#unless I get carried away

[raventroll80]

Stowaway Mer AU

Part 4: Beach-combing and Fishnets

A chapter in which Em experiences immense regret about previous actions, and makes a surprising friend.

Heads up this story contains; Injury, Swearing, and Dead Fish.

It was not long after 7:00 p.m when Flynn had come home, far earlier than her or Nimh had expected. presumably because of the raging thunderstorm. Though she did notice that his left arm was bandaged.

When asked about it he said a shark got caught in the net and had bit him. He said they had to cut it out of the net so they had to go back. Not because of the thunderstorm.

He had brought Daisy with him who was fast asleep in his arm. He had thanked her and Nimh for the food and went to what was presumably his room.

Em didn’t know if there were any rooms off limits so she dug out her old sleeping bag from a box and laid it out on the couch and slowly fell asleep.

Sometime during the night Flynn had brought down some blankets for Em and Nimh.

“I thought you two could do with some blankets, the house can get cold when the furnace is off,” he said as he handed Nimh some old blankets.

“Thanks bud, it’s really nice of you to let Em move in here with you,” Nimh replied while placing one of the blankets on Em.

“It’s no problem, the house is huge there’s more than enough room here,” Flynn said, “ … I’m gonna, go back to bed now,”

“Good night Flynn,”

——————————————————————————

The next morning the three went into town to get some things done. Mainly getting utilities restored to the house and finding someone to inspect the property for damage.

Em was sat in the back while Nimh sat in the front passenger like before. The sky was still cloudy and a light misty drizzle is all that remained from last night’s storm.

“Ok so, you’re gonna want to go to the town hall, you see that clock tower over there?” Nimh said as they drove into town, “town hall is right over there, the clock tower itself is the post office, you should probably stop there too,”

Suddenly Em remembered that she had left her bag at the beach. The dawning realization must have been visible because Flynn had asked her if something was wrong.

“I just remembered I left my bag on the beach the other day, is it ok if I have to go look for it,”

“Do you need help looking for it?” Flynn asked as he pulled into one of the port parking lots.

“Nope, I know where I left it, I’ll meet you guys at Mr. Grimmar’s” she said unbuckling herself and getting out.

“Which one?” Nimh asked.

“Silas!” Em shouted as she briskly jogged down the beach.

“Do you have your phone?” Nimh yelled back.

Em stopped for a moment and felt her pockets before yelling,

“Fuck!”

“Aye, she left at the house,” Nimh replied rolling the window up.

“I’ll show where Mr. Grimmar’s is when we’re done at town central,”

As the truck drove off Em continued to jog down the beach, being careful as to not slip and fall. She did not leave her phone at the house, it was in fact in her backpack. The same backpack she had left behind after her encounter with the shark-man mermaid thing from the other day.

When Em got to the place she thought she had left it, she was greeted with nothing but rocks and stranded starfish.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she thought to herself as she sat down on a rock. Em gave a defeated sigh as she looked around.

“Might as well toss these starfish back while I’m here,” she said, standing up and began to collect the starfish.

She put some in tide pools and others in the surf, seagulls had already arrived and were cleaning up some of the dead fish that also scattered the beach. Some followed her hoping for a starfish to fall out of her hand.

She had just placed more starfish into the water when she had noticed a bunch of seagulls were gathering just behind some rocks down the shoreline. Curiosity got the better of her and she decided to investigate whatever the seagulls were interested in. Though she did pull out her knife out just in case, luckily she didn’t leave that behind.

Em slowly crept forward and peered over the rocks, what she saw caused her to gasp. It was the shark-mer from the other day.

They didn’t look to good, they weren’t moving and they had a massive gash in their side. They were also tangled in some fishing nets. Seagulls were picking at the wound causing it to bleed.

Em felt a twinge of guilt as she wondered if she was somehow to blame for the state the shark-man was in. She felt bad and wanted to help them but knew that the shark-man mermaid thing probably wouldn’t be to happy to see the person who stabbed them approaching them. So she decided to slowly creep towards them and hoped they wouldn’t wake up, and that they were still alive.

As she drew near she could see that the were still breathing, shallowly albeit, but still breathing. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued creeping. Unfortunately she didn’t notice some debris before stepping on it causing it to loudly crack.

The shark-man’s eyes snapped open and they immediately scrambled back when they saw Em. Fear plastered their face and they struggled to hold their body upright as one of their arms was wrapped in net.

