#magic makes it so much fun and there's so much potential for a fucked up dynamic

[oflights]

I'm curious about WIP/to-write numbers 1 and 3!

hi!! awesome, thank you!

reddit penguin story mpreg

this one is based on this adorable reddit post:

i'm imagining harry and draco as neighbors who mostly ignore each other until one day draco knocks on harry's door to "complain" about the smell of his cooking...and ofc he's holding a container and a fork. harry eventually offers him some food an draco's like "well if you insist" and of course keeps coming back throughout his pregnancy 😊 this might be the short-ish, fluffy palette cleanser i write directly after star splitter...i mean, i said that about the last mpreg fic i wrote and it turned out to be 60k words but whatever!!

3. arranged marriage fuck-or-die feat. amortentia

this is a super basic idea but one that is mostly motivated by me really wanted to write the arranged marriage trope and make it as fucked up as possible lol. so they have to get married for ~reasons (who knows why? not me, yet) and they have to fuck once a month. so one of them (probably draco, lbr) suggests they both take amortentia to help them along. and then one of them forgets to take it or it doesn't work for whatever reason and realizes the sex is amazing without the dulling effects of the potion, and feels guilty about it but wants to keep having it. then something happens and they actually fall in love and live HEA 😂 clearly this is well-developed!!

ask me about my 2024 to-write list!

[waywardsalt]

hang on im thinking abt bellumbeck again

[tossawary]

The visible camp and sleeping setups in Baldur's Gate 3 make no sense for many reasons, but the one I'm focused on now is... where did all of this stuff COME from?

Presumably there's some in-universe explanation about fully furnished tents that you can summon or a magical bag or whatever, but I don't particularly care, honestly. Handwaving the exact mechanics in favor of fun fic ideas.

It doesn't make much sense for all of the characters to have even magical camping gear at the ready, especially at the beginning of the game: Lae'zel was part of a larger force and may not have been in charge of supplies in any fashion, and Astarion is a city boy. As far as I can remember and understand it, Gale and Shadowheart are the magical ones, and Shadowheart is the only one between them who was actually intentionally traveling on a quest. Wyll and Karlach having camping gear, yes, I buy that (although it easily could have been wrecked by or lost during all the shit that they've been through), but you also meet them both a little later than the others.

It is FAR funnier to me to imagine the party, post-crash at the beginning, being absolutely WRECKED. Everyone is covered in mind flayer ship slime, blood, and ash. Shadowheart's eyeliner is dripping down her face and there are guts in her hair. Astarion when you first meet him is a MESS who tried to fix himself up after tripping into a river. Lae'zel is missing half her clothes, perhaps, due to the fighting on the ship earlier, and she's making the awkwardness everyone else's problem.

They have no food (Lae'zel suggested cannibalism as a joke, but no one could tell that it was a joke) and one water skin. Their armor and weapons are damaged or stolen. Everyone is resigned to sleeping in the dirt, because the only other option is sharing Shadowheart's ONE single-person tent and bedroll between them all. A cuddle pile seems like a potentially deadly option.

And then they all meet Gale. And I know that he's Mr. Stay In My House For A Year Post-Break-Up, so he doesn't really seem like a camping guy, but it's really funny to me to imagine everyone being Not Very Happy to have Gale joining them (his robes are actually cleanish somehow, what the fuck, that's not fair, fucking wizards), until he starts summoning plush furniture and cooking pots out of some pocket dimension and heating water for people so they can wash their hair. And he COOKS. Holy shit. Everyone's favorite party member immediately.

Yes, it is revealed later on all of the (possibly dubiously real) tents and luxurious cushions and blankets and mirrors and atmospheric magical torches that Gale is summoning WERE all part of former magical romantic fuck-pads from his days with Mystra, so there is a non-zero chance that Gale fucked or got fucked by a goddess on every single piece of furniture in the camp. ("They're CLEAN!" Gale insists. "I WASHED THEM.") But at that point no one is willing to give up their throw pillows or sexy furs or the bathtub that could fit two people, so they all just live with it.

[weebsinstash]

I'm sorry but I can't stop thinking about a certain angsty idea

Like pretty sure this is implying getting married is a canon event? But in a way, doesn't that kind of, really strip the choice and actual love and magic out of it? Or, could you at least understand the idea of a Spiderperson who may feel that way? Did you genuinely fall in love with someone if it was "supposed" to happen? And the universe could fall apart if you don't so you arent really even given a choice to say no? Isn't that like having a preprogrammed robot instead of a true lover?

Still kinda obsessed with the concept of a Spider Reader where you didn't get scouted by Miguel until after you had already lost your loved ones, but, it's clear that some Spiders are scouted before they have all of their events (Pav), and, I can't stop thinking about, you're in the Spider Society and making friends and having fun and stuff and you're. Still supposed to get married or have a relationship or something and you're just, completely avoiding having anything at all, not even dating anyone, nothing really feels natural to you and you just don't really want anything?

Months and months and months pass and you've turned multiple people down in your home dimension and Spiders at the Society are told not to interact with you in certain ways, which becomes overboard when no one ever seems to want to hug you or even high five you or touch you at all (because "oh don't let them get a crush on you, they can't break canon" or some dumb paranoia) which just eventually develops into isolating you from the Spider Society, and they all think, "ok good they'll spend more time at home and then start the route for this canon event and we can talk to them again" but it just. Doesn't happen. You're starting to show up to the Society less and less but the only thing that changes when you get back home is a loneliness that you fill with a pet and some platonic friends

Peter B is trying to "subtly" nudge you. "Ya know kid, aren't you in your 20s now? Isn't it time you try and, I dunno, get into college or something? You've got so much potential!" as he willingly omits how he met his wife in college and maybe it's in the model that you could meet your spouse there too as a potential option

But I like the idea and already lowkey established concept that canon changes and has tweaks here and there and can be bent in certain ways so, imagine like, idk, imagine Reader already being with the person who is supposed to your soul mate, and, you find out about The Model or whatever, the Arachno Humanoid Poly Mutiverse or whatever, and you just realize kind of on accident that, oh having a relationship at all is kind of just another prison for you to be in, huh? Another choice stripped away from you, another thing that made you feel like a rubber stamp in existence in the weird copy/paste Spider Society. So you just. You don't intentionally bomb the relationship but you become so extremely depressed and refuse to talk about it with your SO that they actually leave you, making the choice independently, changing canon but not breaking it

But here's Miguel, which I guess you could imagine as a protective obsessive romantic figure or even platonic parental, and he's all but grinding his teeth because, as he sees it, you're not only risking completely breaking your canon which you know Would Fucking Kill You, but, why are you constantly shooting down what are supposed to be good changes for your life? No relationships? No college? No aspirations at all? Why are you not living up to your full potential? He's so frustrated because he KNOWS you could "be better than this" and that you're "supposed to" be better than this, but you just seem. Depressed and defeated. He wants you to be better because it's better for your life, your future, your safety (even if depending on preference it absolutely gets under his skin to see you with anyone else romantically or sexually)

And I have no idea how they would externally force you into some kind of relationship but, I've also thought about, alternatively, the tried and true "Reader lost their home dimension but somehow didn't disappear and lives on Earth 928B now" (the movie specifics its 928b ok, pet peeve I know, 928 is comic Miguel, 928b is ATSV movie Miguel) and eventually, somehow, your bracelet comes off one day and you're about to freak out and it's like, wait, you aren't glitching??? Why aren't you glitching? I mean, you're happy to not be in pain and flashing colors, but, this doesn't make sense? And you don't wanna tempt fate but you don't bother to get a new bracelet or, other people are around to witness this weird event and so, Miguel is immediately investigating what happened. I imagine maybe they scan you with the Go Home Machine and it's just like "ha ha yeah you're home already :)" you know like some "Dimensional Match: 928B" and the machine doesn't even activate, it just scans you with the drone, is like "yeah you're good lmao" and goes back to sleep

And now Miguel is like, you know. Understandably concerned because now there are two Spiders for Nueva York, but, also, he's just like, unbeknownst to you absolutely over the moon necause if you're technically a part of his dimension now, maybe you can complete your canon and have some sort of happy ending. But. Miguel never had his wedding either? Or at least not the "true" one, like how Peter moves on from Gwen to Mary Jane? Cue Miguel suddenly spending suspicious amounts of time on his platform in the dark looking at holograms and algorithms and asking Lyla to calculate the probability of you two maybe becoming spouses for each other

AND YOU'RE SO FUCKED IF IT SAYS YOU CAN LMAO. Cause now not only is he all the more obsessed with you (you were BROUGHT to his dimension by a miracle, can't you SEE you're destined for each other) but now it's "don't you understand? Not only are we MEANT for each other, you don't have a choice! You CANT break canon!" And he's fucking putting a finger in your face and lecturing you about how, you know what, it's ok if you're scared and you're not ready. You know why? Because you two were made for each other, and, he must have been made to be this strong so he can protect you and make decisions on your behalf, right? It's all in The Model. It's all in God's Plan. The two of you are going to get married whether you think it's the love you're fantasizing about or not, and Miguel is more than thrilled that he was essentially just handed a certified excuse to keep you all to himself on a silver platter

Also. I guess this is preferential but. Imagine if Earth 928B's solution to two Spidermen, like how Miles' "corrected" itself with getting rid of blonde Peter, what if the universe and canon just went, "actually it's all cool though cause technically one of them isn't going to technically in name be a Spider anymore, they're going to be forcibly turned into a cute little pampered house spouse" and ON GOD he's getting children out of you if you're capable of it and that ISN'T optional. He's thinking you can start at AT LEAST three babies and then talk about how many more from there? He's always wanted a large family with lots of cute little girls and boys, you know 👉👈

[inamindfarfaraway]

I love reimagining Sofia the First episodes where Elena is inside the Amulet of Avalor from her perspective. You’re a sixteen-year-old heir to the throne trapped in a gemstone as a disembodied spirit with murdered parents, living family still in danger, a colonized country in need of liberation and untreated PTSD who nobody around you even knows exists. This has been your life for thirty-nine years by the time you finally find someone who might have the potential to free you. But first, you have to help her grow as a person. And all of these shenanigans keep happening. What was she thinking the whole time?

Sofia: (boasting to her friends about getting to sing the Enchancian anthem)

Elena: Oh my God, shut up. You sound like Esteban, and not in a good way.

Elena, a teenager and older sibling who hasn’t had the chance to tease anyone in roughly four decades: So… you’re expected to sing in front of a huge crowd tomorrow? Would be a shame. If something were to. Happen.

***

Amber: (deceives and manipulates Sofia and steals her amulet for personal gain)

Elena: You fucking brat! How dare you take advantage of your own sister’s trust after she’s been nothing but kind to you? Don’t you know how lucky you are? I would do anything to be able to just see my little sister again, talk to her, hug her, know that she’s safe and okay, let alone make her happy myself. You have so much, but you’re too spoiled rotten to appreciate it. You mistreat your family? Fine. Let’s see how you like them being threatened by an evil sorceress trying to take over your kingdom! ‘Cause trust me, it isn’t fun. Learn to be selfless or lose everything you’ve ever had! A BITCH FOR A BITCH!

***

Ivy: (takes the amulet to destroy it, which would kill Elena)

Elena: Shit.

***

Cedric: (deceives and manipulates Sofia and steals her amulet for personal gain)

Elena, who’s been onto him since day one, but feels completely unthreatened: You could be coveting any source of powerful magic, but no, you want the only one that you already know has a moral compass and will curse you for doing wrong. Genuine question: what are you doing with your life? I’m just gonna give you literal sticky fingers, and I’ll revoke that if you’re nice. You obviously don’t need much help to fail.

***

Miranda and Roland: (have sweet, bond-affirming moments with their children as good parents)

Elena: Aw, that’s nice. That’s - that’s nice. I’m fine.

***

Sofia: (is ten)

Elena: I’m so proud of Sofia. I think it’s time to enlist her to release me. Now how can I communicate that? Visions of Shuriki killing my parents and trying to kill me will get her started, right?

[bucky-barnes-diaries]

Day 1 — First Snow

Pairing || TFATWS!Bucky x Female!Reader

Word Count || Around 900

Contents & Warnings || Fluff, Mild Smut — mild explicit language, mention of sex.

Disclaimer || English is not my first language so I apologise for any mistakes or misunderstandings!

Advent Calendar Masterlist

You wake up in Bucky’s embrace, feeling warm and content, snuggling further into his comforting heat and skin. Your eyes flutter open and lock onto his peaceful sleeping form, his calming features illuminated by the soft morning light. His gentle snores provide a soothing soundtrack to your serene moment. You can’t help but admire the beauty of his peaceful slumber, your finger tracing mindless patterns on his bare chest, memorizing and cherishing every imperfection that makes him unique.

Your moment of peace is abruptly interrupted as you catch sight of white flakes cascading outside the window.

You gasp and startle awake, causing Bucky to jolt into alertness, ready to defend you against a potential intruder. His hand reaches for the bedside drawer, retrieving his knife, but you roll over him, knocking the wind out of him.

“Bucky! Bucky, look!” You exclaim with childlike enthusiasm as you hop out of bed and rush to the window. Pressing your hands against the glass, you watch the fluffy snowflakes transform the world into a magical winter wonderland. “It’s snowing! It’s so beautiful! We have to go outside and explore!”

Your excitement halts when a pair of solid arms envelop you and gently pulls you back to the warmth of the bed, softly tossing you down on the covers. Bucky wraps all his limbs around your body, nuzzling his face into your neck.

“Bucky, come on,” you giggle, wiggling in his embrace. “It’s snowing, and I want to go outside and explore with you.”

“But I want to cuddle,” he playfully whines. “You’re so warm and soft, doll, and it’s cold outside. Let’s snuggle in bed all day and kiss and fuck,” he adds with a soft groan, peppering your skin with light kisses.

You manage to turn in his tight embrace, coming face to face with him. “Hmm, I want that too,” you purr, nuzzling his nose and giving him a sweet kiss. “But I also want to enjoy the snow. Please,” you pout, giving him your best puppy eyes, which makes him shake his head and smile in surrender. “I can’t resist when you’re being so cute, and the snow does sound like fun.”

“And I promise we can cuddle, kiss and fuck all night long in front of the fireplace.”

“Deal,” he mutters, attacking your face with warm kisses.

After a few more minutes of cuddling and sharing sweet kisses, you and Bucky get out of bed, ready to embrace the magical winter wonderland. Dressed in cozy winter attire, complete with coats, boots, scarves, hats, and mittens, you and Bucky prepare to face the cold climate.

