#anyway coral caves is neat. love these things

[ironraven]

deep reef, abandoned wip

[sweetheartmotives]

𝓢𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓿𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔂𝓪𝓷𝓼!

Desc and possible Cw: None!

Let me know if I missed any

Micah, The yan Bartender: Just like other holidays, Micah was ecstatic for this one! Another holiday to celebrate all the time he's spent with his beloved?! Yessir! Count him in! Anyway, you guys start the day off with breakfast in bed [Micah made it for you] and then a quick cuddle sesh, and another cuddle sesh, and another cuddle seshhhh- until around 3:00 pm! Around that time, Micah runs off to the grocery store while you sleep to prepare a surprise dinner for you! He made something yummy, fancy, and somewhat homely dinner. You guys finish the lovely day off with gifts, kisses, and you guessed it, love making.

Overall, 10/10! Great yan to spend this lovely holiday with! :3

Jaakobah, Evil Yan Cupid: Oh yeah, this is a holiday Jaakobah digs. First of all, he is Cupid, therefore he knows all about romance and how to sugar you up! He, of course, plans a whole day of activities a week prior since he's the 'expert' on this holiday. Anyway, you get your favorite flowers in a neat little bundle with a package of chocolates matched with it, you go to a fair, and finally, you go to dinner.

Overall, 8/10. He's a shithead during all this btw. 'You're so desperate lol, you had to get wit cupid to get a valentine.' BE QUIET.

Harper, The yan Eagle Hybrid: Harper, as expected, didn't know what Valentine's Day was. You tried explaining it to him and all he took from it was he had to give you flowers and a gift to show his love. It didn't make sense to poor Harper, he already gifts you the finest flowers and fruits he can find in the forest, what else could you want?? After expressing his confusions to you, you explain that it's a day of love and gift giving is just one way of showing love! Harper nods along as you explained it, he finally gets it now, you want a baby! That's the ultimate gift! Oh goodie, off to the nest deep inside the cave you two go! [Dw, his cum has special properties to get EVERYONE pregnant. Don't matter what ur gender/sex is 😊]

Overall, 4/10. It was nice at the beginning but now your legs are sore.

Damian, The yan deep diver: Damian, as expected, was the one who suggested and explained Valentine's Day to you. He even brought you your special treats to jndugle in for the special occasion! He brought you pretty shells, rocks, Coral, etc from the deep depths and not deep depths for you to enjoy. He also tried, again, to kiss you. You bit him. Hard.

Overall, 3/10. The gifts were nice but the kiss attempt ruined everything.

Taiyō, the Yandere Cafe Host: Prepare to get spoiled! First, he comes to wherever you live with a big, big expensive bouquet of flowers matched with a pretty heart package of fancy chocolates. After that, he tells you all about your dinner plans for the evening and how he expects you to wear something nice. But now you might say, "But sweetheart, what if I don't have nice clothes?!" Well, don't worry your pretty head about any of that! Taiyō will happily whip out a fat wad of cash for you to buy something nice for your little Valentine's Day dinner 😊 You two lovebirds end the night off eating in a fancy restaurant under the jawdropping, most marvelous Moonlight around.

Overall, another 10/10! The spoiling never ends with him! 😭

Yumako, The yan magical girl: She was pumped! She planned a picnic, an hour of albuming photos together, going around town, and eating yummy Valentine's Day themed foods. You guys did all those things btw ^_^

Overall, 10/10. Was so cute!!

─────────────── ˚｡⋆୨💌୧⋆｡˚ ───────────────

Welcome to the end credits! This is where I will give information on my new or previous yans!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you all get whatever chocolates and other sweets you enjoy from that special someone! I hope you all enjoyed reading as I enjoyed writing! [Sending virtual chocolates to you all! ♡]

─────────────────────────────────────────

[thebibliomancer]

Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 7

Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because I need to get back into it. Being on a trip really kicked me off my momentum. Something about a boat? Some Gelfling?

Last times on book: Amri, Kylan, Tavra, Naia, and new party member Onica set sail on a quest from Aughra and/or the Crystal to unite all the Gelfling clans in resistance to the Skeksis. Presuming the Vapra good and united thanks to the All-Maudra claiming support, the group heads to Cera-Na next to appeal to the Sifa Madura Ethri. On the way, Amri learns some swording and Kylan learns some sailing. A good time is had by all except for all the hurt feelings.