“Hey there buddy, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Em said whilst holding a knife.

The mer didn’t appear to believe her as they continued to try and back up. A seagull pecked at the wound on their side. The mer yelped in pain and pulled their tail away. Em lunged and shooed the bird away, yelling at it.

Seth’s hand slipped as they tried to back away, a grimace covering their face. Em kneeled down on the rocks a set the knife aside before addressing the mer.

“It’s ok, it’s ok… I know you’re afraid, and I don’t blame you either. I am too,” she said, the mers eyes occasionally darting to her knife before turning back to her.

“I’m sorry for stabbing you, and I know you don’t trust me but believe me I’m not going to hurt you,” she continued before picking up the knife again and leaning in.

The mer leaned backwards before falling over, they screwed their eyes shut and began to whimper. Em felt another pang of guilt and Seth braced for imminent death.

Em carefully grabbed the net, making sure not to tug on it too hard. She began to cut the net from his tail. Once it was lose she moved onto his arm. Seth tried to move away but he was afraid that he’d get cut by the woman.

Slowly and agonizingly she cut away at the net, careful as to not pull on it too hard. Eventually Seth was mostly free from the net, only his neck remained wrapped in it.

The Em began to reach towards his neck, and without thinking Seth threw his hands up in front of him. To his surprise she stopped what she was doing and also held her hands up.

Seth slowly lowered his, before lightly tugging at the remaining net around his neck. Then he looked at the scraps of net that she had removed from him, he was confused. When he looked back Em had lowered her hands and was now holding the knife with the handle pointing towards him.

“Here, you probably don’t want me anywhere near your neck with this, huh,” she said softly, with a hint of worry in her voice.

Slowly he reached out and took it from her. As he examined it Em took the opportunity to gather all of the loose net scraps and wrapped them in each other.

“You wait here, I’m gonna go get some things for those wounds of yours,” Em said as she stood up and slowly backed away.

Seth watched her as she walked down the beach at a brisk pace. Once she was out of sight he dragged himself into the water and swam out.

Once Em had made it back to the port she disposed the ball of netting in net disposal bin the town had set up. She then made her way to the bait shop to get the mer something to eat.

“Howdy Marco!” She said to the man behind the counter.

“Afternoon Em! Someone came in the other day looking for you,” Marco replied,

“Wait, really? Who? What for?”

“It was that researcher fellow, he said that he found you bag on the beach the other day,”

“Oh really thank god! Do you have it?” She asked.

“No, sorry, told him to take it to Silas’ shop since you’re there a lot,” Marco answered, “anyway what brings you here?”

“Oh right! Can I have my monthly employee bait bucket, Just moved into the old house up on the cliff, aaand I wanted to cook my roommate something as a welcoming gift,” she replied.

“Sure thing, let me just grab a bucket and let’s get you some fish,” he said stepping out from behind the counter.

“Can you ice the bucket, don’t want them getting smelly on the way home,” Em asked following Marco down the short flight of stairs to the live bait section.

“What kind do you want?” Marco asked as he packed crushed ice around the inside of the bright orange bucket.

“Hmm… just some mullets and herring today,” she answered.

“You got it,” he said and opened the fridge and grabbed some fish.

Once the bucket was full he screwed the lid on and handed it to Em.

“You have a great day now Em, you hear!”

“Thank you Marco!” She replied before exiting out the side door and jogging back down the beach.

When she got back the mer and her knife was nowhere to be seen. Em scanned the waves and thought she saw a head poking out of the water a few meters out. She wasn't entirely sure if it was the mer or not but she called out anyways.

"Umm... Can I have my knife back? You don't have to return it right now but I would like it back eventually. There's a dock on the island not too far from here, just follow the coast until there's a break and the Island should be not too far out from it."

the head tilted to one side before turning around and diving under the waves.

Em decided that she should get going an pick he bag up from Mr. Grimmar and left the beach.

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

Seth was still in shock when he surfaced for air. The net was still wrapped around his neck keeping his gills shut, he was too afraid to try and cut it off himself. He was contemplating going back to shore when he saw someone standing on the beach.

They were about the same height and shape as the human who was helping him. They were holding some sort orange cylinder. He wanted to investigate but he was still unsure if they could be trusted.

He heard the person yell from the beach and he recognized it as the the woman from earlier. She was asking for her knife back and giving him directions to a dock somewhere nearby.

