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marina41trench · 2 months

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Nikaidou Yamato - 16PRODUCERS RabbiChat

Tamaki: Iorin come to Yama-san’s rooooom

Tamaki: Hurryyyy

Tamaki: I

Tamaki: o

Tamaki: riiiiiiin

Iori: How vexing.

Iori: Or rather, there is still time.

Have you done your homework?

Tamaki: (king pudding emoji) (cat emoji) (rabbit emoji)

Iori: Please do not dodge my question with such emoji.

Tamaki: Geeeeez Yama-san you should get him here too!

Yamato: Ichi

Yamato: The room’s tidier than before and I’ve prepared zabuton[1]. Will you come here?

Iori: Somehow, the way you invite sounds repulsive?

Yamato: No way?!

Tamaki: The way you invite sounds like an old man

Yamato: I’m the lead today, right…?

Iori: Anyway, I’ll be on my way.

Tamaki:

Tsumugi: Thank you for your work!

I was wondering when I’ll get a notification, but everyone’s already assembled…!

Yamato: Great work, Manager

The three of us have gathered in my room just now

Yamato: Tama laid out lots of sweets and juice

Iori: It’s like a field trip

Tsumugi: I can imagine it! (laugh)

What kind of sweets did you prepare?

Tamaki: Shredded and dried squid[2], crackers, jerky, choco, potato chips, gummies, marshmallow, cookie

Yamato: I’m thankful for the first half of the list

Iori: It is getting late, so let us start

Tsumugi: I agree…!

So, let me explain the aim of this project once again.

Tsumugi: Our discussion will be done via RabbiChat as there were expectations from the other party to see everyone acting naturally, as if having a conversation over a dining table together as opposed to a meeting place.

Tsumugi: I hope I could hear the thoughts of the producing group and the one being produced!

Tamaki: First of all, Yama-san was really happy about it!

Yamato: Ough…

Iori: Or rather, he was very festive.

He had an eccentric mood when he sent a message earlier.

Yamato: I feel really embarrassed now.

Tsumugi: I’m happy to hear Yamato-san’s inside story! (laugh)

What did you feel when you learned that Iori-san and Tamaki-san will be your producers? Yamato: Well… as said earlier, I was happy!

Yamato: I’m sure everyone already knows this, but I’ve always wanted a comfortable place to live, and the people around me have provided that.

Yamato: But Ichi can see through what I’m thinking and knows I have a pathetic side.

I’ve looked forward to seeing how he’ll get through me.

Yamato: Tama is the same too. He suggests things no one has thought of. He can get to the bottom of things.

Yamato: So, they know how to bring out a side of me I’m not even aware of.

Tamaki: Fufun!!!!

Iori: Fufu.

Yamato: Can you two not eat chocolate while looking so proud (laugh)

It’s going to get stuck in your mouth (laugh)

Tsumugi: It’s kind of making me moved to tears…!

Tsumugi: You’re still close to them despite having the largest age difference, how did you produce him and come up with the song?

Iori: To be honest, we had a dispute over it.

Tamaki: Yea.

Yamato: W-wait. I didn’t know that…

Iori: It wasn’t an argument, but more of a constructive discussion on how enchanting you should be with regards to this project.

So our direction in production is divided.

Tsumugi: I want to hear the details of your divided perspective!

Iori: Nikaidou-san is really good at making alluring expressions by impulse.

For the fans, it stirs up their imagination of his sharp gaze towards them.

Iori: At first I suggested a mature-ish ballad song because it fits best to express his characteristic carefree singing voice.

Tamaki: I suddenly thought that the song is going to be the one where his body movements shine with dancing!

Tamaki: I don’t know what allure is like but Yama-san is really good at making expressions, y’know

So if the focus is matching it with the song and then dance, I’m thinking if the fans would be happy

Yamato: No way, hearing those makes me feel more embarrassed though?!

Tamaki: That’s hilarious

Since we couldn’t decide, me and Iorin wrote in a notebook on what kind of a person Yama-san is during lunch break 👍

Iori: We went back to the drawing board, and listed the things of our image of Nikaidou-san

Iori: 1. He’s very approachable

2. He rarely reveals his true feelings

3. A shy person

Tamaki: Even though he’s trying to look good by treating us to ramen, he spoils us very much.

Yamato: Aaaaaaahhhh this dried squid is really goooood where did it come from?

Did Tama buy this for meeeeeeeee?

Iori: Well, in short, Nikaidou-san might call himself “onii-san”, but in reality he’s like this, right?

Yamato: Don’t say it like that!

Tamaki: Yeah

Even though I really like Yama-san to be like this, you keep that side of you hidden from the public, right?

So me and Iorin decided that the lyrics should be about being okay with being your natural attitude? more.

Iori: And we decided that the melody and the lyrics are like untying a thread one by one.

Iori: So this is like our message to Nikaidou-san.

Yamato: Ahh, I see. So it’s like that.

Yamato: To be honest, since I’m the oldest in IDOLiSH7, I thought that I’d do the first one Ichi said.

Yamato: Somehow, I was surprised at first that the lyrics felt like it’s a message

Yamato: I seeee

It’s a message for me

Tsumugi: It’s a new form of producing…

I’ve read the lyrics again, and it almost made me shed a tear…

Yamato: I know right

Tamaki: Yama-san’s looking away

Iori: You’re hiding something.

Yamato: Hey Tsumugi-san, please move on to the next topic…

Tsumugi: Yes…! ><

Tsumugi: For the artist picture, Yamato-san’s smile under the blue sky and the clear weather is striking!

How did the photography go?

Tamaki: The theme is “A Special in Ordinary Day” as Yama-san thinks of us in a meaningful way!

Me and Iorin were looking for a good location to do it when we go home from school and during day-off

Iori: Yes. We narrowed down our search on our usual path and found a studio that lets us film on the rooftop.

Yamato: Yeah, and it’s near our office

Yamato: I was surprised that there’s such an open space within the city

Even though it’s surrounded by buildings, we could see the vast sky above us. It really felt so special.

Yamato: Tama is the one who definitely suggested using a water gun, right? (lol)

Tamaki: You’re correct!

You guessed it right, Yama-san

Iori: If you relay the meaning of the title, “Transparent”, the water is portrayed in it as well.

And then using a water gun, is something only Yotsuba-san can suggest.

Tamaki: You can praise me more

Yamato: Good job Tama, you can give an idea no one else can!

Tamaki:

Iori: It was pretty difficult to angle the camera that it shows the water

Tamaki: Yeah I think I’m good with water gun for a while

Iori: Moreover, I believe that there’s a small chance to use it.

Yamato: Anyway, the artist picture is a result of the two doing their very best!

Tsumugi: Thank you for the lovely episode!

The outfit having a wavy silhouette is wonderful!

Yamato: Its simpleness is something I really like~.

Either way it could pass as a casual outfit

Iori: Nikaidou-san’s charm is going to stand out even if an almost plain outfit blends in daily life.

Tamaki: And his dance is smooth and the way he moves his flexible fingers is pretty so we requested the outfit to show it by having the sleeve flutter when he dances ✌

Yamato: You’ve been really thinking about me…

Tamaki: Your face is as red as a jerky. Hilarious

Yamato: Don’t compare me to a jerky (lol)

Iori: Yotsuba-san’s food scraps is being cleaned by Musashi right now

This looks convenient.

Tamaki: Recently when I borrowed it to clean my room one time, it stopped moving because it sucked some books

I apologized to it

Yamato: Musashi, you did something ridiculous…

Tsumugi: Thank you for the warm talk! (laugh)

Lastly, please give a word to your fans!

Iori: Well, I’ll start first.

Iori: Nikaidou-san does a great work in dramas and movies while supporting his fellow members, but he’s also truly timid, easy to feel lonely, and has an uncool side.

Iori: Considering that, we wanted to tell that he’s our cool leader, so this is how we produced him.

This is a song where it's not Nikaidou-san-like, but actually it’s very like him. Please listen to it a lot.

Tamaki: Yama-san has a lot of faces, in a good way!

But we really love all of it!

Tamaki: I hope everyone will love Yama-san singing this kind of song even more!

Yamato: Umm… I might not be able to finish this smoothly

Yamato: I’ve received words from Ichi and Tama where they still love me even at my lowest.

I feels really like a miracle that I get to meet such people who’d say that

Yamato: A long time ago, I was scared of being hurt so I made a wall and had a habit of giving up instantly.

I’m sure everyone experienced that before

Yamato: But, it’s fine. I’m sure there’s someone who’ll show up like the messages in this song.

For now it’s okay to think that guy is me

Yamato: Thank you for always supporting me.

Hopefully we meet again, you with those relaxed shoulders and natural smile.

Tamaki: You showed off on the last one

Iori: You really did.

Yamato: That’s fine!!

Let me be a sly charming onii-san!!

Tsumugi: Thank you for your time, everyone…!

