#if nobody explores the wreck then she could be forgotten

[iwillfuckingdoitdarling]

So I only learned recently that the RMS Carpathia was sunk by a German torpedo during WW1. Even more eerie is that she sank the exact same day that the Romanovs were murdered, July 17th, 1918. They’ve found her wreck off of the cost of Ireland, but no one has done a deep dive to investigate her since she was found in 2000. She’s only 500 feet under, so she’s easy to access…someone needs to start that mission!

#the Carpathia is one of those ships that should have been preserved and turned into a museum #by her sheer willpower to save the Titanic her engines were weakened #when time came for her to escape the Germans she was too crippled to go any faster #if nobody explores the wreck then she could be forgotten #I hope people take the time to look at her and give her the reverence she deserves #rms carpathia #cunard #Cunard line #oh also Cunard still exists and owns the Queen Mary 2 so the age of ocean liners isn’t really over in that regard #world war 1

[farads]

Something that's been bothering me for a while is the Heather - Oswald disappearance timeline and how little it makes sense based on what characters have said and what was written in Oswald's letter to Dagur. But I think I've come up with something that kinda works?

For the timeline we have:

ROB episode: Twinsanity - the treaty signing with the Berserkers is annual, Stoick etc were confused that Dagur was now chief meaning that the most recently they've seen Oswald was one year before the events of ROB

this means that Heather is 13/14 when he goes missing as is the rest of the gang.

HOWEVER it is stated that Heather was set adrift as a child and early enough that she has almost no recollection of her life in the Berserker tribe. Her memories also show the hands of a child who is - at most - eight years old and very likely younger than that.

This leaves a >7 year gap between when Heather was set adrift and when Oswald disappeared.

If this had been addressed in searching for Oswald and chicken it would've worked out fine but in Oswald's letter to Dagur he mentions he hopes Dagur takes good care of her.

At this point heather has been missing for 7+ years and Oswald should know that so why does he imply otherwise? Especially with no mention of her going missing?

The only way I can think of this working logically is if Oswald had some kind of memory loss. There are several possibilities (early onset dementia, various forms of trauma induced amnesia, etc) personally I think dementia fits the best for reasons I'll explain below.

if we look at the cave drawings he does of Dagur and Heather, they both look really young. Especially for heather it's clear it's how they looked several years prior to ROB. Which would make sense, if he's forgotten some or all of the past few years, he would remember his kids looking younger (especially Dagur) and he wouldn't know Heather has been set adrift (especially if she was older (5-6) when she went missing) or that Dagur very clearly hasn't taken care of her.

Memory loss may also explain why his journal was so disjointed and hard to follow.

Afaik some memory loss conditions like dementia (especially the beginning stages) have both moments of lucidity (when he could write the letters but still 'living in the past' ie before Heather was lost) and confusion/ideas that no-one else can understand (when the nonsense/dangerous journal entries were written) it's also very likely that at some point he DID have specific questions he wanted to answer that eventually got clouded mentally and made his work incomprehensible.

As for how his journal somehow made its way into Dagur and Heather's hands instead of being shipwrecked with him. He may have seen the island from a distance and drawn the Bewilderbeast skull and then returned home (maybe was running late to something - like a treaty signing - and couldn't stop) and left his journal with the Berserkers, then at some time later, decided to go and explore the island without telling anyone (dementia patients are known to wander off) and shipwrecked. He very well could've tried to leave and the Sentinels stopped him (wrecked his ship) because he hadn't proven himself yet. Only then did he decide to make the most of it and help the sentinels fight off the grim gnashers.

As for his death there are plenty of possibilities because living isolated means that even is something minor goes wrong it can kill you. Disease, old age or injury could have caused it and even if they were usually minor, because nobody was able to care for him, whatever it was became fatal.

#oswald the agreeable #dagur the deranged #heather rtte #heather the unhinged #rtte #httyd #httyd rtte #riders of berk #dragons: riders of berk #race to the edge #how to train your dragon #dragons: defenders of berk #searching for oswald and chicken #httyd plot hole #twinsanity #heather report

[july-19th-club]

about to just start inventing picard episodes

star trek picard episode whatever “Electric Sheep”: Cris, Raffi, and the gang beam down to pick up supplies for malfunctioning holograms. Soji and Geordi conduct an experiment on lucid dreaming. (geordi’s here because i love him and the experiment they’re doing is ‘if soji puts enough parts of her brain in sleep mode can she or geordi talk to a remnant of her dad in there’ and the result is ‘yes and there are seventeen individual lines of dialogue that will have you bawling like a baby’. then they have to pilot la sirena out of a contested patch of space together because they accidentally let her drift while they were doing weird science and everybody else is planetside having wacky market haggling shenanigans and emmett & enoch are still not online. do they sit in The Correct Spots On The Bridge? brother, it’s the only reason the scene exists)

star trek picard episode whatever 2 electric boogaloo “Dinner and a Holonovel”: Raffi and Seven go on their first official date. Meanwhile, La Sirena receives a coded message from one of Raffi’s mysterious contacts. (in this one Raf and Sev get dressed up but they’re both sort of uncomfortable doing so and they try to have a date but neither of them are enjoying themselves trying to be normal, because Raf’s an old reprobate who’s definitely forgotten how to Have Fun With Others and Sev never learned because it wasn’t relevant to her interests. but then they wind up in some trouble(maybe they deliberately seek it out sort of unconsciously bc they’re bored) and it becomes a fun bar fight date that they really enjoy. everybody else is playing twenty questions trying to figure out this weirdly-encoded message for her bc she’s busy. they come back all bruised and grinning and the whole gang looks up at them with this half-decoded message and is like what kind of life do you lead).

star trek picard episode whatever 2 the sequel “Dr. and Mr. Smith”: Raffi’s contact has asked the crew for their help in a...discreet political matter. (it’s a reverse heist episode starring everyone’s two favorite sort-of-semi-retired-?-spies (if we are spies no we are not. yes we are. no <3). julian and raffi have a very good rapport and sev and garak don’t understand each other AT ALL. yes they are together in this one. no i dont think we need much backstory on when or how it happened i will leave that to the experts and their fucking youtube plays. keep up the good work. what are they reverse-stealing? idk yet it’s just a vehicle for character dynamics anyway).

star trek picard episode we cry a lot “The Daughters”: Soji confronts her legacy when an old friend of her fathers hails La Sirena, eager to repay a debt. (although to be honest, when is our sweet girl NOT confronting her legacy? that bitch is all legacy; she’s got legacy frankly oozing out of her positronic pores. this is partly a story about soji, but it takes a while to get there. first it’s the story of Sarge, who had an imaginary friend when she was six...

she can’t pinpoint exactly when she came up with him, and she doesn’t even remember what she named him - but she knows it happened sometime around the evacuations, and when they all moved back home and the world started growing again - lush and fast from the rich volcanic soil - she used to spend hours playing around with her birthday-gift radio set, ‘talking’ to her imaginary friend. of course, she never got actual replies, but as she aged out of the phase she retained an interest in radio and communications, and her parents indulged it and bought her more and better equipment, enrolled her in science programs, fed her curiosity. until one day as a young adult doing a school project on theoretical outer space transmissions, she arrived at a theory which (she later describes it as a CLICK, like something is settling into place in her brain) could account for the existence of extraterrestrial life, just out of reach. and perhaps, she posits in her presentation, the reason no aliens had yet contacted her world had little to do with them not being there and much to do with them choosing not to respond. the goal, she concluded, was to continue reaching out - to close the gap. she wrapped up the presentation with a nod to nostalgia. “And maybe someday, those friends will be imaginary no more.”

she wins an award for the project, and begins work in her chosen field that’s extremely rewarding, but it is still years before she reaches her second conclusion: the logical leap that if future alien contact was not only possible but likely, her imaginary friend might have been a real person after all. she brings this idea up with her mother one night over dinner, and her mother is somewhat alarmed - what do you mean you think you were talking to aliens, you couldn’t do that on a child’s transmitter kit, adults??? adult aliens? what are you saying they said to you? - but she can’t answer. she doesn’t have clear memories of that time, only an unshakeable conviction that the life she may have contacted is closer than anyone could possibly imagine. and so she starts a new project. she digs out the old childhood kit, fiddles with the dials, finds the frequency she used to tune it to. in her mind’s eye there’s the impression of a clear, frank voice, but no words. she tunes her own, more modern and complex instruments, to the same frequency, and keeps listening.

one day, she hears something. this time, she doesn’t talk first. the next few months are a whirlwind of information-gathering. there are people out there. whole societies. she pieces together the basics of what she’ll eventually learn is the prime directive; enough ships pass by the atmosphere of her world that she’s able to form a working conclusion as to why the come close but never hail. they know we’re down here, she thinks, they just think we’re not ready.

