#I HEAR THAT THE GULF COAST IS LOVELY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nico-di-genova · 4 days

Note

Prompt?? Request?? Idk what this is but it’s been stuck in my head and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it!!

——

Frat boy au where lance is super straight passing and acts really frat bro-y. But it’s Outside POV from another person in the college who assumes he’s probably homophobic and doesn’t treat women well/ all that stereotypical frat boy stuff. They complain abt fratboys all the time to their friends too and it’s this whole known thing in their friend group. Then they see him get into this super fancy car with a hot older man (nando ofc) and is like what’s up with that. Person keeps trying to ironically figure out if lance is part of the mafia or some other mystery. Turns out he’s in a loving relationship with his sugar daddy nando (person sees them kissing at a gay bar one night, among other things 😏) and after that they’re like damn wtf and have a change in perception of lance and can’t shut up about it and tells everyone “did u know lance is gay?!!” Other shenanigans ensue.

Bonus if they become friends in the end and lance tells them all the different ways and places nando fucks him.

I need you to know that this has unlocked something that I have been talking with my irls about for literally a month now. I will write this whole thing for you, but right now please enjoy this snippet and some Lore ™.

Also this may be so uniquely specific that no one will enjoy it, but I need everyone to know this has been my secret passion project for weeks now.

Logan absolutely despises group projects. He especially despises them when he’s partnered with perhaps the worst possible group of people you could be partnered with on an assignment that is responsible for a quarter of their grade. Other than the girl sitting to his left, her blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, spreading out notes in multi-colored pen and highlighter, their table is the least inspiring of the lot. For one, there’s him, who had barely passed elementary calc. last year and was on his way to failing macroeconomics this semester. But it’s the two sitting across from him that instill a particular sort of dread.

“You going to Rusty’s tonight?” one of them asks, Esteban, tall and lanky and slumped so low in his chair that Logan can almost touch his feet even though he’s clear on the other side of the table.

The other one, Lance, broad and just as long as his friend, shrugs, “I don’t know, man. Getting kind of bored of it.”

Logan watches as Lance takes off his backwards cap long enough to ruffle at his hair before sliding the hat back down onto his head. There’s Greek lettering embroidered along back for some fraternity Logan doesn’t know the letters of, but is sure they’re assholes, nonetheless. He’s seen the way Lance strolls into class enough times, backpack slung over one shoulder, if he even bothers to bring it, his phone in the other. He wears his AirPods during class, which easily outs him as the elitist snob he is – the type of student who’s here partying on daddy’s dime, who wouldn’t know what the term ‘work study’ meant if it ran him over with the bike Logan knows Lance keeps in the University Village parking lot. Logan couldn’t afford off-campus housing, but he knows Lance can, the bike is always parked in a resident spot.

The girl beside him shifts her notes closer, he turns his attention to her, so he doesn’t have to hear Lance recount his exploits at the local bar that is known for serving underage undergrads.

“You took all of these?” He asks the girl, mildly impressed. Her handwriting is neat, so neat it almost looks unnatural. She’s color coded them, bolded certain words and underlined others. Logan is suddenly ashamed of the chicken scratch in his notebook that’s tucked beneath his arm.

For those that don’t know, Florida Gulf Coast University is a school in Fort Myers (in south Florida, on the opposite coast of Miami). Their big draw is being “close” to the beach, realistically it’s like a 30 minute drive.

They typically attract local kids on scholarship, or rich northerners who are just looking for an easy education. But they do offer a unique golf management degree, and their claim to fame is that they’re sometimes decent in the basketball department (like 1 time in 2015 but they just will not let it go). They also somewhat have a reputation as a party school (tho I think Miami definitely more than them).

Being built predominantly around preserved land, FGCU also has a big “eco-friendly” outlook. So lots of walking paths, a course called colloquium that all students have to take, and the one everyone dreads because you have to walk through the swamp for part of it. Lucky for Lance, he would have attended during the COVID years, and thus could avoid the swamp walk because all courses were virtual.

He’d probably be a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish fraternity on campus. They’re lowkey, but also kind of throw the best parties, off-campus of course because FGCU doesn’t have official fraternity or sorority housing. In this world Lance has definitely drank jungle juice from a trash can with a nozzle cut into the base. He is aware of the existence of “Saturdays are for the boys” flags, frat boy Lance is something that can be both repulsive and endearing.

He has a car, but most the time he opts to take his bike places. Fernando first runs into him when he’s in his bike gear actually, which, you know, hard to resist that. Plus, picture Fernando being Lance’s backpack. Please envision it, it’s a very important image. It’s definitely happened in this universe.

Strollonso beach dates??? Yeah, 100% happened here too. One of the reasons Lance even ends up at FGCU is because of the beach, so you know his ass is there most weekends. He forgets sunscreen frequently, Fernando is used to applying aloe to his back after they’ve spent a long day on the boat. He probably has that sunburned warmth to him like 24/7. He never forgets his sunglasses though, so he also maybe has raccoon eyes.

Oh yeah, and Logan, being a South Florida boy, probably would have attended FGCU too. His tinder profile unfortunately probably does feature a photo of him holding a fish. Just Florida boy things.

Anyway, this maybe is nothing. But if you want to talk more about this au please feel free to message me/send an ask. And I will 100% be ready to ramble more about this ultra specific fic. A chapter coming after keep to the line this weekend maybe.

#I have so much to say about this #literally I have notes upon notes that I’ve been building with my friends #we are so sure in another universe he went to fgcu #we know it in our bones #strollonso #strollonso fic #strollonso college au #lance stroll

145 notes · View notes

theneighborhoodsave · 8 months

Text

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood 🎵

An upcoming save file that embraces the concept of “home” and explores what that means to me (and others!) The Neighborhood celebrates vibrant communities with a focus on family gameplay.

Meet The Neighbors 🏠

If you have any feedback, questions or stories to share about your own community I'd love to hear it.

Current progress, inspirations, etc. below ↩️

V1 is in progress- 100% completed and will include 2 completely rebuilt worlds with unique stories and townies. V1 is Willow Creek & Magnolia Promenade, inspired by the city I grew up in and the U.S. gulf coast region.

A V2 is planned depending on how the project progresses- each version will add on new worlds with regional inspirations.

447 notes · View notes

bengiyo · 2 months

Note

Hi, i'm a newish bl drama watcher from thailand that just started watching thai bls. i'm a bit ashamed to say that for a long time as a gay man living here i've been avoiding bl shows like the plague cuz of both the fandom reputation and of misconception from my yaoi era which i leave far behind. i'm just want to ask how did you got into watching thai bls and what were you preconception before you got into it.

Welcome to the Tumblr side of BL fandom. I'd actually like to also hear more of your experience with yaoi and BL as a gay person growing up in Thailand if you're willing to share.

For me, I'm a Black American from the Gulf Coast (the South). I grew up in a Catholic city and spent my entire adolescence in the closet. Despite having a sense of who I was as early as 8 years old, I kept most of that to myself. Because I didn't talk about it much with people, I found out most information about queer media and queerness from the internet.

I entered BL via queer cinema. I think the first explicitly gay character that I remember from TV was Marco from Degrassi: The Next Generation. There were probably others, and definitely more subtle expressions, but when I think about the oldest gay character I remember and connect to, it's Marco. I don't like counting things like shipping Shawn and Corey on Boy Meets World or Tai and Matt on Digimon for oldest gay characters. Sailor Moon can't even count because we got a censored version of it in America.

I got access to satellite television away from observing eyes around age 16 and started watching content on Logo back when they aired gay content regularly. I watched basically whatever I could late at night. It's how I saw movies like Get Real (1998), Beautiful Thing (1996), and Bent (1997). It's also how I saw Queer as Folk (2000-2005) Noah's Arc (2005-06).

After hitting adulthood I mostly got lost in video games and standard American TV for a while, but I did basically show up to any Gay Event in TV. I appreciate that Stef and Lena from The Fosters (2013-2018) were some of the only TV lesbians to survive the horror of 2016.

I watched a bunch of movies in this time, many of which appear on the Queer Cinema Syllabus I made for a hypothetical Westerner new to BL and queer cinema, which @wen-kexing-apologist has decided to try to complete.

I got into Thai BL in 2018 accidentally. I started seeing gifsets of Kongpob telling Arthit he'll make him his wife passing around Tumblr and was basically like, "Right, what's all this then?"

I had watched a few Thai gay films, mostly notably Love of Siam (2007), Bangkok Love Story (2007), How to Win at Checkers Every Time (2015), and The Blue Hour (2015), but this was the first time I was seeing a long series made available so easily from any Asian country.

From there I got into Make It Right (2016-17) and Love Sick the series (2014). Once I realized that yaoi had moved beyond manga and a few anime adaptations, I went looking for a lot more. I basically haven't left since I started in about 2016 with SOTUS.

There's my basic entry into the genre. I don't think I was as worried about fandom and worries at the time because so much of being a fan of queer cinema was a mostly-private experience for me for so long. I didn't realize that BL fans active in the space would predominantly be women or queers figuring themselves out. It took a while to adjust to that, and also to adjust my expectations of the kinds of queer stories BL distributors were willing to fund.

That being said, I tend to agree with @absolutebl that BL has a useful role in normalization for non-queer audiences who encounter it. I like cheering BL when it does things I think work really well, and also deriding it when I think it does things that are offensive to help nudge the genre and offer my perspective as a gay man.

I like the place we're at right now where there's way too much to watch for any person with other hobbies and responsibilities because it means that people can pick and choose what's to their tastes.

More often than not, I'm probably most-invested in something airing from Japan because of my melancholy nature, but there's so much variety these days that it's okay if you don't like everything. I certainly don't!

I'm glad you joined us on Tumblr and look forward to your thoughts!

#answered #thai bl #fandom life #about me

160 notes · View notes

the-bad-batch-baroness · 4 months

Text

Combat Cold Cuts

Tech x Fem!Reader

Summary: Your favorite team of Navy SEALs just docked and are looking for some good food.

Pairing: Tech x Fem!Reader

Characters: Mira (OFC), Tech, Hunter, Echo, Wrecker, Crosshair

Tags & Warnings: modern!AU, sandwich shop!AU, navy!AU, fluff, awkwardness, smidge of angst, military/naval terms and jargon, sad Bad Batch backstories, mentions of death, mentions of war, mentions of injuries

Word Count: 3.2k

Author's Note: If you've been here a while, then you'll know that earlier in the year, when the polls came out, I made a poll asking who from the Bad Batch y'all would want in my Sandwich Shop AU, and Tech had the most votes. So, ta-da! Took me half a year, but better late than never. Also, don't quote me on this, but I may write more for this AU. Also, if you know where the title is from, we can be friends. As always, please enjoy 💚

@clonexreaderbingo Square: Tech

Today begins like any other day for you as you get ready for your job on the naval base. The sky is crystal clear and the sea breeze coming off the coast is refreshing. You’ve been working at the sandwich shop on the naval base for two years now thanks to your friend Mira. You've known Mira since high school, and because she's the wife of a sailor, she lives on base. Her personal recommendation is what helped you get the job and you're forever grateful to her.

You love working on the naval base because you get to interact with all of the sailors. The sailors always have the best stories to tell. Whether it’s their last meal before setting out to sea or it’s their first meal back on dry land, you're always there to smile and laugh at what they say. Sometimes the men are lively and sometimes they're quiet. You can usually tell when something bad has happened while they were deployed, because the normally talkative ones say nothing.

