches the exchange between Schneep and JJ and smiles, “Oh hey that’s awesome! Very useful-“

Alt shivers and looks down at the water. He… might be able to shapeshift to swim around and see what’s around but that’s not helpful for the guys here.He looks up to Bro, “C-Chase? Can you fly out and see if there’s anything we can at least rest on until we get our b-bearings?”

“Oh yeah sure! Hang tight guys!” Bro rises higher in the air then starts to look around.

He comes back really soon, grinning. “Good news! There’s a big landing of metal not too far away! It was kinda hard to see close to surface cuz it looks like it’s something that like… crashed I guess? But then like sank- It’s biggg! So it should give us a good place to rest!”

“Something that crashed?” Schneep raises his eyebrow. “Like an airplane?”

“Or like a spaceship?” Jackie adds. “Cause you know, there’s that thing about spaceships landing in the ocean when they come back. In like, movies and stuff.”

"It kinda looks like a spaceship actually yeah!" Bro laughs.

Wll, whatever it is, it has to be better than being stuck on a bit of ice, JJ says. This will melt eventually. He lowers himself more into the water and starts swimming in the direction Bro pointed, pushing the ice floe along.

Alt nods to JJ and starts to push their ice floe along too.

“There has to be a faster way than swimming,” Jackie mutters.

"I could always try to carry some of you~" Bro semi-teases, grinning at Jackie.

“Uh—no,” Jackie says. “I’m not scared of heights but that’s a bit much.”

“At least you would land in water if you fell,” Schneep says. “Ah—not that you would drop him, Bro, I mean.”

“Yeah I expected that response,” Chase laughs. “No one likes being flown! Can’t imagine why-“

“No one likes being dangled like dead weight in your arms, Chase,” Alt deadpans, kicking faster.

“Hey! I don’t always carry people like that-“

“They also don’t like being held bridal style- or on your back like a monkey.” Alt continues, looking up to give his brother a look. Bro flushes and looks away. “Alright alright… jeez…”

“Well we want to stick together anyway and we’d be limited to the slowest swimming speed,” Jackie points out.

Nobody is going to comment on the spaceship? JJ asks.

“We’ll comment on it when we get there,” Jackie says, helping Alt with the ice.

As they swim it does appear the sight of the ship was just a bit past the horizon where they landed. A bit of crooked metal sticks up top of a small island of dull gray metal, eroded and rusted by time. It’d be hard to tell it was anything except for the small rounded peaks of metal poking out of the water- reminiscent of thrusters on an airplane or jet. Stripes of yellow are just barely visible on the tail end, peeking out through years of grime and erosion.

Alt’s eyes widen, “…holy fuck that really does look like a space ship…”

“…huh.” Jackie stares. “Yeah. And not a modern spaceship, either, which… is concerning, given how rusted it looks.”

“What do you mean, not a modern ship?” Schneep asks.

Looks like something out of a science fiction movie. JJ’s eyes light up with excitement. Did we get pulled to a universe that’s in the future?!

“Well… we’ve been pulled into the past before,” Alt mutters, “so it’s plausible we could be pulled into the future?”

“Yeah but even if that’s future tech now it looks ancient!” Bro exaggerates, “This must have crashed a long long time ago!”

Schneep blinks. “Well. Ah… Jackie, how rusted is it?”

“Pretty fucking rusted and corroded, dude.” Jackie shakes his head. “It must’ve been here for a while. Which, again, giving the whole sci-fi sorta thing, is kind of concerning. It also means that there’s probably not people on it.”

“Do you think this place is… just as abandoned then?” Alt asks nervously. “T-That can’t be right? We’ve always found universes that had… us in it! This is so strange…”

As if to answer their questions, below the water they feel the vibrations and echo of a terrifying roar.

Schneep stiffens and looks down. “What the fuck was that?” he whispers.

Jackie instinctively reaches for his pocket—but SCLERA took his staff earlier. And even if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t do much against something that sounds so big. “I-I changed my mind about the flying thing, we have to get out of here as fast as possible.”

JJ doesn’t say anything, just scrambles on top of the ice floe and pulls Schneep with him. It’s barely big enough for the two of them to sit with their knees drawn up.

Alt narrows his eyes at the sound and then pushes off the ice to go dive under the water and look.

“Alt?! Wait!” Bro tries to call out after him.

Alt sinks down and tries his best to look towards the sound- then feels his stomach drop as he sees in the distance. The water here is murky and sandy, casting everything in a yellow-ish tint. But, Alt sees a shadow of something huge swimming in the distance. It roars again, and something at the front of it flexes like giant claws. Then it seems to turn towards them.

Alt bursts up from the water and sputters out, “F-FUCKING GIANT MONSTER THING!! CHASE FLY US!!”

Chase startles and then starts to scoop up the others, JJ and Schneep first. “Sorry Schneep just hang on!” He mutters.

Schneep yelps as Bro grabs him, clinging to him. JJ cries out as well, instinctively kicking his legs.