and maybe they don’t have the kind of boats that could get you that far into the sky. but she’s always been resourceful. she picks up a new frequency, and starts listening to starfleet. and after a few months of listening and planning, she starts packing. she takes the kiddie transmitter kit, she takes clothing designed for all-weather wilderness exposure, she takes the kind of emergency preserved food that people used to keep by the pallet in case of earthquake, and she takes a few other trinkets she can’t live without. and when the time is right, she hails. it might be a combination of luck or goodwill, but she manages to convince a passing freighter that she is the stranded comms officer of a downed private ship, the only survivor of the wreck hiding out on a pre-warp world. they beam her up and the first few weeks are very touch-and-go, but she manages to convince them she belongs up here, that the people who look like her are very far away and not just under their feet, darting around her green little world like a hill of bugs under the eyes of giant birds. she gets off at the nearest starbase, and she starts exploring.

she takes numerous vessels to numerous worlds, gathering information all the time. she starts calling herself Sarge, instead of Sarjenka, and it makes people think she’s a military type and nobody bothers her. she stops at a library planet for a month and researches everything she can about the major governing systems in the galaxy. without much to go on - no name, only a vague physical description (tall? pale? humanoid?) - it’s hard to determine exactly what kind of vessel the Friend would have been on, if indeed he existed. the yellow clothes, one of her few clear recollections, lead her to guess starfleet, but starfleet is a massive organization and so many of its vessels have come near her homeworld that it seems unlikely she’ll be able to narrow it down like that. so she tries a different tack, searching for the other two vague faces that she can bring to mind. one is a middle-aged woman, humanoid, but the search turns up nothing; the woman is a doctor who has retired from the organization and now works at a teaching hospital near vulcan. the other is a bald man with a deep voice, humanoid, and his record turns up an absolute deluge of information. she skips past most of it; she’s inpatient now, if anyone knows about the Friend he will, and so she checks his last known location. on board the private supply-class ship La Sirena, captained by ex-starfleet officer Cristobal Rios. Rios is tall, dark-haired, and humanoid, but absolutely nothing about him rings that little mental bell. she checks his last docking location. the ship visited a reclamation site briefly, and then disappears from the record.

but Sarge is nothing if not a searcher, so she adjusts her frequencies and tries again. it’s months before they’re in proximity to one another, months in which she’s taken the opportunity to secure her own vessel, a little rented, dented passenger bucket that’s probably worth more in repairs than the price she got it for. but she trades radio repairs for ship repairs at the port where she buys it, looks up its name (Avis) and finds it acceptable, and then she’s in the sky. she tools around exploring new bases and stations, and keeps the hail open. and one day, it’s answered. a human voice answers. “Avis, we read you. What can we do for you?” they go on-screen with each other, and she sees first the captain - the bearded guy - and then...him. the old man. he is an old man, the bald guy, and his eyebrows raise when he sees her come on the viewer.

“Permission to come on board?” she asks. “I have something which might belong to one of you.”

the old man looks wary for a moment, but then he turns to someone behind him, they exchange some quiet words, and he nods. “Permission granted.”

there’s a young woman waiting for her at the transport platform. shorter than her by a good half meter, humanoid. pale. “Dr. Soji Asha,” she says, “You look...”

and Sarge could swear she’s about to say ‘familiar.’

“Sarge,” she says, and the woman’s small hand grasps her long one in a firm shake, and then waits patiently while Sarge performs greeting, letting her fingers just-not-rest on the woman’s shoulders and arms. “I’m actually looking for an old friend of mine, and I thought you might have his whereabouts. Tall, pale, starfleet officer? Ops gold. I know that’s not much to go on, but if it helps, he would have once contacted and established a rapport with pre-warp Drema IV? Humanoid, but not human. He...” It’s weird. standing here, explaining herself to this quietly-held young woman, Sarge is able to articulate better than ever before her half-formed memories. “He told me once he was a machine.” and then, like another CLICK is settling, she has a name. At last. “Data.” I knew he’d had a name.

the woman’s face lights up and falls in such swift motion it is hard to tell which comes first - the recognition or the sorrow. but they’re both there, clear and present. “Dad died almost twenty years ago,” she says. “But if it helps, I have a positronic clone of his brain.”

Sarge starts laughing; she doesn’t mean to, but the way the woman - Soji - says it, so matter-of-fact, so frank...she stops herself before it’s rude, but Soji’s laughing too. “Sorry, I -”

“No, don’t - how do you - how did you know Dad? Come on, come with me -”

“What happened? I didn’t know him for long, I barely remembered him, but I knew he existed -”

“That’s a long story. Do you want to meet the crew?”

Soji reaches for her hand, and with a feeling of mechanisms interlocking as they properly should, she takes it. they start walking. “Oh.” She’s almost forgotten. “If...if he’s not around to take it back, then this might belong to you.” She reaches in her pocket and holds it out: a small, ceramic singing bird.)

#mr chabon take notes or just hire me #geordi is also in all the other episodes . i really think picard would go from good to great if geordi was there regularly #i miss him sm and im in the middle of tng AS WE SPEAK #i got a little carried away on the last one and it turned into a whole-ass fic maybe #star trek #star trek: picard #this is the post that was incoming and yeah it's all star trek dont @ me #i am really good at star trek

[vivithefolle]

Can you rec some Ronarry fics? (Preferably long ones?) Sorry if I'm annoying you.

You’re not annoying me at all, Anon! :D Thought I’m super frustrated because I’ve read one very long fic that has Ron searching for Harry, who has amnesia and ran away to America (and is gay but nobody knew that) and Ron realizes he’s in love with Harry and the fic has about 30 chapters and it’s on FFN but I can’t find it!! x_x

Sooo… I didn’t find that many long fics but I can give you a long list of them if you want?

Beautiful FriendIt took six years for Harry to learn something in History of Magic.This one. Oh my lord this one… it’s short, but it’s amazing. It’s full of lovely lively details and Harry’s description of Ron is… aaaww.

Life DrawingDean watches, and sees something unexpected.Again, the descriptions! My lord the descriptions, and also you will relate very much to Dean if you’ve ever worked with pencils.

Something They Can Barely SeeHarry has no idea how to tell his best friend he wants more that friendship. He’s pretty sure this would be hell of a lot easier if he knew for sure how Ron felt about him.This one is plenty cute. Ron is adorable and Harry… Harry’s trying his best. :’D

Our Inner BeastsLater, Madam Pomfrey would tell them that both Bill and Ron were going to survive. But she had no idea what the effects of a werewolf bite, when the werewolf was still in human form, could do to their behavior.Okay, who’s up for writing more Creature!Ron fics? Seriously. Someone do some more of those. Here we have Ron as a werewolf, aggressive, feral, self-loathing… doesn’t matter, Harry loves him.

Running with the Wolf, Loving the Mansnapshots of Harry Potter’s life with a werewolf boyfriendFollow-up of Our Inner Beasts. Someone heard our prayers and gave us more Werewolf!Ron, and it’s as wonderful as it sounds.

What HappenedThat’s just the thing, though. He doesn’t know what happened. He can’t pinpoint a single event where everything suddenly made sense. There was no epiphany or choir of angels or aligning of stars, or any of the other rubbish Parvarti goes on about in the Great Hall. There’s no one moment when he realized, “Oh.”Ron and Harry’s friendship, only it’s not just friendship. The last line will make you want to put on some epic music.

Follow The Butterflies“Why did it have to be spiders?” Ron moaned. “Why couldn’t we follow the butterflies?” Harry privately agreed with his best friend, but if there was anything Hogwarts had taught him, then that if he didn’t do something, no one would. “I promise the next time we have to follow anything, it will be butterflies.”Harry and Ron’s friendship again, with more butterflies thrown in the mix. It’s just as perfect as it sounds. If you don’t ship Harry/Ron, this fanfic might just change your mind.

Sonnets of Magical InterferenceHarry receives some strange notes about his love life, or lack thereof.By the end of that fic, you might just cheer for a very controversial character.

HeavenHarry’s heaven includes Ron.Features Ron being emotional over a movie, Chinese takeout, and Harry being a sap. What more could you ask for?

Harry Potter And The World That Went Bloody Insane“I know something you don’t know” is, apparently, the essence of Harry Potter’s love life. Harry’s certain that the world has been reading one too many romance novels, but then, Harry’s always been a bit oblivious.Featuring Protective!Attentive!Caring!Ron and Oblivious!Harry in their stinky flat and everyone shipping Harry/Ron. It’s awesome.