He decided to at least give this dock a look. He took a deep breath and dove back under the waves and headed down the coast to this supposed dock.

[robobrainrot]

I will make more Autism Creature Transformers if people request them. Asks are open. 👁👁

[kingkatsuki]

You’ve been Dynamight’s secretary for one year, two months, six days and four hours. You’re the best secretary he’s ever had, but now you’ve given him your two weeks notice. Bakugou can’t hide his disappointment at losing you, and wonders why you’re leaving him to go and work for another hero— Pro-Hero Manual. But you can’t give him the real answer.

It’s been the best job you’ve ever had, but it’s slowly become the worst because you just can’t avoid the feelings you harbour for your boss. Working beneath him has a dull ache continuing to grow in your chest, and you’ve decided to do what you think is best for yourself and leave. So you’ve handed in your notice, but Dynamight isn’t going to let you go that easily, he’s determined to remind you why he loves you working here, and why he wants you to stay— because he’s just as in love with you.

If only he could admit it.

Here you will find lots of little drabbles about working at Dynamight’s agency with Bakugou. They can be read in any order, and have no real timeline. More will be added as inspiration strikes, and please feel free to send me your own thoughts!

♡ ˚ · . when he brings you coffee first

♡ ˚ · . when you get him a birthday cake

♡ ˚ · . when you spill coffee on him

♡ ˚ · . when he gossips with you

♡ ˚ · . when he comes back injured

♡ ˚ · . when he stands up for you

♡ ˚ · . when you stay late

♡ ˚ · . when he stays late

♡ ˚ · . when he catches you crying

♡ ˚ · . when he does you a favour

♡ ˚ · . when he calls you out of hours

♡ ˚ · . when he almost gets caught

♡ ˚ · . when you stand up for him

♡ ˚ · . when you accidentally send him a lewd text

♡ ˚ · . when he hears an office rumour

♡ ˚ · . when you get jealous

♡ ˚ · . when he gets jealous

♡ ˚ · . when you ignore him

♡ ˚ · . when you tell him you’re proud of him

♡ ˚ · . when he gives you a ride home

♡ ˚ · . when he does a gossip magazine interview

♡ ˚ · . when he wants you to stay

♡ ˚ · . when he’s interviewing new secretaries

♡ ˚ · . when he spills his coffee

♡ ˚ · . when it’s raining outside

♡ ˚ · . when you’re both caught under the mistletoe

♡ ˚ · . when you play secret santa

♡ ˚ · . when you want to be his valentine

♡ ˚ · . when you have a blind date

[juniemunie]

TEST DRIVE TEST DRIVE TEST DRI-

I have so many thoughts about this entire sequence, from the way Hiccup and Toothless get along to the MUSIC- (the music analysis is going to my tags)

.

But im gonna talk about Toothless pov again

I always think of this is like, the forbidden friendship scene for Toothless the way the actual forbidden friendship was for Hiccup

If Hiccup's scene was Toothless connecting to Hiccup through human things (sharing food, smiling, art and all that)

Then this scene is Toothless' because Hiccup connects with Toothless through flying, something I've always headcanoned to be what dragons (the ones that fly anyway) need not just to survive, but to live and bond with others.

if Hiccup's FF is the beginning of the potential then Toothless' FF is the "end", the moment where the potential is found and fulfilled, the thing that really solidifies their friendship because both has now experienced and accepted the other's unique sides

Just, yeah Toothless sees Hiccup just getting it, understanding why flying is so wonderful, hearing him cheer and whoop in joy like a fledgling's first time in the air, and seeing him at the end instinctively understand what to do-

Like that sudden spin near the end of the sea pillars- and both of them looked surprised they even managed to do that together instinctively- when just a few minutes ago Hiccup couldnt even dodge the two very obvious sea pillars in the beginning

He looks up at this human, this strange clever, brilliant little human who has somehow made this even possible, who has broken every preconception he has, who is now flying with him with a dragon's instinct but baring his teeth in that human way of expressing joy, screaming something he could not parse perfectly in his dragon tongue but understood the meaning all the same.

"We did it."