Bucky takes special care to ensure your hat and scarf are snugly in place, protecting you from negative temperatures. “We don’t want you getting sick, doll. Even though I love caring for you, I know how much you hate being sick.”

Standing on your tiptoes, you cup Bucky’s face with your fluffy mittens and give him a sweet kiss. “Thank you for always looking out for me.”

“Always. Now, let’s go out and enjoy ourselves.”

Hand in hand, you ventured into the streets, relishing the sight of fresh snow covering the world like a soft white blanket. The sound of snow crunching underneath your boots is a satisfying soundtrack, and the bustling crowds of people are a pleasant sight. Some were in a rush, trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible, their annoyance about the snow and cold evident on their faces.

Couples, like you two, were out enjoying the winter wonderland, hand in hand, radiating love and contentment, unbothered by the snow and cold, but instead embracing it.

Children seem to have the most fun, playing in the snow, building snowmen, making snow angels, and engaging in epic snowball battles.

With a content sigh, you leaned your head against Bucky’s shoulder, wrapping your other hand around his bicep as you walked. “I love this, Bucky. Winter and snow. I know most people dislike it, but for me, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.”

He smiles against your knitted hat before lingering a warm kiss on your icy cheek. “Me too, doll,” he murmurs against your skin, stopping you both in your tracks. He pulls you flush against his body, his gloved hands framing your face, providing warmth against the cold. His blue eyes gaze deeply into yours, warming you from the inside, his words making your heart race. “But for me, you are the one who makes it the most wonderful and magical time of the year.”

You release a shaky breath as he leans down to kiss you with passion and determination, sealing those heartfelt words into your soul and lips. You wrap your arms around his waist, clinging to him, and the cold could never compare to the shivers he sends down your spine.

“Please, take me home and make love to me,” you purr, pulling away from the heated kiss. Your desire for him shadows the previous allure of snow and exploration.

“Already?” he smirks, nuzzling your cold nose. “I thought you were eager to explore the first snow of December?”

“We’ve seen enough for now. Besides, there will be plenty of snow this month, but right now, all I want is to feel your warm, naked body against mine as we fuck in front of the fireplace.”

He takes your hand and turns you around, heading back home. “Then let’s do just that, doll.”

Feedback through a comment is highly appreciated! Or let me know through an anonymous ask if that feels more comfortable. As well as a reblog to share my work with other people!

I don’t do taglists so please follow @bucky-barnes-diaries-library and turn on notifications to never miss out on my writing!

[la2yn0va]

Hello! Can i request some yandere black swan, Robin, Sparkle and Robin (non self aware) x male reader who has an insane willpower and cannot be control, please? In other words they have resistant or are semi-immune to mind control and cannot be really manipulated, not only that the reader is extremely good at advoiding them to the point that makes them extemely frustrated.

Where’s my good luck you little shi…— wait a minute… “Can i request some yandere black swan, Robin, Sparkle and…” ROBIN AGAIN!!? OH HELL NO!! YOU GREEDY LITTLE BASTARD! YOU WANT ROBIN TWICE BUT WONT GIVE ME GOOD LUCK OOORRR MAKE A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL/GOD FOR ME TO HAVE E6S5 FEIXIAO!!

HELL NO! YOUR GETTING 1! NUMERO UNO ROBIN! YOU GREEDY FU—!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin

She first sees your power when you get interrogated by Sunday. She didn’t like it, but it was for the greater good. She watched as Sunday spoke the magical words and…! You were… resisting!

Everyone who saw this stared in shock. No one had been able to ever resist the words of harmony (I forget what it’s called)

Despite this revelation, it was decided that you were innocent and you were let go. Robin wanted to talked to you, to apologize first and find out how you were able to resist the truth of harmony.

But, you didn’t want a thing to do with her. Having your time wasted and taken into interrogation with less then substantial evidence. And now Sundays sister wants to talk? Yeah, no.

This little game of cat and mouse slowly fills robin up with guilt. She doesn’t want you to hate her or Sunday! But she also doesn’t want that experience to be your overall opinion on her and her brother.

She wants to find you to apologize and learn more about you, but you don’t a squat to do with her or the family anymore.

Robin is also pretty frustrated but even more enamored with you by how well you avoid her. It’s frustrating that you’re this stubborn but also impressive in a way.

Eventually, she uses her social platform/music to reach out to you and ask for a meet up. Which eventually you cave in and meet her.

She’s fulled with complete relief and joy when she sees you walking towards her. She immediately takes your hand and bows, apologizing profusely for her brothers actions, being taken into questioning, and her persistent chasing of you.

You accept and the rest of the day is spent with you two getting along. But not Sunday. Fuck Sunday.

Sparkle

She had recently gotten a new toy from penacony. A gun that’s rumored to control the minds of those who get shot from it.

Seeing the potential fun in it, she shoots random people with it. Pepeshi’s, Woman, Men, Intellitrons, pretty much anyone she sees.

Oh fucking not how fun it was!! From making her newly acquired helpers to cook for her to making them put up a large poster in the middle of penacony saying ‘Aha sends their regards~!’

She quickly got bored of it though. But then she bumped into YOU. Her intuition said you were interesting, that something fun was right infront of her. So…she shot you.

She saw as you jerked forward slightly, watching as you turned to her, your pupil’s slowly morphing into spirals before returning back to their dark circular form.

She smiled wildly, seeing you somehow being able to reject the mind control! Well count yourself lucky good sir cause now you’re caught her attention!

But..you don’t wanna talk to her… huh… a Challenge!! Finally!! She instantly runs after you, but your… already gone!? Oh this is gonna be fun!

Sparkle thrives in this game of cat and mouse. She enjoys how you can skillfully avoid her! I makes this whole trip to penacony worth it.

But when she eventually does find you, she demands an answer to her questions. And now that she has you in her grasp, she ain’t letting go until you answer.

This is how your little friendship starts. From you being completely uninterested and annoyed to enjoying being the mouse and skillfully/stealthily avoiding your psychotic friend.

Black Swan

Black Swan as a memokeeper does have some techniques to make people…’willingly’ tell her the information she needs to know.

So when she was indeed of some information, she decided to use this method of hers. But much to her shock, the person she used it on was resisting it!

That immediately caught her attention. Someone, strong enough mentally to resist a memokeepers mental attacks? That’s most certainly an abnormal person.

She keeps you in her mind while she looks for the information she seeks. And as if fate was taunting her, YOU were the person with the info she needed.

So, she does want any normal person does and tracks you down. But surprisingly, your much harder to find then she thought.

Honestly, it annoyed her but also heightened her interest in you. What or WHO are you exactly?

She looks everywhere yet your not in the golden hour area nor the child’s dream area. Which leads her deeper into penacony.

The dreamscape. She managed to find her way into the secret area and look around for you. Eventually, she found you in the lobby area of the dreamscape.

Just casually sitting down on the couch and staring into the celling. She sat down next to you and you two began to chat.

Eventually she managed to get the information she needed from you and left the dreamscape with you. She decided to take you with her, after all, you had caught her interest.

-End-

Now where’s my good luck 🔫

[frozenjokes]

worst mumbo jumbo rescue mission ever

Of all his petty pastimes, Grian took a great bit of pleasure from ignoring his friends’ calls. It varied from person to person; for people like Jimmy, Grian loved to push his luck. Jimmy knew he was being ignored, Grian had admitted as much on multiple occasions, but this just fueled the fire of Jimmy’s determination, calling over and over until Grian picked up, only to say he’d misclicked and hung up again. But finding a balance was a tricky thing, because Grian actually did want to talk to Jimmy, very much so, so the game was simply a matter of pushing Jimmy’s buttons just enough, but not so much that the other would refuse to talk to him.

He did this with most people; Pearl, BigB, Joel, and Scar was no exception, especially now when the two of them were in an awkward state of mild irritation almost constantly, even despite Grian’s attempts at smoothing out some of the bumps.

Ah, yes.. the bumps..

Grian had quite a few things he wanted to say to Scar, but he had convinced himself he needed to put things back to normal before opening up a potentially sensitive conversation- for goodness’s sakes, Grian was already losing the battle for Scar’s heart to a fucking mermaid- and it wasn’t even that Mumbo was a bad guy or anything, but he wasn’t human! Grian hadn’t even considered that as an option, but apparently Scar liked the idea! Maybe! Honestly, Grian had no idea what was happening. Not that this was any different from a typical day with Scar. (That was actually something Grian quite liked about Scar; the constant shenanigans, making an adventure out of what would otherwise be an average, boring day. Scar knew how to have fun better than anyone Grian had ever known.)

However, opening his big mouth and telling Scar exactly how he felt was a task that loomed heavy on his shoulders, so intimidating, he was currently preferring the looming dread of watching Scar try and fail to flirt with a fish for fun.

Grian wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that. Jealous, decidedly. On both counts if he was being honest with himself; Mumbo and Scar seemed to be entertaining themselves with playing around and talking nonsense, perfectly happy with each other’s company and without Grian’s. To be fair, they had been doing this from the start while Grian fished at the edge of the clearing, but now Grian was anxious and wanting attention very badly and the two of them were too busy frolicking and bothering Etho to pay him much mind. In fairness, Grian could do something about that by bringing a swimsuit, but.. Well, Grian was allergic to solving his own problems. He’d need something mildly catastrophic to kick his ass into gear, as was typical. It would be great if he could force himself to do anything ever before the world crumbled down around him, but ah well.

Speaking of Scar and people calling him and Grian hanging up on said people even when he wanted to talk to them; Scar was calling.

Grian hung up. Scar called again, and again Grian hung up. He figured he could probably get away with that six or seven times; Scar was persistent as he was lenient.

‘Emergency.’ Scar’s text came through. Grian picked up the phone the next time he called.

“You need to come to the beach- maybe- I don’t know. Etho’s- do you remember when I told you about his magic half-mermaid kind of friend-?”

“Are you okay, Scar?”

“I’m okay. Mumbo’s gone.”

“Mumbo’s- what?”

“Etho’s half-mermaid kind of friend stole him- just- picked him up out of the water and left- no-“ someone interrupted Scar, Etho maybe, but Grían didn’t hear before Scar continued, “Etho’s half-mermaid kind of friend’s wife took him. It’s not as bad as it could be, maybe, but Etho’s really- we’re trying to figure it out. We’re trying. Do you have a boat?”

“A boat?” Grian half-scoffed, overwhelmed by all the sudden information, “Where does this guy live?”

“Island- It’s not on any maps. Magic island. Also Etho’s half-mermaid kind of friend might be a serial killer. We have to go!”

“I- okay, that’s a lot, Scar. I don’t think it’s a good idea to-“

“Do you have a boat?”

“I don’t have a boat. I never had a boat. If I was fishing on the ocean I was part of a crew, not-“

“I’ll have to rent a boat then. Okay, thanks Grian. I’m guessing you don’t want to come, which is fine by the way, I’m not expecting much- that sounded passive aggressive. I mean it. Etho thinks it’ll be dan-“

“Scar.” Etho interrupted so loudly that Grian heard him over the line, “You are not coming. I will not see you dismembered, I swear it.”

“Dismembered??”

“He’s being dramatic, Grian.”

“I do not know how to get it through your head that I am not exaggerating- I am not exaggerating, Scar!! You are not going!!!”

“If I’m renting the boat I’m going. You can’t rent a boat by yourself, you can’t talk to strangers without shriveling up, so I’m doing it.”

“Scar-“ Etho’s voice was strangled, but their bickering was starting to fade into background noise as Grian attempted to process what the fuck was going on. First. Most alarmingly??? Etho was friends with a serial killer(?????) And now said serial killer friend had Mumbo?? But it might not be that bad. Maybe? But Scar’s insisting on going to the serial killer island to get Mumbo back??????????

Scar was going to die before Grian could tell him he wanted to give this a proper shot. BAD FIRST THOUGHT. Scar was going to die Period and that was Bad because Scar Was His Friend and Grian didn’t want his friends to die. Complicated relationship issues aside.

Honestly, most days Scar seemed more likely than average to die to some fantastical accident of his own design, but Grian wasn’t sure if he could wriggle his way out of being violently dismembered by literal magic wielding psychopath(s). Magic. Fuck. That was still a hard pill to swallow. Etho being a mermaid was manageable, even the form changing wasn’t the most difficult thing to accept, but the idea of ‘magic’ like Scar had explained it to him- limitless and powerful and dangerous- it was something Grian had trouble imagining was real. But Etho must have seen it. Etho was forced to live with that guy for years, he must know. What was his name again.. Joel..?

And Scar wanted to go there, to that island, likely to give that guy a piece of his mind. There was no way. There was just no way.

Someone needed to look out for him. Grian was too much of a control freak to let Etho do it alone.

“Gem- I have a friend who owes me a favor. I’ll ask her, and you two can meet me at the docks. I’ll text you the address, Scar.”

“You’re coming?” Scar’s joy was overwhelming in all the best, warmest ways, and Grian didn’t think his heart could handle too much more of that, lest he get addicted to the feeling.

“I-I don’t know. Depends on the boat. You might need a driver, and Gem wouldn’t be so lenient as to let two people who’ve never manned the wheel to go out onto the ocean alone. How far is this place? What kind of boat are you thinking?”

“It’s not far, probably thirty minutes with a shitty motor,” Etho tripped over his words, speaking faster than his own tongue could keep up, “But neither of you are going. I could make it on a dinghy if I had one. It’s a nice day, the water won’t give me trouble.”

“Well you have a car ride to convince Scar not to go,” Grian conceded, gruff, “Otherwise you’ll have two idiots on your tail.”

“You can’t,” Etho’s voice broke, silencing even Scar on the other line, “I’m serious- this is serious. I don’t- I don’t know if being my friends is enough to save you from him. I don’t know what he’ll do. He doesn’t like humans, and he won’t like you, especially with what I’ve come to do. I already messed up with Mumbo. I won’t put anyone else’s lives at risk.”

After a small pause, Scar spoke, gentler in the wake of his high energy. “It wasn’t your fault, Etho. You had no way of knowing. If it were me, I wouldn’t have thought anyone could take Mumbo down.”

“I should have left.” The words were so quiet, Grian barely made them out over the line. “Please. Please don’t come with. Just let me fix this.”