I’m sure this conversation will receive a lot of response, I look forward to the day it’ll be open to the public!

Tamaki: Yama-san really loves us

Should we take a picture?

There’s nothing in this room

Iori: Good idea. Let’s put a lot of good memories in this room.

Yamato: Ohh, put anything you want here

Iori: Well then, let us put a picture of Nikaidou-san wearing an Usamimi Parka first.

Manager, please prepare the picture.

Tsumugi: Leave it to me!!! 💪

Yamato: Why!!!!

[1] zabuton is a rectangular shaped cushion used for sitting or kneeling

[2] shredded and dried squid, or sakiika, is a snack

#idolish7 #i7 #rabbichat #rabbitchat #nikaidou yamato #yamato nikaido #nikaido yamato #yamato nikaidou #16producers #english translation #translation

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iliveinyourceiling65 · 1 month

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SoC incorrect quotes

I’m too scared to actually make real posts so you get more inccorect quotes :)

Kaz: When someone points at your black clothes and asks whose funeral it is, having a look around the room and saying 'Haven’t decided yet' is typically a good response.

Jesper: You can de-escalate any situation by simply saying, 'Are we about to kiss?' Jesper: Doesn't work for getting out of speeding tickets, by the way.

Wylan: If you bite it and you die, it’s poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it’s venomous. Inej: What if it bites me and it dies!? Nina: Then you’re poisonous. Jesus Christ, Inej, learn to listen. Kaz: What if it bites itself and I die? Wylan: That’s voodoo. Matthias : What if it bites me and someone else dies? Inej: That’s correlation, not causation. Kaz: What if we bite each other, and neither of us die? Jesper: That’s kinky. Wylan: Oh my God.

Jesper: I’m gonna need a human skull and I can't have you ask any questions why. Inej: Only if you also don't ask why Inej: *Pulls out 7 pristine human skulls* Take your pick. Jesper: Inej: Jesper: This one is fine

Nina: I can explain. Matthias: Can you? Nina: If you give me thirty seconds to think of a lie.

Kaz: You're the love of my life and my best friend, I would do anything for you. Inej: I want you to eat three meals a day and have a decent sleep schedule. Kaz: Absolutely not.

Jesper: Who thinks I can fit 15 marshmallows in my mouth? Inej: You’re a hazard to society Kaz: And a coward. DO TWENTY.

Matthias, watching the news: Someone tried to fight a squid at the aquarium today! Nina: *walks in covered with ink* Well, maybe the squid was being a dick.

Jesper: I want to wake up with you every day for the rest of our lives Wylan: I wake up at 4:30 AM Jesper: Jesper: I want to see you at some point every day for the rest of our lives

Jesper: Ok, maybe playing ‘whose family is most dysfunctional’ wasn’t the best idea we’ve had. Wylan's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can’t get them out...

#soc incorrect quotes #wylan van eck #nina zenik #kaz brekker #matthias helvar #jesper fahey #inej ghafa #six of crows

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duchess-kyuupid · 10 months

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~The Duchess' Thoughts and Drabbles Pt. 2 ~ ft. Elliott

Thinking of Elliott with a s/o farmer who's scared of crabs

[Minor spoilers for Willy's 6-heart event, Elliott x gn!reader]

Thinking of the farmer trying win Elliott's affection over time with giving him gifts that he likes. Oh? Leah said he likes duck feathers? Easy enough, you've got plenty of ducks in your shed! That 'secret note' said he likes pomegranates? Well, you planted a pomegranate tree some time ago, but you'll have to wait until fall before you get any harvest from it. Maybe he'll like some squid ink for his writing? You could always ask Robin to build a fish pond for you, and eventually you'd be able to get some ink from the squid.

But then... Elliott himself told you once that he likes seafood- especially crab and lobster. Which basically meant that you had to get him some if you wanted to woo him with your impeccable charms.

But you know, there's just one itty bitty little problem here. You were absolutely terrified of crabs.

So, just to clarify, there was one time where you ran off after bumping into Elliott at Pierre's store. He was in the middle of buying some groceries, and you were there to sell some produce. You two were having a great chat, catching up for a bit before Elliott looks down at his shirt with a surprised look on his face after feeling some movement in his pocket. "Oh dear! A tiny crab appears to have made his home in my shirt pocket-," he doesn't even finish what he's saying before you've already bolted out the door, leaving behind all of your produce in the classic 'fight or flight' response. Pierre wanted to keep them for free since you did just leave them behind without payment, but (after a very stern look from you) he eventually paid you back for it anyway.

And let's not forget about that other time where you were opening the door to Willy's shop one day when your eyes were violated with the sight of hundreds- no THOUSANDS of crabs (it was more like 15) scattered around Willy's shop. You could barely hear Willy asking for help in solving this predicament before you screamed your head off, alerting both Gus and Elliott into running towards the commotion in a concerned panic. By the time they got to Willy's shop on the pier, you were already running at top speed away from that godforsaken place. You learned later that Gus and Elliott helped Willy take care of those crabs after that, and that Gus would be providing a discount on crab cakes (at the request of Elliott who you learned loves crab cakes).

But to this day, you still haven't stepped a single foot back in Willy's shop since... that incident. Of course, Elliott came by to check up on you as he was concerned about your wellbeing after hearing you scream like that, but you were able to shrug it off, saying that you remembered you had something really important to do on the farm. Huh, what screaming? You didn't scream. Must've been the water crashing into some rocks.

I mean, you don't mean to brag or anything, but you considered yourself to be someone (almost) fearless. You brave the dangers of the mine on a regular basis, and you've hit the bottom a long time ago! You've explored the inside of a volcano on an island that was littered with the gigantic remains of dragons, and you've traversed deserts and fought against dinosaurs in the deep catacombs of the Skull Cavern.

Yet, you're still scared of...crabs?

And as well you should be! Crabs are the embodiment of evil, after all. They may seem harmless, but those eyes of theirs tell of unimaginable war crimes and if they could speak, you're almost certain they would cast curses upon those who'd dare to try to eat them.

At least, that's the impression that you get as you stare down at the lobster stuck in your crab pot- and it stares back at you with it's weird thin antennae and small, beady, soulless black eyes. You had never really intended to use these crab pots for anything until after you learned that Elliott loves lobster, in which you decided to leave some out in the water (with the hope that it wouldn't catch anything so that you at least had the excuse that you tried). But you caught a lobster anyway, unfortunately. How were you even planning to get it out of there anyway?

Maybe you could ask Willy to get it out? But then how are you going to give it to Elliott after that? And even if you do ask, you run the risk of outing this fear of yours to Willy (who probably already knows by now and is just kind enough not to say anything about it).

Maybe if you put on some oven mitts it wouldn't be so bad? Or you could ask Marlon for a full set of armor.

