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sharkdream3421 · 2 years

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Izuku Midoriya X Gang Orca X Male Orca Reader - Father VS Son

Before you read, I recommend that you read my Izuku X Reader - Ignored Inheritance, my Toru Hagakure X Reader, and Izuku X Reader - Hidden Truths first.

Summary: The moment we have all been waiting for! It's the provisional license exam, which means it's father VS son time! After thousands of words of character development for our protagonist he puts his skills to the test!

Word Count: 1800 around there.

This was it the provisional license exam, many students thought that this exam was about getting their license. To you though this was your chance to prove yourself to your father that you could handle your own and that you didn't ever need his protection again. You were going to win, you have to. You also want your license of course to become a pro hero obviously.

The first part of the exam was about you and class 1-A fighting against a different school full of students. You had three targets on your body and you had to make sure that none of the balls hit the targets. You, and Izuku stuck together the entire time, having each other's backs, and fighting against the students.

Once the first part of the exam was done, you, Izuku, and a major portion of Class 1-A advanced to part two of the exam. None of your targets were hit and you got a couple of the students from the other school out as you used your subsonic waves to change the balls direction and aim back at the students.

Your father no.............Gang Orca had to be in the second part of the exam and you weren't going to let him stop you.

The second part of the exam was about rescuing civilians, and everyone was focused on getting to the civilians to first aid. Although, you remained uneasy and Izuku was worried.

"Y/N, what's wrong?" Izuku asked.

You looked at him with an intense stare, "Izuku, I have this feeling that something is about to happen keep your guard up."

Gang Orca has to appear soon maybe any-

BOOM!

You and Izuku looked up to see a massive explosion had occurred at least a mile away. You saw that someone had emerged from the smoke.

It was Gang Orca. He wore a red vest, his pink neck tie, his black cape, and protective restrains. You remembered that the letter you had mentioned restraints.

We need you to undergo the role of a villain and make the exam more harder for the students. No fatal injuries, or inappropriate contact is allowed, we also will have you wear certain special gear so you will not be able to harm the students in any major way.

Those restraints must have been holding Gang Orca back from using his true strength. That's a advantage to you, but you've seen how your father has fought before. Gang Orca was a powerhouse, a strong hero. It doesn't matter if he's wearing restraints or not, he still is a strong hero.

They would have obviously picked your father for this job. It was mainly because of him being a powerhouse hero, and being third as heroes who look like villains. Man that list was still dumb as hell. Great, now your girlfriend Toru was starting to rub off on you. You agreed with her for sure.

Your father was advancing and you saw him kneeling down onto the ground with his red eyes opening. He though he looked like you, he was still extremely intimidating as well. They didn't call him a villain for nothing.

"Tell me wanna be heroes. Can you save people and fight at the same time?"

Izuku looked at him shocked, "It's Gang Orca!"

You stepped forward slightly and stared at him with menacing eyes, "He's a villain now Deku, and we don't show villains mercy."

Izuku looked at you with worried eyes, "Y/N..."

"Deku, I'll hold off Gang Orca, you help with the rescue efforts." You said as your started to run toward the villain.

Deku grabbed your wrist with a tightening grip. You looked over at him to see a determined look on his face.

"Okay, but if you ever need any help. Just shout okay? I'll be there, I promise."

"Thank you, but please you have to go Deku...now." You told Deku with so much determination flowing through your body.

Your looked back to see Gang Orca walking toward your group menacingly along with many soldiers surrounding you in many different directions.

"Now how will you react? Will you fight or protect? Help or run away? What would a hero do?!" Gang Orca shouted menacingly.

You weren't going to run, you weren't going to hide, you were going to stay and FIGHT!

You quickly ran to your opponent and immediately sent sound waves coming toward him.

Gang Orca saw this and immediately sent his own sound waves countering your attack.

"Your just going to fight me alone hero? With no help? Will you just attack?"

"Shut up! You know nothing about me villain! I'll protect my friends no matter what. They mean everything to me! Your in my way of becoming a pro hero and accomplishing my dreams, which I will never forgive you for! I'll make it to the top using my quirk in my own way, I'm nothing like you!"

"I wanted to go out with you Y/N, because of how kind you are! I saw the way you and Izuku talk to each other. Your like best friends and inseparable Y/N! Inseparable says a lot about your friendship with Izuku, and that shows that Izuku holds you as a close friend dearly! I also like everything about you Y/N, even your appearance. When I look into your eyes, I see the eyes only of the person I care about the most. Your also nothing like your Dad, Y/N!

"I have to succeed for my friends, for myself, for Toru, and for Izuku! I promise you father that you won't stop me from becoming a pro hero! I'LL PROVE MYSELF TO YOU THAT I CAN BECOME MY OWN HERO! MY FRIENDS ARE MY POWER!"

Two massive sounds waves then immediately clashed with each other. Which, caused a massive gust of wind to go throughout the entire arena.

Author (Me): I just imagine the 'You Say Run' theme playing during the readers' badass confession. I've been waiting a long time for the reader to say that.

Izuku saw two massive sound waves colliding with each other. He heard everything that Y/N said, and all he could feel was sadness for them. Izuku was cheering for his friend. He had to beat his father, and prove himself to him that he could become his own hero.

Izuku led some of the citizens to the first aid area. Some heroes were defending the citizens from Gang Orca's minions. Once Izuku took a citizen to safety he looked up at the fight that had been occurring. The sound waves were still colliding with each other.

MY FRIENDS ARE MY POWER!

Izuku remembered what you said, you didn't rely on your quirk for power or your abilities. He relied on his classmates. Y/N had faith in him and the rest of his class, to complete the exam. He had to help Y/N, even if he told him to leave. No, he couldn't just leave Y/N there to fight Gang Orca he needed to get a group together and help!

Izuku looked around to see Shoto Todoroki, and a guy with cyclone powers being on their guard as they protect the citizens, while intensely looking at the fight that been occurring between the two orca men.

Izuku snapped his fingers in realization.