Scar released a long breath, the superhero facade fading in place of something far more down to earth, reasonable, a tone of voice Grian didn’t hear often. “I don’t want you on the water alone. You can talk all you want about us putting our lives at risk, but the ocean is just as dangerous. If you set out in a tiny boat and something goes wrong; you slip, capsize, or the weather turns, you can’t swim. I don’t even know if you’d make it back in the boat if you fell off it. I know you’ve hoofed it out here alone for a long time, Etho, but those days are over. You’ve got people that care about you now, and if you end up drowned in the middle of the ocean before you can come home again, that’s no good. I won’t have it.”

“I’d never forgive myself if one of you got hurt. Or worse.”

“Then we won’t get hurt,” Scar said it so simply, so confidently, but continued quickly before anyone could say anymore, “Text me the address, Grian. We’ll see you there.” Grian didn’t get to respond before Scar hung up. Christ. He sure didn’t envy what that car ride between Scar and Etho was going to be like.

Well. As much as Grian agreed that Scar had a point about Etho, making empty promises wouldn’t prevent anything. Grian at least would do his very best to ensure nothing bad happened to any of the three of them.

…

Etho, predictably, did not end up convincing Scar to stay. He looked properly miserable, hunched and haggard- Grian had never actually seen him with his hair down, not counting the mermaid form at least, but it was tangled and matted looking, thematically framing his masked face and downturned eyes.

Etho hadn’t said a word since he and Scar had left the car, not even hello, but given the state he was in, Grian wasn’t too bothered. He was more preoccupied with Gem fretting over the boat and nailing directions into his head, as if he didn’t know how to drive a pontoon, really. But regardless, he let her explain away, redirecting the conversation to less boring chatter until both Scar and Etho looked like they were about to explode into a thousand bloody anxiety-ridden pieces. Listen, Grian couldn’t just send her on her way when she was doing him such a huge favor, so they were just going to have to cope. Mumbo’s life wasn’t in danger, so the only time-sensitive aspect of this journey was the ticking time bomb of Etho’s guilty conscience. Grian was sorry, but he was going to have to wait.

Gem did leave eventually, Grian slipping in a word or two about his friends being in a bad way, desperate for a fun couple hours, and she seemed to understand, waving them off and wishing them a good time. Thankfully, neither Scar or Etho heckled him for the delay, so they were on their way in no time.

And suddenly, Etho wouldn’t stop talking. About the island, about docking, about the rocks he was sure Grian would crash the boat into, about the currents, about the waves. Honestly, the more Etho talked, the more Grian was sure he wouldn’t have made it on his own, and that was just about the water.

“The island is worse, much worse. It’s swampy, the terrain can be treacherous, and I doubt either of you would make it through alone without getting snapped up by one of the gators. It’s alright though, I know where all of them live, and honestly, that’s far from our worst problems. Joel used to live on that island alone, but now they’ve gone and made him a partner in crime, and given I know nothing about her, she’s arguably more dangerous. But she doesn’t use magic.. at least not much, so that’s something in our favor. You might be able to hide from Lizzie, but you won’t be able to from Joel-“

“Wait, seriously? Lizzie and Joel? And they’re married?” Grian cut in, unable to help himself. Etho side eyed him, looking irritated, but Grian continued, “I know a Lizzie and Joel. What an odd coincidence.”

“Oh really? That’s so weird!” Scar added, vindicating Grian in the face of Etho’s sour disdain, which was split on both of them now.

“Great. Whatever. But Joel can feel your footsteps through the ground, and even your weight on the trees- he knows exactly where everything is all of the time, and his reach goes far if he pays enough attention. We can’t have him knowing either of you are there, so you’ll have to stay on the boat.”

Etho continued to ramble on, Scar interrupting to argue from time to time. The stress of the two of their bickering started to weigh on Grian until he had to ignore them all together, focusing instead on the noise of the water and the wake of the pontoon. He heard a thing or two about Lizzie; large, dangerous, the definition of a predator. Not to run from her or do anything else that might set her off. Apparently she was some kind of fish creature, almost a mix between mermaid and human, which didn’t bode well for the Grian and Scar in the boat. Not that Scar was very happy about being confined to the water, but in this case, Grian was definitely on Etho’s side. He was in no hurry to meet this Joel fellow, and Scar’s argument for coming in the first place ended at getting Etho where he needed to go safely

However, despite all Etho’s dramatics, Grian found he wasn’t over exaggerating about the water. It was almost supernatural how rough the waves began to get once the fog of the island was in sight, sharp rocks peeking out from just behind the haze. Grian was determined not to let his strain show even as he struggled to keep the boat under control, but it was very safe to say that he was listening a lot closer to Etho’s instructions.

Etho was nothing less than neurotic about exactly where and how Grian laid anchor, not too close, not too close, which was quite frustrating and even more stressful, but eventually, still white knuckling the wheel, the anchors were set by Scar, and the boat rocked silently over the rocky waves while the three of them released too-long held breaths.

Grian turned off the motor, standing up on shaky legs where he might get more air, and backpedaling slowly to the other side of the boat to lean on the railings. Woof.

And then the boat stopped rocking.

And then the boat rocked hard, Grian nearly toppling over the railing with a shriek, stopping only because he bumped into a hard, wet wall. He felt breathing at his back, stealing the air from his own lungs before a hand fell across his shoulder and light hair flew across his vision, sloshing even more muddy water into his face. She was so tall that she could lean all the way over him and meet him eye to eye. They were yellow. Huge. Curious. She opened her mouth to reveal equally yellow teeth, and Grian was sure she intended on swallowing him whole.

“Well hello there!” Scar’s loud cadence spooked Grian so badly that he jumped, his head colliding hard with Lizzie’s and both of them reeling in silent surprise and pain. Scar, however, was not perturbed, speaking just as brightly as he might have to an old friend, “Why, look at you! You know I heard great things, great things, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight of you in person. Goodness me, you’re positively stunning. Jaw droppingly gorgeous, if you don’t mind my saying so, wow.”

Lizzie seemed to falter, mouth hanging open in her confusion as her attention shifted securely on Scar, though Grian felt no more safe with her clawed hand so close to his throat.

“Who.. How do you know me? No one knows me- they’re not supposed to anyway.” Lizzie’s gaze flicked past Scar to Etho, who was currently cowering and half soaked from their rough docking, balled up on the floor. Scar followed her gaze, frowning only briefly before his entertainer’s smile returned, radiant as if he were the happiest man in the world.

“Why, I heard about you from Etho, of course! We’re friends, good friends, and when he called me to meet him on the beach, he was just so overcome with emotion- ‘The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen,’ that’s what he said to me. He wished he’d had the nerve to tell you, but your stature and radiance were just so intimidating- he couldn’t bear it! And here he is now, reduced to nothing in your presence once more.”

Lizzie made a face, and Grian spotted a glint of sharp teeth just above his head. “That can’t be true. Etho doesn’t like me, wanted to keep his friends all to himself. Doesn’t like to share.”

Scar hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “Yes.. Yes, he can be selfish. They say our worst qualities befall us when we’re under a lot of pressure, and in your presence, he was simply so flustered that he couldn’t help but get off on the wrong foot. He wanted to come here to apologize, to bring his friends so that they could see you too, give him courage. Of course, that didn’t work out for him, did it. And look, poor Grian too. You’ve done him right in. Come, come, they have no manners.” Scar reached for her hand, Lizzie flinching at the touch of his fingers, but to Grian’s great horror, Scar was persistent, taking the hand that had previously rested on Grian’s shoulder in two of his own and guiding Lizzie forward, “I won’t leave you on the edge of the boat now, no, no, that won’t do! Why don’t you sit?”

“Oh, I guess I could..” Lizzie’s whole demeanor had changed, suddenly nervous in light of this unexpected encounter, “Are you human? Joel doesn’t like humans very much, he says they crash their ships into his island from time to time. Not very smart.”

“Oh, no, no, I’m not human. My friends? Arguably. But I’m a magician. I can do magic.”

At this point, Grian had no idea where this was going, and most of him would rather throw himself off the boat and not find out how this all backfired horribly, however that would draw a lot of attention his way, so instead he just.. slowly.. sat down. (The other, extremely small part of him was a little turned on.)

“Magic! What kinds? Joel can do magic too, and so can I! Not as cool as him, though. Can I see? Can you show me?

“Of course! Allow me to show my hand!” Scar made an incredible spectacle of himself, hiking one of his legs up on a seat then swinging his arm back, slowly pulling a small deck of cards out of his back pocket. Grian was sure he saw the light in Etho’s eyes die.

Scar fanned out the deck and began his trick, flourish after flourish accentuating his ‘magic.’ He walked Lizzie through the entire thing, holding her rapt (if not a little confused) attention. She picked a card, and Scar made a spectacle of not seeing it before shuffling it back into the deck, then presenting it in a grand motion.

“Is this your card?”

“Whoa! Yes! How did you do that??”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Scar winked, but Lizzie looked more confused than anything.

“That’s not true? Joel shows me things all the time. He talks about his magic constantly, teaching me all sorts of stuff.”

Scar laughed, unaffected, “Well this magician doesn’t.”

“I-Okay,” Lizzie seemed to accept this with some hesitation, but she quickly shook it off, fins raising along with her expression, “What else can you do?”

“Oh, that’s it.” A stark moment of silence followed those words, but Scar’s confident demeanor remained, “Cool, isn’t it?”

Lizzie glanced at Grian, then at Etho, looking awkward. “Uh, yeah. It’s cool.” It took all of Grian’s self control to keep his head out of his hands.

“Anyway!” Scar jumped up, making Lizzie jump in turn, “I believe you’ve made a new friend today, one of Etho’s pals, correct? Selfish, selfish thing that was of him to be so rude, not share his friends. It’s a good thing we’ve come across you, impressive as you are! I haven’t seen Mumbo- that’s his name- in ages! Is he still around?”

“Mumbo.. She did say that.”

“Who?”

“Mumbo did.”

“I’m confused.”

Lizzie didn’t seem concerned with entertaining Scar’s confusion, continuing on, “Well she’s settling in well, a delightful little thing, really, very good friend material in my opinion. Joel’s got those spells that break language barriers, so talking with her was great! We even got to sing, isn’t that fun?”

“Mumbo sang with you..?” Etho spoke up for the first time, but cowered again when Lizzie turned his way.

“She did,” Lizzie replied coolly, “and I bet she likes me a whole lot more.”

No one wanted to challenge that. Lizzie seemed to take this as a win, tail swishing and chest puffed out triumphantly.

“I’d love to see him- uh- Mumbo, if he’s still around,” Scar tried, a hopeful look about him, only bolstered when Lizzie brightened.

“Alright! Let me just run and find Joel!” Lizzie hopped to her feet, practically dancing across the water.

“Ah- No no! Not necessary!” Scar tried, but Lizzie was already skipping away.

“It is! I have no idea where she’s run off most of the time, but he’ll find her right away!”

Grian saw Scar open his mouth to say something, but he faltered, something about his posture slackening. It was uncanny, seeing him try and fail to speak, almost like something had crawled into his brain and switched the wires around. Grian squinted, eyes watering against some kind of disturbance in the air before he followed Etho’s eye to Lizzie, humming as she skipped into the tree line.

Etho set his jaw, tense. “This isn’t good. I don’t know if it’s worse for me to try and intercept him or stay here. I don’t want either of you to be alone.”

It took Grian a second to blink away his daze, but he shook it off quickly, “Well, if we damage this boat it’s going to wipe my savings and put me way into debt. As far as I’m concerned we only have one option here, especially if this guy’s got a temper.”

“Well..” Etho looked nervous, biting his lip under the mask, “Dare I say your life is more valuable than this boat.”

“This has already gone to shit. If I’m going to be in that much debt I’m better off dead.”

“I- hey, I don’t know about that.”

Grian grunted, noncommittal, “I’m barely making rent as it is. Let’s just get this over with.” Grian made his way to the gate at the front of the pontoon, rolling up his pant legs then deciding better of it, biting the bullet and jumping into the water. It was damn cold, up to his knees.

“You’re making me nervous, Grian. You didn’t have to come- actually, we could probably still leave. You two just go home, I’ll stay. Well-“ Etho stopped, mumbling to himself- “He’s got quite a bit of range. I don’t know..”

“I’m here for Scar. He needs to survive this so I can pussy up and tell him what’s what. Oi. Scar, come on or you’re paying for the boat.” Grian splashed him, Scar jumping when the water slapped across his legs where he was spacing out.

“What? We’re going?” Scar didn’t hesitate before hopping the railing, no thought to the splash he’d create that, inevitably, drenched Grian. A little flustered, Etho was in seconds later, scrambling ahead of the both of them toward the shore.

“Watch where you step. I’ve sprained my ankle about a hundred times out here, and this is the most hospitable part to dock up. This entire place is a nightmare.” Etho looked onward, mumbling something Grian didn’t catch before pushing forward. Scar followed close behind, Grian taking up the rear with a hand firm across the satchel he’d brought along to take with.

Grian had expected muck and mosquitoes and horse flies and frightening noises from unknown directions, but he had not expected the island to be beautiful. And not the naturalistic type of beauty that came with every remote piece of nature, though that was certainly present. High rock walls surrounded them on either side, filled with intricate engravings and statues carved painstakingly into the stone, impossibly complex and beautiful. There was no exact path- the terrain wasn’t even crushed down like a high traffic area would be, but the artwork left a path to walk, almost like it was meant to be seen by crowds of hikers and tourists, guided subtly from statue to statue. It gave the impression of a long abandoned series of shrines, overgrown and beautiful, but at the same time every vine and bit of greenery was so meticulously placed that it couldn’t have possibly happened by accident.

“This is insane,” Scar breathed, and Grian had to nod his agreement. Etho shrugged, turning to glance back a bit awkwardly.

“All of the outer spaces are decorated in one way or another by now. Joel works from the outside in, typically. It’s pretty cool.”

“Joel does this? All of this?” Grian asked, surprised when Scar nodded, though Etho answered.

“Yup. He says this is what he was made for, in a very literal sense. He terraforms everything, it really is incredible. It’s a shame there’s no one else around to appreciate it, though, I guess he’s got Lizzie now; she’ll see it all soon enough. You know, if I wasn’t shitting myself over the two of you being here, I think I’d really like to show you the whole place. There’s just so much..” Etho trailed off, but the pause was more thoughtful than stressed, “Stuff I’ve made as well. Contributed, at least.” Etho stopped with a short gasp, tripping and landing hard on his knees. “Joel-“

Grian didn’t understand until he saw the root around Etho’s ankle, three others constricting his free ankle and wrists before Etho could pull away.

