#middle-aged pirates who are also teenage girls

[celestemona]

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍

a when they're dads au series.

pairing: dad & husband! kaedehara kazuha x fem! reader

cw: established relationship, you and kazuha are married and have children. original characters. domestic and parenting universe. quick mention of pregnant reader. slightly ooc to fit the plot. fluff and not beta read.

reblogs and comments are appreciated ♡

part i. | part ii.

Considering that Kaedehara Kazuha’ only reputation was his mild personality and free spirit, no one believed that the wandering samurai would one day be able to pause his travels and settle down to a monotonous, homely life.

So you can imagine the surprise that’d be among the fishing and sailing communities throughout Teyvat when they discovered that the white-haired man had not settled down but also married and had children.

Surely it only could be a prank because, after all, was there even a possibility of that happening?

Well, this answer was given by a drunk and laughing Captain Beidou who showed to curious and shocked eyes a photo of his wedding held by the Crux fleet itself on a small and isolated island in Inazuma.

If the residents and locals didn't know her so well they might think the pirate captain was lying. However, looking at the photo closer, the way Kazuha looked at you while you smiled back at him confirmed the undeniable: the man was madly in love with you.

After that, with the help of a few barrels of rum and beer, the story of your love was shared. From you falling from the sky directly (and literally) into the samurai's arms, to the blossoming of your relationship; the ups and downs faced to the marriage proposal, and then the small family's decision to leave the seas to rebuild the Kaedehara Clan together.

Oh, well… Beidou may have let escape one more detail since dozens of wide eyes stared at her in astonishment at this information. However, she was pretty sure Kazuha wouldn't mind if she told them a little bit more about his new life as patriarch of the clan and his greatest prides. You, his wife, and your three children.

The samurai himself didn’t believe that one day he could be so fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to return to a happy and noisy home. His days as a teenager left him with a deep scar in his heart since his relationship with his father, at first, wasn’t one of the best and therefore staying away from the place that was once his home was the best decision to be made.

Not only had the distance from Inazuma changed his perspective but also an insecurity had blossomed in the back of his mind where he feared that one day he’d make the same mistakes as his father.

Even so, after you entered his life, the only feeling he had when he set foot in the old estate was pure warmth and belonging. Love and serenity that not even his children, while yelling and playing around the mansion, could shake it.

Kiyomi, his middle and only daughter, was, most of the time, responsible for the laughter and noises in the house. Both you and your husband didn't know where she had inherited such an extroverted and mischievous personality, causing you to grow a few strands of gray hair and eliciting genuine laughs from Kazuha. There was no denying that the girl had a temperament as unique as her beauty, which was a mixture between yours and your husband's. And as the only girl in the family it was undeniable to say that Kazuha loved the ground she walked on. Nevertheless, neither you nor your husband would change anything about her, loving and being proud of your daughter the way she is  — because if there’s something prettier about Kiyomi was her heart as big as her stubbornness.

Clearly, the affection of the two parents wasn’t limited to just the girl but also extended to the two sons.

Kazumi is your firstborn son and only three years older than Kiyomi. With such a small age difference, some parents would expect there to be a certain amount of rivalry and jealousy between the siblings, but Kazumi was his father's son in both appearance and personality. With such a sneaky smile and a relaxed attitude, he was often mistaken for Kazuha himself — even sharing the same mindset of preferring to go with the flow rather than worry about small, insignificant things. This didn't apply to situations where you or his siblings were in danger, of course. After all, he took the title of older son and brother very seriously.

Shortly before his tenth birthday, Kazumi had learned and inherited the techniques of the Isshin Art which even took Kazuha himself an entire decade to re-learn. Unlike his ancestors, the current patriarch would teach his children the clan's secret technique so that the art would remain alive. Whether his children would dedicate themselves to it or not will depend on each of them.

Kiyomi didn't seem too interested, neither did Kazumi.

You, though, hoped that one of your children would carry the bladesmithing practices forward but you were also happy to see each of your children following their own path. If not even Haruki, your youngest son who was known to be as hungry for knowledge as any sage of Sumeru himself, seemed enchanted by this idea then ​​the Kaedehara Clan must expanding its businesses in other areas.

The youngest Kaedehara was the prodigy and the pride of the entire family. Your third pregnancy was a big surprise in the house but very well welcomed. Kazumi had just turned ten and Kiyomi was awaiting her seventh birthday when the fragile little Haruki arrived into the world on a autumn morning — although, the first few months that followed weren’t very pleasant as your baby's health was poor, leaving both you and Kazuha with your nerves always on edge.

However, with the help of your friends, the traveler, the Crux fleet, and even Yae Miko’s divine blessing, little by little Haruki managed to recover and finally grow up healthily.

Unlike his brothers who always seemed to be somewhere or running around, Haruki preferred to stay at home surrounded by the comfort of his parents' presence or his books. It took little time for you and Kazuha to realize that at a young age he was already reading advanced-level books and scrolls, and was interested in subjects that even adults would find boring. So it was also no surprise either when an invitation to study at Akademiya arrived at your home just before the boy's thirteenth birthday.

Needless to say there was a huge party before his departure to Sumeru where on one side there was you crying at the sudden departure of your son, Kazuha consoling you and a very happy Beidou getting all the guests drunk.

So, yes. If someone asked Kazuha about what he thought of this new life of his, he wouldn't lie when he answered them that it was a very different reality from the one he had projected years ago. There would always be something to worry about, his days were almost the same, rarely leaving the routine, and every now and then the desire to reach new horizons would always call him.

But in the end of the day, he wouldn't trade a second of his life by your side for his old one. Because, after all, he’s already living the biggest adventure of his life with you by his side, and if there’s something that Kazuha was sure of, it'd be that there’s nothing in the world so rewarding as having your company.

.

.

a/n: i must confess that i have this plot on my drafts for almost two years now but i’ve never found will enough on myself to sit down and write it. nevertheless, i’m thankful for my mind to remind me of this plot and make me re-write new ideas.

those who knows me, or not, must’ve know that i really do love parenting, domestic and pregnancy universe so not so often i caught myself writing about it. it’s so relaxing and enjoyable to picture these guys as dad idk.

i hope you’ve liked it so far. i would like to share more about this headcanon too in a possible future so let me know if you want to know something more about the kaedehara clan. thank you so much, bye!

[gatitties]

Hi 👋😊.

I just had this a idea for almost a whole  year and it about a young teen female Reader who have a father figure or mother figure from the pirate they like the most but~~ I want them to be the older version from the future like when they are at the age of 40 or 60 . ( Strawhat pirates & white beard pirates & kid pirates) 

And if you don't write about the whitebeard pirate's it okay .instead of it I would like it to be the heart pirates 😊♡.

Edited!\ take your time okay, love your writing by the way👋😊♡

─Strawhats, Heart Pirates, Kid pirates & Whitebeard Pirates x teen!fem!reader (Platonic)

─Summary: some headcannons with your mother/father figure and the rest of the crew

─Warnings: the characters are older, like in those 40/60 year old drawings (reference)

Well yes I write for whitebeard and as a bonus you will have all four crews, ty!! ;)

─ You're like the baby of the crew, no matter how strong or smart you are, for them it's like a duty to keep you safe even though you don't need it.

─ Luffy, Chopper and Usopp are your best allies when you get bored and want to play or play a joke on others, although they are not so young for their usual games they can always make a small exception for you.

─ As for family roles… Sanji was like a father to you, he was the most attentive to everything, he controlled that you had a balanced diet, that you hydrated, and he made sure that nothing and nobody could bother you or harm you, physically or mentally.

─ This cook already has an age and a past that makes him want to protect every possible child, and despite the fact that you were not a child, in his eyes it still seemed that you were 5 years old and not 13.

─ You called him 'dad' once by accident and he cried after you left the room.

─ Sometimes he just walks into your room to tell you something random "did you know that swordfish can swim up to 100 km/h? They are great hunters" and leaves without saying anything else, he doesn't even wait for you to answer, "Close the door!" of course he never closes the door after that.

─ You spend a lot of time in the kitchen and he teaches you to make your favorite dishes.

─ Despite being forty years old, the fights with Zoro won't stop, and he always puts you in the middle to give him support, "yellow looks much better" "green is better, it doesn't look like piss" "Of course not, honey, what do you think about this? Yellow is better isn't it?" "I guess?" "Ha! see, my little girl is always right marimo"

─ Franky and Brook are like the uncles who spoil you.

─ Now… if you're looking for who won to be your mother figure, the award went to Nami, despite not being as young as before and having lived more adventures, she will never stop being like a scared cat and tends to separate you from danger when she sees it.

─ She earned most of your affection pretty quickly.

─ Typical mother who makes you save as much as possible, she'll lend you her old clothes if still in good condition, "this shirt suits you better than it did when I was your age, you'll be a beautiful girl when you grow up!"

─ Although she doesn't mind pampering you a bit if she wants, it's practically difficult for her to deny you something if you really want it, overall, she can always put others in debt to get more money.

─ Lots of relaxing baths with her and Robin, you like to gossip about everything you see when you stay on an island for a while.

— Many moments of shopping together, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, she will simply drag you down because she needs the opinion of someone younger to stay "in fashion".

— She'll also teach you everything she knows about cartography and navigation.

— Father figure Law lives under stress, his night schedules are still as shattered as when he was young and now he has a teenager under his wing to care for.

─ He is very strict with everything, he wants you to maintain a healthy life so you will have many restrictions, ranging from not spending much time inside the submarine to correcting your posture when you're sitting wrong. "You look like a shrimp sitting like this, correct your posture or you'll have back pain" "You look like an emo in your forties and nobody says anything to you" "…"

─ He's worried because teenagers are so carefree and stupid sometimes, he'll have Bepo supervise when he can't.

─ You have many arguments with him for small things, but don't worry, if he punishes you Shachi and Penguin are the uncles who get you out of trouble.

─ This duet with you by their side only means one thing to Law and it's headache.

─ Whenever you're in a bad mood, the crew jokes that Law has infected you with his continual sulking disease, and that now you are like father and daughter.

─ Law is a proud dad inside of him, he won't show that he is proud of you out loud, but in his mind he has you as someone smarter than half the crew.

─ He will teach you everything he knows about medicine, unless you don't like it or are too squeamish about operating or dissecting, however you are required to learn everything about basic first aid.

─ Ikkaku is the only woman on the whole ship so she was the mother figure who helped you not go crazy among so many men and an adorable bear.

─ You're always welcome in the kitchen to help or observe, but mostly to gossip, sometimes Bepo joins.

─ She has small details with you, like buying some matching pendants or bracelets, she also likes to comb your hair with different styles, definitely your personal hairdresser.

─ Unlike Law, Ikkaku will always let you know that she's proud of you for any little thing, like if you've only managed to take down a few guys on your own without help and will yell in mid-battle "Well done, that's my girl!"

─ God bless you with this crew because you will not have a day off, just because they have aged doesn't mean that they are not as chaotic as before.

─ Although they will respect you, you are not in this crew for nothing, and also, all these guys are afraid of an angry teenager with little hours of sleep. "Dude, shut the fuck up if you don't want me to insert this knife as a new piercing in your forehead" "Yo… ok, chill kiddo"

─ The closest thing to a mother figure that you found was Heat, because he was the one who acted the most like a mother hen with you, apparently he was the most concerned about your physical integrity because he was at that age of wanting children and you were the closest to that.

─ It's not like he was depriving you of potentially lethal weapons for a teenager, but he was more afraid of what people would do with someone young like you.

─ Because being in this crew most of the time means fighting and going to clubs, so yeah, he always had an eye on you just in case some nasty person tried something weird with you.

─ Wire always took care to relax Heat when you'd rather just walk around the village than be in a bar because you weren't much of a fan of drinking alcohol at your age. "What if she gets kidnapped? She can be there all alone being scared" "She literally dismembered a guy last time we fought, she'll be fine."

─ Wire is the cool uncle who lets you do whatever you want as long as your worried mom doesn't find out.

─ And if we talk about a father figure… Killer, Killer acted like a responsible father most of the time, not as worried as Heat but always watching over you and above all that you didn't let yourself be influenced by some of Kid's stupidity.

─ Because Kid was like your demon on your shoulder, despite already being of an age, this man wouldn't stop being impulsive and you're an easy-to-influence teenager, so you and Kid have a sibling relationship.