Alt panics and grabs Jackie, just managing to glitch them onto the edge of the spaceship as they hear the roar get so much closer, the water shuddering beneath them in giant waves. But glitching while wet fuckinh hurts. Once they’re on the metal Alt pants and gets to his knees, breathing heavily. He clutches over his heart. “W…what the fuck…???”

Jackie staggers back, losing his footing and falling down. “Ow!” He quickly sits up. “Yeah, wh-what the fuck is right! Why?! How?! What?!”

Soon enough Bro joins them helping JJ and Schneep to settle on the metal of the ship. “Jesus Christ! E-everyone okay?”

Schneep stumbles a bit, grabbing his cane from nowhere to help him feel his way around. “I—I am f-fine,” he says. “What… was that? What did you see, Alt?”

Alt gasps and clutches his soaking shirt. “I-It was… f-fucking huge! Like a giant serpent- but it had like…. Big sharp things sticking out if it’s face?? Or I’m assuming it’s its face cuz it like- flexed when it roared. God it must be like… 50 meters long?? Maybe more??”

“The fuck?! I-I didn’t think creatures like that existed!” Bro whispers in fear.

“I-I dunno dude I… I saw it though… god it was t-terrifying…”

JJ stands there with his arms and legs out, like he’s expecting the wreckage to tilt beneath him. It doesn’t, so he feels safe enough to sign. We must be in a very different universe if there are old spaceships and giant monsters.

“Maybe—maybe there’s not a lot of people here,”Jackie says. “Maybe this is some kind of… Waterworld situation.”

“Waterworld?” Schneep repeats.

“It’s a movie. Not a really good one but I like its style—”

“No, I know the movie, but it does not account for giant sea monsters!”

JJ shakes his head, getting wet hair out of his eyes. We need to think calmly. Maybe there’s something useful in this ship? It’s the only thing around, in any case.

Alt nods to JJ and tries to get to his feet, looking at the wreckage. “I… I can’t see any way in… m-most of this seems to be submerged…”

Then, that roar sounds off again- and something jolts into the part of the ship closest to them, trying to knock them off balance and into the water. They can see the hint of a red tail and the tips of sharp red and black claw-like appendages peeking out through the water.

Alt hadn’t moved too far from the edge- so as the ship is jolted he yells and is thrown back under the water.

“Alt!” Schneep shouts, immediately dropping his cane and jumping into the water after him.

“Schneep!” Jackie scrambles to his feet. “Have you lost your mind?!” He jumps into the water after him.

Bro gasps and tries to keep on his feet then pales as they all go under. “Guys!” He looks to JJ and then goes after them all. “I’ll be quick! Stay safe JJ!”

JJ starts to protest, but Bro is already gone. He crouches at the edge of the water and stares down after everyone else.

As they dive under- they can see the gigantic creature in all its glory. Or- Schneep can sense its soul. It’s massive- over 50 meters with razor sharp mandibles attached to its head and a red horn like fin. Terrifying pitch black eyes, 4 of them, lock onto the falling bodies as it moves away from attacking the ship and it snaps its razor sharp teeth- rows and rows of stained teeth pulled together in a terrifying grin.

Alt was sinking, struggling to swim back up but freezes as he takes in the monster. It roars at the 4, mandibles flexing back as it shows off its incredibly large mouth that will definitely swallow them whole.

Jackie stalls, shocked at the size and terrifying visage of this creature. But Schneep keeps going, aware of where the creature is and stunned by the roar—but he can’t leave Alt there. He dives fast—can he leap through the water? He takes a moment to concentrate, and suddenly he’s by Alt’s side, grabbing him and trying wildly to swim upwards as fast as possible.

Alt gasps as he’s grabbed, bubbles flying out his mouth but he clings to Schneep for dear life.

Bro is also temporarily frozen by the creature and he flinches as it roars, trying to grab Jackie and pull him behind him.

But then, a creature bigger than them but smaller than the monster shows up, swimming up in between the monster and the boys. It has the same mandibles on its back but… smaller. And the top half of it is… human?

The alien merman bunches up his tail and then lets out an equally terrifying roar out at the monster, his mandibles stretching out and scratching at the creature’s face. The monster roars in pain and tries to lash out but the merman swims rapidly up to grab one of its mandibles and then toss it further away into the water below. He roars again for good measure and the monster seems to think better of its attack and swims away under the bones of the ship beneath them.

The merman turns back towards the others and- Jackie recognizes his own face.

Jackie stops, staring in shock at this whole display. Wait—is that—is that—

But, he doesn’t get too long to dwell on that as the merman scoops up Bro and Jackie and rockets them up quickly towards the surface.

Schneep is confused by this whole exchange, but he knows that whoever just appeared and started roaring feels strangely familiar. As soon as they grab Bro and Jackie, Schneep starts frantically swimming upward, taking Alt with him.

The moment as they break the surface Jackie gasps for air and grabs onto the ship for dear life. He was running out of air down there! Schneep does the same beside him.

JJ gasps. Are you all okay?! Is the monster— And then he sees who, or what, brought Bro and Jackie to the surface and stops, eyes wide.