“Nice of you to introduce me,” Joel growled, Grian knew it was Joel right away, he knew because it sounded uncannily like him- what the hell-? Where- Where was the voice coming from-?

The only thing that kept Grian from running right there was Scar’s hand on his, yanking him forward. Grian startled, whipping around to see who was behind him, but there was nothing there, no disturbance in the earth or anything. He nearly snapped at Scar before the other inclined his head, and Grian saw glowing yellow eyes from the shade of the tree line above them. Oh.

Scar smiled at him, like nothing was wrong, like everything was going to be okay, and Grian envied his confidence. Or at least his ability to hide his fear, to talk on his feet.

It occurred to Grian he should probably be paying attention to what Etho was hurriedly saying to Joel, but he didn’t get the chance before Scar interrupted, speaking as if he was addressing a crowd.

“Joel! We’ve heard so much about you, not great things, I don’t intend on lying to you, but goodness, I was not expecting all of this art! Beautiful, truly, you are a talented-“ Scar didn’t get to finish, one of the decorated rock walls careening forward and nearly crushing him where he stood. Scar startled out of the way, staring in wide eyed shock at the place he’d stood just seconds before. For that reason, he failed to see the statue across from him slide off its stand, building speed before slamming into Scar’s side and sending him flying into the wall opposite. Grian screamed, running toward him before he could think not to. Etho might have yelled as well, but somehow the small snicker under the noise stood out louder.

Grian didn’t process much else before a hard weight slammed against his shoulders and back, so fast, he didn’t even have time to break his fall with his hands. His ribs cracked against the dirt, at least he was pretty sure it was his ribs, he couldn’t breathe regardless. Had he hit his head as well? Served him right, doing the one thing he was told not to. But the weight was gone as soon as it had come, dust spraying Grian’s face in the wake of Lizzie’s footfalls.

“Joel!” she shrieked, and again Grian felt a certain disturbance, though his eyes might have been watering from the dirt. “Why- Why did you do that?”

“What.” Joel deadpanned, interrupting whatever he and Etho had been arguing about in the perifere.

“She hasn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t even crash her boat! They parked it very nicely, didn’t hit any rocks! I watched!”

“They’re all trespassing. If Etho wants to bring his friends, he can watch them die.”

“I didn’t want them to come!” but Etho’s plea fell on deaf ears.

Grian released a short, strained breath, narrowing his eyes. He still couldn’t see Joel and didn’t know where his voice was coming from. Etho was staring pretty firmly to his left though, so that had to mean something. Grian moved slowly, pushing himself up just enough to reach for his bag.

Grian was distracted by Lizzie peeling Scar off the ground, alarmed to see how limp he was in her arms, but Grian breathed a long sigh when Scar groaned. Softly, Lizzie began to sing.

“Come on, Lizzie, he’s fine.” Joel grunted, ducking out from behind one of the rock walls and slithering into the open, but Grian was having trouble focusing, trouble seeing. Joel was a mermaid, Grian had almost forgotten that’s how his pact with Etho worked, but despite having his contacts in, his eyes just wouldn’t focus, almost like he was stuck in a dream. It must have been Lizzie’s song- something about it causing this effect, similar to how he’d used to think mermaid song worked, though, Grian didn’t feel compelled to be eaten or anything. He saw Scar relax in her arms, the spell affecting him as well, but the connection was weak enough that Grian felt he could fight it, closing his eyes tight and shaking the fog away. He had to do something before this got out of hand, but when Lizzie started to speak, his focus started once more to wane.

“She’s been nothing but delightful! She’s not even human! He can do magic just like you can though it’s- well-“ whispered, she added, “He’s not very good..”

Joel scoffed, “Humans are liars.”

“This one’s good!”

Grian’s fingers, moving slowly, just barely brushed the barrel of his concealed pistol when the sun caught something bright and red in the stream behind Joel, but even the next moment when Joel whipped around was too late to stop the massive mermaid from lunging forward out of the water, barreling into Joel and sending both of them rolling. Joel screamed, and Etho yelled in turn, finally able to break free from Joel’s hold.

“Mumbo!” Etho yelled again, cradling his shoulder- when had he gotten so badly injured? Grian hadn’t been paying that much attention, but he was shocked he missed the blood seeping through Etho’s coat- What had Joel done to him? Grian scrambled to his feet, pistol now freely in his hands, but he couldn’t shoot now, not when Joel and Mumbo were so hopelessly tangled. Grian nearly dropped his gun when Lizzie wailed, rushing forward to intervene, but again with his eyes firmly shut, he managed to shake the spell. Etho didn’t seem to react to Lizzie’s song at all, at least not in this form, but Mumbo certainly did, stopping in his tracks and idling so still, Lizzie had no trouble pulling Mumbo off, holding him limp in her arms.

“Why- Why did you do that? Not friends, Mumbo, we don’t eat friends-“ Lizzie spoke in a rush, but Mumbo’s fins were so still, he didn’t give any indication he’d heard.

“Something’s wrong with him,” Etho heaved, the words coming through pained. There was another growing patch of blood that Grian hadn’t noticed before on his shirt, bleeding down his side, reminding Grian exactly what he needed to do, the opening he needed to take before it was too late. “Wh- Grian, where did you get a gun-?”

Grian glanced back at Scar, currently struggling to sit up from where Lizzie had dropped him. He was okay. He would make it out of this okay.

Grian fired five shots. Three made their mark.

Joel fell backwards, the scream so like his friend’s that it set the hair at the back of Grian’s head on end. But maybe that would have happened regardless, with anyone. Grian had never shot anyone before. He’d shot fish if necessary, but this wasn’t the same, even with his own life on the line.

“Etho-!“ Grian didn’t expect Scar’s shriek, not nearly as shrill as Lizzie’s but somehow more bone chilling. Scar ran past Grian in a blur, but his entire world was moving slower than the rest. Etho was on the ground, bleeding heavily from his stomach- chest, maybe, Grian couldn’t tell. When Scar, limping, finally made it over and lifted Etho upright, Grian saw three bullet holes dotted across his front.

What-

Out of the corner of his eye Grian saw Lizzie holding Joel tightly, the other trying weakly to push her away, mumbling something Grian couldn’t hear. Lizzie looked up at him, eyes wide and terrified, fins flat against her body. Then, out of the dark, Mumbo looked up, fins catching a dapple of light before lowering. He looked frightened. Grian wondered if he remembered the gun, if he now connected what it could do. What Grian had wanted to do. He found himself struck between Mumbo and Etho- what could he do? There was a first aid kid in the boat, but Grian didn’t know if he could get it fast enough, or if that would even be enough- how had this even happened in the first place?

“Grian!” Scar screamed, and Grian’s first impulse was that he was angry, that Grian had done something irredeemably horrible and had no idea what it was. And then someone slammed into him, something dark and sharp and snarling. And still, Grian’s mind was so behind itself, he was still wondering what he’d done wrong as Mumbo’s sharp teeth snapped at his face.

Belatedly, Grian had the sense to fight back, instinct carrying him further than his shock-addled mind, but his pistol had been knocked out of his hands, he had nothing to defend himself. Teeth fastened themselves in Grian’s shoulder, and for the first time he screamed, clawing helplessly at Mumbo’s eyes. The pain was worse when Mumbo released him, Grian tasting his own blood as it splattered past his own mouth. He shoved his hands between his own face and Mumbo’s, but Mumbo was so strong, he was so strong, Grian couldn’t stop his teeth from landing in his wrist, but it didn’t stay that way, released quickly in favor of snapping at Grian’s throat.

And then the ground collapsed underneath him, and all Grian could taste was dirt. He thrashed, but the ground didn’t give. He tried to scream, but there was no air. The feeling was more hopeless than being torn apart by Mumbo, and more than ever, Grian was sure he was going to die. And then he was moving, the whiplash nearly tearing him into unconsciousness.

And then he was above ground on his knees, the change so sudden that he fell forward, but when he tried to catch himself, pain like electricity lit his veins, his arms collapsing. Another pair of hands caught him, steadying him, but not without leaving bloody handprints on his arms. Scar. Scar was here. He.. wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“Put.. your clothes back on.”

Scar might have laughed, but Grian was too dazed to tell. A glance to the left revealed Etho, along with exactly where Scar’s shirt had gone. He was laying on his back, eyes shut tight with a hand over Scar’s shirt against the bullet wounds, and Grian couldn’t even tell if he was breathing. Shakily, Grian raised his hand to look at what was wrong, but Scar took his forearm before he could see it.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re okay.”

Grian didn’t feel okay. The fear in Scar’s tone only served to heighten his stress. He felt lightheaded.

“It’s a damn good thing I carry this shit on me now,” Joel grunted behind him, making Grian jump, but Joel didn’t pay him any mind as he slithered past. “Out of my way.” Joel pushed past Scar, who looked very much like he wanted to argue, but graciously stayed quiet. Joel settled himself beside Etho, ignoring them wholly.

“I think.. I’m going to pass out,” Grian mumbled, hardly aware of anything outside of his sphere.

“Lay down, G, I think you’re in shock. Stay awake, you’ll be fine.” With a little force, Scar laid him down, though Grian whined when his fingers grazed his shoulder. “I’m going to try and curb the bleeding there a bit. You’re okay. Almost looks like a big cat’s got you, that’s pretty awesome. You know big cats are responsible for the largest portion of zookeeper injuries and deaths? I think. They’re up there at least. Either way, it’s a pretty awesome way to go in my opinion. Or to lose a couple fingers, uh- but it’s fine. You’re just fine.” Grian didn’t get the chance to process that before Scar was pressing his palms against Grian’s injured shoulder, pulling a strangled scream from his throat, but Scar was persistent, cooing and talking low until Grian calmed down.

“That’s right.” Joel mumbled, gruff. Grian wasn’t sure if he was talking to him or Etho.. probably Etho, they were supposedly friends after all. God, this was stupid. Grian was going to take a fat fucking nap after this.

“Hey.” Scar’s voice took a hard edge, and Grian startled when he opened his eyes to see Joel looming over him. God, he was frightening looking, massive with that gray skin and dark eyes. At the back of his mind, Grian wondered if he looked like his Joel as a human.

Joel was still coated in the blood from his injuries, but he wasn’t moving like he was injured. “Move.” he grunted, but Scar didn’t budge, “Move. You’re in my way.”

“Don’t go,” Grian heard the words leave him, felt his breathing quicken, but the ground beneath betrayed them, rippling in a wave that set Scar off balance, tumbling backward with a sharp yelp. Grian tried to get up, get away, but suddenly he was being held firm by roots around his arms and ankles, fighting only serving to send shots of pain up and down his both arms.

“Ungrateful,” Joel huffed, but Etho appeared behind him, looking about twice as haggard and bloody.

“Be gentle, please,” Etho sighed, a deeply tired, deeply resigned sound.

“Maybe if he didn’t want to get maimed he shouldn’t have shot me. I didn’t even do this. And he really scared Lizzie too, I’ve never seen her so upset. He should be grateful I’m doing this at all. He nearly killed you.”

“You were trying to kill him,” Etho replied flatly, but Joel only huffed.

“If you’re bringing people here now, I have to make sure they never want to come back. It’s nothing personal. Though, this is kind of ruining the point. They were meant to run on home, lightly bruised, but now look at them. What a mess.”

“Trying to crush Scar with a boulder would not cause light bruising. I wouldn’t be surprised if you broke bones the way you hit him the second try.”

Joel only responded with a noncommittal grunt, removing a handful of some kind of powder-herb mix from a pouch on his side. Grian coughed as some of it fell near his face, but most of it went to his shoulder, a breathy scream leaving Grian’s lips as it started to eat away at his skin.

“Come on, it doesn’t hurt. That one won’t even scar, probably.”

“It doesn’t feel good,” Etho insisted, but Joel waved him off. “You’re such a fucking asshole,” Etho mumbled on, but Joel didn’t acknowledge him.

“Now this is going to scar.” As the stinging at his shoulder started to ebb, Joel repositioned to Grian’s arms. With a quickly building sense of dread, Grian realized the root fastening his right arm still was positioned quite a bit further up than the other. For the first time, he lifted his head to see. The sight of bone in multiple areas was enough to make him light headed, another breathy yelp forcing itself from his throat.

“You are so annoying.” Joel growled, the roots on his limbs doubling, as well as a new addition over his chest.

“Calm down, Grian, it’s okay. Just stay still,” Etho urged, but Grian’s mind was all static.

“It’s okay. Grian, it’s okay.” Scar’s voice cut through the haze after some amount of time (seconds, minutes, hours?), and Grian felt his hands, distinctly textured by scars. He felt his own hand, tingling in the aftermath of the healing. Something was wrong.

“My- My hand-“

“I can’t grow your fingers back, at least not with this spell. Unless you want to ask Mumbo for ‘em back, though I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Joel grunted, but Scar quickly started talking over him.

“Hey, you know we’re kind of matching! It’s a small miracle I still have all my fingers, but do you know how many times I’ve been bitten, scratched, stung, bitten, goodness some animals just have a taste for human hands. You could say a snapping turtle got you! A huge one, like an alligator snapping turtle! Have you seen one of those? They’re awesome. People’d be surprised you got away with just your thumb and your pointer- well, a bit of your middle as well, but-“

Even healed, Grian couldn’t help the sob that escaped him, the pressure and the stress crashing down in one crushing blow. Etho mumbled something to Joel and the roots quickly subsided, Scar swooping in to scoop Grian off the ground. He was afraid to look at his hand. He was so afraid.

“Why did he do that? Why did he attack me?” Simultaneously, Grian loathed and couldn’t care less how pathetic he sounded, beaten down and whimpering. He just didn’t get it. He didn’t understand. Most of all, he didn’t expect Joel to answer.

“She’s got some influence over sea creatures I think,” he muttered, scratching the back of his head, “I dunno. Whenever she’s swimming around she’s always got a dozen or so fish around. I was a bit worried I’d be influenced as well, but I think I’m immune? Might be a different spell to keep us from hurting each other though. A couple of mine don’t work on her either.”

“I never felt anything,” Etho pinched his brow, looking thoughtful, “Don’t see why I’d be immune since your spells don’t transfer over the soul bound.”

“Huh. Don’t know then. She definitely doesn’t know- I don’t think she even knows she’s doing anything at all.”