─ Killer just watches the two of you while he looks disapprovingly, you can't even see his face and you already know that he is disappointed with your decisions. "You guys broke what? oh okay." a lot of passive-aggressiveness whenever he scolds you.

─ But he will always scold Kid more because he is of legal age and should be responsible, he definitely doesn't leave you alone with him because the last time you ended up drunk.

─ And despite not being of many words, he's like the presence you need by your side at certain times, someone you can turn to if something bothers you and that you know that he will be there for you.

─ Overprotective squad in general.

─ Everyone sees Whitebeard as a father, however in your eyes he is like your grandfather, because Marco had earned the position of father figure.

─ This man wanted to establish a life a few years ago, start a family etc, then one day you just arrived and he decided to take you under his wing, literally.

─ He is the least worried if you compare him with the men of the other crews, he knows that he has many people who protect you by his side, so he is calm in that aspect.

─ He will still scold you for your bad habits. "Eat slower you'll choke if you keep eating like a turkey" "Don't you have a nest to make or something? I know how to eat, I'm not Ace" "Hey!"

─ Ace may have matured a lot more but he'll still be a bad influence on you, so Marco always asks Izo to keep an eye on both of you, because the last time he left you two alone you ended up in the stomach of a sea king.

─ His chest will swell with pride if you call him 'dad' in front of people.

─ He's the kind of dad who tells all the shits that have happened to you and he embarrasses you in front of the crew just because he wanted to tell a funny anecdote about you, although he later apologizes to you if he really upset you.

─ As for a mother figure, this crew is short of such things, but the closest thing was Izo, because without a doubt, within this crew full of testosterone, he was much more elegant and careful than the others.

─ And more than anything because you could steal his makeup to use it, although you didn't know how to apply many of the things he had, he helped you with that. "Honey you're spreading the makeup wrong" "Can you teach me Izo?"

─ He taught you a lot about self defense in case someone bothers you more than necessary, like using guns, you should know how to protect yourself just in case.

─ Proud mom watching you kick ass.

[polaritiesoop]

Gem and Lizzie would make for fun enemies as I think they would make great for a duo. Is it just me? Like better if it's one sided rivalry like with Joel and Scott. Lizzie is confused, Gem is bloodthirsty. Must be just me and my pirate concept with pirate captain Gem and her beef with the ocean and Lizzie as the Ocean Queen.

lemme rant about my concept

Gem is cursed by some ancient entity to shift into an ocean siren hit with the urge to eat people and longing to breathe underwater, she hates it because her siren features are slowly becoming permanent almost replacing her hybrid features of being a deer. Which she is devastated of as she is the sole survivor of her village kind. At some point she and her crew rescued Joel from captivity as he was a prince of a kingdom in the middle of a war. And Joel has the attention of Ocean Queen Lizzie, straight up being courted by her and he has an embarrassing crush on her yet is oblivious. When Gem realizes Joel is connected with her, she keeps Joel captive and demands Lizzie to cure her curse. Lizzie, who was not the one to cast the curse nor is she powerful enough to undo a curse, is confused on why Gem is being so hostile and keeping her from seeing Joel. They would have squabbles in the ocean and Lizzie is just half confused and half annoyed that Gem keeps fighting her. Plus she's embarrassed because Gem wins nearly all the time. Of course it eventually develops into friendship through the different misadventures of Gem and her crew.... And Lizzie is there on the ocean cuz she can't really stay much on land and Gem would aim for her head if she ever tries to take a step on their ship. she really wants to join the crew but Gem keeps refusing. Joel feels like Gem is acting like a parent keeping him away from Lizzie, Taylor Swift's Romeo and Juliet style of goofy lovestory.

Gem's crew consist most of the magical mt. cast that might be also cursed like Gem in diff. ways and so each of them have their own stories. Scar is a wanted criminal and vex hybrid and might/might've not stolen an important artifact from the last cannibal cult he was a part of (triple whammy) and might/might not be threatened every time with death because he got the attention of an ancient entity, I wonder why? Grian is a runaway prince that teenaged Gem had the unfortunate time with when he sneaked into the pirate ship of another crew Gem was once a cabin girl for. Now he is in Gem's crew disguised as a middle aged fisherman that contributes jack shit on the crew, but can't be kicked out cause he's a great fighter and the Snail Colony both cursed Gem and Grian as their servants and they are inseparable by contract. Skizz was supposed to assassinate Joel, but had grown fond of the man while taking on the role as his personal knight, and so was protecting him all the time when Prince Joel was kidnapped and the two of them formed a deeper friendship when they were kept captive . Skizz is definitely an ancient entity that is not aware he is one, has an awful amnesia of his divinity, and will start to remember while having a second go at puberty in the form of wings. Many Many sprouting wings. Impulse has a touch with death, he does not know why but he is happy to see his bestfriend Skizz again! He is plagued by the ghosts that start to randomly haunt their ship but he knows it's because of Scar...because they keep telling him to kill Scar. Oh, and Impulse encounters ghostly Joel clones pretending to be Joel of a variety of killing moods, for whatever reason they are targeting Skizz. Something is not right with Joel.

What about Mumbo? uhhhhh Normal Guy™. Genuinely loves to tend to the ship be it redstone and building. Experiences all the horrors of his friends' curses first hand. Does help them and somehow always at the scene of the crime but also at the resolution of said crime. It's almost suspicious how he keeps surviving....

Yeah, so pirates, lotsa ancient entities and curses and cults and crazy island colonies with more curses. but most importantly. snails. and the moon might start cash landing on earth because for some reason the moon goddess (Pearl duh) is now on earth and her powers are gone and Gem needs to help her. Somehow.

[icanbeyourgenie]

[ Peter!Viserys listening at the window to a teenage!Yasmeen telling a story to young!Aeron, the night he came to take them ]

Yasmeen always found it strange how prince Aeron never seemed to know what her purpose was. He was still young after all - not technically younger than her in age, but immortal beings took way longer to grow up, so younger in maturity at least. But she also knew that there was no age for fae cruelty, and that they were initiated to what could be considered 'adult activities' very early in life. But the first night she was sent to him, he only asked for a bedtime story.

As strange as it seemed, she complied. The next time he asked for her specifically, she felt dread sinking into her stomach. Had she made the mistake to be too interesting? She could easily get taken away into her stories, she knew that... But when he asked for another story she realized: she could probably borrow time with her stories. Make them as interesting as she could so he'd always want that instead of something else. She knew the bad part would come, but she could stall. Sherazade did it first, right?

The young prince loved pirates and aventures, so that's what she gave him. Tales of piracy and thiefs and freedom. He didn't particularly like romance, but he adored the part where they fought monsters and found treasures. She was in the middle of a tale, deep into the part where the main character had to fight the mightiest of sea monsters. She had a fake hat and a real sword in her hand, she talked with a fake deep voice and he was laughing. Truly laughing. Until suddenly, he stopped.

The room went chill and Yasmeen clang to the sword as the strangest figure came by the window - she had no idea how to use a sword, she just found it lying around and used it for story purposes.

The figure came in and she realized it was a boy. Around her age - at least in appearance. A little yellow pixie flew around him, casting light on his face.

"Hey I saw you before! You like my window." said the young prince, apparently not frightened at all.

The boy smiled, but it did not quite reach his eyes. Aeron didn't notice that. Yasmeen did. She went as quiet as possible, almost invisible if she didn't stand in the middle of the room too.

"I'm Peter. I was watching you, to see if you were the right man for the task."

Aeron, whose eyes lit up at being called a man, got up from this bed, all excited already. "What task?"

"I'm living on my island, but there's a pirate who is always looking for trouble. He wants my land and I want to fight him off, cause that's mine and there's not supposed to be adults in Neverland!"

"A pirate?! I want to be a pirate!"

"Then you have to prove you can fight other pirates first, right?"

"Yeah! And there's no adult in your island?"

"No. Only children. Adults are too boring to play with us."

"They are!! My mother is always asking me to do boring stuff, but I just want to be a pirate and I want my own ship!"

"If you come with me, we can steal captain Hook's ship. Would you like that?"

"Hell yeah! And 'captain hook' is a lame name. I'd have a much better one!"

"You could. We can do whatever we want in my island, no adults to tell us no."

"How do we go to your island?"

"The sky. We need to fly. Second star the the right, and straight on 'til morning."

"Hey I know how to fly!"

Peter's lips twitched. Only for a micro second and then his charming place was back. Yasmeen could've think she dreamt it, but then her looked at her. He looked charming and a part of her wanted to like and trust him. But another part had the alarm on. He almost looked nice but his eyes were cold. And the pixie that flew around him was looking at her with a death promise in her eyes. The young human girl didn't exactly understand what was going on but she understood these 3 facts: Peter was here for Aeron and the prince seemed eager to join. That Peter was probably not what he seemed. And no matter what, she couldn't escape what would come next.

"That was a nice story." Peter said to her, and all hope of being invisible flew through the window. She stayed silent. But Aeron did not.

"She has the best stories! She's just a human so she's going to die. I didn't know dying people had good stories but she does! It's stupid to die when you have good stories..."

"Indeed it is. Such a waste.." Peter came closer to her. He looked nice. For a second she didn't understand why she was so on guards. Then her alarm came back on. "In my island, nobody dies. Or at least not because of time. No one grows up because adults are the worst. I need somewhere there to tell stories. You're coming?"

"Yes she is!"

"...... I don't know how to fly."

Peter laughed. "Of course not. But that can be arranged."

"Let's go let's go let's go! It's so boring in here."

Aeron was already dressed and ready to go and Yasmeen realized she did not have much of a choice. If she stayed, and was the last person to see the prince, she'd probably be executed for his disappearance. Even if she wasn't, she'd have to go back to the pleasure house, and she'd do anything to get out of this hell. So in the end she took Peter's hand, not yet realizing that she was treading one hell for another.

[glazedwriter-mystery0014]

🌊Ruby Gillman, The Teenage Kraken 🌊

Shelly-Ann D. {Darleene} Ezmeralda Armourel-Meranda Barracudon

"My mother's soul showed me and enlightened me that's mermaids are the guardians, the protectors and the guides of the titanic ocean as they're becoming intellectual women and good creatures without a black heart in them in one of my dreams. Those who're associated with floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings in their age-old histories, and includes one of my long-lived ancestors... Crown Empress Oshearne Mermanda.... the daughter and the youth of Atargatis, their gifted and great goddess."

"Shelly-Ann otherwise known as "Shelly"/"Ann"/or "Esmeralda"/or "Esme", her middle name, is a 16 y/o college girl & adolescent of "Coral Seacoast University", and a old friend & best friend from childhood of Ruby Gillman."

"A confident teenager who is determined to discover of her family's aforementioned secrets which she's happen to be a not only mermaid but a crowned head of the mermaids' decent tribe."

"Adopted by "Gal Barracudon", the devoted and good father who is full-blooded kraken along with his decent family members those who're dwelled in "The Ocean City Shore" and includes "Shar Barracudon" alternatively known as Shelly-Ann's likely adopted-grandfather."

"See her adopted kraken father as uncle figure and second father to her as she's calls him "Treasure Papa"/"Anchor"."

"She's Demigirl/Bisexual, and pronouns She/Her & They/Them/Their."

"They're and her gigantic family dwelled at The Ocean City Shore & "The Enchanted Coastline" next to her biological father's lighthouse, golden pond and harbor from his childhood, "New Wave Harbor" and "High Tide Harbor Light"."

"Shelly is a smoothie and real charmer with alike personalities of Princess Ariel & Esmeralda. She's a bright and kindhearted teenager with strong passions for adventure and exploration. Curious, spunky & adventurous spirit, and strong-willed, independent, headstrong, and plucky young girl with a good heart of gold like Ariel but also, they shown to be verbally powerful, streetwise, cunning, positive, moral, and intelligent like Esmeralda and Shelly's is also have ultimately a kind, loving selfless soul underneath with benevolent and caring personality as well."

"Quarter of Greece/Celtic from both of the side of her ancestry from both of their big folks but however, from her mother's side of her enormous family and her ancestors were French, Hawaiian, Mauritian-Creole & Haitian-Creole, and as for her father's, his side of his overgrown family and his ancestry were Australian, Caribbean, and Spanish & Portuguese."

"Her auburn ombre hair have pastel light blue and pastel teal highlights/ombre."

"Also have same personalities and characters of Anne Boonchuy & Rikki Chadwick."