While stopped at the security gate, as you wait for the officer to scan your ID, you can see a destroyer coming into port in the distance. With that class of vessel docking, you know it’s going to be a busy day at the sandwich shop, with lots of hungry sailors looking for good food and someone to tell their stories too. You quickly go through your mental checklist to ensure you properly restocked yesterday, then the officer returns your ID and lifts the gate for you to enter.

“Hey!” Mira calls with a wave and a bright smile as you enter the sandwich shop.

You smile and wave back. "Good morning!"

"Are you excited?" Mira asks as she playfully jabs her elbow into your side when you come around to the back of the deli line.

“For what?” you ask as you rub your side, then throw on your apron.

“Didn’t you hear?” Mira says.

“Hear what?” you ask.

“The Bad Batch are on that destroyer that came in this morning,” Mira answers with a giddy bobble of her head.

“No way!” you exclaim, but quickly hush yourself. “Really?”

“Yup,” Mira says with a pop of her lips on the last letter. “Top scuttlebutt says they’re returning from a super dangerous and top secret mission.”

“Woah,” you breathe. "Incredible."

The Bad Batch. An elite team of five navy SEALs that were pulled together as sole survivors from other teams across the navy. Each member of the Bad Batch has a unique skill set that allows their team to be practically unstoppable in the field. Which is why they are assigned the most difficult missions, because their success rate precedes them. They don’t even use their real names anymore, just the nicknames they've been given over their many years of service.

Hunter, their sergeant, is the only member of the team that began his career as a navy SEAL. He lost his original SEAL team during a special operation involving drug pirates off the gulf of some foreign country. According to sources, he was able to track down the pirates, complete the mission, and bring his dead men back to port for a proper burial. That's how he got the name, Hunter. He's a natural born leader, and there’s not an operation he won’t lead his men into.

Echo, their communications specialist, is a triple amputee and a former sonar technician on a submarine. His submarine was attacked while surfacing from a mission, which is when he lost his right arm and both legs. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew weren't so lucky. He spent a week in a coma, and his best friend he served with died in the bed next to him the day before he woke up. Sometimes you see him sitting by himself at the memorial with two open beers.

Wrecker, their demolition expert, was part of an explosive ordnance disposal unit before a fatal accident. It was supposed to be a routine defusal of a pipe bomb, but his partner misread one of the numbers on the detonator, leading him to cut the wrong wire. Wrecker noticed the mistake and tried to stop him, but it was too late. His partner didn't make it, and neither did the rest of the unit. Wrecker survived, but lost most of his hearing, and all of his vision, in his left ear and eye.

Crosshair, their weapons expert and sniper, wasn't in the navy, but was a scout sniper in the marine corps. The man was born with a cigarette in his mouth and a permanent scowl on his face, and not much is known about his time in the marine corp. However, according to the rumors, his scout sniper platoon was ambushed during a night operation in the tropics. They say he was stranded on one of the islands for thirty-two days before he was found and rescued.

Tech, their cyber intelligence specialist, was part of the cyber command group before he was reassigned to the Bad Batch. While it sounds like a desk job, he was actually involved in combat missions where he provided integrated cyberspace attacks in support of operational plans. Basically, cyber-warfare. Not much is known about what happened to his team, and there aren't many rumors or theories surrounding the circumstances either, so it remains a mystery.

"So," Mira begins with a sly grin, “are you finally going to ask him on a date?”

“Who?” you ask as you pull off the plastic wrap from the condiment containers.

“You know who,” Mira taps your arm. “The smart one with the glasses that you make googly-eyes at whenever he comes in.”

“Oh…” you pause. “That one.”

“Well?” Mira presses while waving a loaf of Italian bread around.

“I don’t know,” you sigh. “Maybe next time.”

“Maybe next time?” Mira scoffs. “Maybe next time? Girl, he could be dead next time!”

You rush to cover her mouth. “Shh! Don’t say that. It’s bad luck.”

Mira mumbles something you can't understand.

"What did you say?" you ask as you remove your hand.

"I said," Mira begins, "they don't need extra help in the bad luck department."

You roll your eyes and return to prepping the deli line for when the shop opens. While it's true that a lot of bad things have happened to the Bad Batch team, none of the members have died themselves. So, is it really the men who carry the bad luck? Or is it another force entirely? You push back the crazy thoughts, because in reality, you're not superstitious, even if Mira tries to convince you otherwise. Instead, you make your conjectures based on the facts in front of you.

One such fact being that the shop opens in ten minutes and there's already a line of hungry sailors outside the locked door waiting to get in. You and Mira exchange a high-five and put on your game faces to tackle the wave of hungry men. There's nothing quite like the midday rush between ten o'clock and two o'clock, but it's even worse when the ships come to port. You know after two o'clock you'll be able to take a well-earned break, but until then it is full-steam ahead.

Sailor after sailor pours into the sandwich shop once you unlock the door. Mira always mans the register and you make the sandwiches. When you first started working at the shop, it was a complete disaster trying to get in sync with each other. There was shouting, crashing into each other, and lettuce all over the floor. But now, the two of you work together like a well-oiled machine, dancing around each other behind the deli line, and communicating like a dream.

Your heart skips a beat when you see the Bad Batch walk into the sandwich shop. The quiet murmurs of the sailors stop for a moment as the SEAL team's stoic presence takes over the atmosphere. The Bad Batch have a big reputation around the base and they've garnered a lot of respect, even from the greenhorns. It's almost like having a few celebrities walk into the shop, but it doesn't last long and the sailors go back to munching and conversing with each other.

You choke down your nerves as they approach the counter and smile. "What can I get for you boys?"

"Large steak and cheese, toasted," Hunter says. "Extra peppers if you can."

"Sure thing," you answer as you make the sandwich. You quickly pop it into the toaster to melt the cheese, then wrap the sandwich in paper, and hand it to Hunter. "One large steak and cheese with extra peppers, warmed, and toasty."

"Thanks, kid," Hunter says before moving down the line to the register.

"Can I get a really large buffalo chicken with extra buffalo sauce?" Wrecker asks excitedly. "And I mean, lots of sauce, and ranch!"

"You got it," you chuckle, then make his sandwich, wrap it up, and hand it to him. "One really large buffalo chicken drowning in buffalo sauce and ranch."

"Aw, yeah!" Wrecker says as he grabs the sandwich. "Thanks a ton!"

You smile and look at your next customer, but he doesn't smile back.

"Large roast beef," Crosshair says. "Make sure the mayo is light and not a single onion touches it."

"Understood," you bristle at his tone, then quickly make his sandwich, wrap it, and hand it to him. "One large roast beef, with a squirt of mayo, and absolutely no onions."

"Finally," Crosshair says as he takes the sandwich. "Someone who can listen."

You let out the breath you were holding in and compose yourself to smile at your next customer.

"Large tuna, please," Echo says. "Extra mayo and no cheese or veggies, if that's alright."

"Not a problem," you answer, then make his sandwich, wrap it up, and hand it to him. "One large tuna, no cheese, no veggies, and extra mayo."

"Thank you, ma'am," Echo says with a nod as he grabs the sandwich and moves down to the register.

"A large cold cut combo, if you please," Tech says. "But I would prefer it if you hold the ham."

"Absolutely," you answer, then make his sandwich, wrap it up, and hand it to him. "One large cold cut combo, but hold my hand."

Tech reaches out to grab the sandwich. "I beg your pardon?"

You look up at him, confused as to what he means. "I'm sorry, did I forget something?"

"You requested that I hold your hand," Tech says. "Are you unwell?"

Your eyes grow wide and your face flushes with heat as you realize the slip of your tongue. "Oh," you stammer. "I'm sorry. I… uh… didn't mean to say… well… I just… um. Have a nice day."

Flustered and embarrassed beyond belief, you rush yourself off the deli line and into the back storage room.

Mira overhears your awkward exchange and waves Tech down to register with a smile. "I can ring you out over here, hon."

Meanwhile, in the storage room, you attempt to pull yourself together. You can't believe you made such a dumb mistake and said something so absentmindedly stupid to the one guy you like, and he's a navy SEAL for crying out loud. He must think you're an idiot, or worse. Although, you're not quite sure what could possibly be worse than being an idiot in front of a man who had perfect scores at the naval academy, but there must be something, and it makes you want to scream.

"Are you doing alright?" Mira asks as she leans against the doorframe to the storage room.

You sigh. "I'll be fine."

Mira walks over to you. "I think I can cheer you up."

"Doubt it," you answer while rubbing your hands against your face.

Mira smiles and pulls out a sticky note. "I got you a date with that smart guy you like."

You peek out through your fingers. "You what?"

"I set you up on a date with Tech," Mira repeats as she waves the sticky note around.

"How did–"

"Ah, ah," Mira stops you. "It's a secret. And by a secret, I mean I just asked him."

Your jaw drops as you throw her an incredulous look. Was it really that easy? All you had to do was ask? Seriously? You're shocked that Mira had the audacity to ask Tech to go on a date with you, but you're even more shocked that he actually said yes. You're not sure how to process this new information, or if you'll ever get your heart to beat normally again. All at once, feelings of excitement and panic intermingle in your stomach and you feel like you're going to be sick.

"Here are the details," Mira hands you the sticky note, a big grin still plastered on her face. "Don't be late."

You take the sticky note from her, and she goes back to the front to continue taking care of the customers. You look at what's written on the small piece of paper, and it's a time and place. The park bench at 1900 hours. You count backwards on your fingers to seven o'clock. Even though you've been working on the base for two years, you still haven't gotten used to military time. You look up at the clock on the wall and see it is two o'clock. At least you have time to get ready.

You spend the rest of your shift trying not to let your nerves get the better of you. You busy yourself with everything possible; to the point where you've swept the floor and wiped the counter ten times already. But you can't help it. You're excited and nervous about your date with Tech. You're not even sure if you know how to go on a date, considering it's been so long since you've been on one yourself. However, you have Mira to help you, so it won't be that bad.

Once your shift is over, the shop has been cleaned and the front door locked, Mira helps you get ready for your date. You explain to her how you feel nervous and how you're worried that you might say something wrong or he might think you're stupid. Mira just smiles and listens as you ramble on, offering the occasional encouragement here and there as she helps you put your hair up. Luckily, you wore some decent clothes today so you don't have to go home and change.

After you're ready, Mira gives you a big hug and a few words of advice. "Just be yourself and you'll be fine."

"Thanks," you say, then separate from the hug.

"Go get em'!" Mira shouts as you open the door to leave.

You turn around, smile, and wave goodbye. Mira knows that you'll call her as soon as the date is over to give her all of the juicy details, but you're happy she's here right now to cheer you on. You close the door to the shop behind you and take a deep breath of the evening air. It's still daylight, since it's summer, and because it's later in the day, you're not worried about sweating or becoming gross from the heat. Steeling yourself, you walk to the park to meet Tech for your date.

As you approach the specified meeting place, you see Tech sitting on one of the benches under a tree. Your heart flutters and your stomach flips as your nerves flare throughout your veins. You try your best to breathe through the anxiety, and you swallow back your fear as you approach him. He acknowledges your presence but doesn't say anything, and then you sit down next to him. You both sit in silence and you fidget with your fingers while trying to think of something to say.

"I–" you both start to say, then stop.

"You first," you both say again, then stop.

You giggle, which helps break the ice. "I've never been good at conversation."

"Neither have I," Tech admits. "However, your colleague was most pleasurable to speak with."

"Oh," you say. "Yeah, Mira is great."

"That is not to say that you also will not be pleasurable to speak with," Tech adds.

You pause for a second as you try to process his words. "Can you say that again, but slower?"

"My sincerest apologies," Tech says. "My military duties require precision of language and I will admit that I get carried away with my verbiage. However, my team finds my speech pattern to be complicated as well, so I would not feel disheartened by your lack of comprehension."