“I felt.. something..” Scar mumbled, like he was unsure if he was welcome in this conversation, but when no one stopped him, he continued, “I don’t know. I have these little gaps in my memory when she would get upset- when she was singing, too. On the boat I think I nearly went overboard. I was so out of it. I just kinda wanted to be near her, y’know?” And Grian remembered it, eyes squeezed closed. The song. It was the song.

“Hey, you know Grian was a little spacey too,” Etho turned, but despite still being shaken, the bit of normal conversation helped a little to ease Grian’s nerves. Slowly, he shook his head.

“Not like that, not for me. I felt.. something.. but it was more like an itch at the back of my brain. I could ignore it.”

“Oh! Maybe that’s ‘cause you’re gay!” Scar lit up, clearly convinced this outburst made the entire interaction make sense. Thankfully, after a few moments of confused silence, Scar continued, “Well, humans have a different idea of how mermaid song works compared to how it’s really like, so maybe Lizzie’s like the human version of a siren. If the power is meant to affect people who are specifically attracted to women, that could be what it is. I like women, Grian’s gay, and Etho hates everyone, so as far as spectrums go it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Okay, I don’t hate everyone.”

“I.. guess so..?” Grian wasn’t sure if he was entirely following, but given that he’d just endured a somewhat traumatic experience, he wasn’t exactly thinking at full capacity, “It doesn’t make much sense to me why a siren’s song would only attract people with an affinity for a specific gender though, at least from a biological standpoint. Why not just.. everyone?”

“My Makers work from a cultural point of view, as far as I can tell,” Joel mumbled, thoughtful as he lost the gruffness to his voice, “They may have been inspired by human media. Generally, I wouldn’t expect any of their creations to make sense. They work carelessly.”

“Where is Mumbo?” Scar interrupted before Joel could say any more, apparently having moved on to the next issue while Grian still sat reeling about being attacked in the first place.

“Off with Lizzie I’m sure,” Joel shrugged, but his fins twitched, lowering, “He’s been trailing her since we got here, she only lost him in the trees. But you’ll be leaving now. I’ll have no more of this.”

“What! No!” Scar shot up, undeterred even when Etho started gesturing frantically behind Joel to stop. “We came here to get him back! He’s under some- some spell!”

Joel groaned, throwing his head back, “This is why I wanted to scare them, Etho, look, now they want to stay.”

Grian shrunk away when Scar bristled, “No! We aren’t leaving! Not before-“ he didn’t get to finish, the ground trembling underneath Scar before it shot upwards, launching him in the direction they’d come. Scar landed hard on his back, somersaulting backward onto his stomach with a groan.

“You will leave, and you will not come back,” Joel growled, eyes dark, even as Etho hurried to Scar’s side and helped him to his knees, “I suggest you do it now before I break your ankles and make you walk.” The silence was long as Etho supported Scar while he stood, legs shaky, but from what Grian could tell, still mostly uninjured. But even helping Scar, Etho was looking back, fixing Joel with a look that held a lot more meaning than Grian could parse from knowing only their brief history.

“Don’t look at me that way.” Joel grunted, breaking the silence.

“Fine.” Etho returned the gesture coolly. Turning away. But Scar replaced Etho’s eye with a fiery glare of his own, frightening Grian into speaking before he could continue to argue.

“I want to go. I want to go home.”

And thank god, thank everything, that was enough. Scar deflated, giving Grian a deeply sad, deeply defeated look. Scar hadn’t believed things would end this way. He’d really, with his whole heart, believed he’d be able walk in and make this work. Talk his way through, bring Mumbo home. Scar didn’t take well to failure, he tended to push and push and push- Most days, that stubbornness ended in a new scar, but even then, he’d still be smiling.

Scar approached him, still limping, but he was gentle when he took Grian’s good hand, squeezing. “Let’s go home then.”

When Grian looked back, Joel was gone. Etho, ahead of them, gestured to follow.

The walk felt long and cold. Grian hadn’t remembered it being cold; too wired, too nervous, but now he was shivering, glued to Scar’s side under the guise of helping him walk, but the both of them knew who really needed the support.

“Are you hurt, Scar,” Etho muttered after a while, breaking the steady silence.

“I don’t think so, not too bad. I think I pulled a muscle, but I’ll stretch it out later. Shouldn’t be much more than sore.”

“That’s a damn miracle.”

Scar brightened a little, never one to let a conversation die, “Most frequent comments I get on my videos are that I’m indestructible. Well, that’s not true, most people are surprised I’m not dead yet, but it’s in the same vein. My life is a miracle, I’ll tell you that.”

“I’d say so. You don’t know when to stop.”

Scar was quiet for a moment, but shrugged Etho off, shaking his head, “We’ve all got flaws.”

“You’re not coming back, Scar,” Grian muttered the words, more conviction in them than he even knew he could muster in this state.

“No,” he sighed, “I’m not.” Scar closed his eyes, nearly toppling over Etho when the other stopped suddenly, stiff and alert. “What? What is it?”

“I hear someone. Lizzie- I think it’s Lizzie.”

“I don’t-“ Etho shushed Scar harshly before he could continue talking over the noise, Etho creeping forward in the wake of the heavy silence. Grian didn’t particularly want to follow and find out, but his crutch did not share these reservations, Scar staying close behind.

“Come on,” was the first thing Grian heard from Lizzie as the trees started to thin out, the clearing to the muddy beach opening up, “You need to go. You need to go home.”

“What is it, what is she doing?” Etho nearly bumped heads with Scar when he turned to ask, Scar laughing in turn, quietly startled. Grian, meanwhile, was staring straight ahead. Lizzie was there, standing on the water next to their boat and struggling to get Mumbo up and onto it. They were damn lucky this was a pontoon; Mumbo would have capsized anything smaller, but that didn’t mean he fit, either, not that he looked like he particularly wanted to be on the boat in the first place, shimmying off even after Lizzie got him laid nicely across the floor.

“Mumbo, no! Be good, won’t you? You can’t stay here!”

Instead of answering Etho’s question, Scar pushed ahead suddenly, pulling Etho back before emerging out of the treeline. Etho gasped sharply as he stumbled and fell onto Grian, but there was nothing either of them could do.

“Lizzie! Mumbo! Hello! We were just leaving, what a coincidence it is to see you here!”

“Oh!” Lizzie turned around, and to Grian’s great relief she looked pleased to see him, if not a little tired, “Hello, Mysterious Magician Man! It’s good you’re here- I’m trying to send your friend home, but he’s being stubborn with me.. I don’t..” Lizzie bit her lip, “Something’s wrong, I think. I don’t know why.. I didn’t.. I don’t think she should stay here. She won’t even talk to me.”

“Ah, yeah,” Scar shrugged, arms loosely behind his back, “That wasn’t any good, was it.”

“No.. I just don’t know why. I don’t want her to hurt anyone else.” Lizzie looked dejectedly down at her feet, Mumbo swimming in circles below her.

“I think she really likes you,” Scar conceded while walking closer to the water, “You were right, more than any of us, certainly. Do you mind if I come and see him?”

“Please do.” Lizzie’s shoulders sagged unhappily, but she stepped back as Scar started wading into the water. Perhaps predictably, Mumbo followed her under the surface, and Lizzie ended up backpedaling in circles in an attempt to get Mumbo to stop.

“Mumbo!” she cried, though there was laughter there, Lizzie dancing around on her toes while Mumbo breached the water playfully around her. “She’s so sweet,” Lizzie sighed, bending over and plucking him out of the water like he weighed nothing. “It’s really too bad I can’t understand what’s happening with her. She’s not even acting like a person, not even talking. C’mon, Mumbo, you can tell me what’s wrong.” Lizzie held him out, but he remained limp, only staring blankly.

“Hey, Mumbo! It’s Scar! Why don’t you come home, buddy?” Scar called, waving, but when Mumbo looked his way, there was no reaction, no recognition. Grian couldn’t help but dread how powerful that spell was, even when Mumbo was exposed to it for so little time. A couple hours at most, surely.

“Maybe she does have extra influence over sea creatures,” Etho mumbled, watching just as carefully as Grian was, “But mermaids have incredible hearing, too. I’m sure any mermaid could hear those screams in a mile’s radius, especially if they’re sensitive to the frequency.”

“She might still be upset, too,” Grian mumbled, “If part of the spell is sensitivity to her emotions, that could be why Mumbo’s attached at her hip.”

“Well if Joel wants us to go so badly, he’d better dispel it.” Etho huffed, but there was something under that, something hurt that Grian didn’t want to touch with a six foot pole.

“Lizzie, drop the mermaid. You’re going to get bit if you don’t.”

Grian nearly shrieked at the sound of Joel’s voice behind him, Etho startling in turn. He was right there, right in the stream behind them, somehow silent in his approach.

“I- Oh!” Lizzie looked up, not nearly as distressed as the rest of them. In her arms, Mumbo relaxed, content as ever. This did not change when he was unceremoniously dropped, sinking in the shallow water and returning to swimming in lazy circles. Then suddenly, Mumbo stopped swimming, emotion returning to his fins as they flared back to life. There was anger there, or fear maybe when he realized who was above him, but when he had seemingly decided fleeing was his best option, he saw Scar, rearing up and out of the water in his surprise.

“Hi, Mumbo!” Scar waved despite the two of them only being a few feet apart, nothing less than positively delighted. Grian could see the stress in Scar’s muscles as he restrained himself from running over and swinging Mumbo around in a crushing hug. Mumbo, however, didn’t seem to quite return the sentiment, whirling between Lizzie and Scar with an expression of great alarm, fins flared and quivering more intensely than Grian had ever seen.

“Stop! Stop it- Stay away!”

Dead silence.

Mumbo looked confused at the change in atmosphere, Lizzie looking delighted while Scar was gaping. Mumbo had spoken in his own language; Grian had heard the whistling, but above that-

“Ah! Thank you, Joel!” Lizzie waved to the brush, but when Grian turned around, no one was there. He bit his lip, slowly moving forward out of the undergrowth with Etho at his side.

“What.. Did he do..?” Grian asked, tentative as he revealed himself, only further stressed when Lizzie startled, all of her fins flattening in an expression of great fear. But it was Mumbo’s turn to startle, looking back and forth from Grian and Lizzie, eyes wide.

“Joel has tools to cross language barriers,” Etho mumbled, speaking slowly, almost warily, like he thought someone was trying to sneak up on him, “I don’t know why he’s cast this spell, but..”

“Obviously it’s so we can talk with each other!” Lizzie piped up, clearly sharing zero of the reservations the rest of them had.

“This is.. extremely odd,” Mumbo said, and while his voice was notably lacking the same tone the rest of them spoke with, his hesitance was clear in his body language. He strayed toward Scar, fins still flared protectively, but neither Scar nor Lizzie seemed to pay that any mind.

“You’ve got a British accent! Why do you have an accent?” Scar threw up his arms, like this was the craziest thing he’d experienced all day, “It’s been 90% Etho and I teaching you English, why are you British?”

“I- I do not know what this means.”

“Do mermaids have accents?” Grian asked, unable to help himself from humoring the thought- out of all the things for Scar to say when he got the opportunity to speak to Mumbo without barriers for the first time. That was so him, wasn’t it.

“Well..” Etho rubbed his chin, “They do, kind of, but we so rarely travel that you almost never run into different accents and dialects and languages. I used to sound a lot more like Joel, though. My accent has shifted a lot since I’ve moved.”

“I remember that! Your accent used to be so strong!” Scar jumped up, so expressive that Grian couldn’t help but laugh.

“I am extremely overwhelmed.” Mumbo cut in, clicking in quick intervals under his breath and glancing around.. Yeah, maybe this wasn’t the most Mumbo-friendly conversation they were having. Behind him, Lizzie was looking similarly out of her depth. She seemed like she was looking for something to say, brightening a little when Scar spoke, and cowering whenever Grian talked. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak, meek in comparison to her previous energy.

“I think I should go..”

Everyone in the clearing relaxed at the sentiment, but apparently Scar did not get the memo, “Awh, no! You can hang out- look at this, all of us, this is great!”

“No.” Mumbo said flatly, having zero reservations about shutting Scar down. “Leave. Forever.” Lizzie looked hurt, which almost made Grian feel bad, though Scar had just as little trouble speaking his mind as Mumbo did.

“Well.. Maybe for now, that’s for the best,” Scar waded past Mumbo, who at first hurriedly moved out of Scar’s way, but when he saw where Scar was going, his alarm kept him following close behind, breathing down Scar’s neck with a wide eyed fear. Grian himself gaped when Scar moved to take Lizzie’s hand, and Mumbo looked just about ready to shit himself. “But you should visit! I’d love to see you again. You’re not stuck here like Joel is, right? Do you have a phone? I’d love to stay in contact.”

“You- Scar!” But Grian did not get to finish.

“Oh, I don’t! But Joel does! Would that be okay?”

“Oh,” Scar laughed, a devilish kind of thing that suggested he was going to do horrible things with this information, “I would love nothing more.” Missing the Intention entirely, Lizzie rattled the number off, Scar pulling a pen out of nowhere and writing it on his arm. Horrendously, Scar kissed the spot he’d written the number, and Grian was seconds away from strangling him when Scar waved goodbye, making his way to the boat to climb on. “Can’t wait to see you again!”

Lizzie blinked, suddenly unsure what to do with herself, fiddling with her hands in a flustered sort of way. At this point, Grian’s head was entirely in his own hands.

“Uh, yeah! You too!” With that, Lizzie took off on the water, hopping to shore and fleeing back into the swamp. Scar watched her go with a small smile, everyone else looking on in varying degrees of horror and confusion.

“What do you think my chances are?”

“She’s married, Scar!”

“That is not what I asked.”

“Was that human courting?” Mumbo asked, making Scar laugh.

“I hope not,” Etho grumbled, Grian refraining from saying any words before he regretted taking part in this any more than he already did.

“Am I learning things about humans or am I learning things about Scar.” Mumbo’s question was followed by silence.

“I don’t know,” Etho said, Grian nodding his agreement.

“No idea. Are mermaids monogamous?”

Mumbo’s fins fluttered, maybe surprised by the question, maybe amused, “Not necessarily, but we’re going to have problems if Scar’s after that —-“ the last word failed to translate, probably because there was no English equivalent, but Grian got the message regardless, especially with Etho snickering next to him.

“Okay, okay, I’m not looking for a long term gig here, I’m just interested in flirting with pretty women, there is nothing wrong with that.” Scar put his hands up in a great defense, batting at the air like he was deflecting judgment, “If Lizzie happened to sing me into a bout of accidental mind control and did as she wished with me, well, I can’t say I’d be any bit upset at all! I’d be eager, even. Surely someone else here is on the same page. Come on. Grian? Come on.”