Check MateHarry questions his dreams, Ron has a scary one of his own, Hermione and Cho plot, and Seamus and Dean obsess.Harry’s subconscious has lots of funny ideas. Ron is ridiculously cute. Might be a bit difficult to read because of FFN’s shitty formating for line breaks.

On The OutsideHarry doesn’t think there’s much point to his being gay. He can’t have regular sex, he can’t have children, and he can’t tell his best friend he’s in love with him.Ron is utterly adorable, do I really have to say it? Why, yes, yes I do.

Newton’s LawFor every action, there is an equal and opposite reactionCheck out this author’s other Harry/Ron fics. I especially like Brass Ring; in the meantime, have a rather in-character reaction of Hermione and Ginny finding out about their ex-boyfriends dating. Hey, not my fault if JKR doesn’t know how to write strong female characters without making them abusive.

Sleeping BeautyThe most gen ever retelling of Sleeping Beauty.Who cares if it’s gen, it’s amazing. Harry sleeps, Ron is wonderful, and ants get colorful.

The Complexities Of Muggle MachineryHarry bought a refrigerator. Then it was a microwave. Then a blender. Thursday was the coffee brewer. Ron really liked that last one.Ron is absolutely, heart-stoppingly, adorably cute and pretty much just like I imagine him to be around Muggle things. Harry’s lucky.

After the cupcakesThey never really talked about it but they are each other’s world. And perhaps a lazy Sunday morning is as good a time as any to finally say something.Utterly sappy and fluffy and you know me, I was mostly there for Harry’s description of Ron. It didn’t disappoint.

Sing Your LoveThroughout the years they’ve lived together, Harry has always enjoyed Ron’s singing but lately he’s been picking up hidden messages in his flatmate’s song choices.Do you like Ron singing? Do you like Ron dancing? Do you like Ron crying his heart out over an emotionally oblivious Harry? Well in that case you’ve found the perfect fic!

Snakes & LaddersAfter the final battle with Voldemort, Harry intends to get on with his life. There’s just one problem; he was supposed to have died when he confronted Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest and now the Other Side is trying to collect him. But in the space between his ‘death’ and the victory celebrations, Harry’s fallen in love… and he’s not going to give up his second chance without a fight.A complicated premise, a complicated tale, a very worried Ron, a very determined Harry, an entirely unwelcome Severus Snape coming from beyond the Veil, all leading up to an epic confrontation in the Other Side. Who knew the afterlife had a court?

Now, it’s time for… TEH SMUT! D:Every story below this text will have MATURE CONTENT. Shoo, children, shoo!

Partners (last chapter gets NSFW)What if the girls hadn’t come in just then?  What course of action would Harry, in his desperate frame of mind, have latched onto instead?This fanfic made one of my most desperate wishes come true. For those who don’t know me, I’ll just tell you that Cinderella isn’t a matter of gender.

Scars (warning: mentions of self-harm)Ron is embarrassed of his scars, and Harry might be able to help.Ron is his terribly self-loathing self, but at least Harry is there to remind him of what we Ron-lovers know: that he’s loved and beautiful.

The Matchmaker (contains sexual mention)Sir Nicholas has never had a couple like these two…Nearly-Headless Nick ships Harry and Ron. So does the entire Gryffindor House. All in all, just what we need.

Exploring The Spectrum (NSFW at the end)Ron wakes up to find he can only see in a single colour.Very interesting mystery and clever use of a forgotten plot point. The resolution is basically “sex solves everything” but otherwise it’s a great story.

Hug! Hug! Kiss! (second-to-last drabble is NSFW)Ron loses Harry in a foreign land. In other words, Harry accidentally joins a Japanese boy band.This story is ridiculous, confusing, crazy, and absolutely hilarious. No existing celebrities were harmed.

Just Another Teenage Epoch - Ron Weasley, 1999 (NSFW at the end)Ron wants to be an Auror, and he wants to not grow up, and he really wants other people to stop kissing Harry.The classic mistletoe tale! Ron is not amused at all. It’s okay, we’re rooting for him (and Harry is, too).

Trapped in Winter (NSFW at the end)Harry and Ron have an argument. When Ron goes to storm out of the room, he’s frozen in time, and when Harry touches him to see what’s the matter, they’re both transported to a snowy winter wonderland.A surprising premise that leads to a confused, hurt Ron and a tight-lipped Harry, and of course, to Harry/Ron. Pretty nice!

That We Might Be Exactly Like We Were (warning: graphic self-harm, realistic depression, themes of suicide)'Everything just takes me back, to when you were there…’This author pretty much nails what depression is like. She also has several other Harry/Ron fanfics that are written just as expertly as this one, but be forewarned, they tend to deal with very upsetting topics as well. Sadly, I could see her version of Ron existing in the canon we know.

Slow Slide (get out) to a Better Place (warning: abuse and r*pe)Harry told himself that everything was fine in his relationship with Ginny, at least until he couldn’t lie to himself anymore. And by then, he thought it might be too late.  Fortunately, he has two very good friends who will always be there for him, one of whom might eventually be something more.Downside: Ginny fans should NOT read this story. Upside: contains Vivi’s most beloved ship, Romione + Ronarry.

Prelude and Fugue (NSFW in the middle)It took over an hour, from the time Harry arrived at work, for him to realise just how different today actually was.The “Groundhog Day” loop is wonderfully done, you can actually feel the weariness building as Harry wakes up and notices it’s still Monday, bloody Monday.And Ron is absolutely adorable - yes, I’ll say it every time!

Princes of Maine (NSFW at the end)Harry wakes one morning to find an abandoned baby on his doorstep. Little does he know that this is only the beginning of his most challenging adventure yet: parenthood.You want Harry as a single parent and not knowing anything about babies? You have it. You want Ron as a competent Healer who’s sick of Harry’s shit and determined to get answers as to why his best mate is a wreck? You have it. You want Harry/Ron? What are you waiting for, dive in!

Still looking for more? Take a look at this post!

#ask #vivi answers #harry x ron #shipping #fanfic recs #hp fanfic recs #fic recs #hp fic recs

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

Prompt no. 62. “It’s okay to cry…” - Timless, Wyatt & Flynn. Pretty please?

Oooooh I did not expect a Flogan prompt! Eeeeeexcellent.

I’ve been pretty rough on the boys lately so have some softness. Also tagging @extasiswings because she just finished an exhausting week after an exhausting quarter and deserves a reward.

Flynn walked around the bunker, making sure all the lights were off and things were picked up. An old habit, back from when he’d been a proper civilian. He was always the last one in bed and sometimes got home late, so he’d walk around the house cleaning up Iris’s toys, the coffee cup Lorena left on the table, the opened mail in the kitchen.

Everyone else was asleep now… or so he’d thought, until he heard a soft noise in the main room.

Paternal instincts, dulled but not forgotten, kicked in. He knew that sound, recognized it from Iris’s nightmares.

Crying.

He entered the main room, thinking it would be Jiya, or Lucy (although he was sure he’d left her in their room, dead asleep)…

Flynn stopped dead.

It was Wyatt.

He jerked his head up as he heard Flynn enter–Flynn got a quick glimpse of a red, blotchy face before Wyatt turned away and busied himself wiping up the kitchen table.

“…everything all right?”

“Yeah.” Wyatt’s voice was rough. “Yeah, just, y’know, insomnia. You good?”

“I’m fine.” Flynn dared to take a step closer. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“What?” Wyatt’s shoulders jerked in surprise but he kept his back to Flynn. “No, nothing.”

Flynn considered turning around and going to bed and leaving Wyatt to his peace and quiet. But… dammit. The guy had mellowed out a lot since his future self had appeared and told him some things that had made Wyatt go white in the face and not speak to anyone for two weeks, and he’d had a rough go of it with Jess. He’d been spending a lot of time with Flynn and Lucy, since Rufus and Jiya were busy finding out where they stood with each other after Rufus’s death and return and Jiya’s three years alone, and he actually hadn’t been intrusive. Just quiet, mostly, and extremely careful not to touch either of them. Flynn had gone from close-to-hating Wyatt to… something else. Half the time it didn’t feel like Flynn-and-Lucy with Wyatt on the side anymore, it felt like Lucy-and-Flynn-and-Wyatt, in spirit if not in practice.

And something in him really, really got close to breaking at the thought of Wyatt crying alone at one in the morning.

So he sighed and walked forward, grabbing Wyatt’s wrist, stilling his movement. “What’s up.”

Wyatt was silent for a long moment. Then he said, his voice cracking, “Denise told me my dad died.”

“…oh.”

“I mean it’s not a big deal, honestly. He was a sonofabitch, gave me a shiner once a week, y’know, drunk as fuck. World’s better without him. And I haven’t… I haven’t even seen him in over a decade so…”

Flynn yanked on Wyatt until the shorter man had no choice but to turn around, wrapping his arm around Wyatt’s shoulders and basically wrestling him into a hug.