Chapter 7

Amri and co meet with Maudra Ethri but don’t quite get the response they’re hoping for.

"Though Sifa ships may sail alone for many trine at a time, we always return here... and when Omerya is in port, we are all home again,” Onica explained ass he brought them into port and tied the ship to one of the many white coral spires rising from the coastal floor.

Love it. Love the lore. Love the description later of Cera-Na being a forever changing city of ships depending on which ones are at port.

Love the description of the Sifa “looking like wind and fire” due to their red hair sometimes streaked with black or blue or turquoise.

And I love Amri realizing that the Sifa also welcomed Gelfling from other clans as well and recognizing attributes of Spriton or Drenchen or Vapra.

“That is the beauty of Cera-Na, and Sifa tradition. We are bound together not by blood or by the confines of the earth. We are bound together by heart and by the changing wind. If the prophecies and signs say one must become Sifa, one does. We accept that.”

Given that its an explicit trait of the Sifa, I wonder how the other clans view intermarriage. In the comics Mayrin married a Sifa. In the books, Tavra is totally dating one to her mother’s disapproval. Kylan is of mixed Spriton and Stonewood heritage.

Would Rian have faced resistance from her family if Mira hadn’t exploded into goo?

We’re getting descriptions of Gelfling who have heritage in multiple clans like its an unusual thing so I guess the clans marry internally as a matter of course. Castle guarding is an unusual situation that would expose Gelfling to those from other clans. The Sifa interact with a lot of clans due to traveling around.

Anyway.

They run into an old friend of Onica’s, Tae, “a freckled Sifa with golden-red hair” (gosh she sounds pretty) and they get to chatting. Even though Tavra has been hanging in Onica’s hair and whispering to her this entire time, she doesn’t pipe up or identify herself when Tae gives Onica her condolences over what they heard happened to Tavra.

Onica tells Tae that she needs to speak to Maudra Ethri and Tae says she’ll try to arrange it but warns that Ethri has been preoccupied with a dot dot dot guest and with a thief on the loose.

Man, this feels exactly like rolling into town and getting hit by a whole bunch of sidequests all of a sudden. I really wish there was an open world Dark Crystal RPG. Choose a clan to start with to get a neat clan perk, that sort of thing. Alas.

Tae and Onica turn away from the group to have a whispered exchange, annoying Naia greatly, and then Tae scampers up into the Omerya.

She then waves them inside and they follow her through the maze of passageways up to the deck. Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, Amri is reminded of Domrak and sees a hearth, thinking to himself thats the common thing between all Gelfling clans, that their center is the hearth before noticing that the hearth is cold and hasn’t had a fire in a long time.

Hmm.

A Sifa came striding from an exit across the deck, every step jangling with metal chimes and bells. She had wild, dark crimson-and-black hair, accented with glittering beads and copper wire, ears strung with gemstone earrings. One of her green eyes sparkled more than the other, catching the light like a stone.

“Gem-Eyed Ethri,” Tae said with a curt bow. “Maudra to the Sifa of Cera-Na.”

She also sounds pretty.

Ethri surprises the non-Onicas by being so young, being the same age as Onica and having grown up with her. And also that her very sparkly eye is actually a gemstone jammed into her head. I guess Gem-Eyed isn’t just figurative language. And if you’re going to need a false eye anyway why not go for the glitter?

The maudra asks what they need to talk to her about and after confirming that Ethri has seen the plot recap flower petals, Naia bluntly asks if the Sifa will join them.

“Join you?” the Sifa maudra asked, as if she didn’t understand the question.

Naia frowned, taken aback. “If you don’t believe us...”

“I believed the instant I saw the dream stitched in the pink petals. But you’re asking me to pledge myself to... what, you? To Aughra and Thra? If I agree to join you, who am I even joining? How will we know when the time is right - is it you who will tell us? Is this a war or an idea?”

Huh. The unite the clans thing is a little short on details actually, yeah.

Amri feels like Maudra Ethri is laughing at them and is about to get confrontational when Onica tells Ethri that its all true, that she saw the dream herself, that Aughra gave them the mission, and that the All-Maudra is on board.

