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jamiscrazy4krerdly · 11 months

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Happy Mermay gamers!! To celebrate I ate a gummy bear and wrote an ENTIRE 60 Chapter mermaid Krerdly fanfic just last night!! Not really but trust me I am tempted, instead here’s something smaller because I found the concept funny. I call this one… “Fishing For Crits”!

EXT. SECLUDED ROCKY SHORE SIDE - SUNSET

Merbird Berdly, posing tentatively against a rock with soggy feathers: I concur, you WOULD make good company for my impending excursions… alas, the only way for us to walk along the same soil is if I beseech THE SEA WITCH *lightning strike x4* to grant me a pair of stick-structured chicken legs and you’d be a PLEBIAN to think I’d go to such lengths for a single travel companion- ACK!

Kris cannonballs into the water, splashing the avi-phibian and further dampening his vaguely water resistant feathers.

Kris, grinning cheekily behind their already kelp-filled hair: Lets go turn me into a merperson.

Kris snatches up Berdly’s wing in their fishnet-styled, fingerless glove covered hands and watches him expectantly.

Berdly, adjusting his glasses (GOGGLES??) as his seafoam irises glimmer: Y-yes! Lets!

-one epic five-minute-swim adventure later-

Kris with their head in an air bubble: *signing at Catti that ghoul should totally give them gills and shit*

Catti with tentacle hair or whatever: k *blasts them with dark magic*

And then Kris swims out the door and shows Berdly (who was required to wait outside) that they are a mer now!!!! YAY!! Then the two of them go off to dress up and travel together and MAYBE fall in love, idk… you can’t really say for sure… its up to interpretation, really… (they eventually make a habit of gazing longingly into each others’ eyes and exchanging ocean facts late into the night as they lock their tails together and lay alongside one another at the bottom of the sea).

The End!!!!

—

Okie that was fun, I’m just gonna type a bunch of randomly selected but definitely Deltarune related thoughts down now. :P

You won’t even believe which character I’m not done talking excessively about yet- it’s CATTI!! This demigirl just unlocked a new pronoun and by the goddess it is he. WOOHOO! Rockin that She/He/Ghoul swag… I probably won’t actively use it in my w.i.p fics because there’s almost always someone with a he pronoun on screen and I don’t want all that stuff to get jumbled up but it will DEFINITELY be in the fic tags and perhaps actively said by Catti ghoulself. YAYAYA!! Y’all have no idea how long I’ve been itching to post about this, applying the he pronoun to ghoul just makes so much sense to me idk how to describe it but yeah. YEAH!

I’m genuinely terrified of writing a Catti POV fic thing because I love a good side character that makes a lasting impression but I could TOTALLY flesh ghoul out more if I tried… maybe after I get through my current projects I’ll consider it.

SPEAKING OF PROJECTS!! I may or may not have three now. Derp. The new one is smaller and I’ll probably be done with it first to get it out of the way but I don’t plan to post it until the first two projects are done but yeah. Don’t think I’m going to do a Halloween fic afterall ;n; but there’s always next year.

Btw this is random but in my first ever Krerdly fic I had the two attend this thing called Alternative Prom and apparently that doesn’t… HAPPEN in the mainland?? I feel like I made it pretty clear what it was but I’m making a callback to it in my super secret fourth project *GASP* so I mine as well address it: Alternative Prom is a dance held specifically for LGBTQ+ teens, basically. I went once when I was in 8th grade and it was MAGICAL y’all… and then I proceeded to NEVER GET TO GO AGAIN because it got cancelled due to covid hitting during my freshman year and it hadn’t recovered by the time I graduated my senior year (this year) so yeah. I really hope it comes back for the future teens tho!! I MIGHT be romanticizing it a bit but oh my godssss was it such a fun night. I still have the rainbow flower crown and pin as a souvenir. I used to wear my pride shit to school like allll the time, I was a rainbow princex and shit!!! Hell yeah!! I’m a frickin inspiration!!

Ok ok less about me now. I lowkey already outright said so in my Valentines fic but I headcanon that Kris and Catti are exes, right? Well it’s about time that I reveal the dramatic story behind their breakup… Kris wanted to kindate Beastboy and Raven from Teen Titan with ghoul and when ghoul said no it was all over. </3 I hope I didn’t make anyone too emotional with that one. /s

BY THE WAY… a new challenger might have entered the ring that is my infested brain. I’m definitely not gonna tell you guys because it’s my little secret OK FINE it’s M.K!! They are the guy ever and I’m DEFINITELY biased due to their iconic role in Undertale (ty Ask Frisk and Co. ask blog for changing my life for the better). Anyway so yeah they’re awesome and they’re precious and if I’m alone for two seconds I’m going to start shipping them with everybody so. Uhm. Idk if the world is ready for my M.K x Berdly rare pair…

BUT THEY BETTER BE READY FOR CATSEI because it’s been festering in my mind an d oo ooh my g osh… it is so based……………. almost too based, honestly. Like in my headcanon-ing brain the puzzle pieces fit together really well (fashionista x fashion designer) but I don’t. Know... there’s like a mental block that’s not letting me enjoy much past the original idea of their first meeting. If I try to envision their domestic life together I end up with big blurry blanks in the picture where their bodies should be. Which is PRECISELY WHY in my SUPER SECRET FOURTH PROJECT that isn’t super secret anymore they will undertake a magical adventure together through a dark world and tighten their bonds and Jockington will tag along and maybe put them in precarious situations and help them… do something idk it’s just a spontaneously slapped on B-Plot addition to one of my older Krerdly fic ideas but idk maybe something beautiful will bloom out of it!! IN DUE TIME, because it’s gonna take a while. Yea yea yea. Plus I need the excuse to write Ralsei more. His jolly little clap has been one of my dominating stims for a while now.

Also!! Also!!!!! Uhm!! @v@‘ Not super related at all but as I briefly mentioned I finished high school recently and it’s scary (bad thing) and I’m not in contact with anyone I know from there anymore (good thing) and like I’m kind of a bump on a log that’s in dire need of a job (the library thing was a student position) and am definitely nearing a low mentally (very bad thing) BUT I am battling so hard and writing helps so much (it’s like the only active thing in my life right now lol) and yeah… it’s giving going into chat rooms in Amino and telling people I’m depressed (NOT SOMETHING I DID I SWEAR)

As a reward for making it this far here’s two out of four of my outfit boards for my not-so-secret third project that isn’t coming out anytime soon!! Once again featuring my ultra cringe sprite edit of Kris that gets me giggling every time and doesn’t even apply here because both of their eyes will be concealed in this one but yeah!

It’s so obvious I’m a Nintendo kid it’s not even funny. -v- (HIGHLY EMBARRASSING!!)

#*wakes up in a cold sweat* OH MY GOOBLY GOSH I NEED TO POST BEFORE MERMAY ENDS

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carewyncromwell · 2 years

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First things first -- I believe I owe you a tag, @magical-retales! 😉💖

But yes -- playing off of the Mermay drawing I did for Orion, here’s a tale circulated around Coney Island from the 1920′s onward -- that of the “Marvelous Manta” and the young vaudeville starlet whose heart he took with him back to the sea.

When the huckster Gilderoy Lockhart arrived on Coney Island with an assortment of rare and exotic freaks to showcase, he earned a lot of attention very quickly with his good looks and suave showmanship. Those other performers who made a living on Coney Island, though, found the man pretty insufferable from the get-go, none more so than the Circle of Khanna, a vaudeville troupe made up of five up-and-coming performers from upstate New York: sassy shining soprano Merula Snyde; prodigy-level pianist and violinist Ben Copper; dynamic dancer and acrobat Charlie Weasley; expert stage magician Bill Weasley; and angelic Alto starlet Carewyn Cromwell. When Charlie convinced the others to at least go with him to check out Lockhart’s exhibit so that they’d know what their competition was, they came across his newest acquisition, supposedly caught beside the shoreline of the island of Trinidad: a creature titled as the “Marvelous Manta,” with the “man” accented in large, dark, curly lettering. This was because this creature may have resembled a manta ray in its “wings” and tail, but it was a human man from the waist up...and the “Manta” looked both very tense and very weak, curled up in the corner of the empty tank it’d been trapped inside.

