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zipitmythicalsunset · 2 years

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Chapter 2: BloodBath River

(ALL SONAS HERE YAYAYAYAYAYAAYA)

(This is all from X.Gs pov, an important note is that due to the area she had grown up in, she has learned to speak all 3 (kelpie selkie and siren) main mer languages fluently, also Tw. This chapter is called Bloodbath river for a reason, I think i got a bit graphic but i have no idea where that border is so- E)

It's been an hour since dawn, and the town is already up and busy, people raiding the cafe for coffee to keep them up and going, others walking their dogs or chatting blissfully to one another. Unaware (or uncaring) of the lady with blue eyes piercing through a black veil with the gray, ominous Sunday hat sitting up top of a closed bookstore.

X.G has been so…tired

Everyones been. None of the other kelpies who she's been so close with she considers family have been active on their group chat. Life on land seems to have also been rough over the course of a few weeks. Most of her family live among humans, how, she can never know.

Maybe it's because they were born on land, and they had found the appeal there that she was blind to. Even then, the second their true form is revealed, no matter how good of a person you may have been. you're immediately a monster. Someone that deserves to be locked up and soul sucked out in a disgusting smelling lab. And be treated as a mere object, and when you finally die, nobody will remember you. Why run this risk? What was the appeal that she couldn't see? She wanted to know. It’s kinda her thing, to understand things she probably wasn't capable of understanding.

X.G looked around to the sea of humans below her, watching them all scatter to do whatever they had planned to do today. There's more than usual, that's odd. In the sea of busy people, she had spotted a familiar figure. blonde hair with strands of green slaying a white dress. X.G perked up and bounced off the building she was sitting on (earning a few gasps from a few bystanders. heh) and ran over to the blondie.

“Nora!” she basically yelled out, and Nora had spun around at the call of her name, perking up when she saw her friend running to her. “Hey X! how have you been?”

X.G held Nora in a one arm hug, in which she happily returned. “M’tired, life in the forests feels slow and the fog is starting to pick up. I almost lost my kitty bag yesterday when trying to get to Momma Yami’s home cave thing..” she grumbled, looking down midway through her sentence and patted her purse just to confirm she still had it. wandering around in the foggy eerie woods searching for her dropped bag was not fun. Nora simply chuckled. “I can imagine, the flower shop has been very busy. I’m closing it for the weekend because I somehow ran out of stock.” That. That right there had caught her by surprise. Nora tended to overbuy stock. So the thought that she ran out was shocking. “That busy?”

“Mhm, mainly tourists. Heard some point of interest or something opened up to tourists to check out and they came flocking, hotels packed and well yeah,extra money but nobody was ready for that.It's all haywire.” Ah. That explains why there's so many people around, and the extra boats, seriously, they appear out of thin air…speaking of..“Hey, that does mean you're free for the weekend, right?” She questioned hopefully. Nora had begun walking again, X.G following along behind her. “Yeahh, you got any plans I can tag along with?”

“No but we can maybe go- '' A familiar ring cut X.G off, coming from both of their phones. Someone had pinged them in the group chat, that used to happen a lot. But ever since these tourists had come and eaten everyone's free time. This is the first Ping this month. The girls looked at each other and whipped their phones out. X.G scrambled her phone out of her purse in the sea of other objects she purchased yesterday, out of its many waterproof covers, and clicked the notification.

🥗🥗🥗 Salads and sides🥗🥗🥗

Bloo: @everyone hey i know we’ve been busy, so sorry for the ping. But me and Vi are going to walk from the exit of the river and upstream to the cove at its start. just to take a breather from all the humans. Probably gonna spend the night there. Anyone else free to come hang with us?

Bloo, you goddamn life saver.

X.G and Nora looked at each other “Well, that solves that problem.” Nora said, laughing. X.G chuckled “Bloo is always there when you need her, even unintentionally, isn’t she?” Nora hummed in confirmation while she texted the group chat.

The former looked back down at her phone after a few moments of just laughing at the coincidence. she can see through her black veil that there are already 5 new messages, including nora.

bloo: @everyone hey i know everyones been busy, so sorry for the ping. But me and Vi are going to go from the exit of the river and walk upstream to the hidden cove near its start at around 12 pm. Just to take a breather from all the humans and chit chat. Probably gonna spend the night at that cove. Anyone else free to come hang with us?

(replying to bloo) Finnick: Eh, why not, nothing more entertaining to do anyway.

(replying to bloo) Cici: HECK YEAH! I'VE BEEN SO BORED AND I MISS YOU GUYS >:D

(replying to bloo) Whisper: ooo~ well i don't see why not, I'll bring some snacks and a couple of drinks! :D

(replying to bloo) Nora: shops closed for restock, it will be nice to get some fresh air :>

(replying to bloo) Beetle: hm…sure! Sounds like fun!

Smiling, she has typed out her response.

(replying to bloo) X.G: a walk would be nice, count me in.

sent.

Not 2 seconds after, Bloo had started typing again and had sent another message.

Bloo: all right! It's nice to see that almost everyone has free time this weekend!

It's something to look forward to, and she can feel Nora’s buzzing excitement next to her. It's a break from the town and work- with 8 out of 10 members of her family, she couldn't blame her. She herself missed listening to them chatter away and doing less than responsible things. It can get annoying trying to keep them out of trouble, yes. But if her friends weren’t chaotic children, what fun would there be?

——————————————————————

The meeting time was 12PM

Everyone was here by 11:30AM

The part of the beach where the river was is kept untouched by everyone, including tourists. After all, you'll never know when you'll get bonked by a gator.

The residents of the town found out the hard way

Poor fucker.

Vipera and Bloo had just arrived, ironically last, to be fair, they were technically 30 minutes early. Nora basically rushed X.G out of her jacket and sweatpants to show the outfit that fit much better with her kelpie form and hurried them over to the river at 11 AM so they wouldn't get side tracked and be late. X.G didn’t like to be rushed, but she still couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's shenanigans. Nora didn't wanna be late. Not at all

The river itself was maybe 100 feet wide and gashes into the land, carrying anything along that happens to fall into it.

Well, almost everything.

The river's current may be strong to a human, but a kelpie's powerful tail can easily swim against its current, though slow and inefficient… X.G and her family will know, they are no stranger to walking up this river to the cove.

“We are all ready, right?” asked whisper. Snapping her once again out of her thoughts. Vipera and Finnick were nodding, Finnick was holding a pretty big, black cooler bag. That probably has the stuff Whisper brought along. “Mhm, all ready for freddy.” Beetle joked. “I'm ready to go already!” Cici practically shouted impatiently. Nora and Bloo were holding a thumbs up “Me and Bloo are up and ready, how about you, X.G?”

She looked at each of her friends under her veil, she had removed her blue contacts- sky blue eyes have been replaced with blood red ones- and nodded

“ready”

And they were off

——————————————————————

At 3pm, all was well, everyone had switched to their true forms. Everyone was talking, telling stories they haven't had the chance to tell anyone, doing a few goofy things here and there, playing chess without a chessboard- actually a couple of games without their respective items. Vipera and X.G were in the middle of a tic tac toe match when Cici decided to make the first moment of the walk.

Cici was talking to Nora and making plans about one thing or another, when she looked at the river they were walking to the right of, dramatically gasped, and jumped inside. Giving everyone a heart attack until she surfaces 10 seconds later, jumping out the water with a fucking massive bucket, big enough to hold a child, and pretty well intact.

“GUYS LOOK A BUCKET” Cici yelled out with pride, holding the bucket like it was that baby lion cub from that one popular movie Bloo made X.G watch a while back.

silence…

Somehow, Everyone but X.G and Finnick had the same idea, and had gotten to their knees and began praising the bucket like it was the motherfucking lord and savior Jesus Christ himself.

….It took almost half an hour to convince everyone to continue walking, Cici kept the bucket though.

At 6 pm, They had stopped to take a break and eat some of the snacks that Whisper had gotten. Some cookies, water, and sandwiches . Bloo had snagged a few fish out the river to snack on. Some didn’t like raw food though. Whatever, it was eaten anyway. Bloo has always been the best at catching fish bare handed. Never ever lost any contest before, even if 3 people were working together, Bloo somehow always got more. X.G has always been VERY curious where she got her skills from. But she always says she's self taught. Fine then, keep your secrets, you blue tinted sentient plant.

At 9 pm, they had a simple conversation, a release of information about a pretty random topic. One that they had no idea would be relevant later.

“Hey X.G!” CiCi called, swaying the bucket around. her kelp hair swinging around almost smacking Vipera, who was chit chatting with Finn.

“hmmm yeah whats up?” X.G responded, pausing her game of connect 4 with Beetle- well, imaginary technically, the setup was in their heads and where they placed their next piece by saying which column out of 9 they wanted to place their piece in. They’ve done it for years now, it's second nature to remember such things.

“You spend your time out in the wild and all, seeing deers, traversing tree roots, and swimming with the fishes, yeah?”

“What about it?” she asked.

“well i’ve had this question for a long while now but never had time to ask because busy month and all, but how the FUCK do you keep your clothes clean and not even torn up in the slightest?!” CiCi nearly shouted.

“Actually, that's a good question. X, I know you're careful and all. But I don't think anyone is that careful, and your kelpie outfit doesn't even have a blood stain. how?” Asked Beetle, now also curious.

“Huh? Oh, Atlan tech. Neat shit aint it?” X.G responded casually. “Pardon me, what tech?” asked Nora, now interested. Great, everyone was interested now, all eyes were on her. hhhhhhhhhh-.

“Atlan tech.” she replied again. All of her friends looked at each other, each confirming with one another with a simple look they had no idea what she was talking about, and looked at her and gestured for her to elaborate. Why did she expect them to know what she was talking about?

“well….you guys know the atlantis myth right?”

Everyone nodded in confirmation. Well, here goes nothing…

“yeah that's a real thing”

silence. they have stopped walking, nonhuman eyes gone wide, staring at her through her veil, this feels ominous now.

“Holy crap…” gasped Whisper, shocked, and so was everyone else, now looking at each other processing that information, some in disbelief, others fully believed her.

“Wait really?!” yelled CiCi, flabbergasted. “Not in the way you think, however.” She added, and now all eyes were on her again, just like that. “It ain’t an underwater city that was run by humans and is full of gold or whatever the tale was. It's actually a Country sized city run by seafolk. Works like humans, just less tech advanced because it’s underwater, and, well, its under fucking water. Also they all hate humans. Funny isn't it?”

“And…nobody knew about this… because?” Finn asked, still doubting X.Gs admittingly pretty unbelievable claim.

“With all due respect, Finnick. Do you really think a COUNTRY SIZED CITY OF SEAFOLK THAT HATES HUMANS WILL LET A HUMAN LIVE TO TELL THE TALE?” Bloo pointed out.

“Pfft, that too, but really it's because there's a weird barrier that prevents anyone from seeing it and you gotta sing a certain song to an underwater shrine to enter.” X.G stated bluntly, not really questioning it.

….

“Ok normally id question that but then i remembered im arguing a civilization that made the most durable clothes i’ve ever fucking seen thats quite literally right in front of my eyes- just how are those two related mind you?” Finn asked, giving up on questioning X.G’s words. After all, she’s no liar to those close to her. They’ve been each other's family for a long time now. Everyone knows each other like a book they’ve read a million times. They know well the most X.G can do is half lie without stuttering her words or start avoiding eye contact.

“Long story, make it short, combined a bunch of animal genes together to create a genetically modified organism that produces a substance that which combined with a different genetically modified organism’s GUTS and a couple other things makes the most durable and questionable shit ever fucking created.” She said without a second thought. She can feel eyes piercing through her veil. She didn’t look away, or show any of her giveaways when she lies. Because she isn't.

“Hold on …how did they figure that out?” Vipera asked, Whisper and Nora hummed in agreement, having the same question.

“To be honest not even i wanna know” The Blood-eyed kelpie half chuckled out.

“Im wondering how the fuck they made a gentically modified organism that assumingly can mass produce this stuff.” Cici said, still baffled. “That…isnt my area of expertise.” X.G replied with a small giggle.

“Well, the Alfredton Marine Institution or whatever has a lab base right next to the left side of the river, we'll be a few minutes from the property line at like 3:30 am or 4:00 am, why not go ask them?” Finn said sarcastically. Earning a few laughs from the other seafolk.

“Jokes and clothes aside, you gotta take us there someday.” Beetle said jokingly, Whisper nodded her head in agreement. “I wanna see this barrier thing.” The blue eyed selkie Joked too. “Alright bet, when yall free to go on vacation to Atlantis? Outsiders are free to come and visit as long as they dont eat someone. ” X.G stated as if oblivious that the two were messing around.

“Wait fr?” Beetle said, shocked that their joke can actually happen.

“Mhm!”

“Oh heck yeah.”

Beetle won that Connect Four game, by the way.

At 10PM, the group took a small detour to a nearby open field to mess around with the fireflies. Beetle became the crowned heir of the fireflies since they insisted on following them around. Fitting. It was fun too, Cici had caught Finnick + 10 fireflies with the bucket she got. Which spawned a “game” of chase between the two idiots. They were back on track on the river within the hour, but only because Cici had run out the field and back to the river with Finnick on her tail and everyone else had to run after them, also prevent one from killing the other.

At 12:30 am,when their destination was maybe 4 or so hours away, her gut told her something was TERRIBLY wrong.

They've been walking for maybe 13 hours now, and everyone was starting to get droopy, but Whisper had also brought a bunch of energy drinks. God bless her for thinking ahead. But that means all her senses were not being dragged down by sleep. And every single one was screaming at her to be prepared to fight something, something she couldn't see or hear at all.

This didn't go unnoticed, however, not at all.

“Hey X, what's up? You seem to have lost your stride .” asked Beetle. “Yeah, I was about to ask the same thing, your energy is quite tense. '' said Nora. Of course those two will notice, they’ve always been more aware of their surroundings, they would have noticed X.Gs stiff posture a mile away.

“My protective instincts are screaming at me that something is wrong” X.G replied, it was true, but that instinct has been wrong before, but she was highly alert nonetheless.

Whisper immediately went stiff, turning around to look at her red eyed friend. “I'm…not the only one who's getting a strange feeling?” Ok, something is definitely wrong. If her instincts were nudging her, she would pay no attention to it, but they were screaming at her to protect someone. AND Whisper was getting the same feeling, who just so happens to have just as good hearing as her. Fuck no, something is wrong and she has to be re-

“Guys, chill out, if something happens, it will happen. Just don't ruin the good time before something else ruins it.” scoffed Finnick. “We are in the middle of nowhere, worst case scenario we get jumped by a bear or something.”

…..As much of an asshole Finn is and how rude of a brush off was, he was right. nothing could be done about it now, and nothing worse than a bear can attack them. So for now, she stayed on alert.

And X.G’s glad she did.

It all started at 3:05 AM, an hour and a half away from their destination.

she heard something

It sounded like a scream.

a human shriek.

The air had all tensed in as she stopped walking and looked across the river where the noise had come from, eyes widening as goosebumps prickled every scale on her body.

“Whisper?” she heard someone ask. maybe it was Vipera, or was that Nora? Whoever it was- they are implying that Whisper had heard the scream too, so it's not just her. “Hey, X.G what’s up?” asked Beetle- wait was that Finn? She couldn't care to check, nor to respond.

“Hey guys you good?”

“Did they hear something?”

“I don't hear anything”

“X and Whisper have the best hearing here, They probably hear something we can't”

“X.G looks like she's watching ghosts strip dance in the sky and Whisper looks like she had watched someone deepthroat some cacti.”

“What kind of simile is that, Finn?!”

“It's been a few minutes, X.G, Whisper, come on we gotta go”

She heard something again. Another shriek, in the distance. but it wasn’t human….it sounded like…like…

. . .

Changing to her higher form has always been a painful process, she always did it slowly. So when she threw her bag at Whisper to catch (which she barely had time to do, being distracted and all) and changed into her higher form in 5 seconds, everyone was alarmed.

Vipera got the hint, and changed into her higher form, not as quickly, but still quite urgently. Whisper had heard it too it seems, and had run over and jumped onto X.Gs back, immediately looking up at where the sound had come from once she was settled. Finn and Beetle decided that this was pretty serious, and had followed Whisper's footsteps. Her horse-like figure allowed them to do that easily. Nora, Bloo, and Cici all stood by the water, ready to jump in and swim against or with the current

“What is happening exactly?” Bloo asked, alarmed

“No idea, but it seems like Whisper and X.G had heard something alarming enough that we gotta be ready to move.” Nora said, trying to keep her cool, but the worry and alarm was obvious in her voice.

“No shit! But what did they hear!?” Cici nearly screamed, emotions of terror, alert, and weariness fused in one.

“Bro we dont fucking know! Jus-“

“SHUT THE FRICK FRACK UP YOU BROKEN BOBBLEHEADS WE ARE TRYING TO LISTEN!” Whisper yelled abruptly, cutting Finnick off before he had a chance to really start.

For a few minutes, nothing can be heard besides the current of the water. And their alarmed breaths.

And then she heard it.

it was loud enough for everyone to hear it, in fact.

selkies, kelpies, and sirens, the most intelligent creatures in the ocean. Each having their own similar yet unique languages, but there is ONE phrase that is the same across all three, and in that moment, her fellow companions understood why she, and Whisper were so alert. Why her instincts were screaming at her to protect someone. Why Whisper has had a strange feeling for the same amount of time.

“PLEASE HELP ME!!”

She’s never moved so fast in her life.

She was running so fast upstream. Kelo flying everywhere as her hooves smacked the river so hard that it made bubbles that she can run on, and run she did. It was draining her energy fast-but she had more energy than the average Kelpie, especially in this form. She can hear Vi somewhere to her left. and the sounds of splashes behind her as powerful kelp tails move against the powerful current of the river behind her.

There was still screaming, cries for help.

A child’s cries for help, they were begging, pleading cries.

They needed to go. Go and save the child from whatever danger they were in.They needed to get there YESTERDAY.

…The screaming abruptly stopped. She can hear voices now, but she didn’t care what they were saying and focused on her hooves to keep herself running correctly on the water. But whatever it is, it has the kelpies on her back riled up as they were now rambling in their anger. Mainly Finnick and Whisper, they were livid.

When they finally arrived, she realized why.

10 guards, and more approaching. Every single one had malice on their faces, which quickly turned to terror and shock as she ran on the grass where they were. She can hear Vipera getting out of the water somewhere behind her. and the sounds of Cici, Nora, and Bloo bursting out the water on the left and right sides of her.

her eyes looked around for the child that had called out for help. Then she spotted them—There, on the floor, next to a guard who was holding an active taser, definitely injured

Was a red, four armed siren kid.

“SURPRISE, YOU SCALES FUCKS” yelled Finnick, as the three kelpies jumped off her back.

And thus, the fighting began.

“Whisper, get the child to safety on the other side of the river” X.G demanded in their native language. Whisper didn’t think twice before following the order.

The red eyed mare wasted no time before bolting to the one closest to her and ripping their intestines out , listening to their screams of agony as blood tainted green kelp red..before making a human pancake with a hoof to the face and a satisfying crunch.

She looked up in search of her next target, catching a glimpse of Whisper putting her foot through the taser wielding man's chest. Thankfully without getting shocked. before scooping up the child and doing what she was told to. Good, Good. X.G had found her next victim, turning around and bucking their upper half off and began trampling their body. Organs, blood, and other bodily fluids exploding out like a piñata hit with a wrecking ball. She didn't fail to notice the glint of a shiny, used needle on the floor where the little siren once was and happily trampled that too with merely a thought.