Jackie turns back to get a good look at this—this merman? Alien? This person who shares his face. “Th-thanks?”

The merman is surprisingly very strong and he helps all of the boys get back on the metal island. “N-No problem! You all okay? Stars… that was a close one!” The merman says.

Alt coughs up some water and heaves to get some air back. He looks back at the merman and his eyes widen. Bro also stares at the merman with wide eyes.

Upon a closer look- the merman has bright green hair hidden underneath a ratty red bit of cloth wrapped around his head and shoulders like a hooded scarf. His arms and chest are riddled with tiny scars like he’s been in a ton of fights and he has a band of blue scales across his eyes like a mask.

The merman blinks innocently and tilts his head at the others. “…we havin a staring contest? I just learned about those! Zara says it’s not fair for her though cuz fish don’t need to blink as much. But I think it’s fun!” Then he slowly blinks more and takes the look of all of them in. “Woah… you guys don’t look like any blue suits or white suits I’ve seen…! Where did you guys come from anyways?? Everyone knows you don’t go near the Aurora without protection!” He smirks confidently and crosses his arm and you can see the end of his tail flick in the water. “Luckily for you! I was in the area~!”

“…Zara,” Jackie repeats, latching onto one of the few familiar terms in that little speech. He looks at Bro and Alt. “Okay… guess that’s a sometimes constant.”

The merman tilts his head, “A constant? What’s that mean?”

Alt and Bro look at this merman with wide eyes before looking back at each other. “…he’s not gonna fucking believe this-“ Bro mutters.

Alt laughs a bit unstably, “Y-Yeah for real!”

“We did not mean to be here,” Schneep says. “I-it is hard to explain, but we are from somewhere far away and we just suddenly appeared here. Thank you for helping us.”

JJ nudges him. Do you know he’s a merman?

“Wha—OH.” Schneep’s eyes go wide. “Th-that would explain some things.”

The merman blinks more and watches JJ’s hands with interest. “Oh! You’re using your hands to talk! My little brother does that now! …I dunno what any of the motions mean though-“

JJ tilts his head, interested. Little brother.

“Sooo… what’s your naaaame?” Jackie asks, though he already knows the answer.

The merman perks up as Jackie asks his name and his tail almost wags as his eyes light up, “I’m Jackie! What’s all of your names?”

“Well I’m—” Jackie starts to say.

Then, another head pops out of the water- this one has even lighter green hair and the hint of goggles on his face. “Jackie?? What are you doing? Get away from there!”

The mer-Jackie blinks and turns around and then scoffs at this new figure, “It’s okay Schneep! I don’t think these guys are white suits at all- they’re not even wearing dive suits!”

Another head pops up- this one was darker green hair and black sclera, green and blue irises glowing slightly. As his face comes out of the water, he bares very sharp teeth. “It could be a trick somehow! C’mon! Ya saved these fuckers now we can leave them alone!”

Mer-Jackie rolls his eyes, “That’s not how saving works, Anti-“

Alt’s eyes widen as he looks at the new figures popping up. “A..anti?” He whispers. Bro looks similarly shocked.

Jackie goes on edge a little as the other two figures appear, backing up.

“Huh.” Schneep tilts his head to the side. Another Schneep and another Anti. That’s… surprising. He hopes this world has a kind Anti—not one like his Anti.

“You’re not gonna believe us if we tell you our names,” Jackie says. “But I’ll tell you anyway. I’m Jackie. This is JJ and Schneep and Chase and Alt.”

Mer Jackie's eyes widen and then he hurries over to the side of the Aurora and pushes himself up with wide excited eyes and a huge smile. "Whattt??? That's crazy!! Most of those are my brothers' names! E-Even Hen's nickname!! How'd you know that??" Now you can clearly see the ridges on his his pale blue-gray tail and where the scales meet his more fleshy stomach. He's got black slightly sharp nails and also has sharp teeth.

"Jackie! Shush up!" The other Schneep calls. A white and purple tail flicks angrily across the surface of the water.

"C'mon guys don't be such guppies!" The merman Jackie replies, "They don't look like they'd hurt us!"

Schneep laughs. “Well—We are not lying, those really are our names. We… maybe we are like you, in a way.”

"You're not like us- you got legs!" Mer-Jackie laughs.

“Well, you can leave us if you want, but please, before you go, can you please let us know where to find, ah… people? We are sort of lost.” Schneep continues.

"If you wanna find people, you're shit out of luck." The other Anti growls, "No one lives on the surface any more. They're all under the water. unless you got breathing equipment yer hiding- You're fucked."

"Anti! That's so mean! Don't scare them like that!" Jackie snaps back. Anti just gives him a toothy grin.

Jackie glares at Anti. “Gee. Thanks.” This guy has an attitude like his Anti!

"Wait wait- e-everything's under water??" Bro gasps. "...is everyone mermaids?? Then- why does a spaceship like this exist?" Bro gestures around.

