#I like that Pac AND Mike were both stranded | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

factorialsotherfandoms · 2 months

Text

Fic Recs!

So there's a thing to make 10 fic recs, so... Going through my bookmarks for some favourites... Numbered only so I keep track. A number of these have content warnings, please check the tags and descriptions of the fics themselves when you follow through <3 have not tagged people as I get awkward about it, ask if you would like to be tagged ^^. All QSMP as it's the resent fandom I can do easily.

I'm starting with cheating and becauseplot's Little Dagger AU, which is 3 fics but shhh. Especially the second two fics, which is post-FI Cellbit deciding he lives in Felps' house now. It's very funny and very sad if you stop and think, which is a wonderful combo no?

Less cheating! and it’s not the same (but maybe that’s okay) by a_Saga_in_progress. Do you want Slime and CodeFlippa feelings? Have some Slime and CodeFlippa feelings.

how to (not) deal with asymmetry by Solaneceae! Tazercraft horrible hours! A delightfully messed up version of their souls being melded together, plus some of the followup from after Mike's coma where Pac has grown and Mike... hasn't.

You And Me Were Built For Violence by WSDanon. I'm sure you've seen this about - it's an AU in which Tazercraft end up on 2b2t following the Prison escape, and run into Fit there. In progress, but every chapter is very satisfying by itself. Currently featuring: cannibalism angst! And also regular angst. And hugs.

My lungs still breathe and my mind still fears by Ashbluegamer! Missa gets stranded a long way from spawn after a death, so far out his communicator refuses to work properly. People look for him, but it's still a long way back.

kintsugi kid by thanotaphobia (blue000jay). Tubbo and Fit in the aftermath of Purgatory. I'm... Not sure I can really add more to that? Once again, angst.

ground level where the dry leaves blow by Odaigahara. I struggled a bit to pick which of their QSMP fics to pick (and got the wrong link the first time oops), but given how much I reread this one how could I not? An AU in which Missa is a priest of death, waking up in a grave mutilated and at risk of dying in such a way that traps his soul in his decaying flesh for eternity. Philza is here, ofc.

Another cheating, and this time not even all in a connected plot >.< the series q!philza works (+codebreakerduo) by hattrem. Has a delightful selection of Philza & Etoiles works. I'm especially fond of the one where Etoiles repeatidly bleeds to death, but I can also recommend imposter!Wilbur.. Well all 4 as I put the whole series here, but you get the point.

Rainy Echoes by mochitoaster. While Mike is gone, Pac has a panic attack about a storm. Cellbit makes things both worse and better. Don't you want Cellbit to make things both worse and better? Because I always do.

so what if i'm crazy (all the best people are) by songbirdscoo. To quote my bookmark "Cellbit meets Tubbo and helps him commit some crimes, and Tubbo only gets a little bit shot!"

There were some really close seconds but the event says pick 10 >.<

#IFD2024 #fanfic rec #other people's fic #qsmp fic recs #qsmp

11 notes · View notes

shikai-the-storyteller · 4 months

Text

Routeriver's selkie Hideduo drawing reminded me of the old Hideduo + Tazercraft Mermaid / Nautical AU I started writing wayyyy back in October, so I dug up my old notes because I was feeling nostalgic.

I've moved on to other fics since then, but I really like the portion I did end up writing, so here's the opening scene along with some extra notes I made when I first came up with the idea.

—

One of the most common misconceptions about merfolk was that they'd die without water.

The other was that they only lived in the ocean.

Pac didn’t always live in the ocean; he grew up in a freshwater river with a large estuary at its mouth. There were plenty of fish to catch and more than enough space for him to swim freely without fear of the dangers that normally roamed deeper waters. It was only when Pac got older that he ventured out to sea and began traveling – which is how he wound up meeting his best friend.

According to Mike, a common misconception about selkies was that they could swim with or without their pelt. Mike said it might be true for others, but not for him. When he was younger, he almost never used his human form, so trying to swim without his pelt made him panic and claw at the water in a feeble attempt to keep from sinking like a rock. Thanks to many lessons from Pac, Mike was a strong swimmer in both forms now, but when Pac first met him, Mike was stranded alone on a remote beach. A handful of human boys were in the water jeering at Mike, and Pac felt a pang of sympathy and anger as he saw them waving a seal pelt just out of Mike's reach. Every time he tried to wade out to them, they'd move into deeper water, and Mike would have to scramble back to avoid getting pulled in by the current. Only when Pac swam underneath the boys and grabbed one by his ankle did they let go of the pelt, shrieking about sharks as they swam to shore as fast as they could.