He had an idea, a smart, and crazy idea.

~~~~

Insert 'You Say Run' right here!" Here's the link if you want the fight to be OP!

youtube

"Your fighting without backup?! What a reckless plan!" Gang Orca taunted.

No progress on the sound wave clash that has been going on for at least a minute. No side was winning, and both sides were pushing hard.

You had to push harder, you remember that you wanted to prove yourself to him and society for years. You had to puSH FORWARD!

Your sound wave grew twice as stronger as it overcame Gang Orca and was dazed by Y/N's sound wave.

"Y/N!" You heard Izuku shout.

"Izuku? What are-"

"Y/N, we have a plan! Keep him busy with your sound waves!"

You weren't sure what Izuku's plan was, but you trusted him. Izuku's sharp analysis was almost never wrong.

You signaled him with a nod and sent more sound waves at Gang Orca, and he retaliated with sound waves of his own.

As the two orca men were busy, Izuku, Shoto, and the cyclone guy executed their plan.

Izuku helped coordinate Shoto and cyclone man's attacks.

"Y/N! Stun him and get back!" Izuku shouted.

"Got it!" You yelled back as you sent another massive sound wave toward Gang Orca.

Once again Gang Orca was losing his footing and was dazed.

Shoto and cyclone man combined their attacks and turned it into a giant cyclone made of fire.

You realized what they were doing. It was a brilliant plan! You and your father's weakness was fire and can weaken your strength!

Wait, no it's not over! Your father used water to regenerate his strength! He must have had a water bottle with him! You had to take action immediately!

"Izuku, my father has a water bottle with him! If he uses the water bottle on himself he can get some of his strength back! We have to take it away so he can't regain his strength!" You explained your epiphany to Deku.

"Okay just pick me up and throw me into the cyclone, at the moment he uses it I can grab it out of his hands!" Izuku replied.

"Okay, just be careful alright? Gang Orca can be unpredictable."

"Agreed, now let's do it!" Deku said as you picked up Izuku.

You spun around in a circle as you grabbed Izuku's legs. After a couple spins you threw Izuku into the cyclone of fire.

Izuku saw Gang Orca take out a water bottle and put it over his head. Izuku immediately grabbed the water bottle out of Gang Orca's hands as Orca looked at the students with widened eyes!

"Midoriya!" Gang Orca growled at the student.

Izuku landed out of the cyclone of fire, and poured the water on himself to get rid of the fire catching onto his clothes.

"We can't hold it for long!" Shoto shouted to the group as the cyclone started to slowly disappear.

Once the cyclone disappeared an exhasted Gang Orca appeared kneeling on the ground to keep himself up.

Y/N immediately charged at Gang Orca and threw a powerful punch at him. It strikes his gauntlet, which left a dent in it.

Gang Orca was shaking, he lost most of his strength and was on the verge of collapsing!

"Izuku, now!" You yelled.

Izuku then immediately used his shoot style and aimed to hit Gang Orca's head.

With the last amount of seconds left before Gang Orca would be knocked out.

Gang Orca's eyes widened once again seeing Izuku's determined face in a goal of to beat Y/N's father for himself and Y/N. He wanted to help his close friend accomplish his dreams and now Y/N was able to do that.

Using 20% of his power, Izuku's metal covered foot hit Gang Orca right in the face. Searing pain came in contact with Gang Orca's skin. Gang Orca was knocked back and landed onto the ground with little to no strength remaining in his body.

The group of four students looked at the unconscious figure in front of them as realization had hit them. They defeated Gang Orca, a pro hero nonetheless!

The test had ended, the citizens had been successfully evacuated and they K.O. their villain.

They had done it. They passed the exam and Y/N proved himself.

I swear that I've been constantly cheering for Y/N and Izuku's team to defeat Gang Orca. Y/N finally proved that he can defeat his father and handle his own! I'm so proud of Y/N YES!

Masterlist

Next part

#gang orca x reader #my hero academia #izuku midoriya #gang orca #kuugo sakamata #kugo sakamata #izuku midoriya x reader #izuku x reader #male orca reader #Youtube

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csnews · 4 years

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A New Whale-watching Museum Is Opening in Norway — and It’s Shaped Like a Whale Fin

Jessica Poitevien - January 15, 2021

From far away, The Whale museum on the southern coast of Norway looks like, well, a whale — the tail of a whale emerging from water, to be more precise. But upon closer inspection, visitors will find that this architectural marvel is actually a scenic viewpoint and an educational center where they can learn about the local marine life.

Designed by Danish architectural studio Dorte Mandrup, The Whale is located in Andenes on the island of Andøya, around 186 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The coastal village welcomes thousands of visitors every year for prime whale-watching opportunities, thanks to the area's deep-sea canyon, which attracts several different whale species to feed close to shore.

From June to August, it's easy to spot pilot, minke, and sperm whales near Andenes. During the colder winter months, orcas and humpback whales pass by on their migratory journeys. And visitors will be able to enjoy all the whale-watching action from the curved rooftop of The Whale museum, which has a sloped platform with stone-paved pathways leading to various viewing areas, including a tide pool and campfire.

Founder and creative director Dorte Mandrup told Insider that the design of The Whale was inspired by its natural surroundings, where "the landscape above and under the water is one continuous skin, making the surface of the water the only division between above and below." The result is a building that resembles a natural mound gently lifting from the ground.

Inside The Whale museum, visitors will find exhibition spaces with whale-related artifacts, a cafe, and museum store. Thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Norwegian Sea, guests will also be able to watch for migrating whales as they explore the various exhibits.

The Whale was originally slated to open in 2022, but after developers found that the location was on the site of Viking-era artifacts, construction temporarily stopped, Insider reports. Now, The Whale is set to open in 2023.

For more information, visit the museum's official website.

#news #wild #whale #cetacean #whale watching #museum #norway

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areiton · 3 years

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sunlight caught in water - stony

Hey look at me posting my fic on tumblr like it’s 2020 again. Here’s my contribution to Mermay.

Read on AO3

~*~

The boy comes to the water every summer, sunshine bright and beautiful. And below the waves, hidden in the shoals, you watch.

~*~

He’s with a woman, the first time, frail and small next to her side and you watch him stumble, watch him fall, and his hands splash down in your water.

You strain against the arms holding you, against the edicts that keep merkin safe, because you see him coughing but he’s laughing too, bright and beautiful, and he splashes in your waves, and you want to splash with him, see those blue eyes trained on you.

The woman scoops him up and carries him, dripping, into the sand and sunlight and you go limp in Jarvis’ arms, and his tail twines with your tentacles, soothing some of the sad loneliness.

~*~

The boy comes back. Every summer, he comes back, and you watch. As the years slip by, the woman vanishes, replaced by a dark haired boy with hands that are gentle as they help the golden bright boy you can’t look away from.

He’s still too small, frail and blinding beautiful, and you still drift under the waves and watch him.

Jarvis doesn’t always go with you, anymore. The migrant currents that bring you past the golden haired boy are harsh and cold, and you think that he’s better left in the warm tropics, where the waves aren’t troubled by metal boats and rippling searching waves and sleek submarines that hunt like sharks in the dark.

The waves whisper stories, and your cousins carry tales, and you twist in the waves, searching the shore for your sunshine boy because the world is at war, again, the waves twist bloody and the deep swallows up the bodies of too many.

The coldwater merkin feast and you--you hide in the dark, craft your nets and drag them back, the ones who might survive, and you can hear them screaming when you flip in the water and vanish, a cloud of dark dark tentacles and red gills.

You save them, as many as you can find, and you search the shore for a boy you don’t find.

And once, just once, you see someone with sunshine bright hair and seablue eyes and a body as big as a coral reef and you think he’s yours, your boy, because his smile is the same and he splashes in your waves and it sings against your skin like a familiar song sung out of tune.

Then he’s gone and you think he isn’t, he isn’t, he can’t be.

~*~

Rhodey chases you.

You love him for it, for his devotion, for the saltwart presence of him behind you, always. His dark skin and gunmetal shark fins scare off most who follow, scare off the sharks and curious dolphins and the orca.

You love him for chasing you even when you know he doesn’t understand, can’t understand, because he’s never seen your golden sunlight boy smiling into the waves like he can see through them and see you.

You love him for it, because you are strange and other in your pod, with your dark flashing tentacles and darkwater eyes, an egg hatched strange in the warm water beds, alien and wrong. You grow up quick and bright and bored and Jarvis says you’re perfect, exactly where you should be, but the only time you feel like you belong is when you’re swimming with Rhodey and letting Jarvis’ strong arms carry you through the currents, and hiding out of sight in the shoals under a sunbright boy’s unknowing gaze.

~*~

The tides whisper.

The waves tell a story.

Of a bright burning soldier and the war tide he’s turning.

Of blood brothers and a daring rescue and tired feet tramping through dry forests.

Of a war torn beach and thousands of bodies surrendered to the waves, and you shiver, and shake and it’s not him, it’s not him, it’s not him.

Your sunbright boy shakes the world and you chase him as far as the waves will let you and hope that the tides will bring him home.

~*~

When it happens.

When the ocean trembles.

When the waves shatter, rocked by an explosion that wakes the monstrous deep--

When it happens, you’re still riding the currents with Rhodey, in bloody water turned bitter with war, and you feel it, feel the tsunami wave that throws you through the water, rips you from Rhodey and your pod and you scream, and crash into the rocks.

~*~

You wake.

To darkness lit by your strange deepwater gaze.

You wake.

To pain and ripping heat.

You wake.

To unfamiliar fins and the deep deep silence of the monstrous waves, where nightmares swim.

You wake.

And wish you could die.

~*~

You’re smart.

Cephalopods are always smart, and you think of Rhodey, gunmetal gray and worried eyes and you think of Jarvis, his muted jeweled tones and betta fins, and you think of the migrant currents and your sunbright boy smiling into the waves, and you swear you’ll survive.

~*~

There is a merkin in the cave with you, a serious faced man with a clownfish fin and you wonder where his family is, but you never ask, because you don’t want to know.

A clownfish that swims alone is almost obscene.

~They’ll come for you~ he says and you blink at him, tired and shivering. You feel wrong, twisted, missing something essential.

The sharks have ripped away your tentacles, and you cannot swim, cannot protect yourself, can only drift against the cave floor.

~They’ll come for you,~ he says and his words are fierce. ~Don’t let them take you.~

~*~

They take him, in the end, and you--

You use your hands, clever helpful dammed things, drag yourself away while they rip him apart, and it’s silent, so quiet here in the deep, not even merkin screams to break the silence. You tuck yourself down down down, a broken bloody carcass and let the ocean hide you as you heal.

~*~

Time passes slow, and you heal slower.

But time does pass, and you do heal, and you dream, dream of a boy bright as sunlight and waves playing on your hands, and seablue eyes laughing into yours.

~*~

When you emerge.

When you emerge, you are the thing you have always feared, one of the monsters of the deep. You slip from your deepwater crevice, spill inky black tentacles across the water, and stretch in your new grown skin, and when they come, the sharks with their bloody mouths and ripping teeth--

You smile, savage in the dark, and your deepwater eyes gleam and you tear them to pieces.

~*~

You drift along the ocean currents that should feel familiar but nothing feels familiar, not anymore. Merkin drift in your wake, and you can taste their trilling fear, their whispered words shivering through the water against your skin.

Merkin do not become this, do not become at all.

The deep--the deep is made for dangerous creatures, for the sleeping giants and dark made monsters. The deep is not made for merkin, with their love of fast water and warm currents, but you have never been a normal merkin, not with your inky tentacles and curious soul and deepwater eyes.

You drift now, a giant sheltering your kin, and ache because the world feels strange and other and you miss Rhodey, like a tentacle that never grew back.

~*~

When you hear--

You hear so many things, whispers whispers whispers in the water--but there is this too.

A wave tore through the oceans and killed droves of fish, killed merkin and whales and a pod of dolphins, and it was only a family of narwhal that found it. A ship in the water, strange and metal and falling fast, and a body trapped in ice, shining as bright as the sun.

You listen, because you can’t help but listen, and turn your eyes north, north, north.

It’s not him. It’s been decades now, a thousand tides and currents changed while you hid away and grew, and your sunbright boy is long since dead, with Rhodey and Jarvis both.

~*~

Your flashing happy warm water merkin fall away. You swim north, and a pod of orca merkin find you, swim alongside you while the currents change and the tides sweep in and out and then they too turn away and you--you swim north, into water deep and cold and you find--

You find ice.

You find a boy, trapped in ice that glows like sunshine encased in waves and you breathe, the first time in decades, press yourself against the cold cold ice and wrap your tentacles around it, until you’re as close to him as you’ve ever been.

A shadow moves in the deep, and you remember the sharks, the grey flashing bellies and white ripping teeth and you want them to come, want them to take you, think you could rip them apart again, that you are better now, then you’ve ever been and you snarl, twist--

Still.

Stare.

He is so very small. Smaller than you remember, or perhaps you are just too large, now.

But he is still familiar, still your--

~Hey, Tones,~ Rhodey says. ~I knew you’d find us.~

~*~

You drift with him, and he never asks, about the monster you’ve become, only lets you carry him when the tides are too strong, when he is tired. You drift with him, and he talks, tells you of the years when you were lost, of looking for you and finding your sunbright boy instead, of staying close to him because you always found your way back to him.

You drift and sometimes, when Rhodey is swimming and you are sure that he is safe, you dive, dive down into the murky deep, where monsters sleep and the dark glitters, and you tear it apart, the metal ship that brought him into your waves, and pick through the detritus.

Pluck a round metal disk from the waves, and a glowing blue stone that hurts your eyes that you hide away, a whisper of a promise you can’t name gleaming in it’s depths. A picture, a picture of your sunbright boy and a word spilled together that you can’t say but you think might be his name.

~*~

The years pass, and Rhodey stays, and you stay, and he sleeps on in his ice, until the waters shift and tremble and the ice melts, changes the currents once again, drags him into--into murky water touched by oil and humans and you drift along with him, because you cannot leave him, will not leave him.

~*~

Loud men with rough hands and no gils, no fins, no tentacles--they pull him and his ice from your waves and you scream. The ocean trembles and shakes in your fury, but there is this, still, indisputable:

He is gone and you cannot follow.

~*~

~Rhodey~ you murmur, watching the watery shore. A sunbrigh man stands there, bereft and shoulders shaking, strange against an unfamiliar skyline, a city rising new and sharp behind him, and you linger unseen in the shallows, a monstrous shadow that has followed him his whole life. ~What if we left the ocean?~

~*~

You dive, dive, dive, and bring it up, the stone that gleams the color of your deepwater eyes, electric blue and blinding, and Rhodey watches you, something like fear and awe in his gaze, but trust too.

You smile and think of sunshine and the world melts away.

~*~

Steve watches him, the strange dark haired man with electric blue eyes and the Tesseract in one hand, and shivers in strange recognition, and a chill crawls down his spine, when Tony smiles at him, like a prey caught in the hungry gaze of some ancient predator.

He smiles, though, a flash of white teeth and it’s bright, almost blinding, like sunshine caught in water.

Steve smiles back.

#mermay #stevetony #stony #steve rogers #tony stark #mermaid!tony #superhusbands #iron man #captain america

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agentark88 · 4 years

Text

Think: MHA Fan Fiction: Current Complete List of Chapters

Chapter One: Think of the Beginning