All of the Circle of Khanna was stunned at the sight of the creature, but Charlie and Carewyn instantly reacted with upset. Charlie pretty much immediately whirled on Lockhart, tearing into him for putting “the poor creature” in such a small tank without any kind of cover or place to rest. Ben started getting aggressive with Lockhart too after he tried to condescendingly “wave away” Charlie’s concerns. Soon Merula and Bill were having to try and fail to deescalate matters, largely because Merula’s tactic was trying to convince Charlie that it wasn’t any of their business, and Charlie was enough of an animal lover that he was frankly offended by that thought process.

Carewyn, on the other hand -- still not wholly convinced that this “Manta” was really a merman the way Charlie immediately assumed -- immediately got down on his level, her eyes flooding with pain and compassion. She couldn’t imagine anyone being treated so horribly -- trapped behind glass, clearly so badly treated and malnourished. However composed and stoic she tried to keep her posture, her blue eyes betrayed how much the thought hurt her...and that look in Carewyn’s eyes caught the “Manta’s” attention. He stared into them deeply, almost as if trying to latch onto her and not let go, and tentatively brought his hand up to the glass. Carewyn’s heart ached with pity and compassion as she brought her own hand up to rest on the glass too, right beside his. And in that moment, staring into this merman’s endless pitch black eyes, she felt so strange...like someone was right beside her, whispering in her ear.

Too loud. Please. Too loud.

Carewyn immediately scolded all of the laughing and shouting children who’d been swarming around the tank to point and goggle at the Manta, before she fetched Charlie and Ben and forced them to stop yelling at Lockhart. Bill ended up escorting the rest of the troupe out soon after, because even if he hated how Lockhart was treating his exhibits as much as Charlie, Ben, and Carewyn did, he knew there was nothing they’d be able to do about it...especially since they would have to share rehearsal spaces with that creep Lockhart whether they liked it or not.

Sure enough, that very week, the Circle of Khanna had to use the stage Gilderoy Lockhart had just finished using. Even after an hour, the freak show charlatan hadn’t cleared out all of his equipment yet, meaning a lot of animal cages and the large fish tank were still left on stage when the Circle arrived -- but, thinking of the lack of time before their next performance, the five vaudeville performers made do and rehearsed around them. This included Merula and Charlie performing a jaunty, but rather inane little ditty that neither of them really liked but had gotten them a lot of applause and tips, called “By the Beautiful Sea.”

“Come dear Jane, now, let’s get together!” “Don’t you love that nice summer weather?” “So let's go to that beautiful sea!” “I’ll follow along...if you’re for me...” “Anything that I would suggest to you...” “Yes, dear, I think it’s the best to do!” “So jump in my Ford -- ” “Holler, all aboard!” “Gee, I want to be...” “By the sea (by the sea)...by the beautiful sea!” “You and I (you and I)...oh how happy we'll be!” “When each wave comes a-rolling in...” “We will duck or swim...” And we'll float and fool around the water!” “Over and under -- ” “ -- and then up for air!” “Pa is rich -- “-- Ma is rich -- ” “ -- so now what do we care?” “I love to be beside your side (beside the sea), Beside the seaside...by the beautiful sea!”

Bill performed his magic act next, successfully making an entire wardrobe with both Charlie and Merula inside disappear, only to make it reappear and have Carewyn step out of it so she could do her act -- a much softer number called “‘Till the Clouds Roll By.”

“Oh, the rain comes a-pitter-patter, And I'd like to be safe in bed. Skies are weeping while the world is sleeping, Trouble heaping on our head... It is vain to remain and chatter, And to wait for a clearer sky... Helter skelter -- we must fly for shelter ‘Till the clouds roll by.”

In the midst of Carewyn singing this song, however, the other four members of the Circle of Khanna were startled to realize that the Manta -- who’d been curled up out of sight in the tank at the far corner of the stage -- had actually gotten up off the ground and floated up to the top of the tank, sticking his head out above the water and resting it down on his arms perched on the edge of the tank so he could listen. His eyes had even drifted closed while Carewyn was singing, as if relaxing. And when Carewyn stopped singing and actually looked up at him, his black eyes softened noticeably, and he nodded slowly and approvingly.

The Manta wouldn’t speak when Carewyn and the others addressed him, but he clearly understood -- far too much so for him to be only a dumb animal like a dog or a fish. And yet there was something so supernatural about him. When he looked Charlie deeply in the eye the same way he had Carewyn, Charlie said he’d likewise felt strange -- like he could hear a voice in his head, and even see things that weren’t there.

“I felt like...well, like I was underwater!” Charlie tried and failed to explain. “Only I could breathe...but everything was so...beautiful! So many bright colors, so many fish! And weirder still, it felt like...home. Like I was waking up back at the Burrow, smelling Mum’s home cooking...”

Shockingly Merula was the one who eventually figured it out.

“He’s a mermaid, isn’t he? Merman, whatever,” she corrected herself brusquely, “the point is, mermaids are supposed to hypnotize sailors. Make them hallucinate and see things that aren’t there. And I reckon they would’ve collided with a bunch of sailors that didn’t speak basic English, wouldn’t they? So that must be what this thing’s doing...communicating with you! In your head!”

Once the group had come to grips with the fact that yes -- indeed -- this Manta was a real, honest-to-God merman, it didn’t take long for Carewyn to come to the conclusion that he needed to get away from Lockhart.

“Look how weak he is -- he’s clearly not being fed well. And if Lockhart does well here on Coney Island, he’ll no doubt try to take his show on the road. What happens when he takes Manta away from the ocean, away from salt water? We all know how many animals P.T. Barnum killed off, in his stupid acts. And worse...Lockhart doesn’t have any vested interest in taking care of his acts. Barnum put the Feejee Mermaid hoax on for years with nothing but a doctored mummy and earned a fortune. Lockhart will have a show whether Manta lives or dies. We have to get him out of here.”

It wasn’t hard to get Charlie, Bill, and Ben on board. Merula took a bit more convincing, largely because she thought they could just get Manta away from Lockhart and then he could perform in their acts instead -- but after a decently long staring contest with Manta, she came to the conclusion that trying to train him to perform for a mass of people would be a fruitless endeavor.

“I always thought mermaids were supposed to lure you in,” she said rather haughtily, “not silently grill you on your place in the universe. Ugh, fine, Fish-Boy -- we’ll get you close enough to the sea that you can jump right on out. What would we need with a hoity-toit philosopher in our act anyhow?”

Manta actually smiled wryly at this, looking oddly pleased.

The next step was convincing Lockhart to collaborate with the Circle of Khanna enough that they could use “the Marvelous Manta” in one of their acts. After some negotiation, Carewyn was able to coerce Lockhart into going along with it, with the condition that two-thirds of any earnings from the shared venture would go to him if they turned a profit that night, and if they didn’t, then the Circle would take it on the chin. And so, as per the agreement, Manta would have a “starring role” in Carewyn’s act that Friday night. Carewyn also pressed Lockhart to let the Circle rehearse with “his creature,” so that Manta would be away from him long enough that they could try to find him something appropriate to eat. Manta was able to tell them through his own strange mental method that seaweed and fish eggs were acceptable, so Charlie scrounged up some seaweed and Bill cooked it up with some eggs into a kind of seaweed omelet for him, which Manta took to quite well. (If by taking it well, you mean wolfing it down like a starving man.) When Carewyn brought him a second, he ate it a bit more slowly than he had the first, watching her carefully. Carewyn tried not to look away, feeling oddly self-conscious by the depth of his stare.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m not used to holding eye contact like this.”

When she forced herself to look up, Manta looked almost sheepish. Bringing a hand through his hair, he bowed his head, looking up at her from below almost self-consciously.

I forget.

Carewyn blinked. “Forget what?”

She could see herself from behind, during the rehearsal when Manta first heard her sing. For a moment, the image of her was replaced with a shadow of a woman with a tail...a fish tail...

“You forget I’m not a mermaid?” Carewyn said, offering a weak smile.