"She's treated Ruby Gillman like a great sister to her as both of them were very dear best friends since childhood before she's move away to another town."

"A crown princess and young blue-blooded heiress of her noble grandparents' immeasurable empire of the enormous depths and titanic ocean, "Domian of The Ethereal Waves", the important colony and the considerable & greater community of full of the merfolks, water spirits and mermaids who've depart from their previous clan for moral reasons and lead by adventurers, pirates & all-powerful and full witches of the great sea, "The Moon Siren Wives", "The Merpeople Buccaneers", "The Daughters of the Sea", "The Raiders of the Promised Treasure", "The Moon Temple Sisters", "The Rovers of the Hidden Monster", "The Corsairs of the Cursed Doubloon", "The South Sea Sailors" & "The Rovers of the North Sea", "The Buccaneers of the Lost Kraken", "The Pirates of the Seven Shores" and "The Magic Water Warriors"."

"Got a part-time employment at "Underwater Park" & "Splashventures!"."

"Wears her deceased mother's blessed and good charms, "The Mermaid's Ocean Memorial", and "The Serene Tear Necklace". The Serene Tear Necklace glowing in the dark of the deeps when she's in the bottom of the sea."

"She's the captain of the group of seaside female furies, "The Siren's Song"."

"She's have gifted and imperial powers, and important forces from her mother's pure ancestors and her grandparents' as it's have same ability from Percy Jackson, H2O: Just Add Water, Mako: Island of Secrets and H2O: Mermaid Adventures."

"One of her great aunts, "Aunt Margo Meranda" & "Aunt Amber Meranda" owns a jewelry dealer's store, "The Treasure Trove". Shelly always collects goods, and outdated charms & fine and antiquated jewelries for her twin aunts when she's in bottom of the sea or treasure hunting in one of the beaches and includes low-priced ones before she's gone meet them and get to know them."

"When she's in the bottom of the sea, mermaid form and hairstyle of hers is inspired by Bloom's Mermaidix Form but however her crop-top and her appearing looks fused together and few of the accessories of hers were changed and also fused with these."

"Her adopted decent family's cares about and loves her dearly as her adopted mother, "Rilletta Barracudon", was strongly supported to her family and her adopted daughter as she was great support and glad about her husband adopting Shelly-Ann since she was a little girl."

"The roller-skating rink queen & the ringleader of "The Sadistic Seaside Sirens"."

Ruby Gillman belongs to Dreamworks Ruby Gillman the Teenage Kraken

Shelly-Ann Armourel-Meranda Barracudon belongs to @gloomycherub-mysterious/@sullenwriter-log/@glazedwriter-mystery0014

[mikoyamisheadcanonblog]

Ash's profile (One Piece OC)

Name: Asherah Yue (Ash)

Gender/Pronouns: Female; She/her 

Origin: North Blue

Blood Type: S (O)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Purple

Weight: 115lb (52K)

Height: 5”5 (165cm)

Age: Pre-Timeskip: 19-20 Post Time skip: 21-22 

Occupation: Spy

Wanted Poster:

Bounty: 25,000

Affiliation: Marines: 15-16 Baku Pirates: 16-18 Boots Pirates: 18-21 Heart Pirates: 21- Present

Devil Fruit: N/A

Family: (Names of Family will be added over time) Genghis (Father) Mother Older Brother First Older Sister Rena (2nd Older Sister) 1st Younger Sister 1st Younger Brother 2nd Younger Sister

 Backstory:

Ash is the fourth (Middle child) of a family of seven other kids, thus shaping her personality. She has clear signs of middle child syndrome, acting on impulse and causing trouble just to gain a little attention from her parents. Though her parents weren’t perfect parents they did love their kids a lot but due to being busy and having a large number of family members were prone to a lot more mistakes. Her father was a military captain and her mother was a famous singer in the North Blue. Having Ash have some respect for the military and a love for music.

Ash would often get attention from her older sister, a soft-spoken, sickly child due to being born prematurely. Rena was the one that gave Ash the attention she craved when her parents were busy. The girls formed a special bond and promised one another they would travel to the Grandline together and finding the One Piece together.

 Because of that promise and Ash’s dream of adventure, she would push her sickly sister to be more adventurous. Even pushing her sister too far often and having her sister end the hospital due to declining health or doing something dangerous. Because of a dare to prove how brave she was, Ash explored a pirate ship that was docked on the island while her father was out of town. With Rena following Ash begging her to get off the ship. Unfortunately, the girls got caught in a battle. Ash woke in the hospital a few days later hearing about her sister’s death.

Ash has a lot of guilt about losing her sister, due to her own mistake. Often time blames herself, causing herself to spiral more out of control and causing more trouble. Causing more of a rift between her and her family.

 Falling for the resident bad boy of the village who was a few years older than the fourteen-year-old girl and pushing her to cause more trouble. At age fifteen she almost lost her virginity to the boy at the back of the church till her parents caught her.

Her father furious at his daughter’s action and the direction she was heading signed her up for the Marines wanting her to shape up her attitude. Leaving her bitter and hurt by her parent’s choice again and feeling abandoned yet again. Ash joined the Marines and found herself dragged into the Grandline for training.

There she met her first love, having been a wild teenager on hormones Ash gave her heart and everything to him. He used her to get a higher rank in power, and the two were fighting with one another causing Ash high stress in her relationships. And acting out again as she had been improving.  Also being in the Marines she began to see and understand shady stuff she was never aware of as a child. And questioning her morals.

 One night out of town at a bar she met a Pirate captain 20 years older than her who told her the life of a pirate. Ash memorized by the idea of becoming a pirate joined the Baku pirates after burning her ex’s bed for revenge on him cheating on her. But this was also the last straw for her parents disowning their daughter and causing a bigger rift in their relationship. 

She fell in love with her pirate captain and soon started a relationship with him, despite the age difference. It messed Ash up a little as it was her first healthy relationship where she was respected, but still, he wanted to change her fiery personality or have her mature more quickly. Often times would compare her, to other women, wanting her to better herself as a person.  Something her parents used to do when frustrated with Ash.

After a while, they had a mutual break-up and Ash Captain Boots pirate crew. A temp agency selling services to pirates new to the Grandline and unprepared. Her job being the spy. That is where she met Law, who heard about Boots and he formed an alliance hiring Ash as a spy to work with him after Dressrosa finally convinced her to be part of the Heart Pirates.

Character Relationships: Law (Slow Burn Romance), Bepo (Favorite Heart Member), Rena (Older sister), Parents and Siblings (Unnamed), Captain Boots and his crew (Past Captain), Captain Somnium and Baku Pirates, Straw Hats (Ash's favorite Straw hats is Luffy as she can't be mad at him and Chopper)

SBS

 Birthday: N/A

Name meaning: Woman who walks on water/ Canaanite pantheon goddess/ Asherah Pole

Hobbies: Playing Violin/Piano, Reading

Favorite flower: SnowDrop

Flower Resemblance: Purple Hyacinth

Favorite Animal: Spotted Snow Seal (Harbor Seal) Recently Snow Leopards

Animal Rebalance:  Snow Lynx

Favorite food: Curry Bread and Melon Bread

Least Favorite Food: Eggplant and Mushroom (anything slimy)

Real World: Chinese/Persian

Real World Job: Therapist or Music Teacher

Violin Name: Rena (It is her sister’s old violin)

MBTI: INFP/ISFP

Hair: Black

Eyes: Purple

Trivia:

~Asherah will correct everyone who calls her by her full name. She prefers to go by Ash. A few people know her full name. 

~The village Ash is from is popular for their Harbor Seals (spotted seals) which is why Ash has a lot of attachment to the animal. Her first meeting with Law was to comment on how his hate looked like a spotted baby seal, in a way to insult him.

~Ash’s favorite food relates back to her family, on cold days her and siblings would often eat Curry Bread during the cold days and Melon Bread on hot days. Memories she knows she can’t get back as she grows older but cherishes. (Her second favorite animal is a polar bear)

~Ash still shops for her siblings seeing things they would like and purchasing them, even uncertain of never seeing them again. She has a small box of trinkets under her bed.

~She fears needles, often fighting with doctors and nurses by biting and scratching. A fear that carries well into her adulthood, but Law figured her weakness is Bepo and has him help when it comes to her checks.

~She doesn’t like visiting doctors or hospitals due to PTSD. She finds doctors and hospitals often bring only bad news. Only a certain doctor.

~She is also scared of ghosts and scary movies. Law does and will take advantage of her fear just to hold her or have her hold on to him.

~Ash is quick to learn to play any instruments and wishes to learn to play them all at least once. Her talent is at playing String instruments and struggles with Percussion instruments.

~Ash and Law met two-three times as kids when Law was staying with Mr. Wolff. Both have found one another annoying. As she used to fight with him, Penguin, and Shachi whenever they neared her sister.  Law enjoying Rena’s company a bit more.

~But even if Rena had lived Law would have fallen for Ash in the future. 

~Ash can’t cook, she struggles to figure out recipes and how to work in the kitchen.

~Ash can’t eat by herself, coming from a big family she likes to eat with other people. She has no issue with snacking. Law would often stop his work to eat with her when he knows she is hungry. It helps him get a regular eating habits.                               

~Ash is really good at singing but rarely sings or dislikes it due to not wanting as to punish herself for her sister’s death. But she does sing when deep in thought a soft song to herself. Law is usually listening in.  Or to Law and the Heart Pirates when bond starts to form.

~Ash has a scar on her waist from the flying sharp objects she got as a child when she lost her sister.  When asked where she got her scars she would answer with a wild story avoiding the truth and changing up her answer from person to person.

~She has three tattoos. A heart treble clef tattoo under her right ear that she keeps hidden with her hair. She got it when she was drunk at age 16. 

~A heart tattoo meant to look like Law’s jolly roger on her right handLaw got the tattoo with her. It is his basic way of claiming her without claiming her. Around the two-year time skip.

~And a small heart tattoo on her ring finger, slightly faded away and hard to see. Again while she was drunk and her friend wanted to experiment with tattoos. ~Ash when drunk either cries a lot or seeks comfort in someone's arms. Law usually makes sure he is around her drunk before some asshole takes advantage of her. Or she spills all her little secrets to Law and tells him not to share her embarrassing story and tell Law. 

Q&A and Fanfics Profile OTP Q & A (1), OTP Q & A (2), OTP Q & A (3) Q & A (1) Night Terrors (Loving Law Zine)

[sadwizardjessi]

hey hey! introduce me to your ocs!

Awww Yiisss

I'll just go through a couple bc i have way too many!! And bare with me, they're all technically dnd characters as that was the easiest way for me to create new characters

First my oldest, Aspen Creed! He's a 30 yr old human with draconic heritage. His backstory is really lengthy but to sum it up, he ran away from a cultist group around 18 bc his girlfriend of 3 years broke up with him (its a whole thing, another friend's oc. She broke up to protect him but he won't find that out until years later). Which then he met a group of pirates lead by an undead captain (which he wasn't aware of being undead at the time). The captain raises him as a son for about 7 or 8 years before there's an attack and he's seperate from them. He runs back into his ex girl friend and they try to make it work, but she leaves him again (again to protect him). It's not until he's 29 that he sees her again. But this time with a son. She'd been slowly being possessed on each new moon and was afraid of hurting him, but now she has a son and she can't exactly hide him from Aspen. So now he's hunting down the creature trying to overtake her body so he and her can live a happy life with their kid. He's dramatic and selfish and a little greedy but he really wants to do right by his family since he never really got to have one. He has a ridiculous amount of abandonment issues and an ego the size of a god damn country. He typically stays back in a fight using very strong damaging spells. Also he's vain af. I love him endlessly, he's just a terrible person lol

Next is my little man Kai Ziddis!! He's a 24 year old triton (fish person) and he's a bard! He's the middle child from a very very large family. 13 siblings actually do its hard to get a lot of attention. Especially when you occasionally freeze over and ask to be released in your sleep. He's soft spoken and sweet and tries to meditate as much as he can. He left home at 23 to both figure out his ice thing but also avoid the pressure of getting married and moving out his family is pushing onto him. He loves his friends more than he'll ever have words for and has a deep fear of one day waking up as a different person and not being able to either control his actions or remember anything if the life he's striving to build for himself. He just really wants to find a place in the world where he and his friends are safe. His main deal in battle is to supportand heal at mid range, he's terrible at 1v1 combat. Also he really really likes juice.