"Uh, thanks," you say. "I think."

"Perhaps I should begin again," Tech says as he reaches out his hand. "I am Tech and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

You smile, shake his hand, and offer your name as well.

Your evening with Tech becomes more smooth as you continue chatting on the bench. Your conversation is filled with quirks from the both of you, as well as giggles from your side, and confused looks from Tech. However, it's nice chatting with someone like him. His speech skills really are incredible and it makes sense why he graduated top of his class at the naval academy. You find him endearing, and the way he gets passionate when he speaks makes you smile.

You carry on your conversation with him for as long as you can; until the sun sets and the lampposts in the park illuminate the walkways for the late night passerby. As much as you don't want to call it a night and leave, you can't help but stifle a small yawn. You try to hide it, but during your brief time with Tech, you've realized that not much goes unnoticed by him. Just thinking about it makes you yawn again, but this time not so subtly, and Tech takes note.

"Perhaps we should adjourn for the night," Tech says. "Your oral reflex and deep inhalation indicates that you are fatigued."

"My what?" you ask.

"You yawned," Tech explains.

"Oh," you chuckle. "I guess I am getting pretty tired. It was a long day at the shop."

"I concur," Tech says as he gets up from the bench. "I assume you will be at your employment establishment tomorrow as well?"

You get up from the bench and stretch your arms over your head. "You would assume correctly."

"Through the power of deduction, will you also be available after you have concluded your assigned duties at said establishment?" Tech asks.

You smile. "Why, yes. That will be the case."

"Then I would like to formally invite you to participate in another mutual discussion tomorrow," Tech says.

"I accept," you answer. "Same time, same place?"

"Indubitably," Tech answers.

"Does that mean yes?" you ask, not understanding the word.

"Without a doubt," Tech explains.

You smile. "Good night, Tech."

"Good night," Tech says. "Pleasantest of endogenous sensory experiences."

You snort and decide to look that one up when you get home, but only after you call Mira and tell her about the wonderful time you had with Tech, as well as the prospect of seeing him again tomorrow. Although, you highly doubt you'll be able to sleep tonight, since your body feels too giddy and excited to calm down and relax. Mira was right. Life is too short to put off doing things you're scared of, because tomorrow is not promised to anyone, and today is all you may have.

Masterlist

AO3

Tag List: @nahoney22 @commander-sunshine @sunshinesdaydream @padawancat97 @verndusk @sun-roach @coraex @lickylickylicky @homemade-clones @523rdrebel @clonemedickix @starrylothcat @mooncommlink @ladyzirkonia @stunkbiggu @cdblake1565 @ladytano420 @moonlightwarriorqueen @anxiouspineapple99 @clonethirstingisreal @dreamie411 @trixie2023 @cw80831 @novas-daydreaming @ca77m3anna @rinwritesfics

Join my taglist HERE

Tip me a tea on Ko-fi HERE

72 notes · View notes

a-solitary-sea-rover-backup · 2 months

Text

Underwater Urban Legends: Jacques Cousteau's Secret Discovery?

(Carthago vol. 3, “Le Monstre de Djibouti”, by Christophe Bec and Milan Jovanovic, 2013)

When I first got interested in ocean creatures as a little girl in the late 90s, we had several oversized white-covered books about Jacques Cousteau's ocean expeditions around the house that my parents let me page through, even though the text was way too small for me to read. A little later on, I read the Cousteau Society's young readers' magazine Dolphin Log/Cousteau Kids every month at the library, especially the selections from Dominique Serafini's comic book adaptations of the Calypso crew's adventures.

As an adult who's still interested in marine science, I've read several of Cousteau's books, and seen some of his documentaries. In 2019, I even got to hear his grandson Fabien speak at an event at the American Museum of Natural History.

Across film, TV, literature, comics, and even music, the Cousteau family’s underwater adventures are pretty well-documented. But one persistent bit of sea-folklore I've come across in various forms and places is an urban legend that at least one adventure wasn't. Somewhere in the world, these stories say, Captain Cousteau saw (or heard) something underwater that was so shocking that he kept it a secret from the world. (Except, presumably, from whoever is repeating the story.)

Could there be any truth behind this fantastic story? What was this "secret discovery"? And where and when did all of this happen? Like most urban legends, there are a lot of conflicting accounts and not a lot of proof.

I'd love to see a site like Skeptoid do a deep dive (heheh) into this story someday, but since they haven't yet, my research is below the cut.

A Secret Discovery?

It's alleged that after a submarine expedition, undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau said, "The world isn't ready for what's down there." (How Stuff Works)

As a reader and a writer, I have to say, this is an excellent pitch for a story. A world-famous explorer who witnessed all kinds of undersea wonders and environmental tragedies choosing to keep a remarkable discovery a secret for some unknown reason? Wouldn't you read that book? I'd read that book!

In fact, I did read that book! The French comic Carthago, first published in 2007 and translated into English in 2014, features a character based on Cousteau named Major Bertrand, a famous ocean explorer who made a discovery so shocking that he not only kept it a secret, but retired and lived the rest of his life onshore afterwards. The actual scene shown in flashback is a beat-by-beat retelling of the "Red Sea Monster" version of the story we'll discuss below. According to an interview with the comic's writer Christophe Bec, that scene (and the comic itself) were inspired by an article in the French paranormal magazine Le Monde de l'un découverte (The World of the Unknown) published in February-March 2001. That article is in French here.

Here are the broad outlines of the story as I've seen it in various places online:

Cousteau surfaces, shaken from a dive, OR

The Calypso crew recover either a shark cage that has been destroyed OR

An underwater camera or hydrophone that has recorded something

Cousteau says some variation on "The world is not ready for what I have seen"

Cousteau orders any film or audio recordings of the incident (taken by either divers, underwater equipment, or film crew aboard the ship) to be either destroyed or suppressed and hidden away in a safe

(Some accounts have people saying they actually saw the incident happen on TV, which is unlikely as I don't think any of Cousteau's documentaries were live broadcasts.)

Cousteau is so shaken by what he saw that he never returns to the site of the incident

The Red Sea Monster

The most famous and detailed version of the story, and the one Carthago adapts, sets the action in the Gulf of Tadjoura off the coast of Djibouti, near where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. Investigating legends of a sea monster in a cove called the Ghoubbet al-Kharab, or Gulf of the Demons, Cousteau's team lowered a camel carcass within a shark cage. When the cage was raised, it had been badly damaged, perhaps even destroyed.

[The Ghoubbet al-Kharab is the little inland bit at left almost cut off from the sea x]

The article in Le Monde de l'un découverte says this incident happened sometime before 26 June 1995, when the secret was revealed by a writer(?) named Stéphane Swirog, and that it had also been discussed on French TV in 1987. (I cannot find any information about a “Stéphane Swirog” online except in reprints of this story, although there is apparently an MMA fighter with that name. Is this one of those hoax articles with backwards names where “Goriws” sound like something hilarious in French that’s lost on me?)

This is a plausible part of the world to set this story, because Cousteau very famously did explore the Red Sea several times! A lot of his film The Silent World was filmed there, and his Conshelf underwater habitat was on the floor of the Red Sea off Sudan. In 2004, Cousteau's son Jean-Michel and grandchildren Fabien and Céline returned to these sites fifty years later for a new documentary you can watch here.

And we know Jacques Cousteau actually DID explore the coast of Djibouti in 1967-68! In his book Life and Death in a Coral Sea (1971), he says that when docked there, his crew, err, heard a strange story...

...we decided to visit the Goubet, a famous gulf of the Red Sea. Before leaving Djibouti that morning, one of our crew had by chance asked a local Arab diver about the Goubet. "Ah, sir," the man had replied, "it is a most extraordinary place. It is bottomless, and it is inhabited by monsters so large that they can drag down lines attached to 200-liter cans. Moreover, in 1963, Commandant Cousteau went there with Fredéric Dumas and his best divers, and they were so terrified by what they saw that they ran away." Naturally, we were eager to see the place in which, according to local gossip, we had earned so ignominious a reputation. I must report, however, that the Goubet was a disappointment. It is an inland sea or gulf that connects with the Red Sea by a narrow pass in which there is a very strong current, running up to seven knots. The surrounding area is very beautiful, and very wild, being dominated by volcanic mountains bare of foliage and marked in shades of red, yellow, and black. Once in the Goubet itself, we lowered the diving saucer to a depth of over six hundred feet without catching sight of even a small monster. The divers then suited up and went down also, but they saw nothing more remarkable than some very large sea urchins. There seemed to be very few fish of any kind. It is my guess that the "Goubet monster" of Arab legend was originally a manta ray, seen by some shepherd from a hill top. Manta rays are plentiful in this area, and it must happen occasionally that they wander into the Goubet and – because the inlet is so narrow and because mantas are not the most intelligent of beasts – have trouble finding their way out again. (Page 42)

(This is one of those "white-covered books" I still own a copy of!)

That's right, this story is so old it was told TO Cousteau in the late 1960s! It's the only version of the story he seems to have actually heard and commented on, and it was to deny the monster story.

It strikes me that two of the fearsome feats attributed to the Red Sea Monster— pulling air-filled cans/barrels underwater and destroying a shark cage— are things the shark in Jaws also does. While Peter Benchley’s novel came out in 1974, several years later, he did research sharks when writing it, so I wonder if “pulling barrels underwater” was just a bit of shark lore that was going around in the late 60s.

(At least the way it’s shown in the 1975 movie, the MythBusters showed a great white shark is strong enough to briefly pull barrel floats underwater but not to hold them there.)

The more embellished 2001 article post-dates Jaws and may be inspired by the cage-destruction scene in the film.

The Depths of Lake Tahoe

Apparently, years ago, Cousteau went scuba diving in Lake Tahoe. He emerged from the water shaken, but not with cold. He said, “The world is not ready for what I have seen.” (Jennifer Skene, “Rumors and Truth in Lake Tahoe”)

Another common account of the “secret discovery” story says that it didn’t happen at sea at all, but rather in the depths of landlocked Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border. This is the version of the story most commonly associated with the “the world isn’t ready” quote. The Lake Tahoe version usually keeps things vague, speculating that perhaps Cousteau saw local legendary lake monster Tahoe Tessie OR a layer of hundreds of perfectly-preserved bodies of Chinese railroad workers or mafia victims floating eerily in mid-waters, OR some other mysterious thing too horrific to describe.

[Unspeakable horrors such as dinky maps found on Bing]

Both Tessie and the well-preserved bodies are urban legends seen discussed elsewhere without the Cousteau connection. Other legends speculate that the lake hides sharks, mermaids, an underground tunnel to Pyramid Lake, a crashed WWII bomber, and a fortune in gold bullion. Just your ISO standard set of underwater legends, really.

However, unlike the Red Sea, there is no evidence that Jacques Cousteau ever visited Lake Tahoe, let alone dove there!

According to other explorers who have explored the lake’s depths, the cold, clear waters do provide eerie visibility to the shipwrecks and sunken trees found there. While people have died in and around the lake and bodies are sometimes found, the more sensational claims of uncanny preservation and bodies eerily floating in mid-water, never rising or sinking, do not fit with Lake Tahoe’s known physical conditions.

The Screams of Hell

Indeed, the French diver Jacques Cousteau was swimming over Cuba some years ago, and he heard screaming noises at the bottom of the ocean. ... And Jacques Cousteau was so shaken up by what he had heard in the seas off Cuba, he never swam there again. ... He heard what he believed to be screaming, shouting, people being tortured, just as the Bible teaches. ("Ex-Catholics for Christ")

Yet another version of the story says that Cousteau heard the sounds of agonized screaming underwater, either while diving himself or recorded on a hydrophone, and possibly considered them the screams of souls in hell. These versions of the story tend to be vaguer, not always naming a time or place when this happened. (That version put it in Cuba, another in Greece, others vaguely “somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle”.)