Chapter Two: Cold Soba

Chapter Three: Practicing Control

Chapter Four: Truth or Dare

Chapter Five: Sleepwalking

Chapter Six: When Quirks Collide

Chapter Seven: Waking to Fire

Chapter Eight: Parental Guidance

Chapter Nine: Healing Sweets

Chapter Ten: Mind Split Versus Purple Death Explosion

Chapter Eleven: Carnival of Chaos

Chapter Twelve: Player One Versus Fear

Chapter Thirteen: Studying with Broccoli

Chapter Fourteen: Fighting Toward Finals

Chapter Fifteen: Mind Control and Strange Feelings

Chapter Sixteen: Study Session Turned Toxic

Chapter Seventeen: Watching Closely

Chapter Eighteen: Final Exam Trust Fall

Chapter Nineteen: A Villainous Encounter at the Mall

Chapter Twenty: A Heated Swimming Competition

Chapter Twenty-One: BioVirus

Chapter Twenty-Two: Summer Training Camp Begins

Chapter Twenty-Three: Lifting Boulders and Minding Cuts

Chapter Twenty-Four: Are You Scared?

Chapter Twenty-Five: Safe

Chapter Twenty-Six: Too Many Bakers

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Parents’ Day

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sneaking Out for Cold Soba

Chapter Twenty-Nine: First Dates

Chapter Thirty: Burned and Broken

Chapter Thirty-One: Buried in Ash and Forgotten

Chapter Thirty-Two: Don’t Let Go

Chapter Thirty-Three: Movie Night with the Bakusquad

Chapter Thirty-Four: Shinso’s Secret

Chapter Thirty-Five: Missing Buttons

Chapter Thirty-Six: Upgrades, Improvements, and a Mad Inventor?

Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Sickening Nightmare

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Survival Training with the Sniffles

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Training with a Rock

Chapter Forty: A Snake in the Provisional Hero License Exam

Chapter Forty-One: A Rescue of the Mind

Chapter Forty-Two: Guilt, Glitter, and Gang Orca

Chapter Forty-Three: Beneath the Blame

Chapter Forty-Four: Doku Kobura: Remnants of Obsession

Chapter Forty-Five: The Big Three Work-Study Students and Offers

Chapter Forty-Six: A Picture Unveils a Thousand Nightmares

Chapter Forty-Seven: Fat Gum Agency First Steps

Chapter Forty-Eight: A Little Trouble with a Hero’s Debut

Chapter Forty-Nine: Think’s Tiny Adventures

Chapter Fifty: Doku Kobura: Snapped Sanity

Chapter Fifty-One: The Emerald Earrings

Chapter Fifty-Two: Losing Control and an Unbreakable Heart

Chapter Fifty-Three: It Takes a Heart to Explain a Mind

Chapter Fifty-Four: A Day in Shinso’s Shoes

Chapter Fifty-Five: To Switch a Body and Mind

Chapter Fifty-Six: A History Between Hawks and Hearts

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Endeavor’s Proposition

Chapter Fifty-Eight: First Dealings with Divulged Desires

Chapter Fifty-Nine: To Disguise a Pro Hero on a Budget

Chapter Sixty: Mind Smash

Chapter Sixty-One: An Icy-Hot Comfort

Chapter Sixty-Two: An Explosive Day at the Park

Chapter Sixty-Three: Discarding Toxic Reminders

Chapter Sixty-Four: Doku Kobura: An Untouchable Pawn

Chapter Sixty-Five: A Fake Date with Shinso

Chapter Sixty-Six: A Chained Heart

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Doku Kobura: Anything for Anna

Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Heart Stabbed by Fangs

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Overhaul’s Destruction and the Emergence of a Guardian Hero

Chapter Seventy: Hashtag Villains are Trending

Chapter Seventy-One: Go Beyond the Bounds of Flight

Chapter Seventy-Two: Promising Candy Apple Smiles

Chapter Seventy-Three: Emoticon’s Villain Evaluation (E.V.E.)

Chapter Seventy-Four: Doku Kobura: Emiyoku

Chapter Seventy-Five: A Hero’s Recipe for Disaster

Chapter Seventy-Six: Sleepwalking into an Emotional Nightmare

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Emiyo Miya: Feel Haunted

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Doku Kobura: Sweet Anna’s Secret Rescue Mission

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Emotional Damage

Chapter Eighty: An Unbelievable Performance

Chapter Eighty-One: Parental Control

Chapter Eighty-Two: Lockdown

Chapter Eighty-Three: Kobura’s Dream Date

Chapter Eighty-Four: Doku Kobura: A Villain Playing Hero

Chapter Eighty-Five: Kobura’s Sacrifice

Chapter Eighty-Six: The Newish Oldish Kid

Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Copied Quirk

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Quirkphobia

Chapter Eighty-Nine: Back in the Field

Chapter Ninety: A Volatile Operation

Chapter Ninety-One: Newfound Power

Chapter Ninety-Two: Evacuation and Evolution

Chapter Ninety-Three: Doku Kobura: The Cobra of Tartarus

Chapter Ninety-Four: Decaying Knowledge

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Dead Speak

The Beginning of the End (Ending Prelude)

An Explosive Ending (Katsuki Bakugo)

A Mind-Bending Ending (Hitoshi Shinso)

An Icy Ending (Shoto Todoroki)

An Unbreakable Ending (Eijiro Kirishima)

A Venomous Ending (Doku Kobura)

A Villainous Ending

A Quirkless Ending

A Bittersweet Ending

Think: Alternate Futures: Our Kids Collection

Think: Alternate Future: Katsuki Bakugo: Our Kids

Think: Alternate Future: Doku Kobura: Our Kids

Think: Alternate Future: Hitoshi Shinso: Our Kids

Think: Alternate Future: Eijiro Kirishima: Our Kids

Think: Alternate Future: Shoto Todoroki: Our Kids

Think: Alternate Futures: Next Gen Collection

Think: Alternate Future: Todoroki: Next Gen

Think: Alternate Future: Shinso: Next Gen

Think: Alternate Future: Bakugo: Next Gen

Think: Alternate Future: Kirishima: Next Gen

Think: Holiday Specials

Think: Halloween Special

Think: Alone on Christmas

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tealin · 4 years

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Cape Crozier: The Outward Journey

As always, please visit the original blog for proper formatting. Sigh, Tumblr.

I am telling this as the last of my field trips, because it was without doubt the climax of my Antarctic adventures. In actual fact, this happened the day after the previous climax, which was when I flew over the Beardmore Glacier. If time was invented so everything didn't happen at once, and space was invented so it didn't happen to you, then Time and Space were apparently out on a girls' weekend in late November 2019.

There was one major journey yet to undertake, in my visits to sites of historical importance. It was the location of a minor side-quest in the story of the Scott Expedition – one could, theoretically, leave it out of a retelling with no narrative consequences – but it's the central episode and emotional fulcrum of The Worst Journey in the World, and gave the book its title. In June and July 1911, the dead of Antarctic winter, three men set off from Cape Evans to reach the Emperor penguin colony at Cape Crozier, on the other side of Ross Island, to fetch some eggs when the embryos were at the right stage of development to yield potential clues to the evolution of birds. The adventure ended up being more of a test of human endurance than avian ancestry, and the results got from the few specimens they did collect did not advance the theory they were hoped to prove (though scientists would remind us that negative results are still results). However, it is an amazing story of what people are willing to undertake for the sake of intellectual progress, and in this instance, of how cast-iron character can make the unimaginably awful endurable, and as such, it very much warrants the retelling.

Unlike Cape Evans, Cape Crozier is hard to get to, hostile, and not very well documented. There was no way I could ever visit it at midwinter, but, having almost no clue what the place was like beyond the written word, it was vitally important to me to stand there myself and get a sense of the geography, so that I could draw figures groping around it in moonlight and blizzard when the time came. Luckily the NSF agreed that it was important I go, because it was the most complex and expensive trip to arrange. It would necessitate a helicopter ride; helicopters cost so much to fly, and are so necessary for shuttling people and stuff around any part of Antarctica that is inaccessible by plane (which is most of Antarctica), that their use is very strictly rationed. I had exactly enough helicopter time allocated to get me to Cape Crozier and back. Therefore, we had to fly on a day when it was absolutely certain we would not have to turn around, because an aborted trip would mean I didn't have enough flight hours left to try again. Antarctic weather is unpredictable and Cape Crozier has a reputation for turning very nasty very fast, so this needed to be a careful judgement call.

The first day it was posited I fly, it didn't happen – I forget why; I think there was a backup in other jobs, and mine, being of low importance, got dropped to make room. The second time, I was slotted for 3:45pm, though with one eye on the weather and the other on resources, the right was reserved to cancel at any time. A little after 2:30 my coordinator called to say we were, as far as anyone could tell, good to go, so to meet at Helo Ops at 3 for the safety briefing and helmet fitting.

Accompanying me to the far reaches of Ross Island would be my coordinator, who had been a few times before; the pilot, who was one of the best in the biz and had flown for pretty much any Antarctic documentary you care to name; and a biologist, who was required to go because Cape Crozier hosted a rare and fragile species of Antarctic lichen, which we must be careful not to step on or disturb in any way. The biologist who usually went on these trips was feeling unwell, so she sent a replacement, who was very happy to have the opportunity as he had never been to Cape Crozier before. Of course, this meant he didn't know what the lichen looked like, but we would doubtless find out when we got there.

Team assembled and briefing done, we had only to wait for the flight to be activated. The last possible moment came and went without cancellation, so we were on.

The latest weather report from the station at Cape Crozier was that it was 30% cloudy with winds at 7 knots. Keeping an eye on the wind was important for obvious safety reasons; the cloud conditions, though, were important for less obvious reasons. The helicopter pilot needs shadows and detail to be able to tell how far away the ground is, either to stay in the air or to make an emergency landing. When clouds diffuse sunlight, a snow-covered surface looks perfectly blank, and no details show up to give a sense of scale or distance, so it's unsafe to fly.

We were supposed to have flown along the south coast of Ross Island, following the route that Wilson, Bowers, and Cherry-Garrard sledged at great cost in 1911. That side of the island was cloudy, however, so we were redirected to fly around the other side. From a historical perspective this was a bit of a disappointment, but from an artistic one, the north side of the island was absolutely stunning, and I very quickly came to see why people with money to burn choose to travel by helicopter.

Plus, it meant we started out journey by flying over Cape Evans.

All of Ross Island is volcanic, and near Cape Royds is a small parasitic cone which was explored by the expedition's geologists, who were also the first to climb Mt. Erebus. I thought it was named Mt. Sis, after someone's sister, but in fact it is Mt. Cis, after one of their dogs. Our pilot had been this way before and had something special to show us:

On top of Mt. Cis is a pickaxe. I don't believe there's any historical record of anyone leaving it there, but the Nimrod Expedition is not my speciality. It has been checked out, and the pickaxe is a model that was in use in the early 20th century, so either an early explorer stuck it there and didn't bother writing it down, or a later explorer found an old pickaxe and stuck it there to give the impression an early explorer had done so. Anyway, it's been there as long as anyone can remember, and doesn't seem to have suffered much, so will probably continue to be there for some time to come.

From there, onwards up the east coast to cross over the shoulder between Mt Erebus and Cape Bird, then over the snowy slopes of Terror, and the dissipating sea ice, to reach our destination.

Our first sight of Cape Crozier was the Adélie penguin rookery. This is one of the largest in the world, where upwards of 250,000 penguins congregate to make the next generation of penguins every year. I had not seen a penguin yet, and though my eyeballs were pointed directly at them, I was too far up to see any now, but their presence is evident in the vast, vast amount of light brown penguin poo.

On this side of Ross Island, the ice shelf is unimpeded by smaller islands or awkward quirks of geology as it is around McMurdo. As it grinds around the corner, here, it crinkles, and then as it straightens out again, the crinkles break, and the ice lets in long fingers of sea, which freezes during the winter. It is on these frozen fingers, sheltered from the worst of the blizzards by the taller segments of Ice Shelf, that the Emperor penguins incubate their eggs through the Antarctic winter.

It was these finger bays that our intrepid explorers were trying to reach, but they needed to establish their base camp somewhere a little more secure, on the solid rock of Cape Crozier. We were on our way to do the same.

The hill coming up was incredibly exciting to see, perhaps even more exciting than Observation Hill. When the Terra Nova first arrived at Ross Island, it was not on the McMurdo side of it, but rather here, because Cape Crozier was posited to be the most sensible site for Expedition headquarters. It had been explored on the Discovery Expedition, so they knew there was permanent access to the ice shelf, and thus the road south, unlike Hut Point or Cape Royds which would be cut off by miles of open sea for half the year. It had reliable fresh water nearby, and the Emperor penguins would be right next door. On the day the Terra Nova arrived, though, the swell on the sea was too high to permit a landing, and when they sent out a scouting party on one of the whaleboats, they discovered no suitable landing place. So they had no choice but to make for the old familiar haunts on the other side of the island.

Now, this is so much historical trivia, except that as part of exploring my desired artistic style and putting together my grant proposal for this trip, I had drawn that scouting journey, and prominent in the scene is this very hill, with its orca eye-spot of snow. The early explorers called it The Knoll.

This was based on a photograph taken on that day, which clearly shows The Knoll, and also that in January 1911 the ice front was a very long way back from where it is now.

As you can see, what is open water in 1911 is thick and pressured ice in my own photo from 2019.

Now, before you jump on this as proof that climate change is a lie, you may like to hear about my conversation with a scientist who has been studying the Cape Crozier Emperors for over forty years. He said that, while usually the leading edge of the ice shelf crumbles into small icebergs, occasionally enormous chunks drift off in one go. When they do, they take a whole generation of Emperor chicks with them, long before they are ready to swim, and that generation is lost. There is another Emperor colony at Beaufort Island, off the north coast of Ross Island, and following a catastrophe at Cape Crozier, a lot of breeding pairs move to Beaufort, and vice versa.

When the Crozier party arrived at the Emperor rookery in July 1911, Wilson was expecting the two thousand birds he'd seen when he visited with the Discovery, but there were only a hundred. Therefore it is plausible that, sometime between 1903 and 1911, a very large chunk of ice had pulled away from Cape Crozier, pushing the shoreline back and scaring off the penguins.

Back to the present, now, or at least last November. We had just passed The Knoll and were on our way to our landing site, a short walk away from the site of our penguin hunters' stone igloo. The place they chose to call home is the thin little ridge sticking out into the mist at the left of this photo:

Here we come …

And there we are.

When the Crozier party set off on their science trip in 1911, the three men hauled two sledges for two and a half weeks, through deep soft snow and temperatures that broke known records – down to -77°F one night, according to the thermometer slung under the sledge. The transcendent misery of marching in frozen clothes, not being able to get proper sleep for the shivering, and burning their precious fuel through the night just to survive, is carved deep in Cherry's writing of the experience. To say it was hellish is no exaggeration: Cherry points out that Dante put the circle of ice below the circles of fire in his Inferno, and thought it was apropos. The greatest challenge of our own journey out was landing the helicopter: given the sensitive environment and the fragile lichens, there was a specific landing site that was supposed to be marked out with stones. Our pilot circled once to find it, and came back around because he couldn't spot it the first time, then finally landed right on the GPS waymark because there was no visible clue where the actual site was supposed to be. As difficulties go, it hardly bears mention. Whether we'd earned it or not, however, we were there.

#antarctica #cape crozier #helicopter #travel #photography #photos #winter journey #the worst journey in the world #apsley cherry-garrard #edward wilson #birdie bowers #henry robertson bowers #edward adrian wilson #bill wilson #emperor penguins #science #adventure

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datheetjoella · 4 years

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Fantober 2020, Day 17: Haunted

Author: DatHeetJoella Fandom: Free! Pairing: MakoHaru Rating: T Part: 17/31 (read the full collection here) Word count: 1,761 Tags: Canonverse, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, School Festival, Haunted House, Mentions of Fake Blood Read at: AO3, FFn, or right here!