Next is a simple character. Just a gay elf wizard named Jassin Phelorna. He goes by Jase. He's 127 (so roughly in his early 20s) and he really likes figuring out the results to things. His past times is convincing people to try potions he's made usually consisting of spells he's tried to force into drink form. This only rarely works out. His parents put a lot of pressure to be at the top of his education, so to compromise he makes sure to learn something from every experience. He lives his life by very careful loopholes. He really likes plants. He usually tries to avoid fights, not wanting to be bothered with that stuff. Also dumb buff men who are slight pricks are his kryptonite. He'll never admit it though.

And finally I'll talk about Nexus Virel! Edgy trans teenager galore. He's a 15 yr old air Genasi and has an assassin name he made when he was 12 that he absolutely detests- The Cerulean Blade. Unfortunately it caught on before he realized you become embarrassed of yourself as you grow older. He was 7 when he lost his family, he himself being killed when a voice beyond raises him to preform a task when he's older. He now is missing his heart and is constantly flickering between the line of life and death. He travels with a bird woman he met when he was 8 named Paprika, whom he thinks of as an older sister despite her being well near middle age (another players character) she unfortunately perishes to a curse placed upon her where Nexus is then unofficially adopted by a woman named Ridian and her son Don (also another two players characters). He's sassy and pissy and honestly just a shitty kid but he has strong morals and as much as he talks a big game, he'd never hurt someone that doesn't deserve it. He fights at a distance, wanting to stealth as much as possible. Also he likes to sleep in very small places. Like a closet or a vent.

[teabooksandsweets]

While I strongly disagree with the general attitude on this site towards adult fiction, I do understand the complaint that most fantasy adventure series are about teenagers, and therefore really recommend The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen. They are written as adult fantasy, but generally marketed towards a middle-grade audience, due to their style and vibe.

The books span decades (centuries, actually, if we count the time travel and alternate dimensions, etc.) and the three protagonists are full blown adults. In the first book, they are, respectively, 19, 25, and 31. Three young men, who meet under mysterious circumstances, become great friends, and dive into many magical adventures. These adventures technically happen over the span over many decades – they have jobs in the meantime, wives and children, etc. Decidedly NOT in a “baah, boring adult life NOW it’s magic time” but they are actually just adult men with adult lives and families and jobs they love, who also have magical adventures.

And there are plenty of other characters, of various age groups, like one who is a young girl in one book, and later a young woman in later books, and many other adult characters who happily go along in fantasy worlds.

The stories can get really dark, are sometimes very complicated, and contain many allusions to literature, history and mythology. But there’s also battle goats, flying ships, pirates, talking animals driving fancy cars, lots of humour, and generally things one would rather find in children’s books.

So if you want to read about adults having fun and whimsical adventures, look at these.

[kcrabb88]

Queer Movies/Books/TV Shows for Pride Month!

Happy Pride everyone!! For your viewing/reading pleasure I have made a (non-exhaustive) list of queer media that I have enjoyed! 

Movies/Documentaries

Pride (2014): An old tried and true favorite, which meets at the intersection of queer and workers’ rights. A group of queer activists support the 1985 miners’ strike in Wales (complete with a sing-through of Bread and Roses + Power in a Union)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman (or, two young lesbians fall in love by the sea, and you cry)

God’s Own Country: Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker for lambing season ignites an intense relationship that sets Johnny on a new path (Seriously this movie is GREAT and doesn’t get enough love, watch it! It’s rough but ends happily)

The Half of It:  When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for a jock, she doesn't expect to become his friend - or fall for his crush (as in she falls for his crush who is another girl. This movie was so good, and really friendship focused!) 

Saving Face:  A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations (this is an oldie and a goodie, with a happy ending!)

Moonlight:  A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood (featuring gay men of color!)

Carol:  An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York (everyone’s seen this I think, but I couldn’t not have it here)

Milk: The story of Harvey Milk and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official (the speech at the end of this made me cry. Warning, of course, for death, if you don’t know about Harvey Milk)

Pride (Hulu Documentary):  A six-part documentary series chronicling the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America (they go by decade from the 50s-2000s, and there is a lot of great trans inclusion in this)

Paris is Burning (Documentary): A 1990s documentary about the African American and Latinx ballroom scene. Available on Youtube!

A New York Christmas Wedding:  As her Christmas Eve wedding draws near, Jennifer is visited by an angel and shown what could have been if she hadn't denied her true feelings for her childhood best friend (this movie is SO CUTE. It’s really only nominally a Christmas movie and easily watched anytime. Features an interracial sapphic couple!) 

TV Shows 

Love, Victor: Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation (this is a spin-off of Love, Simon, and it’s very sweet and well done! Featuring a young gay man of color)

Sex Education:  A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school (this has multiple queer characters, including a featured young Black gay man and also in season 2 there is a side ace character!) 

Black Sails: I mean, do I even need to put a summary here? If you follow me you know that Black Sails is full of queer pirates, just queers everywhere.

Gentleman Jack:  A dramatization of the life of LGBTQ+ trailblazer, voracious learner and cryptic diarist Anne Lister, who returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall (Period drama lesbians!!! A title sequence  that will make you gay just by watching!) 

Tales of the City (2019):  A middle-aged Mary Ann returns to San Francisco and reunites with the eccentric friends she left behind. "Tales of the City" focuses primarily on the people who live in a boardinghouse turned apartment complex owned by Anna Madrigal at 28 Barbary Lane, all of whom quickly become part of what Maupin coined a "logical family". It's no longer a secret that Mrs. Madrigal is transgender. Instead, she is haunted by something from her past that has long been too painful to share (this is based on a book series and it’s got lots of great inter-generational queer relationships!) 

The Haunting of Bly Manor:  After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (sweet, tender, wonderful lesbians. A bittersweet ending but this show is so so wonderful)

Sense8: A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order (queers just EVERYWHERE in this show, of all kinds)

Books

Loveless by Alice Oseman:  Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day. This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn’t limited to romance (don’t be turned off by this title, it’s tongue-in-cheek. This is a book about an aroace college girl discovering herself and centers the importance and power of platonic relationships! I have it on my TBR and have heard great things)

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters: Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel (again, don’t be thrown off by the title, it too, is tongue-in-cheek. This book was GREAT, and written by a trans women with a queer-and especially trans--audience in mind)

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein: A gay Christopher Marlowe, at Cambridge and trying to become England’s best new playwright, finds himself wrapped up in royal espionage schemes while also falling in love (this book is by a Twitter friend of mine, and it is a wonderful historical thriller with a gay man at the center).

Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer: a very very queer remix of The Picture of Dorian Gray (which was already quite queer), featuring amazing female characters, a gay Basil, and a much happier ending than the original. 

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: The gay prince of England and the bisexual, biracial first son of the president fall in love (think an AU of 2016 where a woman becomes president). Featuring a fantastic discovery of bisexuality, ruminations on grief, and just a truly astonishing book. One of my favorites!

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston:  For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train (This is Casey McQuiston’s brand new novel featuring time-travel, queer women, and I absolutely cannot WAIT to read it)

The Heiress by Molly Greely: Set in the Pride and Prejudice universe, this takes on Anne de Bourg (Lady Catherine’s daughter), and makes her queer! 

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters:  Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins (Sarah Waters is the queen of historical lesbians. All of her books are good, and they’re all gay! The Paying Guests is another great one)

(On a side note re: queer books, there are MANY, these are just ones I’ve read more recently. Also there are a lot of indie/self-published writers doing great work writing queer books, so definitely support your local indie authors!) 

[klbwriting]

Pirate’s Heart - Chapter 1

Perfect Color, or Not

Fandom: Six of Crows

Pairing: Kaz/female!Reader

Warning: so this chapter is pretty dark, Kaz’s backstory is dark and there is suggestion of sexual assault but it is not described

Song: Perfect Color - Safety Suit

Taglist: @sixofshadowandbone @thedelusionreaderbitch @itsemy01 @angelicdanvers @marinettepotterandplagg @screen-to-stage @aysegust @sagewrites111 @lilyoflower @hey-peeps @starjane312 @spawn0fsatan @myalupinblack​

Yellow nice to meet you

Do you know that you just blue my mind?

It was the perfect conversation, I think that I red about one time

And I told a white lie when I told you, I've never been green with envy you

You are the perfect color

 The song would not get out of Y/N's head and she hated it.  Pekka sang it to her about her tail all the time.  And she hated Pekka Rollins.  Well hated him as much as she could without a heart.  Why was she thinking so much anyway?  Wasn't she sleeping?  Why was she moving and why did she hear voices?  She groaned, eyes slowly opening to see two teenage girls standing above her.  They were gazing at her with curious eyes and she tried to wipe her own eyes, only to find her wrists were tied to the table she was laying on.  

"She's awake Nina," she said a girl with bronze skin and dark hair.  

"I can see that Inej," the other girl, creamy white skin with brown hair and freckles.  Nina was light eyed while Inej had dark eyes, and both girls were fourteen, maybe fifteen years old.  How long had she been asleep?  It couldn't have been that long, she didn't feel any older.  She turned her head, finding a mirror on a table nearby and seeing that she didn't look older, only dirty.  

"Where am I?" she asked.  She knew she was on a boat, she could feel the sea moving them, but how did she get there?  She was in the jungle before, bleeding, stabbed where her heart should have been.

“You’re on the Menagerie,” the one called Nina said. Inej tried to shush her and Y/N could hear footsteps nearby.  

“What have you girls brought me?” a beautiful blond woman asked, entering the room.  She was dressed in fine silks with an intricate peacock feather tattoo on her face, making her look almost like an animal herself.   Y/N felt a very strange pang of fear, dulled by her lack of heart, but she felt it enough to worry about this woman.

“Tante Heleen, we found her in the jungle when we were hunting,” Inej explained, her eyes downcast.   Y/N was fast learning that this woman was not to be trifled with, but she didn’t care.  She wanted out of these bindings and she would do what she needed to survive.  

“My, my, she is filthy, we will have to clean her up, get me the sponge and some water,” she demanded.  Nina did as asked, and Heleen started to clean her face.  “Not particularly special in the face, homely and plain.  Face too round for most men…eyes are dark but not special, lips are too pale will need color,” the woman continued, cleaning down her body and commenting on everything.  Breasts were too small, stomach too round, hips too wide, legs… She stopped at her legs, staring in shock as the bright scales that still dotted her thighs. They were remnants of her tail in case she ever got it back.  Heleen demanded Inej get a message out at the port for the commander, they had something special for him.

“What is it Tante?” Inej asked.  The look Heleen sent her made Inej run.   Y/N was becoming very aware of how this ship worked.  Heleen was a captain of some kind of pleasure vessel and all these poor young girls were stuck here attending to the men who paid for them.   Y/N was disgusted, and she could see from the look on the woman’s face that she was going to be the centerpiece of some kind of show for this commander. Like hell she would have another man touch her without her permission.   Y/N looked around the room and realized she would need to wait for her time to arrive.  She started to pretend to be scared, her acting not very good, it had been a long time since she’d been around anyone and Heleen saw right through it.

“O now, I see, you’re fearless are you?” she asked, a snake like smile on her face.  “Well, let’s get you dressed and shackled.  The commander will want us to report back to Argoes immediately.” Y/N’s eyes narrowed.  Like hell she was going anywhere near Argoes, not when Pekka was going to probably be there.  She would bide her time, wait for a moment to strike.   Y/N may have been a lovestruck mermaid but she was also a rare tail, trained to defend herself.  She knew things were different with legs but her upper body defensive maneuvers should be the same.  

Heleen had her hands shackled and took her to a room full of clothes, dresses in bright colors, silk, and lace.  Nina had followed, listening as the captain listed items for her to retrieve.  While they were distracted by clothes Y/N slid a hat pin into her hand, starting to work the cuffs.  Humans learned many things about mermaids and nearly none of them were true.  The idea that they were stupid, unable to function at the same level mentally as humans, they were underestimating Y/N right now and she was pleased.  

The child, Nina approached her, getting her dressed. Y/N saw the girl look at the hat pin, saw the shackles were no longer together and instead of outing her the girl said nothing.   Y/N smiled, she would let the girl live whenever she killed Heleen.  She wasn’t a monster, at least, she didn’t think she was. Heartless or not she wasn’t going to kill a child who was clearly being used by adults for terrible things.  