Agonized Screams of terror and pleas for mercy filled the air while red tainted their kelp and clothes. The ones in the distance have caught up, the smarter ones ran back to wherever they came from, while the foolish ones had attempted to intervene a few had tried to shoot at them, stupid, stupid and cruel and foolish and COLDER THAN ICE. The bullets only made them stop taking their time and marked who died first. The kelpies slaughtered and fought. Tearing limbs off , listening to the terrified, wonderful screams, filled to the brim with agony and PAIN and DREAD and REGRET for their actions. For whatever harm they have caused to the innocent siren Whisper whisked to safety. Speaking of, While Finn rips heads off, left and right, what they deserve- they don't deserve their minds, they are far too cruel to have them. While Bloo rips them apart for their livers like the amazing hunter she is. While Vipera eats the terrible, cruel humans in one bite. While Nora makes sure they are unrecognizable to whoever comes and finds the bloodbath they leave behind. While Beetle leaves holes where their hearts should be, as they do not deserve them. They were fake anyway. EVEN while Cici makes sure there isn't a body, just a few organs, maybe a few limbs, skin scattered around, smashed bones, no name to put on it even if they tried. What they deserved, what humans all deserve is this birthday party of crimson and copper and screams right here. Among all of that, She also can hear Whisper maniacally laughing, even though she's trying to keep herself quiet for the child's sake. Her heightened hearing can still catch the laughter through all the screams and pleas for mercy and gunshots and the crunch of bones and dripping of blood and organs falling on the floor and the RED. That wonderful usually innocent laugh now also tainted beautifully by blood. X.G hears something else too, but she’ll address it later, but right now.

They have far too much blood to spill.

She wasn't sure about her comrades, nor had time to make sure they were ok, but besides the few hisses from pain, none of them ever cried out. Too bad for those even more idiotic humans. They made quick quick work of them all. When they were all done, the best way to describe the battlefield was a messy 3rd grade group collage, the blood being the canvas, with bones, organs, skin, and dead bodies being clumsily glued onto. Withthe occasional accidental flicker of what little green grass that didn't get tainted by the blood .

…

But now it’s over, the moon highlights the glimmers of blood on the now red grass and kelp that is their “art” project…Speaking of kelp, X.G looks at her friends. she herself besides a bit of kelp damage, has come out unscathed..

Well, Also Vipera, everyone else has maybe a few bruises, maybe a few stab wounds. Not sure why the ones in the distance didn’t immediately run at the sight of eight “monsters” tearing up their fellow coworkers, but X.G didn’t really bother to understand human logic. They were just stupid most of the time.

“Hey X.G, you know alot about sea mons- seafolk, right?” Whisper called out from wherever she was in their language. “Yeah, why?” X.G replied back. “…Do you know what I'm looking at?”

huh? Did Whisper find something? Or was there something wrong with the kid? She looked around at everyone else, who was walking towards the other side of the river, diving in the water to help remove the blood and jumping out to where Whisper probably was.

“Holy shit X.G GET OVER HERE!” Finn yelled out back in common tongue, flabbergasted by whatever he was seeing. Well then, if it's that serious.

She slowly turned back into her kelpie form…slowly…and painfully, the tough skin shrunk and hooves turned into claws until she was back in her kelpie form. X.G looked down at her…perfectly fine outfit and dusted it off and adjusted her hat. She really didn't know how the Higher form works and honestly she doesn't really wanna know. She’s so tired now. All that running on water and fighting for an undetermined amount of time really drained her energy, not to mention switching to her higher form so quickly. Pray to all that is holy that there's still an energy drink in that cooler bag. Speaking of, where is it?

“X.G!” Vipera shouted like a mother being ignored by their child being told to come downstairs. “COMING, I'M COMING!” X called back, running to the river and jumping in, the current tried to take her, but even when tired as she is right now, she was far too strong for that and easily swam to the other side before jumping out. Spotting Whisper and everyone else surrounding her. Sighing she trotted on over. “Ok what is going on?” She looked around, spotting the cooler bag on the floor- and the bucket too, seems like Whisper went back for them. She opened the bag and thank god there's still 4 Monsters. Grabbing one and immediately chugging it, she looked around to find what everyone was losing their minds over with new found energy.

And then her eyes landed on the kid. She spat out some of her drink and made her spit out words she’d thought she'd never say when talking about a sea creature.

“What the jesus christ FUCK am i looking at?!”

And for a good reason, That siren has TENTACLES, FUCKING TENTACLES. THE SIREN HAS TENTACLES. WHY?

“Wait, you don't know?” Bloo asked nervously. “Nope nada never have i never seen this in my life.” X.G blurted out. Holy shit. She’s never seen anything like this before. She thought she had seen all seafolk types, she thought wrong. “Why is it only showing itself now?” Nora asked, furrowing her brows. And everyone grunted in confusion…until she remembered something…

“I saw a used needle on the floor next to where the kid was laying. Maybe they paralyzed him with some toxin or whatever.” She recalled, yeah, she trampled it in her anger and spite.

Nora hummed, satisfied with that answer, but pretty fucking mad now. And so was pretty much everybody else, how could they not? Who were those people and why were they trying to capture a baby siren with tentacles? She looked from the baby siren to her friends as if their eyes had answers.

And in a sense, they did. After all, they can read each other like a book. She can tell who's thinking and who has an idea by that look in their eyes.

“Whisper, don't be shy. Ican't be that weird, state your theory.” X.G asked bluntly, Whisper was always the kind to listen to other people's thoughts and ideas before speaking her own, but right now she’s the only one with one. And now suddenly all eyes were on her. oops.

“W-well…” The shy sky eyed kelpie started. “What if this little one is genetically modified , and wherever that blasting alarm is coming from is the lab? And- and it was trying to escape and got caught?” Ah, right, the other thing she heard during the fight. that blasting alarm. Issue for later, but that idea, That's… “Ok yeah that IS a weird idea” Finn stated.

“But she's right…” Nora started, attracting all eyes to her. “I mean, the folks at Atlantis with a lot less tech were able to fuse a bunch of different animal genes and traits together to create two for their own benefit. What is stopping a lab of ice cold, cruel humans from giving a siren an octopus trait- wait do krakens exist? Doesn’t matter, point across, besides, Finn, you yourself said that we will arrive at some Marine institution at around 3:30, and it was 3:05- maybe 3:10 when X.G looked like she was watching, and I quote “ghosts strip dancing in the sky” Nora was glaring at Finnick now. “Well, it's like 3:40 ish now, so this has to be it, right?”

“Ye-Yeah! EXACTLY what I was thinking!” Whisper said more confidently.

The next few seconds were deafening as the realization of what that could mean slowly but surely made its way into the others' heads.

“There are more in there….” Beetle pointed out, despair overtaking their face.

“We don't have the energy,time or even a plan to save them all!” Finnick pointed out, “Come on, let's just take the kid and go already!”

“Wait, can we atleast go and cause some destruction? I haven't gotten all the rage out of my system yet!” Cici whined.

She let her friends argue about their next move, while her eyes drifted to her kitty bag that Whisper was now wearing.

Whisper had never gone in the water, she probably jumped across the river, As her bag isn't wet. It was a durable little thing, meant to withstand the harsh environments she climbed through. Yeah, it is true she almost lost it in the foggier woods, but she wasn't quite looking for Yamitsukis cave when she did. She had planned on going there, yeah, but that was before she bumped into a red headed selkie. Said Selkie was heavily armed, a rifle, a pistol, and a bunch of other weapons she could see from her carrier-like bag she was using.

Ironically, that Selkie was a darling to chat to, a lovely lady, a traveler, in fact, from Atlantis. It is not frequent she sees another like herself, so that was a pleasant surprise. She also had a mini shop, she was going to buy something from it when she realized her precious cat bag was gone. That kind Selkie- Eleanor, had helped her find it. And then they split paths.

Not before X.G had purchased five hand grenades from her and put them in her purse. With a discount too, at the promise she won't mention her to anyone else. Something just told her to do it, and she understands now. You see this is why she listens to her gut most of the time.

She looked at all her friends, Finn, Whisper, and Beetle seemed pretty calm and collected and just concerned about the child. However, Bloo’s hands are clenched in fists so hard to the point it's probably cutting skin. Nora's eyes are twitching and her foot is tapping. Vipera’s claws keep bracing around nothing and her eyes keep glancing over at the fence. And Cici, as per usual, is letting her rage be known to the world with clenched fists and pissed stomps. Yeah, They gotta get that out of their system before anything, lord forbid what happens later if they don't.

“What are the kids' injuries?” X.G thought aloud, cutting off whatever argument they had going. “Some bleeding bruises we gotta patch up later, a pretty deep stab wound in their top right shoulder, but a bit of kelp can keep that fine for a few hours now, besides that and he's probably sick. He's pretty ok.” X.G took the time to stare at the little guy. He was mostly blood red, Besides his dull orange-gray fins and his odd sunray-like orange and yellow head frills. Wearing a dirty old white gown. Along with having four arms, He also had four eyes, that definitely isn't normal. His tentacles have a pattern of dull orange spots with red ovals. His scales looked so dehydrated she kinda wishes Whisper had dunked him in the river. Even through the black tint of her veil she could tell he was definitely neglected there, poor kid. He didn’t deserve this.

“Whisper, can you give me my bag? I have an idea.” She asked, stretching her arm out to her cat bag expectantly. In which Beetle took the bag off of her and gave it to X.G, since Whisper was still holding the little siren-kraken kid. “What idea can you possibly have?” Finn scoffed. “And is it a good one?”

“Ok, who else here still feels unhinged and angry and wants to kick more ass still?” She asked just to confirm. As expected, Nora, Bloo, Vipera and Cici happily raised their hands. “Great, go run hop that fence over there and get it out of your system. We don't need a hole in the wall later. When we see them hop that fence to come back, we do what these legs were built for and book it.” She explained. “Yeah but, where do we run too?” Beetle wondered aloud. “To Momma Yamis house.” Finn Deadpanned. Yamitsuki was basically their mother, and the cove wasn't a better option, and eight suspicious looking “humans” pulling up to town, 6 of them having their clothes stained with blood (Vipera was in her higher form during the whole fight)with a tentacle siren isn’t a smart idea.“She lives a few miles away from here though, we should probably all chug an energy drink, those four morons will be high off adrenaline anyway.”

“Wait, you won't just send them over the fence, how exactly do you want them to get it out of their system?” Beetle asked suspiciously. For a good reason, Nora and Bloo are both on steroids when pissed. If Nora and Bloo are using steroids as a pick-me-up, Vipera and Cici is just straight up cocaine abuse. “well…i have the perfect solution” X.G giggled, opening her back and revealing what she had bought the day before “NUKES!” she joked. Getting a mixtures of panicked screams and joyful cheers from her friends, this was such a stupid idea but who the fuck cares.

The girls grabbed the nukes, really liking this terrible idea, and bolted over the river and over the fence to set off the hand grenades. Yeah, they are small, but causing a bit of chaos and destruction is what they need right now. Lord have mercy if one gets too riled up and makes the roof fall in at Yami’s cave.

“X, what the FUCK were you thinking?! Has the sleep blocked your common sense?!” Finn snapped at the red eyed kelpie. “First of all, I was thinking about the consequences if they punched a wall in the cave out of rage, and it caves in on us!” X.G snapped back. “Second of all, probably, but there's no point in arguing it now* She pointed out, turning her head to Whisper. “Whisper, give me the kid and the three of you guys crack a monster in there, we are gonna run for a few miles without break so you better be ready.”

“No, actually putting the kiddo in the bucket will be easier since you'll be able to use your other hand to help traverse the trees.” Beetle suggested, pointing at the bucket Cici had found all those hours earlier. “Good idea beetle! Finally someone who isn't on crack with the ideas” Finn scoffed. “I mean yeah we just killed maybe 30 or so people and our clothes are covered in leftover blood that will probably stain. But holy shit, fucking GRENADES X.G?! WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE FROM?”

“Look mate I promised not to speak of the buyer, that's for you to find out for yourself.” X.G replied back while zipping her cat bag closed. Earning a grumble from Finn, his eyes piercing through her veil. Whisper had placed the kid gently and comfortably in the bucket and took out three monsters, which she tossed two to the other two kelpies before grabbing the cooler bag and basically forcing Finnick into it. “Guys, seriously, enough arguing, just Chug and be ready. They'll hop the fence any second now.” The normally shy kelpie pointed out before cracking her drink and chugging it all down. Finn mumbled a complaint about how it's not supposed to be chugged normally before doing the same with him. Beetle had already finished theirs and just threw the can at Finn before picking it up, taking the other now empty cans and yeeting them back into the cooler.

They can't really Litter.Momma Yamitsuki will lose her mind if she finds out they did that, and angering the 9 foot tall Kelpie is not a good idea, no siree.

The four kelpies stood there, waiting in anticipation for their other four members to jump the eerie barbed fence on the other side of the river. The bucket is big and firm enough for Whisper to put it over her shoulder like a carrier bag. The little mer curled up inside in a fetus position comfortably. ya know, If he wasn’t badly hurt, dehydrated, and probably starving, it would've been pretty adorable.

Ah, and there's the screams. Looking away from the little one and over at the fence, Nora, Bloo, Vipera, and Cici were running over screaming wildly.

“RUN NOW!” Cici screamed, alarmed and maybe a bit of terror in their faces.

Well that's all they needed, but they hadn't heard the explosion yet, and they took quite the while. So what the fuck is going on? Didn’t matter, they had hopped the fence now, and they were all off. Eight pairs of animal-like haunches slamming the earth, going faster than any human racer can ever dream of going with heavy breaths. Oh and the baby siren passed out in the bucket.

“What's going on!? Where's the expl-“

BOOM!!

That wasn't a hand grenade explosion. No way.

The explosion was so powerful, rattling the floor around them like an earthquake, causing them all to nearly trip, but they somehow managed to quickly regain their footing and continued to sprint forward. Not an idea where they were running, but that doesn’t matter, all they know is that Yami’s cave is to the right of the massive river, so that's where they went, and were going. Don't stop, the Adrenaline and Energy drinks were doing their jobs pretty well, well enough? Only one way to find out.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” Someone yelled. Theres no way in fuck she was paying attention to who was saying what. she needed to put her focus on her surroundings, to determine where they are and where they need to go. Yeah, she knows the woods like the back of her hand. But let's be real, why will she go anywhere near any human civilization while in her true form?

To save a neglected and abused siren kid from a lab of torturers, apparently.

“Well at first Cici dropped her grenade and we were looking for it-” started someone, probably Bloo. “NO TIME FOR BUILDUP, JUST SAY WHAT HAPPENED.” shouted someone else through gasping breaths for air. “OK, I FAILED TO NOTICE HOW CLOSE TO BLOO I WAS WHEN I THREW MY GRENADE AND I HIT HER ELBOW WHILE SHE WAS MID THROW, HER GRENADE MISSED OUR TARGET BY A LONG SHOT AND LANDED UNDER A BUNCH OF THOSE MASSIVE TRUCKS IN THE PARKING LOT.” Another blurted out.

Oh, of course, Big trucks mean a lot of gas, the fact that it landed under them adds salt to the wound. “HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MESS THAT UP?!” screamed someone else. “EVERYONE SHUT YOUR DARN CRYHOLES YOU WET DOG SMELLING PLANTS, YOU GONNA WAKE UP THE BABY!” ok that one was whisper.

“But where are we going?!” someone pointed out. “I'm working on it!” X.G yelled in reply “I'm waiting to see if we can find a landmark that I've seen before or something!” Her heart was pounding and the exhaustion from running had started to take over, eyes darting around like a hawk looking for any kind of landmark as to where they were going.

and finally, she spotted something, for a flick of a moment. Two trees that had grown weirdly and had fused together. She knew those trees. With that landmark, and the direction they were running…that meant…

..OH SHIT

“EVERYONE STOP RUNNING NOW!!” X.G screamed, trying her best to slow herself down and not run into Finnick, who was ahead of her. It took a few devastating seconds, but eventually they all came to a halt, heaving and holding their knees while their throats took in the much missed air.

“What's wrong X?” Bloo finally asked after she caught her breath, concerned. “Yeah, what happened?” Beetle also questioned. “I saw something I recognized. Two trees, we are way too far north” X.G unconsciously looked at where she saw the trees. “Yamis cave is maybe another 10 minutes run down south if we continue at that pace.” Fuck, right, her friends knew her better than this. She can feel everyone's eyes piercing through her veil. “X.G what are you leaving out?” sighed Beetle. “We don't have time for this, the fact that none of us have passed out yet is a miracle.” They complained.

“Andddd we are running head first into a massive sinkhole.”

“O h”

“yeah”

“Let's just go to Yami’s cave, lead the way X.G, you seem to know what you’re talking about .”

It all started at 3:05 AM.

Safety was reached at 4:35 AM.

And off they went, easily the worst 15 minutes of her life, the exhaustion quickly began to slow down her steps and made the journey much longer then she hoped. Yeah, it was only 5 minutes extra, but still. Also why were they still running? Good question, because fuck their health, the kid’s is more important. Oh yeah lets not forget that their bloodbath masterpiece will be found much sooner than they would have liked.

At last, they had reached the vine-blocked cave. Yamitsuki somehow had been able to find a way to control the vines in the area. These ones are near indestructible. They were all so tired, lightheaded, and on the brink of passing out. “MOMMA OPEN UP ITS AN EMERGENCY.” yelled Bloo in their language urgently and tiredly.

“HOLY SUGAR ICED TEA!” Yelled a familiar voice. as they heard aggressive stomping towards the cave entrance, and suddenly the vines were gone.

“CHILDREN- WHAT HAPPENED?!” screamed the purple eyed kelpie. Actually they probably looked terrible, eight adult kelpies, most of which clothes have some almost hour old blood stains on them, not to mention

“EXPLAIN…IN THE MORNING…” Finnick said in between breaths.

The older kelpie wasted no time rushing them inside the cave, settling them all down in the beds in one of the many “rooms” of the cave. Usually there were young seafolk in this cave, but the youngest had recently grown out of it. Momma Yami always knew how to care for anyone. She was grateful for that, sleep is now blurring her vision so much she can't see anything and she can’t even say a coherent word. You see this is what happens when you switch to your higher form too quickly, run on water, then run a marathon all in an hour or so.

“The bucket!” She heard Whisper yell somewhere. “Baby…bucket…lab…hurt…” the blue eyed mumbled.

“Baby what?” asked Yami, probably grabbing the bucket and seeing the little one still unconscious in it. Actually how did he stay unconscious through all of that chaos? “oh sweet heavens- CARRIE DARLING PLEASE GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME OUT.” Yamitsuki called out.

Ah, right, Carrie, the other kelpie that didn't reply to Bloo’s message in the group chat. She's in college for marine biology. So she’s…. probably…very…busy….

“WHAT HAPPENED……..IS THAT……. FINNIC…SIR… TENT…..X….” were the last words she heard before exhaustion had finally pulled the crazy kelpie under into its pitch black waters.

(Not really words if you asked her, more like a pile of junk.)

@intistone ive made a mistake somewhere it was suppose to be a oneshot with maybe 6k words NOT A WHOLE FIC THAT ALREADY HAS OVER 10K WORDS- im so so sorry yes there will be more chapters but rn ima go cry i reread this SO many times theres probably so many mistakes and shit that dont make sense.

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i-will-physically-fight-you · 1 year

Text

Gibbous Chapter 11: Never Meant to Make You Bleed

Chapter Title: Never Meant to Make You Bleed

Chapter Summary: Above anything else in life, Remy was a free spirit. He was a “Live-laugh-love” kinda guy, an embodiment of “Fuck it, You Only Live Once.”

Which was why he walked into his favorite local coffee shop, looked the barista directly in the eye and said, “I’ll take a 32 ounce blended Caramel Macchiato with three extra pumps of caramel, a half-pump of chocolate and eight extra espresso shots please.”

Pairings: background platonic sleepxiety (it’s discussed but Virgil is not actually in this chapter)

Chapter Word-Count: 5.9k

Warnings: Discussions of Mind Suggestions/Hypnosis (Enthrallment), Vomit Mention, Brief Descriptions of Violence, Arguing, Depression, Disassociation, Morally Grey Remy

Previous | Present | Next AO3 Link

A Gibbous update?? Within three months of the last one?? Christmas miracles DO happen!

This chapter is a bit of interlude between last chapter and the next upcoming few chapters--think of it as a surprise tool that will help us later ;)

Above anything else in life, Remy was a free spirit. He was a “Live-laugh-love” kinda guy, an embodiment of “Fuck it, You Only Live Once.”

Willow, the barista, quirked a slitted eyebrow, “Are you sure you don’t want the eleventh espresso shot today?”

“Nah, I only order it with eleven shots if I’m in need of a creative pick-me-up,” Remy winked, “Ten shots is my usual usual.”