Ah, the lengths we will go to for love.

~~~~~~

My first Stardew Valley piece! My content so far has been almost exclusively Twisted Wonderland, so I just wanted to branch out just a little, see what everyone thinks. And before you ask, yes, it's me. I am legitimately terrified of crabs and lobsters. Hate them. They are evil. Let me tell you I *screamed* when I first saw Willy's 6-heart cutscene. Never again... But my love for Elliott is too strong ToT

#duchess kyuupid #x reader #gn!reader #stardew valley #stardew valley x reader #elliott x reader #elliott x farmer #sdv x reader #elliott #stardew elliott #stardew valley elliott

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octoagentmiles · 2 years

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@poisonedbasil

Gladly <3

First of all, Captain Barnacles:

He was born, and raised through the Polar Scout program with his twin sister Bianca. Through this program, he met Professor Natquik and Tracker (and possibly Boris the Narwhal).

At some point during his scout days, he met Professor Inkling, who had found himself trapped in the Arctic somehow, and had to be rescued by the cubs (including Barnacles).

Natquik was Barnacles’ mentor and father figure who was forced to leave the Arctic so he could do research in Antarctica. Tracker joined the Polar Scouts soon after he left, and he never made it back home. He was stuck in the Antarctic for at least 20 years, maybe longer.

When Barnacles was a cub, some ice cracked from underneath him and he got stuck in a very deep hole for a very long time, and he now has PTSD from the event.

Sometime after he graduated Scouts, he got a position on a ship called the MV Manitoba. It’s very likely (but not canon...... yet-) that he met Tweak on this ship.

The ship crashed, he returned home to the Arctic, reunited with Tracker, and trained him to run the Polar Emergency Post Station.

After that, he was asked by Professor Inkling to be Captain of the Octonauts.

Kwazii. This cat has so much story potential but I will say right now that a LOT of it is speculation/theory. MOST of what I'm about to say is canon though:

Kwazii is different from other pirates, and has been since he was little. Pirates are scary and mean, just like the legends, but Kwazii is kind and good.

Kwazii was born to a huge family of pirates. His grandfather, Calico Jack (aptly named after real life pirate “Calico Jack”), is one of the most famous pirates who ever lived, and they look a lot alike.

Calico Jack left his family/crew behind “in search of the Hidden City of Gold” (so he said), when Kwazii was just a little kitten.

Kwazii was abandoned by his family for being weak (kind, soft, etc.).

He chose to NOT be a pirate at one point in his life...

(This might be what caused his family to abandon him; ie. he made a big show one night about not wanting to be like them, and they were like “ok walk the plank then.” and he did.)

...but then RECHOSE to be a pirate again after learning about his grandfather.

He was a pirate of his own making for a while, with no crew,

Before getting found by Barnacles/The Octonauts and joining them.

All cats in this universe seem to be pirates, plus Kwazii wears an eyepatch and speaks generally very piratey, so despite being an Octonaut creatures are always afraid of him because they recognize him as a pirate--

and it’s very sad because all he wants to do is help but he keeps getting attacked-- [*sobs*]

Peso:

Lil guy was SO insecure in seasons 1-2+½.

He was very dependent on others, and always compared himself to his friends (mainly Barnacles and Kwazii).

He has a HUGE family, including a little brother, big brother (his name is Pogo but we haven’t met him yet, he’s mentioned in the blobfish episode), and one million cousins.

It’s possible that growing up around so many other penguins, that he did get compared to them quite a bit, and/or never fully got to shine. Which is why he’d get so flustered being in the spotlight in s1-2.

His dependency issues are interesting, because Peso gets his best character growth moments when he’s forced to be by himself. (Vampire Squid, Aggregate Anemones, Spookfish, CONE SNAIL, and more.)

He’s also the youngest and newest recruit on the Octopod, so that’s fun. He hasn’t been around for very long; we see him going through training in season 1, so he probably joined off-screen sometime right before the first episode.

Shellington:

We don’t know too much about Shellington, but we DO know that he is a sea otter who is allergic to urchins: meaning he literally cannot do the one thing sea otters are expected to do (eat urchins so they don’t destroy kelp forests) and y’know that’s gotta be pretty stressful.

He discovered the Vegimals himself, and named all of them. He incubated and hatched their eggs in his lab, and has been studying them ever since, and that’s how he picked up their language.

Dashi doesn’t have much going for her, not gonna lie. The most she’s ever gotten is in The Caves of Sac Actun, where they revealed she did cave diving with Ryla.

#SilvergategiveDashisomeloreplease2022

aaaaaaaand I can’t go too deep into Inkling or Tweak without significantly spoiling Season 5, but there is a little bit I can say about Tweak:

She grew up the in the Florida Everglades with her father, as a creature tracker and outdoorsy kid.

Somewhere along the line she started building gadgets and gizmos.

She then [REDACTED SPOILERS], and eventually (again, not canon yet-) joined the Manitoba crew where she met Barnacles.

She was the first ever official Octonaut, as she was there before they were even called "The Octonauts".

She built the first Octopod. It crashed; she built the second Octopod. She built all the gups.

and the rest that I could say about her is just theory and speculation 😅

AND I really wanna ramble about Calico Jack real quick: He has a VERY mysterious past—he is kind and good like Kwazii, but it's implied he wasn't always like that. He was hiding out in the Amazon River for almost 20 years, claiming he was "stuck", but was able to leave with ease the second he had a reason to. He's terrified of disappointing Kwazii, and Captain Barnacles too now that he's an Octo-Agent, and I just think that's really interesting. 👀👀

also not sure if it counts but in the books there were cities, towns, and kingdoms, so a lot of people like to imagine that there are still cities full of animal-people out there somewhere in the showverse. especially since there's multiple instances of the Octonauts picking up trash, including tires, grocery bags, etc., that's polluting the ocean that they say "was thrown away", Tweak mentioning "ordering parts" from somewhere, plus Dashi's side gig with "National Seaographic".

There's ALSO like,,, a whole Thing regarding the difference between animals and animal-people that's been sparked by Above and Beyond, because there's been a lot of non-anthro cats, bears, there was a picture of a bunny at one point, plus the entire Red Fox episode directly addressing the topic of animal instinct and the differences between arctic foxes (Natquik) and red foxes (new non-anthro character); but we don't know how far they're going to go with this.

and that's pretty much it???? i think???? if I think of more I'll let ya know lol <3

#also sorry this took a while i got a lil distracted lol #octonauts #captain barnacles #kwazii #man i hope s5 comes out soon so i can talk about it with u guys 😭😭 it's SO good and it has LORE and INTERESTING THINGS in it and AAAAAAAA #long post #theories #octonauts analysis #lore my beloved

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angelicalchaoticabyss · 9 months

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Perhaps a Caviar X reader for the subnautica goodness? 👀

It had been some time since you met the mer-squid shark, Captain Caviar. You were surprised at how nice he was and it was a welcome change of pace. The…cookies, of this planet were either very annoying to deal with or hostile…most of them at least. Captain caviar actually saved you from another squid shark named Blue coral, he seemed to be that one’s boss and played no games when it came to that behavior. You were of course very grateful for the rescue and offered him your own help should he ever need it.

“Ah don’t worry about it, these salty crumblings just get out of control sometimes.” He said.

It was nice to have a friend in such an environment. Caviar was tough and ragged, but super nice and caring at the same time! He always knew what to say to make you smile. The mercookie would also assist you by either keeping other predatory fauna away or gathering resources for you to use. He truly was an amazing friend.

“Captain Caviar, again, thank you so much for everything!” You thanked.

“No need to thank me, I’m more than happy to help. I get this planet is pretty scary and it’s not easy to survive, so why not give a visitor a fighting chance ay?” He replied.

You laughed and agreed with him, had it been the other way around you would’ve helped him too. Honestly there’s not a word in the dictionary that could describe how grateful you were. You had to admit, his…well his everything was getting to you. His charm, his looks, his personality. You couldn’t believe you were falling for an alien…well, you were alien to him as well but you get the picture. You wanted to be closer to him so you rebuilt you base near his territory.

Caviar was happy to have you closer as well, certainly made the trip to visit way easier! With him having both lungs and gills he could easily enter your base to spend dry land time with you as well. Listen to music or try some of your snacks. He especially liked salty snacks the best.

Captain Caviar thought about you a lot. A being from another planet, or a Witch as you called yourself, he was so very fascinated. Maybe that’s why he saved you from his subordinates, he wanted to learn more… But over time with you, his feelings began to grow. He loved the friendship he had with you, spending time with you, helping you, anything that involved you brought a smile to his face!

Sometimes he wondered if he’d be this happy if he just let Blue coral eat you, but he’d always arrive at the same answer. He wouldn’t be happy; without you his life would be…dull. He never got bored of you, he missed you when you were apart. He desired to protect and care for you with all his being. Now of course the tough Captain caviar was never the best with these types of feelings but here he was feeling them for you.

One day you decided to go down deeper into the crystal caverns, it was quite a ways away from your base so you decided to get moving early with your sea truck. Of course this led to you not telling Caviar where you were going, bad idea.

Little did you know of the hell you’d soon face.