Wyatt struggled for about ten seconds, tugging at Flynn’s grip, and then slumped, the fight going out of him, his forehead coming down with a thunk onto Flynn’s shoulder.

“I hated him,” Wyatt admitted softly. “He was awful, I don’t know why… I shouldn’t be crying.”

“It’s okay to cry,” Flynn replied. He rubbed Wyatt’s back slowly.

“How the fuck is it okay?”

“Because when your shitty parent dies… there goes any chance that they’ll turn into the parent you always wanted them to be when you were a kid.”

Wyatt’s arms wrapped around him and gripped tightly, painfully tightly, and he shook a little.

Flynn turned, pressing his mouth to Wyatt’s hair, almost but not quite a kiss. It felt like he was blurring the already-smudged line that had gotten laid down at some point, and his heart was thumping wildly at the thought of all the ways this could go wrong. But Wyatt wasn’t even making noise, he was crying that hard, his chest shaking against Flynn, and fuck, he didn’t care if he erased the line completely if it gave Wyatt what he needed in this moment.

Because nobody had been there when Flynn had had his moment.

“It’s stupid,” Flynn said, quietly, “but you go to bed hoping that when you wake up, your old awful dad will be replaced by a new dad, one that plays with you and smiles at you, one that doesn’t hit the bottle or hit your mom. It’s like how kids without parents wish they would wake up and find out they’re secretly wizards or the heirs to a kingdom, or something. And no matter how much you hate it or shove it down that hope is still there underneath it all just like… just like how no matter how old we get there’s still a five year old in us. It’s like how we don’t believe in Santa but we kind of want to be proven wrong. We kind of want to see him coming down the chimney. And when that parent is gone… that dream you had as a kid, it’s gone too.”

Wyatt gave a kind of strangled, sobbing laugh. “How do you know all this?”

“My dad was the same.”

Wyatt shifted, turning his face so that it was resting on Flynn’s shoulder properly, his nose brushing Flynn’s neck. “I’m sorry. You turned out great, though, y’know, a good person and all.”

“And you think you didn’t?”

“Maybe. I… I don’t know.”

Flynn had the urge to tilt Wyatt’s face up and kiss him, to lick right in, to show Wyatt he was valued in the most primal, explicit way possible.

But he feared that wasn’t what Wyatt needed right now.

“Come to bed,” he offered instead.

Wyatt stiffened and pulled back, his eyes searching Flynn’s. “You… what?”

“You shouldn’t be alone right now. It’ll help you sleep.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I–but–Garcia, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Wyatt stared at him for a moment, eyes rimmed red and agonized–and then he lunged forward, his lips crashing clumsily into Flynn’s.

It was a flaming car wreck of a first kiss, since Flynn was frankly frozen in shock and Wyatt was more proving a point than trying to make it good and Flynn could practically taste the desperation on him. Wyatt pulled back, looking terrified.

“That’s why,” he whispered softly.

Well, since the line had already been crossed…

Flynn took Wyatt’s face in his hands–Wyatt looked like he thought Flynn might use some judo move to snap his neck–and kissed him. He kept it soft, exploring, a proper first kiss, moving his lips against Wyatt’s until he felt Wyatt relaxing completely against him.

“Come to bed,” he repeated, the words breathed into Wyatt’s mouth.

Wyatt was clinging to him like he’d sink and drown if he had to let go, his fingers trembling minutely. He didn’t say anything, just nodded, and let Flynn lead him.

#mads writes stuff #mads answers things #a-singer-tumbles #timeless #flogan #wow this got long #lol #hurt/comfort #soft soft boys

[eternityunicorn]

The Encounter in the Forest

Author: eternityunicorn 

Genre: Fantasy 

Warnings: None

Note: A sequel/companion to The Miracle in the Forest. 

——————————————————————————————————

There are legends and mythologies throughout the world. Most of them are false, stories only passed down from generation to generation. Some of them are told for personal gain, to become famous, strike up tourism. Others are told to frighten people, to keep others at bay, which can work, but a lot of times has the opposite effect. People like a good ghost story or a good myth or legend. 

In one part of the world, there is a legend of a healing forest, a legend had been birthed after two boys entered the forest of Scotland, seeking a miracle. Now, it was public knowledge because said boys couldn’t keep their mouths shut and spread the word that there was something supernatural n the forest on their rich uncle’s property. Though really, even if they hadn’t spread their experience to the masses, it would have came out anyway. 

After all, the younger boy, Nick, had been terminally ill, but came back their uncle’s care completely recovered, like a miracle of supernatural origins. There wasn’t any way around it. The miracle had to be told. There wasn’t any escape, anyway to hide it. The boys attended a local public school and everyone they encountered would want to know just how a terminally ill heart patient became completely healed without surgery or medical attention of any kind. So they didn’t even try and come up with a cover story; though that didn’t mean that specifics had to be told. They could speak of their experience, but leave what was out there in the forest a mystery.

It had been the boys’ uncle Jack had told them to tell them that there was something special in the forest, but not to say exactly what that something was. “Give em somethin’ to gossip about,” he had said to them with a laugh, as they were leaving the house for school, after the younger boy’s healing. 

So, that was what they did and soon, the news of the miracle spread. Yet, none realized what the consequences of said miracle would be. How their lives would be turned upside down, forever warding off reporters from around the world, curious locals, and tourists. There wasn’t any sort of peace for the family in the Scottish country.

Now, the boys’ uncle and his magic forest were celebrities. Interview were requested and denied. People from all over came to ask to see the forest, to explore it even, but were turned promptly away. For a while, the exception to dismissal were the sickly seeking help. The boys’ uncle would allow these special cases into the forest, with mixed results. Some would come out healed, while others wouldn’t find anything and would leave disappointed and believing the tales were false - a scam. 

Nobody could explain why some would get the miracle of healing and others would not. It was a mystery and only served to strengthen the debate of whether or not the legend of Jack’s forest was true. It only brought more people to the property. 

Soon, not even the sickly were permitted into the forest. This was because it didn’t take long for scammers to come around pretending to be ill and in need of help, only to gain access to the forest and attempt to steal the source of healing for themselves, whatever it may have been.

Nobody believed it was the forest itself, but everyone had theories as to what it could be. From witches, to elves, nymphs, fae, and wizards they all had their thoughts on the matter. Even dragons were on the table for the source. And the greedy wanted whatever it was for themselves, so that they could profit from it. 

Jack and his nephews did their best to keep everyone away after the corrupted began to circle the place like vultures. They stopped letting anyone come onto the property, even friends and family. They began to fear what would happen to the miracle of the forest, if they continued to let people come near it. The greed of humans was poisonous and could spread like a virus. No, the risk became too much. 

For a long time, they did well in protecting the forest. Over time, people lost interest in the legend and it eventually faded into obscurity, forgotten. Peace had come back to the little family with an extraordinary forest. 

That is until tragedy struck.

Nick, the boy blessed by the miracle of the forest, had been killed in a hit and run accident as the then seventeen year old had been driving around with his friends in town. The driver had been drunk and the young man, riding in the passenger seat of his friend’s car, was killed upon impact. 

It was ironic; saved by a miracle and killed only a few years later in a car wreck.

Devastated, their uncle and his wife, had decided to move away. Unable to bear staying in a place with so many memories of their nephew. They abandoned the property and left it to the tests of time. Where they went, nobody knew, but mostly likely place they had gone was to live nearer to Mark, Nick’s older brother.

It was many years before anyone would return to the place.

Then, a young woman, curious about the old legends of the property came to the derelict property, looking to see if it was true. Her name was Rebecca and she was a grad student with a degree in history. Mythologies and old legends were her favorite things, as was exploring old and abandoned properties. So, coming to Old Man Jack’s place was a special treat for her, as there was both an abandoned property to explore and a legend to investigate. 

The large sized house was like a time capsule on the inside. Everything had been left behind, left in the exact same place as when the place had been occupied. A ghost of the past was this house, with the sounds of the previous occupants echoing off the walls and the furnishings left behind. Their apparitions almost visible on the couches, at the kitchen table. There was a thin layer of dust over everything, paint on the walls had begun to peel, and the stairs to the upper level of the house looked dubious. So, Rebecca didn’t attempt to explore the second level. Yet, despite these signs of neglect, it was as if someone had frozen time.

The outside of the house was in good condition, worn, but not falling apart. The vast landscape that had been part of the property looked like a wild jungle of overgrown grass that liked to tangle around one’s legs as they tried to move through it. That didn’t stop her from going out into the wilderness, heading for the forest in the distance. 