“No. Absolutely no way, Scar.”

“What if it was a really attractive fish man?”

“I do not want to be mind controlled!! Ever!!”

“Don’t say that..” Scar made the saddest looking face, like this was the most devastating thing that had ever come out of Grian’s mouth.

“What?” Grian couldn’t stop himself from laughing, “Were you planning on using your secret mind control on me? Just waiting for permission?”

Scar scoffed, “I don’t need mind control, you’re needy enough as it is.”

“I am not needy.”

“You whine for-“

“Enough! Enough.” Etho cut in, fingers in his ears for emphasis. Grian rolled his eyes, to which Etho pushed him, and laughing, Grian pushed back, dancing out of the way of Etho’s second retaliation, only to be nailed in the face with a ball of mud.

“Stop- Stop fighting!” Mumbo was quickly between them, fins flared and anxious, but Etho shook his head, keeping his good nature.

“It’s fine. This is how humans play sometimes.”

Mumbo stopped, looking a little bewildered, but slowly his fins lowered, like he was connecting the dots slowly but surely. “Oh. This makes more sense. It is not easy to tell. Humans are violent and loud.”

“It’s really hard to tell,” Etho agreed, “A lot of really upset and really happy faces and sounds are exactly the same. I would assume play first, though. Ask if you don’t know.”

Mumbo was quiet for a moment, processing. Grian realized it must be difficult for him to keep up with a faster paced conversation, even if he was hearing it in his language; beyond the simple language barrier, there was so much context and slang and missing pieces Mumbo still had to parse on his own.

Finally, Mumbo spoke, “It is so nice to be able to talk like this.”

Grian made a small noise of assent, Scar nodding in his enthusiastic agreement, “It’s great! I know you probably had a pretty shit day; ours wasn’t great either, but sitting here, all together.. I don’t know. It all just feels worth it to me. I want to tell you things before I can’t anymore! I want to explain stuff- I want to do couples things! I mean- I don’t know if we’re together or anything, everything has been super unclear in general, but I really like you! I’d love to kick it casual style with you- not anything serious really, and if you’re not interested, that’s of course okay- Gosh I’d love to kiss you, is that crazy? I want to so bad! Do mermaids kiss each other?” Scar rambled on and on, but Grian had stopped listening, mind caught on the whirlwind of today, rubberbanded back to the anxiety and stress and horror and hopelessness. He did not feel good. This did not feel ‘worth it.’

He couldn’t stop looking at his hands. The tearing on his left wrist that had scarred somewhat, but his right hand was so far gone, the aftermath of being bitten and maimed clear all the way up to his elbow. It still felt tingly and numb. All of it, horrible.

Grian didn’t know if he would ever forget that. His hands being the only defense between Mumbo’s teeth and his own throat.

He hadn’t noticed the clearing grow quiet. He hadn’t noticed when Mumbo was suddenly so close, Grian nearly screaming when he looked up and saw Mumbo sitting there, too consumed in the spiral of his own mind. But Grian’s fear was obvious enough. Even Scar looked ready to hop off the boat to make sure he was okay.

“Did.. I do that?” Mumbo asked, and even void of tone, he was quieter than usual, fins laid back. “I don’t remember you. I remember blood. I hurt someone.”

“You really went after Joel,” Etho tried, but his heart wasn’t in it, too quiet, too awkward, “Bit him a couple times, got him good.”

Grian didn’t have the will to lie. “You tried to kill me.”

Mumbo stared for a long moment, processing maybe, or feeling something else. Grian didn’t really know. Too sad. Too tired.

“How do I make it better.”

Exhausting. A question like that was utterly exhausting. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I just.. I think I need to go home. I need to be alone for a while. Or maybe.. You guys can talk. Keep talking. I’ll nap on the boat.”

“No,” and it was Scar this time, calling from his place at the stern, “Let’s go home.”

“Humans talk too much,” Mumbo seemed to agree, turning around and swimming back toward Scar. “I will go home as well. It’s been too long. Too long on the surface is bad for me. Physical. Mental. Touch your human friends, forget me for a little while. Be good. Love well.”

Grian frowned, stung despite the sweetness. “I don’t.. You don’t have to go, Mumbo.”

“I will come back. I need some time. To feel safe again.” Mumbo glanced back toward the island, then ever-so-briefly at Etho, but even the small stutter of anxiety in Mumbo’s fins was enough to make Etho shrink away.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I really didn’t know, but even then I should have- I shouldn’t have-“ Etho didn’t get to finish, cut off by Mumbo’s approach, who apparently had far less issue touching Etho than he did Scar and Grian. Firmly, Mumbo took hold of Etho’s hands.

“I made my decision. You would not have changed it. Next time we might choose differently. What’s done is done. Go home, see your human. Love well.”

“Love well..” Despite hearing the words in English, Etho spoke the mermaid language to himself, quiet. “That’s how you say it.” Mumbo blinked slowly, flicking his tail.

Almost unconsciously, Grian tried to repeat the words himself, but he couldn’t snap, couldn’t recreate the clicks on his right hand like he was used to doing. It was a moment of distress; feeling his missing digits, knowing the motion like the back of his hand, but failing to make the noise.

Well.. Maybe he didn’t know the back of his hand anymore. He looked down at his wrists, frowning at the dark scars twisting through his skin. They weren’t attractive things, pinching and warping his forearms.

When he looked up, Mumbo was staring. “I hope you come back.” And that was a small comfort, knowing he’d be missed. Grian was never sure these days with Mumbo had Scar, if they really cared to want anyone else. They didn’t need anyone else, did they. Grian wouldn’t have even come here to rescue Mumbo if he’d had the choice. As it stood, he wished he hadn’t.

But.. well. As Mumbo had said, what’s done is done. Grian would have time to think bitterly later.

“I will.”

Mumbo gave a flick of his tail, acknowledgment, Grian was pretty sure at least, before diving back into the water, swimming away. Apparently mermaids didn’t linger on goodbyes, or even say farewells at all. (Or maybe they did, and Grian just didn’t know what it looked like.)

Silently, Etho took Grian’s left arm. Grian let him walk him to the boat, letting Scar pull him up. Scar offered to drive, but even beyond having to put in the effort to teach him, Grian just wanted to take care of it. To watch the water ahead, and think of nothing else.

[bored-trans-orchidsexual]

Kipperlily just kinda sucks now.

Spoilers for Fantasy High Junior Year, as of episode 16.

I, personally, have not been on the *hate kipperlily* train. I've been looking forward to her pretty much since we met her, a passive-aggressively busybody, a mean girl Riz. Is she evil? Is she just nasty? Will she eventually team up with the bad kids? Ect. And I'd like to say that now I just kinda don't care anymore, she's just... She's not fun to speculate about anymore. I have some info I think people aren't considering, so please read, and I'm also not complaining about the *writing* or Brennan's choices. This is a perfectly logical reveal, doesn't contrast anything, and I'm still excited to see the season unfold. But in terms of kipperlily lore I'm good, she's not potential anymore, she's just kinda shitty. Sorry she's a rage rez now, hope she gets better but kinda fuck her in general now.

Let me be clear, for all those *wildly* speculating about her motivations or making her into something she's not: she is just plain, jealous, full stop, when it comes to tragedy. She is not attuned to larger magical events, she does not have a point, she is fucking *wrong.* Why is she wrong? Consider the main thing she's upset about; that Riz has an adventure advantage because his dad was eaten by Kalvaxis, so he's motivated to adventure more than a normal person.

Let me remind 'yall real quick Riz *did not know* this had happened. Riz, thought his dad was just as relatively 'normal' as kipperlily's. He found out his dad was an agent *halfway through the year* and died in the service, and found out it was *Kalvaxis* that killed him, let me fucking remind you, in the finale from the dragon himself. Kipperlily, has known this for most of freshman year and hated Riz for it. This means she dug up *extremely traumatic* information on a fellow student and proceeded to project her insecurities on him, seeing him as having an advantage in life, while that kid *did not know* any of this and thought his dad, I don't know, died in a car crash or something.

She's wrong from the jump. She digs into people's personal shit for her own *satisfaction*, makes sweeping assumptions about people she doesn't even bother to talk to, and rails against the system for not being fair and rewarding her for *not* experiencing a tragedy. Love Brennan, love this story, fuck kipperlily. She is *not* a sympathetic suffering queen she has toxic insecurities and of all people *Jawbone* has been ineffective at clocking and addressing this problem. I'm all for people who need help getting it but it doesn't make her any less of a creep.

[fulgurbugs]

Headcanon ask (I'm sorry the Pokemon SwSh thing made me think of this all of a sudden): Octopath / Pokemon -- gym leaders! Who would be a gym leader and what Pokemon type would they specialise in? (Alternatively if the main antagonist of each Octopath character's story was a gym leader what Pokemon type would each specialise in... you know for the characters who actually have a human antagonist for their story... I feel like Redeye would just be a corrupted legendary or something I don't know?)

alright, had another big brainstorm sesh with the bestie @snailcruncher for this one so here it goes

Here’s what we’re going with: everyone gets one type, 4 pokemon. we’re going to get everyone fully evolved versions of their team as if they’re like, the 8th gym leader, mostly so we had more to work with but also didn’t have to give a fuck about nfe mons

as for choosing the types, we basically went by choosing some who felt obvious first, then filling in with what we had left so nobody repeated a type. maybe some don’t fit perfect but yk. also shoutout to inherent class magic types for giving us some pokemon types to fall back on

also, i’m imagining in this scenario it’s probably like. the only example i can think of is cheren (i don’t watch the anime) where gym leaders clearly have gym teams that vary depending on challenge level, and personal teams for outside of the league, so that’s how we’re rationalizing this

anyways

Up first

Ophilia - Ice

Ace: Lapras

there’s not really a good equivalent to “light” in pokemon types, so we decided to go with the frostlands special on this one.

Abomasnow is here to set hail/snow. if any character has a team that benefits from a weather being set, we’ve usually included a setter in their team. so that’s what abomasnow does

ninetales is for aurora veil, which i think is a pretty good equivalent to the sheltering abilities of cleric

frosmoth was on her original team so decided to carry it over. same with lapras, which i think has a fun connection with guiding/carrying travelers on its back, which makes it a good ace for her.

Cyrus - Psychic

Ace: Alakazam

since scholar covers 3 types of magic, pigeonholing it into one is a little difficult. decided to go with psychic, since it is pretty magic-y and most of its mons are known for being very specially focused rather than physically

alakazam gets to be ace because, let’s face it, none of these other guys are sweeping. alakazam is known for being mega smart and also laser beam crater blasting everything, so i think it’s a pretty safe cyrus pick.

claydol is just something i think is pretty fun for vibes. what with its mysterious origins… feels very cyrus ch4 mural a la runerigus he has in his other team

Swoobat. with the ability. unaware.

Oranguru cuz it’s the instructor pokemon ^_^

Tressa - Water

Ace: Gyarados

Since tressa’s from a seaside town, she felt like the best pick for water types.

Gyarados is her ace because, well… magikarp starts out kind of wimpy but turns out it had the best potential of them all (tho tressa herself certainly has a less rocky start) anyways this thing is a dragon dance sweeper and will kill you.

Pelliper rain setter. plus, gulls feel on brand for her. Gastrodon (east) so that she has an electric immunity that this team sorely needs

Palafin for another zero to hero because tressa would not let you get off easy even if you get past one of her hard hitters. she’d have this thing in the back after flip turning it out of there.

Olberic - Steel

Ace: Aegislash

notable “unbending blade” of hornburg olberic gets steel types, clap if you are surprised. no one?

anyways, Aegislash for the ace. i’m sure it’s pretty self explanatory.

Aggron and steelix are pretty much in for the same reason. they’re big. they have high defense. and they’re steel types. escavalier just goes more in on the knight motif while bringing another dual type to the team

Primrose - Flying

Ace: Oricorio

there’s definitely a good argument to be made for something like dark primrose, but to be honest… i like flying for her, because i feel like it works with her kind of caged-bird motif. in addition, flying types cover a lot of dual types, which means i can pick pokemon that can use dance setups or support.

Oricorio is the picture perfect flying/dancer ace. obviously it gets top spot

Altaria as a dragon dance setup sweeper

Vivillion is a shitmon, admittedly, but it was that or butterfree for a quiver dancer, so i went with vivillion because honestly it doesn’t fucking matter they have the same shit basically. i guess this thing can also use sleep powder (and so can butterfree) but it comes in more pretty colorsssss

Swanna gets featherdance, just to cover one more dance. and you know. swans are like pretty and elegant or whatever. allegedly. anyways something something primrose is a beautiful swan.

Alfyn - Grass

Ace: Leavanny

Alfyn greengrass has grass types? this is shocking to nobody. anways, deciding between leavanny or meganium for the ace i eventually decided on leavanny because i say so. but they could both work

vileplume so that he has at least one grass/poison rep. i so rarely use the apothecary poisoning skills in OT but he can like. do that, so….

Sunflora is here because it would use sunny day and do fuck all except be a shitmon, because it is, but personally i think Alfyn wouldn’t gaf because it’s cute and he likes it, and it supports solarbeam/Clorophll for its team which is enough of a job to put it on here

Therion - Fire

Ace: Houndoom

the inherent fire magic of the thief class is here to bail me out in giving therion a gym type. thanks.

Anyways, i’m going with Houndoom as the Ace because he does have an image to uphold. it can’t all be fluffy arcanines or whatever.

ceruldege is here bc A) swords and B) it’s a little hater of a pokemon so it stays. centiskorch is here because it’s one of MY favs and i think it’s fun to put more interesting dual types into these teams, and as much as i love volcarona (my all time fave) it’s not really a therion mon… but i do think he’d be on board with a centiskorch.

then for a sun setter… it kind of had to be ninetales, tbh. i cannot really justify giving mr fastest speed stat in orsterra a turtle. so ninetales it is.

H’aanit - Electric

Ace: Luxray

another one where the inherent class magic gets to bail us out. if i’m being honestly, H’aanit is not much giving electric trainer, but we did our best.

Kilowatrells reasoning here is the same as it was in her original team. it’s a literal thunderbird. (also, no legends here but she deserves a zapdos)

Galvantula is a webs setter. holy shit guys, leghold trap reference.

and then Manectric and Linde are of course, dollar store Hägen and Linde. definitely an intimidate luxray, too.

next we can move onto the OT2 ones!