When Captain caviar came to visit, he obviously noticed you were gone, hauling himself up into your base he looked for clues that could lead towards your whereabouts. Then he noticed your day planner, looking through it he saw you were heading towards the crystal caverns. Oh no… As fast as he could Caviar launched back into the water and swam like his life depended on it, but he knew yours depended on it.

Sirens blared through the sea truck; it was damaged in several ways from the digestive fluids of that mer-shadow leviathan. Black pearl.

“Hahahahahah! You can try but you’ll never escape me!” She cried out with sadistic glee.

You were freaking out and desperately trying to get away as water was leaking into the sea truck, you had no room or time to make the repairs! You kept going until her lower teeth clamped onto your vehicle again, biting hard and releasing more digestive fluids that nearly brought it all down to zero. You had to get out of here!

When you were released, you decided to make a break for that one strange base you saw on the way here. You exited the sea truck with your diving gear and swam as fast as you could, but she came out of the darkness again. Laughing and prepared to swallow you whole, however Black pearl wasn’t prepared for the electrified tendrils that wrapped around her.

“Aaaaaaah!!!” She screamed.

Your eyes went wide as you spotted Captain caviar electrocuting her with his tendrils, teeth grit and a dark glare on his face. He looked at you.

“Go, hurry! I’ll take care of her!”

With no time to spare you swam faster than you ever swam before in your life, making it to that strange base before you could run out of oxygen. Taking in gasps of air and climbing up the moonpool ladder you prayed Caviar would be okay. You waited and waited for him, worry eating away at your psyche. Finally you saw him pulling himself up by your side. He was covered in wounds but thankfully alive.

You took out one of the med kits you brought and started to treat his injuries, worrying all over him but thanking your savior at the same time.

“Eh don’t worry about it, but next time you tell me when you’re going off somewhere, you never know what’s lurking below the depths! And see what happened? You would’ve been crumbs if it wasn’t for me!” He scolded you, not out of anger but from his own worry.

“Captain caviar…”

“Just…just be careful next time alright?” He breathed out.

“Alright, I will, thank you…”

You leaned against his side and he returned the gesture by wrapping an arm around you.

#cr #crk #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run au #subnautica #subnatica below zero #subnautica au #crossover #crossover au #captain caviar cookie #captain caviar cookie x reader #cr x reader #crk x reader #cookie run x reader #cookie run kingdom x reader

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nephilimbrute · 6 months

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uhngigmg

i wanna know more about ur agent headcanons!! ships, regular headcanons, anything will work fine!! ur agents are so detailed with their personalities and ADUGHGHGH

i would really love to learn more about Val. I like her long teeth, makes her menacing. just her personality in general, I would like to know more about. but i also want to learn about the rest !! :D

and I think my oc X (X is their name dw) and Val would be best friendz :333

😃(smiling so hard my eyes pop out)

<333 where do i start uhmm..... yeah we can start with val 0 :3

val was picked up by the squid sisters, she liked her job because she was bored and she was like "cool i can put my smarts to this" Bad news! she used to tolerate them until THAT happened. she loves cats and once tried to steal judd. likes to mess with others, she does use her claws and fangs (her girlfriend walks away looking like a game of tic tac toe). my friend says she's an orange cat and i think that's true

val, as per usual, has a deep hatred for the squid sisters. vega has to protect the captain incase she tries to snipe them or anyone else. She can tolerate cap'n cuttlefish, the other agents think of her like a pest . Small and bothersome (spingly makes fun of her). she's also friends with subwoofer

Onto spingly. he once had a celeb crush on off the hook and he also likes hightide era. I could only fit so much into those little profiles but i wrote down that he has a lot of plushies on his bed. He likes to be comfortable and he's super cuddly, he has dreams of being in a splatband. and he has trauma from salmon run

3's real name is riley, though she prefers to be called 3. she has social anxiety and gets all shy when with a lover, but can manage during work. she never (or rarely) takes off her headphones

i designed 8 after a baby deer. in a way.They're a deer in headlights basically. In side order they're dubbed 'File: 008', they lose the ability to speak completely due to how disoriented they are

even though maggie is aware he's making fun of the others and picking on them he's always like "whattt what did i do wrongg...." when they dislike her...he eats fuzzy ooze and is rarely affected by it, though marie insists she shouldn't eat it. she used to sleep in random places and be woken up by smallfry nibbling at his toes

also she's incredibly stupid

vega ... idk 8 used to be intimidated by her, but they kind of changed their mind once they saw how vega practically melts when with marie. she had her metal arm refitted every year, it used to be simpler looking and had a brand logo on the shoulder. the little octopus sticker was given to her by another soldier

+height chart

i do ship ag. 96 but i also ship spingly with one of my other ocs. The purple octoling.... and i also ship.......... ..................... .............marie x vega...... but that's all

splatfest teams.... spingly is team zombie, val is team skeleton, vega is team ghost. val's only reasoning is "skeletons are DEAD. and i want to see the squid sisters that way"

also ghostfish :3 take a wild guess at who's under the mask

ALSO... i'd love to meet your oc :333

#splatoon #SUPER LENGTHY POST #val (3)#spingly (4)#captain 3 #agent 8 #maggie (neo3)#vega (8)#splatagents #inbox q

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spacexseven · 2 years

Note

that mermaid childe thing you reblogged totally put me onto sea monster dazai (imagine that dazai anon thinks about dazai call the news)... like imagine those giant empty eyes staring at you intently from underneath the still water. actually terrifying. hed probably be something fucked up looking too like a snake thing or an angler fish or something like that.... could also see him as a siren.... like ur too stubborn and well versed on the sea and its inhabitants to fall for his Beautiful Mermaid facade and hes initially got this horrible vendetta against you about it but eventually his obsession with getting you in the water with him Less so he can rip you apart and finally prove hes smarter than you and more so he can shove his weird fish tongue down ur throat i mean swim with you in a very well behaved fashion

ALSO adding an akutagawa thing cuz no one ever talks about my husband as often as they should. yan sea monster/mermaid akutagawa. he gets washed up on the beach, greviously injured, and despite the fact he keeps BITING AND SCRATCHING AND BEING SO MEAN 2 YOU you do your best to nurse him back to health in ur old pool u never use anymore (well, as healthy as aku Gets) until hes set to go back to the ocean. akutagawa has always known that humans are awful creatures who need to be killed before they kill him or his ilk, but maybe you're not so bad? first time for everything, he supposes. dont be shocked if you see some familiar scales glittering under the beach sun. or if people you know start washing up on the beach with a few less limbs than you remember them having. I was gonna immediately say aku is a shark but maybe octopus or squid would work cuz of how rashomon looks..... much to think about

- 🩹

you're so funny i can't breathe omg i too would like to swim with him in a well behaved fashion

cw: yandere characters, vague descriptions of sea creatures(?), mentions of cannibalism (well sea creature eats humans), obsessive behavior, non-con kissing, mentions of kidnapping and imprisonment, possessive behavior, jealousy, mentions of biting, scratching and self-inflicted wounds

siren dazai? no way sea monster dazai is the way to go! nothing about that guy looks safe but you know, he has a way with his words that you just can't help but think he's misunderstood and lonely. everyone thinks he's up to no good, but that's not the case at all! it's so unfortunate, you think, that dazai's being judged by the way he looks because he's really such a wonderful friend! what a shame that even the other sea creatures avoid him and his territory, of course it couldn't be because something was wrong with him. they were just being rude and outcasting him for something he couldn't control. you've spent enough time with him to know he was funny (in an odd way...it works on him, but if anyone else were to say his 'jokes' about eating you up and dragging you down to his cave and chaining you there, it would have terrified you. oh well, dazai's just never learned what jokes are supposed to be, so he just says the things people say about him. poor dazai, really) and he was really sweet, eager to help you with your troubles and offering his waters as a place for you to come to when you need to be alone and clear your head. not because he wants to be the only person you confide in and trust, definitely not!

and honestly, dazai was just bored. and what better way to spend the time than to trick some poor, unsuspecting human before making them his lunch? yum. sure, chuuya and a few select others were the only other mers that visited him, but that didn't mean he was lonely. he simply didn't care. of course, playing it up to you about how unfriendly everyone else was surely won over your sympathy, and it felt...sort of nice when you rubbed his cheek and looked at him with your sad eyes and told him you'd always be there for him. oh well, little human. he hopes you know he was going to hold you to that :)

his initial plan was just to earn your trust for a couple of days (because he knew how stupid and trusting humans were. terribly useless species, really. how did they survive for this long?) and then, under the pretense of an injury he couldn't reach, would coax you into getting into the water, where he could happily prepare you for a meal. but he began stalling, not wanting to eat you just yet. maybe you could entertain him a little while longer. playing with his food or whatever humans said. the more you talked to him and he learned about human relationships, the more curious he got. what did you mean, humans licked each other's mouths? how disgusting, he definitely wasn't interested in trying. what was so special about hand holding and cuddling and whatever the hell kissing was???? and why did he want to do it to you??? one day, he can't hold back his curiosity and drags you into the water off your boat, ignoring your screaming just to try and see if he "can shove his weird fish tongue down ur throat". and maybe more. obviously the talk about consent flew over his head, because what do you mean, you didn't want to do this with him? didn't you kiss people you like? and if you were coming to visit dazai this often, you definitely liked him right?