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Ever since elementary school, the cultural festival had been something Makoto looked forward to all year. In the weeks leading up to it, the atmosphere surrounding the school was even more pleasant and amicable than usual as everyone put in effort to make their class' event stand out. Preparing their event was a lot of fun, but the real fun came when their hard work came to fruition and the festival began. Seeing what all his classmates came up with, showcasing what his class made, enjoying all kinds of food at the various stalls and cafés, watching recitals and plays, it was a blast from start to finish. It was a time of unity between classmates and at the end, he was left feeling satisfied and fulfilled.

Makoto hadn't expected the enjoyment of it would dwindle when he got to university. On the contrary: everything was on a much grander scale and there were a lot fewer restrictions than in high school. Because of his job, Makoto wasn't in a club and therefore hadn't participated in the organisation, but he'd been looking forward to going to the festival with Haruka and experiencing what his friends had been working on for so long.

But more than twelve years of amusing cultural festivals were at risk of being destroyed in a single minute.

"Come on, Tachibana," Takagi said. "It's not that scary, I promise."

The axe headband sticking out between his copper-coloured locks and the fake blood trailing down his forehead did not support his claim. The instant Makoto spotted his friend, he had let out an audible shriek, drawing the attention of everyone in the hallway and sending his own blood rushing to his cheeks.

"You don't have to, Makoto," Haruka said from beside him and although he appreciated his support, it only strengthened Makoto's doubt.

Takagi had been a good friend of his since day one of university. They sat next to each other in Psychology and hit it off right away, agreeing to swap notes and help each other wherever they could. Quickly thereafter, Takagi had joined the Movie Research Club and, in collaboration with the Creative Writing Club, they had created a haunted house for the festival.

According to the advertisement posters, it was supposed to be like stepping inside a horror movie, a storyline the visitor was the protagonist of. That description set off numerous alarm bells in Makoto's head. He avoided haunted houses like the plague and vehemently refused to watch horror movies and this brought the worst of two worlds together.

The decision of whether or not to partake in this particular event seemed crystal clear. After all, he had strategically evaded the haunted houses in past festivals and had planned to continue this streak. But there was one roadblock: Makoto was a giant pushover.

"We all worked so hard on this and I would love for you to see what we made." Takagi slapped his hands together and bowed his head, nearly smacking Haruka with his axe-handle. "It's like a compilation of horror movie clichés, so it's more funny than anything. But if you do think it's too scary, I'll treat you to whatever you want."

There it was. It was not so much the promise that persuaded him, but the fear of disappointing his friend.

"W-Well, if you insist it's not that scary…" Makoto trailed off with an awkward chuckle.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it," Takagi said with a pat on Makoto's shoulder. "I hope you enjoy it. You too, Haru!"

With that, he stormed off to a group of young women to coax them into entering the haunted house as well.

The exchange left a frown on Haruka's face. "How am I on a first-name basis with your friend but you aren't?"

The dry comment dissipated some of the tension gripping Makoto's stomach. "Sorry, I think it's because I talk about you so much."

"Hm," Haruka hummed, and when he was sure Takagi was out of earshot, he said, "Makoto, you don't have to go in if you're not comfortable. I can go in by myself and tell you about it afterwards, in case he asks you what you think of it later."

Despite feeling like he was seconds removed from willingly throwing himself off a cliff, Makoto smiled. "Thanks, Haru, but I'll go with you. He said it wasn't that scary, so I should be fine."

Except he wasn't fine. The instant he stood before the room and heard the eerie music, Makoto knew he made a huge mistake.

When they entered the house, they got a handful of cards with dialogue options that they would need for certain checkpoints, then the interactive movie began. There was no way back.

Following the story that was being portrayed, Haruka and he moved into a vacant house that was far cheaper than the surrounding lots in the neighbourhood - a house Makoto would never buy in reality for obvious reasons. Right away, strange things began to happen in the house: lights flickered, keys clinked, lamps fell over and the phone rang, but when Haruka picked up, the line was dead. That was already enough to have Makoto clinging to Haruka's arm.

"It's alright, Makoto," Haruka said, rubbing his skin with his thumb. "Just close your eyes and try to think of something else. I'll guide us through."

Haruka's advice was a small comfort, but it was futile. Makoto's heart was actively trying to burst through his ribcage and his fight-flight-or-freeze instinct had kicked in, therefore he couldn't tear his eyes away from any of the things that were happening around him. Logically, he knew everything was fabricated by his peers, but it felt so real. This was exactly why he hated horror. How could anyone enjoy being scared?

When Makoto had unsuccessfully convinced Haruka it was fine, they continued. They had to investigate the reason behind these weird occurrences and found out that a hundred years ago, a young girl was murdered inside their house. It had been haunted ever since by various vengeful spirits and the only way to break the curse that had befallen the house was to figure out who the killer had been.

What the conclusion to the story was, Makoto didn't even care. A light, feminine voice ruptured the silence, ominously whispering about bringing forth suffering to those who had wronged her; suffering that exceeded the torture she endured. Makoto clamped onto Haruka's shoulders as he scanned the room to see where it was coming from. A short girl in torn, ivory robes emerged from the darkness, hunched over with her long dark hair obscuring her stark white face. She glided closer and when she stood before them, she looked up and revealed her pitch-black eyes.

When she popped up into his field of vision, Makoto screamed so loudly it alerted all the orcas within a thousand-mile radius. He nearly jumped on Haruka's neck in an attempt to hide his large frame behind Haruka's smaller one.

Fortunately, the girl noticed how genuinely terrified he was. She recoiled and forwent her script in favour of asking if he was alright, voice a bit heavier than the childlike tone she put on. Before Makoto could come with excuses, Haruka spoke up.

"He's not alright. Is there a way for us to leave?"

The girl nodded. "Code yellow!" she yelled, her voice vibrating throughout the area, then she turned back to them. "You can walk through now. No one will bother you."

"Thanks," Haruka said, and he tugged Makoto along by the hand. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Shame filled Makoto's senses, but when they passed through the rest of the haunted house and he saw the bloodied decor and props, relief washed over him. If he had to stay for the rest, he would either leave crying or in a fear-induced coma, so this was better for everyone involved.

What he did take away from this was that he would no longer trust Takagi's judgement. More funny than anything, he said. The only funny thing that happened inside that haunted house was Makoto's pathetic reaction.

When they were finally outside in the daylight again, Haruka dragged him over to a bench. Once he was seated safely, Makoto's soul returned to his body and his back slumped like all the life force had been sucked out of him.

"Are you okay?"

He looked up at Haruka with blazing cheeks. "I'm sorry, Haru. Because of me, you didn't get to experience the haunted house like it was intended."

Haruka merely shrugged. "As if I care about that. I just want you to be comfortable. But you do need to grow a spine."

"I know," Makoto said, head hanging low, "My childish fears always ruin everything."

"That's not it," Haruka said with a squeeze to Makoto's knee. "It's not weird or embarrassing to be scared of these things, a lot of people are. But next time, you need to come out for it and reject these offers right away. Stop being so afraid of letting people down and straight-up tell them no if you don't want to do something."

It was hard, but Haruka was right. He was an adult now and he should act like one. That included setting boundaries and adhering to them. "You're right. I'll tell Takagi-kun I couldn't handle it and that I won't go in next time. From now on, no more haunted houses or anything else ghost or murder-related for me."

"Good," Haruka said, bidding him a gentle smile that calmed Makoto's overworked heart. "Takagi owes us, but we'll find him later. First, is there anything you still wanted to see or do?"

The terror within his gut mellowed out and he smiled back at Haruka. "Well, I saw a sign for a sweets café earlier. Maybe we can check that out?"

"Sure. My treat," Haruka said and Makoto opened his mouth to protest, but he sent him a look that made it clear there was no room for argument.

Hand in hand they strolled over the campus towards the building that hosted the café. Haruka asked him what kind of pastries he was hoping they'd have and Makoto's mouth began to water at the thought of cakes and brownies.

If there was anyone who could chase off all the bad images and demons that resided in Makoto's mind, it was Haruka. It had been like that since they were kids and it would stay that way even as they grew older, because some things never changed.

#i'm sorry i'm stupid #makoharu #makoharu fic #my fic #fantober2020 #colourful days with you

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smoothiegameshow · 4 years

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Feitan x Reader

Meteor City...

You had only been there once before, but its crumbling skyline and treacherous odor brought back the memories of what felt like a thousand lifetimes.

Here I go...

Trembling like a child, you try to decide if it would be better to ignore your anxieties, or be cautioned by them. You try and ground yourself.

No good.

Your heart pounds a mile a minute, but you still feel lost for air -- no, more than that, you’re at a loss for words. For meaning. For confidence.

Who am I fooling...

Crestfallen, you turn away from the task at hand, but as you knew well, fate was not so easily deterred, and destiny was not set in stone.

It was two years ago when your father died. He was your best friend, your patient teacher, and your Nen instructor. He always said that the most powerful weapon was love. What used to inspire you now only mocks you; he was nothing but a fool. Love is neither a weapon nor a shield; if it was either of those, you wouldn’t be a jenny-less orphan. The bandits that ambushed you and your father those two years ago killed one, but had also taken the life of the other. Your life was your own, but that day changed your fate forever. You learned that your father was wrong; you learned that revenge is far more powerful than love.

“You know you don’t stand a chance, right?”

This voice... so cold, it felt as if an ice cube was rolling down your back. You were brought back to reality.

A pathetic “W-what?” was all you could summon from your lungs, and even though weren’t sure who was talking, you felt embarrassment.

“If you want to get your revenge, you could’ve at least picked a time that Chrollo was actually here.”

Still unable to identify the voice, you decided to bluff.

“I’m sorry, did I need an appointment? I would’ve dropped a line, but, wouldn’t you know it, the phone-book doesn’t have the number for the Phantom Troupe’s lair.”

“Confident, are we? Well, that has to count for something,”

A figure now emerged, and you could see your conversation partner clearly. He wore a black robe and mask, his ivory skin peeking out in only a few places. His eyes were dark and brooding, which only accented his ambiguous expression. You had never seen someone so juxtaposed; so jaded, yet so nimble; so solemn, but so quick. You wonder whether he purposefully tried not so show any emotion, or if it was the result of years of battle experience. He’s most definitely a very cautious opponent, you thought to yourself, so then why do I feel such an intense aura? It was as if he was doused in gasoline: just one spark, and he would erupt into a passionate and steady flame.

“But it unfortunately doesn’t count for much. I can tell you’re in no position to fight the leader. Turn away now, and I might just let you live.”

“Then I’ll just have to settle for a fight with you!” You yelled, a little louder than you were expecting to.

“And what makes you think I’d agree to that?” he said, sneering behind the mask.

But he had already given himself away; he was reaching for a weapon, true, but even more noteworthy, his whole mood seemed to change. Your assessment was correct -- his zest for battle betrayed his own confident and cool persona. You are entranced and amused, and you have a feeling that he feels the same way.

Both of you were skilled in the ways of the blade, but you couldn’t land a single hit on Feitan; he fluttered gingerly past every swipe and swing you could muster. But something is wrong, You think, he’s acting only defensively.

“What is it you want?” he goaded, “if it’s revenge, then you’re out of luck. We don’t remember anyone we kill”

Still fighting, and between pants, you stifle your emotions to keep from crying.

“You’re all monsters!”

You use up the last of your energy to strike one last time. But as your sword moves like an extension of yourself, your last memento of your father flies away from you.

A golden locket shaped like an Orca. That was the one thing the Phantom Troupe didn’t take that day. You remember your father giving it to you all of those years ago; you were just a little kid. You could still hear his words echo in your mind, even now when you have failed at avenging him. Don’t lose this, he said while patting you on your head, My employee discount only covers half of the cost.

Despite being a nen master, your father had always had to work hard to maintain stability after your mother passed. It was one of the things you loved and respected him for. This locket was a sign of not only his love, but his devotion to those he needed the most. He had bought this locket for you at work; he was a trainer and keeper of the orcas at York-new City’s largest aquarium.

Now, lying on the ground defeated, you wait for the finishing blow. But it doesn’t come. Instead, you see his pale hand pluck the locket from off the ground.

“Where did you get this?”

“My father. He worked with Tamara the killer whale.”

You don’t have enough strength to move your head and confirm, but the atmosphere changed yet again, and you could hear what sounded like sobs trying to conceal themselves.

“The Phantom Troupe, as I said, doesn’t remember the people we kill,” he finally said, but in a calm tone, “But The Phantom Troupe didn’t kill this man.”

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ask-de-writer · 4 years

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 67 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 67 of 83

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

written 2007

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from the beginning. PART 1 is here

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Chapter 24: North to the Dragon Sea

Kurin was dreaming. She was at that pleasant half awake state where she knew that she was dreaming and just let the dream go on. She was having a flying dream.

Looking down from thousands of feet up, she could see sails that she recognized as those of the Dorton. By the sun, she could see that the ship was going south, just its topsails aflame in the light of the rising sun, the rest of the ship still in shadow.

She could feel every nuance of the subtly shifting air and adjusted her wings and tail, even the individual feathers, to catch and use it all. Riding the line of the dawn, she left the ship effortlessly behind. Another ship hove into view.

The Longin could not be mistaken with her lean, clipper like hull and distinctive big lateen rigged sails. Dreamily, Kurin knew that she had business with this ship but later. There was another thing to do first. The cool dawn air was a glory to fly through and she left that ship behind as well.

There was a serene certainty about her destination that was felt in terms of exquisitely fine changes in the response of muscle and nerve between the place where she was and the place where she was going. It was like nothing that she had ever felt before. She knew that she could not get lost, so long as she could feel these invisible webs in the air. It was with the realization that this knowledge of place came from the Orca whales and was relayed through Dari to — — a picture of an anvil-topped Thunderhead cloud formed and she knew that it was herself.

Kurin jolted awake with the realization that she had been sharing the sensations of Thunderhead as he flew south on his errand. She was tucked into the covers of a bunk and someone was laying alongside her, outside the covers, arm over her. Tanlin’s face was relaxed, smiling in her sleep, inches from her own.

Careful not to dislodge Tanlin’s arm, Kurin snuggled closer. She had not slept with anyone since Cat had gone back to the Sea, more than five Gatherings ago. She missed true human contact terribly, and worse, had not even known it until just now. Gray eyes slowly opened and looked into her own. The smile on Tanlin’s face spread to a delighted grin.