Manta looked almost shy now. Carewyn could see herself singing -- and yet there was something off, about how she looked, in her own eyes...her hair seemed brighter, her eyes shinier...

You sound so like one.

Carewyn felt herself blushing now. She looked down, primly covering her mouth as she tried to obscure her smile.

“...Thank you.”

Once she’d collected herself, she glanced up at him out the top of her eye.

“...Why don’t you sing?” she asked. “You said I sound like a mermaid...but you don’t even speak. Why?”

Manta shrugged. Looking in his eyes, Carewyn suddenly felt like her ears were overloaded by sound -- so many seals barking and whales baying -- so many merpeople with different kinds of tails, talking and singing...

Everyone speaks. Few listen. And even less hear me.

Carewyn’s vision cleared, only leaving Manta behind as he smiled wryly, tilting his head slightly as he considered her.

But you do. You hear with your heart, not your ears.

Carewyn smiled modestly. “...It hasn’t been just me. Charlie’s always tried to understand what you need...and Bill and Ben have helped too. Even Merula...”

Manta shook his head. Suddenly Carewyn felt like she was once again crouched on the floor beside Manta’s fish tank, placing her hand up beside the glass. Somewhere far in the background, muffled and hard to hear, was Charlie, Ben, Merula, Bill, and Lockhart all yammering on. The whole time, Carewyn felt like everything was cloudy -- everything except for her and Manta. As if they were the only ones fully corporeal -- fully real...

You stand apart, Carewyn Cromwell.

Carewyn’s vision cleared, and she found Manta smiling slightly at her. The softness of his black eyes left her feeling oddly flustered and self-conscious. She looked down at her own hands.

“...I wish I knew your name,” she murmured. “I know it isn’t ‘Manta’...”

Manta tapped the glass to make her look up and cocked an eyebrow, almost amusedly questioning.

How do you know it isn’t my name?

Carewyn fixed him with a faintly miffed smile. “Well, that goldbrick Lockhart gave it to you! I can’t imagine you told him your name was the Marvelous Manta...”

Carewyn felt like Manta was laughing. It was completely silent, but his mouth was open, and his eyes were sparkling. Even the feeling of his laughter was so softly warm in her chest, though -- like a warm meal settling in your stomach. It made her smile that bit more sincerely.

“Please, won’t you tell me?” she asked.

Manta’s expression became a bit more serious as he considered her. Carewyn felt like she was suddenly surrounded by stars -- and then, suddenly, right beside one cluster in particular. That cluster seemed to glow brighter.

Carewyn squinted slightly.

“Is...your name a constellation?” she asked hesitantly.

Manta nodded. Carewyn visibly deflated.

“...Oh.”

Manta tilted his head, seeing how deep Carewyn’s frown had become.

“...I’m sorry,” she admitted. “I really don’t know anything about the stars. Jacob would know -- he’s my brother,” she explained, her eyes becoming a little darker with sorrow. “He was...just drafted. To join the army, in Europe. But Jacob’s read all sorts of books about the stars...about just about everything, really.”

Manta gained a rather pensive look on his face. It almost made him seem...sad. Once again, Carewyn saw herself, interspliced with the mermaid shadow, and then with Manta himself. There was also a shadow beside them -- someone vaguely shaped like Bill, but with a face that was impossible to make out.

I wish you could show him to me. I wish you could share him with me.

The sentiment touched Carewyn’s heart. She smiled even despite the sadness still clinging to the corners of her eyes.

“...I wish I could too,” she said softly.

She paused, her eyes once again falling down to her hands. Then, her mouth spreading into a braver smile, she looked up into Manta’s eyes again.

“Starlight.”

Manta blinked curiously.

“Until I figure out your real name,” said Carewyn, “that’s what I’ll call you. It’s certainly better than ‘Manta.’”

Manta blinked again, a bit more slowly. There was something almost uncertain coming off of him, and it made Carewyn’s smile falter.

“...Do you not like it?”

Manta was startled by this question. Then, his lips spreading into a fuller, brighter smile, he swam up to the top of the tank and actually reached down as far as he could over the side, his hand clasping and unclasping. Carewyn reached her own hand up as high as she could -- her fingers lightly grazed his, brushing up against his oddly clammy, slimy hands.

And as she looked up at him, his black eyes were sparkling like stars, full to the brim with fondness. It felt like his gaze was enveloping her, wrapping her up in the ethereal warmth of a lover’s unspoken name.

Carewyn Cromwell.

Sadly, not long after, the tall metal clock overhead tolled the hour. The sound brought both Carewyn and Starlight back down to Earth, reminding them of just how little time was left before Starlight had to be returned to Lockhart for the night -- and, indeed, Starlight had to make his escape.

The night of the Circle’s grand performance, Coney Island’s favorite starlet ended up coming out of the wardrobe from Bill’s act in a sparkling green gown with a long, mermaid-tail-like train -- and, all according to plan, “the Marvelous Manta” swam around the tank beside Carewyn as she sang, half for the audience and half for him:

“We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay... We could hear the voices ringing -- They seemed to say, ‘You have stolen her heart, Now don't go 'way,’ As we sang love's old sweet song on Moonlight Bay...”

Whenever Carewyn’s eyes met Starlight’s through the glass, she could feel him enveloping her in her name again -- see Starlight closing his eyes under the sea, resting on the edge of the tank, beaching over the water...

I won’t forget this. I will never forget this.

The bystanders were all charmed by how entranced “the exotic creature” was by Carewyn’s song. Carewyn even caught one person complimenting how “well-trained” Starlight was, as well as Lockhart rather pompously taking credit for it. Yet she couldn’t focus on it -- Starlight was still drowning her in his eyes, with images of himself closing his eyes under the water...of herself, shining so strangely while she sang -- her own face, interspliced with his own -- their hands touching --

I will never forget you.

As Carewyn came to the end of her song, she felt like her throat was being squeezed with her nerves. If the audience heard it, though, they didn’t seem to acknowledge it -- they were too enamored with Carewyn’s voice and the effect it was having on “the Marvelous Manta” swimming around her. As she came to the end of the song at last, Starlight removed his hand from the glass at last, spreading his black-and-white wings as if he were a bird as he regarded Carewyn one last time with a soft smile.

Thank you.

And in a flash, he’d swept up through the tank, beaching the water at the very top in an astounding feat of strength. Everyone gave a delighted gasp, thinking it was part of the act. They thought it was still part of the act even when Starlight soared up into the air, right up and over the edge of the tank, the stage, and even the boardwalk railing, landing in the shallow seawater below with a SPLASH.

Lockhart reacted with alarm and distress, but nobody else did. The audience burst into applause and cheers, even going so far as to throw flowers at the stage. Carewyn ignored them, however -- instead she catapulted herself off the stage, stumbling slightly in her heels, and ran over to the railing.

Starlight had swum about five feet out to sea already when he beached the water again, looking back at Coney Island behind him. He could just barely make Carewyn out on the railing, as well as her red lips turning up in a weak relieved smile. Smiling back more fully in return, he dived under the water and disappeared.

Carewyn rested her hands over her heart, exhaling heavily as she closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“...Goodbye, Starlight,” she whispered.

Coney Island’s legend of their favorite starlet, Carewyn Cromwell, charming a human manta ray soon made its rounds. It garnered her and her compatriots quite a bit of success in more upscale theaters. Merula soon started a career in the opera. Ben became an accompanist for Hollywood movies. Bill even opened up his own magic shop in New York City. Jacob returned from the War, bringing a British soldier he’d “picked up” in the ranks named Duncan Ashe along with him, and the two ended up settling out West together, up in the mountains. As for Carewyn, she and Charlie continued to travel as a duo, performing in theaters and in radio broadcasts across the country. As part of their act, as well as to more practically share their financial assets and squash any bad press that could come from a single man and woman traveling together alone, the two redheads actually decided to go for a lavender marriage. It was a perfect “beard” for both of them, honestly, since they were such close friends and neither of them had any interest whatsoever in settling down and popping out a whole bunch of kids.

“Hey, everyone just assumes you’re going at it like bunnies, if you’re hitched,” Charlie said amusedly at one point early on in their discussion of the matter. “Doesn’t mean we have to. And if you using my name makes it easier to take out a loan or two, then ‘swell.”