[madebycoffee]

ok last wip wip wip from this set but i am DUMB proud of these !!

expect an army of child deco sims for soccer teams 🤸‍♀️⚽

[commsroom]

im sure you've talked about this before but what are your opinions on hilbert

hilbert is... a fascinating character. he's an archetype disguised as another archetype, concealing a real person with understandable motivations and sincerely held ambitions. in a way, that's very reflective of how his work has been hollowed out and warped with each iteration of himself he becomes to continue it. hilbert is an insidious type of evil, because his goals are noble and he doesn't enjoy hurting people, but he will carry out orders and rationalize his actions "for the greater good." which makes him an excellent foil for eiffel; hilbert is nothing if not a Big Picture thinker. "you talk about helping people, but what about the real, live people around you?" / "increasingly, i find them to be of negligible importance." etc.

i think it says a lot about wolf 359's character writing philosophy that hilbert's betrayal and big reveal is really kind of his first character moment. he's there for two seasons after that, but he's never redeemed, and his goals never change. what makes hilbert more complex, more real, more understandable, is entirely perspective.

and the tragedy of hilbert, i suppose, is that he sacrificed everything for what he believed was right, sold his soul to the devil for it, and then... wasn't even particularly good at it. he's a big fish in a very small pond, as far as wolf 359 antagonists go. his death virus was never going to be anything but a death virus, and cutter figured that out (and found another use for it) ages ago. in change of mind, he was so certain he had the right answer - of course it was the scientist, his work was threatened - and they wouldn't have made it out if not for fourier, who realized it was really about human relationships. in am i alone now? hilbert's part is the only one where no one else speaks. before he dies, jacobi cuts his comms line, and his final words are a cut off "can anybody hear-?"

so, again... hilbert is a narratively and thematically significant character. this is barely even scratching the surface of that. but do i like him? hell no. absolutely not. he tried to murder hera and then said "tell me you're not mourning that appliance" so i think it's fine that he died, actually. that's how i judge all wolf 359 characters.

[bonefall]

while we’re talking about the gods and how fucked up they are, does sol have a “canon” appearance while he’s not possessing anyone / taking a specific form ie the fish thing?

I'm not sure if any of them have a TRUE form, as in, a specific body they have when they aren't in a vessel. It's like they have an "energy" and it can express itself in many ways.

Like how Sharptooth/One Eye has cycled through the forms of a bear, a boar, a man, a cave lion. He is an icon of war, his constant is that he invokes war.

So I'm thinking that Sol invokes fish, SPECIFICALLY he tends to invoke a salmon! He may have a few other icons associated with Autumn and change. Like a dormouse before torpor, a deer rapidly cycling through velvet, a moth.

Also also these are examples of gods who have "Broken Orbit." I'm calling it that until I have a better term for it, but what that means is that they are spirits who have become so ancient and powerful, they can live independently of the dead religions that formed them.

This could very well happen to StarClan Spirits one day, but a spirit had a few options for how its fate can progress;

Spirit forms -> joins religion -> is not worshipped/invoked/eventually forgotten -> fades peacefully

Spirit forms -> has no religion to join -> fades peacefully (Those two are the most common. That's normal, no one is exactly sure what happens after one fades, but it isn't painful. It's like falling asleep. Gods and monsters happen when THIS happens;)

Spirit forms -> joins religion -> is worshipped -> gains power -> RELIGION DIES

THIS happened to SkyClan and their rats. NONE of the spirits of ancient SkyClan where old and powerful enough yet to truly "Break Orbit," but they weren't so weak that they all died. They became a sort of supernatural monster; a collective association of angry rats.

Creating Skypelt saved them, but eventually they would have been dealt with and whittled away over time.

One Eye, Sol, Rock, and Midnight were from ancient religions that died, and they "broke orbit." They were strong enough to exist on their own. They're good examples of the "power ceiling" here; this is as strong as a god can get. It took several hundred years of continuous worship to make them.

There's probably more out there in the world, but there's only these 4 in this geographic region.