“Alright, one moment,” The barista turned to the side and barked, “Cade! It’s ten today, not eleven!” before facing Remy with a blank gaze, “That’ll be $10.49.”

“How are we feeling about pennies today?”

“How are you feeling like being stabbed?”

Remy considered this for a moment. He stuffed the bag of pennies away. The barista shook their head, the corner of their mouth twitching just the slightest bit. Remy knew from his frequent patron visits that it was their closest thing to a laugh while in customer service mode.

“Here you are, as always please know we are not held liable for any subsequent heart attacks you might endure from drinking this thing!” Cade announced, presenting the drink with a flourish.

“Mmhhmmm,” Remy took a long sip, “it’ll take more than some espresso to fuck me up. I’m unfuckable.”

“Don’t you mean unkillable?” Willow asked.

“I said what I said.”

“Riiiight, okay, well please try not to die on store premises!” Cade said in his sing-songy customer service voice, “I do not want to deal with your decaying corpse driving away business.”

“Excuse me, my corpse would make a fantastic Halloween decoration and you know it,” Remy said, dropping a $20 into the Jack O’Lantern themed tip jar, “anyways, peace out babes, I’m gonna go haunt a corner table to read my shitty biology textbook.”

Cade and Willow called out a passing farewell as he walked away to do that. He stared down at the horrendously inaccurate depiction of a selkie’s anatomy and definitely did not think about anything else but his homework.

Okay, well, that was a tiiiiiny lie. Just a bit. He couldn’t help it—was ten espresso shots really that lethal to humans? Or was it a case of humans being way too overly dramatic? See, Remy could consume human food and beverages, but most of them were really bland unless they contained a strong taste to them.

It couldn’t be that deadly, though, because Remy has never heard of a human dying of a caffeine dose. Oh well, it wasn’t like it truly mattered, though—it would take much more than some caffeine to kill him. He would know this after the numerous attempts on his life over the centuries.

In Remy’s completely honest opinion, the whole indefinite “not-being dead” thing? Overrated.

It was why for all his nonchalant candor he refrained from openly discussing it. There were assumptions people made when they found out you’re like a bazillion years old.

Like the idea you’re some wizened, wise being for one. Which don’t get him wrong, when you live for a long, long, long time, you do learn a lot of invaluable life lessons. Like, maybe, don’t invest everything you own into stocks because even if you are an undead being, you will still be hurting losing it all in a stock market crash a century later.

However, it was stupid to think that wisdom came from being centuries old. There were four-year-olds Remy met with more wisdom than any particularly old wizards named Merlin could give.

Being centuries old just meant that you perpetually relearned the same damn life lessons over and over again because you kept forgetting the stinging pain of learning them the first time around.

So, nah, Remy didn’t think of himself being wise—especially when there were a lot more stupid mistakes to his name than the collective living human population. Which led into the second assumption—that Remy held the blueprints on the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Or in other words, he had any idea what he was doing in life.

…Gurl. Gurl, he decided to go to art school on a whim, he barely knew what day it was, did it look like he had his shit together? In fact, that was the secret of being old—the knowledge that nobody, including centuries-old vampires, ever had their shit together and despite the dictations of society there was no “proper way” to live. A secret that took Remy a dumbass long time to learn.

The third most common assumption was that if you’re centuries-old, you had to be obscenely rich. Like swimming in a vault full of golden coins like Scrooge McfuckingDuck rich. And sure, that was a point in Remy’s life where he had that. Centuries ago, where he thought power, fame, and fortune was all that mattered in life. Now, he was completely apathetic to any of that (And no, it absolutely wasn’t because he lost all of that in a stock market crash).

“So, then, what’s immortality really like then?” They’d demand.

Remy would smile, taking a long sip of his drink as he said something innocuous as “Well, for one, vampires are not immune to back pain.”

He didn’t talk about the indescribable gut-punching feeling of waking up one day and realizing you couldn’t remember the names of long-deceased loved ones. He didn’t talk about working yourself into a panic attack trying to grasp whether or not you were the same person today as you were a hundred years ago, nevertheless five-hundred or a thousand years ago. He didn’t talk about how hard it was to cling to good memories and how tough it was to rid your mind of the bad ones.

None of that was never what they wanted to hear and never what he wanted to reveal.

It was why he enjoyed “playing” human as it were. He found humans and their petty, meaningless drama entertaining. Like, hell yeah let’s start drinking coffee as an act of rebellion against a tax placed on our favorite beverage. Or hell yeah let’s make up new paint colors and ban a certain asshole artist from using them after he trademarked exclusive rights to a specific paint color.

Wealth and power had nothing in comparison to having a front row seat to Ellen’s revenge quest against the HOA through malicious compliance.

It also came with the added bonus of being able to piss off the High Elders by choosing to live among humans rather than mingle with vampiric society. The best part? He’d quantifiably done nothing the past few centuries or so. At least nothing they found to their liking. He knew those bastards had to be seething that they couldn’t do anything about it. He mostly didn’t care about it though.

Frankly in Remy’s opinion very little in his life mattered outside of two things:

Knowing about the Drama

Being the Drama

Those were the two things that kept him present in life—anything else? Well, to use a human expression, it simply bored him to sleep. Oh yeah, that was the fourth most common assumption—that it’d be impossible to ever get bored as a quasi-immortal being.

Which trust him, it was waaaay easier than you’d think. There was only so much knowledge one could glean before it all became cluttered up and samey in your brain. Mixing together all the colors imaginable didn’t make one super special cool color—it just made a color of muddish, muted ugly sludge.

Being bored was dangerous. If he was a better person, perhaps he’d put his efforts towards world peace. He thought about it, at times. Then his mind would drift towards how death was an inevitable, all-consuming force. All things die, even “immortal” ones.

So spontaneously becoming a broke college student for the hell of it? It somehow kept him un-bored for a short while.

Maybe it was because the way humans openly taught and shared their art intrigued him. Creative expressions like art were always something private among vampires, shared within covens and rarely to outsider eyes.

(Humans, however, generally encouraged all to enjoy art. Especially that Bob Ross dude. He explained painting in such an unpretentious, calming way that was easy to follow.)

Maybe it was because Remy liked the tactile feeling of charcoal on his fingers. He liked the way a painting could portray a thousand words. He liked how the heaviness was expunged from his soul and onto the paper with dark, broad strokes of color. He liked how art had no inherent meaning. He like how it could be anything and yet nothing all at once.

Maybe it was because it was an excuse to enroll in a university for the party scene. He enjoyed the loud music that drowned out his thoughts, his senses. Alcohol did little to fuddle his mind yet its acidic aftertaste made him feel alive. Humans also always spilled the juiciest gossip after a few drinks.

Even so, the broke college student life wasn’t enough on its own. When he found it bringing a yawn to his throat—he thought he’d kick it up a notch.

That was when he strolled up to a shift manager at Kirby’s Burgers and said, “Hi there, I’m the new hire that’s supposed to start today.” Words that while absolutely not true, scored himself a job regardless.

Truthfully, Remy didn’t need the job. He didn’t have the same worries a human in his position would have. But, fuck it, why not? Being forced in the same building of people you may or may not hate made for better drama than any reality tv had to offer. Pure entertainment values were the only reasons why he did anything in life.

It was also where he met Virgil, who was his work bestie, the person he discussed weird indie music with. Their friendship was as shallow and trivial as any of Remy’s “friends” at the university. Or at least, that was supposed to be the extent of their friendship.

Y’see, Remy wasn’t exactly a “Friendship is Magic” person. Sure, he had friends in the loose, shallow kinda way. Most of it was out of necessity, some of it was for the laughs. He learned like forever ago that there was no point in taking them seriously. It was too predictable, all too booooring when they always ended in heartbreak or betrayal. There were instances where he couldn’t help himself in spite of knowing this.

Such an instance was Virgil. The reason he’d sought out Virgil was not out of necessity or amusement; it began from a spite-driven impulse of “Why the fuck do you secretly hate me?”

Well, not initially. At first, he’d just wanted to be served piping hot tea. In his experience it was always the quiet, withdrawn people that had the best gossip. Because A. Everyone forgets about them and B. They generally kept it to themselves.

Except, except, Virgil was annoyingly immune to the Remy charms. Not his enthrallment charms—because ew, icky, questionable morality issues aside, it took all the fun outta everything.

He preferred to operate life on his genuine charm and charisma. It made things much more interesting. It also came along with the bonus effect of pissing off the High Elders, who watched his every move. They viewed it as harmful to ignore a vampire’s natural inclinations.

Regardless, Virgil refused to engage in any conversation starters Remy threw his way. Even softballs like “What’s your favorite animal?” was met with “Dogs.” without any further explanation. Or Virgil would scurry away, claiming he needed to restock something.

Remy practically gave up when he approached Virgil with “Hey, would you be open to covering my shift this coming Thursday night? There’s, like, this band Starry Starry Sky in town and—"

“Starry Starry Sky?” Virgil interrupted, his eyes alit with excitement, “they’re in town, really?”

Remy knew he’d asked for Virgil’s music tastes before. It was one of the most basic coworker small talks out there. Virgil clammed up at the comment, muttering that he didn’t really listen to music (liar). It turned out, he did listen to music and he had similar tastes as Remy. Which were small weird eccentric bands with fan bases consisting of three people and a corn chip.

Virgil never actually hated him either. There was a similarity between the two although they went separate ways of handling it. Both of them held a distrust of others, preferring to keep to superficial relationships. The difference was that Remy cavorted around with a feigned airs of being an affable busybody while Virgil stood staunchly standoffish with his hackles raised to any and all that approached him.

Remy discovered that Virgil did know how to smile and he could talk for more than a few sentences at a time. His words possessed a biting, sardonic edge to them that only flourished under Remy’s encouragement. They mainly stuck to discussing their music tastes, but there was comfort to be found in trading lighthearted jabs at one another in the midst of frenzied rushes and sluggish down times.

When the fryer incident happened, Remy acted as any concerned person would act. He found a better paying job with a reasonable employer and stole important documents to forge a job application in Virgil’s name. A completely normal human being thing to do (except he wasn’t human, and he definitely cared more than he should for Virgil’s happiness).

Because look, while Remy wasn’t wise—he wasn’t stupid. He could tell Virgil deserved better than the shit that the oh-so-mighty gods threw at him. If no one else was willing to help the human out then for just this once, Remy would.

Even if his “helping” inadvertently reunited Virgil with a member of a werewolf pack who held him captive for a week. It was okay though! Because Remy had gone to Logan and ensured he fully understood the repercussions if any further incident occurred involving Virgil.

He intended at that point to slip away until he was barely a passing memory in Virgil’s existence. It was safer this way, for the sake of himself and for Virgil. He’d linger enough to ensure the human would be okay.

Except, Remy couldn’t stop lingering. He’d grown too dependent on their friendship, too accustomed to rambles about obscure ‘00s bands and debates about the morality of pineapple pizza. It also helped that Virgil was the first human in a long, long while who’d known the truth—and didn’t freak.

Or at least, not until Remy irrevocably fucked things up in the way he’d done.

He didn’t mean to—he’d been trying for weeks to keep himself restrained. Ever since Virgil sought him out that one night in a full-blown panic, barely cognizant of Remy’s presence, Remy had been furious. Not at Virgil, but at the person who hurt Virgil so badly that he’d reinstated his walls again and shut Remy out.

A younger Remy would be already tasting blood. The much-older and weary Remy didn’t want that. Not yet—not when he was certain that would further scare Virgil away from him.

He’d been doing so so good, waiting for Virgil to reach out when he was ready. He hadn’t thought he’d run into Virgil at the nightclub last night. Because he knew Virgil hated loud social environments—he only came to the calmer events held at the college at Remy’s behest. He wasn’t thinking when he insisted Virgil leave with him. It was an urge, an instinct to get Virgil safely away at all costs.

Now, he wasn’t certain if Virgil would ever trust him again.

Remy let out a hum, taking a long sip of his drink. He wasn’t here to think about his many, many screw-ups. Because if he was, he wouldn’t even get through half of them before Cade and Willow shooed him out to close the store.

He needed to focus and slog through this week’s homework and hope Logan kept his promise because otherwise he would hunt the werewolf down and—

“Hey Rem! Long time no see.”

Remy nearly choked on his coffee. He covered it with a loud clearing of his throat, leaning back in his chair. Standing in front of him was a person he wasn’t too surprised to see. It was just bitchy of them to show up right now of all times in his life. Or like, any time ever really.

“Andy.” Remy said, with a smile that was more of a snarl than anything else. Andy raised his eyebrow at the thinly veiled threat display.

“Man, how have you’ve been?” Andy continued, slouching his way uninvited into the chair opposite of Remy’s own, “last I heard you were still six feet under and dead to the world—”

“I’m busy,” Remy interrupted, “can we think about rescheduling this little chit-chat? Like rescheduling it to next Tuesday? Or like never?”

“Gods, what is your problem?” Andy asked as he kicked his feet up against the edge of the table, “can’t I be worried about how an old friend is doing?”

“Mhmm yeah, I don’t think you can with you being a little messenger boy for the High Bastards.” Remy said, lowering his voice to avoid any human eavesdroppers.

Andy chuckled, shaking his head as he responded at a similar octave, “C’mon, I’m more than a messenger boy. I’m a member of the Inner Circle.”

“Like I said, messenger boy,” Remy said, “Now gimme the TLDR of why you’ve broken the rules of engagement. It must be oh so important if you’re out here in broad daylight.”

“We’ve been over this before. Unlike you, I have permission to walk in the Sacred Light to fulfill the will of the High Elders,” Andy said, “You know why I’m here. We don’t hate you, Rem, all we want is to help. Y’know—”

“’—we only wish to see you be blessed with the Sacred Blood once more, so that your strength may return in full and that your eyes are reopened to the truth.’” Remy said in unison with Andy before rolling his eyes, “Bitch, I could literally care less. Like there is not a single ounce of my body that cares, at all.”

Andy recoiled at that, an unidentifiable emotion rippling across his features. There was once a time that Remy would’ve done anything to avoid seeing that emotion again on Andy’s face.

Such a time existed no more, having long since gone and passed into oblivion.

“You’re a moron, you know that? They said you’d deny it again, but I thought, well,” Andy paused for a moment, breathing haggardly, “that you’d finally see how stupid it is to keep deluding yourself with the humans. Especially with that new pathetic one—”

“Don’t,” Remy warned, his eyes gleaming crimson behind his shades, “You don’t get to speak about him. If anything happens to him, I will desecrate those responsible for it, understood?”

Andy sat up, clenching his jaw as he glared down at him.

“Understood?” Remy repeated himself, “Capiche?”

“Understood, but you can’t ignore the High Elders’ graces forever,” Andy said, slowly, “sooner or later, you will be punished accordingly.”

“Oh, is that so?” Remy said, “Go ahead and punish me now, then. Do it, Andy. Try to eviscerate me.”

Andy winced, his body taunt. “Not now, the day hasn’t yet arrived—”

“No, go ahead.” Remy jeered. He shouldn’t taunt him. He was better than this. He should be better than this. He shouldn’t be taking pleasure in Andy's body responding to his command; it propelled in his direction, a hand curling into a fist as it pummeled towards him.

Distantly, he remembered that they were in a coffee shop, a not-so inconspicuous place. At the same time, it was the furthest thing from his mind. He didn’t care—he could always enthrall all the humans and tidy things up nice and neat. So, he allowed the fist to make contact with his face. His head whiplashed from the motion, but he steadied himself by holding onto the table.

“Huh, tickles.” Remy remarked, grinning.

In a smoldering rage, Andy leapt over the table and knocked him to the ground. Then he punched Remy, again and again. It’d been awhile since Remy had been punched in a way that actually stung. He almost relished in it. Perhaps he should just let Andy keep going until he ran out of energy.

As he was mulling this over, a wooden broom clobbered Andy over the head, knocking him away from Remy.

“Sir, I am going to ask you to leave our store premises,” Willow said, holding the wooden broom out like a saber.

“Yeah, or we will be forced to call the cops!” Cade enthusiastically called out.

Cade and Willow stood there, shielding him from Andy. Who in turn stared at Remy, shaking. No, his limbs convulsed with their own desire towards Remy. The shaking was the result of fighting against this impulse.

Remy tried to speak; all that left his mouth was a wheeze. Instead, he gave a small nod towards the other vampire. It was enough confirmation for Andy to turn and sprint towards the front entrance of the coffeeshop. He didn’t look back once as he slammed the door shut behind him.

Cade and Willow did not move. They stood guard, presumably watching Andy’s disappearing figure. It was quiet in the ensuing moment. The only noise in the coffeeshop was the echoing ring of the front door’s bell. So faint that Remy was sure he was the only one of the three to hear it.

The cold floor beneath Remy burned. Or maybe it had something to do with the rolling sickness in his stomach. Contact with the High Elders always brought out the worst side of him.

He shouldn’t have commanded Andy in that way, just as he shouldn’t have enthralled that bartender in front of Virgil last night. For all his talk, he was as twisted and fucked up as the High Elders. Only he was a different flavor of delusional hypocrite than they were. He laughed, burrowing his face into the grimy checkered tiles of the coffeeshop.

“Yo. You okay?” Willow bopped him with the broomstick. Remy didn’t move.

“Um, no, I don’t think anyone would be.” Cade remarked, in the most even-keeled tone that Remy ever heard from him. He crouched close to Remy, “Hey, listen. I don’t know what that was about, and I won’t pry but just so you know that guy is banned forever from our store.”

“Forever?” Remy croaked, the thought almost amusing to him, a quasi-immortal being.

“Well, we aren’t Waffle House,” Willow drawled, “we aren’t going to let people have the freedom to start violently punching people to death.”

“Besides, we gotta protect our favorite regular.” Cade added in.

“Really? Babes, will I still be your favorite regular after I throw up on your floor?”

“Yes of course! Wait, are you serious—”

“He was serious.”

“Y’know,” Remy mused, half-digested coffee dripping from his mouth, “maybe I should’ve went with the eleventh shot today. Think I could’ve used it.”

Fucking fantastic. Perfectly good coffee wasted due to his one millionth mental break down. It was $10.49 he was never getting back. He was almost tempted to try and sip it back up again from the floor.

“—here.”

“Huh?” Remy said, blinking back to reality. A paper napkin held out by Willow obscured most of his vision. Cade was nowhere to be seen.

“A napkin, to wipe off your face.” Willow said, upon sensing his confusion they elaborated, “Cade is a…sympathetic puker.”

“Oh.” Remy grimaced, before taking the napkin and hastily wiping the corners of his mouth. He then stared at the napkin. A small trash can appeared at his side.

“Here. Throw away.” Remy did as instructed. Willow’s hand then pointed towards a comfy sofa in the back corner of the shop, “Go, sit.”

“I can help—”

“Not necessary. I’ll handle it.” Willow insisted.

Remy complied and sat down on the couch. He tapped his fingers against the armrest, staring into nothingness. His skin was too tight, stretched thinly around his figure. Remy was tired, which was ironic because vampires did not exhaust as easily as other beings.

In fact, they didn’t sleep. The closest they came to it was stasis, a trance-like state with lowered conscious processing. They did not ever dream.

He chuffed quietly to himself—sometimes, despite forgetting what it was like to sleep, Remy really yearned for it.

If sleep was an ocean, stasis was a pond. They were both bodies of water, but a pond was a weak replication in comparison to an ocean’s seemingly never-ending vastness. In sleep, beings laid unaware of their surroundings. In stasis, the world always remained on the edges of his consciousness. His senses remained sharp, as if he was still fully conscious.

The purpose of stasis was not rest—it was for memory retention and healing acceleration. Vampires always remained mentally alert and present; if their body lacked energy, it was replenished through feeding. Assuming it wasn’t needed to heal significant injuries, vampires typically drifted into stasis only a few times a year.

So Remy was not tired—he was physically incapable of being tired in the sense the humans and other beings became tired. Yet his body sagged against the cushions as if it were so. His shades dug into the side of his temple, no doubt leaving a red angry impression.

Remy thought he could make good on his promise of being a Halloween decoy for the coffee shop and remain there for the rest of October. After all, his true nature was something that humans feared as much as any other Halloween monster.