“Ye wonted t’ know,” Tanlin said in her thick accent. “‘Ow do ye like flyin’?”

“It’s wonderful. How did you do it for me?” asked Kurin marveling.

Tanlin’s brow furrowed as she struggled with the answer. “We all four share a t’ing in common. Blind Mecat’s Gifted us all. T’under’ead an’ Skye an’ Oi were all Gifted at once, wit’ a common tie. Ye got yer Gift Gat’erings ago. Nevert’eless t’ere’s an underlayin’ bond between us all. Last night, Mecat showed us ‘ow t’ reach t’rough yer walls against t’e world an’ let ye experience w’at ye wonted.”

In a quick turn of subject, she added, “Breakfast?”

To Tanlin’s surprise, the usually ravenous preteen Kurin said, “Not just yet. I have a favor to ask.”

Suddenly serious, Tanlin said, “Ask ‘t, t’en.”

Kurin paused, fearful that she was about to ask too much of another person. “Would you just lie here and hold me for a while? I haven’t really been held for a long time.”

Tanlin immediately gathered Kurin into her arms and held her close. In a slightly scandalized tone she said, “‘As naebody given ye ‘ugs since Mecat? T’at’s w’at, about five Gat’erings? Near ‘alf yer life wit’out hugs? T’at’s a terrible t’ing t’ do t’ a child.”

“I did get a few,” said Kurin holding Tanlin fiercely, “when I did something well, mostly.”

“T’at’s even worse,” said Tanlin, stroking Kurin’s head gently. “‘T teaches ye t’at love an’ affection are conditional. T’ey should be freely given. Even Barad understands t’at.”

After a while of just feeling safe in the arms of someone who simply cared, Kurin finally said, “Let’s get that breakfast now.”

Things were finally getting settled down on board the Dark Dragon and her cohort the Soaring Bird. The search was over. The chaos that followed the storm was now past. Nets were spread to begin the process of resupply. So far as anybody knew, the whole unpleasant mess with the Grandalor was over.

Finally, Sula could relax. She had settled herself comfortably on top of the bridge where she could observe while her first officer took over. She knew that her ship was in good hands and let her concerns drift with the clouds as she set to work at the lace making tray that Kurin had showed her how to use. It was a matter of taking the time to get skilled. This was easy work to bungle…not that Sula was afraid of failure. All that it meant was…

“Thread from this bobbin around that pin,” she muttered. “Then this bobbin thread and that tie just so…” A shadow swooping over startled her. A Wide Wing had swooped behind the foresail, banked tightly around, low over the pilot house and passed just above her.

Sula shaded her eyes and watched as the bird dove, not far off the starboard bow. She was just about to turn back to her lace when the bird surfaced and began its long takeoff run across the water. It turned diagonally across a wave that lifted it. With a powerful down-stroke of wings, as the wave crest passed under the bird, it was airborne. It swept across the wind flapping and soaring as it picked up speed and turned into the breeze. It shot up like a crewman going up a line, turned gracefully away and swept downwind, then back into the breeze and up again. Sula watched with envy as the bird gained the freedom of the sky.

Suddenly, with no warning, the Sea Hawk swooped toward the ship, coming just over the pilot house again. This time, it dropped something that hit at Sula’s feet with a wet splat. The skelt was still flopping as she stooped to pick it up. The starboard bridge lookout whooped with laughter to get her attention.

“We been tellin’ you to eat better!” he signed as he pointed at the bird, nearly doubled over, hands fluttering in silent laughter. “Now even the birds are tryin’ to get you to eat properly.”

Sula hurled the skelt with good natured accuracy. It thumped into the center of his chest. It was then that Sula noticed that the bird was struggling with something on its back. It got the better of whatever it was and swooped in for a third time. This time she was ready. She caught what the bird dropped as it swept past. It was a finely crafted capsule of thin Strong Skin.

It took only a moment to see how to open it. The tightly folded and rolled parchment began to unfurl in Sula’s hands.

“To whoever receives this: …” she began and read the note through. She pressed her hands to her face and shook her head. “It’s true… We did that. It must be righted at once.”

She looked about her proud ship and the bright day seemed grayer, somehow. She climbed down from the roof of the pilot house, pausing only to put away her lace tray. She personally went to the big hailing drum and began to orient it on the Soaring Bird.

The two bridge lookouts gazed on in silence until she left. Silent fingers carried the conversation that followed.

“Whatever that said, it took the wind from the Captain’s sails, right enough.”

“I’ve never seen her taken so, but the day of the first attack of the First War.”

“Her husband was burned to death that day, wasn’t he?”

“Aye, Davaros was one of the very first to be killed. I wonder what this news was? Seemed near enough as bad to her.”

They were interrupted by the hailing drum’s thunder. “Huld, emergency! Gather as many of the Captains as you can and return at once. Emergency!” This was followed by the ship’s tocsin sounding General Quarters!

“T’was bad, right enough! Looks like we’re going to war readiness,” commented the starboard lookout as they headed for the assembly of the crew.

When the crew was assembled Sula stood before them, striding nervously back and forth. Not with her usual calm assurance, as many noticed.

She held up her hands were all could see and signed, “This is difficult for me to say to you who have followed me for so long,” she began, plainly upset. “I need to lay before the Company of this ship the case for a great wrong committed by myself and ask for a vote of confidence in my Captaincy.”

There were shocked murmurs at this announcement. This was something that had never happened before. Crewfolk eyed each other trying to guess what could be so bad.

Sula raised her hands for attention again and got it. Her fingers flickering in Dayspeech, she stated, “I have participated in the violation of the Second Great Law. Recent events seemed so reasonable that I never even questioned what was done by the Naral fleet Council. I stood by and watched the rights of the crew and ship known as the Grandalor stripped away. They were denied their right to rebuttal of evidence or any semblance of a trial. I committed this ship to the enforcement of the Naral fleet’s illegal edict.

“It is true that the evidence against them seems irrefutable. That does not in any part excuse the way that the edict was created or enforced.

“Many among you will remember that the Captain of Captains of the Boren fleet rose to power on an exactly similar precedent. He was able to convict his enemies by simple assertion because the Second Great Law got set aside for just one case. And then another. And another.

“Largely through my error, this evil precedent has raised it’s head again.

“You have heard the case. Kurin herself sent the message calling this all to my attention.” She waived the note that Thunderhead had dropped into her hands for all to see.

“Any who wish may examine the case that she has made. Then you must vote. My own vote is already known by the fact that I called this assembly. I vote to convict.”

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

#SEA DRAGON’S GIFT #Part 67 of 83 #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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existentialburden · 4 years

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Some people? Catch skwovets? To cope? 😤 What do your ocs typically do for their self care days/ do they take them at all?

me catching skwovets=self-care

but :O self-care ocs... yeeeeeeees!!!!!!

none of them CALL it a self-care day but. Aila bakes to relieve stress and has days where she does nothing but that. nobody calls her out on it being more avoidance than anything. Enny hangs out with Kods or [REDACTED], but for self-comfort, she paints or goes over the lawbook to see if anything needs updated. it’s all very nice for her. Hope has never been chill but when things get rough she gets a thick blanket and watches movies she remembers watching when she was younger. washing her face is also a thing she likes. sanitary and comforting. Deux is notoriously bad at actual self-care and tends to view sleeping all day as a comfort (no it’s not healthy) but if she’s feeling up to it, she cooks. when she’s not she just makes an effort to seek out Echo, Wynn, or Jess. West makes themself a pb&j as comfort food and is uh. really bad at self-care. but they eat and make sure they drink some water and play some old games they haven’t played in a while (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a favorite). they also brush their teeth bcause they’re bad at that habit but love the feeling of clean teeth. Fern opens up the windows and goes outside. just lays in the sun. it’s important to get her dose of sunlight now and again and she doesn’t do that as much as she maybe should. also goes through some exercises but she tries to keep that regular anyway. Haze makes the absolute nastiest popcorn and watches sci-fi that even Haze thinks is shitty. sometimes you just have to turn your brain off for a little. Haze does at least move to a different room than Haze normally spends time in. variety. June CLEANS. June does a clean of everything that’s been bothering xir: stuff piled up on a chair that xe keeps wanting to sit on, the laundry pile blocking xir door from opening all the way, a pile of stuff xe’s been meaning to get around to, some sort of gunk on the floor xe keeps stepping on... a lot of it gets taken care of, because that’s what comforts xir. a clean space makes xir happy and cleaning is soothing for xir. xe also just. does not check social media. at all. if anyone has an emergency they’re going to have to wait. Alex takes a proper fucking shower and makes a proper meal, even if his cooking skills leave something to be desired. she always likes decent food but is atrocious at taking care of themself so this is self-care. Orca has no concept of a self-care day. a dedicated day to take care of yourself? sounds fake. that’s just therapy day. Theo spends some time without Fate RIGHT THERE, and Fate does the same. Theo goes for a walk and Fate makes a bunch of plans for the future. Luca will dedicate time to his own well-being when he’s dead. Enzo takes like 5 seconds to breathe and actually feel himself breathing and then never does that ever again. he’s bad at self-care unless he’s doing stuff out of spite. which is only arguably self-care.

#ask #egby says shit #AAAAA TY ANON #I switched from shiny-hunting to catching a full team of eevee for my eventual eeveelution takedown squad #but. one day.

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michaelmyersmalewife · 5 years

Text

LEVIATHAN | 12. A Call to Arms | MASTERLIST

words: 4k+

A/N: cant believe we’re only 3 chapters away from the end

you can also support this fic on wattpad & ao3

Jodie and the others weren't sure if Serizawa succeeded.

Not that that was their choice. If they had decided to stick around, the shock wave from the explosion would rip the sub apart. And it still might, as they raced back to the surface.

"Thirty thousand yards until we're outside the convergence zone." the commander said as they raced, or at least floated quickly, away from the underwater city and its fallen god.

She was a bundle of frayed emotions ready to burst, and she couldn't help but think of the worst. What if Serizawa hadn't done his job? There was just as big of a chance that he might've died before arming the bomb. Hell, the sub might've malfunctioned just like the drones and he was still back there, waiting. Jodie felt her stomach drop. What if there was something in there other than Godzilla, ready to devour anyone that entered?

They couldn't just go back and try again. They had more nukes but no more subs. If Serizawa failed, they were out of options.

But then, just as Jodie was beginning to feel as hopeless as ever, pure light shone through the abyss. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then the reality of what had happened hit her like the wave that was hurtling towards them too fast to register.

"Shock wave incoming -!" the commander shouted.

When it hit them, Gill reflexively grabbed Jodie's hand. She jumped a little, forgetting that they might very die in seconds. She gripped back, letting that familiar warm feeling wash over her.

In the next second it felt like a mountain had landed on her chest as the submarine was suddenly accelerated to speeds it was never meant to withstand. The hull groaned, shrieked, snapped - the metal walls tearing themselves apart from the force. The smell of something burning filled the air as the lights flickered wildly. And even at the rate they were travelling, they were still surrounded by pitch black water.

But in seconds a faint light appeared above them, growing brighter as they hurled toward the surface by the expanding explosion. They broke into the air, tossed up by a jet of water. Jodie's senses were fried, and for a minute she couldn't quite register what was going on around her. For a brief moment, she felt weightless.

And then the sub slammed down on the ocean's surface like a breaching whale, nearly throwing everyone off of their feet from the impact.

As the sub began to steady itself, Jodie took in a breath she hadn't known she was holding. The lights were still a bit jittery, but as a whole, everything seemed as intact as it could be. Glancing down, she realized she was still holding Gill's hand in a vice grip. They didn't let go.

"You okay?" she muttered.

Breathless and wide-eyed, Gill nodded, letting out a shaky laugh.

"Send a distress message to the Argo." the commander said.

_____

Climbing out onto the submarine's upper deck, rain thundered from the dark sky above.

Waves crashed against the sub below them, rocking it beneath Jodie's already unsteady feet. In every direction, all she could see were the restless waves extending to the horizon.

Behind her, one of the soldiers launched a rescue flare. It shot up, burning brightly but its glow was dimmed when it reached the low-hanging clouds. She doubted anyone would be able to see such a feeble light in the midst of Ghidorah's tempest.

Mark looked around them with binoculars, searching for anything that weren't waves. A ship, the Argo, a blue light..

"Anything?" Chen asked over the rain.

He shook his head. Jodie brushed back the damp hair that stuck to her face, the same spiraling thoughts coming back to her. What if the bomb hadn't cured Godzilla? He was in a weakened state, they could've easily killed him. But he had survived nuclear blasts before, right? But that was decades ago, with older weapons. Did Serizawa die for nothing?

As if to quell her mind, the ocean ahead of them began to boil and churn.

Not like the rogue waves that crashed into each other, or an odd crosscurrent, but an explosion of water that was building up, only slower. The sea was being pushed up from beneath by something big.

And then there was a light - not the warm yellow light from the cave or the explosion - an electric blue glow that shone through the waves.

Jagged scutes that could've only belonged to Godzilla emerged like a mountain range, crackling and dancing with energy. His head was the next to breach the surface, rising high above them as waterfalls of seawater fell from his body like curtains. As he continued to rise, tons of displaced water rocked their minuscule craft. Jodie grabbed for the railing as the sub shook.

With a whir, the light from the titan's back shot up his spine - his eyes glowing with his internal fire and shining through the cracks in his scales - as he turned his head toward the heavens. A tower of blue fire erupted from his jaws, stabbing into the dark clouds and igniting them from within. It seemed like an affirmation, a celebration of his sudden recovery - but also a challenge, as the clouds from Ghidorah's storm began to part just ever so slightly.

Maybe no one had seen their rescue flare, but they might've seen his.

Gill let out a winded chuckle as she stumbled back from the force of his ascension, a faint smile appearing on Jodie's face. But then his attention was focused elsewhere - directly at them. The titan's brows knit together, bending down toward them as if noticing their tiny forms for the first time. Jodie held her breath. They must've seemed like ants to him, but nothing in his gaze seemed outwardly threatening despite his intimidating presence. The lizard sniffed the air, sending out a humid puff of air over them.

The sub's commander reached for his sidearm.

"Nobody move!" Mark shouted.

As the titan leaned over them, Jodie became caught in his warm amber eyes, and for a second she swore that he stared back. Like he was trying to say something. And somewhere in the back of her mind she thought he did, or at least a feeling had passed between them. Something that struck deep in her heart.

Godzilla had every right to wipe them off the face of the earth. Not only had they nearly killed him, but they also likely destroyed what he considered his home. And yet, there wasn't that same malicious hostility she had seen in Ghidorah. Annoyance, maybe. But it felt more like a thank-you than anything.

Everything seemed to slow down, the world dropping from beneath her feet until all she could hear was her own breathing, her own heartbeat - and Godzilla's. She had always heard Serizawa, Chen, and Emma talk about the connection between humans and titans, how coexistence was possible between the two. And in that moment, she understood what they meant. What they really meant.

Out of the corner of her eye she also saw Mark staring up at him. She wasn't sure if he saw what she had, but for the first time since Colorado she didn't see hate in his eyes.