It was midday and the forest looked foreboding, dark and unwelcoming, unlike how it had been described by Jack’s nephews, whom had claimed to others that it had been warm, inviting, and in a constant state of springtime. It looked cold in there now. It didn’t seem like springtime to Rebecca. Yet, she bravely kept going. She wouldn’t be scared away, no matter what. 

She trudged on, entering the forest and found herself correct in her observation that the forest was cold. A chilling breeze, one that would be found in winter and not mid summer, blew around Rebecca, sending icy shivers down her spine. Furthermore, the light of day couldn’t be seen through the canopy above or at the entrance, once she entered. There was nothing but darkness. It was terrifying. 

There wasn’t any sound, except that of her own racing heart and her frightened panting as fear crept in. She wanted to run. Every instinct told her to. Yet, she remained where she was, paralyzed where she was.

Then an idea came to her and she pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. Shaking it, she activated the flash light and brought light to the spooky forest. It didn’t help doing that, not like she thought it would. In fact, the light of her phone only seemed to make the shadows around her bigger, making the forest even creepier. 

What the hell was this, she thought to herself. The legend she had read had been light and full of hope, like a fairy tale. This forest was evil, like something out of a monster movie. Was some demon going to jump out at her? It was possible, at that point. Had the legend been wrong? Had those boys lied about the miracle of the forest that had healed a dying boy? It wouldn’t have been the first time a myth or legend she was exploring came out as nothing more than a story.

Disappointed, Rebecca made the decision to leave the creepy forest as quickly as she could. Yet, just as she turned to go, there was a loud sound of a twig snapping and a rustling of leaves near her. She froze, her heart racing even more rapidly as she began to panic. Her heart felt like it was going to leap from her chest and set couldn’t catch her breath.

Was this how she was going to die? In some creepy forest she should have known better than to come alone too? What had she been thinking?

Suddenly, all thoughts stilled as a sinisterly animalistic growl echoed all around her from multiple points. There was something or someone in the shadows, hiding and watching her. She could feel their eyes on her, even though the darkness kept them concealed. 

“Hello?” She called, shakily. “Hello?” 

There wasn’t an answer.

 “Is anyone there?” She tried again. 

Still there was nothing. 

She started to panic more. 

“Come out! Show yourselves!” She finally shouted.

Suddenly, a creature leapt out from their hiding place and landed right in front of her. This creature wasn’t human, whatever it was. It was grotesque and green with leathery skin. It had yellow eyes and sharp teeth and claws. It crouched before her on it’s haunches, balancing himself with it’s knuckles on the ground between it’s thin legs. Really, it looked like some sort of human experiment gone wrong. 

“Oh, a little female human,” it spoke plainly, speaking her language fluently. It’s voice  was gravelly and hissing in sound. “We haven’t feasted upon human female in a long time. Such a treat is this.” It laughed cruelly, hobbling a little closer. 

Rebecca stepped back, trying to keep distance between them. She found herself whispering, “What are you?”

The creature tilted it’s head curiously. A look of puzzled offense dominated it’s features, making it look less threatening; though not much. “Why, I am a demon, girly,” he answered her, as if she were stupid. “Don’t your people still believe in mine?”

She nodded and nervously told him, “Yes, they do. They say you’re evil, the source of all that’s wrong with the world. They claim you’re the Spawn of Satan, in a good portion of the world anyway.”

The demon looked proud. It grinned widely, which was freaky as all hell. “Well, that’s good” he beamed. “Glad to not be forgotten. Though, I don’t know who this Satan is. He sounds like someone my kind would like. He’s probably a pretty one, all high powered immortals are. Perhaps I should look him up some time.”

“You do that,” Rebecca responded, seeing a chance to go. She turned in the direction of which she had come. “I’m just going to go now.”

The young woman didn’t get far, before the demon gave a warning growl and ceased her walking away. She had taken a few steps and then had turned back around to face the demon. “What do you want from me?” She asked in a small voice, as she noticed other glowing yellow orbs springing up from the shadows around them. “Can’t you just let me go?”

“We’re demons,” the demon replied coolly. “Starving demon, who haven’t had a decent meal in an age. Stuck here in this trap. No, my dear' you cannot go. You must stay for dinner.”

The demon howled loudly before it leapt at Rebecca with surprising speed. The young explorer had thought she was done for, that she was going to die in that instant moment, when the demon made it’s attack. Yet the attack never came.

Instead, a shill and musical whinny sounded and a flash of white appeared before her vision, intercepting the attack. Everything was in slow motion for a brief moment as Rebecca had closed  her eyes and threw her arms over her face in fear of the impending doom that never came. She felt herself bodily pushed to the ground by another body, like a deer or a horse. 

Once she connected with the ground, her hip hitting particularly hard on the unforgiving ground, Rebecca looked up to see just what the hell had pushed her. It hadn’t made sense. How can a deer or a horse come to her rescue against a demon? 

Then she saw her: the strange white beast of old myths and legends: a unicorn! She shone with a shining grace, even as she stood between the woman and the demon. The glow was ethereal, casing a light in the darkness. Her lion-like tail swished agitatedly back and forth, her deer head down with her spiral horn pointed at Rebecca’s would-be attacker. The horn was glowing a bright pale blue and it hummed with what she believed to be power. She stomped a cloven hoof onto the ground, as of daring the demon to attack her.

It was the demon’s turn to quake in fear. It shrank back onto it’s haunches, it’s eyes wide in panic, mouth agape with a silent scream. When the unicorn reared, cried out shrilly again, and then stomped both front hooves onto the ground just inches from the demon, it shrieked and ran away, disappearing into the darkness from which it came. Upon looking around, Rebecca found that the others had disappeared as well.

Once the threat was dealt with, the unicorn gracefully turned to face her, just as she got to her feet. Rebecca didn’t take her eyes off her. She couldn’t. She found herself overwhelmed with emotion, tears pricked the corner of her eyes and threatened to spill over at the sight of the unicorn. Her legs threatened to buckle beneath her as well. The force of presence that the unicorn’s shining grace possessed was as wonderful as it was unbearable. 

Rebecca felt a great peace in her presence, but was also unsettled by it as well. She felt beautiful to the unicorn, yet felt ugly next to her magnificent otherworldliness. She felt worthy to be saved by her, yet unworthy to stand before her. 

It was mind boggling, the contradictories she felt. In fact, it left her not knowing what to feel. She was confused and began to feel awkward as they stared silently at each other for a moment too long, before she finally got the nerve to say, “Thank you for saving me.”

The unicorn stood perfectly still. Her long mane rippled down her back like ocean waves. Her large sapphire eyes looked at Rebecca, and it felt like she was peering into her very soul. She didn’t move or blink for a moment longer, making Rebecca’s awkwardness worse.

Then the unicorn finally replied, “You are welcome, but you shouldn’t be here.”

Her voice was sweet and soft. There was a queenly quality to it, regal and full of the same grace the rest of her possessed. She didn’t sound angry, just concerned.

“Are you the miracle of the forest?” Rebecca blurted softly, unable to stop herself. 

It made sense. Unicorn were told to have healing powers. They were also symbols of purity and goodness. Perhaps it had been a unicorn that had healed the Nick kid all those years ago?

The unicorn’s long deer-like ears perked up slightly at her question, but otherwise she didn’t show signs of confirmation that she was the miracle. In fact, she continued to stand perfectly still, like some kind of ghostly figure. 

“You need to leave here, young one,” the unicorn said, though not with any noticeable urgency. “These woods are no longer safe for your kind. You must go.”

“It isn’t your forest?” Rebecca asked, not wanting to go just yet. 

If she could keep the conversation going, maybe she’d get some answers. But really, just talking to a unicorn was enough. Even if she didn’t find out if the legend was true or not, it was enough to speak with her.

“It is not,” the unicorn answered. “It never was. Only a trap.”

“A trap?”

“Aye, for those horrid creatures you had the misfortune of seeing.”

Rebecca inquired, “You trapped them here? But why?”

She had never heard of this in the myths and legends she had studied about unicorns. They didn’t trap evil entities, like demons, in those tales. They simply lived in their forests, healing the water and the injured, and seduced by maidens to be hunted by men. This unicorn seemed different from those legends, like some kind of hero or protector. 

The unicorn sighed, in a surprisingly human fashion, and then explained seeing as Rebecca wasn’t going to give up and leave, “I trapped them because they attacked humans. As punishment, I put them here. Near humanity, a delicacy for demons, to drive them to madness, knowing they will never feed on them again. Though, they nearly did on you, young one.”

“Attack?” Rebecca said.