That's probably because this version is just an adaptation of another, more well-known urban legend about Soviet geologists digging into hell and recording screams that has been repeated in various places since the 1980s. (You can see some of the problems with that story at the site linked.)

(Cousteau did explore Cuba’s waters in the mid-1980s as seen in the documentary, Cuba: Waters of Destiny. You won’t hear any screams from Hell in that documentary, but there is a guest appearance from Fidel Castro!)

Another religion-related urban legend about Jacques Cousteau is that he converted to Islam after discovering the Quran was correct about the mixing of the waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. This isn't true, either. In some places I'd seen this repeated in the same context as an equally-untrue claim that Neil Armstrong converted to Islam after hearing the call to prayer on the moon, and misremembered this as a claim Cousteau had heard the call to prayer underwater for a less-disturbing twist on the idea that the secret discovery was something heard underwater rather than seen, but as far as I can tell, that isn't the case.

Bells in Random Order

Do you know Jacques Cousteau? Well, they said on the radio That he hears bells in random order Deep beneath the perfect water ("Perfect Water")

The Blue Öyster Cult song "Perfect Water" has the lyrics above, which may be a reference to the "secret discovery" legend and specifically the above idea that it was a mysterious sound heard underwater. The band is known for having many references to legends, conspiracy theories, and the supernatural in other songs. "Perfect Water" was on the album Club Ninja, released in December 1985, post-dating Life and Death in a Coral Sea but predating the most famous accounts of the “Well to Hell” story. I can't find any other sources talking about Cousteau and mysterious bells.

This website instead thinks the lyrics are referring to Cousteau's actual descriptions of walruses as making sounds similar to bells in his writings and films. You can hear a walrus making a bell sound here.

Ask Me Anything

During an AMA session on Reddit in 2018, Fabien Cousteau (FCNomad) was asked about three different versions of this story (Djibouti, Lake Tahoe, and Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana.) He seemed most familiar with the Lake Tahoe version.

sotpsean: Hello, Mr Cousteau! It's an honour. When I was a child, family lived in Djibouti, Africa,(my father was a French Foreign Legionnaire). There was a local legend about a "sea monster" living in Lac Goubet. I've heard that your Grandfather might have investigated Lac Goubet in search of this "monster". Locals have thought it to be a prehistoric shark cut off from the sea. I've always wondered if someone might be able to shed light on this subject. Have you heard of this? Thanks for doing this AMA! FCNomad: Great to chat with you. French foreign legion? Serious stuff. There are legends of "sea monsters" in every body of water out there. Until we explore them we will not know for sure ;-) Lets go see! [x]

HulkVomit: Why did your grandfather never want to dive in Ft Peck Reservoir again? Would you ever come dive in it? Account-002: I am also REALLY curious about this. My Dad thought it was because if the siltyness of the water, combined with a possible encounter with multiple giant catfish/paddlefish that put him off. FCNomad: That does seem plausible and potentially sound due to the potential risks. He was focussed on filmmaking and if you can't see anything its hard to tell a visual story… [x]

TeddysGhost: Hi there, I live at Lake Tahoe and it is a common story around here that your grandfather went into the lake once and when he emerged he warned people that the world isn't ready to see what's down there? What do.you know about that story? Is there even a shred of legitimacy and if so what did he see? FCNomad: Ive heard this rumor as well. We were supposed to investigate on a new TV series but we never got the chance… [x]

Conclusions

...yeah, all versions of this story sound pretty fake to me. Sorry.

As Fabien says, almost every body of water has sea and lake monster legends attached to it, because the world’s waters really are mysterious, unpredictable, and dangerous. But over time, your local legendary water monster can become familiar, almost a sort of community mascot.

When reading the archives of The Liberator, a famous anti-slavery newspaper published in Boston in the mid-1800s, I found several articles where the writers referred to the New England sea serpent in these kinds of familiar terms, since to Bostonians it was a “local” monster. They even called it “our American sea serpent”— the children and grandchildren of the Minutemen, still defining their identity as Americans, could boast that England didn’t have such a cool monster.

In modern times, of course, a local monster legend can also be a major tourist attraction. Most of the sites I found repeating the Djibouti and Lake Tahoe versions of the story were… travel sites for Djibouti and Lake Tahoe (especially diving travel sites).

To present your local monster story as “verified” by a famous underwater explorer like Jacques Cousteau makes it sound authentic. It certainly spices things up for people planning their vacations, especially divers. And to say that your local monster scared away a globetrotting adventurer like Cousteau who had faced so many other perils all over the world definitely adds to the “local pride” angle. In Djibouti, a French colony that was having a vote in 1967 about whether to become independent, a story about a local monster scaring away a famous Frenchman may have had an appealing nationalist undertone.

The writer for Le Monde de l'un découverte, however, probably just wanted to tell a rip-roaring sea story. The presumably-French writer, writing for a French magazine, would have been writing for an audience who had grown up following Cousteau’s adventures. Perhaps they combed his writings in search of any mention of sea monsters that could fit in their paranormal magazine, found the passage about Djibouti in Life and Death in a Coral Sea, and created a more sensational version that conveniently left out Cousteau’s own debunking. For an audience who had grown up with Cousteau, what could be more exciting than hearing about one more adventure of their late hero, totally new and unseen, and a discovery so shocking it was being kept secret?

And, like I said, it does make for a great story! No wonder it inspired Christophe Bec to write his own version! And with the decades-long tradition of fictional stories parodying and homaging Jacques Cousteau, I can’t blame you if this piece has inspired you to write your own version of the “secret discovery” story— just please, make it clear that your fiction is fiction.

#jacques cousteau #the mythical seas #song of the sea #urban legends #underwater

22 notes · View notes

grogusmum · 2 months

Text

WIP WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

thanks for tagging me @nerdieforpedro Honestly I'm just glad I have something new to share. I have had other lovely moots tag me for WIP games and I've just had nothing, my writer's block has been going on for months, BUT I did make some progress!! WooHoo

Okay so as I understand it, I share two snippets?

From A Dark and Stormy Night (Lighthouse Keeper!Frankie Morales x f!Reader)

When you join Frankie in the kitchen, where he is again standing over the stove, a delicious scent reminds you of coming home after a long walk from school. The wind is howling and you can hear the crash of the waves, the pound of them light rumbling thunder, its only rival the whip crack of the actual thunder chasing the lighting strikes illuminating the windows. “Where’s Cisco?” “Weather like this he likes to be below,” Frankie says back still turned, “I have him set up with his bed down there so he doesn’t get anxious.” “Oh,” you finally feel a little more at ease about not seeing neither hide nor hair of the beast of a dog all day. “It’s going to be dark early due to the storm and I’ll have duties up above. I’m going to ask you to stay in the living quarters. I’ll sleep up there so, um. Just - make yourself at home.”

From A KInd Hearted Woman (Depression Era!Ezra x f!Reader)

Ezra had been riding the rails for several years now, picking up jobs where he could. Making his way up from the Gulf Coast looking for work. A factory here, a fishing boat there, both dangerous endeavors, but he was a lucky fellow. His mother always said he was like a tomcat with nine lives, but with every life he gambled she paid for it with a new gray hair to show for it. For all his near misses, it wasn't until he got a contract to prospect gold in Georgia that his luck was truly tested, and it was not at the cost of his dear mother's hair but his dominant arm. But he gained a compatriot after her father was killed in those same hills. Nevertheless, finding the odd job, let alone a steady paycheck was all but impossible. He had never been so far north, luckily the seasons were turning toward the warm months up this way and they didn't have to worry about snow or freezing temperatures. The question he had on his mind was if they should go to a city where there are ample jobs, but also ample people- most with both hands to work with… or try somewhere small, where there are fewer prospects, but of course fewer people to do them, and perhaps some small town kindness for good measure.

no pressure tags @oonajaeadira @insomniamamma @writeforfandoms @ezrasbirdie @quicax3 @prolix-yuy @katareyoudrilling @morallyinept @chaoticgeminate

#wip wednesday #frankie morales #ezra prospect

23 notes · View notes

starshooter-1004 · 1 year

Text

Namor - The Ocean Calls 5

Masterlist

-In Reina - My Queen

-In Yakunaj - My Love

-In Amado - My Beloved

Warning: Slight smut

“Y/n! It’s time for work!” Called my mother. I woke up drawing the pillow overly ears and rolling to the side. Another day in paradise as I like to say; another day waiting on the public. My 25th birthday was last week and being a quarter century old I’m not looking forward for what the next three have in store. Being lonely in a room full of people is probably the worst for of torture. Everyone going about their days laughing and enjoying each others company. I on the other just feel like I’m merely existing. Since the death of my older brother that whole hasn’t been patched.

“Morning Bro,” I looked down at the picture on my dresser fist bumping it. He died in military combat last summer. We're coming up on a year since then in two months. On top of that my boyfriend of five years left me a month after his passing; the state of mind I was in was too much for him. So I learned long ago that the feelings one claim for you are never true. That even when you're at your lowest people will take the opportunity to kick you while you're down.

After work I would always go to the beach from the sunset to about nine. Here in Cape cod the beaches are gorgeous on the upper east coast. The water here though is always a frigid cold compared to the gulf beaches farther south. I laid out a towel gazing at the orange and pinks sky. It was the end of May and the breeze was getting warmer and the sand softer. The sky went dark some hours later and I sat in silence listening to the waves.

I caught in the corner of my eye on the right a figure; I looked over quickly flashing my phone light at it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing my brother in normal clothes like the last time I saw him. I quickly stood up and rubbed my eyes thinking I was hallucinating. Suddenly my brother was in front of me he had tears in his eyes.

“Sister, you need to wake up it’s not time yet, wake up,” he spoke so softly I could barely hear him.

“What?” The waves sounded louder. The look on my brothers face got serious and he raised his hand placing it on my head.

“Wake up!” He shouted. I suddenly fell back and jolted I opened my eyes to see I was in my hut. My body ached and felt like I got hit by a bus; my legs felt like a ton. I placed my hand on my face feeling the oxygen mask and pulled it off. I looked around not seeing anyone in the room. I began to access my Injuries. Wiggling my toes I realized both my legs were attached it and I wasn’t paralyzed. My arms were black and blue and cut; my head had a terrible pain. My back didn’t feel much better either; but I was alive. I suddenly tried to push my self up to sit and that felt strenuous. I leaned my back against the pillows catching my breathe. I had five blankets on me for warmth and fresh bowl of fruits on my table next to me.

I took a few to help gain my energy back and drank the water provided as well. The hut had a different feeling to it, in here everything felt sad and gloomy. I looked at my hands noticing the bracelet of Namor’s mother was still intact. I reached for my neck seeing the pendant was missing. I looked around the bed hoping it fell off but it was no where in sight. I soon heard the door open and Idris stopped in her tracks at the sight me.

“In Reina!,” she ran forward taking one of my hands. She smiled and sighed in relief.

“We’ve been so worried about you, I’ll go and notify our K’Uk’Ulkan,” she quickly exited before I could protest. A few moments later I felt a strong presence and the air changed. The door opened slowly and Namor slowly came in; he was wearing different royal garments. Adorned in his gold and blue jewelry, but his eyes looked sad.

He stood by the door after it closed; he seemed nervous. He stood in silence for some time and I sat and waited; I didn’t know what I was waiting for. A apology? Or should I be the one apologizing? I was the one who got myself into the predicament.