Mer Jackie bursts into laughter, "Ha! You're really funny! No not everyone's- ...what's that word?? Merrr maids? I dunno what that is- the white suits call us Hybrids. But like- most people here are human. S'only me and my brothers that are hybrids!"

JJ blinks. Hybrids? I’m figuring this out. I think these hybrids are us in this world. Maybe… human combined with the sea monsters here?

“That would make sense,” Jackie says slowly. “This other me kinda looks like that big monster with the face spikes.”

“You talked about the white suits and blue suits,” Schneep says. “What does that mean?”

The other Schneep looks out at his counterpart and seems- momenatrily weirded out. But, he shakes it off as he adjusts his goggles. "That is what we call the human scientists that work with Alterra. Well, the white suits at least..."

"The blue suits are our friends!" Mer-Jackie says happily, "They made their own group called the Ocean's Arms that are on our side! They wear black and blue wetsuits while the white suits wear white and orange-"

"...the fuck is Alterra?" Alt asks.

Anti blinks at this and cocks his head. "...you all have never heard of Alterra?"

“I told you, we are from very far away,” Schneep says. “Too far away to have heard of that.”

"...Alterra controls like- majority of this star system... You would have to have heard of them to enter their phase gate-" Mer-Schneep says. Anti and Jackie look at him with confusion. "...what? Danan has been teaching me a lot about how all this shit works!"

But to the side, JJ’s eyes slowly widen. He knows he’s heard that name before. Are we in Subnautica?

Jackie blinks. “That’s a long word you just spelled there. What’s it—”

JJ suddenly gasps and points at mer-Jackie’s mandible things. Like a reaper! Oh my god, was that monster a reaper?! I didn’t get a good look at it—

“What are you talking about?” Schneep asks.

It’s a game! My friend Anti has played it a lot and he mentioned there was a corporation called Alterra and something called a reaper leviathan—oh and this ship is the ship that crashes! It must be! He grins, looking proud of himself.

Alt and Bro's eyes widen at JJ's realization. Mer Jackie blinks and looks at his manibles with confusion, turning around comically in the water. "What what?? Is he talking about my mandibles??"

Bro laughs with a wide grin, "Oh yeah!! Subnautica!! Oh my god- Jackie was obsessed with that game!"

"H-How are we in a game?? That's... that's never happened before!" Alt says with a bit of panic.

"The fuck do you mean 'a game'?" Anti growls. "This shit ain't a game- its real fucking life!"

"Anti- do not get angry- I do not think that is what they meant..." Henrik tries to say calmly to Anti.

“No, of course it’s not, we’re just saying it’s like a game that we know,” Jackie says carefully. “Or… that these guys know. I’ve never heard of it. Maybe. Maybe Jack played it…?” He looks vaguely guilty at the thought of Jack.

“My friend Jack played it too, but I do not know anything about it,” Schneep says.

Well, it takes place on an alien planet that’s mostly ocean— JJ starts, then stops, looking around. Oh. If this is some form of the world from that game, they really are far from home, in more ways than one.

"You all are talking nonsense-" Anti growls, his back fin bristling and getting bigger, "I don't like it." Then, his eyes widen and he growls out, starting to lash forward towards the others. "Wait how do you know Jack?! You fuckers-! I knew you were hiding something!"

Schneep yelps as he feels Anti lunge forward and quickly scrambles back. JJ throws a hand out in front of him.

"Hey hey Anti!" Mer-Jackie shouts, grabbing Anti and pulling him back. "M-Maybe they just mean someone else who has the same name! Like all of them! Human reuse names all the time you know- like how Jack used to say Xander's brother was also Jack! It's fine-" He tries to grin at him.

"Yeah yeah yeah, i-it's a different guy!" Jackie says hurriedly. "Like--me and Schneep here were talking about two other people, i-it's a really common name, yknow?" He laughs nervously.

Anti growls and flicks some green tentacles out of the water in his anger. Then, he spurs down to go under the surface, showing off that his tentacles are... glowing slightly with little small balls of yellow before he disappears from view. Reaper Jackie watches him go and sighs then looks at the others "D-Don't mind him he's... really sensitive about some stuff. Like our brother, Jack..." He looks sad for a second before he shakes himself out of it.

Jackie’s expression falls into something more serious. He notices other Jackie's sadness. But he's not sure how to respond.

Reaper Jackie then puts a finger to his chin and makes a thinking face, " Okay soooo let's... put this altogether. You.. kinda know what Alterra is but only cuz its like a game... you've played. Like tag I'm guessing? That makes sense, Zara says Alterra is hugeee!" He makes big wide sweeping gestures with his hands before continuing. "But- you're not a white suit orrr a blue suit- cuz you don't got any equipment... how'd that happen? Most anyone who comes here knows the planet is mostly water."

"We did not plan for this..." Alt grumbles. "We just... fell here. Its a long story."

Henrik snorts and crosses his arms. "Fell here... that is ridiculous! You cannot fall straight from space into the water-"

"But you guys really got nothin' at all to breathe with?" Mer-Jackie asks. "Cuz... mmm I might be able to get you some- but I dunno how well you'd swim with all those clothes on ya. The OA base is a bit farther down into the reefs. Plus- that reaper won't stay away for too long- this is his territory! He gets realll mad when other fish come nearby."