“Aye,” the unicorn nodded. “It wasn’t a car accident that killed Nick. It was demons.” She spoke unbothered, as if she were talking about weather, but there was an underlining anger in her sapphire eyes.b

Rebecca gasped in surprise. So, it wasn’t a car wreck, but some kind of supernatural conspiracy? She wouldn’t have believed it, if she hadn’t been attacked by a demon and then rescued by s unicorn. “Why?”

“The one called Jack was more than an old rich man,” the white beast revealed. “Once, he was a compatriot, back when he had been a younger man. But as with all mortals, age caught up to him and he had to retire to the country. I was his friend and I liked to visit him from time to time. Also, he made enemies and I felt it was my duty to protect him.”

“So, the story of Nick being healed by the miracle of the forest, that was you!”

“Aye.”

“Then why didn’t you heal everyone that came to you afterwards too?”

“Because I was not always here,” the unicorn responded simply. 

Rebecca couldn’t help herself but to ask, “Then where did you go?”

“Everywhere,” said the unicorn. “There is always a battle to fight; a war to be won.”

The unicorn spoke cryptically. Her answers were simply and vague, as if she didn’t want Rebecca to know. Maybe she didn’t. Apparently, she was some kind of bad ass unicorn, who fought in wars. Old Man Jack too. Apparently, he had been more than some rich guy with a special forest. Rebecca didn’t know what to make of this encounter. It was fascinating and mind boggling. There was so much mystery and she felt compelled to shed light upon it.

“You must go,” the unicorn said again. “While the demons will not come for you with me here, you still need to leave. You don’t belong here. Go.”

“But -.”

“Go!” 

The unicorn whinnied and reared, her hooves coming down in a violent stomp to scare Rebecca off. 

It had the right effect, because she jumped at the sudden action and quickly raced away to where she could see the light of the forest’s entrance. She leapt out of the opening and landed on the ground harshly, but remained uninjured. 

Once she had picked herself up off the ground for the second time that day, Rebecca let what she had just experienced sink in, as she made her way to the front of Old Man Jack’s property.  On the way there, she found herself grinning a little bit at a time with every image of the unicorn that crossed her mind. 

Oh, she was definitely coming back, she decided. 

What sane person, who met a unicorn once, would give up a chance to encounter a unicorn a second time? 

Certainly not her! 

Yes, she would return.

So caught up in her thoughts, Rebecca didn’t see the unicorn standing at the entrance of the forest, just as she has years ago when she had healed Nick’s heart. The unicorn stood perfectly still, her mane blowing in the light breeze. After a moment, her form changed and a snowy colored woman replaced the unicorn, before disappearing into thin air.

#writers #writing #original #stories #unicorns #mythology #fantasy

[weirdandstrangedreamsofmine]

The strange boy in my dream who fixed me in real life

Last night’s dream was odd. Frightening and calming at the same time. I’m not insane nor have I ever been. Aside from one time I tripped on 2 tabs of acid and lost my mind for 8 hours, screaming and kicking on the floor claiming I was ‘dead’ and had been trapped in existential purgatory. It was horrible. But that was on drugs. I’ve never felt truly insane but I’ve been on the cusp several times in my life. Anxiety, or depression or intrusive thoughts will scare me into submission until I’m nothing more than a worrying hyperactive wreck stuck inside my own head. But It’s the biggest thing I fear. Losing my mind. I’ve never spoken about it because it’s weird to explain to anyone but a therapist and even then it’s still perceivably odd. But enough context, I’ll just get into it.

I occasionally have these weird recurring segments in my dreams and last night was one of those strange occasions. The dream began with me at my old high school. Everything looked different but I somehow knew exactly where I was. I recognised my old school field and spotted a boy I disliked. He scoffed at me as I saw him so I chose to avoid him and walk away. Instead I chose to explore this weird new school, everything felt familiar but I didn’t know why. Every room was a spiralling maze and staircases led to secret gardens and rooms I had never seen before yet somehow I knew where I was going. Down a set of stairs leading out of the school. As the bell rang I waited patiently on a bench until students began streaming out of class. I spotted a boy coming out with the slew of other school kids but he was different. I recognised him as though he were a celebrity I had been enamoured with. He looked older than all the other kids and brooding. Everyone knew him but no one else really seemed to acknowledge him apart from a few of his friends. I joined them and began speaking to him. I was careful at first, ensuring nobody I knew spotted me speaking to him as i was certain they would inform my boyfriend. I approached him and we spoke as though we were friends immediatey. I don’t remember what he told me but I remember thinking it was amazing advice and it made me feel so happy.

I loved speaking to him, so I carried on this routine a few more times. I would wait by those stairs instead of going to class, hoping to run into him and hear more of his wisdom. And Sure enough, i did. And every time it filled me with immense pleasure and joy to talk to him. This carried on a few more times before I realised I had feelings for him and it seemed like he felt the same way for me. As we locked eyes I also noticed my boyfriend see us together out of the corner of my eye. But he didn’t seem to be mad as he walked away from me. He had just kind of given up and accepted that I needed to be with this guy now. He made me happy and my boyfriend understood that.

It started to get late and I glanced down at the time. It was 5:40. School had ended long ago and my mother was awaiting my return. She was ready to pick me up in her car and I had completely forgotten. This is a recurring segment in my dreams; I don’t know why. But being late home from school seems to be a weird issue I’ve experienced on multiple occasions in dreams, although I never seem to reach home. Anyway, I began the long trek through a town I recognised as familiar although I don’t know how or why. Maybe I’d experienced the same place before In another dream. This city centre was run down and unnerved me. As suspicious looking strangers passed by, my legs seemed to slump behind me, lagging as though there were large weights pulling them down. I wish I had that boy with me now to assure me it’d be okay but I was alone. I glanced down at my phone but then remembered that there was no SIM card inside and no way of calling my mother (my phone in real life also doesn’t have a SIM and it’s something that worries my mum a lot- “what will you do if you get murdered or stabbed??”). As I looked down at the phone it decided to go dead and a fear crept over me. What if I did get stabbed? Within seconds of having that thought a hooded boy walked past me spouting abuse at passers by. As he approached me I saw that he did have a knife in his hand. I tried to run but it felt more like I was wading through a deep pool of water and before I knew it, it was too late. He had plunged his knife into my arm.

The shock brought my legs back to life and I began to run asking for help. I didn’t remember the way back home and tried to ask strangers. I asked one woman for her phone to call my mother but she refused, instead pointing me in the direction of a police station several miles away. I sighed and ran away. I ran down several winding paths getting more and more lost until I ran into the boy again. Suddenly my phone lit up and my mum called me. She told me that she had driven home and was wondering if I could walk back home and she would pick me up somewhere along the way. I told her that was fine. I hugged this boy and asked him how he knew I was here. I don’t remember what he said.

I remember telling him that I was scared and that I feared a lot of things. And then he said something that scared me. He said “you fear going mad the most don’t you?”. I was taken aback. I nodded and asked him how he knew. How was he inside my head?? He told me “I just know you,” and then carried on questioning, “do you believe you’ll go mad one day?”. Without hesitation, I responded “No! I don’t believe I’ll ever go mad.”. Then he smiled at me as if I had just answered the million dollar question on a game show and said “well then why worry about it?”. I realised in that moment that he was right. If I believed strongly enough that something bad wouldn’t happen and I stayed positive, then it wasn’t something worth worrying about. It was just a possibility of something that would probably never happen.

It filled me with such a strong sense of euphoria and I took his hand. I smiled at him and held him close as we walked back home. We passed my boyfriend who told me he understood that this boy was the one I needed right now and left me peacefully. on the way home, we ran into my mother in her car with my brother. They spotted us both, hand in hand and, instead of being judgemental, surprisingly welcomed us in. The boy told my brother “I have to be with her right now. We need each other” and my usually condescending brother completely understood. I felt like this boy was my soulmate and my guardian angel. He epitomised everything I loved and I felt complete and okay as we drove home. When I woke up I felt super weirded out that I’d had that discussion about my fears in my dream but also more assured. I felt like things would be okay as long as I stayed calm and believed it would be. Maybe the guy was a reflection of my inner self and my subconscious mind was telling me to remain calm. Maybe.

[advocatewrites-blog]

Simple/Clean Chapter 8

Simple/Clean: An Original Character’s Story

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (1, with mentions of other installments)

Synopsis: There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One Sky, one Destiny. And when that destiny is threatened, the universe calls on one hero to save the day. Or, more like, five. When the Earth is consumed into Darkness, Danielle Scott and her friends are given the Keys between light and darkness. If they are going to save the worlds and find her brother, they are going to have to go on a multiverse-wide road trip to find the Door to Light. If only they had a better weapon than keys.