Ochette - Dragon

Ace: Noivern

ochette… she’s giving 8th gym dragon gym leader. i think her emphasis on finding legends basically tailors her to the dragon trainer for me. as for her mons, i’ve given her three dragons whose secondary types match up with Acta, Terra, and Glacis, while noivern is… honestly it’s just vibes i think noivern is cool and she would like it.

i didn’t really wanna make one of the three legends her ace over the other, so i’ll just say noivern is the ace.

Castti - Poison

Ace: Roserade

now, for Castti, we decided to bend the gym leader rules a bit, so she doesn’t have all poison types, though she does have an entirely poison-based team still. Breloom has poison heal, so we’ve elected to give it a spot, considering it also gets spore and is a fighting type that can throw THESE HANDS.

Zangoose is here for a similar reason, posssing the ability toxic boost, upping its damage when poisoned.

Glimmora of course has two poison based abilities in corrosion and toxic debris, though i’d say castti’d do toxic debris/venoshock shenanigans.

For the mandatory Apothecary Grass/Poison type, i’ve given her roserade. it’s like uh. the flower malaya gave her.

Throné - Dark

Ace: Bisharp

tho throné herself maybe wouldn’t like to be the dark type leader, or at least would wish she wouldn’t get a bad rap for using them, they still fit her (and OT2’s theif inherent magic), so that’s what we’re going with.

Absol: maybe this one is on loan from temenos lol.

liepard is a very evil team-grunt pokemon so i’m giving it to her also it’s purple.

weavile is a little less of a shitmon and also gets the ability pickpocket, plus brings some dual typing to this team. tho she would get her shit so rocked by a fighting type let’s be real

Bisharp: ok so… what if… the blacksnakes… are like a bunch of pawniards. and only the best ones can be bisharps. that’s throne. or something. also, it’s kind of referencing that she’s distantly related to notable kingambit haver hikari. bonus!

Osvald - Normal

Ace: Drampa

hear me out… Osvald normal type trainer. but he uses only dual types, and he also likes to play a lot less straightforward than your average trainer. Ursaluna (for the teddiursa in his original team) makes an appearance, while Farigaraf can set trick room and other fun psychic pokemon shenanigans. Hisui-Zoroark is here to throw another wrench in the mix, being able to throw off incoming fighting type attacks and hit back while making you readjust your strategy. the whole time, the threat of this thing makes you always have to consider if you know what you’re fighting first.

and drampa. this thing is just such an osvald pokemon to me. thank god it’s half normal. he should have it. make it the ace too.

Partitio - Rock

Ace: Coalossal

partitio was a bit of an odd one to pick a type for, but we settled on rock for a few reasons. honestly…. started with the ace and worked backwards, and therion’s already hogging the fire slot. besides, even though he’s looking towards the future, partitio’s definitely a little behind the times initially, so some good old fashioned rock types seem like a good fit.

anyways the coalossal is the ace because he’s ability is. steam engine. lol

lycanroc because. i think partitio would like a awesome doggy and then we went dusk form bc i don’t think he would have the evil one and dusk sucks less than the midday one lol.

gigalith sand setter

and then crustle is cuz we wanted to give him it as a shell smash sweeper. and i dunno they probably have dwebbles around oresrush.

Agnea - Fairy

Ace: Togekiss

Agnea feels like a pretty good fit for the fairy type, tho she does get less dancer-move user options than primrose does using flying types.

Togekiss i feel like is a shoe-in for her ace. it’s a pokemon associated with peace and kindness… i feel like agnea is definitely the kind of person to be able to actually acquire a togepi. also, it gets serene grace, which is a very agnea-ability title. i think she should get to paraflinch people too.

Ribombee is a much better quiver dance user than vivillion, and it’s half fairy, so agnea gets it. i love this thing. it can be so scary if it gets set up.

gardevoir: in our original teams, hikari had this due to its association with loyalty to its trainer/friends. so i think agnea also fits it very well too! since hikari (⬇️down there later ) has been swapped to a gallade to fit his type i’ve given it to her. awesome matching time.

whimsicott is here because she is fun and whimsical. this thing would set tailwinds probably.

Temenos - Ghost

Ace: Houndstone

i’m so sorry temenos but i think it’s really really funny to make you a ghost trainer. like really super funny.

anyways, yamask was on his original team, so we’ve upgraded to cofagrigus here. chandelure is vaguely sacred flame-esque while also being ghost type, tho it’s kind of. ominous but whatever. Sableye is a silly little guy who kind of vaguely references the mirror shard crossed paths. i guess if he mega evolved it i could do that even more with magic bounce but we didn’t really work w megas or regional gimmicks or whatever

and then houndstone comes out last to spam last respects after you’ve killed all this other pokemon just like all the EVERYONE HE KNEW IN REAL LIFE died too you monster.

like i said i think ghost trainer temenos is really funny

Hikari - Fighting

Ace: Gallade

Hikari nabbed fighting type right out of the gate. as compared to olberic who is very definsive brick wall of a guy, hikari feels more versatile in a way that fits fighting types to a T.

I’ve given him heracross because the heracross i caught in my nuzlocke is named after him so i think he should have one.

Lucario is here for a fun friendship evo, while scrafty is here to rep a more “dirty fighter” type of pokemon on the team being fighting/dark.

then gallade gets to be the ace because i feel like it’s the most ace material tbh.

as for your second part we did pick villian types (but not teams), here’s that much more briefly

Mattias: Dark (i feel like this is self explanatory. maybe malamar ace?)

Lucia: Psychic (this seems to must be the type we’re going with for most scholars)

Esmerelda: Poison (because the wound may prove fatal)

Werner: Fighting (idrgaf but i guess he used to run a merc company so i guess or whatever)

Simeon: Normal (hes the least normal guy you’ll ever meet but you’d never guess it from his pokemon team)

Ogre eagle: Iron valiant. 6 iron valiant.

Darius: Ground

i’m just. uh.

Redeye: Iron valiant. also entire team of 6 iron valiants (lore accurate)

Darkling: you never guess this but 6 Iron Valiants

Trousseau: Poison but for real this time

Claude: Dark (feel like that’s also self explanatory)

Harvey: Psychic (specifically, this guy has a hypno.)

Roque: Steel ⬇️

Dolcinea: Fairy mirror match/Tiernos Dancer only team she’s based like that. either or

Kaldena: Ghost (another mirror match)

Mugen: typeless but every one of his mons knows swords dance

ok that’s basically it hope that’s enough of an answer ok byeeee

[yuri-is-online]

Ace!Yutu when he sees his father being an idiot and claiming he doesn’t like the prefect that way:

I swear I love the angst potential of Yutu, and more because it depends on the version.

Imagine Riddle!Yutu waking up screaming from a bad nightmare and watching his previously dead parent right next to him.

Tumblr and I have beef, it deleted this ask and then magically re-found it AFTER I typed it out somewhere else. Anyway, I have a second ask about aceyuu Yutu mentioning him judging his dad because you know that Marcille face is what he is making 24/7. But since he is also Ace's son you know he has a little fun with it:

"I see I see." Yutu folds his hands together, index fingers standing tall in front of his lips as he nods in exaggerated agreement before shifting ever so slightly to look at Deuce. "So he really lives like this?" "Yeah he does." Cackles Deuce, Ace's eye twitches as he tries to decide who is more annoying, the new kid or Deuce. "I'll let you in on a secret, he thinks he's being subtle." "I think I'm being normal." Ace huffs, but new kid ignores him and nods sagely at Deuce. "Ah yes I see, like a brick." "Hey listen!" Ace hates how much more of a defense this new kid is making him run, why's he decided it is his business if he likes Yuu or not? "Unlike you two losers I actually have a relationship history-" "What, with a mirror?" Yutu's unimpressed look is so similar to Yuu's Ace swears his heart leaps right up into his throat. "Look I'm just saying it sounds like there was a break up in there somewhere." Never mind fuck this, who raised this kid?!?!

I try to have each Yutu be a bit different to help reflect how each character's reaction to him would be a bit different. That and I think different boys kids would be different even if they have similarities, Riddle! Yutu is withdrawn and angry while Ace! Yutu is more laid back and sarcastic, but they are still both Yutu.

And speaking of Riddle! Yutu:

He can taste the ink in his lungs through his struggle to breathe, the branch around his neck tightens at his audacity to try. He panics on instinct, screaming as the Phantom's scepter is pushed into his chest as it screams out a command "OFF WITH YOUR-"

You open the door with a bit more force than you intended, something about hearing Yutu scream out for one of his parents makes you feel awful, even more so when you finally see him. The poor boy has tied his sheets into knots with his thrashing, you silently thank the seven that you thought to set down the milk you had heated up before you shake him.

Calling out to them he tackles you with a surprising amount of force, holding onto you so tightly you can't help but hug him back. Fat tears roll down his cheeks as he shakes like a leaf and you do your best to keep him in his bed, but let him cling to you.

"It's just me." You pat his back and he freezes, but doesn't loosen his grip and you laugh slightly. He's got to be so embarrassed, better let him re-set before he has to look at your face. "Breathe in, now hold one, two-" You softly guide him through his breaths and relax alongside him as he calms. "That sounded like a bad one, are you sure you don't want me to loan you Grim? He's a real good snuggle buddy, promise."

"I think I'll pass." Yutu pulls back, but he still can't look at you, eyes instead going to the milk on his nightstand and rolling his eyes. "Really? I'm not a baby." But still he takes it and you let the insult go.

"Do you want to talk about it?" You hope he will, this is the third time this week he's had an episode and you really want to help. You think Yutu wants to, he looks at you now with a deeply strained look in his eyes that almost makes you think he is looking at a ghost.

"It's... not nothing." He had tried saying it was the first time you found him in the throws of one. "But I can't- I can't tell you." It's progress enough that he's willing to acknowledge it's a problem, you can't heal unless you accept that something is broken.

"I'll be here if you change your mind." You mean it to be kind, but it makes the ghost look worsen. Still, Yutu sort of smiles at you.

"I know and... thank you." He closes his eyes briefly to reset himself and remember. You're alive, that's enough for now.

"You want to play go fish?" More than enough.

[jaladdin]

sorry i’m thinking about morgan le fay and her connection to morgie and what it implies in the descendants universe again. sorry. like we can assume he inherited all of morgan’s powers because that’s what happens in descendants. but there’s so much emphasis on his shapeshifting—his ability to mimic animal cries, the serpentine line in “life is sweeter,” and the way he gets the shitty cgi snake eyes. and i am Looking

it makes me 🤔 about morgan le fay, shapeshifter by jill m. hebert, which dives deep into both the literal and metaphorical aspects of morgan’s shapeshifting over time. herbert writes that "morgan’s power in part comes from the fact that she always retains agency, choosing among multiple forms at will. as a marker of reform, she can also influence others to change their shapes, and so she often appears at points where a change or expansion of the limits of identity is required."

and so what if i said morgie’s shapeshifting isn’t just a silly guy power; it’s tied to the movie’s entire theme of identity and transformation and agency. in descendants 4, there’s a ton of focus on characters pushing the boundaries of who they are—like cinderella transforming into the “mystery princess” at castlecoming or bridget becoming this literal and metaphorical monster. morgie’s shapeshifting could be his version of that—a way to expand his identity from just “villain kid” to something more. maybe something softer, or maybe just something less Turbo Connected to uliana, but. Something

but ok then there’s the other side where morgie’s so desperate to gain uliana’s validation, and the world of auradon: royals and villains really drives that home: "morgie desperately wanted uliana to like and respect him. he was quick to compliment her and would do whatever she said." and that makes me wonder is morgie’s shapeshifting really about his own agency, or is it more about molding himself into whatever uliana wants? he literally performs animal cries for her to warn her when merlin is coming at her command. so in that way i sniff out if maybe his shapeshifting is actually a metaphor for losing himself—becoming whatever uliana wants him to be and not who he really is. if he even really knows. especially agiven it's pretty clear that to morgie, uliana is a surrogate for morgana, and it's her approval he really wants.

hebert talks about how morgan’s shapeshifting lets her defy societal and gender based expectations, saying, "morgan shapeshifts both literally and metaphorically as she confounds traditional social and gender expectations; her power in arthurian literature is generated by that very agency." for morgan, it’s all about control and breaking free from the roles others try to box her in. but for morgie maybe it’s the opposite.

and then there’s the Fucking Scene They Cut at the end of descendants 4 where morgie gets his hands on the sorcerer’s cookbook. bc to me that implies that he would be able to open it, otherwise why would they make a big deal out of him having it at all??? and if he’s able to open it, it means he’s starting to tap into his potential both in terms of magic and figuring out who he really is (in that he has no evil motivation of his own when uliana is not around to please). 

morgana le fay, shapeshifter also says, "morgan’s ability to change shape signifies her potential to evade and to resist the shape(s) that others—authors, critics, and characters—attempt to impose upon her." maybe morgie’s shapeshifting will end up being more than just a way to survive or gain approval—maybe it’ll be his way of resisting the expectations placed on him, just like his mother did, and discovering a softer, more authentic identity in the process.

anywa morgie’s shapeshifting isn’t just some random power they put in for fun and sillies. or maybe it is and i’m insane. it probably is this is disney's descendants. i don’t care. To Me it’s about identity and agency. while he might have inherited his mother’s abilities, how he uses—or is used by—his shapeshifting could define who he becomes. will he be like morgan, using it to carve out his own identity, or will he get lost in the roles others (coughs at uliana) want him to play? the way ror was so transformation focused makes me think that morgie’s story is Also one that’s going to fit that mold of shapeshifting—both in terms of who he is on the outside and who he’s trying to be on the inside.

also literally bc if i dont get to see morgie as a snake ill lose it. one of these fucking things

arent they so silly.

[decadentpostnachos-evil-twin]

This is why you can't have a discussion nowadays. People's narrative being "My opinion is the only opinion, Idc what you say you are wrong."

Bitch Honey, if you can't deal with someone else's opinion, maybe don't post shit in the internet for everyone to see.

You can't put up with morally dark characters who are actually morally dark and not trying to justify their actions.

Besides, the worst thing we actively see Eris do in all of the books is saying that Morrigan dresses like a slut and calling Cassian some slurs. Plus we know that he left Morrigan at the border without touching her (what was he supposed to do, take her to Beron? Srsly, use your brains people. Please.)

None of these things were nice.

But how does this in any way compare to slaughtering a whole village of people for revenge (Cassian)?