“Namor… Thank you for, everything,” I said raising my arm to show the IV. He nodded closing his hands in front of him then took the chair and sat at the end of his bed. He was keeping his distant and a part of me was grateful for that.

“Do you know where you are?” He asked.

“Yes, the caves of Talokan,” I replied.

“What is your name?” He asked.

“Y/N Y/L, I am 25 years old and I was born in Cape Cod Massachusetts,” I said. Namor nodded and uncrossed his arms, his brows were forward in thought.

“I was lucky to have recovered you when I did, your oxygen suit ruptured due the impact. You were unconscious and drowning; I managed to get you back tot he surface just in time,” he clenched his fits at the thought again.

“I want you to know something y/n,” Namor stood up kneeling next to me taking one of my hands.

“I understand the loss you are going through. When I lost my mother I was forced into a king role and had to rebuild a whole civilization in the body of a child. I was incredibly lonely for years; but I found comfort in my companions. I found new reasons to live and have a reason to go on,” Namor rubbed his thumb over my cut knuckles.

“You have every reason to be weary of me; but please know that no harm will become of you. Of course this was a different outcome due to you putting yourself there. But my people and I saved you, if I truly had ill intent I would’ve left you there,” Namor looked at me. I was looking at our hands and he caressed my face drawing my eyes to look into his.

“In Yakunaj, you are the most important person in my life now. Will you please give me a chance to prove myself and my people to you?” I looked at Namor and could see the sincerity.

“What if… The moment you see how broken I am you don’t want me? What happens if the ruler of Talokan goes to battle with the potential of getting hurt?” I asked. Namor’s lips gently turned up and ran a thumb over my cute brow.

“I will always come back home to you, no matter the distance and no matter the turmoil. You are my new home,” he said. I smiled and tears perked into my eyes, Namor leaned forward kissing my forehead. Though I tried going in for a real kiss but he pulled away with a grin.

“Not yet in Amado, you need to rest first I have to take care of some political matters but will be back soon. For now relax and rest,” Namor began to stand.

“Namor… do you have any books by chance? If I’m to be on bed rest for another period of days I need something to keep me entertained,” I said. Namor nodded.

“Yes, I believe we do I will have Idris collect a number of genres you show interest in,” Namor smiled and exited the hut. I sighed and closed my eyes calming my breathing. The affect this man has on me is un earthly, but comforting too. My heart stings whenever he leaves and isn’t here; my anxiety heightens at the thought of something bad happening.

Idris came back a few moments later and collect about 15 books. She kept me company for the next week, but never did Namor visit for those 5 days. On the sixth day I was stir crazy and needed to move around. Idris gathered two medical assistant who helped me walk around the cavern. Soon my legs were mobile and no longer stiff and the assistance wasn’t needed.

On the seventh day since I woke up Namor returned. I was outside my hut enjoying fruits and salmon with Idris. Namor and Namora emitted from the pool and didn’t spare a glance in my direction. They quickly walked into the center ancestral hut without a word the door again guarded. Idris looked at me and my shoulders slumped; the first time in a whole week I’ve seen him and nothing.

Idris saw the change of mood and stood up. She took my hands with a smile and brought me over to the pool edge to drape my legs in. The cool water felt nice and helped shock me out of my mood.

“The water here in Talokan has extraordinary healing properties,” Idris began running the water up to my knee.

“It’s cold,” I joked. She laughed and shook her head.

“Well it is the Atlantic,” a shadow then came over us. Idris turned quickly standing up bowing and gesturing. I remained where I was.

“No hello? I see you're up and moving now,” Namor sat next to me dropping his feet in. Idris walked a few steps back for privacy collecting the dishes and books from the outside table.

“Where have you been?” I cut to the chase.

“I was out on business,” he said,

“What kind of business?” I prided. Namor smirked taking my hand and wrist in his running his hand over his mothers bracelets.

“Can’t hide anything from you now can I?” He mused. I looked at him seriously.

“Surface dwellers have been infiltrating our Vibranium in the ocean floors. They have created a new mechanism and it puts my people in a tight spot. With this new machine the surface could soon have access to the supply and weaponry of us and Wakanda. So myself and my top generals and soldiers put a end to it,” he said.

“A… end?” I asked. Namor caressed my face at my worry.

“Don’t worry, our people will be safe now I have contacted relations working with Wakanda. We are coming up with a deal to stop the scientist who created it,” I nodded my head turning to looking at the water again.

“I have something else I would like to show you; somewhere that you are free to roam as you please,” Namor stood bringing me with him. He picked me up suddenly I yelped wrapping my arms around him a flew up.

“Namor, if this surprise is as high as it how can I get there without wings?” I asked.

“There are stairs but in your condition I didn’t want to exasperate you too much,” Namor landed on the stone to a new level. In front of me were two large Jade doors. Namor walked ahead placing me on the ground and pushed the doors open. The muscles on his back flexing with the movement had me biting my lip but soon it fell open. The room before me was a grand library; stacks of shelves and books as far as the eye could see. I gaped at the sight and covered my mouth; The wood inside was a dark oak and jewels decorated some of the book spines.

“This was my old study as a boy, where I learned the languages of the surface dwellers. The histories of many countries and what surface’s knowledge was of the Mesoamerican era. Thankfully the surface’s knowledge does not seek below the water,” Namor stood by a row of books.

“You are free to take any book in which you like and remain here. I don’t find much use for this anymore so I apologize if the up keep in some areas is poor,” Namor flushed. I stood in the center tears prickling; in awe of my surroundings.

“Namor… I can’t thank you enough for this, it’s more than I could imagine,” I turned toward him smiling. Namor approached me wiping a stray tear away and smiled. He leaned down then gently taking my lips in his. My hands on his chest feeling his heart and heat radiate through me. More… I needed more I wrapped my arms around him pulling him in.

A gasp left me as he worked my tongue and moved down my jaw and neck. I let my head fall back as his stable tickled me again. His kisses leaving a hot trail searing through me. I moaned when his hoisted a leg up pressing me to him and kissing my lips again.

“More,” I whispered. Namor’s eyes got dark and hungry he lifted me up to his waist walking to a table. He pushed the papers and dusty books off and sat me down on top. We were ravenous hands grasping and groping as we went; his hair still damp from the pool. My dress was thin against his skin causing his body heat to keep my warm. Namor grabbed my face pulling back and looking at me seriously.

“Do you want this?” He asks. I looked at him lust in my eyes and admiring his beauty.

“Yes, I want everything you could off me K’Uk’Ulkan,” I replied. Namor’s eyes went down to my neck caressing the ghost of where the pendant once was.

“Atuma recovered the jewel, I will have it be repaired with a better chain and jewels,” he whispered. Namor lifted me pulling my dress to my hips.

“I will cover you in all the jewels my lands have to offer,” and he captured my lips in a kiss.

#namor imagine #namor #namor smut #namor x y/n #namor x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #avengers imagines #black panther #k'uk'ulkan of talokan #namor of talokan #talokan

125 notes · View notes

mrsaguapapi · 1 year

Text

Ch 1

Chapter 2

Strange Discoveries

The Vibe:

Exploration

I Step through the portal and enter the city streets of Merida. This city is beautiful; lively colors cover the unique buildings, and the busy people quite literally fill the city with laughter and joy. The air is fresh and warm; everything here is just full of life.

Slowly looking around, I whisper happily to myself "The energy here is immaculate."

I find my way to a farmers market and find the first street food I could see. I ended up getting, Salbutes, a local dish. It's a fried tortilla topped with shredded turkey, cabbage, pickled red onion, avocado, and pickled jalapeños. I ate 3 in a matter of minutes. Before I could get more, I hear a hushed whisper in my ear.

"Come to me, In ch'ujuk paal (my sweet child)"

The voice this time was clearly female; she spoke firmly but gentle. I whisper "Hey lady, I'm getting pretty sick of the whispering."

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say the beach in my dream is real and here somewhere. I find a bench to sit at and grab a map of the Yucatán Peninsula from my bag.

A little locator spell should do the trick.

I grab some dirt from the ground and place it on the map; holding my hand over it I close my eyes and focused on my intent. I pictured the beach from my dream and take a deep breath to begin the spell,

"Earthly spirits I ask your charity, lend me your focus and your undying clarity. Lead me to the one I cannot find, restore that and my peace of mind. I pray for it to be found, bring me where my soul is bound"

I feel a gust of wind pass my hand and I open my eyes. The map was evenly covered by dirt except for a small patch of land up north on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

"Gotch ya" I laugh to myself.

Quickly, I find a secluded alleyway and open up a portal to that location. As soon as it opened I was immediately hit with the same sweet and fresh ocean air. I step through and close the portal immediately behind me. Looking around I find myself in the middle of the forest; I close my eyes and center myself once again, focusing on the sounds of the waves hitting the shore. The sound is not too far from me so I begin to walk toward it. As I make my advance to the beach I receive a call from an old friend and answer it.

"With whom am I speaking with today; Marc, Jake, or Steven?"

"Millie!" He says so cheerfully

"Steven! You handsome little cinnamon roll, how are you love?"

"Oh you know how it is, tired; feeling a little annoyed due to our cramped quarters. Jake and Marc have been fighting for days at this point and I haven't had a lick of sleep, but I digress. I was wondering if, you know.." He clears his throat, "wanted to pop by and cheer the three of us up."

Okay, I see you, Steven.

"Oh my word," I gasp, "Steven Grant are you booty calling me? I am not that kind of girl." I Tease.

A new deep and lower voice speaks up this time, "You are very much that kind of gal, mi conejito de choclate."

I roll my eyes, "Jake call me a damn chocolate bunny again and I swear I will beat your ass up and down the streets of London"

"He'll never admit to it, but I'm like 95% sure he'd be into that." From the softer more serious tone I can tell this is Marc, "How are you, Mills?"

"Hey, Marc." I smile to myself, "Oh I'm great, on a little personal mission in Yucatan; same old, same old."

"Yucatan? Personal? You finally find something about your past?"

"Nah had a weird dream, started hearing voices who were telling me to come to them. You know, just a normal day, in my not-so-normal life"

"Well, I can relate to the voices part; not sure if it's the smart move to follow them. You'll call us if you need us right?"

"Of course" I answer truthfully

He pauses, ".. So umm.."

"SOOoo Umm..." I mockingly say in return "I'll meet yall tomorrow, 8 pm your time. I take yall out for some drinks and dancing, you take me home and have your way with me? How does that sound?"

He chuckles, "It's a date"

I walk through the last of the forest and end up on the beach. "Alrighty toots, I gotta go. Kiss the boys for me."

I swear I hear him roll his eyes, "Be safe, see ya soon" he hangs up.

I take a long look around.

The same beach.

The Vibe:

Camille - Waves

I make my way to the mysterious entrance, eventually reaching it after a few minutes. I, once again, crouch down to my hands and knees and look at the underwater cave. I notice that same light coming from further in.

sighhhh, I guess I am Jacques Gusteau.

Standing up I call Peter and hold the phone with my shoulder and ear as I begin to undress to my 2 piece.

"Hey, Millie!" He practically shouts, "What up, everything okay?" I hear a bunch of noise in the background.

"I'm fine just updating you real quick; is this a bad time you sound like you're in the middle of something"

"No it's not a bad tim- HEY YOU PUT THAT CAR DOWN!" I hear a very loud crash in the background, "REALLY DUDE, I MEANT GENTLY. Okay, so I may be a little bit busy, give the TLDR."