But Ethri says Doubt. Hey if you have the Vapra, why do you need me? And if its so important why didn’t Aughra ask her directly? So this unitification thing is nice and all but Ethri is just going to go do what’s best for the Sifa and the other clans can do whats best for themselves too.

“Be assured?” Amri cried. He bit his lip, trying not to speak out of turn, but he couldn’t help himself. “The Skeksis are eating our people. That’s the long and short of it! Devouring us like moss from the cave wall!”

Ethri waves off his outburst and tells them that she has to get back to her important guest. She dismisses the group, tells them that they can spend as much time as they like in Cera-Na before they dash off to try to convince another maudra, and then asks Onica to stay behind for a word.

Onica tells them to go on ahead, that this isn’t the Ethri she knew and that she’ll try talking to her. An apologetic Tae reappears to show them out.

After the group minus Onica is alone, Tavra finally shows herself (having been transferred to POV Amri when the group was leaving).

Amri asks why she’s been hiding and Tavra replies simply “I don’t want people to know.” Whatever emotion or motive attached to that hidden beneath her usual Tavra stoicism.

Tavra tells the three to return to Onica’s ship and wait there while she sneaks aboad the Omerya and tries to spy out who Ethri’s mysterious guest is. Then in the morning, they’re going to force Ethri to commit to the united Gelfling.

“Force her!” Naia exclaimed, surprised and impressed. “How?”

“You’re not the only one whose mother is maudra. There is a reason the Vapra have led the seven clans since the rise of the Skeksis rule.”

So, look, that sounds like you’re going to try to pull rank on her which I feel is going to go not how you’d prefer.

Anyway, she tells them to stay out of trouble while she’s gone but she should know better by now. When has this group ever listened to her about staying out of trouble? The instant she’s gone, Amri suggests going to the beach (mostly because he’d prefer to be on solid ground instead of a ship).

Amri gestured, away from the Omerya and Onica’s ship. “I think we should do what all good Gelfling do when something strange is afoot in a strange land. Seek answers.”

Naia grinned in agreement. Apparently she wasn’t eager to retire to the ship, either.

“Great,” she said, leading the way. “Let’s find ourselves some trouble.”

See?

Tavra’d be better off instead just point blank asking them what they plan to do instead of listening to her. That way she’ll know where to find them later.

[shannie-writes]

Siren/Pirate AU Relationship Chart

Welcome to my Siren/Pirate AU! 

This is a collection of everyone’s basic description. I tried to squeeze in as much lore as I could without going on rants in the character descriptions, so please feel free to send me asks if you want me to go into further detail! Especially where I’m not sure how much of it will be seen directly in the fics I’ll be posting for the AU, but will still be there in the background.

Stuck all of the merfolk and townsfolk/other folk under a cut, as this ended up longer than I thought! And with that, please enjoy.

PIRATES

Lancelot - Captain of The Heart Breaker. Wears a big red coat that he is rarely seen without. Has the magic ability to sense the water but hasn’t told anybody. He knows when storms are going to be coming hours ahead of time. He can also use this ability to sense things in the water, such as other ships. This has come in handy when they are going to take them over, or when they need to sail in a different direction to not be found. Rescued Jonah from a bad situation and has trained him on things to help with around the ship when Jonah decided to stay with them instead of taking his offer to drop him off at some other port. Has a pet cat on ship to help catch rats, though he’ll dote on it in secret.

Edgar - The scout for The Heart Breaker. Knows the ship inside out and can pick up and help with anything that needs it. Keeps a secret collection of sweets in the crow’s nest that he’ll restock when they visit port. Doesn’t understand how Lancelot knows when things are going to happen, but follows them without question.

Kyle - A drunk pirate, but it gives him stupidly good sea legs and he’s never been seasick. He has no fear when there’s a storm and will be the first one to take care of business if a disaster kicks in. Has a knack for keeping inventory, numbers, and navigation. Can say some stupid things, but couldn’t be a better crewmate. Is also one of the crew that has been with Lancelot the longest.