"Y-yes, nothing to breathe with," Schneep says hesitantly. "And no suitable clothes."

Jackie throws his hands into the air. "Well—guess we'll fucking die, then!"

Maybe I know some magic that can help? JJ says. I just need a moment to remember. He sighs. This is why the ABIM encourages magicians to carry around their own book of spells.

"No, I'm sure we can figure something out, don't waste your magic," Jackie says. "We'll try nonmagical means before magic ones."

Alt seems to think before he perks up, "...I have a spell- I've done it before!" He seems excited, "I-It turned us into mermen before- m-maybe it'll still work here! Oh... i might need to change some runes to make sure we're the right type of fish... hmmm-"

Bro looks at Alt worriedly, "I mean... do you still have enough magic Alt? We just went through a lot of shit..."

Mer-Jackie and Mer-Schneep look at all of the with confusion. "...what does all that stuff mean? Spells? Magic?" Stalker Schneep asks.

"They sound like Marvin... I still don't know where he learned words like that..." Reaper Jackie grumbles. "Maybe they mean warps? mmm but those don't work outside of the water last I checked-"

Alt then grips at his head and curses, "Argh! I dunno how that would work though! I don't have my spellbook and my phone is probably fried! I don't even know how I'd write the runes-!"

It’s okay, Alt, not your fault, JJ says. None of us could’ve predicted this. Then he glances at the mer-people in the water. He grins. Someone translate what I say for them. Do you want to see something cool?

“JJ asks if you want to see something cool,” Jackie relays.

Reaper Jackie's eyes widen and he nods eagerly, "Yes yes! I wanna see something cool!!"

Stalker Schneep chuckles and then shrugs, "Alright... I suppose."

JJ holds out his hands. After a second, flickering blue lights appear around his fingers, coalescing into a couple glowing spheres. He sends them flying around the area, moving like big fireflies, the blue shifting through various colors.

Reaper Jackie's eyes light up with excitement and he quickly swims around and tries to chase them. "Oh my stars!!! Look at that!! SCHNEEP LOOK!!"

Henrik laughs a bit breathlessly, "I... I am seeing- that is..." He looks back to JJ- "H-How are you doing that?"

"Its like Marvin with his warps! I bet he just thinks its and then whoooosh!" Reaper Jackie says, making weird arm gestures again.

Alt laughs, "It's called magic but... you aren't too far off? It's... kinda hard to explain..."

JJ laughs, happy that they like his little light show. The balls of light slowly fade away and he brushes his hands off, then signs, It’s a lot like that—thinking about something and making it happen. But sometimes it needs something a little extra, like a word or a gesture.

Jackie repeats what he says for the boys in the water, and adds, “Alt can do stuff like that, too, but slightly different. And our Schneep and Chase have their own stuff—”

“Jackie, what if we do not want to share that?” Schneep asks.

“Oh. Sorry.”

"I'm okay with sharing!" Bro pipes up and pushes off the metal- leaping into the air and then flying above the merboys. "I'm a superhero! so- I can fly!"

The mermen looks absolutely flabbergasted. Reaper Jackie grabs Henrik's shoulder and starts shaking him wildly, "Schneep! He's flying! What i- I didn't know humans could do that without their rockets and shit!!"

"Incredible..." Henrik breathes. Then, he gets annoyed by Jackie's shaking and he snaps his teeth at him. "Jackie! Enough I can see him!"

"Oh- Sorry-" Mer-Jackie grins sheepishly.

Bro goes to touch back down and brushes down his outfit. "Sadly- flying doesn't really help when we need to go underwater..."

"Oh oh! Maybe we can ask Zara to drive that reallly big ship over here for these guys! Cuz- I think a sea moth is too small." Mer-Jackie says.

Henrik frowns, "That will alert the reapers though..."

"ohhh yeah- that's not good..."

"If I just had something to write with... something I can make sure stays on all of us I... I bet I could try the spell...?" Alt mumbles to himself.

Schneep casually reaches to the side and grabs a permanent marker. “Would this work or do you need something else?”

“What?!” Jackie stares. “Can—can you do that with anything?”

“Nothing too big, I need to be able to hold it,” Schneep says.

“Can… can you get specific stuff?” Jackie asks. “Because SCLERA took my staff… and I kinda liked it…”

“Hmm. I am not sure. Let me try…” Schneep reaches out with his other hand… and finds Jackie’s collapsed staff.

“Whoa.” Jackie whistles.

“I don’t know if it is the same one or a near identical-one, but here,” Schneep holds it out.

“That’ll work!” Jackie happily takes the staff.

Alt blinks wide eyed at the marker, his jaw falling open. He then blinks at Schneep and mumbles out quickly. "I-If i describe a certain bracelet- could you grab that?? I... I can make duplicate from there and... well maybe it can just be a bracelet but the one im thinking of we used for these kind of travels cuz it had a tracking spell on it- but either way! T-then I can do the spell to make us mermen! ...cuz it sounds like there's fuck-all up here." He looks to Mer-Jackie and Schneep who just nod in agreement.