Then Godzilla broke their mutual gaze, leaving them all shaken and amazed, but almost with a sense of clarity. For some strange reason, she knew they were going to be okay.

The titan turned, looking down at them one last time before diving back into the sea, scutes slicing through the waves. As his tail splashed back down, Jodie snapped out of her daze.

"I know how to find them." Mark whispered, turning to Graham.

But before he could clarify, a sonic boom shattered the air. She looked up with dread, expecting to see Rodan or some other flying creature. Or worse: Ghidorah. But instead it was the Argo. It didn't look great - battered with smoke climbing from several places - but to Jodie she had never wanted to see anything more.

As they boarded the craft, Coleman was there to meet them.

He must've seen something in their faces, or maybe he had been counting and realized there was one missing among them. But then she realized Graham had still been clutching Serizawa's notebook in her hands. Those two had rarely been apart, 'two halves of a whole mind' they would always say. Coleman's face fell when everyone gathered on the bridge. Everyone except for Serizawa.

"Let's make him proud and not screw this up." Mark said.

"God, how did he, um -"

"By saving us." Chen said.

"So what's the latest, Sam?" Jodie asked, derailing the conversation when she began to feel a lump in her throat.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Where to start - uh, we think Emma activated the ORCA somewhere near Boston. That's why Ghidorah and Godzilla are headed that way now. But we haven't been able to pinpoint its location without the missing piece of the ORCA signal -"

"I've got the missing piece." Mark said, looking over the waveforms on the screen before him.

Everyone stared at him. Jodie tilted her head. She couldn't see anything different from before.

"It's Godzilla, right?" she said.

"But we already tried that." Coleman said, confused.

"It's not Godzilla," Mark replayed the ORCA's signal, pointing to a specific waveform that appeared on the screen in front of them. "It's us."

"What do you mean 'us'?" Foster asked.

"I'm not sure how but Emma combined Godzilla's bioacoustics with a human's to create the ORCA's signal." Mark continued.

"The titans must think it's another apex predator, it's brilliant." Graham said.

Stanton pulled out his flask from his vest, unscrewing its top. "Well, we are a bunch of horny, murderous carnivores."

"Yeah, it's real poetic. Now what?" Foster said.

"We track it, we find it, and we get my daughter back."

After taking a particularly long swig, Stanton gestured at a video feed of Ghidorah's storm. "Great, what about Moe, Larry, and Curly over here?"

"Godzilla will bring balance." Graham with a familiar firmness.

Stanton, already a little tipsy threw her a cheeky look. "Oh, I get it." he said. "A little of Serizawa's old 'let them fight' action. Used to love it when he'd say that."

"No." she said. "This time, we join the fight."

_____

As the Argo sped towards Boston, Jodie stared at the news feeds on the screens in the bridge.

She knew that Emma had turned on the ORCA, but they hadn't told her that it had effectively paralyzed most of the titans. Literally. In nearly every news coverage it all showed the same thing: confused titans Only three were known to still be active - Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra. And now Godzilla.

Maybe she changed her mind, she thought.

After all, she wasn't trying to kill everyone. It was just a reckless mistake. A mistake that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And even then, Ghidorah and his pal Rodan were still active. Although the tides were turning, nowhere was safe with those two still around. Jodie didn't know how to feel.

At the very least, Godzilla was on their side. And Mothra, though, she had reportedly left shortly after they departed in the sub. According to their trackers, she was headed back to her home in China. But according to the twins, she was "covering her bases", whatever that meant. If she decided to make another appearance, it'd be an even match.

But as for the human side of the army, they didn't have much. Only a fraction of their fleet had escaped Ghidorah's wrath, but more aircraft made it out in time, and they were desperately trying to find places to refuel and rearm before rejoining the fight. Jodie could feel it was going to be a big one.

And now that Mark had cracked the ORCA's code, they were able to get a fix on its exact location, which was where they were headed now. With the remainder of their fighting force coming together, they dove headfirst toward a battle with a being wielding power beyond all understanding. But this time, they had a monster of their own leading the way.

_____

Madison was snacking mindlessly on a tasteless food-adjacent bar of something they had nabbed from the ship when it happened.

Something flashed across her eyes, or maybe it had all been in her head and she just thought she saw it, but regardless she had seen a bright light. Blinking it away without a second thought, she carried on. But seconds later she had felt an overwhelming pang of remorse, and shortly afterward, gratitude. For what? She found her eyes beginning to tear up but she rubbed it away, confused.

Looking around the room, no one else had seemed out of the ordinary. The Regulator was standing by the door, looking out for any possible intruders, and Elena was sitting in a corner of the room, far from the ORCA and the headpiece. The room suddenly felt a little stuffy.

No longer feeling hungry, Madison put the bar away, choosing instead to observe the evacuation.

"I'll keep an eye out for anything weird." she told Elena. The woman nodded.

Taking a pair of binoculars, she headed up the stairs to the roof of the booth. The sky had shifted from rolling gray clouds to a pale, sickly yellow on the horizon. Gusts of wind mussed her hair and spun stray leaves from the roof. The air felt damp even though it wasn't raining. Something about the entire atmosphere felt prickly. It was cool but now and then a warmer breeze passed through, and the smell of something burning came with it. He was coming, she could feel it. At the very least, the last of the helicopters had left the stadium. Boston had become a ghost town for as far as she could see. There was no one left wandering the streets, no headlights moved between buildings, no honking horns. The sirens had died down. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. But with the ORCA's song still blasting away, she knew the calm wouldn't last before the storm arrived.

Its sound was almost symphonic. It was simple, like a heartbeat. But it sounded different since the first time she heard it in action. Those weirdos had done something to it, something that her parents had never been able to figure out back when it was in its earliest development. She remembered how angry it had made Mothra back at the temple in China, and it had a similar effect on Ghidorah and Rodan. But with the other titans, it seemed to freeze them in their tracks, like their minds weren't capable of differentiating between the alpha frequencies produced by their king and the ORCA. Mothra...she seemed to be safe from Ghidorah's reach. But she hadn't heard from her in a while - at least, she was sure that voice had been her. She wondered if the pupa had already transformed. What did she look like now? With Ghidorah taking out every threat to his rule, she was sure to be in danger. Was she still okay?

She decided not to dwell on it, choosing instead to think of the bigger problem at hand. They had carried out their plan, and while it seemed to be working, this was as far as they thought ahead. Now they just had to play an agonizingly slow waiting game. Maybe she put too much faith in them, but hopefully Monarch would figure out what was going on. Maybe her father would be with them. If that were the case, she would stay here in Fenway. If Elena and the Regulator wanted to take cover, she'd let them. Madison wasn't straying from the ORCA's side if it meant a possible rescue.

But of course, the Controller might come after them instead. They could just as easily detect the signal as well, and though her mom had promised to buy them some time, she could only do so much. And he was probably pretty pissed off if he found out, which he undoubtedly would. If he caught them, she doubted he'd let them off easy. That was a pretty good reason to get lost.

So which was it to be?

After a few minutes of debating, her mind began to wander. That feeling from earlier still hung in the back of her mind. It felt really familiar. She didn't want to believe it, but she had to know. Shutting her eyes, Madison searched for a connection.

But like her previous tries, there was nothing.

Just an abyss through which she sloshed through black, shallow water. It was still scary, but with Elena not too far away, she felt just a little more at ease. She called out into the void.

Was that you? Please, say something - anything, she pleaded. I know you're not dead, you can't be.

Somewhere, off in the distance, there was a blue light, glowing and growing in intensity. She didn't have the chance to register where it was coming from before she was submerged in radiant blue.

She felt an odd sense of relief, until she was thrown off her feet, tumbling for a while before landing on something that felt...solid? Madison pressed her hands into the ground, fingers curling around something soft. Sand? Looking around, she found that she was no longer in that dark abyss, but on a beach bathed in a monochromatic blue. Waves crashed on its shore, the water coming up just past her ankle. She stood up.

The only sound she could hear was the ocean, her own breathing, the sound of sand crunching beneath her shoes.

But then she felt something behind her, a light. So she turned around. Just a few feet ahead of her was a wall of scaly flesh, and as her gaze went higher, she saw a leg. And that leg was attached to a torso, and with that torso was a pair of arms that bore claws at least three times her size. It was Godzilla.

His teeth glinted in the dim lighting of the mind-beach, but it wasn't the snarling smirks that Ghidorah usually wore. It was something more genuine, or at least as genuine as a reptilian could be.

You can't put a dent in me that easily.

Madison smiled.

Somehow, the titan seemed to notice her relief, and with a deep rumble that almost sounded like a bass-boosted purr, he bent down. He kept bending until his snout was mere feet away from her. It reminded her of that moment in China, with Mothra. Only she was more hesitant to reach out to him now.

She hated to admit it, but Godzilla intimidated her. His presence was all-encompassing. And it was hard not to feel microscopic around him. But looking into his eyes, there was a humbleness to him too, something tired and old. It reminded her of her father.

Slowly, Madison outstretched a hand.

Godzilla stared at her with a passive gaze as she grazed his scales. And with a puff of hot air from his nostrils, he stood back up. Everything was going to be okay.

But then something in the atmosphere changed, and Godzilla could sense it too. His scutes flashed in warning, looking nowhere and everywhere.

You gotta get outta here, kid

But what about you? Are you okay?

With a roar, Madison was expelled from the headspace before she could send another thought through. Like no time had passed at all, she found herself back on the roof. But something was different.

It began with a strange feeling, the prickling in the air becoming so intense it snapped her back to reality in seconds. Then she felt a pressure in her ears, like when you were cruising in an airplane. And shortly afterward, the wind picked up - the flags that swung on the rooftop flapping harder and harder. But in the blink of an eye they stopped - only to start wildly flapping in the opposite direction. She shivered.

In the distance, something was moving. It was hard to focus on at first, but then she realized it was the sky. The yellowed lens of the horizon was gone, replaced by rolling clouds so dark they were almost black. They poured in like fog, squeezing between buildings with increasing speed, engulfing them, brightened by coils of lightning. Thunder clapped all around her, and a strange deep thudding, like a bass-boosted cackle. Or like an animal sound made in the back of a really big throat.

If dad or the Controller were coming for her, they were all beaten out by Ghidorah.

Like an angel of death, dragging the heavens with him, the clouds began to close around the stadium from every direction. Heart banging in her chest, she wanted to move but found herself stuck in place.

"Madison!" a voice called from behind her.

It was Elena, holding the door open and waving for her to come back inside. She didn't think twice as she sprinted behind the door, helping her pull it closed against the increasing wind. The pressure in her ears increased, the floor beneath her feet pulsed, a plastic cup on one of the desks rattled and rolled to the floor. The booth's windows shook as the charcoal-colored fog filled the stadium. The lights flickered, and the ORCA's song bent into a weird warble.

Then she heard the beating of wings. Very large wings.

Madison backed away from the window, letting Elena guide her to the back of the room. She tried to see through the fog and behind the glass, but she couldn't focus on anything. Not that she needed to. He was there, she could feel it. His beating wings grew louder and louder until they weren't, softening until there was silence. She held her breath.

He didn't know where they were, but that didn't stop Ghidorah from slamming down into the arena. The ground cracked beneath the force of his landing, and the entire building shuddered, knocking them all off their feet. Madison lay on the ground, stunned, while Elena and the Regulator were attempting to prop themselves up with their arms. They all huddled under a table, staring out the window in silent fear.

Ghidorah looked agitated, heads whipping around, searching for something. The ORCA had done its trick, the sound from the speakers puzzling him. He thought he was hearing another top predator, possibly Godzilla or some unknown beast that was challenging his authority. And like any tyrant, he had come here to kill his competition and take back his throne. But there was no challenger to beat, just the stadium.

But that didn't stop him. His right head zeroed in on one of the speaker towers, hissing before ripping it from its mount. When the sound didn't stop, he moved to the next set of speakers, and then the next. All three heads worked in tandem, destroying the threat to his power.

Terror had frozen Madison in place. She couldn't think, all she could do was look at him. Elena wasn't any better. She was shaking, a single tear streaking down her face as it looked like she was holding in a scream. Madison could only imagine what Ghidorah was telling her now. She didn't envy her. Madison closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything other than the three-headed horror outside.

"We have to get out of here." Elena whispered.

"But he'll see us -" she whispered back.

Ghidorah's eyes passed over the booth for a brief moment, and Madison almost choked on her own breath.

"He'll know where we are anyway." Elena continued, brows knitting together. "I'm trying to block him out, but he's..he's too strong. I don't know if I can hold him back any longer."

Her comment was punctuated by another rumble, nearly sending them across the room. Breath heaving, Madison turned to the window, shooting the dragon a deadly glare before crawling across the floor just behind the Regulator. But as they began moving, she still heard the ORCA's hum from across the room. Now that the outside speakers were dead, the only source of the signal was a mere foot away from them.

"Wait," she said, reaching for the ORCA from under the table.

Her arms couldn't quite reach, but from beside her, a pair of hands extended forward, picking it up as quietly as possible. Crouching low, they tip-toed toward the exit only to turn around, feeling eyes behind them. Turning around felt like wading through water, but just as she expected, all three heads crowded up behind the window. Glaring at Elena before passing over Madison herself. The middle head's eyes squinted in an insidious leer. Gotcha.

"Oh shit."

Ghidorah reared back, an ear-splitting shriek erupting from his jaws as golden lightning flared through his teeth. They sprinted for the door, the Regulator ushering them through as the windows shattered behind them. Miraculously, it had missed them all, instead frying every piece of equipment within the room. Even then Madison could feel the prickle of electricity dance along her skin. But it didn't stop there - the lightning followed them as they ran, disintegrating what was left of the broadcasting booth as if it were nothing. As she ran, she felt the lightning's heat seep into her bones, it was almost painful, but there was no time to stop. She screamed, the sound barely audible over the cacophony.

They flew down the stairs, taking two or three at a time as Ghidorah ravaged the rest of the stadium, blasting it with his lightning, slashing it with his tails, ripping out chunks of it with his steel-toothed jaws. He was desperate to find them, his new top predators, titans clocking in at something equivalent to an ant. It would've been funny if they weren't about to die.

Then the stairs ahead of them disintegrated in another blaze of lightning, Elena nearly tripping forward had she not grabbed her arm and tugged her backward. They swerved into a row of seats, a spiked tail sweeping just behind them. Everything slowed as the stadium began to collapse in on itself. Madison found herself falling more than she ran the last several yards, tumbling out onto the field itself.

Elena was still grasping the ORCA in her arms, the Regulator helping Madison up from having scuffed her knee on a piece of rubble.