He and Mike were best friends ever since, and not a day passed that Pac didn't have Mike by his side.

Except for today.

Even after being trapped with him for so long, Pac still didn’t know what kind of creature Cell was. Cell once told Pac he could smell blood in the water a mile away, and his night vision far surpassed either of theirs, allowing him to explore parts of the ocean neither of them dared to venture.

Both these thoughts were in Pac’s mind as he and Mike executed their escape plan and trapped Cell in the winding underwater caves of a cenote. Pac didn’t know what Cell was, but he knew that Cells’ claws were sharp and his teeth were even sharper. Half of Pac's fins were shredded to ribbons mid-escape while he tried to buy Mike time. That alone might've been a death sentence, but Pac's tail was the real problem.

The water around them was quickly being dyed a murky brown from the deep long gashes Cell left behind on Pac. Every movement only made the pain worse, and the water was getting so dark with his blood Pac could hardly see, let alone swim.

Here's the other thing most people don't know about merfolk: they're mammals.

Without air, they die.

The only reason Pac didn't drown was because of Mike. Mike was a faster swimmer than Pac in his seal form, and he could’ve – should’ve – escaped when Cell caught up to them, but he stayed. Mike did his best to help, encouraging Pac to lean against him as he inched them towards the surface, but Pac could barely keep his head above the water even when they reached it. Mike was a powerful swimmer, but he wasn't strong enough to carry Pac for long, and they were a long way from shore.

—

I know it's bad manners to end on a cliffhanger, but unfortunately this is all I wrote at the time! :'D I do have notes about what I wanted to happen next however, and notes about the rest of the cast.

After this scene, I planned to switch to Fit's POV. I imagined Fit as some kind of fisherman, and Ramon was his assistant (and adopted son) who wanted to become an engineer / inventor. They'd be out on the water hoping to catch some fish, and all of a sudden a harbor seal would flop into their boat. They'd laugh it off and assume it was after their fish, then Ramon would notice something was caught in their net, and they'd find a very injured and still bleeding Pac, who grabbed onto it to keep himself from sinking / drowning.

I do have a small piece from Fit's POV regarding the injury:

Fit was familiar with treating basic injuries, especially thanks to his time in the war. He knew how to do stitches, which came in handy back in the day when he had to tend to his own gaping wounds, and was still handy whenever Ramon came to him with holes in his clothes. Experience and quick-thinking was the reason Fit was still alive today, but the person – or whatever it was – bleeding out on the wet dirty floor of his boat was way outside his area of expertise. How can we help? Ramon signed to him. His eyes were wide with concern, but he didn't look afraid. No matter what happened, Ramon trusted him to know what to do, and he'd be damned if he let his son down now.

The story mostly fell apart after that because I had too many ideas for where I wanted to take it. I wanted to make Pac and Mike some kind of water-creature from Brazilian folklore since Selkies are from a very different region's mythology (wasn't too concerned about the mermaid bit though), but I also wanted to make sure I wasn't wading into any weird territory with that. (Before moving on to other projects, I was doing a lot of research on the lara myth, and similar "lady of the lake" stories.)

Another route I considered was making Fit a "merman" too, or reverse things entirely and have Tazercraft be human. I imagined 2B2T as a deep ocean battleground, which Fit only leaves after losing his arm in a battle. Pac and Mike find him washed up on the beach, and they take him to their lab, where Fit wakes up and nearly bites Mike's arm off.

Other aspects of the story I wound up incorporating into different projects, so you might see those in future fics (which I'll hopefully finish someday).

Even though this is an unfinished story, I hope you enjoy the concept! I sure do.

#QSMP #Tazercraft #Pac #Mike #qsmp talk #fic talk #I didn't edit this much so if it's not too polished that's why #<- I definitely did make a few tweaks though #I'm incapable of posting rough drafts. I'm trying to change that

55 notes · View notes