"All the fun stuff is underwater!" Reaper Jackie says with a sharp grin.

"Oh- does that take a lot of energy Schneep?? Maybe we can get JJ and my spellbooks too??" Alt adds on.

"Getting a specific item? No, not really. In all honesty, I do not get tired from my powers the way that my Marvin and Jackie get tired from theirs," Schneep says. "Or the way that you do, I suppose. I just do not know if I am literally grabbing it or somehow conjuring it. Hmm... perhaps I should try to test that some time..." He trails off for a moment, thinking. Then shakes his head. "I have never tried something with magic before, either, but I can at least try to get you a bracelet as you describe."

"Oh... huh... that's interesting," Alt says with a curious hum. Then, he focuses, "Uh... right um- it's like a leather bracelet and it has a gem on top of it and runes on the inside. Does... that help?"

Schneep nods slowly. "Yes, it does. Now let's see." He reaches out... and after a second grabs something. He pulls it back. "This seems fitting."

It is indeed a leather bracelet with a gem—exactly like the ones Alt was picturing, but lacking the runes.

Alt perks up and goes to take the bracelet and look it over. He deflates as he sees the tracking runes are gone. He doesn't have those memorized... and getting the bracelets attuned for that takes a long time. But- that's okay! They only need these for the transformation spell. Alt smiles at Schneep, "Y-Yes this is good Schneep, thanks!"

Alt starts to mumble to himself, duplicating the bracelets until there's 5 of them. He sets them all down, starting to write out the runes he needs with the marker: water. breathing, transformation and... can he still use fish here? That made them like... real life fish back in the merman world they found... but maybe the principle will still work here? Just in case... he knows the rune for space? Space...fish... that seems like it could work? He grabs a bracelet and secures it on, whispering some magic words to himself. As he does, his eyes and the runes glow blue. He gets to his feet and is about to take stuff off before he shrugs. All their stuff is already ruined... but mermen usually at least have their shirts off… god he missed his jacket. He pulls off his shirt then takes a steady breath. "Alright... Lemme see if this works..." He mumbles, before he dives into the water.

"Wait hey!" Mer-Jackie yells in a bit of concern, "The reaper!"

But, then Alt pops back up and- first thing you can notice is he has gills. and some kind of blue green armor on his arms. Henrik and Mer-Jackie's eyes widen. Alt takes stock of himself and then lifts up his legs- but now its a tail! A big thick tail that has... weird reddish prongs on the ends. Alt blinks in confusion. "What the hell??"

JJ applauds, impressed by Alt's work.

"Oh, so cool!" Jackie whoops.

Mer-Jackie gasps and swims closer and lifts up his tail to look at better above the water, effectively pushing Alt under the water in the motion. "Oh!! Oh my stars you're a hybrid now!!”

"But unlike one we have ever seen..." Henrik breathes, getting closer too to see.

"I know what you are though!" Jackie pipes up excitedly, "You're a- OW!"

A shock runs up the tail and reaper Jackie lets go and Alt pops his head back out with a glare. "...a little warning, next time?"

"You're an ampeel!" Mer Jackie says happily, as if that didn't just happen.

Alt's eyes widen. "...it worked?" Then he laughs in victory and pumps his fists, "Yes! It worked!" He then glitches back onto the ship and the other boys can see that out of the water, Alt still has gills and the weird armor on his arms and legs but- he has legs again and is mostly human. He quickly bends down and starts saying the spell words to make all the bracelets work.

"wooahhh- how'd you do that?? I've never seen a- a hybrid become human before!!" Mer-Jackie gasps. Alt just smirks, "It's magic~!"

Schneep laughs. "Wish I could have seen it. An ampeel?"

"Apparently it's a fish with armored plating and these parts that stick out and shock people," Jackie describes. "So—that'll work for all of us?" His eye lights up. "Can I try? Oh, what about our clothes?"

Alt grins, "Yeah- i-it'll probably turn you into different things... It's based on the soul. So... huh- you could become something like these guys or... maybe something completely different." Alt then laughs and gestures to himself, "Seems like they stay intact with the spell... thank god or I'd be really embarrassed right now." He hands the bracelet to Jackie and nods, "Give it a try!"

"Oh hell yeah!" Jackie takes the bracelet and pulls it on. He hesitates, but then—just in case, quickly takes off his hoodie and shirt beneath. Not that he doesn't trust Alt's magic. He just thinks it's better safe than sorry. Taking off his pants is a bit too far, though.

He takes a deep breath, then dives into the water. A moment later, he surfaces, and looks down at himself. He has a long tail instead of legs, covered in red armor that's white on the belly. A ridge of fins runs down the back, and two small flippers poke out near his waist. On his back are mandibles, similar to Mer-Jackie's but a bit different, all black and a bit serrated on the inside. "Whoa... this feels so weird. But also, kinda cool."