Zero - Is a newer member to the crew, but has picked up things quickly. Had been rescued from being a slave on a ship by Lancelot. The sea isn’t new to him, but the amount of new places he has visited now that he’s joined Lancelot’s crew has been immense. He loves to collect sand from the different beaches he has been to. Heard a woman sing a song on the beach when they stopped at one of their commonly visited ports and can’t stop thinking about her, for some reason he can’t explain.

MERFOLK

Ray - A mermaid with midnight blue and black scales. Has the magic ability to control the water. He uses this power rarely, as it can be more damaging than helpful. Has made a home with Sirius and Fenrir close to a colorful coral reef. Has a pet hardhead catfish.

Sirius - A mermaid with dark purple scales. Has a few gray scales that he’ll gripe over. Worked a deal with sirens Seth and Luka to have them take care of humans who were overfishing in areas, so that they both are getting their individual types of prey: fish for him, Ray, and Fenrir and humans for Seth and Luka. Is easily frustrated over the others, as they tend to get in a lot of trouble, together and individually. Visits his friend Harr at least once every few weeks to make sure he’s okay.

Luka - A siren with pearly purple scales. Is very soft and has a hard time killing humans for sustenance. His siren song is too weak and is easily broken, but his looks alone can put his victims in a similar spell if they spot him. Was kicked out of his previous home and Seth has taken him under his wing, training him to better his song and siren skills.

Seth - A siren with opalescent teal scales. Has very, very long hair that he usually keeps in a braid. Enjoys singing even if it’s not to entrance humans. Loves to tease Sirius alongside Fenrir. As a siren, he’s able to shapeshift. If he’s completely dry from seawater, he can hide or show his scales at will, giving himself a human appearance. Ignores all of Sirius’ warnings when he confesses to him that he’s fallen in love with a human.

Fenrir - A mermaid with magenta scales. Loves to explore and has several underwater caves, shipwrecks, and other places that he will make rounds in to find neat objects that he’ll bring back home to show Ray. His favorite items are weapons he finds in wrecks and on drowned sailors, as well as colorful sea glass.

Harr - A sea witch with ink black scales that sprawl up his back and down his arms. The ends of his tail are shredded and he wears kelp around his head to cover his eye. Lives in the darkest part of the ocean, hiding away from anybody who may want to find him. Only Sirius knows where he lives and why he covers himself. Has the magic ability to move the waters, but he keeps himself deep enough that it doesn’t affect anybody. Plays with water from heat vents. Has a pet angler fish.

TOWNSFOLK/OTHER

Jonah - Son of a nobleman. Was sold to pirate Lancelot by his parents in order for them to stay safe from their ransacking. Was going to be released by Lancelot at a port a few months after being dragged on the ship, but eventually decides to stay. Trained in swordplay, conversation, and has a good mind for trade.

Loki - A port waif. Lingers around in the morning and evening fog and wanders in the night to collect gossip and steal small goods from the ships that come in to port. He’ll sell you any information you may want--for a price.

Blanc - Is a leader in the township, but is also at the port from dawn to dusk, reviewing cargo manifests and making trades with ships that stop in port to make sure the town is well taken care of. He has made a lot of success in building the town up from a small village to the success it currently has and many of the residents respect him for all of his hard work.

Oliver - Is the owner of the tavern in the port town. Looks the other way when it comes to the different types of people who come to have a drink between ports, as the town is a good stopping point between big cities. He’s not there to cause waves. So long as you treat his tavern and the people under his employ well, you won’t see any negative outcomes. Keeps a set of pistols behind the bar anyway, just in case.

MC - Works at the tavern under Oliver. Most of her evenings are spent here. Started life here by herself to get away from the unfortunate situation she was in before, traveling as far as she could and finding herself staying as she fell in love with this port town that only had access from the sea. She was on her nightly walk along the beach when she heard a siren song--but only wanted to hear more of it. She continued to meet up with this creature with the beautiful voice and started to sing back to it, which started a deeper relationship with the siren. As she learned the song from the siren, she accidentally sang it to a man while she practiced who had been on the beach with her, causing him to get caught under the weak spell, not enough to damage his mental state or cause him to be entranced by her as she is still human, but enough to keep her on his mind consistently.