It was many years later, after the Great Depression upset many people’s financial state, that Carewyn and Charlie Weasley returned to Coney Island. Even though vaudeville acts weren’t really making as much money now with the popularity of state fairs and carnivals, they could still very easily get a venue there, particularly considering how badly Coney Island was hurting after its most recent fire in 1932.

After their show that night, Carewyn took a walk down to the dock by herself. She took off her uncomfortable heels and dipped her throbbing feet in the cool ocean water, sighing softly as she looked out to sea.

It was summertime, she thought to herself. Starlight’s constellation wouldn’t be out right now...

She closed her eyes, exhaling softly through her nose. She’d never forgotten Starlight, even after so many years and so many miles. She had only ever told Jacob about him, when he heard people talk about what had gone down on Coney Island, but she hadn’t even told her brother just how much she still thought of the manta-ray-tailed merman. Even after such a long time, he would appear in her dreams, out of the blue...especially whenever she and Charlie ended up beside the sea. It made Carewyn wonder sometimes if that strange connection they’d forged so long ago had made it so that he’d left some sort of permanent palm print on her heart.

Carewyn was only half aware of it when she started singing absently to herself.

“Stars shining bright above you -- Night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’ -- Birds singing in the sycamore tree -- Dream a little dream of me... Say ‘nighty night’ and kiss me -- Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me... While I'm alone and blue as can be, Dream a little dream of me...”

A sudden splash made Carewyn open her eyes abruptly. She squinted through the dark, looking around for what had made the noise -- she even looked around at either side of her, so as to check that no one had thrown anything over or past her into the water.

“Is someone there?” she called.

There was no answer. Carewyn had trouble relaxing her shoulders, though, as she looked around again, faintly unsettled.

Then, once again, there was a splash -- a softer one this time. Carewyn straightened up, looking around the edge of the dock -- there was someone there...

“Who’s -- ?”

As soon as she’d spoken, the shape disappeared with another splash back into the water. This time, though, Carewyn could just barely make out something long and spindly sweeping back down into the water --

Something almost like...a tail.

Carewyn’s heart leapt into her throat. It couldn’t be --

And yet, it was -- for in an instant, the strange human-like tailed shape had beached the water right in front of Carewyn: a shape with black-and-white “wings” attached to his arms and back, a long flipper-less white tail instead of feet, and the torso of a man with dark hair and endless, sparkling black eyes. A slightly older man now...his beard was fuller now and flecked with gray -- and his hair was so very, very long...as long as Carewyn’s had been, when she was younger...

Carewyn’s gasp ended up choked in her throat. Her hands flew to her mouth as she struggled to hold in her emotion.

“It’s you,” she breathed.

The “Marvelous Manta” looked upon her with more warmth than Carewyn could’ve possibly comprehended. All at once, it felt like he had embraced her in his gaze again -- enveloped her in memories of Coney Island, so many years ago -- of her singing, of bringing him food, of her smiling at the railing -- of open windows and ships passing through, all playing familiar songs -- songs she had sang, with Charlie --

Carewyn Cromwell. Carewyn Cromwell.

Carewyn’s eyes were flooding with tears.

“You...you heard me?” she whispered weakly. “On the radio...you heard me and Charlie?”

Starlight was beaming from ear to ear as he nodded. He kept bobbing back and forth in front of her, seeming almost tentative in how close he wanted to get to her -- and yet he couldn’t let go of the eye contact between them, nor of her mind.

Carewyn. Carewyn. So beautiful. Carewyn.

Carewyn felt the images replaying multiple times, in vivid color and accompanied by so much warmth -- her singing, bringing him food, her smile -- their hands, separated by the glass of his tank --

I never forgot. Never forgot.

Carewyn was having trouble keeping her composure. She actually had to cover her face at one point, just to obscure the tears streaking down her face.

He’d had her on his mind, just as much as she’d had him on hers. He’d missed her, just as much as she’d missed him -- even though they’d both clearly come to grips with the fact that they’d never see each other again...they’d both never forgotten. And now, somehow, after nearly twenty years...they actually found each other again.

It was so overwhelmingly wonderful of a thought Carewyn couldn’t put it into words.

Carewyn felt Starlight splash lightly beside her in the water. When she finally brought her hands away from her face at last, she saw that he was tilting his head to the side, trying to smile even despite the concern in his expression.

The redness of Carewyn’s eyes didn’t make them sparkle any less as she stared down at him, beaming so brightly that her pale face resembled the moon.

“Orion,” she whispered.

All traces of Starlight’s smile from before flickered and died, leaving a rather stunned expression.

“Is...that right?” Carewyn asked uncertainly. “I looked up the constellations in one of Jacob’s books, and that one looked like the pattern you showed me. Orion, the hunter.”

Starlight stared at her for a long moment. Carewyn had trouble getting a good fix on his feelings -- everything seemed oddly cloudy and unfocused. Then, all at once, with a large splash, he leapt fully out of the water. His hands clutched onto either side of the dock beside Carewyn, and he hoisted himself up, his muscles flexing, so that he was on her level...and in an instant, he’d brought his lips up to her cheek.

Carewyn was so stunned at first that all she could do was stare. She could feel her face flushing as Starlight’s lips ran over her cheek, caressing the skin with multiple, trailing butterfly kisses. Then, his toned muscles flexing with only the slightest effort, he pulled away just enough to look her in the eye again. His eyes truly were shining like starlight, looking happier than Carewyn had ever seen them -- she got the feeling that he’d never been happier in his life.

Yes. Yes.

The image of the constellation Orion fluttered over Carewyn’s vision, shining brighter, as Orion beamed.

Carewyn. Carewyn.

Carewyn’s face spread into just as bright and soft of a smile in return. She brought her arms up so as to help support Orion. She frankly didn’t even care how slimy his limbs were with manta-ray-worthy mucus -- in that moment, as she leaned in to rest her head beside Orion’s on his shoulder, she felt warmer than she had in her entire life.

Some stories claim this was the last time Carewyn and Orion ever saw each other...for like most species under the sea, merpeople don’t live half so long as a man can, and the career of a traveling artist makes it hard to settle in one place. Others claim that Orion was able to follow Carewyn from coast to coast, even going through the Panama Canal itself to make it to the Pacific Ocean, whenever she was en route toward Hollywood. Some even like to try to tack a “happy ending” onto the story that claims Carewyn truly wasn’t cremated and buried at sea as reports claim, and in fact was taken away by the fish and creatures of the deep to marry her one true love properly in eternal youth and beauty. But truly, even if this had been the last time Carewyn and Orion ever crossed paths in this life, it was enough -- for they had loved and known each other more deeply than they had anyone else...and that feeling they could carry until long past their dying day.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #mermay #orion amari #carewyn cromwell #my art #my writing #au #charlie weasley #bill weasley #ben copper #merula snyde #jacob cromwell

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robinette-green · 2 years

Text

New Chapter Up!

Dark Waters (4899 words) by Petra_Stone Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Five Nights at Freddy's Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Moon/Sun (Five Nights at Freddy's)/Reader, Moon (Five Nights at Freddy's) & Reader, Sun (Five Nights at Freddy's) & Reader, Moon & Sun (Five Nights at Freddy's) & Reader Characters: Moon (Five Nights at Freddy's), Sun (Five Nights at Freddy's) Additional Tags: MerMay, MerMay 2022, Circus, Sun and Moon are Separate Animatronics (Five Nights at Freddy's), Sun and Moon are MerCritters, The uncle is based on Gruncle Stan from Gravity Falls, Fluff and Angst, fear of water, main character is an adult Summary: When your parents died all their debt fell on your shoulders. You did everything you could but in the end, you were penniless and without a home. Reaching out to what relatives you had left, your uncle offered you a place, living and working at his little circus in the middle of the desert. It wasn't long after you moved into this little community that you found a strange abandoned tent hidden at the back of the grounds, a large tank inside. Posted just outside was a sign that read 'DANGER! KEEP OUT!' If you had headed the warning maybe you wouldn't be in this predicament but you also wouldn't have met the two most amazing creatures you have ever laid your eyes on.