“Let me cut this string…” Nina said, moving to a dressing table and taking a pair of scissors and moving back to Y/N.  She cut a pretend string and slid the scissors into the sleeve of the dress she wore.  Their eyes met and an understanding crossed between them.   Y/N would kill Heleen, take this ship, and then she would take care of these children.  No more powerful men were going to use these babies for their own pleasure again.  

Heleen took her above, walked her to the side of the ship.   Y/N looked around, all the crew, everyone, was a child except for one man who seemed to be the muscle on this craft. All young girls of various ages, some as young as 7.   Y/N felt bile rising in her throat as she looked in the eyes of some of them, their eyes were much older than they should have been.  She looked at Nina and motioned for her to fall back a little bit. Nina took two steps back and sat down on the deck.  Heleen turned to face the mermaid as she stood, pointing to the island in the distance.

“Now, when we arrive at Argoes…” she didn’t finish her statement. Y/N sunk the scissors into Heleen’s eye, digging in as deep as she could.  She pulled them back out, feeling the blood on her face but not letting the warmth distract her.  As soon she killed Heleen the man came storming over, lumbering a large. Good.   Y/N ducked down, sliding under him and kicking out her leg.  He ran into it, nearly snapping it in half as he faltered, trying to balance.  For a moment she thought he would regain his footing and come for her but then Inej and Nina came out of nowhere and pushed him, sending him toppling over the side of the ship and into the sea.   Y/N stood up, rubbing her knee as she leaned to the rail of the ship.  

“Well, I’m sorry you had to see that…” she started.  Nina and Inej just shrugged and the rest of the girls on the ship looked at her.  She felt her soul ache for these children and realized maybe her soul could harness strong emotions, but it still didn’t feel completely real, still dulled by her lack of heart.  O well, she would protect these children, make them into a force a nature, show the world that they were more than just a body to warm a bed.  

“Come on, let’s push her over,” Inej said so some of the older girls, moving to Heleen’s body.   Y/N held out an arm.  

“No, you are children, you shouldn’t be disposing of dead bodies, you shouldn’t even be touching them,” she said.  “Get the ship ready, we are sailing for any port except Argoes.” She struggled but finally tossed Heleen’s body to the sea.  Turning she sought out Inej.

“Inej love, did you send that message like Heleen asked?” Y/N asked, gently touching the girl’s face.  Inej shook her head.  “Good. Now, you and Nina are my first mates alright?  So, where have you always wanted to go?”

  Kaz Rietveld didn’t know how long he had been on that boat in the middle of the ocean.  He didn’t know what day it was, what time, all he knew was that he was starving and so very thirsty.  Sitting in all this water was making it worse.  He had tried seawater, even knowing that it would do nothing but make him sick, but he had been desperate.  God, is this how he died?  15 years old and in the middle of the cursed ocean.  Fucking hell.  He should have just let his uncle know he was alive when he had the chance, but instead he had hid, never wanting to go back to that horrid fortress.  But instead, he was just going to die here.  O well, what really was his life worth anyway, crippled leg from a botched escape with his brother when he was 11 and now, well now he was broken entirely.  He knew that the moment they got on that boat, but he had gone anyway.  

He was laying down, ready to die, when the water moved, waves hitting the boat harder than before.  He sat up and looked seeing a pirate vessel flying the black colors approaching.  He knew this was his only chance.  Kaz could die in this boat or he could try his best at getting on that boat.  He waved his arms, screaming at the top of his voice.  He thought they were just going to pass but then a rope ladder was dropped down the side as they pulled up next to him.  He scrambled up the ladder and dropped on the deck, panting.  

“Water…please…” he begged.  The men around him smiled, looking like they had found a present. One of the men handed him a cup and he drank before spitting out the burning drink.  Whiskey, not water.  The pirates laughed at him and he saw a few cabin boys standing by, looking fearful of him. No, not of him, for him.  Kaz realized that he may have escaped one prison and wound up in another.  The spirit of the sea witches clearly wanted revenge on his entire family.  Taking his parents before he could remember them wasn’t enough, claiming his brother wasn’t enough, now he was stuck here. Fine.  If the sea wanted a war, he would give it one.  

For the first six months of his time aboard the Crow he was a cabin boy, but just in name.  Truly he was whatever the other men wanted him to be.  He was relieved when they brought aboard women for a week or two when he could just be a normal cabin boy.  Unless the women liked him too.  He noticed the two other cabin boys clung to each other, Jesper and Wylan, keeping each other as safe as they could.  One of the crew, an honorable ex-navy captain named Matthias also tried his best to protect them.  He often would give sleeping drafts to the crew to give the boys a night to themselves, but even he could only do so much.  

Kaz waited, biding his time until the captain himself wanted a visit. Then he put the plan he had with Jesper, Wylan, and Matthias into action.  

         Matthias put the poison in the crews dinner, which they ate at 6PM before moving to do night work on the vessel.  They were all dead before 6:30.  The captain ate his dinner at 7PM so Wylan stayed in his cabin, distracting him by being a bumbling fool and getting a severe punishment for it.  Kaz would have felt bad but he didn’t know if he was capable of feeless anymore.  Jesper brought dinner to the captain and helped a bloody Wylan out of the cabin. Kaz slid in as they left and stood, watching the captain as he ate his meal.  

         “Come here boy, I want a better look at you, want to see what all the fuss among the crew is about,” he said.  Kaz swallowed the sick in his throat and approached, letting the captain touch him, roughly feeling his hands on him.  Then the coughing started and Kaz let out a breath of relief.  The captain clutched his throat as his airways closed and soon he was dead at Kaz’s feet.  

         With the help of the others Kaz had the crew overboard and they headed towards a port far from Argoes to gather a new crew using the money the captain had stashed in a vault in his office.  The four of them argued over who would be captain but Kaz won out, being the only one truly willing to kill for the title.  He decided that as soon as he got to port it was time to reinvent himself. Kaz Rietveld was no more.  It was time to take a new name and become something else.

[itsmoonpeaches]

The Ocean Meets the Sky

Chapter 5: Stitches

Please note: Every prompt for this Kataang Week connects into an over-arching story.

Prompt: Healing

Story summary: After his battle with Fire Lord Ozai, something lingers within Aang's spirit. Katara is the one that pulls the seams back together. No matter what, Aang and Katara find each other.

Chapter summary: Aang’s vision swam. He was Kun, then he was Kureno, then Samaya, then finally himself again. One moment he was Yangchen, then Kuruk, Kyoshi, and Roku. The next, he fell into his body like a stone sinking to the depths of the sea.

-

Or, Aang tries to escape.

TW: implied/referenced suicide

Written for @kataang-week

Read on ao3 or ffn.

---

In a hazy, far-off lifetime that Aang could not quite recall, he was once a boy named Kun. A boy the people called a little too lanky, a little too tall, especially for his age. He had a mop of brown hair and a sprinkle of freckles splattered across his tanned nose. His eyes were a bright forest green that turned hazel with just the right amount of sunlight.

He was playful, sociable, a teenager through and through. He liked to make jokes about the way old men babbled about everything and nothing, and how the iguana parrots that the sailors insisted on taking with them on voyages in the fishing village he lived in squawked nonsensical things. He had a best friend who he deeply cared for that would laugh with him and play pranks on passerby on the docks, a best friend that understood his awful jokes.

“You’ll never become a respectable fisherman with that attitude, Kun,” his friend would scold him. “You gotta remember that the iguana parrots are the key to success!”

Kun would laugh and pat his friend on the back. “Who says I want to be a respectable fisherman? I want to be a pirate! I want one of my two front teeth to be made of solid gold!”

He was only fourteen, and no one took him seriously, least of all the adults. That is, until he accidentally bended the element of fire when he tried to protect himself from a scoundrel who he had dumped a basket of day-old fish on. An elder had seen him and that was that.

His world fell apart.

“You’re the Great One, our protector,” said an elder of the village. “You cannot live with us anymore. The trivialities of the human world should never touch you. You are too precious, the reincarnation of Yuka of the Water.”

He had tried to protest. “All because I can control two elements?” he questioned. He had felt the desperation as it caught in his throat, the absolute need to be wrong. But he knew in his heart of hearts what would happen. The same way he instinctively knew how to create flame, he knew who he was.

He was not human.

As Kun, Aang was taken from his family to a grand estate atop a mountain that had been built a lifetime ago. The walls were high, the hallways winding, there was hardly a person in sight.

They came to train him, to cower and grovel to him. He stayed there, knowing what had to be done because it was the way of things.

He stayed there because he had to. It was his duty, his purpose.

And he stayed locked away in a room with slats of light that streamed through the rice paper walls and sliding doors while the people told him that they adored him. They worshipped him.

He was, beyond all else, one of the spirits.

Yet, there was one who called him by name, who snuck around the guards when dusk fell, who threw a pebble at his window every other night.

“Are you there?” a voice would call for him from below, just above a whisper, just enough so he could hear. “I’ve missed you.”

So as Kun, Aang latched onto what he had left. He kept ahold of this person, this wonderful best friend of his. But one day the elders found them.

“You are meant to let go of all worldly possessions, as your other incarnations have!” they shouted at Kun. More than berating him, they said words that stung. “To have connections is to have possessions! You must never love!”

His best friend had disappeared the next day. He was told that they had gone somewhere far away, somewhere he could not follow.

He told himself that he could not love again. He was not human, not like the rest of them.

He continued his duties with diligence, with detachment, and the world knew peace for years.

Aang’s life as Kun was weary, and he remained weary. He had mastered three elements when he had held the plain porcelain cup in his hand. The warm liquid inside glistened. He took a moment to watch the yellow powder settle to the bottom, and then he raised it to his lips.

-

Aang’s vision swam. He was Kun, then he was Kureno, then Samaya, then finally himself again. One moment he was Yangchen, then Kuruk, Kyoshi, and Roku. The next, he fell into his body like a stone sinking to the depths of the sea.

His palms were sore and swollen. There was grime underneath his fingernails. A smear of dirt slashed across one of his cheeks. Remnants of his attempts to dig himself out of the Tree of Time dusted his clothes.

He had no bending to assist him, and no amount of spiritual energy could get him past the barrier that separated him from the rest of the Spirit World.

He did not know how long he had been inside the hollow of the tree. He sat there, silent. Visions of the past continued to flit by him, but he was used to it now. The words and phrases that the images buzzed became background noise, the kind of thrum that lulled someone to sleep. Nevertheless, it was also a persistent nuisance.

Over and over, he was forced to hear and see snatches of time. In a loop, in a never-ending cycle.

“I am sorry, Aang,” Raava murmured gently from somewhere inside his head. “I am truly sorry.”

He felt a brush of energy on his shoulder, as if someone was comforting him there. Something stirred inside him. It was a tingling sensation, a rush in his ears.

“Though perhaps, light always has a friend,” Raava added, softer this time.

The visions that drifted about him stuttered, stopped, restarted. Illumination flooded the tree hollow, and he heard someone calling for him.

“Aang? Aang!” they shouted. It echoed through the space. He knew that voice. He knew it like the back of his hand, like the wood grain of his glider staff, the tufts of hair on Appa’s back.

He blinked, and he was somehow outside looking in. He was standing just outside the barrier, and he peeked inside the tree. Someone else sat there instead of him, a familiar person. A girl wearing blue.

No, no, no. Not her. Not here. It was all he thought, all he could muster.

He pounded a fist on the barrier that separated them, and the sound pealed out across the realm.

In one, clear ring, everything became dark and blank. All of a sudden, he was floating in a world of bleakness, of nothingness. A void he did not comprehend. There was a constant ebbing and flowing of energy that engulfed him. Strings of different colors that made up pieces of him, pouring out of his heart like an unravelling tapestry.

Blue strings led to his left, his right. Yellows went above him. Greens squiggled to a place he did not see, for it was too far beyond him. Black and pink, lavender and orange, they tangled and furled from the opening in his chest.

“Give him back to me!” the voice bellowed again. It was louder now, coming closer.

Out of all the strings that drifted from him, there was a single red one. It led straight from his middle and outward, into a burst of yellow and gold.

Katara, in all her beauty and grace, reached for him across the expanse on the other side. Her arm outstretched from far away. She was a dot upon a distant horizon.

She grabbed a handful of strings, and then another clump of them, yanking him forward. Her hands moved in quick succession, and the strings started to detangle from the knots in which they came.

Katara was as dazzling as purifying light. She stitched his seams back together and told him how to heal.