Rated: +K for violence and occasional language

Disclaimer: The Kingdom Hearts series was created by Tetsuya Nomura and owned by Square Enix. The Final Fantasy series was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix. The films depicted were created by the Walt Disney Animation Studios and owned by the Walt Disney Company. Any other work mentioned or homaged are property of their respective owners. This is a non-profit fan-based work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the official releases.

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Chapter 8: In the Undersea Kingdom

In order for the Gummi ship to land, the planet had to have land. The Gummi Ship submerged instead.

“Hanna?” Dani asked. “What color was the Gummi Ship again?”

“What? You know it was yellow.”

“And there is a large group of us who have been occupying this vehicle that is submerging, yes?”

“Yes, I—dang it.”

“Here's a better question.” Nadine interrupted. “Why are we underwater in the first place?”

“About 75% of this planet is water.” Donald explained. “We're more likely to find the Keyhole down here.”

“Oh geeze, it's a good thing we didn't have to look for the Keyhole on Earth.” Katie said. “How are we supposed to explore, then? I don't think the Gummi Ship is too comfortable underwater.”

“Just leave that to me!” Donald said.

When Hanna left the Gummi ship next, she had a tail and gills. She supposed it was better than Donald's tentacles.

“Flounder, look at this! Isn't this the most wonderful thing you've ever seen?”

“Wh-what is it?”

Ariel looked at the device in her hand. It looked like her father's trident, but it was too small and lacked the power that flowed from it. “I'm not sure. I bet Scuttle knows!”

“Alright...let's go find him! And not come back here!” Flounder said.

“Since when have you been such a guppy, Flounder?” Ariel teased.

The answer was always. Flounder had always been a guppy.

Ariel swam a bit further. She probably had a bit more time before the rehearsal, and she didn't want to waste it. There had to be something else she could find in here.

She turned around the corner and found it. It was a vessel, she could tell that much. However, it was boxlike and closed, unlike the shipwreck she was in now. Even without being familiar with how it was built, she could tell that it was in pristine condition.

Voices came out of it. She hid behind the corner, only peeking out of the corners of her eye to see. Mermaids filed out, stumbling as they hit open water.  They were followed closely by a merman, and two creatures Ariel couldn't quite recognize. They looked like an octopus and a turtle, but the octopus looked too much like Scuttle on the top and she couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with the turtle.

“Oh.” The mermaid with hair nearly as red as Ariel said. She swam about a bit, clearly awkward. “Oh. Oh...how are we supposed to fight Heartless like this?”

“We can't.” The one with brown hair tied back said. She folded her arms. “There's just no way.”

“There's no need to be so negative about it.” The turtle creature said as he swam circles around them. “It's not that hard, once you get used to it!”

“Easy for you to say!” The brown haired mermaid said again. “Let alone Heartless, what if we get chased by a whale, or a--”

“SHARK!” Flounder cried.

All heads turned towards the source, including Ariel's. Discretion forgotten, she charged after Flounder, and came face to face with a Great White Shark.

She grabbed Flounder and tucked him under her arm and swam as fast as she could before it could even think to get close to her. The sounds of bubbles and splashing told her that she wasn't the only one speeding away. The strange mermaids were behind her, flailing wildly in a mimic of a swim. The shark was faster.

Against her better judgment, she slowed herself down and grabbed onto the hand of the nearest stranger—the merman. She pulled. The merman grabbed the closest to him, and so on, until they had formed a neat chain of mercreatures. Exactly as she wanted.

The extra weight of seven people on her tail was tough, but not overwhelming. Ariel sped forward. She didn't dare look, but the noise of the shark bumping into the remains of the ship and demolishing warned her of how close it was to her.

If she couldn't outrun him...she would have to find another way.

Her eyes focused on a circular device in the wreckage. There! She swam through it, and pulled the chain of mermaids with her. Ariel turned, and was met with a full set of teeth.

The shark snapped its jaws and squirmed. It's tail wagged furiously as it realized it was trapped. Flounder swam up to her to blow a raspberry at the shark, and jumped back into Ariel's arm as the shark snapped its jaw again.

“That was close.” The mermaid with gold hair said.

“Yeah, no kidding.” The mermaid with red hair said. She turned her attention towards the octopus creature. “Let's go underwater, you said! It'll be fine, you said!”

Ariel watched the group banter for a moment as the wheels in her head spun. Finally, she got the courage to speak up. “Excuse me. You're not...mermaids, are you?”

The seven fell silent.

“Wow, we're really bad at this.” The gold hair one said.

“Then if you're not mermaids...” Ariel said.

“We're magic users.” The octopus shaped one said with a sigh of defeat. “Or at least, I am.”

“That is an accurate summary of our abilities, yes.” The one with her hair tied back said.

“We came to this world to look for a Keyhole. Since we're not used to being underwater, we had to adapt.”

“So you're...from the surface!” Ariel gasped as she realized it. “That means you're human?”

“Well, five humans, a duck and a dog.” The one with yellow hair said.

“That's amazing!” Ariel said. Her mind was going too fast for her to really process what she wanted to say. “I've always wanted to meet humans! I've studied you so much—oh! Can you tell me what this is?”

She held out the trident shaped device. The seven stared at it with mild looks of confusion.

“A fork?” The one with red hair said. “Ah—you use it to eat. It's not really all that special.”

“Oh, I think it's wonderful! Humans always create so many wonderful things...” Her mind was beginning to slow down, and Ariel was able to process what they had said to her. “You said you were looking for something? How about I help you?”

“We don't want to drag you into this--” The octopus started.

“Nonsense! Nobody knows the ocean better than I do! Let's stop by my grotto first; maybe we can find some information!”

Ariel's Grotto truly was something to behold. From top to bottom, it was covered in items, no doubt recovered from shipwrecks like the one they had landed it. They ranged from immaculately made and decorated music boxes still full of jewelry that would make some women drool to fountain pens that had long run out of ink. However, it was evident that Ariel had kept them as carefully as she could.

Which was why it was a shame that half the grotto was wrecked now.

“Daddy!” Ariel cried.

The merman that stood in the grotto turned around. Instantly, Dani could tell that he was something important. Power and respect seemed to radiate from him. That and you could grate cheese on those abs…

“Ariel!” His voice boomed through the grotto. Impressive, since there was no air. “I thought I told you to stay in the palace! It isn't safe here.”

“But Daddy, I was trying to help my friends!” Ariel protested.

Ariel's father's eyes fell down onto them. “And I suppose they had something to do with all this...human junk?”

“It's not junk!”

“I told you to stay away from humans! Why must you always disobey me?”

“Why must you always treat me like a child?”

“I think we walked into something really personal here--” Dani interrupted. She was ignored.

Ariel's father raised the trident in his hand. It glowed with magic, and in the blink of an eye the other half of the grotto was wrecked.

“Now go back to the palace and think about what you've done.” Ariel's father ordered.

Ariel froze in place for just a second, tears brimming in her eyes. She swam off in a huff, Flounder close on her tail. Dani turned to follow her.

“You there. Key Bearer.” Ariel's father spoke again.

That got all seven of them to freeze.

“Ah—“A crab scrambled out towards them. “Present to you, his most royal highness, King Trident of the Seven--”

“Sebastion.” Ariel's father interrupted. “Go check on Ariel. Make sure she gets back to the palace safely. I wish to talk to them alone.”

“Y—yes sir.” The crab scrambled off.

Trident waited until he was gone to speak again. “You may have fooled Ariel, but you can't fool me.”

“We didn't fool her at all!” Sora protested. “We told her what was going on and she decided to help us!”

“Then you must know that, as Key Bearers, you must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds!” Trident's voice boomed.

“Oh.” Katie said. “So this was a lose-lose situation from the beginning.”

“I thank you for protecting my daughter.” Trident said. “But my ocean has no room for you or your Key. A Keyblade wielder only brings about death and destruction.”

“We're not like that!” Dani said. “I mean, we've lost three people--”

King Trident obviously didn't care to figure out where this conversation was going. He turned on his tail and left, leaving the seven alone.

Ariel ignored Sebastian's protests to keep up with her. She swam as fast as her tail could carry her, and didn't slow down until she found a private place where she could be alone. Her whole grotto, destroyed in less than 5 minutes! Why did her father not understand! How could humans be so bad, if they make so many nice things?

She didn't know how long she was there, trying to stop herself from crying, when she realized she wasn't alone.

“My, my...the poor child suffers such deep sorrow...”

“What a pity...if only there were something we could do….”

Two eels were circling around her now.

“Wait...maybe she can be some help...”

“Who are you talking about?” Ariel said, trying to hide the shake in her voice.

“Why, Ursula the Sea Witch of course...”

“She would certainly help you...”