[pinkwright]

hear me out... prada house ambassador model!reader photographer!shuri, & the next campaign is sapphic sexual liberation right right BUT BUT walk w me reader is in the prada string below n shuri's losing it bc shes awkward n stiff as fuck when shes not behind the camera n esp in front of pretty girls (which is saying a lot bc shes surrounded by models for a living) but she rlly wants to do u justice so shes forcing herself to interact more but ur so intimidating n flirty its throwing her off AND AND maybe u guys leave as friends right but shuri cant help the way her mind swarms around fantasies about u n she feels sooo bad bc u guys actually get pretty close but she also cant deny that SOMETHINGGGG bout the shame n the embarassment make her so HAWT HAWTT AND THEN AND THEN- guys walk wit-

[litrallytyrus]

look i literally don’t go here but i peeked into the hsmtmts tag and you’re telling me ricky showed up to visit ej at his college? isn’t that a direct parallel to troy coming to see gabriella at stanford?

i’ve never even seen any of the high school musical movies but man that just speaks even more to the caswen tragedy ….. they have a fucking romcom set up every time they’re interacting with parallels to a canon couple and then disney still wants to slip in the ‘brother’ word ……… it’s like they’re making fun of us at this point

[leadxxr]

open starter for mutuals <3

“You know …. It’s interesting . . ." the man's mind seems to drift in contemplation. "I’d almost killed before all of this . . . though admittedly it wasn’t intentional . . ." a morbid chuckle chimes as he exits his macabre thoughts. "Funny how things just . . . change, isn't it?”

[ohitslen]

What if I draw happy Vashwood for a change, any ideas?

[cerealforkart]

Listening to Dungeons and Daddies is forever changed by doing the manga pages. Sons and Sonsability came out and I spent the whole time thinking things like, “how am I supposed to squish the whole ravioli scene into 4 panels?” before remembering, “I don’t have to do that”

This is a bigger problem when I try listening to other podcasts, because I’ll never need to draw manga pages for squonk or the McRib or whatever but I sure do worry about it

[ayakashibackstreet]

I literally cut out a long rant about Buddhist sects and now I'm considering just putting it back in there because fuck it, if farting on about differences in methodology between Oricon and Billboard is worthy of being kept, what makes early Japanese court drama any different.

[piplupod]

once again getting incredibly angry with the current state of the psychiatry industry/system because I thought about it for more than five seconds

[tvrningout-a]

forehead, sender presses their forehead against receiver's. // for chiyo!! ♥

actions speak louder than words | @vonerde gets close to chiyo!

she can't breathe. she is breathing, but it's not enough. the air escapes her lungs as quickly as it enters while chiyo vaguely realizes she's hyperventilating. back pressed again a tree and fingers digging into the earth, chiyo stares at the unmoving body of... she doesn't know what it is. it looks like something she might draw into her manga as an adversary, but that's crazy. things like that don't exist.

yet a creature lies there all the same, meeting her eyes with a lifeless gaze that she can't break away from.

gaia blocks her view of the creature then, concerned eyes a comfort to see instead. still, the air won't stay in chiyo's lungs. she feels lightheaded. is she gonna pass out?

her friend speaks, but it doesn't reach chiyo who shakes her head, tries to tell gaia, " i can't hear. " all that makes it out, though, is " i can't, " as tears prickle at her eyes. she can't. she almost died. something attacked them, she almost died, and gaia protected her. gaia risked her life to protect chiyo. she killed that thing. she---

she can't. it's too much too fast.

gaia grows closer, cups chiyo's tear-stained cheeks and guides her face until their foreheads meet. she takes her hand, places it upon her chest, and chiyo watches gaia's lips in an attempt to understand what she's saying. breathe in. gaia's chest rises beneath chiyo's hand. out. her chest slowly falls. breathe in.

chiyo breathes in and holds it. she feels gaia's chest fall, and this time, she's able to breathe out with her. it's short and shaky, but she does it all again and again until the air finally feels like it's enough, until her head doesn't feel as if it might float away. her eyes flutter shut, exhaustion hitting chiyo like a train as relief finds its voice over the panic. thank god they're both alive. thank god gaia isn't hurt.

she has questions, but she doesn't ask them just yet. no, she pulls gaia closer yet -- a little awkwardly for the goddess who nearly falls onto chiyo, but she doesn't care. she buries her face into the crook of gaia's neck, clinging onto her, breathing in the smell of something floral and sweet, feeling the rise and fall of gaia's chest against her own. chiyo has questions, but they can wait.

" you... you looked cool, " chiyo mutters. she's trying to be lighthearted and failing at it. her voice shakes too much, cracks when she's honest. " but when you got in front of me, i-- i was really scared, gaia. " her arms tighten around the goddess. " i didn't want you dying for me. i don't. "

[quibbs126]

Got Mala Sauce’s fortune this morning, I’m pretty sure this is evidence that she’s going to be part of a plot sometime soon