Mer-Jackie blinks in surprise and circles around Jackie. He looks... confused. He tilts his head and studies him. "I... I've never seen a fish like you before... Are there fish like this on this planet, Schneep?" he asks looking over at Henrik. Stalker Schneep looks just as confused and shakes his head, "... I have never seen a creature like this..."

"Huh... weird..." Mer-Jackie mutters. "Guess we can always ask Danan."

"Hah... I'm special." Jackie grins. This is strange... he lost his legs but gained four extra limbs. As he thinks about it, the mandibles snap a little. Good thing he took his shirt and hoodie off after all, these new things might've torn through them. But... it does leave his chest exposed. With all its scars... He folds his arm, trying to be casual about it.

Alt watches Jackie jump in with a smile then goes to hand a bracelet to Schneep. "Do you wanna try Schneep? We'll try our best to stick by you and help..."

"Hmm? Oh yes, of course." Schneep looks down at the bracelet as Alt places it in his hand, and he quickly puts it on. He takes his coat off—the water makes it heavy—but leaves his shirt on as he slides into the water. When he surfaces, his upper torso is unchanged, but his legs have been replaced by a bony tail covered in translucent flesh that allows the skeleton inside to be seen. Four tendrils branch off at his waist, moving slowly. One wraps around Jackie's new tail and he yelps in surprise. "Ah, s-sorry, Jackie."

Alt blinks over to look at the two of them and grins, "Woah! Awesome!"

"Ohhh! You are a River Prowler!" Henrik says brightly, swimming around Schneep. As he swims he does seem to take in Schneep's face a bit more, tilting his head. "... Jackie? ... do these strangers look... really familiar to you?"

Mer-Jackie is still swimming and trying to figure out what the hell other Jackie is. He pops back up and blinks at Henrik. "Hah?" He looks back at other Jackie and tilts his head too. "... mmmm maybe? I dunno..."

"..without the scars... this Jackie kinda looks like you... if you had brown hair." Henrik points out.

Mer-Jackie whips around to look at his brother then back at Jackie. "What?? n-no way! ... well if that's the case then- you look like this Schneep a lot! He just needs your goggles and green hair!"

"..h-hah??" Henrik gasps and looks at Schneep with wide eyes.

Jackie laughs a bit nervously. "Yeah, uh... funny, isn't it?"

Schneep blinks. "They have green hair? All three of them?"

"Yeah, they do, it's a bit strange... but kind of cool looking," Jackie says.

"Oh, I can imagine. My friends Jack and Chase dyed their hair together some years ago, I can picture it vividly," Schneep says. He turns to the hybrids. "Oh yes, I should explain. I actually cannot see." He waves his hand in front of his eyes, demonstrating. "Not at all. It is just black to me. So, if I have seemed clueless, that is why."

"OOOHH!" Mer Jackie says, "That explains a lot! Hey! The reapers are technically blind too! Maybe I can teach you to roar so you can like- echo stuff out and feel things!"

"I do not think River Prowlers can roar like you do, Jackie." Henrik says with a raised eyebrow. Mer-Jackie grumbles and crosses his arms. "You don't know-! Maybe.. they get special abilities or something... like that new thing Marvin can do! Or how Jamie can talk to other fish!"

If we're going to become fish I should do something really quick before that, JJ says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tooth Bro knocked out in their fight back in SCLERA. He presses it to the empty space, concentrates hard... and, after a moment, there's a flash of blue light and the tooth is reattached. He shakes his head, wobbling a bit. That took more power than he thought, but he can still make do.

Bro blinks at JJ and then his eyes widen and he goes to help JJ get steady afterwards. He hesitates for a second before lightly hugging JJ around the shoulders. "...sorry I did that... sorry..."

JJ blinks. He smiles at Bro and pats him on the back. It's alright. I know by now that you can't blame someone for the things they do while controlled. His smile fades. I'm... sorry, too. I don't know what came over me back there. I was just so angry... and... He shudders, remembering what it was like. So that was the effect of black magic, was it? He'd read about how it changes people, but he'd never understood the temptation until it was right there. So much power... but at the cost of acting on his worst impulses and feelings.

Bro squeezes JJ back and then smiles at him. "Hey, it's okay dude. Water under the bridge~!" He grins dopeily and nudges JJ with his elbow a bit. "Besides- no harm done." He gestures to the claw marks on his suit. The skin underneath is still a bit red and patchy but it's already starting to heal. "I heal fast, remember?"

J looks surprised, then laughs and nods. That's right. I forgot. Well... if there's 'no harm done', and we're both sorry, then we shouldn't worry about it.

Bro laughs and pats JJ on the shoulder, "Alright- I'm good with that~ You ready to try this crazy shit?"

JJ laughs. Of course!

Bro smiles at JJ and goes to take a bracelet and put it on. He takes off his hero jacket and then dives in. When he comes back up- he has purple markings on his face and purple like veins going up his neck. He has scalloped plates on his arms like armor and on his shoulder blades. And this strange armor like structure on his chest that sticks out a bit from his collarbone. He blinks down at it and pokes at it. "The hell is this thing??"