regardless, it wasn't anything he couldn't change with a little bit of time :)

akutagawa hm i think as much as i would love for him to be a sparkly shiny mermaid i think that role is more suited for chuuya aka the prettiest person EVER sorry anyway akutagawa octopus ver kinda reminds me of the kraken but shark akutagawa is also a wonderful picture i will figure that out eventually don't worry

so just another day of strolling on the beach admiring the sparkling water and woah what's that? a wild akutagawa has appeared! you find him beached and bleeding and you must obviously help him out! how could you leave him out there, alone and vulnerable? it's a little difficult to bring him to your conveniently close to the beach house, especially since he keeps growling and biting at your arms, but you finally make it and help him into the pool where he finally calms down enough for you to dress his wounds and give him something to eat.

and as much as he hates to admit it, he kind of likes it here with you. you're unexpectedly nice and not annoying or overbearing and your food tastes pretty good. sometimes, he's still waiting on you to ship him over to some evil merfolk killing people or a zoo or something terrible, or maybe you want to kill him yourself for his parts. but you don't do any of that. like you promised him, you bring him back to the ocean and wave him off.

except now, he really doesn't want to leave.

a week or so later, when you're back strolling by the shore, a familiar lump of something is waiting for you, wounded and stranded. you don't notice the way his eyes light up when he sees you, but you definitely notice that he wasn't biting you this time. sure, he has an iron-tight grip on you with his appendages, but maybe he was just scared? and the cycle continues. sometimes, you find fresh fish and seashells on the spot where you found him first, but most of the time, you find him, injured and waiting for your help. you don't suspect him of purposely hurting himself in order to see you and feel you nursing him back to health, but it does start to get a little suspicious. maybe he just got bullied a lot.

oddly enough, he's never friendly when you bring someone else with you. if by chance he's on the shore and you are with another person, akutagawa becomes hostile, growling and scratching at your companion until they run away and it's just him and you again. the way it should be :)

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blackjackkent · 1 month

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what do you think wouldve happened in an alternate universe where hector let karlach become a mind flayer?

(A/N after writing this whole answer: whoops, this got out of hand, hope you're okay with an Unexpected Fic. XD Also maybe a smidge weird/dark at the end, although not a ton I hope? Certainly no more than the whole game is weird/dark. XD Anyway I hope you enjoy. <3 )

Ohhhhhhhhh.

Anon, I love you for asking me this question. <3 A very intriguing one!

And it is because I love you for asking me this question that I have braved looking up a video of Karlach actually becoming a mind flayer, which I had put off doing because I am a softheart and I knew it would hurt and also make Hector yell in my head. XD And when Hector yells in my head it's a whole thing because he does double Flurry of Blows against the inside of my skull for 140damage and it's rough enough in there already.

However! I have now watched it and done some thinks. (Hot damn, Lae'zel is MAD too, at least in the version of the scene I watched. The whole thing is very upsetting.)

Fundamentally it would be a tragedy, and not just for Karlach. Watching the way the scenes play out - there is just enough of Karlach in her speech that Hector would not want to disconnect from her. I think perhaps it touches on the same hope that kept him expecting a miracle for her heart right up until the end of the game - somehow, somehow we can make this work, somehow we will find a way...

But there is no way. This is who she is now, a creature of the Astral Sea with his love's voice and an empty place where her soul should be. And unlike the engine situation he can't even kiss her to make himself feel better because she looks like a squid.

-----

The one saving grace is, I suppose, she does seem happy enough. In the epilogue, she states that she has found a way to get brains to eat by consuming from terminally ill patients at a clinic in Baldur's Gate, people who have volunteered for the process because they are about to die anyway. And she talks about helping all of them live on by absorbing their memories and carrying them with her.

It's... sweet, in a way, Hector supposes.

He tries to keep busy. There's no battle in Avernus to occupy him in this timeline, so he primarily works with Jaheira and her kids on rebuilding. It's hard, physical work; it keeps his mind occupied. At first he sleeps at the Elfsong; later, after some nudging from Rion, Jaheira offers him lodging at her home, where he takes a hand in raising the latest crop of orphan children she is protecting. He sees Baldur's Gate start to bandage its wounds and begins to believe there was some purpose to all his struggle.

But his own wounds do not heal so easily.

He visits the clinic often. He and Karlach talk. Her voice is a slow near-monotone in her accent, unlike anything he ever heard from her before. Sometimes he can hear a twinge of her humor or a turn or phrase, and his heart leaps... but other times she speaks of things like destiny and infinite time in a way that reminds him more of the Emperor than the woman he loves.

She never laughs. She doesn't curse. There is never even the slightest mention of sex; though she still fully understands a double entendre when he makes one experimentally, she seems to take no interest in it. She seems to exist slightly beyond him, with a view of the world that is no longer of the Material Plane.

And yet... she does know him. She remembers everything - stories he told her of his childhood in the monastery, details of Selunite rituals she learned from him, quiet moments in camp he half-forgot himself. She still calls him Soldier, and sometimes Hec. She remembers her own parents; she remembers the city. There is just enough of her still in there... just enough for it to squeeze his heart.

----

One day she walks (well, floats) with him to the Singing Lute; she sits with him while he eats. They talk about the rebuilding; he points out from the balcony some of the new homes he has worked on. She is quiet for a long time. "It is good to see the place begin to live again," she says, in that strange cool slow voice that has replaced the old jocular drawl. "It's what it was all for."

He nods. "Do you regret it? Any of it?" Do you remember what we had? What we've lost?

"How could I, Soldier? The city still lives. You still live." A long pause. The old Karlach might have laughed sardonically, but there is no humor. "Even I still live, and I have grown beyond myself. What is there to regret?"

It sits like a rock in his stomach. If she is content, what more can he ask for? And yet it hurts... it hurts...

-----

Jaheira notices that he begins to withdraw back into himself, that he is quieter and more serious. She mentions it to Gale, on one of his visits to the city from Waterdeep.

"You're not wrong there," Gale agrees. "You weren't around yet, when we knew him fresh off the nautiloid. He was much more careful, then. Very controlled. The very picture of monastic stoicism - in between the panicked realization that we were all undergoing a supreme nightmare that never ended, of course. He lightened up, over the months - certainly by the time you knew him."

Jaheira purses her lips. "And this... he is returning to his old ways, you believe?"

"I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume," Gale says, with a sort of bleak humor, "that Karlach is no longer providing the same amount of compensatory levity that she used to."

-----

In the end, almost two years later, Lae'zel is the only one who speaks to him of it directly, and she is brutal - but effective.

"You have been hollowed out, she'lak," she says bluntly, on one of her rare visits from the Astral Plane. "It is a lessening of you. Do you still trail after your ghaik as if bound to her by a lead?"

"I have done much in the city since you left," Hector says, somewhat defensively.

"Chk. I do not speak of your body's business, k'chakhi. I speak of your mind. Your heart. You have lost yourself. You live only for others."

"As I was raised to do. As I have always done."

"Hector." She rarely speaks his name directly, but she does now, and it makes him jump. "You know of what I speak, and I will not have you ignore it. Your work in the city is admirable. You have cause for pride and contentment. Yet you pine after Karlach as if you hope to find her in the shell wearing her voice."

"She's still in there, Lae'zel."

"You mislead yourself," she spits. "Was it not you who taught me the strength to look beyond mindless devotion?"

That stings, and unconsciously he stands up a little straighter. "This is not mindless. It has been earned," he objects.

"Tas'ki. She is ghaik," Lae'zel says flatly. "What remains of her will dwindle, day by day. You know this as well as I." A pause. Then her eyes soften, and her voice with it. "You do not honor her sacrifice by this emptiness, Hector. Nor do you honor yourself."

He says nothing. His lips draw into a tight line. He hears her, and he does not want to.

"Think on what I tell you," she says - for all the world, now, as if she is the wise mentor and he the student in need of guidance. "You are no fool. You know I speak truth. Do not discount it."

-----

It takes a long time, but he does eventually start to come back to himself. Ten years. Twenty years. He grows old, though he loses none of his strength, his training too ingrained to allow him to weaken with age. The city reforms, stronger than ever, and he slowly begins to learn what life is, outside of both monastery and war.

He teaches self-defense to the children Jaheira rescues and others in the Lower City. He learns to (very badly) play a lute at Alfira's school. He tries his hand as a woodworker after so much carpentry work in the rebuilding of the Gate; one day, with some pride, he gifts Halsin a raggedly carved owl in return for the duck. He travels with Shadowheart several times to the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, reaffirming his faith in the light that has guided him through so much darkness.