[lassieposting]

💘💘💘💘 + ghasdug

send me 💘 + A SHIP and i’ll tell you—

where they first met and how

So Skug says they stowed away on the same ship, but this is...not exactly true.

He stowed away on that ship, because he was running away from home and he was a snobby little lordling who'd never had to fend for himself a day in his life, so the furthest ahead he'd actually thought to plan was "they won't want to turn around and drop me off once they're underway".

Ghastly was not stowed away at any point during that trip. Ghastly was signed on for the journey as a deckhand, because Ghastly's mother told him he needed to, and it had to be that particular ship. Ghastly gets seasick, and did not want to go to sea in the slightest. But Ghastly's mother has visions and so Ghastly does as he is told. Apparently there was something important waiting for him on that ship.

Anyway Skug pops out once he thinks they're far enough away from shore that they'll leave him be rather than take him back to port, and he is incredibly mistaken. The captain is in favour of turning him around right there and then, because he's clearly some rich lord's brat, and whoever his father is will probably pay handsomely for his safe return. Ghastly manages to talk the ship's crew into letting him stay on, provided he pulls his weight like the rest of them.

Needless to say, even before they're attacked by pirates, that voyage is a rude awakening for poor Skug, and good lord does Ghastly hear all about it. He has blisters. His feet hurt. This shirt was expensive and now it's all sweaty. His hair is in his eyes all the time. He's tired. The guy in the next bunk snores. Some of these people look like they have lice. He didn't realise he'd be doing manual labour, this is servant stuff, how dare they.

Ghastly does. Not realise at that point what he has let himself in for.

how long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involved

Poor Ghastly gets to pine for years. Baby Skug isn't a great boyfriend. He's less invested - he loves Ghastly, but they have two totally different outlooks.

Ghastly is ugly. He's always been ugly. He's got a face he believes only his mother could love. He's never believed he'd find someone who saw past that or loved him regardless. So as soon as he gets Skug into bed, he's over the moon and ready to commit. He's like 17, and would absolutely settle down there and then given half a chance.

Skug, on the other hand, was a weird-looking child who only recently grew into an attractive adolescent and he is loving it. For the first time in his life, girls are noticing him. He doesn't want to settle down, he wants to play the field and sow some wild oats and have fun. So there are periods of exclusivity with Ghastly, interspersed with periods where Skug basically drops him to chase after the latest pretty bit of skirt.

who fell for who first ( if applicable )

Ghastly's smitten by the time they make it back to Ireland - Skug is a bit soft and allergic to hard work and a pain in the arse, but he's flashy and charismatic and funny and pays attention to him without gawking at his face (past the initial "good god, what happened to you?") - but Skug is well and truly settled into living with Ghastly's family by the time he actually gives Ghas the come-on.

where their first date was and what it was like

They went to the local tavern and got drunk, and then rode home in the pouring rain once it kicked them out at closing time.

When they got home, Ghastly's parents had long since gone to bed, but that wasn't necessarily unusual - once Skug, who has a considerable allowance, is old enough to start drinking, Saoirse institutes a rule that if they're not home by the time she and her husband turn in for the night, she'll leave blankets in the barn and they can sleep there instead. She's not having them barging in, wasted, at all hours of the day and night, waking her up after a hard day's work.

So they put the horses away and give them a quick rub down, and Ghastly is trying to look anywhere but Skug because Skug's shirt has gone kind of see-through and poor Ghastly is an awkward, horny teenage boy, but he keeps shooting him these furtive glances over the horse's back and Skug notices because Skug notices everything and lowkey teases him about it. "Want me to sit for a portrait? It'll last longer," sort of teasing, and Ghastly tries to laugh along but he's also vibrant red because he's been caught staring, so obviously Skug realises something's up

And he's precisely as tactful about it as he ever is about anything, and jokes, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you wanted me," and Ghastly's ears burn and he doesn't deny it quick enough and now Skug's eyebrows are inching towards his hairline and Ghastly panics because like, he's ugly, Skug is going to be disgusted or laugh at him and he can't cope with either, so he just? Freezes?

But like. Skug was a weird-looking, unfortunate child who very recently grew into an attractive adolescent, so he fucking thrives on attention. So his response to this awkward not-quite-a-confession is actually a moment of silence while he mulls this new information over (this feels like an eternity to poor Ghastly) followed by an early attempt at using The Hot Voice and, "If you want me, have me."

So, they end up having sex in the hayloft on the blankets Ghastly's mom left out for them. Ghastly has never even been kissed and doesn't admit that he has no idea what he's doing until he realises Skug is expecting him to take the lead. He also blurts that he loves Skug when he nuts, so like. It's your typical painfully embarrassing virginity loss.

It can't be all bad though, because Skug's up for doing it again.

who asks who out and how ( with a sign? spelled out on a cake? just a simple ‘will you go out with me’? )

So in my endgame-ghasdug AU, they get back together post-TDOTL. Ghastly survives being stabbed, but the blade nicked his spinal cord, so he's in a wheelchair for quite a while, and then has to do A Lot of physical therapy to relearn how to walk. Skug shows up at the hospital/facility where he's recovering every day unless there's an emergency, because Ghastly is very depressed and struggling with survivor's guilt over Anton and doesn't see the point in doing his physio because it hurts and he's exhausted and he shouldn't be alive anyway. And Skug annoys him into doing it, mostly by heckling him from the other side of the room, because he's not great at the whole emotional support thing. Ghastly will mutter, "Christ, I want to hit you," and Skug will tell him, "Well, if you come over here to do it I won't even duck." And if Ghastly gets his ass up and uses the walking frame support thing to cross the room, well, then Skug will take a punch like a man and be happy about it because Ghastly walked.

They also talk a lot during this period. Ghastly feels like shit, and he reminisces a lot about the good old days and how he never saw Ravel's betrayal coming and memories he has of Anton, and sometimes that veers into memories they share from when they were young men. And Skug, at this point, is old enough and has been through enough to admit that he wasn't great to Ghastly when they were boys. He was flighty and selfish and high-maintenance, and he would've hated to be treated the way he treated Ghastly. And he tells him that, at one point - that he's sorry, and if he could go back and do it differently, he would, assuming Ghastly was daft enough to be willing to put up with him a second time.

And Ghastly laughs and tells him, "I'd still have you now, you stupid bastard."

who proposes first

Ghastly. They're 19/20. Skug thinks he's joking.

if they keep / kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away

Neither - they don't announce it, but it's not exactly a secret either. Ghastly's parents notice pretty much straight away, but other than a few parental pointers on what is and isn't appropriate, it's not really a topic of conversation.

where the proposal happens and how ( kiss cam at a baseball game? on a hillside surrounded by ducks? at a disney park? )

Skug's sister Confelicity accepts the first proposal she gets at the age of 16, because she's desperate to get out of their parents' house and away from their toxic relationship and controlling behaviour. Their father disapproves and refuses to attend the wedding (and, of course, their mother is not allowed her own opinion), and Carver is out of the country, so Skug stands in to a) pay and b) give away the bride. He takes Ghastly for moral support, because he doesn't like most of his relatives and also doesn't like the groom (Thurid Guild - their relationship doesn't improve when Confelicity divorces him a few years later to marry a baronet). While they're watching the couple say their vows, Ghastly murmurs, "We should get married."

Skug is right in the middle of his hoe phase and does not realise Ghastly's serious.

who’s more dominant

Generally, Skug. He is one hell of a force of personality and Ghastly does get steamrollered quite a bit, although he does eventually learn how to say no. Skug always gets things his way, always does whatever he likes and be damned to the consequences, and Ghastly is always there with a handful of the back of his shirt, pulling his ass out of whatever fire he started.

In bed, though, it's Ghastly.

how into pda they are

As teenagers, Ghastly's mother has to reprimand them occasionally for being too all over each other, but teenagers be rabidly horny. As grown men, they're just sort of casually affectionate. Comfortable with each other. When they're relaxing in camp after a day of travelling, Skug will lean against Ghastly to read a book or put his head on Ghastly's leg while they chat. They can have a silent conversation just by reading each other's faces. They'll nudge each other when something reminds them of an in-joke. They have that easy intimacy that comes with having known each other forever.

where their usual ‘date spot’ is ( if applicable )

As boys, Ghastly has a particular flowery meadow he likes to take Skug to for picnics, because he's a romantic. Skug at that age is considerably less so, and more interested in whether they can screw there without getting caught.

In the modern day, they go to see old movies. Ghastly was very into the early films of the late 1910s and the 1920s, after the war finished. He associates them with a time where he finally got to just set up his shop and live the life he always wanted to live. Skug hasn't seen most of Ghastly's favourites, because he spent that period of history fighting the truce and then spiralling into a black hole of trauma and misery, but he got very into the noir detective era to the point that he's still clinging to the aesthetic like 80 years later, so they'll alternate who picks the movies and catch each other up on their favourites.

who’s more protective

They've both spent their fair share of time fretting in the chair beside a hospital bed. After Ravel's betrayal, though, it's Skug. Ghastly retires as soon as he's considered fit to make the decision, and decides he wants to go back to Dublin to reopen his shop and just sort of try and forget Roarhaven exists. And Skug is absolutely adamant that he gets to do it. There's a lot of interest in Ghastly for a while - groundbreaking healing magic was used to fix what should've been a permanent injury, people want to know if he suspected Ravel, they want his advice on how to rebuild after Devastation Day. He's more approachable than China, and a lot more popular. But he can't cope with it all, and anyone who tries to hassle him in Dublin will have Skug to deal with.

how long it is before they sleep together ( can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’ )

The first night Skug stays at Ghastly's family home. Ghastly is an only child, and his family isn't wealthy - their house doesn't have a guest room. It's sleep with Ghastly or sleep on the floor, and Little Lord Priss isn't going to be sleeping on the floor.

Honestly, he's relieved there isn't a spare room for him. He's never really slept alone before. Like most children of very wealthy families back then, he grew up in a nursery with his four oldest brothers and sisters, and when he was too old to live with The Children, he shared a room, first with Carver and then with Francis. The thought of being on his own in a strange house is pretty intimidating.

He moves to his own bed as soon as they get him one, but he stays in Ghastly's room, and he's perfectly happy with that.

(Ghastly is less happy. He's very much crushing on Skug and he's terrified he'll say something incriminating in his sleep.)

who steals whose clothes and how often

Skug gets to steal Ghastly's clothes for a year or two after he moves in with Ghastly's family. After that, they're built too differently. Ghastly is built like a brick shithouse of muscle. Skug is lean and toned and tall. When they're younger, he can more or less wear Ghastly's clothes as a nightshirt, but after Skug's final growth spurt, Ghastly's clothes don't sit right on him at all, and he's gotten too vain and fashion-conscious by that point to just wear them anyway.

what their usual coffee / tea orders are

Ghastly is fussy about his tea. Plenty of milk, two and a half sugars, leave the teabag in.

Skug just inhales it black, which Ghastly thinks is an abomination.

if they ever have any children together

Ghastly thanks his lucky stars every day that they have a 0% chance of accidentally spawning a skuglet. One of him is plenty.

He's very involved with Skugbab when he comes along, though. He's godfather and a very present uncle.

if they have any special pet names for each other

Skug doesn't do nicknames, and would rather not be given them, either. Ghastly gets away with "Skul", primarily because he's the only one who's known Skug since he was all of 16, but also because "Skulduggery" is a mouthful when all your blood is rushing to your downstairs brain and it's his own damn fault that he didn't think of that before he picked it.

if they ever split up and / or get back together

So many times. They're on and off again more frequently than Saracen's clothes. Every time Skug spots someone new, he ends it with Ghastly to pursue them, and then comes back when he loses interest or it doesn't work out.

what their shared living space is like ( messy? clean? what kind of decor? )

Ghastly's family home is an old farmhouse on the outskirts of Dublin. It's simple, but cosy, and Ghastly's dad is incredibly houseproud, so it's very well-looked-after. Skug prefers it by miles to his own palacial, but cold and unwelcoming, family home, and he tries to replicate the vibe later on with Wifey. It's pretty small compared to what he's used to, so it sort of feels like they're all living on top of each other, and he has to get used to not having any servants and drawing his own water to heat his own bath etc, but he's loved there, and that makes all the difference.

what their names are in each other’s phones

They're both old-ass men about some things, and this is one of them. So no emojis or anything - they're "Ghastly Bespoke" and "Skul". How romantic.

who falls asleep first and who wakes up first

Ghastly wakes up first: he's used to rising early to get started on his chores. Skug is absolutely not a morning person at this point in his life and Ghastly frequently has to turf his ass out of bed by pulling his quilt off/dumping water on him/yelling in his ear.