It didn’t seem that Cade would let up on his opposition to that promise, however. He came quietly up to Remy—or rather, as quietly as a human could disguise their movement. Remy pretended not to hear him.

“Remy?” Cade asked, all semblance of forced customer service politeness gone.

He turned to look at the human. “Yeah?”

“Is there someone you can call to pick you up?”

“Someone…to call?” Remy repeated, processing his words out loud. He straightened himself, “I’m not drunk, Cade. Trust me, I’m Gucci.”

“You just had someone beat the shit of you,” Willow deadpanned, off to the side, “You possibly have a concussion. You’re in shock.”

Well, shit. From their perspective, it did look that way.

Remy hummed, clasping his hands together, “I’ve experienced way worse, like back in—back during my freshman year of college, like gurl. You would not believe the stories I could tell you!”

“That doesn’t change the severity of it, although that only makes me more worried about what you view as being worse!” Cade said, rocking back on his feet. Willow said nothing as they squinted their eyes at Remy, glossy purple lips pressed to a thin line.

Okay, his theoretical roll for persuasion was a critical failure apparently. Remy breathed in, as he rose to his feet. Cade hovered a few feet away, arms stretched out as if to catch him if he fell. Remy pretended to dust off his leather jacket, buying himself some seconds of thinking time.

See, the thing was: while Remy had his college besties, they just weren’t the type to rely on in an “emergency” situation such as this. Logan would probably be an option, but with the Virgil thing—well, he’d prefer avoiding adding more stress onto the werewolf’s plate.

The obvious solution was enthrallment, even though his mind couldn’t stop plaguing him with the image fresh from last night; Virgil’s eyes glazed over in pure unadulterated panic, as he backed away from Remy, hyperventilating. All because Remy fucked up in his own panic of getting Virgil safely away from the assaulting visage of the night club.

There was no way they could’ve cut their way through the crowd to the front entrance. Not with how Virgil froze up at the barrage of noise and people within the nightclub. So, Remy dragged them to the outskirts, where there had to be a side entrance for employees to dump trash.

When that bartender appeared, Remy didn’t think. He acted impulsively because that was who he was—if he thought too long, it’d be the end of the world. Most of the time, it worked out. There was always some of the time where it didn’t work out.

It was mostly a harmless mental suggestion. You know me—you’ve seen me in passing, even if you can’t place when. Humans hated admitting when they didn’t recognize a person, it made them feel insecure. It was a lie most of them were eager to latch onto. Then similarly, forget you saw us—you have more important things to do. Because there was no reason for her to remember them, not when her mind needed to focus on her job. She most likely would have forgotten on her own regardless. Humans never remembered as much as they claimed they did.

Perhaps he could’ve resolved the issue without enthrallment. Virgil wouldn’t have been the first person to get overstimulated at a nightclub.

Even so, despite all his grand bravado, Remy was a vampire. Some creatures had fight-or-flight. Vampires had fight-flight-or-enthrall. There were instances it was so instinctual, that it occurred without his conscious awareness. Whether he acknowledged it or not, Remy was always projecting something to the impact of “Sup, bitches, I’m a perfectly normal human being” to lessen the chances of avoiding the end of a sharp pointy silver blade.

It wasn’t mind control in the way humans imagined it to be—vampires couldn’t completely rewrite a person’s personality and reshape them to be whatever they desired. There were ways, of course, to make the enthrallment more effective. A much younger, more ambitious Remy gladly made use of those methods.

But the core principle remained true: enthrallments are only as powerful as the human’s belief in them. The less likely they were to believe a suggestion, the less likely for it to be effective.

It unnerved humans, even the ones that were tolerant of supernatural beings. They always asked how much of their friendship was genuine or if Remy simply hypnotized them into liking him.

(Remy hated this question because it was something that also afflicted him late at night, when there was nothing to do other than drown in ones’ incessant thoughts)

It was why Remy hadn’t told Virgil what he was. Selfishly, he refused to answer, making it a game between the two. Then Virgil found out and it’d been okay. He didn’t ask that question and instead asked other questions Remy could answer. He assumed it hadn’t mattered given what set Virgil apart from other humans.

Really, after all these centuries, Remy should’ve known it mattered.

He blinked, bringing up a hand to slide his shades further up the bridge of his nose. See, this was why he disliked thinking. Because when he thought for too long, it was like his mind detached from his body and then was forcibly jammed back into it once he regained awareness. Except it was like a few wires weren’t properly reconnected and it left him feeling wrong. Like every movement, sensation and feeling did not belong to him.

“Remy?” Cade asked, still remaining a few feet away from him. Which was probably for the best—Remy might’ve tried to bite his face off if he approached during his thinking time.

Remy held up a hand—the universal sign for “One moment” and walked with clear, concise steps to the overturned table where all his stuff was sprawled out. Wordlessly, he shoved everything into his messenger bag before turning to face Willow and Cade once more.

“Listen, babes, I get that my throwing up doesn’t help my case—but really I’m fine! I mean yeah, it hurt getting punched, ten outta ten do not recommend but!” Remy cracked his neck, “Like I’ve said, I’ve experienced way worse kinds of crazy shit so this is like nothing. Anyways, sorry about the mess, I’m gonna leave, so ciao!”

This was the essence of “Faking it until you’re making it”; act like everything was normal, act like you were in control, act like the situation was not what it seemed and people will believe you. In most cases. If Remy walked a bit faster than what was humanly possible, it was definitely not because he feared his words wouldn’t have the desired effect.

An arm stuck out in front of his face before he could reach the front door. Remy staggered a bit back to avoid colliding with the person—who was apparently Willow.

“Listen, it’s like incredibly stupid to let you leave considering you could be in shock from bleeding internally,” They began.

“Yes, it’s suuuper unsafe! We could probably get sued!” Cade chimed in.

“But if you insist on leaving,” Willow continued as they fished out a phone from their pocket, “would you at least text us to know you got to your place safe?”

Remy looked down at their phone, opened up to a new contact. He didn’t know what to make of this, other than he had done enough thinking for today. As long as this appeased their concerns enough into letting him leave, he’d do it.

“Yeah, sure,” Remy managed, reaching for the phone, “no probs.”

He rapidly typed out his phone number, saved his contact under “Remy 🧀 🐀”, gave the phone back to Willow, and then left before there could any further objections from the humans.

The sidewalks of the city bustled at its hurried pace, a sense of normalcy that was smoothening. Remy could almost pretend that the past few days hadn’t occurred. Which, N-G-L, Remy was fucking done with the past few days.

He was going to return to his dorm room and scroll through Tiktok for the rest of his life (or until his phone battery died because he forgot to charge it). Or maybe, he’d finally take care of that project for his oil painting class he’d been putting off. Anything was fine as long as it allowed him to not think for too long.

The sun was setting as he reached the dorms, bringing a blissed relief to his eyes. As much as the shades aided in being able to withstand light, it was’ bothersome to be constrained in such a way. When he entered his dorm room, he was going to leave the lights off and allow himself to be delightfully swaddled up within the darkness. His body almost ached at the thought of it.

So, one could probably understand how pissed off he was that a scent stopped him short from entering the dorm building. It was a faint yet familiar scent of another supernatural being, one he couldn’t quite place.

It couldn’t be Andy. He was certain he’d frighten Andy off enough that he wouldn’t see signs of him for months. If it was the other vampire, then their shared past was going to mean very little in the face of Remy’s ire. Regardless of whoever it was, he knew without a doubt the scent belonged to someone that shouldn’t be near his dwelling. It was fresh, meaning the person was nearby, no doubt watching him.

“Okaaaay!” Remy said, loud enough for anyone with exceptional ears to hear, “whoever you are, you and I are going to go to the back of the building, near the dumpsters, and you have five seconds to tell me what you want before I tear your throat to pieces.”

Remy didn’t look, but as he made his way behind the dorm building, he could hear a second set of footsteps accompany his every movement.

#Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides #Sanders Sides Fic #Remy Sanders #Sleep Sanders #kat writes

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toonqueen · 1 year

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Day 2: Corny Duck

This is my Comic/87 versions of Fethry and Poe. Poe gets turned back into a duck person at some point so that's when this is taking place ha. I also ship them but that's another story hehehe.

_____

“Are we there yet?” Poe asked, purposely imitating the tone a child would use on a long car trip. They weren’t driving, however. His sister and Fethry were walking on foot to their destination.

Magica rolled her eyes at her brother’s joke. “If you two would walk a little faster, we can get there in fifteen more minutes,” she complained, keeping her back to the others. They were walking parallel with the shoreline in the distance; up ahead was an old lighthouse.

Fethry was watching the tide hit the beach as he followed the siblings. He chuckled to himself at a thought he had. He nudged Poe with his elbow. “Hey, hey, Poe. Poe!” he snickered. “Who would you find on a haunted beach?”

Poe tapped his beak, pondering. “A scream-shell? Like a seashell?” he replied.

“Nooooope. That’s not it!” Fethry said. “Do you need a hint?”

“No no no! Ah—how about a ghost ship?” Poe deduced.

“Oooh! That is a good one! But that’s not iiiiiit!”

Poe had to actually stop walking to think of another answer. Fethry stood beside him, a big, anticipating grin on his face.

Magica sighed, noticing the two were no longer following her. She stomped over while her brother was stumped. “It’s a sand witch,” she scowled at Fethry, frustrated, “sand witch, right?”

Fethry’s face lit up with surprise. “Yes! Exactly!” he exclaimed.

“Clever. Can we move along now? I’d like to get to the location before sunset,” Magica stated impatiently. She resumed walking, looking over her shoulder to make sure her pun-loving travel companions followed. She cleared her throat when they didn’t.

Fethry and Poe weren’t paying attention. They were still considering alternative options and answers for the joke.

“All right, how about this,” Magica sighed, “what do a zip-locked bag and a selkie have in common?”

The two looked up, intrigued. They quickly scuttled over to Magica, like lost ducklings reuniting with their mother.

Poe and Fethry whispered possible responses between each other like they had to give the correct answer on a game show to win a prize. At least they were keeping up with Magica now. She sighed in relief; they were nearly at their destination.

“All right, fine, we give up. What do a zip-locked bag and a selkie have in common?” Poe asked, disappointed he couldn’t figure it out. Fethry was the opposite, eagerly and excitedly awaiting the answer, bouncing beside Poe.

“They are both re-seal-able.”

------------

Thanks to @cataradical for betainggggg.

#duckvember #duckvember 2022 #fethry duck #poe de spell #magica de spell #ducktales #duckverse #poethry

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scriveyner · 2 years

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gifts & curses 12

gifts & curses: 12/30 wc: 2118 rated: M

Gotou stood in the doorway of the small bedroom and looked in on them both, sleeping curled together tightly; fur overlapping and heads buried. There was so little of them visible that it was hard to believe there were two mostly grown wolves under the bed. They hadn’t returned to human form again, even when it was safe for them to do so here in this safehouse apartment that Koji and his network of preternatural beasties had set up, and while it worried Gotou he also completely understood. He rather felt like crawling under a bed and hiding too.

He inhaled deeply through his nose, closed the bedroom door, and pressed his palm flat against it. Gotou had been fighting the overwhelming panic since the first call came into his cell while standing in the train station. The worry had coalesced in his chest and it made every breath feel weighted; like he was trying to breathe water instead of air.

The officer training had kicked in at first; separate himself from the situation, prioritize the safety of the kids, and establish a timeline of what had occurred. Take a step back. Masayoshi had been through so much weirdness in his life in the time that Gotou had known him that this shouldn’t come as any surprise at all.

The broken chain that held Masayoshi’s wedding ring pressed a deep pattern into the skin of Gotou’s other hand. The metal had been warm still when he picked it up—Keiko had been holding it, keeping it close like his busted phone—and he could imagine, for a moment, that he still felt Masayoshi’s warmth through the contact.

Gotou looked down the hall when the lock turned over and the door to the safehouse apartment opened. He was already tense and Kennichi hesitated in the doorway, sensing this. He made eye contact with Gotou and then nodded his head as he entered, followed by Koji and a woman that Gotou didn’t recognize, carrying a few bags. Clothing, Gotou realized belatedly. Keiko and Masanori’s school uniforms were in tatters, after all.

Koji quirked a smile of greeting that faded once he caught Gotou’s expression. “We’ll find him,” he said firmly, and then tilted his head back to the woman. “This is Shika.”

She gave a small, formal curtsy—or as much of one as she could manage with the bags in her hands—and smiled faintly but didn’t speak. She lifted the bags and gestured broadly with them, which triggered Koji to retrieve them.

“Sorry, I’ll take those,” he said. Hands freed, Shika brushed her long brown hair back over her shoulder and gestured again, quickly—and Gotou realized, finally, that she was signing to him.

“Is she,” Gotou started to ask, and Shika tilted her head at him, her pale blue eyes otherworldly. “Are you deaf?” he finished, feeling foolish.

She shook her head and tapped her throat with two fingers, and then continued to sign in Koji’s direction. At Koji’s blank stare she huffed in exasperation, rolled her eyes, and pulled out her cell phone, typing quickly into it.

“She’s not deaf,” Kennichi said as he reappeared from around the corner, having taken a bag of food into the small kitchen area. “Shika is a selkie, and Koji doesn’t know the first thing about signing, sorry.”

“Excuse me for not being all-knowing,” Koji said, thrusting the bags into Gotou’s arms. “We didn’t know what sizes the kids were, they’ve grown like weeds since I’ve seen them last. Shika typically handles shopping and dressing any kids that have been picked up, it’s why she came along.”

Shika looked up from her phone and smiled again at Gotou. “Thank you,” Gotou said and she curtsied a second time, one hand on the pink flair of her skirt, and signed something to Kennichi, who nodded his head.

“We’ll see you later then, Shika,” he said. “Tell Yosano-san I said hello.” Shika waved and let herself out—and Koji locked the door securely behind her.

“I didn’t know selkies were mute,” Gotou said.

“Know many selkies, then?” Koji said, and Gotou frowned.

“Her voice was taken at the same time her skin was,” Kennichi said. “Some selkies have siren in their heritage…somehow. Her captors didn’t want to chance it.”

“That’s horrifying,” Gotou said, and Kennichi nodded.

“Lot of people out there who prey on the fair folk,” he said. “Lots who prey on people like us, as well.” Kennichi flashed a mouth full of sharp teeth. “They need to be taught a lesson.”

“Down, boy,” Koji said, one hand on Kennichi’s back and pushing him toward the kitchen.

“How is it I spent literal years between leaving the pack and meeting Masayoshi and didn’t run across a single other person like us?” Gotou asked as he sat on the dingy couch in the main room. “There are so many out there…”

The distractions of the others, especially those that he could argue with, was starting to fade. The mere mention of Masayoshi’s name stuck in his throat. Where was Masayoshi? What happened?

He leaned forward and pressed his closed fist to the center of his chest before exhaling slowly. He jumped when Kennichi touched his shoulder and looked up to see him offer a mug of something steaming.

“It’s just tea,” he said, almost apologetic. “The coffee the last guy left behind bears a closer resemblance to transmission fluid than anything fit for consumption.”

Gotou took the mug from Kennichi and watched as the redheaded wolf sat opposite Gotou. Koji remained standing, leaning against the back of an armchair that matched the couch Gotou was seated on in fabric and color.

“So,” Kennichi prompted, his tone softer than Gotou expected.

He clutched the mug between his hands, the chain of Masayoshi’s ring still threaded through his fingers, the ring itself safe in the palm of his left hand. He looked down, into the tea. “What do you know about white wolves?”

His clothing felt weird and rough, uncomfortable in a way that Masayoshi was unfamiliar with. He was a model and an actor, he remembered that much, and he was at home in just about any outfit he'd been asked to wear--but these clothes somehow just felt wrong. He sat on the ground and resisted the urge to wriggle around and take off his shirt.

The room he woke in was one of several on the floor. After he’d dressed and eaten he padded barefoot out of the room into what seemed to be a space still under construction. There were exposed girders framing out unfinished spaces where the drywall hadn’t gone up yet, although the line of identical, spartan rooms behind him were clearly habitable. The sunlight through the dirty glass and the general layer of dust and detritus led him to suspect that this was an abandoned construction project—an oddity in such a busy, always-changing city where space was at a premium.

Curiously, he could not find an elevator. Or stairs, for that matter. He tried every door along the finished wall and found them all unlocked—a water closet, a small kitchen area, another few rooms with the same bed and dresser accommodations—but no apparent exit.

It was weird.

Also, no dark-haired man who he knew he recognized but whose name still escaped him. Something foreign—it would come to him eventually. His memory had been running in circles for hours now, picking up fragments and piecing them together, and it was frustrating.

He kept himself busy trying to locate the exit because there had to be one. He stood at the dingy windows and stared at a semi-busy street. He was at least ten stories up, judging by the buildings around him, and no one could easily see him from the street even if he wanted to attract their attention.

Masayoshi put his palm on the glass, his weight against it, and stared at his hand. It looked normal, human—but he wasn’t. Not anymore; he was a werewolf and had been one for years now, he could feel the moon in his blood even now, calling to him like a living thing, pulling at him like the ocean tides.

The moon was no longer full but for some reason now that didn’t matter—he could feel it still, could see it fat and heavy behind his closed eyes, beating in tune with his heart…

Masayoshi’s eyes snapped open and he yanked his hand away from the glass, taking a stumbling step back away from the windows, his breathing loud and echoing in the empty space.

He could still feel it, those little pinpricks under his skin, the warning that happened in that short span of time before the moon rose…but it was daylight now, the middle of the day nearly. He couldn’t be getting ready to change, that was impossible.

Somewhere behind him, a door slammed.

It sounded loud as a gunshot. Masayoshi jumped and came down on all fours, teeth bared and fur bristling, his clothing shredded to scraps in his wake. It was the dark-haired one, the one who smelled of blood and earth and something else, something he didn’t quite understand. He froze when he came around the corner and saw Masayoshi, and Masayoshi moved slowly, deliberately toward him.

“You’ve ruined your clothes,” he said crossly, but he was still watching Masayoshi carefully, pupils shrinking, eyes inhuman in a different way than his own. “Again.”

The growl escaped his throat before he could stifle it, but why would he want to?

Because this is a friend.

“If you kill me,” his voice was level, calm—but Masayoshi could see the tremor of his arms, hands pressed flat against the wall he’d backed into, “it will set us both back quite a bit, Hazama.”

Hazama.

No one close to him called him by his family name unless they were proposing a business deal. Masayoshi wet his lips and found himself human again, crouched on bare concrete. “Can I?” he asked, his throat not quite caught up with him, voice forming around the syllables strangely. “Can I even kill you?”

The man exhaled, relaxing just slightly. There was a hint of a smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth, but he didn’t answer the question directly. “If you’re going to practice changing like that, you shouldn’t be wearing clothes,” he scolded, and Masayoshi stared at his own hand.

“Changing,” he repeated as if he was learning the word for the first time. It brought to mind television series, sentai—henshin—transformation sequences, comfort, warmth, and the smell of stale cigarette smoke…. Masayoshi’s hand closed into a fist, pressed it against his chest, and closed his eyes. Why couldn’t he remember, it was so important, so, so important—golden eyes, no—not always gold, often dark, fond….

He lifted his head, tears streaked down his cheeks, and stared at the other, the stranger. Familiar-but-not. “Why can’t I remember?” he asked hoarsely. “What is happening to me, why…? I’m a werewolf, how is this possible?”

“Are you so certain,” the man said, still leaning against the wall, “that you are?”

They sat side by side at attention, ears upright and muzzles on tightly. “Only three left from this group,” the scientist said with a sigh, tapping her pen to the clipboard in disappointment. One of the white wolves flicked an ear at the noise, but there was no other visible movement from the animals except for the rise and fall of their chests.

“Four, if you count this mongrel,” the man in the hat said. He aimed a kick at the body of the white wolf with one eye, lying on its side in the sawdust, blood seeping from its mouth.

“Don’t,” the woman said idly. “You’ll kill it. It can still be useful to me, but not dead.”

The man in the hat spat. “Waste of resources.”

“The next batch is almost ready, and they will be hardier. And less prone to…” she glanced over at the wounded wolf, as well. “Deviation.”