"Still Hearing Voices, Found the entrance, I'm about to go in"

"Wait, right now? Alone!? You should wait til I'm done and send a portal to me, so I can help you." He pleads

"Peter no, I can handle it. Besides, looks like this will be a long swim and you are shit at holding your breath"

"I don't know Mills, I don't like this one bit. Everything about this seems sketchy"

"I'll be fine I promise. This shouldn't be long at all; I'll be home just in time to cook you some dinner."

"But Millie-"

"What's that Pete? crsssh crsssh You're breaking up I can't hear yo-" I abruptly hang up the phone.

He is going to kill me. Oops, oh well, hehe.

I fold my clothes, tie my sneakers together, and triple-bag my belongings in zip-lock bags. I put my protected items inside my sling bag and tightened it on myself. Suddenly I felt someone in my presence I quickly turn around in a defensive stance and scan the area. I see no one.

"If someone is out there, I suggest you come out now. I don't take kindly to being watched"

No response.

I repeat myself this time in this country's native language, Yucatec Maya, "Wa máax yaan te'elo' náachil, a sugiero u jóok'ol bejla'e'. Ma' teen kin machik yéetel amabilidad in vigilen."

Silence follows. Before I could inspect further I hear the voice again,

"Millaenyia, Daughter of Ororo, walker of clouds. Come to me." It was the same woman's voice, This time was different though. The energy in the air was so heavy I couldn't move.

I yell back "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU, WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"

Daughter of Ororo, walker of clouds. Did she just tell me the name of my mother???

"Fuck this" I turn around and position myself accordingly and dive deep into the water. I float for a bit in the water so my body can adjust to the cold. Fortunately, I can hold my breath for days at a time, kinda like a whale; and the intense amount of water pressure doesn't affect me.

I only know this because Tony took me to the North Atlantic once to Swim with the Giant Squids; he was helping test my strengths to see how long I can endure certain conditions. We were out there for a week; one of the few things I enjoyed during the blip.

After getting acclimated to the water I head towards the glowing light. As I get closer to the light source I look up and notice an opening in the water. Swimming upwards I find myself in an air pocket of the cave. I look around and see that this part of the cave system is huge; the mysterious light I was following came from the 1000s of glow worms hanging from the top of the cave. I get out of the water to observe my surroundings further.

I give my long silver box braids a really good squeeze to get the excess water out and begin to walk around there's not much to see until I turn a corner and find some kind of shelter in the center of the cave. Advancing closer to the structure I make my way to the opening and slowly enter. The outside was tattered, rundown, and dingy. But the inside, the walls, in particular, were covered in vibrant paintings and stone carvings. There was colorful drapery everywhere and in the center of the room, there were 2 chairs and a table with a few items on it.

"Did- Did I just discover a Temple?" Moving closer to the paintings I recognize the art style. "16th Century Mayan."

No way this is authentic, the color would have faded by now.

I go to the table and see that there is a quill and an assortment of ink on it as well as a beaded bracelet.

"All mesoamerican artifacts, all 16th century, and in great condition." I reach for my bag to retrieve my phone. Just as I was about to take pictures I stopped myself.

"This feels wrong. If I report this place, its beauty will undoubtedly be destroyed" I whisper to myself.

While putting my phone away I take out my shirt and wrap my hands in it. This is so I can pick up the bracelet without damaging it from the oils in my hand.

It's so beaut-

"Beautiful isn't it?" It was a man with a mild accent; he had a calming but, assertive voice.

I was shaken to my core. Gently I put the bracelet down. Never, have I been so caught off guard like this.

NEVER.

Natasha is probably rolling in her grave.

Standing there was a man; he had short silky black hair and some facial hair as well as ears that are pointed. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of tight-fitted green shorts. His neck and various parts of his body were covered in royal jewelry and his golden brown skin was glistening as if he had just got out of the water. I look down and notice he has a set of wings on both of his ankles.

Honestly, not the weirdest thing I've seen.

Like the bad bitch I am, I refuse to let my possible adversary, know of my anxiety. So I turn around and play it cool.

"You should be proud, not many people can sneak up on me"

He chuckles, "No, You should be proud, not many people can make it here without drowning. I believe you're the 5th person to discover this cave but the 1st to make it to my temple"

"And what happened to the other 4?"

Smiling he says, "Fish Food"

"Hm. Funny." I say blankly

We pause for a long time, just staring at each other. He was sizing me up just as I was him. His gaze shifted from my eyes only once, stealing a glance at my chest. I forgot I was in a wet 2 piece with my long braids clinging to my neck and breasts, not to mention the giant lighting scar I have on my body. Suddenly I feel exposed.

I do a short whistle to pull back his focus.

"Eyes up here friend"

He swiftly met my gaze, it felt like he was trying to read me.

"So if the other 4 are fish food," I pause and take a step forward "Then how did I manage to get here without issue?"

"It's simple, I let you in"

"Why? Are you the one who sent the voices?"

He looked confused like he had no idea what I was talking about.

"I had a dream of me finding this place. I started hearing voices calling me to come here; It was a woman. I think she may know something about my mother, Ororo?"

"The walker of clouds? My people used to tell stories about her, The woman who could control the weather. My mother said that once she had a broken heart and wept for days; This caused a week-long thunderstorm." He looks me up and down a bit, "You look like what they described. Hair like our sands, and beautiful skin the color of cacao"

Interesting. Weather control isn't something that I've tried before, I'll be sure to test that later. Wait, Did he say beautiful?

"You still haven't told me why you let me in"

"Well I saw you from the water on the beach"

So I was being watched

"I wanted to see what you came here for, you walked here with determination on your face; like you knew something. I planned to observe and kill you, but my curiosity got the best of me." He moves forward and takes a seat at the table and gestures for me to join him, "So tell me, why did you decide not to photograph my temple?"

Accepting his offer I take the seat across from him. "I work at a museum and I take care of what's left of temples like yours. Morally my place of work is awful; most of the historic pieces we have, are stolen from war-torn or minority countries. I work there because at least I know I'm doing my best to understand and educate myself on that culture and properly take care of its history. History is meant to be nurtured and preserved; if I told anyone about this place it would be ruined." I look around again and smile, "this place is truly beautiful" looking back at him I ask, "So this is your temple; forgive me for asking but who are you?"

"My people call me K'uk'ulkan, but my enemies call me Namor."

"K'uk'ulkan? The feathered serpent god. Interesting... So where do I Iand, a friend or a foe?"

"I haven't decided yet. What do I call you?"

"Milleanyia but my friends call me Millie or Mills. You can call me Dr. Parker"

He laughs pretty loudly, "Okay Dr. Tell me, is your mother truly Ororo?"

Sighing I sit back in my seat," I haven't the slightest clue."

"You don't know your mother?"

"I don't know anything"

"Elaborate"

"9 years ago I was buried at the bottom of a lake, not dead just comatose I guess. I was found after a major lighting storm. Hence this lovely scar." I point at my large scar."

"Buried underwater & struck by lightning, yet you are still alive. Juntuul bruja? (a Witch)"

"Essentially yea."

"Hm, You are a very strange girl. How old are you?"

"Oof I hypothesis at least 350"

We sit in silence for a while, just staring at each other.

"How old are you?" I ask

"453"

Without skipping a beat I say, "You look Great by the way"

He smiles and shakes his head. I swear there is a tension here and it's fucking me up and I'm getting kinda anxious and antsy because of it.

Standing up I begin to speak "Well I'm gonna go. I've got places to be, and mouths to feed. I will tell no one of this place your secret is safe with me."

I suddenly feel 4 other people's energy outside the building.

I knew it wouldn't be easy, it never is.

"I take it, you'd like me to call you Namor then"

"Nothing Personal Ki'ichpan (beautiful girl), my priority is to protect my people at all costs. I don't have the luxury of trusting strangers, no matter how charming you are. For all I know, the Wakandans sent you to get more information on me."

Did I just get profiled?

Before I could respond I felt something coming for my back at full speed. I turn and quickly one hand catch it, it's a spear.

That's weird, this feels like vibranium.

I stare daggers at Namor before I take the spear and exit the building. Outside Were 4 people dressed in traditional tribal gear and headpieces. Their skin is blue and they all have strange face masks, with water inside. After looking a little more closely I notice they have gills, so I'm assuming those masks help them breathe on land.

I step forward a little more closely, drop the spear and raise my hands "Ma' talk in ba'ate'el ta wéetel. (I don't want to fight you)" They do nothing but laugh in my face and raise their spears.

Shit.

52 notes · View notes

slickshoesareyoucrazy · 23 days

Text

Best Friends

So we're on the road to see J's best friend who lives with his wife on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

A few years ago (pre-covid), W had a major cardiac scare and emergency surgery. And then a couple years ago, he had a major motorcycle accident that landed him in the hospital for a bit too. He's still with us though. Thank goodness. ❤️

W and J have been friends for nearly 36 years...slightly longer than my almost 34 year friendship with A (but that's because they're 6 years older than us, and they (thank goodness) have both outlived A). They met when they were 16. They are now almost 52. W's birthday is 9 days before J's. A's birthday was 19 days after mine. W is short; J is tall (A was tall; I am short). W's first marriage was fraught with drama (no kids though which I guess is good) and he has a strained relationship with his family of origin (we're happy he's found security with wife number 2, who probably saved his life at least once)...which is a lot like A. Only A never got the happy ending with wife number 2. He stayed in the drama because they did have a kid. And J has a strained and complicated relationship with his family too, but it's not as bad as W's. (J's dad doesn't like me but he did come to our wedding, which W's parents didn't...to either one of his). And for two fairly stereotypically masculine men over 50, they are pretty emotionally close and comfortable with each other. There are a lot of parallels between J and W's friendship and A's and mine. That's probably why J was never jealous of A when literally every other guy who got near me was. He saw the parallels; he got it.

J's original plan to propose to me was at W's house. When I met W for the first time (that was so nerve wracking). Hurricane Frances ruined J's plans. But as we drove home in 10+ straight hours of driving rain, W called to check on us and J put him on speakerphone, because W was talking about me and J wanted me to hear it. See, we played Trivial Pursuit the night before we left because the power was out, and we could read the cards with a flashlight.

W said, "J, man, I used to think you were the smartest person I'd ever met, but then I met Jen. Now I think probably she's the smartest person I ever met. 😂 You done good." I blushed. W still doesn't know J let me hear that. J looked so wickedly proud of me then I didn't even know what to do with myself. Usually guys cut me loose once they knew I was smart...they'd have definitely ended things if their best friend said out loud that maybe I was smarter than them. Not J. I remember thinking then that A would approve of J when he'd never liked a boyfriend before. (True. Eventually.)

We just took a call from W to check our ETA. J put him on speaker again.

W: Seeing where you are so maybe we could meet you on the road for lunch.

J: We are just now entering Florida. ETA says 3:30 now to your place.

W: Thought you'd be to (city) by now. I love you and all, but I'm not driving to Georgia. 😂

But you know...he would drive to Georgia if we asked him to meet us for lunch. I know he would. When J and I got married, even though W is unquestionably his best friend, he didn't ask him to be his best man, because, 'I didn't want to obligate you to come all that way.' W was pissed/hurt a little, but he knows that's just how J is. So the Georgia comment was a joke. 19 years ago, W said, 'Obligate me? My best friend's getting married...FINALLY (that's a whole nother story 😂). No way I'm missing that.' A missed our wedding, because he'd moved out of state during a rough patch, in our friendship and in his life, and he distanced himself for a while. In fact, he missed all of my early relationship with J, except for the VERY beginning. He said many times since, 'I can't believe I missed that.' Me neither. 💔

Anyway, this isn't the original spring break trip we had on deck this year. We were going to go to some of the National Parks in the Southwest. That's where the Boy wanted to go. But when A died, he changed his mind before we could book anything. He took A dying pretty hard. And he remembers W's heart problem and his accident.