The stadium's exit was right there, less than a yard away. It would've been so easy to just sprint out of sight, duck into another building and hope for the best. But Ghidorah was there waiting for them, all three heads swiveling to focus on each of their three faces. The dragon's heads wore a sadistic grin, teeth glinting in the dim lighting. The malevolence she had seen in each of their eyes was still there, multiplied by a hundred. Only this time it was directed at them, and them alone.

Ghidorah trilled, but to Madison, all she heard was awful laughter.

#seizure warning #godzilla #king of the monsters #godzilla king of the monsters #kotm #godzilla fanfic #leviathanfic

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angstyartboi · 6 years

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Moriori Mythology

This is some of the stuff I found out for doing research for school on the religious system of the Moriori which I found super fascinating so I hope other peeps do as well. I haven’t included the migration traditions even though they’re super cool and I might come back and edit it later.

Who are the Moriori?

The Moriori are the Tchkat Henu (indigenous people) of Rēkohu (the Chatham Islands) a group of islands found off the eastern coast of New Zealand Aotearoa. Unfortunately, the Moriori language is considered extinct and only a few of the Moriori themselves remain as a result of European colonialism and an invasion by the Taranaki Māori iwi (tribes) Ngāti Mutunga, and Ngāti Tama. They are closely related to the Māori people of mainland New Zealand and this link can be seen in the many commonalities between the two cultures mythologies. At its height, the Moriori population numbered over two thousand and were governed by the covenant referred to as Nunuku’s law which forbade the use of violence for fear of suffering a the curse laid down by it’s namesake in order to prevent the small population of Rēkohu from collapsing. No weapon other than the quarterstaff was permitted to settle disputes, if blood was drawn "Ka toto au" or "I bleed" would be called out and fighting would cease. They were also notable for practicing the castration of some male babies to curb growth and the relatively egalitarian nature of their society with Ieiriki (chiefs) being selected on the basis of skill rather than hereditary.

Creation Myth

In the beginning, there is only the Earth mother and Sky father Rangi and Papa, embracing together. Eventually the wairua or spirit Rangitokona emerges from the void and first asks Rangi and Papa to separate when they refuse he forces them to do so and props up the Heavens with ten pillars. He then later forms Tu the first man from the Earth of Papa. From Tu descends a whole genealogy of divinities namely Rongo, Tane, and Tangaroa. The first thirty generations are referred to as the Heaven-born. The last of the Heaven-born is Ro who beget Tahiri Mangate (Tāwhirimātea?) whose son is Raki who begets Tūmatauenga. A series of twenty-six generations then follow before the deity Te Ao-Mārama. Te Ao-Mārama then begets Rongomaiwhenua from whom humanity descends. The Moriori also share a version of the Maui cycle common throughout Polynesia, their version is apparently very similar to the Maori one with the exception that Maui is finally slain by his wife Rohe rather than the underworld goddess Hine-nui-te-pō. The Moriori apparently also have a number of minor shark gods.

Pantheon

Papa & Rangi Personifications of the Earth and Heavens respectively.

Rangitokona Deity who separates the heavens and the Earth

Tu First man formed from the Earth by Rangitokona.

Rongo Deity who is equivalent to the Māori god of the same name associated with cetaceans particularly the Orca. Beached whales were an important food source to the Moriori.

Te Aomarama Deity whose name means the world of light and who is the father of Rongomaiwhenua.

Rongomaiwhenua Deity whose name means ‘land god’ (and also ‘peace to the land’, and ‘song of the land’). From him both the mythological autochthones of Rēkohu the Hamata and the mortals who arrived from distant Hawaiki descend.

Rongomaitere Ocean deity and brother of Rongomaiwhenua. He refused to stay with his brother on the land and as a result caused him to weep.

Tane A deity associated with the forests.

Tangaroa A deity who along with his counterpart Pou that is associated with fishes, he also has an association with war.

Tahiri Mangate Deity who is called the father of the winds and who beget Raki the personification of the west wind.

Tumatauenga Deity who instills in fishes, birds, and trees the strength to fight against and hurt mankind. Considered in conjunction with Rongomai and Kahukura who are more closely associated with war.

Sources

https://teara.govt.nz/en/moriori

Volume 4 1895 > Volume 4, No. 1 > The Moriori people of the Chatham Islands: their traditions and history, by Alexander Shand, p 33-46

Coming of the Māori, the Moriori of the Chatham Islands, Te Rangi Hīroa

https://www.moriori.co.nz

#moriori #mythology #polynesian mythology #new zealand #myth

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river-ocean-cruise · 5 years

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5 Alaska Shore Excursions That Will Make You Book an Oceania Cruise Now

Cool-weather Alaska is one of the hottest cruising destinations. It's in our own backyard, with pristine and inspiring natural wonders, and a sailing season May-September perfectly aligned with family summer vacation time.

Oceania Cruises has a twist on discovering America's 'Last Frontier' by sea. Oceania ships are smaller than the mega-ships sailing Alaskan waters. That means they can cruise into small ports and fjords, and get closer to coastal vistas.

Oceania's ship in Alaska is the sleek and elegant Regatta. It accommodates only 684 guests, and they're calling it the only 'Better Than New' ship in the region. It's emerged from the OceaniaNEXT program of $100 million of enhancements, and features brand new suites and staterooms along with dramatically re-fashioned public spaces, with new Italian crystal chandeliers and designer furnishings in its four unique, open-seating restaurants, eight lounges and bars, as well as its world-class fitness center/spa.

On land, the cruise line has also taken a highly customized approach to Alaskan itineraries, where guests can sail from a variety of West Coast ports round trip or in one direction up or down the coast: roundtrip from Seattle or Vancouver, or between Vancouver and Seward, Seattle and Vancouver, San Francisco and Vancouver, or Vancouver and Los Angeles. That creates opportunities for a variety of cruise durations: 7, 10, 11, 12, or 14 days… as well as more ports, more experiences and longer stays in ports – sometimes as late as 11 pm - for greater immersion into Alaska's marine and land adventures.

The destination-focused cruise line has curated a collection of unique shore excursions that are essential reflections of Alaska. From nature to adventure to history and legend, here are 5 Oceania Alaska shore experiences that will make you realize you can't let another summer go by without cruising to Alaska.

Explore a Glacier on Foot and by Helicopter

The stupendous Mendenhall Glacier, just outside Alaska’s capital city of Juneau, is a slow-moving river of ice emptying into a lake, making it a vision of natural beauty in this US National Park. You'll get to see it from the best angles, flying high above rugged terrain in a helicopter with amazing views over indigo blue crevasses, fanciful ice spires, intriguing icefalls, and jagged rock formations rising thousands of feet into the sky. Upon landing, you'll see the glacier up close in a guided hike, wearing boots specially designed for comfort and traction on ice. Where else but Alaska can you hike a glacier from your helicopter?

Go Crabbing in the Bering Sea

You may have watched the Discovery Channel series the Deadliest Catch, and on this excursion, you embark on one of the crab boats from the series – except unlike the series that takes on the wildest challenges, you'll be sailing only in calm, protected coastal waters, past the stunning scenery of southeastern Alaska, hearing the legends of crab fishing. Crew haul up crab pots and long lines, bringing onboard not just crab but shark, octopus, prawns, and rock fish, carefully placing them into an on-deck aquarium so you can view and interact with these marine creatures before they are returned, unharmed, to their natural habitat.

Take Tea, Russian-Style

Alaska is American today, yet it was once part of Russia before its purchase in 1867, and Russian influences, architecture and culture remain throughout the state. At the Kodiak Inn, you can enjoy a traditional Russian tea, a variation on the English classic, where scones and finger sandwiches are replaced by borscht, Russian teacakes and pirozhkis as you're entertained by Balalaika Players' music.

Kayak Icy Strait Point

Push off from the beach along Icy Strait Point in a two-person kayak with your local expert guide, and paddle the protected waters around Port Fredrick in bays and coves so unspoiled that you’ll feel as if you’re the first to ever explore the region. The nutrient-rich waters are home to humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, and seals and bald eagles.

Jetboat Glacial Lakes and Rivers

The Stikine River is the fastest flowing navigable river in the United States and your customized, purpose-built jetboat, both heated and covered, is the perfect vehicle for exploration of the 500,000-acre Stikine-LeConte Wilderness. You may see moose, bear, deer and spawning salmon as you enjoy spectacular views of mountain peaks and thundering waterfalls. Ashore, celebrate the moment with a wine and cheese break in the grand surroundings of Nature.

Start your Trip!

Copyright BestTrip.TV/Influence Entertainment Group Inc or Rights Holder. All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

#oceania #featured #cruise #alaska #adventure #ocean_cruise

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csnews · 6 years

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Heartache in the San Juan Islands: Locals grieve as resident orcas face extinction

Jamie Hale - September 14, 2018

The orca calf lived for only half an hour, but the mother spent 17 days carrying its body on her nose this summer, crossing the Salish Sea from the San Juan Islands into Canadian waters and back in a visceral display of animal grief that captivated whale watchers around the globe.

Tahlequah, also known as J35, was far from the first mother to grieve. Her population of southern resident orcas hasn’t seen a successful birth in three years. Over the last two decades, three-quarters of their calves have died.

Ken Balcomb, lead scientist at the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island, said the three pods that make up the most iconic killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest have rebounded from loss before, but this time they seem to be headed in one direction.

“Extinction,” he said. “They’re not going to make it.”

Other populations of Pacific Northwest orcas – like the northern residents that live off the upper coast of Vancouver Island, and the transient killer whales that roam the ocean freely – are doing fine, Balcomb said. It’s only the southern residents that are in trouble.

The humans closest to the southern resident orcas consider them family, and already people are beginning to grieve. It’s a heartache that tears at the cultural fabric of the San Juan Islands, where residents’ lives are deeply intertwined with the creatures.

The problem is not only a dwindling food supply, but also the heavy pollution in the Puget Sound, where orcas have been feasting on salmon runs for tens of thousands of years. Orcas are apex predators, capable of hunting anything in the ocean, but the resident killer whales of the Pacific Northwest eat a diet that consists almost exclusively of chinook salmon – a food source that has steadily declined since the 1980s.

The recent struggles of the southern residents have garnered international headlines, and locals in the San Juan Islands hope it will lead to quick action by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and his new task force dedicated to helping the three local pods. Marine researchers like Balcomb are calling for the breaching of four dams on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, a plan that could provide the orcas with much-needed salmon. But the idea has already galvanized fierce opposition from lawmakers who argue the dams provide a crucial source of electricity, irrigation and recreation.

“Here we are stuck in the human paradigm, and [the orcas] are stuck in the human paradigm too,” Balcomb said. “There will be extinction with the current trends. We need to change the trends or just write them off.”

A ‘SLOW-MOVING EXTINCTION’

Jeff Friedman steered his boat around the edge of Patos Island, where tall black dorsal fins emerged from the water. The view was phenomenal – the Patos Island Lighthouse framed by Mount Baker – but all eyes were on the killer whales, which were busy feasting on an unlucky porpoise.

After sharing the meal, the orcas rounded the island and swam into the Strait of Georgia, where another small pod came to meet them. As the sun sank behind Vancouver Island, the orcas rolled over one another, slapped their tails on the water, and leapt from the water in unison.

Everybody on the boat was struck with awe, Friedman included. “It’s so emotional, spiritual – it’s deep, it’s a deep experience,” Friedman, captain and co-owner of Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching said. “Orcas are definitely my religion, and this is my temple.”

Friedman, however, recognized an important distinction: these orcas were hunting porpoise. That means they weren’t southern residents but transient killer whales, which eat other mammals instead of relying on salmon. They don’t call any one place home, but they’ve been coming to the San Juan Islands more often in recent years, and while tourists might not know the difference, to locals they’re not the same.

The humans who have inhabited the Salish Sea have always had a strong relationship with the local pods of orcas. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that anybody knew much about the ancient, mysterious creatures, and not until after people began killing and capturing them in large numbers.

As recently as the 1960s, fishermen shot at the predators with guns and harpoons, considering them pests and a public threat. But local aquarium owners in the ‘60s and ‘70s saw value in the animals, developing techniques to capture orcas and make them prime attractions at places like SeaWorld.

The public became enamored of the beautiful creatures, which boosted aquarium profits but also caused a backlash against methods used to obtain orcas. In 1975, after mounting pressure from both activists and lawmakers, the U.S. government allocated funds to research killer whale populations in the Pacific Northwest, with one big question in mind: How many orcas were left?

Ken Balcomb, fresh from a stint with the Navy, proposed a fresh idea: documenting the local orca population by photographing each animal’s “saddle patch,” a unique marking underneath the dorsal fin. The method was first developed by marine biologist Michael Bigg, and Balcomb put it to use.

Starting in April 1976, he spent the spring and summer following the southern resident orcas around the Salish Sea. He learned that the population was divided into three distinct pods – dubbed J, K and L – each with its own social structure and behaviors, like clans within a tribe. He also got an accurate count of their population: 71 animals, far fewer than anyone thought.

That same year, Washington state declared a moratorium on capturing orcas from state waters, and in 1982, his research helped convince the International Whaling Commission to enact a worldwide ban on commercial whaling.

With protections in place, the southern resident population rebounded, reaching a population of 98 in 1995. But since then, their numbers have steadily decreased alongside dwindling salmon runs and researchers remain skeptical they will bounce back again, headed for what Balcomb calls a “slow-moving extinction.”

The youngest of the southern residents, a 3-year-old female called J50, was feared dead Thursday despite weeks of scientists’ efforts to help the emaciated, ailing calf. Her death would bring the population to 74, the lowest number since 1984. If calves continue to die for the next five years, Balcomb said, the population will become functionally extinct.

“You might have some living whales at the end of this century, but we’re likely to have no reproducing whales at the end of a decade,” Balcomb said.

Researchers like Balcomb have been coming to the islands for decades to study orcas. Most populations live in the open ocean, where it’s next to impossible to track them, but in the Salish Sea their behavior is more predictable – they follow the salmon. That fact has forged an unusually strong bond between the ocean predators and the humans with whom they share the sea.

“They are the charismatic megafauna of the marine environment around here. They absolutely captivate you to watch them,” Balcomb said. “You’re in the presence of something that’s obviously bigger than you and maybe spiritually beyond us too – socially they are. They’re pretty awesome.”

It’s hard to overstate how important these particular orcas are to the San Juan Islands. Locals have become accustomed to regular sightings in spring and summer, both onshore and in the water, where the animals nuzzle the underside of their boats and swim up to their kayaks. In Friday Harbor, killer whales are depicted on murals, emblazoned on signs, sold on T-shirts, bags of coffee and in the form of plush toys.

Becki Day, executive director of the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce, said the most common question the visitors center receives (after “where are the bathrooms?”) is “where can I see the whales?” She said the extinction of the resident orcas would definitely affect local businesses.