“There are faoladh in the city that belong to me,” the third man in the room spoke finally, one delicate finger tapping the muzzle of the animal skull he rested his arm on. “Two of them. Why have they not been brought home yet?” His presence had been forgotten quickly, dressed all in black, long white hair gathered over one shoulder and observing them silently.

“Three, actually,” the man in the hat kicked the white wolf again, and the beast whimpered in pain. He looked up at the creature in black, for he wasn’t a man at all. “And the third one’s an adult.”

<< Part 11 || Start || Part 13 >>

#samurai flamenco #gotoyoshi #masagoto #werewolf au 2022 #ongoing #multipart

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bandit235 · 2 years

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meet rody

After Dinner, All Might Deku,Shoto, and Bakugo left the dorm and met Record and Rody at the Pier, where they went on a ferry to the Verize Island to pick up the cruise ship, Endeavor and Hawks were already their So we all made it huh”Hawks said holding a sack Wow, the World Hero organization really spared for this trip huh”Todoroki said amazed as they viewed the ship Only the best for the world heroes and their companions”Record claimed Its just like the Model”Midoriya claimed Great, Know I have to spend 36 hours on the stupid boat”Bakugo said annoyed Im putting you in your own room tonight”Record said annoyed Perfect”Bakugo said satisfied Okay, let just board, get settled in our rooms, and hit the hay, everyone will board tomorrow to set off for Otheon”All Might suggested Yo Seymour let us in”Record yelled Don’t call me that”Selki yelled Whatever, were here, were tired, so lets us in, ya mook” Record yelled in annoyance Fine”Selki said embarrassed as let down the stairs Finally” Record said as they boarded Captain Selki from the Oki mariner is here”Midoriya said surprised I needed someone to steer the boat, so i told him and invited him and Sirius”Record explained How many more people did you tell” Todoroki asked A lot, but Don’t worry, we can trust them”Record reassured Great, more bums”Bakugo said annoyed Whats in the bag anyway, Hawks”Endeavor asked My laundry, i decided to wash it on the ship” Hawks explained Need some help” All Might asked No thanks, it stinks badly”Hawks said nervously In the Hallway These are the boarding rooms you’ll be staying in, theres at least 200 and each room holds four people with two bunkbeds, equipped with showers, private toilets, and a stunning bayside window”Record told the boys I don’t care about that, wheres my room”Bakugo yelled as Record gave him a wristband Your room will be the one with the number on your tag, the Wristband serves as its key, just press it against the scan pad to open the door”Record explained as he gave, Rody, Deku, and Todoroki their tags I don’t have a tag for Pino, so try not to lock her out”Record told Rody Fine with me”Rody assured as Pino pouted So guess will see you tomorrow, Katsuki”Rody joked

Shut up”Bakugo said annoyed as he left In Deku, Shoto, and Rody’s room Man that it the spot, the plumbing here is Great”Rody claimed after using the shower Sound like you were do for a rinse”Midoriya joked Yeah, The bathroom in my house sucks, so this is like heaven”Rody claimed Well then enjoy yourself, you earn it”Todoroki claimed” Thanks, you know I look forward to meeting Eri and Kota, they really love you the same way Mahoro and Katsuma do, huh”Rody asked Yeah, the four of them are like Brothers and sisters to me”Midoriya claimed With Mahoro seeing both you and Bakugo see her big brothers”Rody claimed Yeah, which is good she learned to trust heroes and listen to what we say instead of doing things her own way” Todoroki claimed

My Sibling listen to what I say because they know they have no one else to take care of them” Rody claimed You really had no friends in the past” Todoroki asked I use to have plenty of friends, when My dad was still around, we lived in nice house, though he was always at work, so i left in charge of taking care of Roro and Lala, after he was taken by Humarize, everyone took his leave as a betrayal, and directed their anger at us, we lost everything, I fro a while, i blamed dad for it”Rody explained sadly I'm sorry to hear that, but if your were in trouble, why didn't you go to the police for help”Todoroki asked Because then CPS, would get involved and separate us in foster care, I already lost my parents, i wasn't about to lose my brother and sister too, it may be selfish, but i'd rather be a poor orphan with my only family, then live with strangers in some foster home”Rody explained I see, you just want to hold on to the whai had a fearts left of your family,I can understand that, After My brother Toya Disappeared, I always had the fear of losing someone else too”Todoroki stated Like what happened, with your other brother Natsuo”Rody asked Yep, luckily, Bakugo was able to save him just in time, shows that he really is changing to a better person”Todoroki claimed Maybe its because of that, and what he and Deku did on Nabu islands is why i wasn't so angry to see him again, I finally put the past behind me and excepted the new Katsuki over the only who’s Anger and Ego made him a terrible person”Rody claimed Im glad you decided to forgive him, Rody, most of time after people watch the first episode, they want to kill him after the unforgettable sentence” Midoriya said Like me, and Amajiki”Todoroki said Okay I understand you Shoto since Katsuki is like a younger version of your dad, but Suneater, Didn't Katsuki destroy him once”Rody asked amused Yeah, that was before He found out about Kachaan, and i guess he was afraid Kachaan would treat Togata the same way after he became quirkless”Midoriya claimed Not that i agree but I say he was a true friend to look out for you and Katsuki”Rody claimed Yeah, well they got into some trouble for fighting, and Pro’s learned to beore not leave Students alone with people they don’t get along with anymore”Todoroki claimed I guess the reason why i find it easier to forgive Katsuki, i because i already understood how it felt to feel betrayed by the people i loved, Before I found out the truth, I hate my dad for putting me and the family in these conditions, I swore id never forgive him if i ever saw him again, I broke that promise after I learned the real story, how everything he did was to protect us, ill never forget him, i hope everyone will get to learn the real story of the real hero who saved the world” Rody said Were all heroes in this world Rody, who said you need to be Pro, or even have a quirk to do good things”Midoriya claimed Like Melissa, she was born Quirkless like Midoriya and All Might, and yet she was able to help Save I-Island with the help of her Gauntlett and computer skills” Todoroki stated And I never would’ve beaten Muscular, Overhaul, and Nine without the Kids help, so in wa they’re pretty heroes too, and hope one day they’ll become pro’s heroes too” Midoriya said I bet they’d be cool heroes, seeing as they have a cool hero to look up to”Rody claimed I know they will,I hope your dream will come true too, i look forward in riding one of your planes you fly” Midoriya said I’ll give you guys first class”Rody promised You know, any hero can be strong, but a Together, we can become more”Todoroki claimed You guys did so much, if you hadn't becomes friends, who know how bad things would’ve gotten if you didn't”Rody claimed Well, I can’t wait for you to meet all our other friends tomorrow”Midoriya said Especially Tokoyami, i have a feeling you guys will get along”Todoroki claimed Well, Pino’s excited”Rody said annoyed as Pino blushed Oh, Pino and Dark Shadow, how cute”Midoriya teased Shut up”Rody said throwing a pillow at him It was just a joke” Midoriya argued as he threw the pillow back Pillow fight”Rody yelled No, go to sleep”Bakugo yelled from next door Shut up, im trying to sleep”Endeavor Yelled from the across the hall In Record room I'm your Dirty Laundry”Best Jeanist said annoyed to Hawks Im sorry, it was all i could think about to get on the boat unnoticed”Hawks apologized I wanted to bring you along because felt bad keeping you in my attic since this asshole stabbed ya”Record claimed Did you have to tell Shield about me”Hawks asked annoyed Just be lucky he’s agreed to keep quiet until the big battle” Record argued So are Claire and the Other international heroes coming tomorrow”Best Jeanist asked Yep, i informed them beforehand with the videos and they’ve all agreed to join us on this trip”Record confirmed Have they agreed to help us in the battle against Shigaraki”Hawks asked We’ll ask them tomorrow, though, i'm pretty sure we know the answer” Record assumed The next day, Deku woke up took a shower, and headed out to check out the ship, he met in the same room with Todoroki,Bakugo, and Rody Thats funny, where is everyone”Midoriya asked confused There probably late as usual” Bakugo said annoyed Well, nothing we can do about it now, might as well wait”Todoroki claimed Lets watch some Tv in the meantime”Rody said while grabbing the Remote They turned on the Tv and Saw Record standing on top a stage outside on the Ship in front of a crowd Wow look its everyone who was in on the secret”Midoriya said surprised And looks like there's more, i see Shishikura, and Intelli, and Fouth Kind, and Uwabami, and Gun -Head, and others” Todoroki added I see Mr Tokuda too, guess he can be trusted with the secret” Rody stated Does that Prick have to tell everyone” Bakugo yelled Shut up, i wanna listen”Rody hushed Its nice to see you all here today, first off, id like to congratulate you all on another job well done in saving the world, no matter how big or small, all acts are important,so good job”Record said giving a thumbs up Yeah, we rule”Tetsutetsu cheered with others Its goes with the defeat of Humarise we still have our currents strong heroes, and or future heroes who will succeed us in the future, now know we can proceed with the japans future problems” Record added With the intel, me, Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Tsukauchi got from Kurogiri, and the searching Hawks and Record did, we finally found the location of the leagues Doctor”All Might added Now we can go in retrieve Shigaki’s body, and remove his quirks, then we can lock up with with Stupid All For One”Mirko cheered with other Then Record threw a football at her What the hell”Mirko yelled Cool your socks Tiger-Bunny, thats just the summary of whats gonna happen,we still need to get past his army of Villains and Nomu’s”Record reminded Plus Gigantomachia who can destroy anything in his path”Ashido added We’ll need to split up into two team, one team will go retrieve Shigaraki, the other one will take down Machia, if he enters the picture, it will mean bad news for everyone”Tsukachi claimed Well as long as we got me, we’ll turn that Big-foot down” Mt Lady assured He’s got multiple quirks like the Nomus, along with yours and Hound-Dog’s, Taking him down won’t like cake, so don’t be stupid”Record said annoyed Who you calling Stupid”Mt Lady yelled angrily You thought All For One was a Bystander, that was stupid”Shishikura said with others agreeing Oh don’t you start”Mt Lady yelled But as a Top Hero, are you suppose to be smarter than us,you didn't even read the signs that night with clarify he was a bystander”Intelli Argued Yeah. but..”Mt Lady stuttered You play the Victim but you know they were right, so don’t repeat it”Edge Shot ordered Fine”Mt Lady said annoyed Moving from that, we still have have a back up plan is case this one goes bust” Record assured Is it Deku”The Students asked No, he’s not ready yet, this isn't like with Nine, so we don’t throw him in unless there's no other choice”All Might denied First off, know some of you already met them, But id like you all to meet some new faces, first im sure you met some of them already, but let me introduce the rest of you,first off you all know Caire Voyance, the Otheon Hero Endeavor Teamed up with”Record said as he pointed to Claire sitting next to Rolo and Lala If the World wasn’t in critical danger, I wouldn't have agreed to work with that scumbag”Claire said annoyed What kinda Quirk do you have Ms Voyance”Yaoyorozu asked

X-Ray vision, I can see through anything thats not organic, does wonders for searching” Clair explained Lucky”Mineta said jealous What did you say”Edge-Shot asked irritated Nothing” Mineta said scared Thats right, you said nothing”Kamui Woods agreed

Lala, honey, stay close to me okay”Clair told the little girl Don’t worry, if he comes near, Rody will beat him up”Roro assured Where is Rody”Lala asked curious

And in addition, all the way from Cairo Egypt, it their Number 1 hero, Salaam” Record introduced as Salaam came out from behind the curtains Everyone clapped for meeting Flat Stanley Wow, he looks just like a Pharoah”Asui said Well he is from Egypt”Uraraka claimed Hello everyone, its nice to meet the strong faces of japan Eric showed me, i gotta say im proud of alot of you and what you’ve accomplished, i was a pleasure working along the lurkers, despite one of them being a child in a womans body and three of the students being creeps”Salaam greeted What kinda greeing is that”Sero said annoyed I can understand the boys, but why me”Mt Lady asked embarrassed Do i have to go into detail”Salaam asked No”Mt Lady said annoyed Wait, I thought Endeavor was the new number 1 after All Might”Katsuma said confused I am, only in japan that is”Endeavor confirmed You see Katsuma, Other Countries across the world also have their own hero billboard chart, just like Japan, each has their own selection of Top heroes”All Might explained So, Mr Salaam is the number one hero is Egypt”Katsuma asked That's Correct child, I am the Hero the Egyptians of Cario look up to for Protection, My Papyrus Quirk allows he to flatten my body and move swiftly and quickly in any tight space” Salaam explained Thats a lame power”Mahoro said Mahoro, don’t be rude”Record ordered annoyed No its alright Eric, i guess compared to All Might, or Deku and Bakugo, she would expect something a bit more flashy”Salaam assured Look Mahoro, Egypt doesn't get as many big problems like Japan or America, so they don’’t have as many strong pro’s to compare to All Might, when a big disaster like Humarise comes along, foreign Pro’s will ask for help from other heroes across the globe, when they know the can’t do it on their own” Record explained Im sorry, i call you lame” Mahoro apologized Its alright child, i hold nothing against you”Salaam assured Well know tat thats taken care of, id like to introduce another Number 1 hero, Kota i think your gonna like this one”Record said Who is it”Kota asked interested All the way from Singapore,it Big Red Dot” Record introduced as a huge lion heroes came from behind the curtain” Everyone clapped upon seeing Aslan Alright, and other lion to talk too”Shishido said Ah, Momo, Setsuna, its nice to see you again,and its also nice to see your development in UA”BRD Praised Oh it was nothing, Really”Yaoyorozu argued Yeah, you probably only say one battle of me and I lost”Setsuna said embarrassed You were good, just not good enough against the champion like Bakugo”Hawks claimed only to get glared it Will you Shut up”Majestic said annoyed Is the Hero you hate with your guts, Eric”BRD asked Yes, He still acts like a child, I swear the commission spoiled him by making him number 3”Record said Pity, but at least Japan’s got another top hero who’s a lion like me”BRD said pointing to Shishido I know right, we wild cats are rare around these parts”Shishido agreed I swear though, you gto some pretty strong's yet sort of foolish apprentices”BRD Claimed Yes, their good, but even they can make foolish choise’s, like Ojiro and Shoda for giving up their opportunity to fight in the sport festival Finals”Shishido said disappointed We’re sorry”Ojiro apologized We won’t do it again”Shoda promised And lets not forget Shishida, who blurted his strategy of sense of smell to his enemies during Joint Training, Idiot” Shishido said glaring Not one of my proudest moments”Shishida said embarrassed Don’t do it again”Shishido scolded I don’t know why, but I find it a little satisfying to see them be told off liek this”BRD told Record Can’t afford these mistakes, they’ll be taking our place in the future, so we need for them to be clear of my mistakes they made in the past so it won’t conflict with their future”Record claimed I understand”BRD agreed Mr Record, whats the lion powers” Kota asked Oh yeah. Know don’t let Dots, king of the jungle appearance fool you, his power is a lot more useful, demonstrate, Alex” Record ordered Okay”BRD Obeyed as he Shot Water from his mouth into the Air like a gueser, when he was done, the remaining water droplet formed into a rainbow as sunlight shined on them They clapped and cheered Pretty” Eri cheered Wow Kota, that lion has water quirk like you”Katsuma said excited

Wow, your really cool Mr Fred” Kota cheered Thank…Wait Fred”BRD Said confused You, when pumbaa said, We’re gonna name him Fred”Kota recalled Oh yeah, the lion king remake, that line was hilarious”Record joked as they all laughed Why do I gotta be Fred, I wanna Aslan” BRD Said embarrassed No, im Aslan, you can be Fred and make your voice funny”Shishida said laughing You must think Big Red Dot is really cool, right Kota”Mandalay asked He’s cool, but I still like Deku more”Kota said Oh Deku, know that is a hero alright”Clair said impressed Reliable and brave, never leaves anyone behind”Salaam said impressed

And won’t give up until everyone is safe, such a good boy”BRD Said Impressed It goes without saying, we all needed Deku when we least expected it”Uraraka claimed Ain't that the truth, you said it”the Others agreed I-island, Nabu island, the children, Deku made the world safer like always, never would’ve happened is All Might choose me to me his successor instead”Togata claimed Doesn't help that that Prick Nighteye was too judgy”Clair scoffed Shut up about Sir” Bubble Girl yelled in anger Bubble Girl behave yourself”Centipeder scolded No, the way i see it, Nighteye failed as a hero the moment he told the dragon not to save Deku and little Eri, what an asshole”Clair argued Well im with you, real hero know not to quit when the going get tough”Mirko added Your all jerks”Bubble Girl yelled Put a sock in it missy, i don’t care if the negativity hurts your feeling, it the truth and you need to deal with it”Record scolded Im afraid he’s right Bubble Girl, even if what they say about Sir is cruel, its only based on what they saw, theres no shame in their opinions because what Mirai did went against everything they learned as heroes”All Might said with others agreeing” Even I don’t hold it against what people say about Sir” Togata said Fine, you win”Bubble Girl said annoyed Anyways, i'd like to meet this Deku myself”Salaam said Yeah, where is he, i wanna meet All Might successor too”BRD added Where is Izuku, I haven't seen him since yesterday night”Inko asked Some to think of it, Bakugo and Todoroki aren't here either” Iida added Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon, but first id like you all to meet one more Top hero, she’s stronger than Endeavor and holds closer to All Might in terms of power”Record announced Who is she”Ashido asked Ask her yourself”Record said as he pointed to the flag on top the ship, stand on the top was a woman who’s cape reflect the american flag, she jump down onto the stage Guess who’s here”Star’s & Stripe announced Oh my god is america’s number 1 hero”Midoriya said in awe with Todoroki, Bakugo, and Rody STARS & STRIPES”They all cheered Wow, This is gonna look good in my article”Tokuda thought excited Wow, America’s most strongest Pro, Thats amazing, wow, to think we’d get to meet her along with other top heroes, this is rare opportunity, i want your autograph” The Students cheered excitement Nice to see you all too, i'd like to thank the few of you for assisting us in the states, i see UA succeeded in bringing up strong reliable pros once again”Stars & Stripes said proudly You can say that again”Kirishima cheered with others Can I get your autograph”Monoma asked No, i don’t sign for bullies who call themselves heroes’s”Star & Stripe refused Oh come on”Monoma whined as they all laughed at him You dug your own grave with that one, serves you right for lying about my concert sucking”Jiro mocked No ones gonna stop with me know, are they”Monoma thought embarrassed Anyways, if I had sign an autograph, id like to start with the one who most deserves it, the one who sacrifices and does the most for everyone one, the one who saved the world from total destruction “Stars & Stripes said You mean, Deku”Eri cheered Yeah, Deku”Kota agreed We want Deku, We Want Dekui”Katsuma chanted We want Deku, We Want Deku, We Want Deku, We Want Deku” Everyone else joined in So where is he anyway Eric, i'm dying to meet him"Star & Stripes asked

Right he" Record said as he pulled a lever and a trapped door on stage

Gears could be heard as Deku,Todoroki,Bakugo, and Rody came up on an elevator Huh, so we were underneath the stage the whole time”Rody claimed surprised Introducing our World heroes”Record announced as they cheered

Deku, your cool Deku, give us an autograph, we love you Deku" Many cheered

You have an amazing son, Mrs Midoriya"Tokuda told Inko

I know, i'm glad i let him stay at UA" Inko said proudly

Wow, more fans, never thought i'd be this famous among pros"Izuku said embarrassed

Kinda nice to feel appreciated though, when I first met you, I thought you were the bad guy" Rody whispered

Um hi everyone, i see some new faces, here, its nice to meet you all, Midoriya introduced

Thanks again for saving Yo from the fire" Nakagame said

And for talking some sense into Yoarashi for his behavior at the licensing Exam" Mora added

Honestly Yoarashi, what were you thinking, giving up a chance of UA all because,Todoroki was rude to you during the entrance exam, and then taking revenge during the licensing exam" Shishikura scolded

Hey i can accept my faults, but what about you who failed the second phase because he wanted to play Stain"Yoarasahi argued You calling me pathetic” Shishikura yelled

So what if i am” Yoarashi yelled Both of you shut up, your making a scene”Mora scolded Sorry

Wow, be sure to leave this out of my article” Tokuda claimed Can I ask why your here”Todoroki asked I was invited, hey Deku, looks like i was right to suspect you to be All Mights successor, but you having his quirk was something else" Tokuda stated