And he reads voraciously. Everything he can get his hands on, from every library in the city. There is far more knowledge in the world, he comes to learn, than the particular cache with which he grew up.

He visits Karlach less, over time. And Lae'zel was right - there is less and less left of her each time he sees her. She is drifting away from him. And slowly he comes to terms with that - that what they had was a wonderful thing and a fleeting thing that will never come back to him. He learns to live for them both, for the life she would have had with him, had there been time.

He does not love again, though. He lived his whole life devoid of romance before he knew her, and he has little interest in trying to find it again in the years that remain to him.

For the most part, he moves on, and eventually finds himself relatively happy. But there is one last concession to sentimentality and to everything he has lost.

-----

On one bright, cold afternoon in mid-autumn, many years after the Netherbrain has faded into a bleak memory, he goes to the clinic. She is there, much as she always is; she has not seemed to age much in all these years, though the tentacles are slightly longer, a bit more nuanced in their movement.

He, though, is old; the grey dappling in his hair and beard has faded to white. His body acts as strong as ever, but time is implacable; he knows, as she once did, that he has very little left. It is a strange thing - a weakness of spirit rather than flesh, old age's deeper destruction that even the most disciplined monk cannot stave off forever. He is not dying, but he would be dead soon, likely within a few tendays.

"Hector," she says, flat and cool and almost unrecognizable, and inclines her head at him slightly. "You have settled everything?"

"Everything," he says quietly.

"You are still certain it is time?"

"Yes."

"Then we will begin." She gestures him to a secluded corner of the clinic, with a comfortable chair set up for the purpose. He settles himself there and looks up at the clinic's cracked stone ceiling and waits.

"It has been a good life," he comments, as much to himself as to her, as he waits for her to approach. "Lae'zel was right, that I had to move on. I have done much, seen much. I am proud of what we achieved - all of us."

There's a long, expectant silence. Then he leans his head back, closes his eyes. "I never stopped loving you, you know," he adds softly.

"I know," she answers, and her jaws sink into his skull.

#hector carlisle #long post #drabble #au: illithid karlach #WELLP I MADE MYSELF SAD AND NEED TO GO REREAD MY POSTS ABOUT THEM SNUGGLING ABOUT 50 TIMES #this answer got very out of hand and rambly and self-indulgent :P #although maybe that's what you were hoping for idk XD #i've mentioned before that hector did not come out of the monastery well-equipped to handle tragedy in a productive way #so this is not a timeline that is ultimately a good one for him i think #even though it ends on a generally positive upturn #i hope the ending is not too out of left field XD but it wouldn't be an illithid ending without just a smidge of KindaFucked Up Shit i thin

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splxtduxlies · 2 years

Text

some very domestic agent headcanons bc my brain is rotting slowly hahaahahhaah

agent 4 knows how to roller skate! she probably also knows how to skateboard (because like. its splatoon what kid doesnt) but she prefers roller skating because u can do sick poses and spins and stuff

3 blushes the Most like. theyre not very easily flustered but when they are their whole face gets bright with their ink color, shoulders, ear tips everything they hate it sm :*)

while 4 and 8 had an apartment together they did a lot of bonding :) 4 has siblings but 8 is. kinda strange in a cool way so its fun to show them new things!

8 has never had siblings and is enjoying learning abt squid culture from 4,,, even if they're doing it wrong sometimes 8 swears

they try to cook dinner once a week instead of eating out to save money, but 3/4 weeks a month they almost burn down their building and jus end up eating out anyway so

4 has the ADHD™️ habit of walking into rooms and completely forgetting why shes there, so the two of them have developed a plan to help 4 stay tf focused on a task

the plan is: 4 talks to herself about every little thing shes doing or needs to do and 8 listens and reminds her when she inevitably forgets

agent 4: so then i was like "look buddy-" wait where's my tea

8: you put it in microwave to reheat

4 walking over to the kitchen and pressing start on the microwave: oh ya so anywag i told the guy "if my sick flips offend you so much maybe-" wait what was i doing in here

8: you're taking off your sneakers

4: oh right so like i was saying

when 8 sneezes its like a lil kitten, when 4 sneezes she does it really loud and then trails into the chorus of some song, when 3 sneezes she holds them in but she gets sneezing fits and it gives her a headache rip

3 has decent hygiene (marie would argue against this) but shes jus. a sweaty teen ok :/ plus shes always wearing her hero outfit like. literally all the time

theyre her "safe clothes" ok >:(

8 isnt very competitive about playing turf - she wants her team to win but its not the end of the world if they dont as long as everyone had fun :) - video games however, completely different story

something about being in an independent 1v1 with someone that jus flips a switch in 8s mind that she must win she must beat them

4 hides her games because of the time she brought her family over their place and 8 made her brother cry over mario kart

callie and marie are cousins we know this but. they still see 3 like their little sibling together somehow abd tease them like one

3 has a lil zapfish plushie that she sleeps with in her apartment. like full on cuddles at night

everyone asks them why they dont have roommates itd make rent cheaper but she refuses to let anyone find this out

...4 and 8 ofc have already found this out and have a picture of 3 drooling on it but they value their lives so not another soul knows abt it

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 3 #agent 3 #agent 4 #agent 8 #agents #splatoon headcanon #splat.txt

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perifrog77 · 7 months

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[Splatoon] My idol ocs

Hello againnnn

So I had this one dream of a "Splatoon 4", and i remember drawing some stuff form that dream. I made some idols from it, and after like a year or so, I reworked them again. And now, I think they're pretty much finished, except for some stuff, but here they are!

Azumi

Azumi is a Blue Ring Octopus! They come form a family that lived in the Octo Domes, but they never grew up in it, they were bor nat the surface. They have this big whale tattoo on their back, it's kind of the equivalent to what a dragon tattoo would be.

They're always tired lol. They're relaxed and chill too

Fun fact, I actually had the idea to give them different textured hair before that one blue ring octopus was shown in that yokko band, but after it came out i just kinda went with thisq one lol

Linda

Linda is a Squid (specie unknown). She was raised by salmonids and lived i ntheir territory since she was a kid, so she's kind of an outcast to the Inkfish world. She wants to learn about inkfish culture aswell as bring more salmonid culture into it

She's the happy one, very energetic but also msot of the time clueless

She can be in water a small amount of time, more than the ordinary inkling

Cindy

Cindy is a sea anemone. She's an engineer and a weapon maker. She's special in the way that she has no fish following her, she never had any. It's kind of seen as weird by other. When people ask her why she has n ofish, she tells a different story each time to look cool, but it's usually something about her killing it or eating it lol

She has her own solo career, as she started music way before the other two. Sometimes she leaves the band for a bit to focus o nher own work.

She's hot headed and impulsive

Her skin tone changes a bit to the color she's dyeing herself to

And that's them! They're a group of misfits who fit together! They each have a different style, which makes their music kind of different. Their music style would be smth like electro swing and jazz, but in a pop-ish way

And that's all! I still don't have a name for that band yet lol

Come back next time for my next psot, where I'll be talking about

#splatoon #splat3 #oc #ocs #splatoon oc #octoling #inkling #splatoon art #splatoon idols #splatoon fanart #ref sheet #splatoon 3

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sleepless-in-southlands · 6 months

Text

Walking on Sunshine

Ao3

Summary: Now that Luke knows he has carry-overs, what better way to spend his time than trying to figure out just what they are? Content: Crackfic in a series of crackfics, meant to be 100% angst free but oops!; accidents, sigils, flying, hijinks, potatoes banter, go ahead try and guess what you're about to read, go on guess Ship: Lucky Jumbo (Mumbo Jumbo/Luke Carder) Note: Part seven of Lucky Jumbo

Using the kind of precision that only came with doing the same thing far too many times, Luke oh-so-carefully rounded out the inner swirl on the wing design he had been repeatedly drawing far too many times. The thirty other potatoes he had scattered on the table in front of him had nearly identical symbols sketched on each of them, some with multiple, some in other colours. None yet had done what he wanted them to do, but he had a good feeling about this one.

(It was, coincidentally, the exact same good feeling he had had about all the other non-reactive potato-drawings as well.)

Since learning about his carry-overs, at the beseechment of Mumbo and for the sake of his own curiosity, Luke had invested himself in experimenting with different creations and experiences, trying to determine what he had and hadn’t brought over with him from his old world.

His tests had yet to show much success.

He hadn’t suddenly developed any of the diseases that made the other hermits look at him in horror when he described them. The sun no longer had any significant effect on him as far as he could tell- no sunburn, no heat exhaustion, no tanning- even if he stood about in it, unprotected, all day long. His various mushroom recipes had yet to produce anything even slightly psychedelic, and Hermitcraft apples lacked the seeds for him to try and make cyanide out of.

It hadn’t all been for naught, though. Luke had discovered some things. His attempt to boil potatoes had resulted in the creation of ‘potions of survival,’ which neither improved nor worsened a player’s health and hunger. It didn’t prevent injury, but it did stop the natural decay that came with starvation and sprinting.

(“-I think it’s because potatoes are supposed to be the one perfect survival food. You know, the ‘if you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?’ cheat answer. All the necessary proteins and vitamins and stuff, but not really nutritious to only eat forever.”