#glitter rock #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf security breach #fnaf moon #fnaf sun #fanfic #fnaf sun and moon #five nights at freddy's #fnaf fanfiction #fnaf fanfic #sun and moon x reader #mermay fanfic #mermay 2022 #fnaf mermay

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stony-ao3-feed · 2 years

Text

siren song

Read it on AO3

by Areiton

It starts like this-- In silence. The merkin is shy, tentative about Steve. He runs most days, his eyes wide and frightened. He never sings

Words: 2211, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes, Clint Barton

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Additional Tags: MerMay, Mermaids, Silver Fox Steve Rogers, Warlord Steve Rogers, Protective Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Mute Tony Stark, Spells & Enchantments, sorta - Freeform

Read it on AO3

#stony #fanfiction #ao3feed #superhusbands #stevetony

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ao3feed-stony · 2 years

Text

siren song

by Areiton

It starts like this-- In silence. The merkin is shy, tentative about Steve. He runs most days, his eyes wide and frightened. He never sings

Words: 2211, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes, Clint Barton

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Additional Tags: MerMay, Mermaids, Silver Fox Steve Rogers, Warlord Steve Rogers, Protective Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Mute Tony Stark, Spells & Enchantments, sorta - Freeform

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/38986716

#stony #steve rogers #tony stark #iron man #captain america #fan fiction #ao3 stony feed #stony fan

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spewpurr · 3 years

Text

dimerntio

#spewpurr posts #spewpurr doodles #tentative smb tag #tentative spm tag #tentative dimentio tag #tentative smb au tag #au: mermaids #mer!dimentio #tentative mermay tag

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thiswasinevitableid · 3 years

Note

Hi there! If you're feeling it for mermay, I would like to request #9: folklore with OT4? No preference on rating: go with whatever feels best! Thank you so much and I hope you have a nice day!

Here you go! I went SFW on this one.

“You did what??” Dani stares at Barclay, shocked.

“I offered him a job. He needed work while he was here in town for his research, and he seemed nice, and, uh, and-”

“And attractive.” Indrid adds, turning to a new page in his sketchbook.

“Branchin out a little from your usual type, sugar.” Duck kisses his cheek.

“Barclay, he’s a folklorist. A folklorist who specifically studies selkies.”

“Yeah he, uh, he said so. I figured if he’s working for me, or even if he wants me to show him around, I can steer him away from all the selkies.”

“Except for the one showing him around.” Dani gives him a look only an older sister could give.

“It’s not like he’s gonna see me transform.” Barclay mutters.

The meeting ends much as it began; with everyone agreeing that the new guy in town was a potential threat and should be given absolutely no information whatsoever. It’s not that Barclay doesn’t see the man, who introduced himself as Joseph Stern, as someone after Keplers secrets. It’s more that the guy uprooted his entire life to come to an obscure, Alaskan bay in hopes of finding the thing he wants most in the world. Barclay sympathizes.

Kepler is notorious among selkies; a safe haven, a place where there are humans who will protect them, help them, even love them. More than one enterprising selkie, trapped in a loveless marriage or unending servitude, has tricked the human who betrayed them into going north. It’s rare that a human who committed such a breach of trust remains there long; and they always give the pelt back, usually while packing their things in a desperate rush.

It’s a pity, then, that Barclay never got the man who tricked him up here.

He finishes the dinner rush at Amnesty Lodge, located on the edge of the bay and a welcome stop for travelers from land and water alike. As he usually does this time of night, he heads to a dock, far from the lights of town or the ships out at sea, and sits with his feet in the water, solitary and solemn. Tonight, he’s not alone for long.

Silvery hair emerges from the water as Indrid, now sporting a lovely grey tail, swims over to him. They met when Barclay first came here, Indrid more than a little odd but appreciative of Barclays skill in the kitchen and bedroom in ways he’d been without for years. The gift of future vision meant Indrid was nomadic, in that he was determined to use his powers to prevent tragedy whenever he could, and so one day he swam away from Kepler.

Barclay didn’t see him for years. No one did. Until a ranger by the name of Duck Newton was helping tag seals that kept swimming too far up the salmon runs and got the shock of his life when the one he caught turned into a man as he was holding him. Indrid pointed out that his ear was already pierced and if they needed him to hunt somewhere else they could just ask. Duck who, in spite of living in Kepler for years, did not believe in the supernatural until he was holding it, offered the first apology that came to mind, which included inviting Indrid to dinner.

They’ve been dating for two years now.

Indrid rises from the water enough to rest his head in Barclay’s lap, “Come stay with us tonight.”

“I...do you really want me to?”

“If you do not, you spend all night brooding and unable to sleep, thus making for a miserable morning. Too, I am rather fond of your company.” Indrid tilts his chin up with a grin and Barclay leans down to kiss him, “and before you ask, yes, Duck remains fine with this. He says, and I quote ‘Barclay’s my friend and also if you’re hugging him I can escape bed long enough to get ready for work.”

He chuckles, “Okay, I’ll be over soon. I, uh, is there any chance-”

“No” Indrid shakes his head with a sigh, rubs his cheek against Barclays leg, “there are still no futures where we find your coat. Wherever that bastard sent it, he hid it well.”

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

Barclay’is in trouble; not only is Joseph a good cook, he’s good company too. He finishes his shifts sweaty and exhausted, same as Barclay, and the selkie wonders what it would be like to see him breathless and red faced in other contexts. He suspects he’s not the only one.

Joseph’s research regularly takes him into the national forest or the adjoining state park on the beach, meaning he’s routinely running into Duck. The ranger initially worried his inability to lie convincingly would be a problem. But after some cursory questions that Indrid saw coming and coached him through technically true responses to, he and Joseph have struck up a passing friendship.

“Joseph is also very interested in his love life” Indrid reveals while swimming circles around Barclay as he stands in the cold water, “not that I blame him. He has excellent taste in men. Present company included.”

“He’s just being nice to me. And I’m practically his boss.”

Indrid pauses his swimming to stare at him, “Dearest, when he’s not working, what does he do?”

“Uh, crosswords? Or he reads, and he likes trying new restaurants and going to movies.”

“And you know all this how?”

“Because he does it near me or asks me to go with him. Oh, uh, huh. Maybe he does have a thing for me.”

Indrid floats into his arms, kisses him, “invite him to dinner. The others at the Lodge are, understandably, still wary of him and don’t want him around. But there’s no harm in him having over for a meal.”

Barclay pulls Indrid closer, tickles his cheek with his beard as he teases, “Seems like I’m not the only one with a crush on him.”

“Not in the slightest.” Indrid grins, “Our lives have not been easy. I don’t know about you, but I intend to embrace affection and love whenever the opportunity presents itself. “

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

There’s no way Joseph is passing up this opportunity.

He’d been refilling his travel mug at the complementary coffee kiosk in the Lodge and asked if anyone happened to know which rivers had the most reported selkie sightings. After each blurting out a different answer, his fellow guests (tenants, really) decided on the Bluff Creek river as the best option.

He wonders if they know just how obvious it is that they’re hiding something.

Joseph is well aware that folklorists are seen as credulous and gullible. He uses that to his advantage. There’s no reason for anyone to know about his seven years in the FBI prior to this. No reason for them to know he knows that Dani will propose to Aubrey soon, that Jake is sneaking out every night, that Barclay is searching for something as intensely as Joseph is.

Most nights, he falls asleep under a burnt orange bedspread dreaming that he’s what the cook is looking for.

Barclays feelings for him are one of the few things at Amnesty he can’t decipher. He offers him a job, takes a personal interest in his welfare, and makes him coffee just how he likes it. Every single morning. But he gets jittery when Joseph asks him about himself, and some days he outright hides from him until they’re in the kitchen.

The dinners with Indrid and Duck aren’t helping his confusion. Barclay practically holds his hand during them, but turns pink whenever Indrid winks at him. And Duck…well, Joseph knows he’s good looking, and he’s never had a hard time hooking up while traveling. The rangers attention just makes him so hot under the collar he wants to strip down at the table. Which is why he can’t decide if Duck agreeing to be his guide on the river is a stroke of luck or a brilliant plan to keep him from noticing things they don’t want him to see.