Ariel bit back a gasp. Daddy had been warning her about Ursula for years, even if it was buried in all of his other lectures. Still...she was a witch. And a magic user was what Ariel needed right now.

“Do you think...Ursula would know where the Keyhole is?” Ariel asked.

“But of course...”

“Ursula can make any wish come true...”

“Well that went well.” Hanna said. 

Silence submerged. 

“Do you think we should go find Ariel?” She tried instead.

“I'm not sure.” Goofy said. “Ariel's a friend, but as a father, I see what Trident means about keeping her safe.”

“YOU'RE A FATHER?” The five humans exclaimed.

“Gawrsh, have I not mentioned Maxie?” Goofy said quietly, as if he was realizing it. “I've been raising him on my own for years!”

“YOU'RE A SINGLE FATHER?!” Katie and Nadine exclaimed.

“A-yup!”

“I feel like we should have talked about this before.” Hanna said.

“Not to mention, Donald has three little nephews. I bet he wouldn't want them to get into trouble, neither!” Goofy said.

“Not like that stops them...” Donald grumbled and folded his wings. “Huey, Dewey and Louie. They run a shop in Traverse Town.”

“No yeah, we've met.” Hanna said flatly. She didn’t want to reveal the only real interaction she had with them ended with her covered in hi-potion goo. “I don't know...let's go back towards the shipwrecks, see what else we can find.”

“Oh, tank goodness you're still here!” The crab with a Jamaican accent scurried back into the grotto. “Ariel is in grave danger! She's making a deal with the sea witch!”

Maniacal laughter filled the palace. “At last, the trident is mine!”

“Ursula, no! This isn't what we agreed to!”

“Oh? Of course, you're still looking for you precious Keyhole. Don't worry, dearie, I'll give you a front row seat as the Heartless open it!”

“We cannot find the Keyhole...”

“The Keyhole is not here...”

“What?”

Dani was the first to swim into the room, followed closely by the others.

“Why, we have company.” The octopus woman (woman? ...woman.) sneered as she turned to them. “I'm afraid you're all too late. The trident is mine, and the oceans are mine to control!”

Five Keyblades pointed at her, ready to fight.

“Oh?” The octopus laughed. “That may be more than I expected, but it's still no match for me!”

She raised the trident in her hand.

“Ursula, no!”

Magic shot from the prongs, and hit empty space in front of Dani. Then the world turned white.

Dani felt her feet touch empty space.

“Oh thank God, I have my legs back.” Dani thought aloud.

She then bothered to look around. Nothing. Nothing, as far as the eye can see. Only Hanna, Katie and Nadine were visible in the nothing, just as confused as she was.

“Okay, maybe I celebrated prematurely.”

“Kurse all SeeDs...”

Darkness began to form between them, molding and shaping itself into a humanoid figure. She was a woman, clearly; what clothes she had contained a neckline that plunged all the way down to her hi and left little to the imagination. Two black wings formed on her back. Her hair shaped and pulled itself into antlers that were even more ridiculous than the first ghost Heartless’ had been.  

“Oh, one of these.” Hanna said. “Alright, get your last words out so we can kill you.”

The Heartless glanced over her shoulder, and stared right at Dani.

“You think I kannot see you?”

Dani bit back a gasp.

“Seriously, what do you have against C's...” Katie murmured.

“Time kompression…the ability for several presents to exist at the same point in time...it is what draws us together.

It is what allowed Seymour and Kuja to exist in this realm again, only for them to be defeated by your hands. You have witnessed my ascension before, and you shall do so again.

It is what allows me to become a living god.”

The woman transformed into a beast.

“Now face me, Legendary SeeD.”

Dani swallowed her fears and summoned her Keyblade. Whatever that woman was blabbering about could wait. She had a Heartless to fight.

The air grew thick with spells. Dani swung her Keyblade wildly, basically batting them away. It was effective to an extent.

She ran closer to her opponent and jumped. Her hand grabbed the hair of the Heartless ghost, as long and as impractical as the others had been, and swung upward. She put her Keyblade between her and the Heartless as she began to fell.

The Heartless effortlessly raised a hand and put up a shield. Dani bounced off of it.

She landed on her back. It took a few seconds to get her bearings back, enough time that Nadine saw her and was able to get to her.

“You alright?” Nadine asked. A Cure spell was already on the tip of her Keyblade.

“I can’t land a hit on her.” Dani said.

“I’m only doing marginally better.” Nadine said.

“Well, not all of us can shoot bullets out of our keys, Nadine.” Dani said.

“Well then maybe we should think of plan B.”

As much as Dani did not want to admit it, she was right. Dani looked up.

“Time

will not wait

no matter

how hard you hold on…”

Something emerged from the endless nothing they were in. Not human, certainly; big and pitch black and beastlike, with red and yellow wings as big as Dani was. But not Heartless, she could tell. There was no Darkness emitting from it. In fact, it almost felt familiar.

It landed on the ground and tore at the non-existent ground on all fours. The disc on its back spun, crackling with magic and energy. It opened its mouth, and unleashed a spell Dani did not recognize.

The ghost Heartless recoiled.

More creatures were appearing now. Blue humanoid ones that engulfed the Heartless in blocks of ice. Red beastly ones that burned the ground. Yellow mammalian ones that made the air crackle with lighting.

“Yeah, but where are all of them coming from?” Nadine asked.

“We’re fighting a ghost talking about time travel, does it matter right now?” Dani asked.

Another creature struck the Heartless, and Dani saw her opening. She pulled herself back onto her feet, raced towards the Heartless, jumped and put her Keyblade between her and the Heartless.

She could feel herself moving beneath her, another sword striking the Heartless across the face.

The Heartless faded back into the Darkness by the time Dani landed. The creatures were gone as well, and if there was something on the other side of Dani when she struck, it was no longer there. It was empty again.

“I guess that takes care of that.” Dani said.

Nobody decided to argue with her.

“How do we leave?” Katie asked.

Nobody had an answer for her.

Dani blinked, and felt herself submerge.

“Daddy, I'm sorry, I so so--”

King Trident raised a hand, silencing Ariel. Despite reclining in his throne injured, he still managed to be intimidating. “This is not your fault. I was...wrong, to not let you follow your heart and help your friends. And you seven.”

The five humans, one duck and one dog snapped their heads up and stood at attention.

“I was wrong to judge you. The Keyblade has brought nothing but destruction to this world. You have been the first to bring peace.”

“But that means...there have been other Keyblade wielders before us?” Sora asked.

Triton gave a weak nod. “There have been many that have come here before. Soldiers. Surface dwellers. You have been the first in a long time. That is, I'm afraid, all I know about them.

“What I do know is the Keyhole.” Triton continued. “I had it hidden in Ariel's Grotto. My trident can reveal it. Keywielders, I ask you this: seal it for me.”

“Of course!” Goofy said.

“And then leave my ocean.”

Whatever pride Triton had just build up in Nadine collapsed in on itself. A quick look around confirmed the others felt the same way.

“You still trust us that little?” Nadine asked.

“I mean no offense...I only wish to protect my family.” Triton said.

Ariel looked sheepish. “Sorry...”

“Well, you know what? We're gonna do it!” Dani said. “We're gonna do it! And we're gonna seal it better than any other Keyblade master ever has! And we're gonna prove to you we're not all entirely untrustworthy!”

Triton chuckled. “You have much to prove. But I look forward to the challenge.”

“Oh, Christ, my legs!”

“We should have gotten out of the water a long time ago!”

“Look at how pruny my skin is!”

“Okay, can we pull over at, like, the truck-stop world and get a good shower in?”

Author’s Note: I like the Little Mermaid a lot more for what it means to me than what it is. As a kid, it was my favorite Disney movie (although I liked the Little Mermaid 2 more because I, as a young child who wanted to be a mermaid, could relate to Melody more than I could Ariel in the first movie).  Recently I had the pleasure of going to the Little Mermaid Hollywood Fish Bowl, a live orchestra playing simultaneously with the movie, and that was probably one of the best things that has happened to me in the last few years. It’s not the best Disney movie, and it’s not my favorite (which is complicated, but I’ll say Fantasia for now), but it is the one that means the most to be. And I know I already criticized Wonderland for being a very weird Kingdom Hearts world, but what did they do to Atlantica?

So I’ve teased this before, but this story is really in three parts. Simple/Clean is one standalone story introducing the characters and concepts.  The next part will explore the world a little more, and put our characters to the test. I hope to have the second story out around this time next year. If you can figure out this chapter’s villain of the week, than you may be on your way to figuring out where I’m going from here.

#Fic #Simple/Clean #OCS #Dani Scott #Hanna Scott #Katie Williams #Nadine Anderson #Sora #Donald Duck #Goofy #featured