“Vitamins?”

“Right, you guys don’t have those. Or food groups. How do I explain this… ok, imagine you have a dozen different hunger bars, and you have to balance all of them, without seeing them, and while avoiding the secret evil hunger bars too.”

“What?”)

And he learned that he was still capable of drowning, although Mumbo assured him that all hermits could drown, which rendered both Luke’s test and conclusion moot. It also rendered Mumbo distressed, because Luke was distressed, because there was nothing comforting about sitting underwater while testing your ability to wet-drown while squids continued to accidentally dry-drown around you.

Outside of those few discoveries, however, Luke’s efforts had largely been for naught. Hermitcraft lacked a lot of things he had once had, while simultaneously containing a seemingly endless amount of things that Luke had never heard of before. It was hard to experiment with what he didn’t have, and he wasn’t exceptionally keen on messing around too much with what he didn’t know.

And that had given Luke an idea.

After all, messing around with what he didn’t know was exactly how Luke had ended up in Hermitcraft in the first place. Inscryption had gotten him- er- forcefully removed from his old life, yes, but he was fairly certain that it was what had transported him to his new one. So if he could have carry-overs from his world… why couldn’t he have some from Inscryption as well?

It was a terrifying thought. When Luke first realized it was a possibility, he had spent the rest of the day locked up in his mock recording studio, trying to decide how likely such a thing was, if he had seen any signs of it being a reality before then. He hadn’t, not to the best of his knowledge, but with how long it had taken him to realize he had any carry-overs, it wasn’t the complete reassurance he had been hoping for.

But if Xisuma said the only way to figure out Luke’s carry-overs was through trial and error, then Luke could never really be sure either way without testing.

Granted, he wasn’t going to try and test everything like he had been with sunburn and drowning. But Inscryption hadn’t all been sacrifice and mind-games and slowly growing inescapable insanity. If he could replicate something a bit safer from the game, he would be able to determine if he had carried any of its code into Hermitcraft with him. If he hadn’t, no more need to worry about it. If he had… well, he’d get Mumbo to build that bridge when he got to it.

Hence the airborne sigil in the potatoes.

Three dozen or so attempts had yet to produce any result, which Luke figured most people would take as a good enough sign that Inscryption and its rules hadn’t followed him into Hermitcraft. But Luke needed to be absolutely, completely, one hundred percent certain, and if that meant turning a full stack of Mumbo’s potatoes into an oddly repetitive art project, then so be it.

With care not to let any drippings mar the potato skin, Luke pulled back the stick he had been using as his drawing utensil, the tip of it sharpened for precision and dipped in squid ink. The sigil was perfect, the edges on the inner swirl sharp where the ones on its three feathers were rounded off. Although he had no exact reference to compare it to, it matched his memories of the sigil to a T, to the point where he could almost see the pale green glow of Magnificus’s stolen paint hovering over his drawing, a grisly afterimage of the original symbol. It was as close to accurate as Luke could ever hope to get it.

And yet, the potato did not fly.

Feeling the same mixed sense of defeat and relief he had gotten after each other potato also remained grounded, Luke tossed it onto the table with the rest of the lot. As much as he didn’t actually want his efforts to all be for naught, the growing evidence that he didn’t have any Inscryption carry-overs was reassuring.

After staring at his pile of dud-spuds for a moment, Luke pushed himself away from the table, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. While he did fully intend to test the drawing on every one of the sixty-four potatoes Mumbo had leant him, there was only so long Luke could do so in one sitting before starting to feel like he was inviting in the Inscryption madness himself. He left the pile of doodled-on vegetables and various writing implements on the table as he headed for his house’s front door, making his way outside and into the fresh air.

Given the usual state of things, Boatem wasn’t too lively. Grian was nearby, messing with an odd assortment of blocks (if Luke had to wager a guess, it probably had something to do with colour palettes), but other than him Luke couldn’t see any of the company’s members, suggesting most were either tinkering with interiors or out interacting with non-Boatem-ers. Pranking was always a possibility as well, but if Boatem was up to anything major Luke was sure he would’ve been pulled in on it.

His guess was proven right for at least one hermit when a few minutes later, as Luke was doing his best to stop seeing the same three-feathered wing pattern in every other block, the door to one of the houses a bit down the way from his on Mumbo’s mountain opened. The redstoner himself emerged, walking out backwards as he shoved carpet into his pocket, clearly trying to get a good idea of how the building’s interior now looked with whatever changes he had made.

Mumbo’s distraction made it very easy for Luke to lovingly sneak up on him, standing a few spaces behind him and taking his own glance inside before speaking up. “Looking good, but I think it could use a little something more.”

Mumbo startled as though Luke had set off an end crystal behind him, which didn’t say as much as Luke felt it should. “Luke! You can’t surprise a hermit like that!”

“I think I just did.”

For his humor, Luke got (lightly) shoved. “I thought you were busy with your potatoes.”

“I am,” Luke acknowledged, casting a glance at his house, “but I needed a break.”

“And you felt the best use of that break was to scare me witless?”

“That seems a bit dramatic, seeing as I wasn’t even trying to blow you up or shove you into the abyss.”

“Those are pranks, very different situation.”

“Would you have preferred I said hello with a sword, then?”

“That’s hardly creative.”

“But it is dangerous, which seems to be the more important factor here.”

“Not every prank is dangerous, just… a good deal of them.” Clearly aware that he was losing his side of the debate, Mumbo wisely switched topics. “What have the potatoes done that you need a break from them?”

Luke let the obvious subject change slide, if only to grab at the chance to bemoan the current state of his own project. “They haven’t done anything, and that’s the problem.”

“Are you expecting them to do something?”

“Yes, I-”

“Are you aware that, here, in Hermitcraft, potatoes do nothing but grow and taste delicious?”

Luke huffed, doing his best to seem annoyed while Mumbo laughed at his own comedy bit. “Yes, I am. And I know that you knew I did too.”

“Well, it’s hard to be sure. Your potatoes had ‘vitamins’ in them. Who knows what they could get up to with those.”

“I told you-”

“Yes, yes, the secret hunger bars and the chewy cavemen. I don’t actually need- nor want- a refresher.” Mumbo waved his hand, as if that alone could remove the existence of the concepts. “Really, though, what are you expecting? Have you been trying to make them do something?”

“In a sense.” Luke replied vaguely. He had done his best to avoid directly telling Mumbo what he hoped to achieve with his potato project ever since he had asked for the necessary materials, not wanting to freak him out (or get his hopes up) over something Luke wasn’t sure would work. “But they’re being uncooperative.”

Mumbo hadn’t pushed Luke to go beyond non-answers at any point, but Luke could tell he wanted to. Not that Luke could blame him for that. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Last I checked, you’re not the one with the messed up code. For you, the potatoes will always be vitamin-free.”

“It’s for the best.” Mumbo said, as if he was the one who had made the decision to not personally carry-over things that weren’t even his to carry. “But I meant more if you wanted to discuss it, see if you can talk your way through what’s going wrong.”

“Well I know what’s going wrong, I think. Just not how to fix it.”

“What’s the problem?”

Luke hesitated, trying to decide how best to phrase the issue. “It’s… a drawing.”

“A drawing?”

“Yeah. It’s a- a special symbol. Supposed to have an effect on the object it’s drawn on. But it’s not working.” Luke sighed. “I don’t really have any references for it here, so I’m only sketching from memory, but it doesn’t seem inaccurate. Probably means it’s not something I carried over with me, but it’s hard to be sure.”

Mumbo tilted his head slightly. “Is it like an enchantment? Typically those need to be activated before they work.”

“They’re actually pretty similar, yeah.” Luke admitted, briefly thinking through the different events and rituals that had been used to imbue his cards with the different sigils’ powers. “Maybe I don’t have what I would need to activate them here.”

“What do you need to activate them?”

Sacrifice. Magic paint. Death. Robobucks. “...Nothing I can get here.”

Again, Mumbo accepted the barely-an-answer response. “That could be it, then. Unless you are drawing it wrong. Is it a particularly complicated symbol?”

“Not really. At this point, I could draw it in my sleep.”

Mumbo hummed. "Can I see how you've been drawing it?"

Luke waved in the direction of his house. "I left all my examples behind, otherwise I'd show you."

"Can't you go grab one?"

"I told you, I'm on break."

Mumbo rolled his eyes in amusement. “I’m sure I have a potato on hand that you can draw on here, then.”

“I also left my drawing supplies in my house. And I will also not be fetching them.”

“You’re making it rather hard to help you.”

“You’re not being creative enough with your suggestions.”

“Art is not one of my strong suits.” Mumbo cast a side-glance at the interior of the house they were standing beside, reaching out and shutting the door as he did so. “I don’t have to be creative about it.”

“You could be.” Luke said, just for the sake of it. “But fine, fine, I’ll find a solution all on my own.”

Mumbo leaned against the now-shut door, crossing his arms. Their bantering was pointless, and more than a little stupid, but Luke knew Mumbo enjoyed it as much as he did. “One that doesn’t involve walking back to your house in any capacity, I take it?”

“Clearly not. I can’t walk on my break.”

“But you walked over here.”

“Not necessarily. Seeing as you didn’t notice my approach, it could have been in any manner of ways.” Luke half-answered, faking thoughtfulness. “For all you know, I could have jumped the distance, or teleported, or-”

“Flown?”