When Duck meets him at the dock, his casual outdoor clothes unfairly flattering (Indrid likes the uniform better, but Joseph finds it hides too much of Duck’s arms and chest), he decides there’s no point in looking a gift hunk in the mouth.

They paddle upriver, trading bad, pun-based jokes until the wind picks up and drowns their voices out. It’s slow going, and there’s no sign of a selkie, but Duck remains excellent company. They make camp an hour before sunset, in a two man tent that leaves them smushed shoulder to shoulder.

As they’re comparing notes on growing up trans in a small town, Joseph shares the story of the time he nearly broke his tailbone after slipping on a packer he left on the floor. Duck guffaws, shaking the tent as he does, and ends up giggling into Joseph’s shoulder as they both wipe tears from their eyes.

“You have a great laugh, you know that?”

“Sound like a bird of paradise gettin hit by an accordion.” Duck isn’t moving his head.

“That’s a remarkably accurate description, but my point stands.”

He feels Duck turn his head, “Joe? Would, uh, would it be okay if I kissed you? You can say no, swear I won’t abandon you or leave you for the bears so some shit. Just, uh, been thinkin about it all day and figured I’d ask.”

“It won’t upset Indrid?” He slides his hand from his sleeping bag to hold Duck’s own.

“Nah. He and I talked about it. And, uh, his uh, his social circles ain’t super invested in monogamy.”

“Oh. Um” He wants to roll over, wants to pin Duck and kiss him until dawn. But if he does, it might mean he never gets a chance to do the same to a certain someone else, someone who he wishes would just tell him how he felt-

“If it, uh, helps any, happen to know Barclay sees things the same way ‘Drid does.”

“In that case…” he crawls from the sleeping bag, Duck unzipping his own and kicking it open so there’s nothing to stop Joseph’s hands as they stroke and grope their way across his body, “I have a proposal for you.”

Unsurprisingly, they get a late start the next day. As Joseph is paddling, he spots a tail flipping out of the water, far too large to be an otter. Before he can say anything, the roar of the river changes, turning rougher and deeper.

“Fuck, the snowmelt must’ve started earlier than usual, these rapids normally ain’t this big.”

“Should we try to reverse?”

“Maybe we can, nope, fuck, okay we’re goin through whether we like it or not, try’n stay low and hold on.”

Duck’s excellent advice goes out the window at the same instant Joseph goes out of the boat, a swell catching him off guard. He hits a rock at just the wrong angle, pain shooting up his wrist as he releases his paddle. He’s not panicking, but the more he fights to keep his head up, the closer he gets.

Then an arm is around his waist, pulling him to shore. He has just enough time to see his rescuer has a grey tail before they disappear under the water. There’s no sign of the boat or of Duck. A tremendous splash resolves one of those problems.

“Duck!” He hurries to where the ranger coughs water onto the pebbles, “thank the lord.”

“Nah” he coughs again, “thank him.” He gestures weakly to the familiar face and torso now attached to a tail coated in silver-grey fur.

“You’re a selkie.” Joseph scoots across the rocky ground.

“Indeed.” Indrid taps his fingers together, “I, ah, I am sorry my love. I know we agreed he could not know, but when the timelines showed the rapids most of them involved you both going into the river and in, in many of them one or both of you was knocked unconscious on the stones and did not resurface. I could not let that happen to you. Either of you.”

Joseph reaches out reverently with his uninjured hand, and Indrid guides his tail to meet him. It’s exquisite to touch, and as he smooths his fingers along it, Indrid purrs and rolls onto his back.

“Mmmm, already you are proving why it was worth it to save you.” Indrid grins, wiggling closer.

“You, uh, you ain’t angry at us for hidin it from you?” Duck guides Indrid’s head into his lap, petting his hair, looking warily at Joseph.

“Duck, I’ve known you and the rest of the people at the Lodge were hiding things from me, and that given the towns reputation those things were probably related to selkies. It’s not like there aren’t dangers to people learning about selkies and where they live, and I never made it clear whether my research would lead to that. It hurts not to be trusted but, well, I’m used to it.” He looks down at where Indrid is nuzzling Duck’s belly, “I promise, I won’t put you or any of the others in danger.”

“Mmmm” Indrid’s tail relaxes under his hands, “apologies, I am listening, but it took a great deal of energy to reach you in time and pull you from the water. I think I shall nap until our ride comes.”

“Uh, think you’re gonna nap in the car.” Duck tilts his head towards the treeline, where the rumble of an engine rattles up the abandoned logging road. A minute later, a door slams and Barclay appears from the trees.

“Fuck, he wasn’t kidding that you had rough time.” Barclay helps Joseph into the back seat while Indrid, now sporting legs, climbs into the front, “Duck, med kit is behind the drivers seat.”

“Great. Joe, c’mere, I can secure your wrist and get you some painkillers.”

“Right. Thanks.” He turns back to Barclay, eyebrow raised.

“Guess, uh, guess we have a lot to talk about later. I, uh, I should probably just tell you the big thing now. I’m uh, I’m like Indrid.”

Joseph smiles, “I guessed as much the moment Indrid revealed himself.”

“Oh.”

“Is there, um, anything else you want to tell me sooner rather than later?”

Barclay’s honey-rich baritone comes out as shy as a first kiss, “If you said you’d go out with me, it’d make my whole fucking year.”

Joseph murmurs in his ear, “The instant I’m out of the hospital, you’re taking me to dinner.”

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

There’s a sturdy hammock at the edge of Duck’s yard, overlooking the river. Joseph had no interest in it until he discovered it was the perfect size to have Barclay lay in so he could then lay on his chest. They’re in that configuration when he asks the question he’s been putting off for fear of upsetting his boyfriend.

“How did you end up in Kepler? Were you born here?”

“No.” Barclay’s hands settle on his back, “I grew up off the coast of California. There was a guy, a human, we’d been friends since we were teenagers. As we got older he got, uh, he got it into his head that we could go on the road as like a, uh, a sideshow act. That people would pay big money to see a real selkie. I hated the fucking idea, told him to drop it, and he did, went back to being the considerate, cool guy he’d been when we met. He made a big dinner for my birthday, invited me over and…” his fists tighten in Joseph’s shirt, “and when I was there, he stole my coat.”

“Oh, Barclay” Joseph pets his chest, “I’m so sorry.”

“I agreed to work with him because I didn’t have a choice. I hated every goddamn minute of planning, of knowing he saw me as a fucking meal ticket. One night I snapped, told him to give me back my coat and let me go or I’d make him regret it. He locked me in the fucking basement, and when I got out, he told me he’d shipped my coat far, far away, and if I ever wanted to find it, I’d better stay with him. Asshole didn’t realize getting rid of the coat meant he didn’t have a hold on me anymore. I left, looked for it for years, then basically gave up and moved to Kepler because I knew there were other selkies here. Indrid’s convinced the pelt is here somewhere, keeps saying our finding it is just on the edges of his visions. But I dunno. I think it’s gone for good.”

Fear clings to his heart, “Will you get sick if you never find it? Are, are you sick now, or in pain?”

“No. Selkies don’t die or get sick without their pelts. It’s more like...like a part of you is missing, with this ache where it’s supposed to be. Mine’s been gone so long I barely notice it anymore.”

Joseph sits up, frowning, “You’re lying.”

“...Yeah. Yeah I am. But what else can I do?”

“Let me help. I’m an investigative professional, I have been for years, and I can’t think of a better use for those skills than finding your coat. Than, than making you happy and whole.”

Barclay studies him a moment, then yanks him down into a kiss, whimpering when Joseph nips his lips and licks between them.

“Now, big guy,” he brushes their noses together, “what does it look like?”

“It’s the same color as my hair, with a crescent scar at the base of the tail from where a shark bit me. God, Joseph, I hope you see it some day, if you think Indrid’s tail is beautiful, and it is, mine is fucking gorgeous…”

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

“Joseph! How is my favorite connoisseur of cryptozoology today?”

“ I’m fine, Ned. And since I can see the dollar signs in your eyes from here yes, if you have new merchandise I would like to see it.”