[victakestaipei]

Overcoming My Cliff-jumping PTSD & Weekly Pool Parties

I woke up at 7:15 and I'm so glad I had already packed my stuff for the day. I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, brushed my teeth and headed out. I was DYING INSIDE. Super hungover. Running to the bus stop. I took the bus to the MRT station because it would have taken too long to walk, and then I took the MRT to Taipei Main Station which is where the group was meeting (at 8am). Taipei Main Station is the branch that connects Taipei to the outside world (the rest of Taiwan). There's a bus station, the TRA (which is the train system that travels outside of Taipei), and other forms of transportation there. It's really the hub/hotspot of the city. Jeannie and I ended up on the same subway train so we arrived together at Taipei Main Station, and on time! To my surprise, there was about 40 of us going!! A huge huge group. I was excited to meet people, but I knew that traveling in large groups takes 10x as long as it normally would. And it did...... The struggle to get to our destination was literally hilarious. And hot. And sweaty... Thank god I had my coffee that morning at the train station.

After taking the train to Ruifang, we walked down the main street of the town then hopped on the bus, which would take us up the mountains to where the snorkeling/cliff jumping area was located. The bus segment of the trip was a mess. A hot, humid, and cramped mess. Imagine 40 sweaty college students forcing their way onto a city bus because they didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for the next one to come... Not fun. But luckily I was one of the first few people to get on the bus because I was NOT PLAYING NO TYPA GAMES!!! I even got to gnab a seat, so I didn’t have to stand the whole time. ;)

my face the ENTIRE bus ride    v

The views from the bus were pretty beautiful though!!! We passed quite a few touristy spots on the way up the mountain. One being the Golden Waterfall. This was exciting for me because I had this destination on my list!! And I got to knock out two birds with one stone today. The Golden Waterfall is special because apparently you can’t even touch the water because it’s poisonous! Wild. The water trickling down the waterfall is a gold color because of the combination of regular rainfall in this mining area and the abundance of heavy metal elements that are deposited in the riverbed. Neat-o!

The famous spot we were headed to is called “LongDong", meaning Dragon Cave. The area of Ruifang also has the famous JiuFen street. The JiuFen area and famous teahouse is what the town and teahouse in the movie Spirited Away is modeled after. This location is a huge tourist spot, and would be a day-trip in itself. I didn’t get to pop by JiuFen today because it would've taken at least 3 hours to really enjoy.  :( Next time!

We didn't get to the snorkeling rental spot until around noon. Meaning, we had been traveling and waiting and walking for about 4 hours at this point. And I'm running on 3.5 hours of sleep. I was a grouch. But once I got the rental gear I perked up a bit. The rental gear only cost 150NT, which is about $5 (US)... And we were given a snorkel mask, life vest, and little booties. 

After grabbing all my stuff, and changing into my swimsuit, we hitched a ride from the snorkel rental people down the narrow road to the water. We sat on the back of a flat bed truck, and I think that's where I lost my pants... Good thing I brought two pair!! About 20 minutes into the hike I realized I didn't have my pants with me and I think the truck ride down was when I lost them. :(

Anyway, Once there at the end of the road, we then had to HIKE to get to the location. There was a lot of people in the water snorkeling, but the spot we wanted to go to, was more central and where the "party was at". So we hiked about 15 minutes deeper into the cliffs so that we could find the perfect spot. We finally arrived, put our stuff down, and took photos! 

Afterwards we hopped in, snorkel gear in hand, to take a look into the clear blue water. There was tons of fish in the area. There wasn't a lot of variety, but the amount of fish in general was a lot. I maybe saw like 5-7 different types of fish, just in large large amounts. 