“The community loves them, they really do. Everybody loves them. We want them to survive and not just for the business part,” she said.

For Friedman, who runs about 250 whale watching trips every year, the loss carries more of an emotional impact than economic. Because even if the southern residents go extinct, there might still be orcas in the Salish Sea.

AGE OF THE TRANSIENTS

Lack of salmon may be forcing local orcas to go off in search of food, but the plentiful supply of seals and porpoise have been attracting more transient orcas to the San Juan Islands.

According to researchers, the presence of the transient orcas won’t help or hurt the southern residents. The two populations are considered subspecies that speak different dialects and generally don’t interact. If anything, the absence of the southern residents might allow the intruding transients more freedom to hunt around the islands.

To tourists, an orca is an orca, but for locals it’s not that simple.

“As interesting as they are, and as much as we connect with them as well, the identity of Friday Harbor and this region was built on southern residents. You can’t just swap out one population for another and say nothing’s changed,” Friedman said.

Balcomb agrees. When you go out on a boat, “you’re hoping to see a southern resident,” he said. The southern residents are easy for experienced whale watchers to identify, distinguished by their behavior, social structures and saddle patches, which researchers like Balcomb have long since learned by heart.

The transients, on the other hand, are strangers. Many have been identified, but nobody knows when they’ll come and go or how long they’ll stick around. The people who live in the San Juan Islands are used to the regularity and familiarity of their neighborhood orcas, the animals they’ve lived with for decades, through baby booms and, for the foreseeable future, tragic deaths.

“They are the most family-oriented animals I have ever seen – everything is about family,” Friedman said. For him, losing the local orcas is like losing members of his own family. “You can’t help but break down in tears knowing what’s going on and knowing how difficult it is for these animals.”

For San Juan Island native Gordy Petersen, 65, it’s all made for a strange few decades. In the 1950s and ‘60s, fishermen didn’t think twice about shooting at orcas, he said. But by the ‘80s, locals were organizing whale watching tours just to see them. Now, there’s talk of the resident orcas being gone completely.

When he was a teenager he witnessed a capture in a nearby bay, watching from a boat as captors worked to wrangle an orca.

“I didn’t like that. It was fascinating, but it was sort of disturbing at the same time,” he said.

Now the owner of a building in downtown Friday Harbor, Petersen still has mixed feelings about the struggle of the southern residents. It would be sad to see them go extinct, he said, but nature will fill the void somehow.

Transient orcas will still probably come, whale watching boats will still go out, and businesses in Friday Harbor will hum along, telling tourists the sad story of the orcas that once called this place home.

“Friday Harbor has been here before the whale craze and it’ll be here after,” Petersen said. “People come here because it’s a beautiful place and that’s not going to change.”

WHERE TO SEE ORCAS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Washington

Your best bet to see killer whales anywhere is on a whale watching boat in the San Juan Islands in Washington. Most tour companies are based in Friday Harbor, but Anacortes has some as well. You’ll likely see southern resident and transient orcas, but you might also see humpback whales, gray whales and porpoises. Oregon

Orca sightings are rarer on the Oregon coast, but they do happen regularly. The southern residents are known to occasionally feast on salmon runs at the mouth of the Columbia River, but you’ll need some luck to see them. The same goes for transients, which show up unannounced to feed on sea lions and seals. Canada

If your passport is current, you can cross the border and find orcas around Vancouver Island, which has whale watching outfits based in Victoria, Sidney and towns along both coasts. On the north side of the island, you can see the northern resident orcas, which feed along the Johnstone Strait in summer and fall.

#wild #srkw #whale #cetacean #news #killer whale #orca #dolphin

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jokerfan99 · 6 years

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Dc+Marvel Character Fusions by RobertMacQuarrie1 Part 4

31. Namor + Black Adam= The Black Prince

Centuries ago, Prince Namor ruled the kingdom of Atlantis with a firm yet honorable hand. Renowned for both his skills as a warrior and as a just ruler, it was these qualities that he was chosen by the wizard Shazam to serve as his champion. Imbued with incredible magical energy, Namor's incredible power was magnified a thousand fold. Initially, Namor used his powers wisely and justly. But soon the power began to corrupt Namor, as he soon believed the best way to bring peace to the land was to use his powers to lead the armies of Atlantis to conquer the world. With Namor leading the way, the armies of Atlantis cut a bloody swath across the land, decimating entire nations. Soon, Namor became known as "The Black Prince," and civilizations began to fear his name. Eventually, the wizard Shazam intervened, and punished Namor and his kingdom for abusing his gifts. Shazam used his incredible might to sink Atlantis beneath the waves, while imprisoning Namor in a crystal sarcophagus deep beneath the ocean, hoping to teach the Black Prince humility and to respect the powers at his command. However, Shazam's punishment had the opposite effect, making Namor even more twisted and cruel. And when the Black Prince was accidentally revived by undersea explorers in the modern age, Namor swore to use his incredible might to conquer the world and restore the majesty of Atlantis to it's former glory.

32. Punisher + Deadshot = Deathwish

Floyd Castle was a former mercenary who gave up his former life when he fell in love. Marrying the love of his life, Floyd became a doting husband and eventual loving father. However, Floyd's life was changed forever when he and his family were caught in a crossfire of a political assassination, with only Floyd surviving. Enraged that the killer was to avoid punishment for his crimes due to his political connections, Floyd repurposed his old mercenary gear and became the bounty hunter known as Deathwish in order to hunt down the criminals out of the normal reach of the law. His name has a double meaning, however, as Floyd secretly wishes his time on earth to be over, so he can see his family again, caring little whether he lives or dies. Taking any job, as long as it allows him to eliminate the "right people," Deathwish cuts a bloody swath of destruction across the criminal underworld in any part of the world.

33. Deadpool + Harley Quinn = Jester

Harlene Wilson was a promising- if naive and gullible- scientist, working under the charismatic Dr. Killbrew. Harlene fell in love with Killbrew, never realizing that he didn't reciprocate her interest and was only using her for his own ends. When Harlene contracted an untreatable form of cancer, Killbrew manipulated her into being a guinea pig for his experiments with cellular regeneration, using the cells culled from the mutant Deathclaw. Killbrew had no intention of curing Harlene, but he hoped to learn from the experimentation on her form to further his research. His treatment on Harley ravaged her body and destroyed her mind, causing her to break from reality in order to cope with the pain. Finding out about Killbrew's betrayal of her trust, Harlene broke out of captivity and slew Killbrew in a rage. With her newfound abilities and a powerful healing factor, Harlene took up the identity of the Jester, becoming a merc for hire, figuring that if the world was one big joke, she might as well look the part.

34. The Leader + Hector Hammond = Hector Sterns

Hector Sterns was just an ordinary janitor of slightly low intelligence working at a government lab. Jealous of all the intelligent scientists working above him and secretly believing they were mocking him behind his back, Hector yearned for power to show up all he believed wronged him. He got his wish when he was exposed to a strange meteor that was brought to the lab he worked at for study. Hearing that the meteor had strange mutagenic properties, Hector broke into the storage chamber and exposed himself to the gamma radiation emitting from the stone under the hopes that it would grant him incredible powers. Hector got his wish, in that he developed increased intelligence and amazing telekinetic and telepathic abilities. However, it came at a horrible cost, as it caused him cranium to swell to a massive size, while atrophying his muscles and bones. He was gifted with a genius level intellect and powerful mental abilities, but at the cost of his physical form. But along with his mind, Sterns' ambition also increased. Now, simple revenge would not be enough to satiate him. Sterns wished to rule the world, and turned his incredible intellect towards that task. So far, only the might Orca has been able to halt his plans, pitting his brawn and Sterns' incredible brain.

35. Nova + Firestorm = Sunstorm

Travelling through space, a dying alien from the Nova Corps was searching for a suitable being to inherit his incredible abilities and take up his role of protecting his sector of space. Coming across Earth, the alien was met with a dilemma- he could not find one being who fit the specific requirements needed to inherit and use his abilities. The alien did find two people who had some of the traits he was looking for. Richard Raymond had the spirit to wield the powers of the Nova corp, and was a perfect physical specimen, but he did not have the discipline nor the intelligence. Dr. Martin Rider had the vast intellect and maturity to handle the powers, but was physically weak. Left with no choice, the alien made a desperate gambit, choosing to merge Richard Raymond and Martin Rider into one form, using the strongest elements from both- Richard's body and Martin's mind. Coming to term with their merging, the duo christened themselves Sunstorm, taking up their alien benefactor's mission to protect the solar system, using their newfound abilities of flight, super strength and the ability to alter the molecular makeup of any inorganic object.

36. Hawkeye + Booster Gold = Goldeneye Mockingbird + Blue Beetle = Bluebird

Clint Carter was born in the 25th century to a group of carnival performers. He had honed his natural abilities to become an incredible archer. However, in his time period, the common citizens weren't interested in stuntmen and feats of physical strength anymore, and were more interested in the popular holo-vids. Seeking fame and fortune, Goldeneye decided to head back to the 20th century to wow the audiences with his abilities. However, Clint landed late in the 21st century, where archery skills weren't as highly regarded as they once were. However, Clint decided to stay in this time frame and use his archery skills along with his futuristic technology to become a superhero, taking on the name and identity of Goldeneye. While initially using his abilities for fame and fortune, Clint eventually evolved into a true- albeit flawed- hero.

Bobbi Kord was a genius inventor and agent of SHIELD. When she was passed over for field work, she quit the agency and returned to head Kord Industries. Bobbi combined her combat training along with the resources of Kord Industries to develop a wide arsenal of crime fighting tools, and took up the identity of the Bluebird. She served as a solo adventurer for a while before eventually meeting up with Goldeneye. The two became crimefighting duo and eventually lovers, being partners both on and off the field.

37. Apocalypse + Vandal Savage = Vandal Sa'Vag Nur

The being who would become known as Vandal Sa'Vag Nur began life as an ordinary caveman. Brutal by even the standards of that more savage age, Vandal was cast out from his clan and became a nomad. His entire existence changed the day he investigated the site of what seemed to be a meteorite. In reality, it was the remains of a destroyed Celestial starship. Coming into contact with it, Vandal was exposed to the alien technologies and transformed. Wrapped in a life sustaining coccon, the ship slowly changed Vandal over the course centuries, eventually emerging into Ancient Egypt where he gained his name- Vandal Sa'Vag Nur. Transformed into a being of incredible power, Vandal realized the alien machine transformed him in order to improve the world and make it stronger and better than it was before. However, Vandal interpreted this directive as that the only way the world can improve is through struggle and conquest. By knocking down what came before in order for the world to build a better society in its' place. From that point on, Vandal would use his newfound might to topple civilizations and bring ruin and destruction to the world, under the belief that only the strong could survive, often returning to the same alien cocoon that birthed his new form to slumber for centuries between his conquests. Now, he has awoken in the modern day, and plans to once again destroy civilization as a whole in order for the weak to be weeded out and for the strong to survive. And in this new age of heroes, Vandal believes that with this new breed of humanity, it is the perfect opportunity to wipe the slate clean of humanity and populate the world with living Gods.

38. Arcade + The Riddler = The Gamemaster

Edward R. Cade was a spoiled brat of a wealthy New Gotham couple who grew up loving puzzles and games. The only thing that Edward loved more, however, was murder. After killing his parents to inherit their wealth at a young age, Edward dedicated his fortune in order create the most gruesome and imaginative murders possible. He enjoyed spending his fortune creating elaborate deathtraps to lure his victims into. His puzzles and mazes would be filled with lethal traps and consequences, but he always prided himself on playing "fair." If his victims solved his puzzles or escaped his mazes with their lives intact, he would let them go, no questions asked. Eventually, Edward- now calling himself the Gamemaster- solicited his services as a master assassin to wealthy clients around the world, under the condition that he is allowed to dispose of his targets his way. With this new source of revenue, the Gamemaster set up "Murderworld" amusement parks all over the world. His actions, however, would eventually draw the attention of many superheroes who would either be caught up or try to stop his insane schemes. The Gamemaster doesn't mind, however, as superheroes are just a new challenge for him to refine his skills and come up with even more creative puzzles and games to eliminate his foes.

39. Ghost Rider + Demon = Demon Rider

In medieval Camelot, Sir Jason Blood was one of the most noble Knights of the Round Table. When his son was stricken ill, however, Sir Jason turned to the dark arts in order to find a way to save him. Summoning a powerful demon, Jason pledged his soul to find a way to save his son. The demon agreed, curing Jason's son of his ailment. However, Jason was later betrayed, in that while his son was cured, the demon arranged it so that he would later die from accident while riding a horse. Calling upon his payment, Jason was bonded with a powerful demon called Zarathigan, transforming him into a mindless, savage monstrosity who then proceeded to ravage the kingdom. Jason's rampage came to a end when the wizard Merlin cast a spell to separate Zarathigan from Jason, transforming Jason back to normal. However, Merlin's spell could not completely sever the tie, only weaken it, as Jason's bloodline would forever be tainted with Demon blood. And some day, a future generation would one day again be bonded to Zarathigan and once again be transformed into a powerful demon. That day came centuries later when Sir Jason's descendant, Jason Blaze, would be transformed on his 18th birthday and once again be bonded with Zarathigan. But having never pledged his soul to the darkness, Jason Blaze still retains some control over Zarathigan's bloodlust. As such, Jason Blaze uses his newfound powers as the Demon Rider to avenge the innocent and wage war on evil, while struggling to control the demon within.

40. Psylocke + Huntress = Mindhunter

Helena Braddock was the daughter of a notable crime boss in New Gotham. Under siege by other mobsters, Helena's father turned to the mystical sect known as the League of the Hand for help. The League agreed to wipe out his enemies, but for a price- he would turn his daughter over to them. Helena's father agreed, and she was taken by the League and trained to become their greatest assassin. Undergoing a brutal regime to make her into one of the greatest warriors on the planet, the League also tried to transform Helena mystically, to give her even greater power. Their efforts paid off, and Helena's latent mutant abilities were activated, granting her incredible psionic powers. The League trained her to refine her powers, eventually allowing her to focus her telepathic abilities into her Psionic Knife, the focused totality of all her telepathic abilities. However, Helena was never loyal to the League, filled with a burning hatred for both them and her father. After a decade of training, Helena broke free of her captivity, slaying her captors, and returned to New Gotham to avenge herself on her father and his organization. Now, as Mindhunter, she wages a brutal war against the criminals who take advantage of the innocent, and isn't afraid to use lethal measures to end a threat.

#dc comics #fusion #marvel comics

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