Stationed on the highway at the edge of Kepler, the Cryptonomica is the kind of tourist trap Joseph can’t help but love. Even if the informational plaques contain miles of misinformation, it’s nice to be somewhere that doesn’t scoff at the supernatural or strange.

As Ned rummages in the back, Joseph circles the room to arrive at his favorite display; Bigfoot, complete with a supposed “stuffed bigfoot” whose fur is so many different colors it looks like a patchwork quilt his grandmother kept on the couch. Not for the first time, he amuses himself with the observation that the back portion resembles Barclay’s hair.

“Wait.” He says, loud enough that Ned’s assistant, Kirby, looks up from his desk.

“Something you need, Mr. Stern?”

He kneels down, pulling his penlight from his jacket and peering at the creatures lower back.

“Yes. I need a knife, and I need it now.”

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

“Goodness!” Indrid yelps a moment before Joseph bursts through the door.

“Barclay, Barclay look!” The researcher spins in a circle, searching for the cook.

“What is it, is everything okay?” He hurries out of the kitchen, then drops to his knees in shock, “it, it can’t be.”

“It is. Or, um, there’s a very strong chance it is. Look” He holds out the chestnut cloak, “the scar matches.”

“I, I, I-” Barclay grabs the pelt, holding it to his chest, “I must be dreaming.”

“There’s only one way to find out” Indrid grins as he pulls Duck up along with him, then tugs Barclay to his feet, “to the water!”

They’re moving so fast that Barclay only has a moment to swing the coat over his shoulders as he dives into the water, Joseph calling out to be careful.

And then is heart thrums, whole for the first time in decades, as warm fur envelopes him. His second skin sings into his nerves, reunited with it’s home, and he let’s the transformation take it’s full form. When he leaps for joy out of the water, there’s not a human feature to be seen.

Joseph cries out in triumph, Duck whooping out cheers along with him. There’s no sign of Indrid until he returns to the waves, at which point the most stunning silver seal twirls around him. The next time he rises from the water, he reverts to his half-form, savoring the sensation of moving it through the depths as Joseph and Duck wade in to join them.

He pulls Joseph into a kiss, dipping him so his black hair fans out in the water, “You did it, babe.”

“I, I may as well quit all my other jobs, nothing else I accomplish in my life will compare to the look on your face right now.”

“Oh pet” Indrid smiles, “you’ve not seen anything yet. Did I say that right?”

“Close enough, sugar.”

“Come, dearest, I’ve been waiting for years to see if you can out-swim me.”

“You’re fucking on” Barclay kisses Joseph once more for good measure, “be right back.”

As he speeds through the water, Indrid keeping pace with him, he just makes out the conversation behind them.

“You, uh, you know givin a selkie their pelt back is a marriage proposal, right?”

“Yes. But we can talk about that later, all four of us.”

#OT4: Government Men and Their Cryptid Boyfriends #mermay fills #Indrid cold/Barclay #indruck #sternclay #duck newton/agent stern

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ladynightmare913 · 3 years

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Ink Bloom

Greetings and welcome to the prologue of Ink Bloom!

This is an original story inspired by Asian folklore and Jellyfish! Since this month is Mermay, I wanted to write something about mermaids, but I just didn’t have a clue as to what to do until it hit me like a tidal wave and I knew I had to bring this to life in writing! As always, I would like to say a special thank you to my best friend Olivia (@asunshinepuff ) for joining me in writing this spectacular world onto paper!

For the readers who enjoy Red Rose, Blood Moon, don’t worry I will still be writing chapters and I hope you will enjoy this story as well!

This story only has original characters created by Olivia and myself. For those who want to be tagged, feel free to send an ask to me or Olivia on her blog. If you have any questions, theories, or curiosities about any of our characters or how the story will progress, send them to the ask box!

Now without further adieu, let's dive into this new adventure!

Prologue: For Elodie

The rough waves crashed against the shoreline, the wind howled through the trees, and deep beneath the waves, the fish swam for shelter in the coral and anemones. The sea picked up stranded fish and drifting debris in their massive wake.

One wave managed to pull the largest creature in the reef. A creature with a long serpentine body covered in shimmering deep indigo scales, four long powerful limbs with sharp talons at the end, a mane of bright pink frills, like a jellyfish, joined to a long pink snout with a mouth full of sharp pearl white fangs, a pair of glowing indigo eyes and a crown of deep indigo horns that looked like branches of coral. It tried to escape the pull, but even a creature as strong as them could not overcome the powerful pull of the whirlpool-like waves.

The waves rolled the large creature, and crashed against the rocky shore, knocking it unconscious.

The ocean storm took its course, and the people who weathered through it all rushed to the beach to collect the fish and seaweed left behind. The tide pools with many stranded creatures.

A man with medium-length brown hair, light brown eyes, and light skin were among the people who adjourned at the poolside. He was dressed in a seafoam blue t-shirt, with a black long sleeve shirt beneath it, simple jeans, and black tennis shoes.

The man walked back and forth between the pools of water and the shoreline, carefully returning those stranded creatures that were still living back to their homes. The fact that his shoes were now soaked through hardly was a concern for him. As he walked back up the rocky shores, much further than expected from the rest, he spotted something shiny in the corner of his eye.

There inside a large tidepool, was a tiny very frilly snake with tiny horns. The man had never seen a species of coral snakes like this before, as most were banded with colorful stripes or spots, and never containing frills. Slowly crouching down as he reaches the small animal, he tilts his head in observation, he sees a long gash along the left side of its body, and it is unconscious.

How strange, the man muses to himself, he has never seen a creature quite like this before. It must be a species native to the island. He reaches out both hands and scoops his hands underneath to not startle the creature back to consciousness. Lifting the snake in his arms, he stands once more and walks along the shoreline- avoiding the rest of the crowd to avoid confrontation of questions and took it back to his hotel room. There he can safely treat the creature’s wounds, and return them to the sea. Even if he was curious about it and wanted to study it further.

It’s what Elodie would have wanted him to do.

It didn’t take the man long to treat the wound, and placed the little creature in a decent-sized saltwater fish tank, that he had cleared out the fish earlier, and left it to sleep and rest. He watched the creature for a long while, before returning to his desk, drawing a quick sketch of the little creature as it slept.

It was hours later, nearing midnight when the creature finally awoke, very startled by its small tank and in a strange place. The man noticed the creature was awake when it started splashing against the walls of the tank to escape.

“Hey, hey easy!”

He rose from his desk and reached the tank, the creature backed up against the walls and hissed. The man chuckled with a curious tilt of his head.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

The creature didn’t seem assured but stopped hissing. The man hummed.

“Maybe you are a snake.”

It seemed like it was glaring at him.

“A very pretty and intelligent snake.”

The man reached for a cooler left by the tank, opening it, he used a tong to pick a large sardine from a Tupperware, then opened the lid of the creature’s tank.

“You must be hungry.”

The frilly snake didn’t move, instead opting to hiss at the offered food.

“It’s not poison, it’s food.” The man huffed.

The creature blinked skeptically. The man stared at it in amazement.

“A snake that can blink?” He watched it for a long while, but the creature did nothing further. With a sigh, he looked at the sardine. “Do you not eat fish?”

When the man looked away, the creature then lunged for the fish, ripping from the tongs and swallowing it whole.

The man stared in awe and mild horror. “Alright, you do eat fish.”

The creature, curled tightly around itself, its eyes gleaming. The man deemed, at least to him, the creature to be smug. The man shook his head in amusement.

“Once you're fully recovered, I’ll return you back to the ocean.” The man vowed, and the creature seemed to believe him.

The man kept the creature for three days, changed the dressing on its wound, and kept it well fed. One of his colleagues visited his room and was shocked at the sight of the strange animal.

“What is it?” His colleague asked.

The man simply shrugged, “I don’t know, it might be a species of sea snake.”

His colleague was a tall man with blonde hair and grey eyes looked to the man. “You haven’t taken samples?”

“It’s injured.”

“True, I guess you can take a sample once you take it back to your lab.”