Hey Mr Tokuda, thanks again for not reporting your assumption about me and All Might to paper" Midoriya replied

Honestly, you figured it out faster than before you met me, and yet you still didn't sell them out" Record claimed

Yeah well, I just couldn't do it, i mean I choose a career in Journalism to find out things people wanted to hear,But All Might was the man who saved my father, i was always grateful, And knew I could never do anything bad in return" Tokuda claimed

And that is what earned your invitation go be trusted with this secret" All Might claimed I usually detest against people who work for the media, but I guess you're okay”Aizawa said with others agreeing Thanks, and don’t worry, ill make sure you guys are in the book i write about Deku too, of course, i’ll have to leave out some details, but i'm sure it won’t be too bad”Tokuda assured As long as it doest ruin my friends image or reveal my personal secrets, im okay with it”Izuku claimed Good, im here write article about World Mission, do you mind if I take a few pictures of you and world heroes”Tokuda asked while creating a lens from his hand Alright, i guess i have to introduce myself then”Izuku said while facing the three number 1’s So, your the boy All Might choose to carry his power, well, guess im not surprise, your were brave and committed like a real hero, if you weren't, your leg wouldn't move to save Bakugo”Salaam claimed My Mind told me it was dangerous, but my heart told me not to leave him to die”Izuku claimed Despite the way he treated you”BRD asked Yeah, he really was horrible, but im just nice guy, If allowed opportunity to be mean to Kachaan as a way of revenge what kind of person would i be, i figured it would be best to just let go and move on with life”Izuku claimed Perfect example of true heroism, Its no wonder you’ve been able to make so many friends who listen to you”Star & Stripes said with a smile And its thanks to his inspiration is how many of us were able to exceed in our development” Iida said with others agreeing You could say that we all needed him as much as we needed All Might” Todoroki claimed I can see why, so much progress, you truly have become the real Owner of One For All, Izuku Midoriya”Star & Stripe said proudly So let ask you, do you still regret not letting Mirio Togata become the successor instead”BRD Asked No, and not because One For All can kill him, it because if really did let him have it, it would be because i failed as the successor, butI did not, the problem i regret is not having more confidence and worrying about what others think, All Might believed in me, and that was enough”Midoriya claimed Then you made the right answer, Mirio was strong with a quirk, and powerful without it”Stars & Strip agreed It's because When i lost my power, i wasn't even phased, i was more concerned with Protecting Eri,doing whatever it took even without power””Togata claimed Mirio is brave”Eri said I can see that, even if you're not the successor All Might choose, your a pretty Brave Man, Lemillion, I hope you quirk returns soon”Stars & Stripes said proudly I do too, if it wasn't for the fact that Deku was the true holder, or that One For All could kill me, i would’ve accepted being the 9th holder” Togata claimed BTW Eric, why is it that Deku can survive with this power again” Salaam asked He’s quirkless, just like All Might was when he got the power, One For All is a one quirk to people who didn't already have one, but it becomes a trigger drug to people who do, remember what happened to Katsuki when he some of its embers” Record remembered He got really strong”Mahoro said And can’t lie he did look pretty amazing”Romero said with others agreeing Not that Deku wasn't cool already, were just stating a fact”Shishikura claimed Well, Im gonna do it again, without One For All”Bakug declared I know you will, your a strong boy and destined to do be, and im proud to see that your growing up from the jerk you once were” Star & and Strip said proudly Wait a minute, What the hell, your not gonna yell at me”Bakugo said confused Um no, why would i do that” Stars & Stripe said confused with others (Scoff) im the jerk who made his life hell, a non hero, a little Endeavor, everyone finds out wants to kill me, Icy-Hot did, That Prick Suneater did, so let have it, yell at me already”Bakugo yelled annoyed Everyone gave concern look at each other Im not gonna gonna yell at you, though i won’t lie and say you weren't a horrible person back then, a real bully who claimed to be better than All Might, when he everything he did was the opposite”Stars and Stipes said disappointed I mean you mistreated Deku bady just for he was, you were once his friend, and you betrayed him”BRD stated Yeah, I felt stupid when I found out All Might was quirkless before he got One for All” Bakugo said annoyed And thats just it, you werent really a hero or hero student when you bullied him, if you were id be very pissed, but back then i decided to just claim as a mean stupid jerk who focused on becoming as powerful as All Migth while neglecting the behavoir of a hero, which is treat everyone with respect”Star & Stripes claimed And then, after he was saved by someone who was quirkless, he was touched, he wanted to thanks him, but his pride refuse to let him admit he was wrong, still, he changed that day, between then and the UA Entrance exam he stopped bullying him, was it sign of respect or an act of guilt, whatever matter, he learned that after Deku beat him in that indoor challenge, that he we will always have competition, and that we shouldn't look down on other because the way they are, otherwise your gonna feel like crap when they prove your wrong”Record claimed And you did number of growing up, i mean you two did the 2 things i never got to do but wanted”Stars & Stripes claimed Like Fight All Might, and a weak AFO like Nine”Midoriya said Exactically, i mean, your one of the few students who actually got to hit him square in the face, granted it didn't hurt, but it did buy you two time to get to gate”Record claimed I was proud of both of them at that moment, Bakugo for putting his hatred of Midoriya in order to work together and beat me, and Midoriya for not abandoning his teammate in a time of crisis, that's how they both passed”All Might claimed I swear, i got pretty mad when you hit All Might”Stars & Stripes told Midoriya serious You were” Izuku said nervous with others Don’t you dare hurt my son or im tear you limb from limb”Inko shouted Me too”Eri and Kota added Everyone watched them in surprised Mom, its okay im fine”Izuku assured Sorry Mrs Midoriya, i was only making a joke, i was really gonna say how jealous I am that he got to strike a square punch in All Mights face, I always wanted to face off against the my idol” Stars & Stripes said embarrassed Thats it” They all said surprised Well, if hadn't done that, he never would’ve gotten him and Bakugo to the exit, proving that a true hero will never abandon a comrade”Nezu claimed The relationship between the two improved since then, sure they still have their differences, and they still argue at time, but they will compromise and focus on working together on the task at hand”Record claimed Like when they fought Nine”Mahoro stated Exactically, I mean even before the Power transfer of One for All, you created a single plan that worked in weakening Nine to his breaking point, had he not cheated and used those drugs, you two would’ve been able to defeat him”All Might claimed with others agreeing Stupid fake All For One, made me actaully have to take Deku’s Damm Quirk to beat him”Bakugo said annoyed But you gotta admit, the Double Detroit Smash you did with Deku looked a lot cooler than the he did with All Might”Utsushimi said with others agreeing How Ironic how every time he’s fighting villains on an island, he did the DDS”All Might joked Yep, in the end thye wrecked Nine so badly to where he was near death, then he met his end when his competitor killed him”Record said as they all had worried looks And now he’s under the same process to become th next All For One, in april, he’ll destory everything and everyone he hates, and he’ll able to steal my quirk thanks to his hatred, the one thing Nine and AFO Failed at”Izuku said This is my fault kid, Had I raised Kotaro myself, Tenko never would’ve ended up like this, I should’ve listen to my gut instead of promising Nana not to interact in her son’s life”Gran Torino said sadly Knowing he’s a Shimura, makes this even harder” Izuku added Well, heres what we’re not gonna do, we’re not gonna let you just fight him yet”Nezu said with other pros agreeing The fight with Nine was an exception because he came to you, but this time we’ll go to Shigaraki, we know his location, and we’ll capture him, you just stay out of the way”Aizawa ordered If you want to help, focus on protecting the innocent Civilians from danger, leave all the dangerous stuff to us”Endeavor demanded Of course, if this plan backfires, we’ll have another option”Record said while pointing to Star & Stripe I have decided to to help, when the pro’s make the call, i’ll come a show that Punk Shigaraki, a lesson”Stars and Stripe promised Really, just like that”Izuku said surprised Why not, Japan looks like its in trouble, and Endeavor is definitely no All Might, compared to how he almost died fighting that High-End Nomu, it's pretty clear it will be even more difficult to to take Shigaraki on in a full on fight”Stars & Stripe said If Only Snipe was able to kill him that day at the USJ, then all our problems would be over”Tiger Claimed So we really appreciate you helping us out”Tsukauchi said with others You sure you know what your doing, Ms Stars & Stripe, have ou ever fought a demon with Multiple quirks before”Todoroki asked No, I haven't, to be honest, I this villain in comparison to Nine and All For One is more powerful than any villain I fought in america, with a high chance of death”Stars and Stripe said nervous Are you scared to fight him”Midoriya asked Scared of death, yes, but for the sake of japan i’ll still do it” Stars and Stripe declared Hero might be scared, but they can’t let fear stop them from acting”Record lectured And you’ve already done enough, you've saved friends, two islands, 4 children, almost losing your quirk twice, and then whole world while also being wanted for a false crime, you’ve done so much and made so many sacrifices for the sake of others, so consider this my way of thanking you, We’ve already lost All Might after he fought All For One, So i’ll dammed if we lose you too”Stars & Stripe stated to Deku All Might didn't just give Deku a quirk, he gave him hope, the hope everyone needs, hope that every time Deku is around people can be safe”Record stated Because he is there”They all cheered And until he’s ready, we want to keep him alive as long as possible”All Might declared Thats why in the meantime, i will fight in his place”Stars and Stripes promised Thank you so much, I don’t know how to repay you”Izuku said with gratitude Just promise me you’ll the time I buy you wisely to finish your training, because in case i fail, you’ll be japan's last hope”Stars and Stripe requested I Will, All Might told me that might have fight All For One myself one day, and he was right when Nine appeared, I only one because I had to share my power with Kachaan, i won’t be able use the same trick as before, when it come to Shigaraki,that's why i’ll won’t waste any of the time i got left, As Long as im still standing, im not gonna let anyone die, especially from the hands of Shigaraki”Izuku declared as they all clapped Preach Deku, preach”Melissa cheered We’ll make sure he gets stronger together, just like when he help us” Iida declared with others You’ve got a nice group of friends, guess being around real heroes instead the hero wannabes who looked down at you in middle school help boost that confidence of yours” Salaam said Guess you just gotta be around be around the right people, Izuku claimed Bet they really regret their actions now, especially during the esports festival when they saw him win the obstacle course race without using his quirk”Nezu claimed Gotta admit, that was pretty damn cool”Fourth Kind said with others agreeing The Obstacles were something you couldn't avoid without using powers, and yet he bypassed them all and reached first place”Gun-Head added Thank the power of the human Imagination”Record said He’s so good that he even impresses his enemies, like Stain and Gentle”Manual added One Dangerous, both confused of how the handle adversity”Iida claimed The only difference is Gentle learned his lesson and gave up, understanding that just because things don’t work out for you doesn't mean you become a problem for others,there's just no point,that's why he’ll get a second chance with La Brava” Record claimed You become from saved to savior, for so many, (sigh) it reminds me of when I first decided to be a hero, when All Might saved me and my family 30 years ago from the blue and red villain during our trip to LA”Stars & Stipe said much to everyone's surprise Wait so you…”Izuku sais surprised as she nodded I was surprised too kid, didn't think that random girl from Two heroes movie was Cassie here”Record stated Look like i wasn't only person who achieved something after Toshi saved me, I mean look how big you got”David joked It wa since to see you too Dave, and your daughter is a great inventor”Stars and Stripe praised Thanks, and thanks again for not being mad at my father for his betrayal”Melissa said I was a little at first, but then I decided to blame Sam for Putting the idea in head”Stars and Stripe assured Now everyone will learn to never to temptation make you do something you’ll regret i like did”David said Im just glad your alive, Melissa’s lucky to still you”Rody said Thank you, and proud of what your father did too”David told Rody So, who is that guy anyway”Uraraka asked Yeah, he’s been on the stage with the others, but we haven't gotten to know him yet”Iida added wit others Oh yeah, everyone, I want you meet a new hero among us”Record announced This is Rody Soul,he’s a friend I made when I was in Otheon, he helped me out when I was on the lam”Izuku introduced Well a friend of Midoriya’s is friend of ours, its nice to meet you Mr Soul”Togata greeted with others Thanks,it's nice to meet you guys too”Rody said nervous I see your leg has healed”Recovery Girl said Thanks again for healing it” Rody replied Don’t be shy, why don't you tell everyone about yourself”Record suggested Well, im 16 years old, i live with my little brother and sister, thats them by the way”Rody said pointing the two kids next to Clair Voyance Hi im Roro”Roro introduced

And Im Lala”Lala introduced as they waved them and everyone waved back

Oh more cuties”Ashido gushed Treat them with the same respect you would with the other”Aizawa ordered Yes sir”They all obeyed

My current occupation is I work as a bartender, and my dream is to be a pilot”Rody explained So you wanna fly planes, well I gotta say that is a good career, transporting people via air”Ryukyu said with others agreeing You know I once flew a plane too”Uraraka said Oh yeah, out team up mission, of course”Sirius recalled In fact thats was when i first hear about Othean, as the drug smugglers where shipping those triggers there”Selkie added Its was obvious that those Trigger where ordered by Flect Trun for his bombs, even with the missed delivery he alreayd had enough to move forward, so the mission wasnt a complete success”Record claimed Well, at least you showed that bastard whos’ boss right”Rody told Deku Yeah but that's All done, yeah, but thats all I did,”Deku argued All roles are important, no need to feel bad, at least you were able to beat him by yourself, it shows your improving”Record stated Is it true Deku beat him by himself”Katsuma asked Yes I did, Kachaan and Todoroki had other villains to fight them, so I had to face Flect Turn alone, and luckily I won”Izuku claimed Judging by the injuries you had, It was a difficult battle, but luckily, it was just your skin and muscles that broke, something i can handle”Recovery Girl claimed Yeah, thanks to all the training I underwent during school and work study, i was upgrade to 45%”Midoriya announced as they all clapped and cheered All Right Deku, you almost there”Many cheered You not mad you didn't get to fight Flect Turn, are you guys”Kirishima asked Todoroki and Bakugo I regret not being their to help Midoriya when he needed it, but the world was saved and Flect Turn to beat, plus we all lived, that's really what matter”Todoroki assured (Scoff) The stupid Smurf had just one quirk, any villain who’s below Nine or AFO can be beaten, so of course the Nerd would win without my help”Bakugo stated Thanks Kac…”Izuku was cut off I wasn't praising you”Bakugo yelled as the all laughed Still though, even though I beat the bad, i won;t change the fact that is only an obstacle for the real goal, Moreover the real person who save the whole world is right here” Izuku said as he held up Rodys Arm Rody”the Students said surprised He’s being honest”Pony asked Are you calling me a liar” Izuku asked as they all looked at Pony No, no im not, its just, Rody doesn't look a hero”Pony stated As a expected from a stupid Discriminator like yourself, judgeing me just being of th eway i look, just like you did to Mezo”Rody scoffed as they look at him in surprised Hey, what's your problem”Pony yelled I'm just stating a fact”Rody claimed Well think you should apologize”Pony demanded No”Rody refused You better or else” Tetsutetsu threatened with his fist’s up They all gasped in shock and Rody had a smug looked What, what's going on” Tetsutetsu asked concerned as the Pro’s looked very angry Fourth Kind grabbed him by the shirt Did you just threaten that Boy”Fourth Kind yelled Um, Yes Mr Fourth-Kind Sir”Tetsutetsu said scared Tetsutetsu, you know your not suppose to lash out civilians, no matter mad they make you” Vlad King Scolded But you all heard what he said to Tsunotori” Tetsutetsu argued Those are just words, you can’t let the words of what one civilian get to you, what if it Mahoro, or the other kids who said it, would you threaten them”Fat Gum yelled No because their kids”Tetsutetsu answered And their defenseless, Rody is also defenseless, your suppose to defend him, no threats, now apologize”Record demanded But” Tetsutetsu was cut off Real-Steel Apologize”Fat Gum demanded Fine, i'm sorry i threaten you, it won’t happen again”Tetsutetsu promised Fine, weirdo, i accepted your apology”Rody accepted Why’s he gotta say it like that” Todoroki thought And Pony, don't overreact by those kinds of comments, if your offended just let us adults handle in in the future”Record stated Yes Mr Record”Pony said annoyed Sucks to be you”Rody thought smugly And Rody, try to behave yourself, i want you to make friends not enemies”Record requested I don’t wanna be friends with Class B any ways, but everyone else i like, fine”Rody promised Revolving around Pony’s question, Rody doesn't look like hero, I believe she means Rody doesn't look like a Pro, and that matched considering he’s not hero course student, but the word hero could mean anyone, the Pro part refers to a government certified soldiers who have been permitted to use their powers to serve justice after receiving the proper training, but really anybody can be a hero, not just a pro" Record explained

He's right, like police officers, paramedics, and firefighters,we've been doing our job protecting people long before the age of quirks, in our own way we are always heroes too" Tsukauchi claimed

Its not just that, but children who aren't even in a hero course could do something that makes an impacted”Record added You meaning doing something big that its worth showing off” Rody asked

Yes, actions that make an impacted on society are worth showing off and they can inspire others and influence them in their development, like when i showed who Deku really was and why he was deserving of being All Mights successor”Record explained

And after Nabu island, it confirms that Deku is the real successor and that anything Nighteye said before really was wrong"Todoroki said with others agreeing

tbc

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crescentmoons-and-stardust · 2 years

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Twisted Tales: Trinity, The Third Sister

In the enchanted woods the sisters fled to every full moon there ran a long and glistening river. The river ran all the way to a far off sea until it merged with the lake in the witches’ glen. Every fall a strange group of fae traveled down the river and stayed near the lake throughout the winter. When they came bobbing through the water they looked like seals, a creature Trinity had only ever seen in books. But the creatures could shed their seal skin to walk among the humans. Their sleek seal skin cloaks always adorned their shoulders.

Trinity was sixteen the first time these seal fae creatures migrated for the winter. She was fascinated when they stepped out of the water, human and naked save for their cloaks. She enjoyed sitting by the lake and chatting with them every full moon.

This was how she met Sylvan. When Sylvan first stepped out of the water, she had been shocked by his nakedness. Shocked but fascinated at the first man she had ever seen so fully. All that fall and winter they exchanged flirtatious glances and shy remarks. She thought of him all that spring and summer and eagerly awaited his return. Sylvan had likewise yearned for Trinity and the two began to sneak off together on those handful of nights they spent together.

It wasn’t enough. She cherished the time they had together but she wanted more. She was eighteen and wanted a husband. Then she was nineteen and wanted a baby too. In her twentieth year she couldn’t contain it any longer.

“I wish you didn’t have to leave every Spring. I wish we had more time,” she told him.

“I wish that too my love, but it is within my nature to return to the sea.”

“I know it is. But I wish to marry. I wish for it to be you.”

The handsome fae hesitated before speaking again. “Some of my kind have mated with humans,” he said slowly. “Given up their cloaks to stay with their loved ones.”

Trinity was torn between asking this of him and snatching the cloak off at that very moment. But he continued.

“There is a way… but I can not tell you how. You must find that answer on your own.”

“Would you be happy giving up your cloak?” She asked.

He kissed deeply before replying. “Only for you.”

And so Trinity studied the grimoire. She visited the town’s library for books on the fae. She asked the other creatures of the glen for answers. Finally in an old dusty book she stumbled upon a passage about the selkies.

Selkies can not survive without their cloaks but a human can capture one by quickly replacing the cloak with another. But only if the other cloak is sown by hand from one that truly loves the selkie.

Trinity was thrilled to read this. She was an excellent seamstress and she went to the clothing shop that same day. She picked out a beautiful shimmery blue fabric for her love. Back at her home, she used a spool of real silver thread that she had been saving for a special occasion. She used it to sew the pieces together and embroider patterns all along it.

She hid the cloak from Sylvan in her bag at the next full moon. Neither brought up their last conversation as they spent the night together.

Building up her courage she cried: “Look at that over there!”

With Sylvan distracted she tugged off his seal skin and draped the new cloak over his shoulders. He turned to her surprised but quickly a smile formed on his face. He kissed her and she kissed him. It had worked! He was hers and she was his. She envisioned their wedding as they kissed until suddenly he bit down sharply on her lip.