Reversed with modern day ghasdug: Ghastly still wakes at a sensible time, but damn it he left the army a century ago and now he likes a lie in. Skug never really stopped being a soldier and still has most of his military habits, so he's up with the sun.

who’s the big spoon / little spoon

Ghastly is the big spoon. Skug likes to be Held.

who hogs the bathroom

Skug. The boy is vain as all fuck. There is a grand total of one cloudy looking-glass in Ghastly's family's home and Skug spends a good chunk of the morning hogging it to fuss with his hair and peacock at his reflection. Ghastly is under strict orders Never to mention this to Fletcher.

[ivyprism]

Goat monster Children (The Masquerade Pirate Mermaid AU Exclusive OCs)

Penny - The Oldest

Appearance: She's a petite goat-monster teenager in stripes. She is about 5'5". She has white fur (with orange spots) and her eyes are a shade of green. She wears this:

(Imagine with stripes!)

Personality: Penny, the oldest of these girls, is strong and intelligent. She and her sisters are in charge of guarding the Artemis. She is fiercely protective and abrasive. She will lash out at anyone who irritates her, and she holds Damica in high regard. She has kept the Artemis in the best possible condition, ensuring that every document and item has been well cared for and is still legible. She is intelligent for her age (15) and appears to be very interested in history. She learned about the storm and is trying to figure out why Aldrich would cause such devastation. She also ensures that Astrea's locket is well cared for.

Lucy - The Middle Child

Appearance: Her fur is similar to her older sister's. She is a chubby goat monster in stripes! She is about 5'3"! Her eyes, unlike her sister's, are light blue. She wears this:

(with stripes!)

Personality: Lucy, the middle child, is astute and witty. She is capable of and will engage in combat with you. She has a powerful right and left hook. She is smarter than other kids her age (13), and it shows. She has fought people who are older and stronger than her because she doesn't back down from a fight and she always wins. She has seriously injured the sea monster that killed Astrea previously, and it no longer bothers her. She admires Ilysse the most, and it shows. She carries a dagger and is constantly writing. She also has a small ship journal that she rarely uses. She is very perceptive and can be very sweet at times. She has a similar curiosity and recklessness to Hala.

Molly - The Youngest

Appearance: She looks like her older sisters, but her spots are more hidden and faded, unlike her sisters. She's chubby and very short compared to her sisters. She's 4'6"! Her eyes are heterochromatic with a left green eye and a right blue eye. She wears this:

Personality: A gentle and kind-hearted soul. She looks after any creatures she comes across and is constantly concerned about her older sisters. She, like her sisters, is extremely intelligent for her age (8). She most admires Astrea and is terrified of the sea monster that killed her. She and her sisters are orphans, but she enjoys spending time with her older sisters. She is hostile to the sea monster and assists her sister in caring for the locket. She fantasizes about the world beyond where they live, but because the Artemis lacks a crew and Penny refuses to move it, they can't be pirates like they wish they could be.

-----

Because their late mother was a teacher who was smarter than most people, each of these girls is smarter than the average person her age. She was studying Ancient Civilizations and was very familiar with the symbols. She taught her daughters everything she knew until she died. Penny took on the mantle in that case because her mother taught her pretty much everything, and she looks through her mother's belongings while teaching her sisters.

They're orphans as their father died at sea centuries ago. And no, they're not related to the Dreemurrs, they're just Boss Monsters like them. (Their father was human and their mother was a Goat Monster.)

-----------

@okay-kioko @kiokodoodles @the1920sisntaphasemom @underfell-crystal

*Fades* Hehehe.

[itmeansofthesea]

Revenge: Part 3

Whooo Lord this is a long one. Couple of things: I decided on Revenge for the name, and I need to fix the masterlist so that this is all in one place. Other than that, enjoy this little ~*~flashback~*~ and let me know if there's anything else you want to see. Enjoy!

Warnings: language, mention of a nightmare, attempted murder (nothing major), mention of corporal punishment (?)

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

1701, the Revenge

She had been in the process of studying the charts for the umpteenth time when she heard her uncle bark her name from above deck. Suppressing an eye roll (it wasn’t that she wasn’t grateful to be on the ship, she was, but her uncle could be… trying, at times), she made her way to the top and narrowly avoided running into the lanky teenager at her uncle’s side. That may have been a slight exaggeration. She narrowly avoided running into the lanky, bloody teenager that her uncle held in a viselike grip around his skinny bicep. She tried not to smirk.

“Yes, Captain?” She eyed the boy up and down, willing herself to meet and hold his steely gaze. He was covered in blood that didn’t appear to be his, but how a shrimp like that could have gotten so much blood on him that wasn't his didn’t make any sense. He didn’t look like much, but he certainly had an air of defiance about him that would either serve him well or get him killed on this ship. Alex wasn’t sure which, and for some reason she couldn’t quite place, hoped it would be the former. She could feel the kid sizing her up in turn and in response straightened herself to her full height. Not quite to his nose, but close enough. She couldn’t decide whether or not to smile and be friendly, or be a hardass and call her bluff early. She settled for a middle ground and let her eyes sparkle while her mouth stayed in a firm line.

“This is Charles Vane.” Edward Teach shoved the kid in his niece’s direction, causing him to stumble. “He’s new to the ship. Show him the ropes.” Captain Teach turned on his heel and walked away.

Charles straightened himself and met her gaze again. “Who are you?” His voice was lower than she expected it to be, and she suspected that he did it on purpose to make himself more imposing than he actually was. She could understand that. She was, after all, a teenage girl on a ship full of pirates who only took her seriously because her uncle saw promise in her and allowed her on board.

“I’m Alex, the Captain’s niece,” she extended a hand in his direction and waited for him to take it. When he didn’t, she chuckled under her breath and motioned with it for him to follow her belowdecks. He didn’t seem too keen on talking, but she was determined to learn something about the only other person who could possibly be in her age range on the ship. “How old are you?”

“Does it matter?” he grunted as he followed her down the ladder.

“I suppose not,” she replied. Unperturbed, she continued, “I’m fourteen. You seem like you would be close to my age, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to. Unless talking is against your moral code or whatever.”

Another grunt.

“How did you end up here?”

“How did you end up here?”

“My mother was the Captain’s favorite sister. She was terrified of my father and wrote to my uncle begging him to come and take me in case something happened to her. It did. My father killed my mother, my uncle killed my father, I ended up here. Came on board when I was… eight? Nine?”

It was, of course, far more complicated than that. Alex didn’t mention that when Edward Teach arrived to avenge his sister and collect his nephew, Alexander, he found a nephew named James that he didn’t know existed and a niece named Alexandra. She didn’t mention that the only reason she was brought and not her brother was because he died of tuberculosis two days after Teach arrived. That, and the fact that her mother specifically mentioned Alex, not James, although she suspected that would have been considered secondary in the long run if not for the unfortunate demise of her older brother. She also failed to mention that she actually snuck aboard, was not brought aboard, and had she not eerily resembled her mother she likely would have been tossed overboard at best or put in a boarding school and forgotten somewhere at worst. Charles didn’t need to know, and Alex wasn’t particularly interested in disclosing. As they reached belowdecks, she turned on him and raised an eyebrow, “I told you mine, you tell me yours.”

“Escaped some shit. Learned to fight. Now I’m here.” Well, it was certainly succinct and to the point. Clearly the newcomer wasn’t one for many words. Then again, depending on the definition of “shit” she supposed she wouldn’t be too much for words either.

“Fair enough.” Alex guided him to the back of the ship where a hammock was strung between two of the beams. “This one’s yours. That one’s mine,” she pointed to a hammock a couple of feet to the right. “We’re stuck back here because we’re the youngest. It’s also a form of protection since the rest of the ship is fairly open and getting caught back here means getting the shit beat out of you by Mr. Hands.” Alex noted Charles flinch slightly at the mention of the beating and wondered what he had seen to elicit that reaction. “Long and short of it is basically just stay out of the way and do what you’re told. No fighting on the ship- that waits until we get back to land. We eat and take watch in shifts. Chances are you’re stuck with me until you get the hang of life around here.” She paused to look around and then back at Charles and whispered, “You’re more or less safe here. On the ship I mean. Whatever shit you escaped, it can’t catch you here.” Alex said it with more conviction than she felt, mostly because she hoped for her own sake that it was true. She resisted the urge to touch his arm- something her mother would have done. She suppressed her own disgust at the womanly reaction to the boy; that shit gets you kicked off a ship like this. She better hold it together. The last thing she needed was her uncle hearing she was going soft. Alex straightened her shoulders. “Do you want me to leave you to settle in, or do you want to just come on and get started?”

“Let’s go,” he motioned with his head toward the door. Apparently cleaning the blood off of him wasn’t too high on his priority list. Alex simply nodded and motioned with her hand for him to go first.

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

A couple of weeks passed and Alex was no nearer learning anything about Charles Vane than she had been the day he joined the ship. He was quiet, kept his head down, his shirt on, and his meals short. While Alex studied navigation, he was off doing manual labor wherever the ship needed him. She really only saw him once he crashed into his hammock at the end of the day. Some nights he seemed to sleep well, some nights he thrashed about and nearly hit the floor. He was clearly new to the hammock sleeping life.

They would be back in Nassau the next day and Alex was ready. Couldn’t be more ready, in fact. She longed for the sand under her toes, the market with all of its shiny things… just, Nassau. Sure, it was a bit disgusting and there was a corrupt governor in charge and Alex relied on her uncle’s reputation to keep something unsavory from happening to her, but she loved it. It was so unlike her home growing up with its rules about elbows on the table and keeping up appearances. Nassau was fully, completely, and unapologetically itself- flaws and all. She could almost feel it now, the excitement from the wind in her hair and the voice from the nest crying out that they were home…

Until she all of a sudden hit the floor. The drop woke her up and she opened her eyes to find Charles hovering over her, hands moving to tighten around her throat. She could feel the panic rise in her throat, but knew that if she called out Captain Teach would undoubtably have the boy killed for daring to touch his niece. She tried to shove him off, but he was heavier than he looked and apparently the two weeks on the ship had given him more muscle than he brought with him. His fingers tightened around her throat and it took everything inside her not to scream- at him, or for help. Instead her fingers grasped above her head for the knife she kept under her hammock. It must have slid somewhere closer to the wall because Alex couldn’t find it when her fingers found its usual hiding place. The edges of her vision began to darken when all of a sudden the ship pitched to the side and threw Charles off balance just enough for her to throw him off. The hit combined with the force from the roiling ship threw him into the wall behind him where he hit his head. She crawled under the hammock, found her knife, and crawled back to him, holding the knife to his throat.

His eyes flew open, quickly registering the facts: he was on the floor, he had a splitting headache, blood was coming from somewhere on his head, his back was to the wall, and his bunkmate was holding a knife a little too close to his jugular. He swallowed thickly and held his hands up in surrender, trying to think of what he possibly could have done to find himself in this position when Alex began to speak.

“You tried to kill me,” her voice still shook a little, but she was doing her best to hide it.

“I… What?” Charles wracked his brain trying to remember when in the hell he’d tried to kill her. Sure, her chattering made it sound tempting on occasion, but he’d never actually done anything… he didn’t think.

“You tried. To kill me,” she repeated. “In your sleep just now,” she lowered the knife and placed it on the floor beside her.

Now it was his turn to feel the panic rise in his chest. He’d just tried to kill Blackbeard’s niece. Even if it was in his sleep, even if it was unintentional, he’d still tried to kill her. Word would get back to the Captain, which meant that Mr. Hands would handle the discipline- likely the lash from what he’d seen so far. Unless the Captain decided to handle this matter personally in which case-

“Hey, slow down,” Alex waved in hand in front of his eyes in an attempt to bring him back into the present. “I’m not gonna tell.” She moved from in front of him to sit beside him against the wall.

Charles felt the knot start to release from his chest. It would likely never fully leave- people who said they wouldn’t tell usually did after a while. The punishment may not be as severe as it would have been when it first happened, but he doubted that time would make too much of a difference in this case. He released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “What happened?”