Or better yet, to leave a head on a spike in the garden of someone else for shits and giggles, be a ruler for centuries and yet not manage to stop women in your territory from being mutiliated, even though you call yourself the "most powerful High Lord to ever rule" or some shit. Or SA your apparent future wife, also just for fun because he could have left Feyre in the cell in acotar and no one would have given two shits except for Tamlin and Lucien who would have been worried for her. Stealing millenia old artifacts. Threatening to kill everyone who doesn't share your opinion, constantly and therefore jeopardizing an alliance against the main enemy. Keeping mass destruction weapons in your posession without telling anyone outside of your "family" about it. Misusing your wife and mate as a breeder and not even informing her about the fact that she will likely die in childbirth, instead leaving your sister in law to sacrifice the brunt of her own magic to safe her sister. Belittling a man dealing with heavy depression and PTSD for really no apparent reason other than your own petiness, telling him he should kill himself when he's at his lowest AFTER he saved your mates life, your life and essentially turned the tide in a war. And I could go on.

How are the narrative and part of the fandom able to find excuses for Rhysand's fucked up behaviour over and over and paint him the misunderstood hero, but Eris is evil incarnate because he did what again? Left Morrigan at the border, most likely knowing she would be found and taken care of (at the ripe age of...very much younger than her, too, mathematics say) and called Cassian a brute.

"Good to know that after five hundred years, you still dress like a slut." -Eris in acowar to Morrigan. This is him saying she dresses like a slut. Not calling her one.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Eris here. He's an asshole, I'm aware of it, and the absolute majority of his stans are aware of it. But that's about it. So if you make some post about "abusive men", and include Tamlin and Eris, then reflect on what fucked up shit your favs did. Because if saying someone dresses like a slut and leaving her lying around injured but untouched by you (when you have no responsibility for her state at all) is horrible and abusive, I'd like to know what you would call all the shit Rhysand pulled.

On the other hand, I'd like to say something about Neris shippers being racist, because I don't see how? I could honestly care less for how Cassian looks or his ethnicity, this is about him having literally no backbone and treating Nesta like shit throughout acosf when she was clearly not in a good place, mentally. If y'all wanna be degraded for having ugly trauma I can't help you. I liked Nessian in acowar, they had potential. But acosf? Nah.

[tossawary]

Looking up some things has turned into reading the last 100 or so chapters of the "Naruto" manga for fun, because why not. Some random assorted notes so far (as of finishing Chapter 661):

This end fight is so fucking long, there are so many characters, and the pacing is bordering on excruciating. There's some stuff happening here that's delicious, but there's a lot of messy back and forth of the narrative focus that I personally am not fully vibing with. I cannot imagine trying to follow this split story weekly. This is common enough to a lot of big shounen mangas.

I generally like the basic artstyle here (the use of white and black especially), but the quality of page composition, panel composition, and scene clarity generally is obviously suffering heavily from these chapters being pushed out too quickly. I can barely tell some characters apart and some panels are just messes of lines. This is also common enough among mangas, so eh, it's also whatever.

It's kind of funny to me how Hashirama and Tobirama and Minato suddenly become major characters for like a solid 30 chapters or so. Like, yeah, I can see why Founders Era fic is popular. The flashback chapters themselves are pretty short, but Madara is one of the main villains in this fight, and the undead Senju brothers are suddenly here to kick ass on a level apparently far beyond most other characters. The grudges and betrayal here are delicious. These are also the people who founded Konoha itself, the main location of the manga for hundreds of chapters now, honestly not that many generations ago. It also helps that the Founders feel like they have nicely complete tragic arcs and lives to work with, instead of the relatively open-ended narrative mess that the main Naruto characters live in.

Also, Hashirama can definitely act the idiot and I think some of his choices / opinions are stupid as hell, but he's obviously a very clever and observant and ruthless person. Tobirama went on to become Hokage after his brother and will not hesitate to forcefully give his opinions, but it's also clear in some scenes that Hashirama is still the one in charge between them. Tobirama seems to fairly naturally fall into a very useful support role to whoever he's fighting with, including Minato and Naruto.

I like both Minato and Tobirama because I have a weakness for characters who engage with their magic systems to make new things. Minato improved on the Flying Thunder God technique and Orochimaru improved on the Edo Tensai technique, but Tobirama invented BOTH of those things? PLUS Shadow Clones??? All of which are basically carrying a significant part of the battle right now? Like, damn, Hashirama has his Mokuton, and Tobirama was stubbornly like, "Not being left behind. Fuck you."

So, yeah, the "Hashirama versus Madara", "Tobirama versus Madara", "Minato (plus Naruto & Tobirama) versus Obito", and "Kakashi versus Obito" are probably my favorite parts of this. Not knocking on Naruto or Sasuke or the large background mob of characters here, but they just do not have the same personal, ugly, emotional history in this fight, so I don't really care as much.

Ino can forcibly link hundreds of unknown minds together so Shikamaru can broadcast battle plans??? Holy shit??? The vibe I'm getting is that she was using the link apparently created by Naruto's chakra to do this, but still. Both Ino and Sakura have the potential to be incredibly OP badass characters and they are generally just... Not Allowed to take the spotlight here.

Shikamaru had this big dramatic chapter about surviving to become Naruto's future advisor someday, and I had to repress the urge to holler, "Gaaaaay!" at the screen. I do love the inherent homoeroticism of a right-hand man. (Also, *waves a hand vaguely* Gaara's whole everything.)

To be honest, though, I'm not even sure what Sasuke has spent the past fifty chapters doing. He's there! He sure is there! I think he just got stabbed, so now he gets to be emotional motivation for Naruto again. As far as I understand it, not being sure what Sasuke is actually doing sums up basically everything he does in the manga. There are too many characters here.

On that note, the vibe I'm getting from Orochimaru is that he's also mostly just here to spectate. Like, yeah, I know. Characters like Orochimaru and Sakura and Tsunade are keeping everyone alive with their bare fucking hands right now, but also, give Orochimaru some opera glasses and an alcoholic beverage and it wouldn't feel that out of place.

I'll probably have more to add at some point, but these are the (not that serious) notes off the top of my head.

[rmwb-fanfics]

How to remake Harry Potter:

(A step by step guide)

We’ve already had one god-awful adaptation that way too many people think is good. This is our one chance to have the book characters represented correctly, along with the plot they support.

I’ve put YEARS of thought into this. I’ve written scripts for episodes of a hypothetical tv show. I’ve drawn concept art. I’ve done shit. So I figured I’d share my thoughts.

1. Stick to the books*.

Stick to the books has a massive asterisk next to it because I mean the plot and characters. Some stuff (as you’ll see later) should be changed.

Nothing in this show should feel out of character. Harry should be closer with Ron than he is to Hermione. Snape should be a real d*ckhead. Hermione should be judgmental of those who don’t think like her, etc etc. The way these characters navigate their relationships is why the fandom is still relevant. It’s why canon-compliant fic is popular in the first place. We like their dynamics. SHOW THEM APPROPRIATELY.

Plot is a sticky thing because I’d say there’s wiggle room, but not too much. Certain characters have to die. Certain events must happen. You cant change that stuff.

2. Use the Medium.

You’re using film as a format to tell your story. Ideally you’d us animation, but I know Warner Bros has less creativity than Disney’s remake department, so I won’t even try and pitch that.

Use colour and saturation. It can help contextualize emotion. It can make us subconsciously recognize things. For instance, the scene growing more saturated when Ron walks into the room when Hermione is wearing the horcrux, or any multitude of other uses this could bring.

Bring in costume design that (actually fits the world) but also helps show how that character is feeling. What they’re thinking, their personality, their future, etc.

Make magic fun™️. The books sort of sidelined magic in 5-7. Don’t do that. Divert from the books. Magic should feel alive. Colour-code them so we as an audience can recognize spells and what they might do before we see it. Implement sound design to make each spell unique and vibrant. Make this world subtly bursting with magic like it was in the first few books. Have it weave around characters, wrap them up. Be creative with action scenes. Force transfiguration into battle scenes. Choreograph your duels. Show don’t tell us that a wizard/witch is powerful. Turn people into portraits. Lock them up as mice. USE MAGIC.

Your set design should reflect this. Everything should be bursting with personality. Don’t just use the shitty movie sets. Inject some colour, have the surroundings aid you in telling the story. Get weird with the camera. Use these tools to their fullest potential.

Actually fucking try.

3. Utilize Music.

Music is just… such a massive part of film. It’s frustrating how often even the best filmmakers overlook its use. Characters should have themes that mature and develop as the series goes on. Have action arrangements of the themes to play with heroic moments. As the series progresses, we grow attached to these themes. When they appear, the audience FEELS something. Don’t reuse great pieces to force emotion. (Dumbledore’s Farewell in The Prince’s Tale. Are you fucking kidding me?)

For example: Have a theme for Neville that starts out timid and uses very shy instrumentals, but we first hear a change when he stands up to the trio at the end of PS. Then it gains more instruments until OotP, when it grows again. Once we get to DH, it can be used in this heroic swell as he chops the head off the snake in front of Voldemort and everyone watching. The audience, consciously or not, will feel that moment even more.

Have a theme for Ron and Hermione that might not even be romantic until HBP when it gains that element. PLAY WITH MUSIC.

Themes for mystery, adventure, loss, love, friendship, LOCATION. Let them come back throughout the series to highlight various moments. See Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games, as well as (surprisingly) the Fantastic Beasts films.

Let music affect the visuals. Magic can bend and swivel with the music. Use it to tell the story. Use it to show emotion. Use it to progress a character’s arc. USE CONSISTENT MUSIC.

4 . Be Bold.

This is the big one and it may seem like I’m contradicting myself but I’m not. Rowling’s work hasn’t aged crazily well to modern fiction standards. This is your chance to rectify that. Fill plot holes, actually think through the politics. Introduce world-building elements that enhance the story/characters. (The house system, and how Slytherin fits in. The logic behind avada kedavra???) Get creative with solutions. Contradict the original work when it comes to description of location. If it doesn’t work for the film format, don’t force it to work here.

Spend more time with characters we know are relevant, but maybe not to the plot. These are your Ginny Weasleys, your Seamus and Deans, Nevilles, etc. Really fill them in. Give them more scenes. Ginny has two phenomenal arcs that play completely off-screen, explore them. Show us her friendship with Hermione. Show us her insecurities and her faults. Give us more of her and Harry’s friendship. We know they get married, so maybe fix the whole “Rowling wrote the epilogue first, but didn’t realize she was waiting too long to introduce these characters until HBP”.

Add scenes. Add jokes. Add smiles and covert looks. You have more time, which means you have a chance to focus on friendships, and romance, and world building.

Tell multiple storylines. Give Remus and Tonks a cool spy/thriller subplot interjected with the main story in OotP. Show us more of Fleur staying in England. Give us more of Harry and Sirius bonding. All of this stuff can fit loosely into canon, and be welcome creative additions.

BE BOLD.

And finally,

5. This is your chance to not only retell the story, but to do it better.

RECOGNIZE THIS. Take advantage of this opportunity and enhance canon, don’t fight it.

Don’t add Hermione and Harry dancing because *YOU* don’t like where the romantic pairings went. Don’t add Draco sympathy because you want him to have a redemption arc. Don’t dumb Ron down because you don’t like the fact that he’s just like the teenage boys you dated in High School, and he was a bit immature.

Make changes, be bold, use music, stick to the books*, use the medium, but take this as the opportunity that it is to enhance what came before.

Thank you.

[kagoutiss]

So I am having SO MANY thoughts about the twinrova and how they’re a couple centuries old and so would’ve lived through multiple rulers before “serving” ganondorf.

Like they raised him, what was their agenda? Did they have plans spanning multiple sovereigns to secure their power over the gerudo? Did they have the Omni man “what’s another century we’ll just raise the next one” kind of feelings towards him if he didn’t become their puppet or weapon?

So much thot not enough brain space this rot is taking over me

ooooooogh twinrova brainrot is strong in me too…..yeah because if they’re ~400 years old and OoT ganondorf was still just in his twenties at the time, and a male gerudo child is born every century, then presumably they could’ve been in the position of raising said children multiple times? i think i remember seeing a take somewhere that considered the idea of twinrova’s role in the gerudo being similar to that of impa serving as an attendant/mentor to zelda, and i think that’s a really cool idea. there’s probably also a lot of potential angst to be found in these little old witches who may have cared for previous gerudo princes, and would have had the incredible responsibility of keeping them safe in childhood, while also training them in witchcraft and war strategy, and advising them in their kingship as adults. because if that’s the case, they would’ve seen those princes live and die multiple times too

it kinda makes you wonder if their love for ganondorf is so obsessive in part because they know firsthand how painful it is to lose a child, to live long enough to outlive to your children multiple times. tbh, i feel like them using ganondorf as their proxy for everything, and trying to make him an all-powerful being at any cost, is more a product of their love for him, than it is a litmus test of whether they‘ll love him or not? and by this i don’t mean they’re like,,, a healthy family by any means, like you can still easily apply terms like abuse and trauma-bonding to parts of their dynamic, imo. i think kotake & koume love ganondorf genuinely, and always have, and that the sentiment is mutual. it’s just that they’re willing to go to very extreme lengths to protect/empower ganon in the ways they believe are necessary, because they are very aware of how important he is, to them and the gerudo as a whole. and ironically, a lot of the time, this desperation ends up being not at all conducive to his safety, or sanity, or happiness

like…raising him with expectations and standards that are completely unreasonable for any human being, that turn him into an ambition-driven nutjob who invents lightning magic & masters all types of weaponry & plays a pipe organ, while also having virtually no ability to form genuine relationships with people other than his mothers. or them trying to make him into an impervious, all-powerful being by trying to take divine power, which sometimes inadvertently turns the rational parts of his brain into soup and sets them on fire. or them trying to revive him after death in the downfall timeline by sacrificing themselves, inadvertently bringing him back wrong, and sentencing him to an existence he never would’ve originally wanted

idk. they’re really fun and also heartbreaking to think about. he engraves their names into his weapons, they willfully die just for the possibility of allowing him to live again. their familial relationship seems to be the most important bond in the lives of everyone involved in it, at the expense of any other kind of connections in their lives. he’s their figurative puppet in a few ways, and will break himself over and over if it means meeting their expectations, but i doubt any of them see it that way. everyone involved gets extremely hurt in one way or another, no matter what, often in an attempt to do the opposite, out of love and fear. little fucked up witch fambly……it’s so much