"I wanna go to Florida this year instead. You and Dad never get to see your friends." 😭❤️ (How lucky am I that this is my kid, right?)

A, I'll have to live with the regret that I never went to see you where you lived before you died. You always told me not to feel like I needed to come because, 'There's nothing to do here, Jen 😂'. But there was the most important, best thing to do there. There was seeing my best friend. And now I get to visit a grave instead. Should have argued with you more, you fucker. But I'm glad we're headed to see W now. Two hours away from somehow hearing W crack TALL jokes at J for 3 days, when you always cracked short jokes at me every time we saw each other.

Best friends are precious. If you are lucky enough to have one, make it weird and tell them you love them today.

#personal #God I miss A #crying on vacation #friendship is so important and often taken for granted which sucks

6 notes · View notes

magratpudifoot · 9 months

Text

I don't know how many LiveJournal alumni there are in these parts, but for those of you who weren't on LJ back in the early 2010s, there was a fairly large-scale art auction organized by users to benefit recovery and relief efforts after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting Fukushima disaster. People offered fic, digital art, origami pieces, yarn crafts, commissions, whatever they could, and then the highest bidder donated their bid to one of the organizations vetted by the auction organizers.

One of the pieces that I got from this auction was a watercolor painting of a landscape photo of my choice. If my recollection serves, the person I was communicating with was an LJ user from the UK, but the actual artist was their grandparent who was located in Germany.

I sent a photo that I had taken on the beach near where I lived on the gulf coast of Florida. The photo may have been taken with a digital camera, but it is just as likely I used a flip phone. Either way, it was not a professional shot, and it was not a great photo, but it was important to me.

What I received was stunning, and I worked closely with my mother to find the right mat board--a lovely metallic copper that plays perfectly with the lighting effects in the piece.

(Forgive my photography, which is even worse on this crappy tablet than it was on my flip phone 15 years ago.)

A year or so later, this painting went with me when I moved to central Oklahoma for my failed grad school experiment a year or so after it was painted. It hung in my kitchen above my sink in my crappy apartment, keeping me company while I washed dishes and put off writing seminar papers. It was my lifeline on the days when I was so desperate to be back home that I would get excited to hear what I thought was rain, only to look out the window and see it was just dry leaves blowing across sidewalk.

And now, a decade later, I find myself far from home again, this time not in pursuit of a dream of something better, but instead evading fascist state politicians. And my painting of a quiet, stormy, glittering, peaceful beach at sunset hangs across from my bed, one of the first things I see each morning, one of the last things I see each night.

I think about the sandpipers and the crabs and the freedom of swimming out and out and out until the bottom falls away, bobbing there with a friend or a parent or a cousin and having the most beautiful conversations.

I think about getting off work, rolling up my slacks past my knees, and walking along the water as long as I wanted, January waves crashing into my bare ankles.

I think about sitting just beyond where the waves meet the shore until the sand shifts to accept you and the quick little fish flick up to say hi and tickle your toes and sometimes bring rays and other friends if you are patient enough and the tourists aren't too rowdy and the locals aren't fishing too close.

And I think about an incredible elder artist who wanted to offer aid in a crisis half a world away, who painted a scene she probably never had reason to visit in person, who has never known how much impact it had.

I believe this signature says "Lola Fleddermann". I hope your life has been beautiful and full of joy and peace and incredible art. And I hope all the same for your grandchild, who I spoke to so briefly so many years ago on a long-disused blog in time that feels very little like today.

Thank you.

#no one asked you ms p

10 notes · View notes

richardsletters · 1 year

Photo

“Hi, my warmest regards to you and Sid. Recieved your letter. Glad to hear Sid is doing well in baseball. How is his soccer game? Have you been watching the World Cup Games? So you have a pillowcase with my image. cool :) How long did you live in Desert hot springs? Heres a few websites... vocation vacation.com - cupid.com and match.com - drinkzamu.com (its a nutritions drink by Olivia Newton John the singer). Movies... Memories of a Geisha - Antwone Fisher - Kiterunner - School of Rock - Drag - The Reader - From Dusk Till Dawn 1996 - Flypaper. Books...Photo Books by Nobuyoshi Araki - The Rottweiler by Ruth Rendell - Unseen by Mari Jungstedt - Coldest Blood by Jim Kelly - Intensity by Dean Koontz (this one was a movie also) I'll have to check out that book you mention...Horns. I liked Sid's message. :) Yes you can send what he did in class. Send pictures of him if possible. Heres a few interesting facts... Amazon river passes through Brazil Venezuela Columbia Peru and Bolivia it is covered by Rain Forest it is four thousand miles in length also in south america there is andes mountains they extend for 4500 miles. The bahamas off the coast of Florida consist of about seven hundred islands. Colorado river rises in the Rocky mountains and flows through Colorado Utah and Arizona where it passes through the Grand Canyon to the gulf of California it is 1440 miles in lengh heres a few questions... when talking with friends do you say your body is fairly sensitive? Do you think you can never get enough of a good thing? Do you enjoy the feeling when a cat rubs up against you? Do you think people should live for the pleasure of the moment? Ok bye for now. Stay as sweet as you are.

Love Richard"

" Drawing enclosed"

#richard ramirez #richard ramirez letters #the night stalker #olivia newton john

19 notes · View notes

thatmexisaurusrex · 2 years

Note

If you’re still taking prompts!!

Prompt 18, maybe with a little angst at the beginning? Maybe it’s post-mission and one of them had just watched the other get hurt? I’m a sucker for some post-mission fluff 🥰

I can definitely do that, @samwilsonsthunderthighs! 🥰 I hope you enjoy the fic! 🥰

Prompt 16: Listening to the other's heartbeat

| 15 | Prompts | 17 |

Bucky stopped breathing. Stopped thinking. They were in the middle of a battle. Wong and Joaquín and Monica were all screaming in his earpiece at Bucky, but he couldn't hear any of it. Focus on anything coming his way.

Because Sam had stopped answering. He stopped answering as he fell. Fell down from the sky over the floating rigged helicarrier this splinter of HYDRA group stole. Fell the height of the Empire State Building down to the ocean below.

And all Bucky could do was run. Run straight through the fight ensuing before him, stripping down to his boxers, breaking any arm or leg or weapon that stood in his way as he kept moving to the edge of the helicarrier closest to where Sam fell.

And then jumped.

Bucky remembered public swimming pools. As much as his family gambled on going, praying that there wouldn't be a polio outbreak. It was "polio season" when summer hit, after all, and summers in New York leaned towards pool shutdowns as the disease made its waves.

But Bucky did remember the times they went. He remembered the high dive that felt like it was looking over the edge of the world. And this felt like that.

Tipping over the edge of the world. Plunging into the depths of hell to save the one he loved.

Because that was it, wasn't it?

Love.

He hadn't dared to think of it. Not when he was just getting along with Sam again. Not after his self-destructive spiral hurt Sam so badly, not when he was so in his own problems that he hadn't taken Sam's feelings and problems and thoughts into consideration.

Sam hadn't owed him anything. Bucky wouldn't have been surprised if Sam had turned him away when he made the impulsive decision to grab everything he owned and move to Delacroix. But Sam just smiled and said, "What took you so long?"

And Bucky wasn't perfect. He was still trying to be better. Do better. Be better to Sam. He wanted to be the kind of person Sam would want around. Who could be there for Sam. He hoped he was getting there.

All Bucky could think now was that Sam was somewhere under the water, sinking, and he had no clue if he would ever be able to find the body, let alone pull him up to the surface.

But he had to. There was no other option. He was going to find Sam. He was not letting Sam get lost at sea and wash up on the Gulf Coast next to the dead jellyfish and creepy baby dolls and get found by some surfers like it was the beginning of an episode of CSI.

Plunging into the ocean felt like being a knife cutting through ice. Despite doing everything in his power to make it easy, Bucky still felt the pain of it.

He wondered about Sam. How this must have felt to him. If he felt it. If he woke up from the pain, then passed out from it. Tethered to so much equipment that wasn't easy to take off, Sam would sink quick. Sam was a good swimmer, better than Bucky, but not with a jetpack with wings attached to his back.

Bucky didn't know what he would have done if he didn't have the serum in him. He would have shattered bones when he hit the surface of the water. He wouldn't have been able to see. He wouldn't have been able to withstand the pain.

But there Sam was.

Bucky was going to love Redwing for the rest of his life. He was going to help Sam tinker on him and upgrade him and even talk to Redwing in that baby voice Sam used. Because the clearest thing Bucky could see was Redwing's blinking red emergency light. And it looked like Redwing was trying to pull Sam up to the surface, but he must have gotten damaged from the fall, so he wasn't working at full capacity.

That was okay. Bucky could carry the load from here.

Bucky didn't even remember much after that. It became a blur of barely having enough air to swim down to Sam. It became a panic when he lost where up was. It became a horrible fight with nature itself as the sea got choppy, a storm appeared out of thin air, a riptide threatened to pull them both under.

Bucky didn't know how he got through any of it. He wasn't sure how he got to the beach. He was pretty sure there was a lot of screaming. That one of his own legs was mangled from his fall despite everything Bucky did. That Sam was covered head to toe in Captain America attire which prevented Bucky from seeing whatever damage the fall caused.

He didn't know how long it took for him to get from where they were in the ocean to the beach, but judging by how people were staring at Bucky, he had come in like a speed boat.

When did brain damage start? Five minutes without air? Bucky couldn't remember. Had he remembered coughing from Sam? He might have been coughing when they got to the surface, but Bucky didn't know, everything happened so fast.

He fell to Sam's chest, searching for a heartbeat, and...

Bucky collapsed there. Tired beyond words. Feeling the creeping pain of his leg bubbling to the surface now that the adrenaline was wearing down.

Because he did it.

He saved Sam from drowning.

He could hear Sam's heartbeat, strong and there.

Sam was going to be okay.

*****

"Seriously, you don't have to do this," said Sam as Bucky placed the lunch tray down above Sam's legs.

"Nonsense," Bucky said as he placed Sam's drink to the side, "You're recovering. I'm your neighbor. I can take care of you while you're like this."

Bucky had been right about not knowing just how bad Sam was with the suit covering him. His cap suit took most of the impact, thankfully, but the mission had still left Sam with a dislocated arm, a hairline fracture in his right leg, and a mild concussion.

Bucky had been coming in the past month. Checking in on Sam. Making sure he ate. Did his exercises for PT. And just... hanging out with him. After the first few days, he had found himself living out of Sam's guest bedroom. Because Bucky could do this for Sam. He wanted to be there for Sam.

"Again, Bucky. You broke your femur. You're not exactly in your best shape either right now," said Sam as he ate the sandwich Bucky made for him, "It's okay if you don't do everything."

Bucky leaned his crutches on the nightstand before he sat down on the bed with Sam.

"I heal faster. I'm almost out of the cast," said Bucky as he grabbed his own half of the sandwich, "And I like taking care of you."

Bucky... probably shouldn't have said that. He felt blush creeping down his face, down his neck, down to his chest. He tried not to think about it. Maybe if he didn't acknowledge it, Sam wouldn't notice the blush.

"You like taking care of me?" asked Sam, and he sounded... a little shy.

A little baffled. He looked... a little vulnerable. And this was different. This was some nebulous space between the friendship they had been rebuilding and whatever more could be in store for them. And it felt...

Right.

It felt right.

"If that's okay," said Bucky as his hand slowly inched toward Sam's, "If you like that. Me taking care of you."