She gasped in pain but when she pulled away it was quickly forgotten. Sylvan was writhing on the ground in pain.

“Sylvan what is wrong?” She cried.

“What- what is this made out of?” He screamed, his voice full of agony.

“It’s just cloth! And some thread.” She could not understand what was happening. He clawed at the clasp but hissed in pain as he touched the silver button she had used.

“Oh Trinity! Oh my love!” He cried again before rolling himself into the river. Trinity went to jump in after him but froze in horror as she watched Sylvan’s skin bubble under the river. His skin was flaking off and the bones underneath were dissolving. When Trinity screamed others came rushing to her aid but all that was left of Sylvan was a whitish foam on the river’s surface with his blue cloak among it.

A nymph pulled the cloak from the water but dropped it quickly.

“Silver?” She hissed.

“The. Thread,” Trinity managed through her sobs.

“Silver is poisonous to our kind! Why would you bring it here?”

“She didn’t know,” Suddenly her sister Verity was at her side. “She must not have known.”

“This is a harsh way to find out,” The nymph said sadly before melting away with the other fae folk. The other selkies fled almost immediately after they saw what had happened to their brother. Trinity knew they would never swim this way again.

At the next full moon, Trinity left an engraved stone at the spot of the lake she had last held her love. The beautiful cloak she had made with such care had been burned but she had saved Sylvan’s seal skin. She wore it all the time. Ladies in the village would fawn over the strange velvet of her rich cloak. They begged to know where she had gotten it.

“It was a gift from a man that I once wished to wed,” she’d reply.

In her dreams, Trinity would often see Sylvan. She’d be in a wedding gown, walking slowly to the lake. She’d keep walking as her feet got wet, then her knees, then her waist. She’d keep walking until she was fully submerged and there at the bottom of the lake Sylvan was waiting. He’d wrap his arms around his bride, trapping her below. Locked in his deadly embrace she’d feel free before waking back in her bed. Just a dream, her sisters would say. And Trinity would have believed that too if it hadn’t been for the seal skin hanging next to her bed, always damp to the touch afterwards with a small puddle forming slowly below it.

#the twelve sisters #my post #twisted tales #selkie #selkie aesthetic #la sylphide #dark fairytales #Fairytale Retelling #dark fairytale #fairytale aesthetic #Dark Fairy Tales #fairytales #fairy tales #fairy tale #fairytale #ballet retelling #la sylphide au #la sylphide retelling

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nat-seal-well · 2 years

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Not me saying “what characters will I write for for this selkie au” as if I don’t already have a track record—

Anyway here’s the general idea I had in my head lol. It, unsurprisingly, features the boi I love most

Freelancer still goes by Freelancer. Or, they will, once they finally meet the gang.

When they leave the sea, they usually stay on a tiny, little secret beach not many humans know about, because it can only be reached during low tide. It requires crossing over some tide pools to get to it.

(It’s the same beach I’ve written about before, because I just love it so much. I’m sorry—)

Like in the canon, they meet Kody. He’s the first one from D.A.M.N that they know in this au. Freelancer was extremely interested in him because he’s a water elemental.

Kody’s also the first human they actually interact with. Which, as you can probably imagine, is… not good.

He immediately makes them uncomfortable, and Freelancer never strays far from the water whenever they meet with him on the beach. But he’s the only human they know, and they don’t want to lose their opportunity to learn about the human world, so…

Eventually, instead of bridging, he tries to take their seal coat. He isn’t even sly about it, he just straight-up tries to take it from them.

Freelancer fights back. In the end, they win when they bite down on his forearm and he lets go. Freelancer goes back to the ocean and Kody, cursing, leaves the beach. Freelancer doesn’t make it out of the fight without a couple wounds of their own.

Huxley finds out about them when he runs into Kody and he isn’t even trying to hide the bite mark. Like in the canon, he never met Kody before. He just sees a guy with a wound that looks relatively fresh, blood visible through the bandages, and wants to help.

“Whoa. What the hell happened to you, dude? Are you alright?”

“Some seal fucker down past the tide pools attacked me. Not that it’s any of your concern. But I’d be wary of the beaches, if I were you.”

And now Huxley’s interested. He knows that selkies, typically, are not very violent. If one took a bite out of him, they must have had a reason.

So he gathers some things—first aid supplies, just in case, and food—in a bag and goes down to the shore the next day during low tide. Huxley makes it over the tide pools and to the little beach, but of course, Freelancer isn’t there.

(They’re in the water, though, hiding behind a rock and watching. Huxley can’t see them.)

He waits until the tide begins to come up, and then he has to leave. But he comes back the next day. And the day after that. He does it for a week, coming to the beach and waiting. It means Freelancer can’t spend any time ashore if he’s there while the tide is out, and they get frustrated.

So, after the seven days, when Huxley shows up again and isn’t expecting anything to happen, he’s surprised to see a person standing on the sand. They’re naked except for a sealskin they’re wrapped up in and soaking wet. They also have an angry-looking cut down one side of their face, thanks to Kody.

Freelancer’s initial plan had been to chase him away. They’ve got their teeth bared and everything. But the first thing Huxley does is put his hands up and keep them where Freelancer can see.

“Hey, I’m not gonna—holy shit, dude, those are sharp as hell. No wonder… I-I mean, I saw the marks you left on Kody. The water guy? He seems like a dick. I just wanted to see if you needed help…”

When Freelancer doesn’t attack him, he starts rummaging through his bag very carefully and very slowly. Freelancer growls at him until he holds out some smoked salmon, wrapped in brown paper.

“I don’t really know what you guys eat? But, uh, they had this at the grocery store today, and…”

Freelancer stops growling, but they don’t come any closer. He ends up just kinda standing there, awkwardly holding the fish in his hands. Eventually he has to leave. The fish gets set on a flat rock he’s been standing next to.

“I gotta go. But… I’ll come back tomorrow. Thanks for not eating me or anything, dude.”

Huxley walks away and silently prays they don’t decide to attack him from behind. They don’t. He looks back when he gets to the tide pools, though, just in case.

Freelancer’s gone. So is the salmon.

Huxley’s grinning when he climbs up the rocks to get to the pools.

#selkie au my beloved #the innate urge to turn all the characters I love into magic seals #redacted asmr #redactedverse au #redacted au #redacted huxley #redacted freelancer #redacted kody

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onceuponastory · 2 years

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Steve Kemp | Masterlist

Last updated: March 20th

SERIES

Normal | 💀 | 🌧️ | 🩸 | 🌙 | 💖 | Completed |

Hunting a new serial killer, FBI criminal profiler Agent Y/N Y/L/N’s boss decides that to catch this new threat, she needs to talk to the one person who can help them understand people like him…the cannibalistic serial killer Steve Kemp, currently in prison for murder. (Fresh x The Silence of the Lambs AU x The 355 Mashup)

ONESHOTS

Bloodlust | 💀 | 🌙 |

During her shift at the hospital, Y/N realises that some of the blood bags from the blood bank are going missing. The intriguing and attractive surgeon Steve Kemp offers to help her find out the truth. Little does Y/N know however, that by letting Steve help, she’ll soon find out a surprising fact about him…and herself. (Vampire!Steve Kemp)

Nightmares | 💀 |

After escaping from Steve Kemp and his basement about a year ago, Y/N thought she was finally safe. She’s about to learn that she’s anything but.

Posted for @breakablebarnes’ 1.3k writing challenge!

At the Water’s Edge | 💀 | 🌧️ | 🌙 | 💖 |

From a young age, Steve Kemp has been told the legend of selkies: a creature that lives life as a seal, but has the ability to shed their skins and become human. Ever since then, he’s wanted a selkie for himself...mostly because he learned that if you steal a female selkie’s skin, then you can claim them as your wife. One day, he finds both Y/N and her seal skin on the beach, and decides to take what he feels that he’s always deserved. (Selkie AU)

In the Dark Woods | 💀 | 💖 |

After falling and spraining her ankle whilst out running, Y/N accepts help from the handsome and charming doctor who comes to her rescue. She knows not to talk to strangers, especially those she meets in the dark woods, but come on…how scary can he possibly be? (Little Red Riding Hood Re-telling/Inspired)

Repentance | 💀 |

Steve Kemp has been forced into a rehabilitation scheme organised by his prison. He thinks it’s a load of bullshit, until he comes face to face with Y/N…the sister of one of his victims.

My Beautiful Odette | 💀 | 💖 |

After seeing a performance of the Swan Lake ballet, Steve Kemp develops an obsession with the lead dancer Y/N, and decides that she has to be his. Whatever it takes.

A Piece of Meat | 💀 |

Y/N decides to see what her boyfriend thinks of her new shirt.

Into This World, We’re Thrown | 💀 |

Hitchhiking to find her way home, Y/N soon gets picked up by Steve Kemp…and gets thrown into a whole new nightmare. (Loosely based on the song Riders on the Storm by The Doors)

Nowhere to Run | 💀 |

After Y/N sees something she wasn’t supposed to, Steve makes sure she knows there’s no way out.

Hidden Darkness | 💀 |

After witnessing some strange events, Y/N becomes convinced her fellow medical student Steve Kemp is hiding something. She’s about to learn just how right she was.

All to Myself | 💀 |

Steve notices Y/N’s tattoos

Gut Feeling | 💀 |

After a young woman goes missing, Detective Y/N interviews one of the last people to see her alive…Plastic Surgeon Steve Kemp.

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pugoata · 3 years

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"So, I did some snooping," Ruby announces when she gets back that evening, dropping her book bag to the ground and slamming the door behind her. Weiss looks up from the kitchen table, where she's Facetiming Pyrrha, and Yang raises an eyebrow from where she's sprawled across the couch. Blake sits on the arm of the couch beside her, mirroring Yang's expression.

"Of?" Yang asks.

"The White Fang." Ruby walks to the couch, making to sit down on Yang's legs. With a sigh, Yang pulls them back, letting her plop down. Ruby lowers her voice, enough so that her words won't carry over to Weiss's call. "They barely broke even on their last trip."

"Really?" Yang asks, surprised. "That's a first."

"That's because Blake's not on it," Ruby explains with the barest hint of satisfaction. Even before they met Blake, they'd all felt at least a little bit jealous of the White Fang from time to time. For the past year, that boat had been the most profitable in all of Vale. Even Yang had to admit that it was nice to see them have a bad trip.

"Adam isn't technically a selkie anymore, so it's not like he can attract any fish on his own," Blake adds quietly, an edge to her tone that almost sounds victorious. "He's back to being a normal fisherman now."

"So his powers died with his skin, huh?" Yang asks.

"Losing his skin severed his connection to the ocean." Blake's face is stone. "And it's a connection he misses terribly. He was always jealous that I still had it."

"He's a jerk!" Ruby says, a little too shrilly. Weiss glances over her phone at them, then mutters something to Pyrrha. She rises from the table, clearly giving up on having a conversation anywhere near them.

"I'm taking this to my room," she grumbles.

"Maybe you should've done that to begin with," Yang points out, grinning. "Bye, Pyrrha!"

She hears a cheerful, Bye! come from the phone before Weiss closes the door behind her. Ruby snickers.

"So that's Weiss's girlfriend?" Blake asks, sliding down the arm of the sofa. It nudges Yang, who makes room by shifting to the middle cushion.

"How'd I end up in the middle?" she complains, slumping back.

"This is what happens to couch hogs," Ruby says, elbowing her. "But yeah, that's Pyrrha."

"Weiss said she's studying abroad," Blake says, looking over at Ruby for confirmation. Her thigh rests against Yang's, who tries not to think about how warm it is.

"Yeah, she's an archaeologist! Studies the old kingdoms in Mistral. They've got a pretty big excavation going on, and she's a part of it!"

"Archaeology," Blake repeats thoughtfully.

"I think she's got what it takes to be the next Indiana Jones," Ruby adds. Yang snorts.

"From what she was telling us about it, it sounds a little more boring than anything Indiana Jones did. She doesn't even have a whip."

Blake laughs, her hand absently setting on Yang's thigh. Heat floods Yang's cheeks and she immediately loses track of the conversation.

"It's pretty interesting," Ruby goes on, apparently oblivious to the sudden loss of Yang's brain cells. "I've never been much of a history person myself, but it is cool. She's literally a bridge between now and the past, and learning all about these people based on the stuff she finds. It might not be quite like Indiana Jones, but it's still pretty fascinating."

"Mm," Yang says, blinking rapidly as she tries to regain her focus. She forces herself to look away from Blake's hand, which hasn't left her thigh. "I think I'd rather have the whip, though."

"Of course you would," Ruby mutters.

Blake lets out a chuckle, one that reverberates through Yang's body, rendering her breathless once more.

#rwby #bumbleby #rwby fic #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #we're back baybee~

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wherethewordsare · 3 years

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Sign Sealed and Delivered

Part 2 to This Fic Here

It had been easy for Jaskier really. There were so few people in the world that he had truly trusted, but giving Geralt his cloak had felt as natural as breathing. He knew what his clan would say if they knew, the traditions that he was breaking by giving his cloak so freely to not just a land walker, but a witcher, a monster hunter, would have been beyond scandal. He just hoped that some part of Geralt didn’t realize what Jaskier had truly done.

It wasn’t every day you asked a witcher to accept a betrothal pact.

He had never felt safer though once Geralt held his cloak, knowing that as long as he lived, the cloak would be kept safe. What he hadn’t expected, however, was the way Geralt had asked him to return to Kaer Morhen with him for the winter.

“I want to keep it there. I don’t feel right traveling with it. What if something were to happen? You’d be at risk as long as I was?” There was a worry to the crease of his brow that softened Jaskier to near puddy. “But I want you to know that it’s safe. It only makes sense that you come with me.”

“Of course I know it’ll be safe, dear heart, that’s why I gave it to you,” Jaskier laughed, hoping that the heat he felt in his face wasn’t showing too much.

“Please?” Geralt asked softly. His hand twitched on his thigh as they sat by the fire, the autumn settling in around them.

Jaskier looked over and nearly lost his breath. Golden eyes stared back at him with a warmth he hadn’t been expecting. “Yeah, alright. I’ll come with you.”

That was how Jaskier found himself following his witcher up into the mountains as the first frosts clung to their bedrolls each morning. After the first particularly cold night, Jaskier woke up to find Geralt slipping into his bedroll and wrapping an arm around him.

“‘S cold, and it’s only going to get colder,” was his only explanation as he settled in against Jaskier’s back. It made sense to stay together for warmth and it wouldn’t be the first time but something felt different about this time that Jaskier couldn’t quite name. Maybe it was the way Geralt’s hand splayed over his ribs like he wanted to keep him safe. Maybe it was the way his cold nose buried into Jaskier’s nape.

It became a routine quickly for them to share a bedroll, to walk a bit closer along the path up, for Geralt to give small reassuring touches to Jaskier’s arm or the small of his back when the ground grew uneven.

Once Jaskier’s feet found a patch of ice before his eyes could and he would have been flung down into the slush of mud had Geralt not grabbed him around the waist and pulled him close. They stood like that for a moment, Geralt looking particularly smug and ready to say something to match the mischief in his eyes.

“Not a word, witcher, or so help me, only one of us is making it to this keep of yours,” Jaskier sniffed, righting himself though Geralt still had yet to let go.

“Hmm.” Geralt kept his council but still smirked as they continued their way. He hadn’t mounted Roach once since they had set off, keeping beside Jaskier the entire trek. He pointed out species of trees and roots that only grew on the mountain, ones that he used for certain potions, ones Eskel used for cooking, and ones Lambert used for other purposes that made him scrunch his nose.

“We have narcotics in Oxenfurt, Geralt. I’m not some naive village waif you’ve picked up along the way,” Jaskier only laughed when Geralt shot him a look. “Oh please, Remember when you picked me up just outside of Foam that one year and I stuffed myself on those rolls from the market?”

Geralt stopped walking, looking around him as if he had just noticed where he was. “This was a mistake. I realize you and Lambert should never meet. I won’t survive the winter.” He looked almost forlorn though the corners of his mouth tilted slightly.

“Sorry, was that a joke? Are you making jokes right now? Who is this? Where is my Geralt, hmm?” Jaskier was still laughing though fairly winded as they hiked the steep incline. But then Geralt was looking at him, his eyes soft and the smile almost fond.

“Your Geralt, hmm?” He took a long stride ahead of Jaskier before reaching back and offering him a hand up. Roach was wandering up the hill slightly ahead of them, sure of the path she was taking.

Jaskier snorted, looking away. He felt caught somehow though, as a selkie, he had already given himself away if Geralt knew. Did Geralt know? There was no way he could know. Selkies weren’t exactly common anymore, and on top of that, they made a habit of staying clear of land usually.

After that, they had found it hard to keep a conversation going. Jaskier had been surprised to find that Geralt became such a conversationalist. He wondered if it had to do with them getting closer and closer to his home. When they finally arrived Geralt looked at him, almost grinning before walking down the slope. He must have seen someone Jaskier couldn’t because he was shouting for someone.

Another witcher appeared. “Well, pretty boy, finally made-” The witcher stopped, looking at Jaskier with a raised eyebrow disappearing into his dark hair. “Well, hello there. Geralt didn’t mention his bard was-” he didn’t get to finish the statement as Geralt’s fist connected with his stomach.

“Good to see another year hasn’t done anything about that mouth, Lambert,” Geralt grumbled as Lambert heaved, still bent over. It suddenly dawned on Jaskier that that time outside of Posada, Geralt may have held back some.

“Leave off of him, Geralt. He’s just mad his cat isn’t here.” Another witcher appeared at the gate, a series of scars across his face.

It happened so quickly. One second the three of them were standing there, nearly perfectly still, the next there was a brawl spilling out into the courtyard beyond them. There were curses and fists thrown in every direction. Jaskier simply looked at Roach who laid her ears flat and huffed, otherwise unbothered.

“What have I walked into, Roachie girl?” He looked around and could make out the stable. “I think this might take a moment. Let’s get you seen to.”

Jaskier led Roach away from the courtyard and into the stable, finding a clean stall for her alongside three other horses. Looking around he noticed that there had been room enough for many more but otherwise, the stables were empty.

“I guess when there aren’t many witcher’s left, there isn’t need for witcher steeds, hmm?” He said softly, undoing her tack. He had watched Geralt do this enough times that it was easy to get her settled though she would nip at him unless he bribed her. “You can’t keep doing this to me. You’re going to get me in trouble.”

“You do that by yourself, plenty, Bard.” Geralt deadpanned from the door. “Move over, you’ve missed a good portion of her flank.” He took the brush from Jaskier but didn’t push him away, letting him stay in the small space. His face was a mess of mud and blood and marks.

“You win?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so, but the season has just started. I’ll get Eskel back,” He mused, brushing down Roach. She knew better than to nip at him for sugar. Jaskier gave her some anyways.

“Got to stop spoiling her, Jask,” Geralt sighed but he didn’t make an effort to stop him. He picked up their bags, carefully slinging the one with Jaskier’s cloak in it over his shoulder. “Come on, I’ll show you-” He licked his lips and looked down for a moment. “Come on.”

Jaskier followed him, his eyes not being able to take in enough at once. The hall though in a state of disrepair still held the ghosts of its grandeur. They went in near silence, Geralt only turning every so often to make sure Jaskier was still following. There had been a handful of times when he had to stop to wait for him. The walls were nearly a maze, and the stairs didn’t seem to have a rhythm or reason to them. After several flights, they stopped outside a large door and Geralt set their bags down.

“If you don’t want to stay here, I can find somewhere else. I just thought since-” He didn’t say anything else, pushing the door open slowly and sliding in before Jaskier. He stepped back to let Jaskier look around, taking in the simple four poster bed, the little bit of furniture, the large bay window that looked out over the mountains.

On the mantle a few small personal objects made up the only decoration of the place. It took him a moment but Jaskier recognized a few of them. There was the small wood carved wolf’s head he had given Geralt during a festival years ago, an ornate flask that Geralt said wasn’t practical but apparently hadn’t tossed away like Jaskier had suspected. There was a pressed flower laying on a book, the bright blue of the bloom faded slightly but Jaskier thought it looked familiar.