Alex recounted everything to him and watched him stare straight ahead as she gave him the details. She didn’t think he would have a reaction until a couple of minutes after she finished when his shoulders began to quiver. Before long, his body wracked with quiet sobs as he curled himself into a fetal position on the cabin floor. Alex had no idea what to do, so she settled for rubbing his back like her mother used to when she was upset. Another womanly reaction, but something about this one felt different so she let it slide without too much self-loathing.

After several minutes, he began to straighten back up and lean back against the wall. “I’m sorry,” he sniffed. “I was just… back on the island.” He paused for a moment as if to gather his courage before pulling his shirt open to expose his right shoulder. “The island where I got this.” He revealed a scar burned into his shoulder, a square turned on its side with extended lines from each point.

She wanted to press for more information. How did he get it? Why did he get it? Was it because he stole something or because he killed someone? What was this island? It wasn’t New Providence Island, was it? It couldn’t be Jamaica, right?

But something told her that now wasn’t the best time, so she simply did her best to look sympathetic and give him some space. If this boy wanted to be her friend, it would have to be on his terms. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure why she apologized. She hadn’t branded him. And yet, whatever, whoever, gave him that brand gave him nightmares so terrible that he had tried to kill her in his sleep.

“Don’t be,” he put his hands on his knees and got up off the floor before extending a hand to help her up. Normally she would have shoved it away and refused to take it because it would make her look weak. This time she let her small hand fit into his to help her to her feet. Once she was steady, he dropped her hand and turned to his straighten his hammock.

“Don’t you want to clean the blood of your head?”

She received a grunt in response. She sighed and turned her back to straighten her own hammock before climbing back in to get settled. Dawn would break soon and she wanted to be as well rested as she could before landing in Nassau. Before she drifted back off to sleep, she thought she heard a quiet “thank you” from the other hammock.

[a-song-of-art-and-fire]

Stannis Baratheon, King in the Narrow Sea

"His claim is the true one, he is known for his prowess as a battle commander, and he is utterly without mercy. There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man"

Ohhhhh Stannis. Stannis Stannis Stannis. I like to think when George sat down to write A Game of Thrones, all those years ago, he had a good idea of his protagonists: the angsty teen boy with the cool sword and pet wolf, the teenage girl coming into herself and finding her strength, even the dwarf unloved by the world finding solace in books and witticism. Did he ever suspect how they'd be eclipsed by a sad middle aged man with family issues who wasn't even present in the first book? By a guy who wears all black in his volcano fortress with his advisors: scary foreign priestess and a pirate?

I enjoyed painting this one up - the dark red and black leans into the "dark lord of volcano island", and I like the idea that by replacing the Targaryens he unwittingly ends up becoming them... willingness to make human sacrifice to flames included. Also enjoyed doing his false lightbringer and the light shining from it, especially onto the choppy sea.

[bisluthq]

*WARNING Domestic violence topic* Could you explain to me why seven could sound queer?, Like I can see how many Taylor songs can be interpreted in a queer way, but with seven I can't see it, like for me it's clearly about domestic violence and the only possible queer thing I can hear it's the closet part...but in this particular case I do not think it refers to sexuality but to literally hiding form your abusive parents. Sorry if this was asked before or if it's disrespectful to ask.

So firstly let me just say that victims of abuse who hear that in the song are so valid. And I’m not here to “take away” a song that speaks to that experience. If it brings you comfort and relief, that’s amazing.

Do I think Taylor meant it as a song about domestic violence or escaping from that? Honestly, no. Because she described herself in LPSS as longing for that time in her life and talked about how she misses being able to throw tantrums and feel more freely and without judgement; in her head she’s thinking about this period in her life very fondly. Now, this is one of those death of the author moments because if you’re an abuse survivor who found comfort in this you... shouldn’t care wtf Taylor meant by it, what matters is what it means to you. Same as how if betty speaks to your sapphic teenage love triangle, it shouldn’t matter that Taylor imagined James as a boy.

But yeah, so for Taylor it was not meant to be about abuse. It was about feeling stuff more freely. And let’s take a look and examine at why it feels so fucking gay to... like... basically every queer woman.

Please picture me

In the trees

I hit my peak at seven

Okay so Taylor is setting up a narrator - presumably herself. Especially in the context of her hyperconfessional marketing and the LPSS explanation we’re literally meant to picture Tay. But tbh that doesn’t matter so much - it could be any little girl. This little girl is “in the trees”... which isn’t really where little girls are supposed to be. In these very first lines Tay is setting up a little tomboy character.... and then she says “I hit my peak at seven” - ergo this rugrat period of abandon, where I was free to play in the trees, is “my peak”. It was the best time in “my” life.

Lots of people feel that, it’s not inherently gay, but for queer women - I don’t know about other shades of queer but suspect yes - childhood often represents even greater freedom than to hets because it’s before we felt deviant. There was nothing to compare ourselves to. Sure, we might’ve played families in het couples like heteronormativity is felt by children too, but that kind of thing was largely asexual and we didn’t know yet that other people felt differently about it all.

Like I only realized I was different in late middle school and I didn’t have the word for it for ages tbh. Like I just knew I didn’t get the fuss about boys. When I was a little kid? I didn’t know what the fuss was really. It was a kind of “peak” so yeah, I feel that in my bones.

Feet

In the swing

Over the creek

I was too scared to jump in, but I, I was high

In the sky

Here we have her playing, once again with reckless abandon - she’s standing on a swing (naughty!) and swinging high over a creek. But she’s slightly nervous. I relate to that too, it’s not a gay thought it’s a little kid thought I think - because while she’s enjoying her freedom and the chance to play, there’s an awareness of the risk. That’s a lot of childhood and what makes her such a greater songwriter is how she’s able to capture these feelings we’ve all had before, in this case the rumbunctious nature of free play paired with the cautious nervousness of knowing you can fall.

With Pennsylvania under me

I mean this simple makes it more autobiographical for her, like if we didn’t know her was her that was the me , now we really do.

Are there still beautiful things?

This is speaks to her nostalgia for this time period and serves to highlight how much she misses it. She wishes she was young and innocent and had that freedom of playing in the trees and above the creek and feeling like she’s flying just because she’s standing upright on the swing. This is meant to be her “peak”.

Sweet tea in the summer

Cross your heart, won't tell no other

The first line is setting up mood again, it’s innocence and suburbia and freedom and the hot days of summer vacation. The second is a common English phrase - for the ESL folks - that means “let’s keep a secret”. It’s extremely common for little girls especially to have secrets with each other. “You’re my best friend and I’ll tell you something I haven’t told anyone else before but cross your heart you won’t tell anyone else” is the kind of thing that has probably happened at a sleepover for every woman (gay or straight). So Tay’s whispering and telling secrets to her best friend aged seven in the heat of the summer and the neat rhymes kinda remind me of those clapping games you play as a kid.

And though I can't recall your face

I still got love for you

Again, I think this isn’t specific to gay kids necessarily - it’s that idea of having lifelong affection for your first best friend even when you don’t know where they are, can’t imagine them in adulthood, maybe can’t even remember their surname and frankly don’t really want to or care... but you still have warm feelings towards them.

Your braids like a pattern

Love you to the moon and to Saturn

So the friend is a girl. And here’s where the non wlw readers will have to work with me a little bit because as I’ve explained before a very common, enteral part of the queer female experience is obsession with other girls’ femininities. We notice things like hair and clothes and makeup on girls far more than straight girls seem to and waaay more than het guys do. A friend of mine who is v butch noticed like minor shit that any of us change in our appearance. Describing in detail a girl’s appearance feels - on a gut level - pretty gay. Now this isn’t a detailed description, but she links this physical trait - this pretty, braided hair her friend has - to loving her.

Now, she is a child in this story. This isn’t a sexual kind of thing in the child’s mind. She’s obviously not “in love” with her friend aged seven. But she is saying her deep, overwhelming love for her friend is inextricably linked - via rhyme scheme - to her feminine appearance.

This incredibly close, quasi homoerotic friendship is a near universal wlw experience and I’m sorry but it differs from straight girls’ close friendships because it’s... a lot. It is “love you to the moon and to Saturn” and obsessing over her clothes and hair and little habits.

And there’s no vocab for this, nothing to prepare you for it and nobody bats an eye because little girls are supposed to be friends with one another but like... you’re way overinvested and often that other girl isn’t and starts to drift away because she isn’t having this language free connection and it’s legit heartbreaking.

Passed down like folk songs

The love lasts so long

This childhood friendship becomes an anecdote, a moment of folkloric storytelling, but it never completely fades away and tapping into this first - not quite sexual but very sapphic - experience is super easy.

And I've been meaning to tell you

I think your house is haunted

Your dad is always mad and that must be why

And I think you should come live with

Me and we can be pirates

This sets up the narrative some people - I understand where y’all are coming from and I am here for it - hear of domestic abuse. The thing is, it’s not Tay’s character who is getting abused. Tay is a small child - and she’s envious of and nostalgic for that era of her life, when she thought that her best best best friend’s asshole dad was simply reacting to ghosts. It speaks to an innocence her character has which may not be shared by her friend, the girl with the braids.

But Tay is innocent and she says “come with me” and run away so we can be pirates together. Now, on a very basic and superficial pop culture level it’s worth noting Keira Knightley in POTC is pretty fundamental to any queer millennial woman’s sexual awakening. However, that’s not what Tay’s referencing here. She’s saying, at least on some level, let’s run away and be gender nonconforming. Again, she’s a small child. She doesn’t know why she wants that. But she doesn’t tell her friend “let’s run away and be princesses” - she wants to be a pirate. It links to the first scene in the song of her being a tomboy in the trees and on the swing, honestly. There were also a number of cross dressing female pirates, many of whom were gay back in the day so it’s a subtle nod to how a lot of childhood fantasies actually are rooted in possible historical fact.

But also come on, every queer girl wanted to be a pirate idk why really we just did. Like I say I can explain it as a desire not to conform to gender norms but it’s also just... another weirdly common fantasy that she’s tapping into.

Like idk this song is so fucking gay and it’s not trying to be but every line is just... felt in my bones. Like little me is seen by this song.

Then you won't have to cry

Or hide in the closet

This is obvi the line people go on about and look. The friend’s dad is clearly an asshole like that’s established. But the line has a double meaning. She’s saying if you run away with me to be a pirate on the high seas you won’t have to cry anymore and you won’t hide in the closet. It’s an innocent thought but it’s also a double meaning, right? You won’t be abused, you won’t be sad. And you’ll be with me out of the closet. It could’ve been “hide under the bed” or “behind the curtains”. But she picked closet. And that word gives this verse a second meaning, which is particularly palpable given as I say this is a very gay song from a thematic standpoint.

And just like a folk song

Our love will be passed on

Again, this is a deeeeep love. This is someone she wants to run away with. And she probably doesn’t know why, she probably doesn’t have the words. She’s a little kid. But this friend of hers is the person she wants to rescue and run away with and be together with even though she - Tay - is pretty content otherwise. In fact, she longs for this time in her life. It was full of beautiful things. And yet despite being happy, she was willing to drop it all for her little female friend she was clearly preoccupied with.

Please picture me

In the weeds

Before I learned civility

I used to scream

Ferociously

Any time I wanted

I, I

Again, this reiterates she is nostalgic for this time period. It was a good time in Taylor’s life. It was a time when she could be herself, before she had learned civility and what was expected from her by society. Which ties back to that thing I said right in the beginning, about how this first quasi sapphic friendship is cherished by queer women because we didn’t know it was weird. We hadn’t “learned civility” yet. We could scream, we could run around and climb trees, and we could ask our friends to run away with us not knowing those thoughts didn’t occur to them with the same intensity.

Sweet tea in the summer

Cross my heart, won't tell no other

And though I can't recall your face

I still got love for you

We’ve discussed this already. It’s still queer coded to me.

Pack your dolls and a sweater

We'll move to India forever

Passed down like folk songs

Our love lasts so long

So she’s once again cementing the fact that this is a little female friend with the dolls, and again suggests running away together and says even though none of that happened and she grew up and realized this... was actually a fairly specific experience not a universal universal one and she learned civility and heteronormativity but this foundational, pure, innocent gay love... will always remain in its complete innocuous harmlessness but immense power.

And so, yeah. This song is probably Taylor’s gayest shortly followed by Treacherous.

But if it means something else to you, I’m by no means taking it away. Anyone can enjoy her music in any way they like.

It’s just weird that most queer women feel their childhood selves are completely seen by this song if it was a complete accident 🤷🏻‍♀️