"I... do. I like that," said Sam softly as he turned his Destiny's Dream iris eyes to Bucky, warm and tentative and taking that plunge as his hand took Bucky's, "I like you taking care of me."

They smiled at each other, happy in blissful, comfortable silence as they both ate their halves of the sandwich Bucky made.

*****

This series is to celebrate Pride Month with some fun prompts. Since I got more prompts than I anticipated, I’m going to extend this event to finish all the prompts.

#thank you so much for the prompt 🥰#sambucky #the daily sambucky fluff diary #sam wilson #bucky barnes #bucky takes care of sam #sambucky pride month event #sambucky touch prompt event #hurt comfort #fluff at the end #getting together #mission fic #sambucky drabbles #drabble 16 #listing to the other's heartbeat

46 notes · View notes

lena-after-dark · 1 year

Note

omg you’re so sweet :)) im not good at plotting lol, but maybe the siren ability could be used on them? like they’re visiting (wikipedia says its somewhere in the central americas facing the gulf coast) and every night they hear singing that distracts them and leads them away from whatever they’re doing. fortunately, it’s never close enough to not really do anything, and they’re eventually able to break the hypnosis themselves. but as each day passes, the singing gets louder and eventually something sinister leads them astray.

i assumed Namor, being a Talokan, would have this siren ability. in the movie it seems it’s just used for killing enemies by having them fall into the water, but im really interested to see something where its strong enough to hypnotize someone to walk through forests and beaches because the melody is so entrancing. but of course the spell breaks as soon as the singing stops, but it doesn’t matter if Namor has them right where he wants them.

anyways- i trust your vision entirely, if this is shit then its all good to just disregard it lol.

p.s. if youre comfortable, please consider adding breeding, a lil degradation, and some forced orgasms. maybe Namor being utterly fascinated with their human body. thank you!!!

Love the idea of Namor using the siren ability on somebody. Definitely gonna use that!

I don't write breeding, but I'm good with all the rest. Thank you for the request! Got it on the list~

#anon request #request #namor

6 notes · View notes

wuxiaphoenix · 2 years

Text

Worldbuilding: Striking Twice

Let’s take worldbuilding from the perspective of, you’re going to want specific environments for certain stories and scenes, and those settings will change what your characters are likely or able to do. I’m going to give you some examples from the Gulf Coast.

Swimming. Oh yes, great weather to swim here, most of the year. Unless it’s storming - if you can hear thunder, you should already be away from the water. But storms are dangerous even too far away for lightning. The winds and currents they cause make riptides more likely, and those kill far more people than lightning strikes. What’s worse is if you see waves crashing onto shore, except for a few spots where it looks nice and smooth? Most people will choose to swim there. Don’t do that. There’s no waves because the water is flowing right back out to sea. That’s a riptide. Meaning you could have your character observe great beach weather and not one local in the water. For good reason.

(Maybe several good reasons. Portuguese man’o’war, anyone? We get whole schools of them.)

Sitting in a car. Seems harmless enough. Only when the temps have already hit the 80s and the humidity is pushing the heat index into the 90s-plus, it doesn’t take much solar input to turn your harmless car stakeout into a life-threatening sauna. Complete with burns from the metal bits of your seatbelt. That sizzle you hear is you.

Car travel gets even more interesting, because the coast and the various military facilities on it combine to make sure there are often limited traffic corridors for getting from A to B. U.S. Highway 98 is one of the infamous roads; unless you can get to a turn-off and head north to I-10, your options for getting east-west are Slim, son of None. (And said turn-off is likely to add an hour to your trip. Just so you know.) So if you throw in one casual traffic accident, you’re likely to back up travel for hours, and everyone local knows all the possible alternate routes, so it’ll be backed up there too.

The sunny Gulf Coast is indeed that. But at least half the time it’s stormy, sometimes in patches, sometimes in lines of devastation that leave no trailer park standing. If you have characters here for a whole week and there’s been no storms... they better be here either April or October, we do get dry stretches then. Otherwise it won’t feel right.

Local environmental hazards are often very well known to the locals; and known to some better than others. AKA it doesn’t matter how much you paid for that mulch stacked out in the parking lot. If there’s a lightning storm, no one is going out there to load it. Everybody’s listened to years of news on the latest lightning fatalities in the area and they don’t get paid enough. Getting mad about this is only going to mark you as someone literally not smart enough to come in out of the rain.

It also means we have people paid good money to rescue golf balls from water hazards, and poke around recreational lakes, because alligators. Likewise we have various measures to hopefully bear-proof containers, and some of us curse out bird enthusiasts a lot, because black bears love birdfeeders. Nature is never too far away, and some of it likes to eat you.

All of which goes to say if you have a character living on the Gulf Coast in an eco-friendly house on a lake completely powered by solar panels, who walks out their back door onto their boat dock in their pajamas and slippers without a care in the world, anyone local is going to look at you askance, because that won’t work.

So when you worldbuild... think of what the local hazards are, and what they lead the locals to do. You can have your characters be ignorant, sure. But if so, they have to see the consequences!

#creative writing #worldbuilding #hazards

5 notes · View notes

kernlundgaard70 · 8 days

Text

Central Utah Adventure Travel

Currently we're already seeing central banks acquiring larger amounts of gold bullion. Throughout the west coast among the province, you can find beautiful beaches. The songs share a unity, thematically and aurally. This beach is located in the City Painan, South Coastal District. Carocok shaped bay beaches with golden sand, smooth and soft. Fisherman houses and palm trees lining the coast. The fishermen and fro, developing the catch in the form of fish and also other marine software packages. View More: topphuyenaz.com - Top Phu Yen AZ Reviewed by Team Leader in Top Phu Yen AZ: Nguyễn Hoàng Thục Quỳnh - Nguyen Hoang Thuc Quynh They in order to see dogs travel with their families to such dog friendly vacation rental accommodations. They charge $30/dog per stay and allow up to 2 dogs to vacation with you at just once. They ask that maintain your pet on a leash and wipe their feet following a fun trip to the key. They love to see well mannered pet guests together with their families enjoy their time on automobiles coast. When you reach the town of Castledale you will see a dirt road turn off towards the San Rafael Swell. The swell is a favorite from the locals in a great many. If you hike out of the dirt road you will discover some of the most undisturbed Utah desert I am aware of. You'll find Indian rock art generally in most unmarked places, see food storage within cliffs, hear the meadowlarks off in the distance and feel like no other person is that is known.

View More: topphuyenaz.com - Top Phu Yen AZ Reviewed by Team Leader in Top Phu Yen AZ: Nguyễn Hoàng Thục Quỳnh - Nguyen Hoang Thuc Quynh Visiting Vietnam offers travellers a rich and varied cultural history, combined but now charm of a country which is still largely rural, the exceptions being Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Its tourist industry has designed to the extent that accommodation of high quality is available at popular destinations. Gulf Islands - these islands sitting between Vancouver and Victoria are top notch laptops exploring. As well as Phu Yen Province arrived by ferry and staying in the bed and breakfast. Visit the quaint towns art galleries, it can be a different lifestyle on hawaii. Remains hot and humid, although humidity levels may bearable between December and February. During April and may the southwest monsoon winds bring rain showers towards Mekong Delta and southern Vietnam. It was late in day when compared to was dismayed to commence to see the "Parking Lot Full" sign out front. I drove in anyway to in order to the ranger at the booth. She said there were still parking spots available and it was $ 10 for my car. Tin Top Phu Yen AZ A lot of I may also park on road (Highway 1). Lake Okeechobee is consistently one of Florida's top producing bass lakes and is considered is paramount lakes in london for bass fishing. Found in south central Florida, the "Big O" covers 730 square miles and is easily accessible from Florida's east and west coast. FWC biologists are expecting a tremendous year class for this lake calendar year. Sikuai Island can be reached from pier Batang Arau, 40 minutes drive from metropolis of Padang. Contains this resort island famous for beaches good looks. White sandy beaches as if peering from a distance. Approaching the island dock, are generally offered an assured sea water with colorful fish swimming in this can. The beaches of this place were simply appealing. It seemed like for miles and miles, there were only sun-kissed beaches and welcoming sea to welcome federal. We spend 4 full days just relaxing on a beach. Top Phú Yên AZ 247 I simply couldn't believe the tranquility we were experiencing as for the last one month; all we talked, heard, ate and drank was our wedding. So, the relaxing environment of the beach was a hugely welcomed change. Nairobi could be the capital associated with Kenya. Essential business center with government buildings for example the Parliament, State House as well as the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC). The Uhuru Park, Nairobi University and the Nairobi Museum are all situated in Nairobi.

youtube

Enjoying the outdoors in British Columbia is easy with close to 400 provincial parks along with a total of 850 parks and protected areas along with year-round resorts. One more thing diversity of the province is awe-inspiring with more than fifty mountain ranges, and many plateaus and plains with green valleys separating all the different areas. The weather conditions are just as different and varies dramatically from area to area, as does the wildlife and crops. What an opportunity for outdoor partisans!

The island gets its name by way of the Black Iguana lizard. Tin Top Phú Yên AZ We even spotted a few and my newly wedded wife was completely terrified of any of them. I must also admit how the creature is only disgusting. But apparently, it plays a giant role on the islands eco-system. So, we are supposed to love it? It could be a bit confusing talking of Khao Lak considering appellation generally used to touch on to beaches from Bangsak Beach previously north down to Khao Lak beach from the south. 'Khao Lak' furthermore often once refer to Nang Tong beach and also the nearby La On Village that normally thought of as the guts of flourish as is actually why where probably the most resorts, shops, bars and restaurants should be be found. Phu Yen Province Cycling: So as to view natural beauty of Vietnam closely, cycling is a good option. Most of the foreign tourists prefer cycling to see different components of Vietnam. A scenic drive past over high passes walks you to ad units imperial capital of Tone. Here you'll sample fine cuisine to suit the city's royal imperial status. The delicious flavors of Hue continue to entice even until today, and you'll need a opportunity to sample this famous cuisine within the premises of one of the town's unique garden includes. It was always fairly calm and finding places to land was truly problem. We had been not alone in atmosphere a Carlsburg balloon had already been shipped in from Europe and a Cameron Gas airship from America. Strangely neither believed to visit or call the international airport 8km south of the stadium. This caused some amount of trouble as Thai's love complicated permissions to fly and neither had any. As we did have permission we were contactable and received some amount of flack from their CAA. We smoothed path quite well for them, prison was mentioned on more than one occasion! There is often a $10 to $12 charge for parking per hrs. The International airport is only 5.5 kilometers away. The nightly rate ranges from $185 to $345, dependant upon the room means. The address of the hotel is Corner King William & Flinders Streets, Adelaide. For inquiries and reservations, many call them at 1-300-900-900. Be conscious of South Africa is here is where hula a healthy and hungry population of great white sharks. Signs will be up at certain events of year advising against swimming or surfing at some beaches as a result of 'sardine run', a time when great whites are specially active. Realize! Boracay - A premiere tourist spot with 4 kilometers long and 100 meters wide of fine pristine white sand. The shoreline is host to several restaurants and hotels to deal with you along with your Pinay friend. View More: topphuyenaz.com - Top Phu Yen AZ Reviewed by Team Leader in Top Phu Yen AZ: Nguyễn Hoàng Thục Quỳnh - Nguyen Hoang Thuc Quynh Written By Author in topphuyenaz.com: Nguyễn Văn Cường - Nguyen Van Cuong Written By Author in topphuyenaz.com: Phan Vĩnh Tiến - Phan Vinh Tien Top Phu Yen AZ 247

#Top Phú Yên AZ #Phu Yen

1 note · View note