Alt bursts into laughter.

Jackie grins. "You're like if a fish was a tank."

Mer-Jackie blinks out of his mood and swims over and brightens up. "Oh oh!! You're a boneshark!! cool!!!" He points at his eyes. "We got the same kind of markings too! That's so cool??"

Bro blinks, "Really??" Then he grins and holds up his hand for Jackie to high-five. But the hybrid just blinks at him in confusion.

JJ giggles at Mer-Jackie's confusion. I don't think they know what high fives are.

"Really? Well, you do it like this." Schneep holds up a hand, and Jackie swims over to slap it. Classic high five. "It is an expression of friendship, or acknowledging that something is cool."

Mer-Jackie's eyes light up and he rushes to go to high-five Bro- wayyy too hard. "Ow! Jesus!" Bro exclaims, holding his hand. He grins nervously, "T-That was great Jackie! just... not so hard?"

"Ohhh okay!" He grins, showing off his teeth again. "That's fun- I like that! Imma high five alll my brothers!"

Well, I suppose it's my turn. JJ takes the last of the bracelets, removes his cape—much like Schneep's coat, it gets heavy when wet—and shirt, and jumps into the water. He pops to the surface with a blue glowing tail, slightly translucent, with a diamond-shaped fin at the end. Wings are attached to his arms, pointed at the ends, like some sort of fancy scarves or long sleeves. The blue translucence carries up his torso all the way to his shoulders. Red shapes can be seen inside his body, about where his lungs and stomach would be. He looks down at himself in surprise. He can see through him. It's a bit disconcerting... but he likes the glow.

As JJ jumps in Mer Jackie swims over and beams. "Woahh! A ghost ray!!" He swims over and holds up one of JJ's wings, "You got wings just like Chase does!"

"What?" Bro says, looking at his arms, "I don't got wings!"

"Not you! My brother Chase!" Reaper Jackie laughs. He then blinks and grins even bigger. "Now you can all meet them!! Oh Oh- Jamie is gonna love all of you!! And Chase! ... probably- mmm Marvin might be a mixed bag and... well- you have met Anti..." He shakes his head and smiles again. "And we can show the base!! Oh! This will be so much fun!"

Alt chuckles and dives back into the water with everyone. "You guys might wanna make sure you keep your things on you... unless Schneep can grab them for us later? I'm just worried a rift will show up and they'll get stuck here..."

"A rift?" Stalker Schneep asks, "What is that?"

"...that's a complicated story- we can try to tell you later okay?"

"Better safe than sorry," Schneep says. "Somebody grab my coat.

"On it." Jackie climbs out of the water, temporarily turning human again—the mandibles shrink down but still stick out a bit, little nubs on his back—and grabs all their stuff, bundling it up in JJ's cape. He jumps back into the water. "So. Sounds like you have a bunch of, uh... are they... brothers, then? You're all related?"

How are you all different fish, then? JJ asks.

"That's a good point. How are you all different fish?"

"And where are we going?" Schneep asks. "Exactly, I mean. Details."

"Oh well uhhh-" Mer-Jackie makes a face as he thinks, "I dunno- Jack started calling us all brothers long before I was even born. Do you know why Schneep?" He then looks back at the others and grins. "Schneep is older than me. Most of them are- the only one that isn't is Jamie... oh! and Marvin! I found out I'm older~!" He says proudly, puffing out his chest. Then he laughs, "But to be honest? I've always seen us like twins."

"The reason why we are all different is... complicated." Stalker Schneep says.

"Well- me and Chase are brothers and we're different right now!" Alt points out, flicking his tail. "Maybe its a soul thing? Maybe its... magic?"

"It is not that." Henrik says with finality. "It is... come, I will explain while we swim. We have a bit of one." He dives under the water.

JJ tilts his head at Henrik's statement. Why does he have a bad feeling about this? A world where there are humans, but the only hybrids are their little group... something abnormal happened there. And maybe something not so good.

Mer-Jackie smiles and motions for them to follow after. "We're going to our friends' base! It’s down at the end of the shallows near the kelp forest!"

Alt and Bro look at each other. Bro instinctually takes a breath before going under and Alt rolls his eyes before he follows.

"Shallows and kelp forest, okay," Jackie mutters. That means nothing to him, but it might make sense when he sees it. He also instinctively takes a breath before diving. JJ is next, then Schneep.

#GITHV #glitch into the huffleverse #GITHV Septnautical #septnautical #alt anti #bro fantastic #stitched schneep #inverted jackie #the jaunty jackson #reaper jackie #stalker schneep #sea dragon anti #YEAHHH ITS SEPTNAUTICAL TIMEEE #TIME TO FEED MY OTHER BLOG LETS GOOO #for septnautical readers- i am still working on requests but this will hopefully help fill in the gaps ahgja #And i'll post everyone's designs in a bit!!#cuz you know i did them gahjba #i feel bad that i give away the surprise with the title but ghavj #i have like 3 aus so it was bound to happen HGVJB

14 notes · View notes