“This is your room,” he realized, whirling around and taking in the large bed again and Geralt still standing by the door. He hadn’t set his bags down just yet, watching Jaskier.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“You want me to stay here, in your room,” Jaskier’s heart pounded against his ribs so hard he knew Geralt could hear it.

“Yes,” Geralt looked down, frowning.

“With you?” It was too much to hope for but he had to hear it.

“There’s another room down the hall if you would rather. You don’t need-”

“I’d love to, Geralt. I mean, stay here. With you, if you’d-” something bubbled up in his chest, light and floating like sea foam. The room already tasted like him. “If you’d have me, of course.”

Geralt didn’t say anything, only set his bags down finally and began to unpack. Jaskier made himself comfortable on the bed, watching as potions and clothes made their way to where they belonged. Their kettle and pots were hung by the hearth and Jaskier’s things seemed to be put away along side Geralt’s. The last bag was placed beside Jaskier and he knew what was in it.

“I could keep it here, if this is where you think it would be safest,” Geralt almost whispered. His thighs were pressed against the bed and he hovered over Jaskier slightly.

Jaskier bit his lip, knowing full well that laughing was not the response here. He reached up tentatively, his hand wrapping around Geralt’s wrist as he slowly pulled him down. He kept his fingers loose so as to not make the witcher feel trapped. “Geralt,” he said softly, shifting up on his knees, they were nearly chest to chest now. “I know I’m safest where you are.”

He let Geralt close the distance between them, his mouth slotting against Jaskier’s in a firm line, crowding him back onto the bed. Jaskier let himself be maneuvered, the laughter he had been holding back spilling over, bright and warm and safe as Geralt wrapped his arms around him.

The mattress wasn’t the most comfortable and the furs needed airing out and they both still had weeks of travel clinging to their clothes but Geralt was kissing him breathless and the ache he had been carrying for well over a decade finally slipped away from his chest.

Finally Geralt pulled away, his hand sliding up to trace along Jaskier’s brow, fingers brushing back his fringe. “I’m going to earn that trust, over and over,” his arm still around Jaskier’s middle gave him a light squeeze and he dipped down to press another kiss to his face before sliding out of his arms again.

Jaskier made an indignant sound in protest which only made the witcher chuckle. “Oh no, you don’t! Years I’ve been waiting for this! Where do you think you’re going?” He groused, reaching for Geralt again.

“Dinner,” Geralt hummed smugly.

At the mention of food, Jaskier’s stomach growled and he flopped back into the pillows with a groan.

“Come on, I got to tell the others I came home with a seal-wife.”

Geralt caught the pillow that came flying at the back of his head with very little effort and it only made Jaskier more petulant as he tried to burrow down into the musty furs. “Go to land, Jaskier, it’ll be fun, Jaskier. Fall for an ass hole of a witcher, Jaskier,” he muttered but he couldn’t help the smile that was threatening to split his cheeks.

There would be time enough for the other things he wanted. For now, Jaskier could sit through dinner with witchers and know that he was safe and wanted but still free.

#geraskier #geralt of rivia #selkie jaskier #jaskier #fluff #going to kaer morhen #getting together #marriage proposal #Jay Writes #long fic

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grogusmum · 3 years

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GrogusMum Masterlist

Hi there! Thank you for coming to look around my original masterlist! I just realized some of my fics are leading readers here, but I have a brand spanking new masterlist! This one no longer gets updated BUT you can get whisked away to it by clicking this link

If you would like to be tagged for any and all silly fluffle I may write, fill out my handy dandy taglist form! Thanks!! 💚

Frankie Morales

Your Spot (GN!Reader)

Conversations With Dead People (ofc) for Writer Wednesday

Don’t Give Up part 1 part 2

You with Me and Baby Makes Three (part of Don’t Give Up AU)

Lucy’s Tree House (part of Don’t Give Up AU)

99 Miles From L.A. (part of Don't Give Up AU)

Halloween with Frankie (part of Don't Give Up AU)

Din Djarin

A Galaxy Far Far Away Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 6.5 Part 7

Sunscreen

Grogu Djarin

In Which, Dad and Me Have Ice Cream For The First Time, and Survive Brain Freeze (part of A Galaxy Far Far Away AU)

In Which, I Make Friends With Hens, and They Let Me Eat Their Eggs (part of A Galaxy Far Far Away AU)

In Which, I Surprise Dad on Father's Day part of A Galaxy Far Far Away AU (but not a flipped pov) and the For The Mandalor Celebration

In Which, I Go To My Very First Day of School, or Dad Leaves Me With A Stranger and A Bunch of Random Other Kids, But It Could Have Been Worse

In Which I Become An Expert Pumpkin Picker and I Am Confused With A Costume Accessory (Halloween part 1)

In Which, I Get To Ride Seamus In The Halloween Parade and Oops I Let A Cat Out of A Bag, But Not A Real Cat or Bag (Halloween Part 2)

In Which, I Make a Jack O’Lantern and Go Trick or Treating, I Am Still Mistaken For A Prop But There’s Candy So… (Halloween part 3)

The Sharpie (drabble collaboration with the fantastic @honestly-shite )

ASK GROGU: baby yoda explains it all (One Day Character Takeover) 1 2 3 4 5 6

200 Follower Celebration: Week-long Grogu Character Takeover asks ranging from simple answers to asks to 1000 word fics

cookies ~ animal friends ~ snoring ~ coffegost art ~ cheering up dad ~ grogus pov the prisoner ~ note from jen (cuz it is so sweet) ~ floppy ears ~ big people stuff ~ tiny baby stuff ~ ostara/easter ~ Sorgan 1 ~ rising phoenix ~ chicks (the bird kind) ~ Sorgan 2 ~ the Navaro school/cookie theft ~ butterflies ~ cuteness ~ bunking with dad ~ hairs ~ krayt bbq~ insinuations I will stay small ~ mudhorn ~ grogu pov the marshal ~ hands ~ cradle or satchel ~ roomba ~ earth clothes ~ honestly-shite fanart

If you enjoy these Grogu pov fics I invite you to visit my Grogu RP blog @grogu-explains-it-all

Oberyn Martell

Oberyn’s Merling (GN!Reader)

The Merling's Prince (GN!Reader)

The Merling in the Forest of Yew (GN!Reader) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Ezra (Prospect)

Seven Tears (selkie! Ezra) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Seven Tears Scents of the Season (ficlet inspired by a Christmas prompt)

selkie!ezras fine new sweater (photo edit)

Pero Tovar

The Hedge Witch & the Mercenary

Hector (dabble in Hedge Witch and the Mercenary au)

Sometimes I Draw Things

Din Djarin

Kilt

Ezra

Fae King Ezra

The Fae King and faerie Cee

Moodboards

Seven Tears (selkie!Ezra)

The Hedge Witch and the Mercenary (Pero Tovar)

#pedro pascal characters #grogu fics #grogu #pedro pascal #din djarin #pero tovar #ezra prospect #oberyn martell #frankie morales #grogusmum masterlist

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bump1nthen1ght · 3 years

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Deep Blue Sea (Shark Merman x Reader) Chapter 1

Pairing: Gender Neutral! Reader/Shark Merman

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Soulmate AU

Warning: None

Word Count: 2682 words

Summary: You have a chat with your soulmate

Prologue

“So, you want some?”

He takes your stunned silence as no, checking that the crab is fully dead before pulling off a leg and biting the meat inside. His teeth catch the light of the setting sun, glinting white in between chunks of crab.

“So were-”

“Soulmates? Yeah, looks like it.” He, your soulmate, cracks off another leg and begins to chew. You find yourself transfixed watching him, mind reeling with questions. He uses the sharp claws on the tips of his fingers to dig out more meat. You’re not even sure where to begin.

“What do we do know?”

He shrugs, sucking out the last of the crab leg and tossing it aside.

“Dunno, guess this mystery is solved though.” He taps his wrist and you get a closer look at his soulmate mark.

It loosely resembles a human compass, yet alien in it’s design.There’s eight large symbols, none of which you recognize, and the arrow is slightly misshapen before straightening to a point.

“I always assumed my soulmate was in the Atlantic or something, maybe even a selkie. When that thought always drove my ma up the reef.” He sighs, pressing his chin against his palm as he lays against a rock. “Wonder how she’ll take this. Maybe she’ll turn a whole new shade of blue.”

His chuckle is low, rough against your ears, but not entirely unpleasant.

You can see more of his backside as he scoots closer into the tidepool. The first thing you notice is just how big he is, his tail stretching from his hips to the open ocean. The second thing you notice are the defined muscles which stretch and flex along his back.

Okay, what the fuck.

There’s a pressure building in your temples and you think you're beginning to overload. Your fucking soulmates eyes wander, looking nonchalant as can be beforeperking up when he sees another crab. His body slithering away from you to snatch it up snaps you out of shutdown mode.

“Uh, I guess….what’s your name?” He doesn’t take his eyes off his soon to be snack, only humming to acknowledge he even heard you. “I think that’s a good place to start, don’t you?” That at least gets you a chuckle, followed by a tiny crack!

“Cruz, you can call me Cruz.” You make eye contact as he takes a long, languid bite of crab. Your furrow your eyebrows, face unimpressed. He lights up with a mischievous grin.

“Is that your real name?”

“Nope,” Cruz says, popping the p and breaking open a claw, “But I don’t think you could pronounce my name so…..”

The tension in your jaw tights as he turns away from you once more,humming to himself and letting out a soft “Oh!” as the other leg reveals quite a bit of meat. You rub your brow and sigh.

“My names _____”

“Neat.”

In high school, your mom got the yearbook epithet “biggest social butterfly.” Your dad, however, was barely presentable on picture day and a social circle consisting of the three fellow chess-club members. You were a lot like your dad in many ways.

The conversation, to say the least, seemed to float on the water like a dead fish, and you had no idea how to resuscitate it. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t natural, it wasn’t that missing piece yoru guidance counselor said it would and dammit, it’s kind of pissing you off. You’re pissed off that it’s pissing you off, because when has making first impressions ever been easy for you? Did you think this was going to be different, because what, a stupid mark on your wrist? That has no basis in logic, not even a little bit.

You refuse to dignify any emotions similar to disappointment which begin to well inside you, because it’s ridiculous. You worked hard to get to California, you’ve worked hard your whole damn life, what's stopping you from working now?

“Welp, seems I scared away all the other crabs.” Cruz huffs and places his hands on his...hips? “Been nice chatting _____, but I got dinner to catch.” Cruz looks back at you as he slinks into the water, sending a salute and a wink.

The words bubble up in your chest before you can catch them as he begins to swim away.

“Wait, but, um, I-” Your commands fall clumsily out of your mouth and barely leaves a ripple on the water. Cruz doesn’t turn around.

You feel the heat sizzling up your neck and face as you look at his back. Flashes of him, the arrow, your mom, that stupid guidance counselor paint the inside of your eyelids.

No.

“Will you wait a second!”

The scream barely echoes in the small tidepool, but it’s enough to catch Cruz’s attention. He whips back to you, eyes slightly wide. You realize just how hard you’re breathing.

“I-, just, can you meet me here? Tomorrow?” Cruz's expression stays still, only the slightest bit of confusion crossing his eyes as he raises his brow. “I want to get to know you better.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

….

“What time….. do you want to meet up?” Cruz looks far less mischievous and much more sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck with a clawed hand and looking up at you from under his eyelids.

“How about 5PM?”

Cruz narrows his eyes.

“I don’t know what that means.”

Ah, right, merman.

“About three hours before sunset. I mean, do you know how long an hour-”

“Yes, I know how long an hour is. I’m not a pup.” Cruz rolls his eyes

Well, the sass returns.

The two of you stay in that position for a little too long. You begin to rub your arms as the cold of the sea breeze and your social anxiety slowly come back to you.

“See you tomorrow, I guess.” With a hesitant nod, his black-blue eyes looking pensive, he submerges. Your breath comes back to you in a wave as your soulmate swims into the open ocean.

The walk back to civilization is a blur, the pounding voice in your head drawing out all other noise yet barely making sense itself.

You’re not sure what you expected of the first meeting with your soulmate, but it certainly wasn’t that.

---------

The next day, Cruz is waiting for you at the tidepool by 4:55 PM, shucking an oyster with one of his claws. He looks up as your feet splash into the tidepool. You wave.

“Hey.”

It’s an understatement to say the silence is uncomfortable. You take a beach towel out of your bag and begin to lay it on a large rock. The task helps keep your mind distracted, but you feel Cruz’s eyes burn into your back.

“So, I guess, what are you exactly?” You say, sitting yourself down.

“Merman’s best word I’ve heard you humans use, so that.” Cruz has shifted his focus back on his oyster, which he then downs with one swallow.

“I see, I see. Are all mer-folk as big as you?” That catches Cruz’s attention. A self-satisfied smirk grows on his face as he puffs out his chest.

“Not at all. I’m a Great White and we’re one of the…” Cruz extends his arms art in front of him, flexing his fingers and his biceps in a decidedly braggadocious manner, “bigger species out there.” He finishes his statement with a playful wink. A tiny smile crawls on your face.

Interesting. Male Great Whites are typically around 12 feet, but Cruz is only about 9 feet. I wonder why that is?

“I can see that.” Cruz shifts, ego now lifted, and lays his weight on his right elbow, facing you. “You mentioned a mother, do you have a clan?” Cruz nods.

“Yup. It’s my ma, my dad, my two older sisters, and me. Plus two other families. My ma’s parents were from this reef.”

It’s difficult for you to fight the instinct to whip out your notebook and jot all this down.Your inner scientist screams to pry into the complex social hierarchy and behaviour patterns of this new species. But the more sane part of you knows that would probably be pushing some boundaries.

“Wow, so you’re a true Californian, huh?” Cruz squints his eyes at you. “Uh, that’s where we are. The territory Santa Cruz lies in.”

He gives a low hum, reaching for another oyster nearby. This movement is far more natural than his earlier show, but you still get a full glimpse of his cut shoulder muscle and tight abdominals. It stirs something in you.

Would he have the swimmer’s V? Okay, stop, focus.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” He pries open the oyster, staring at the soft meta inside. “A member of the clan, born and bred.” Cruz brushed the pad of his finger on the shell, his voice holding a quiet bitterness, tinted somber.

Should you comfort him? He’s within touching distance, but the thought of grabbing his hand feels too intimate, soulmate-ship be damned.

Before you can make a move, Cruz throws his head back and gulps down the oyster. He shakes his head and lets out a small “Ah~”, then pushes his short hair back against his skull. Whatever emotion that was there before, it’s gone.

“Where are you from?”

“East Coast, bordering the Atlantic. So you weren’t too far off.”

“Well, I’m not just a pretty face.” Cruz winks at you, but his eye catches a scuttling crab nearby. He gets low in the water, moving slowly to catch it by surprise. You don’t hum the Jaws theme, despite how much you want to.

“No siblings, just me and my parents.” Cruz doesn’t look away, even as he kills the crab.

“Lucky. How big's your clan?” The familiar crack of the shell follows.

“We don’t really,” crack “...have those. Humans can-” crack “We typically live near each other-” crack “but don’t get that-” crack “....close.”

Cruz hums contently, but you can clearly see it’s from the crab and not your one sided conversation. He sucks juice off his fingers. Seems you’ve lost him once again.

I didn’t expect this to be so difficult.

“Have you ever had cooked crab?” Cruz perks immediately, slowly turning back towards you.

Got ‘im.

----------

You return with two warm lobster rolls, a bag of crab legs, and some shrimp scampi. Cruz’s black-blue eyes just peak out of the water, suspicious.

“So these two are lobster, actually, but this,” You shake the crab-bag, “is all crab. I thought I ‘d get you a couple things to sample.”

Cruz’s nose (Is it a nose? There’s a ridge but you’re not sure if the slits count as nostrils. Questions for later.) just breaches the water as you set the crab-bag down and settle on your rock. You grab a couple of legs for yourself before nudging it closer to him. “Have at it, it’s pretty self-explanatory.” You say midst a large bit of your lobster roll. The whole meal was not cheap, so you decided to indulge in this treat as much as you can. You’ve had a stressful couple of days.

Cruz slowly approaches the plastic, snatching it up quickly before looking inside it. His eyes widen and there's a small smile on his lips as he pulls a long leg out. His smile only grows bigger.

“Oh, also!” You clap, pointing towards the bag and jolting Cruz out of his food-induced joy. “There’s sauce, garlic butter, shit like that in those little plastic containers at the bottom. You dip the crab meat in them.” You take another large bit of lobster roll and hear Cruz break into a crab leg. Cruz gets his mouth ready to take a big bite before pausing. His eyes flit between the lef and the garlic butter, before he slowly pulls the lid off and dips the meat in. Cruz then takes the tiniest bite possible.

His eyes, black as they are, light up. He quickly takes another, larger bite. It’s quite adorable, like a baby trying ice cream for the first time. Cruz devours the leg quickly before snapping into another sauce.

“You like it?” Cruz nods, cheeks stuffed with crab meat as you giggle.

“What kind of craf is fiss?”

“Dungeness. That’s commonly eaten by humans. They’ve got some of the highest meat value and they're all over the West Coast.” Cruz nods, though you’re not sure he understands parts of your sentence. “They’re also pretty sustainable to fish, although ocean acidity is kinda fucking with their babies. It’s also been fucking with Red King Crabs, which sucks because their only found in like, four places and are so beautiful and also sustainable and-” Cruz has stopped eating and is staring at you. After a big, long breath in you realize how fast you were talking. You feel the what of your blush on the base of your neck. “Sorry, I’ll let you eat. I just...really like crustaceans. A Lot of aquatic animals, but crabs especially are… I’m doing it again. Sorry.” You take a large bite so you won’t have to talk for a couple of seconds, avoiding eye contact with Cruz. You’re sure your chest and arms are bright red; It’s an embarrassing symptom of when you get too excited.

Cruz just keeps staring at you. Frankly it’s the longest he's looked at you and not a nearby snack. You chew the slowest you possibly can, the brioche bun becoming mush in your mouth, to fill the silence.

You don’t see it, but a small smile widens on his face. He picks at his empty crab shell.

“I think those facts are crab-tastic.”

You immediately choke on a bit of lobster roll, pounding your chest as you sputter between mouthfuls. When your eyes stop watering, you see Cruz has moved closer to you, hand outstretched and a couple inches from resting on your calf. He jerks it back when you look down at him.

“Wow, thanks, but puns aren’t really part of my vocrabulary.” You obnoxiously wink, scrunching up the left side of your face. Cruz laughs. Not a chuckle, but a full, belly laugh.

“Well I find them quite crab-tivating.” A larger laugh bursts from your chest as he mimics your wink and shoots you another big smile.

The sharp teeth are beginning to grow on you, adding to Cruz’s boyish charm. You feel the hot blush in your chest crawl up your neck once more.

Oh fuck.

Cruz reaches for another crab leg but hits the bottom of the bag, a playful pout now on his chin.

“Here, try this next.” You hand him the second lobster roll. “Probably don’t want to get this one wet, it’ll be soggy.” With no hesitation Cruz digs in, perking up once more and going to town. His teeth serate through the bread like butter. Within 4 bites, the entire roll is gone.

“Dang, I’ll make sure to bring some more food next time.”Cruz pauses, mid-lick of the butter on his claws and looks up at you.

“Next time? You want to meet up again?” You raise your eyebrow.

“Well yeah, don’t you?”

Cruz stays quiet, no sassy comment or a sarcastic look. Just staring, mildly shocked.

Your embarrassment bubbles back, screaming you’ve misread this whole situation and the last few minutes. “I mean, we are soulmates. Shouldn’t we meet up again?”

Cruz's eyes narrow as a barrage of thoughts seem to flit across his head. His smile recedes back into a straight line, that little spark leaving his eye.

“Yeah, I guess we have too.” He crinkles up the plastic bag, shoving it against your calves. “See you tomorrow.”

A pit rolls in your stomach as he quickly moves to leave.

Did I say something wrong?

“Uh, I’m actually busy tomorrow. Can we do Thursday-er, 3 days from now?” Cruz nods, not turning around to face you before slipping back into the water and swimming away.

The pit doesn’t leave your stomach, an empty sauce container rolling across the rocky shore.

What just happened?

#my writing #monster romance #reader insert #monster x reader #merman #shark merman #merman x reader

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