The man shook his head as the creature looked at both men, cocking its head adorably. In their short time together, the man had learned that the creature can breathe both in and out of the water, it can escape its tank, it has four tiny limbs, and it lets out a light chirp that sounds almost like a cat purring when it’s content with its meal.

“I’m not taking it back to California, I’m returning it back to the sea.”

His colleague frowned. “Are you serious? This could be a new species! You could become famous.”

“I don’t care about that, and besides I already promised.”

“To who?” His friend sighed in exasperation.

“Elodie.” Was the man's response.

“You could name the species Elodie.”

The man glared at his colleague who stayed silent for the rest of his stay, which wasn’t long. The following day, the man deemed the creature healthy and strong enough to be returned back into the wild.

The man returned to the same beach where he had found the creature. Opening the lid of the large cooler, he lays it on its side and backs away. The creature hesitantly walked out, and at the sight of the blue waves, it ran towards it but abruptly stopped, turning to look back at the human.

The man smiled as the creature cocked its head to the side, giving him a tentative chirp.

“Go.”

And that was all the creature needed before it continued on its path back home. And the man followed the strange creature’s example and returned to his home back in California.

Two years later, on the shores of California, the full moon reflected across the blue ocean, tourists and visitors had long returned home to sleep, when a tall Asian woman walked out from the ocean to the sandy shoreline. The woman was dressed in a long traditional Chinese-styled pink dress, with a dark indigo outer robe and matching flats. She had pale skin, long silky ink blue hair, bright pink lips, and glowing indigo eyes.

Indigo eyes caught the sight of an aquarium resting upon the rocky cliffside. She smiled.

#Original Story #Original Characters #Our story #Our ocs #Ladynightmare ocs #asunshinepuff ocs #Cw brief mention of wounds #Magic #Asian Folklore #Jellyfish #Elodie #Mystery Man #Mystery Woman #Frilly four legged snake?#Large Serpentine Creature

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brokenjardaantech · 3 years

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blog directory

10 mar 2021 update: index being updated weekly to reflect progress of Blue-tinted Red Walls.

28 jan 2021 update: finally decided to make a complete index of sorts for my fics. they will be sorted by series first and then the ficverse’s chronological within the series. please do let me know if the links are broken.

groom lake aftermath (detroit: become human/mass effect crossover) [in progress]

pairings (will be updated as series continues): hankcon, allen60, rk1700, simarkus, jon grissom/allen (jonallen), jerralph

major warnings: non-consensual body modification, canon-typical violence, mentions on parentification, temporary character death

works involved according to chronological order (note 27 Aug 2021: all allen art week entries are no longer considered hard canon and are more proto-canon, so read them with a pinch of salt concerning their place in the canonical timeline):

allen art week day 2: college au

allen art week day 1+ 7: vacation + acceptance

blue-tinted red walls (2020 dbh au big bang entry): [finished]

prologue: a mistake or accidental prophet?

chapter 1: beginnings, never expected

chapter 2: ironies and contradictions

chapter 3: a piss-poor guide on how to be (and not to be) a Human

chapter 4: out of control

chapter 5: the threads of life

chapter 6: running out of time

chapter 7: power unleashed

chapter 8: into no man’s land

chapter 9: a moment of reprieve, full with scheming and self-sacrificing idiots

chapter 10: all in

chapter 11: the luck in survivability

epilogue: after

allen art week day 5: scars (concurrent with work below)

dig site under a red sky (rk1700 december prompt fills): [finished]

day 1: meeting

day 2: secret

day 3: vulnerable

day 4, 9, 23, 28: broken/damaged; sensory overload/overheat; resurrection; instinct

day 5, 6, 13: superior/replacement; comfort; assemble/disassemble

day 7: machine

day 8, 12, 14: hands; dissimilarity; focus

day 10, 27: structure; home

day 11, 19, 20, 30: warmth; devotion; fantasy; cherish (nsfw)

day 15: snow

day 16: soulmate

day 17, 21: connection; pulse

day 22: carry

day 24: identity

day 25: mirror

day 18, 26: human; possessiveness/jealousy/greed

day 29: praise

who wrote history if there were no victors? (found family big bang entry) [in progress]

prologue: into the deep end

chapter 1: gavin’s trial (1)

the invisible price (rupert- and josh-centric)

gloves (simarkus one-shot)

allen art week [finished]

pairing(s): gen, allen60

major warnings: non-consensual body modification, canon compliant violence, mentions on parentification, temporary character death

day 1+ 7: vacation + acceptance

day 2: college au

day 3: coffee

day 4: western au

day 5: scars (nsfw)

day 6: android au

a man, an android, and a somewhere in between

fandom: detroit: become human

pairing: captain allen/simon (siallen)

major warnings: implied past non-consensual body modification on a child

the trust they lose

on a timer: discussions of future child death

abstract ghosts, concrete lives: insomnia, amnesia, flashbacks, nightmares

bricc nines (tentative)

fandom: detroit: become human

pairings: rk1700, minor simarkus

major warnings: overall dark themes, violent revolution route

only me, for you: major character death

the resurrected, cherished: nsfw, rough sex, limb removal, egg connor and nines; also prompt fill for rk1700 Blooming event

absorbance of the deep [abandoned and unfinished]

fandom: detroit: become human

rating: mature

relationship: simarkus, simon & josh & north, simon & daniel

other tags: mermay prompt challenge; sort of modern fantasy

chapter 1: first contact

chapter 2: an actual meeting

chapter 3: schemes and promises

chapter 4: that’s him?

chapter 5: rest

chapter 6: new duties

chapter 7: summary of remaining plotlines

archive [complete]

rating: M

relationship: hank anderson/connor

other tags: Archive (2020) AU, car accidents, implied sexual content

part 1

part 2

optional lore dump

an anchoring bolt [in progress]

rating: explicit

relationship: nivanfield

other tags: mpreg, canon-typical violence, non-linear narrative

Part 0: 17 Oct 2013

Part -2: 15 Jul 2013 - 17 Jul 2013

Part 1: 18 Oct 2013 - 1 Nov 2013

Part 2: 1 Nov 2013

devotion [one-shot series]

rating: explicit (in general), teen and up (select one-shots)

relationship: nivanfield

other tags: memory loss, cyborg piers, fluff, angst, smut

red snakes and multi-layered cakes

how Chris Redfield nearly lost his boyfriend

cutting edge

fragmented memories:

a walk in the park

(un)familiar faces

a temporary moment of bliss

a curve of cold

an impromptu announcement

scenes from the future (ficlet collection):

noodles

gods bound by rules

rating: mature

relationship: allen60, future jonallen60

other tags: alternate universe - mass effect fusion, space, mild sexual content

chapter 1: the catalyst

individual works

detroit: become human

late at home:

rating: gen

relationship: hank anderson/original male character

other tags: parent!hank, kid!mermaid!connor, kid!mermaid!nines; mermaid au

markus manfred and his terrible (and amazing) summer camp experience

rating: main story teen and up, additional smut explicit

relationship: connor/markus

other tags: human au, teen au (smut is set when they are grown up)

a dream not coming true

rating: T

relationship: captain allen/original male character

other tags: suicidal thoughts, implied mpreg, implied child death, implied character death, self-hatred

eternity:

rating: M

relationship: allen/connor

other tags: Non-Explicit Sex, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Hopeful Ending, Fluff and Smut

if we want to

rating: T

relationship: connor/north

other tags: dirty bomb ending, pre-relationship

requirements of frog-holding

rating: G

relationship: rk1700

other tags: frogs

Allen's reflection

rating: E

relationship: jonallen (allen/oc)

other tags: demisexuality, power play, size kink, come eating, multiple orgasms, light dom/sub, stream of consciousness

practical gifts

rating: T

relationship: simarkus

other tags: loss of trust, open ending, secrecy, lying, Simon is sus

nivanfield (Chris Redfield/Piers Nivans)

i found the sea because of you:

rating: T

other tags: emotional hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, self-hatred, self-esteem issues, dissociation, ptsd

miscellaneous

a road not taken:

relationship: nero/ayel (star trek)

content warning: focus on character death

character sketch (1):

original work

a sketch in the format of two reddit posts

content warnings: amnesia, dissociation

#directory

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