It took me forever to get the guts to jump off the larger cliff (pictured above), because I feel like I have some lingering PTSD from the last time I went cliff jumping. Before my freshman year of college, I went cliff jumping with some friends at Nelson’s Landing, which is on the Colorado River outside of Vegas. My friend Brien, is the guy that can get you to do anything. He just has that type of personality. So he convinced me to jump off this super high cliff with him... I'm talking like 50-60 feet. I didn't want to, but I finally came around, and found myself toes-on-the-edge, looking out into the water... We counted to three and jumped. I screamed. Loud as hell. I screamed and screamed and then realized I was still falling. I had run out of scream and was still in the air.. Like those roller coasters where you scream after the big drop and you run out of scream and you're still going downhill and your stomach starts to feel heavy??? Like that. As I approached the water I could feel my legs lifting. I tried to stay like a pencil so that the landing wouldn't be as painful, but right towards the end of the fall, I started to panic (after running out of scream) and my legs lifted and I was in a pike position when I hit the water. So basically I landed on my tailbone. After surfacing the water, I immediately could not feel my legs. I started crying and screaming for Brien (who is in the water next to me and landed in perfect form and is also a lifeguard) because I couldn't move my lower half and started to drown. I thought I was paralyzed. He grabbed me and swam to the cliff's wall so that I could hold on to it and calm down. I slowly began to regain feeling in my legs (thank you JESUS) but I suffered a sharp pain that would run down my back and tailbone which lasted weeks after that trip. And THATS WHY U DONT CLIFFJUMP KIDS. OR LISTEN TO BRIEN CAMPBELL. EVER.

Anyway, let’s switch gears here... so I'm here on the top of this cliff in Taiwan. Once in a lifetime, looking out into some extremely clear blue water, while a bunch of friendly young Asian people yell "Jia You!!! Jia You!!!" (pronounced: "geeyah-yo" and meaning "go!") trying to encourage me. I exchanged a few words (in my head) with God and jumped off the cliff alongside Jeannie. I screamed the whole way down but needless to say I'm alive. And the rush felt awesome. And I didn’t touch any coral even though the clarity of the water makes it feel like the coral is right there beneath the surface... After a few hours at the cliff jumping and snorkeling site, Jeannie and I were extremely sunburned and ready to head home. But not before taking some model-esque photos ;)

such majesty wow wow 

On the facebook event page regarding today’s trip, it said we would arrive back home around 6pm. But Jeannie and I didn’t want to wait that long... we were ready to GO! As we hiked back to the small road that led us to the water, we met some people who were also in our large group (of 40+ people). One of them was a local Taiwanese guy named Hank, and as it turns out he drove to the cliff jumping area, and didn’t ride the bus like the rest of us plebs. One thing led to another and Hank ended up letting Jeannie and I hitch a ride with him and some other foreigners so that we didn’t have to take the bus. Hank mentioned this pool party at a water park that was going on, which is where he was headed, and he invited us to tag along. And of course we did. The 7 of us (three Canadians, one English girl, me, Jeannie, and Hank) piled into his SUV and headed back to Taipei. But not before stopping at 7/11 to get snacks and BEER!!! Holla ;)

I thought I saved the pictures on snapchat that I took of us in the car... but it turns out I didn’t :( So I don’t have any pictures of Hank and the rest of the gang, but it was great meeting them and I’ll probably see them all again before I leave in August!!

When we arrived at the water park, I was SHOOKETH. First of all, the water park was huge, with a bunch of foreigners, a bar, a dance floor, three water slides, two shallow pools, and a lazy river that winded it’s way around the whole thing. It was crazy. What was even crazier was that it only cost 200 NT to get in! (less than $7 US). They were playing all the top 40 hits, from Drake, to 2 Chainz, to Kendrick Lamar. It didn’t even feel like I was in Taiwan anymore!! It felt like I was back in the States!!!! Also, I found out that they do this whole party thing every saturday in the summer! I will definitely be back (and I will take more pictures next time).

I got hit on more than I wanted to (not that anyone wants to be hit on necessarily... but I think part of the reason why was simply because there were hella African dudes at the pool party.) I also got hit on by two Taiwanese dudes who approached me together, and got some smiles and head nods from white guys...White guys never really acknowledge my beauty... maybe that’s just an American white guy thing... but nonetheless I was feeling myself ;) Plus I was drinking at the bar and had that huge beer on the car ride over, so Jeannie and I were having a jolly good time!

We stayed at the pool party until about 7:30pm.. I was pretty slumped from the long day and was still running on those 3.5 hours of sleep. I headed to the nearby Gongguan street market to grab some food before taking my tired/wet butt home. Once home I took the longest shower ever and crawled right into the bed. Despite how tired my body felt, I couldn’t get myself to hit the hay until about 2:15am. *eyeroll*. But I think that also has to do with the excitement from the day!! Such a great great day. I love Taiwan.