“Cruel, Mumbo. That’s cruel.” Mumbo’s expression was as close as it could get to a shit-eating grin, given his moustache was doing all the work for the grin. “But that does give me an idea.”

“Instead of walking to get the supplies, you’ll fly?”

“Why would I? I have everything I need right here.” Luke moved to join Mumbo against the door, facing the redstoner. He held up a hand, pointer finger extended. “My finger… and your moustache.”

Mumbo, who had somehow always dealt with nonsense much better than Luke, merely chuckled in bemusement. “Should I be concerned for my moustache’s safety?”

“No more than you usually are.” Luke reached forward, swiping a finger through Mumbo’s moustache in the path of a vaguely curved line. The hair somewhat parted as he went, leaving an impression of the arc. “I’ll draw the symbol right here.”

“I can’t quite see it from there.”

“Quiet, you’ll ruin my work.”

Despite the fact that he was correct, and Luke’s plan wouldn’t actually be of any help with showing him the sigil, Mumbo dutifully didn’t say another word, quietly watching Luke instead. Luke, for his part, felt as though they were once again in their weeks of fake not-dating, looking for any excuse to be close in a totally, completely normal, non-romantic way. If anyone else from Boatem opted to pass by them at that moment, they’d get made fun of as much as they would’ve back then, too.

“Any guesses as to what the symbol looks like?” Luke asked as he zig-zagged in the tips of the wing.

“A lot of squiggly lines?”

“That’s not very nice. I’m putting my best effort into this, Mumbo, I’d appreciate your respect.” It was a blatant lie to claim Luke’s current work was a good effort, much less his best, given how wonky his line work was (he blamed the canvas), but Mumbo didn’t need to know that. “And I thought I told you not to speak.”

Mumbo gave Luke a look that almost could have been classified as a glare if one ignored how terribly fond it was. Luke grinned in response, right as he finished off the symbol with a half-hearted swirl.

And that was when everything went to shit.

The joke Luke had been preparing- something about how now Mumbo could look at the symbol, gosh, wasn’t that helpful- died on his tongue as the sigil, the messy sigil that only bared a passing resemblance to the one he had been trying to replicate, flashed yellow in Mumbo’s moustache. Panic flared automatically, followed in a microsecond by denial’s reassurances- that couldn’t have been what Luke thought it was, just a trick of the light, mind games, nothing real.

And then the panic came right back as Mumbo’s moustache started to grow.

It took Mumbo a moment to notice what was happening, picking up on Luke’s distress first. He looked as though he were going to say something, but before he could, the edges of his moustache were growing past the sides of his cheeks, getting wider and bushier from the center of his face outwards. The sudden additional weight sent him toppling forward, barely managing to grab Luke’s shoulders before he fell over entirely. Automatically, Luke’s hands came up to hold Mumbo’s arms, trying to stabilize him.

“Uh, Luke?” Mumbo’s voice was light, but slightly shaky. “What’s happening?”

“I- I don’t know.” Luke admitted, pulling back enough to watch as Mumbo’s moustache continued to grow. Was rapid-hair-growth a side effect of airborne? It was technically possible, since Luke had never actually seen the sigil applied to anything that had hair. Was that how Leshy had gotten so overgrown with plants? They were kind of like his hair.

But that didn’t seem right. The hair wasn’t just growing in general, it was strictly going outwards to the sides, as though trying to maintain its shape. And despite how far off Mumbo’s face it had gotten (it had already grown further out than Mumbo’s arms could stretch), the moustache wasn’t drooping at all, like a rod had been put through it to keep it in place. On the bottom of the moustache, the hair had started to bunch up in an odd way, forming three bumps on each side of Mumbo’s face.

…Three bumps. Fuck.

Mumbo’s wings-turned-moustache started to flap as soon as Luke had made the connection, startling a shout from Mumbo. Luke tightened his grip, trying to prevent the sigil from doing what it was meant to do, but it was a losing battle. It made absolutely no aerodynamic nor logical sense, how wings made of facial hair were able to lift a grown man from a single connection spot of a strip of skin underneath where a nose should be, but Inscryption had never made any sense either. Luke was slowing the process by anchoring Mumbo, but even his feet were starting to lift from the ground.

“Luke?!” Mumbo was completely off the ground when he next spoke, sounding upset but not pained, and Luke took a small relief in the fact that whatever was happening, at the very least, didn’t seem to be hurting him. It was also good that he could still speak, although it did jarringly remind Luke that he still had absolutely no clue what the exacts of Mumbo’s mouth situation were. “Is this what the symbol’s supposed to do?!”

“It’s- kinda? It’s supposed to elevate you but not like this!” Luke’s hands were slowly slipping down the sleeves of Mumbo’s suit, and he bit back a curse. “I swear, it wasn’t working on the potatoes- I don’t know what’s changed!”

“I’ll be happy to work that out with you as soon as my moustache isn’t trying to carry me into the sun!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll-” Mumbo’s moustache wings flapped particularly hard, and Luke stumbled as he lost hold of Mumbo and hit the dirt, “-shoot.”

Mumbo, luckily, managed to grab onto the edge of the house they were next to, but his hand placement was awkward at best, and Luke could tell it wouldn’t be long til the wings were winning out once more. Mumbo seemed to know this too, fingers pressing as close as they possibly could to the roof. “Why did you let go?!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Luke shoved his hands into his pockets, grateful for how his tiny elytra immediately pressed against his palm even if he still didn’t understand ‘inventory.’ He started shrugging on the artificial wings as he went to retrieve his fireworks as well. “Your moustache has a mind of its own!” “It didn’t a minute ago!”

Only singeing his fingers a bit, Luke joined Mumbo at his current height after overshooting him by a little (a lot), drifting past him as he tried to find a way to help the situation. His elytra was more like a glider than actual wings- it couldn’t keep him level in one position for very long, especially given Luke still royally sucked at using it- so he wasn’t able to stay beside Mumbo for very long at a time. Even if he could, he wasn’t sure what he would do. The airborne sigil was obviously too strong for Luke alone to hold Mumbo down, and as was he’d be lucky if he managed to grab Mumbo without also body-slamming him away from the one handhold he still had.

“How long do you think you can hold on for?” Luke half-shouted at Mumbo as he soared past him once more, beginning to sink beneath Mumbo’s level. He didn’t want to risk setting off another firework quite yet. “If I set down to get help, will you fly away the moment I turn my back?”

As Luke spoke, one of Mumbo’s hands slipped off the edge of the roof, the now free half of his body getting tugged up as soon as it did, leaving him with only one anchoring point. Mumbo chuckled nervously, doing his best to look at Luke despite their contrasting positions. “It seems I’ll be flying away whether your back is turned or not!”

“Point taken.” Luke directed himself towards the ground, doing his best not to crash into it as he did so. His first idea as to who to get was Xisuma, but he had no clue where the admin- or nearly any other hermit- currently was, which consequently meant he didn’t know how long it would take them to arrive.

A quick check, however, showed Luke that Grian was still where he had been ten minutes ago, staring intently at a line of blocks.

“Grian!” Predictably, Luke messed up his landing, taking pride in the fact he managed to not fall over as he stumbled over his own feet. When he next took his eyes off the ground, he found Grian had heard his call, turning away from his work to look in Luke’s direction. “Help!”

Luke’s incredibly concise request was met with little other than a confused head tilt from Grian. To expand on his point, Luke frantically waved his arms in Mumbo’s direction, hoping Grian would be able to work out the situation from there.

He did not. “Use your communicator!”

It took Luke a moment of his own to figure out what Grian thought was going on, putting the pieces together when he looked back at where he had just been gesturing. To his chagrin, he found that Mumbo had lost his other handhold on the house and was quickly floating away, likely appearing to Grian as though Mumbo was flying of his own volition and Luke was only looking to get a message passed.

Ignoring the fact that he could also send Grian a communicator message to explain the situation, Luke yelled back, “He’s not wearing an elytra!”

It was hard to read Grian's expression (eyes) from so far away, but Luke didn't think he was imagining the way the builder squinted at him, even more confused, before he looked once again in Mumbo's direction. Luke was also fairly sure he didn't imagine the moment Grian realized what was wrong.

"Is that his moustache!?" Grian asked rhetorically, sounding much more amused by the situation than Luke had expected. He was in the air barely a second after, having moved so fast Luke hadn't even noticed him set off a firework. Given Mumbo was actively disappearing into the sky, Luke appreciated the speed.

Luke promptly followed suit, finding that by the time he reached them, Grian was already at Mumbo's level, holding his arm to keep him from flying any higher. Grian’s wings were flapping hard, a blur of red-yellow-blue as he worked to keep Mumbo in place.

“Was your moustache not glorious enough already for you, Mumbo?” Grian teased cheerfully, laughing at Mumbo’s half-hearted glare in return.

“In Mumbo’s defense, this is my fault.” Luke did his best to keep his glide in a tight circle around Grian and Mumbo. “And in my defense, it was an accident.”

“A rabbit foot stew kind of accident, or a poppy tea kind of accident?”

“My mistakes have categories now?!”

“They always have.” Grian joked with a laugh, ignoring Luke’s indignance as he went on, “But I meant, is it a Hermitcraft thing you don’t understand, or a you-thing that Hermitcraft doesn’t understand?”

Luke blinked. “Are moustache wings a Hermitcraft thing?”

“No! No they are not!” Mumbo replied before Grian could, twisting his hand around so that he could hold one of Grian’s arms as well.

“Just checking.” Grian said, heavily tongue-in-cheek, but he adjusted his own grip on Mumbo to be a bit more secure. “It’s going to take me a bit to get Mumbo back to earth with how hard his moustache’s fighting me.”

“Want me to help?” Luke offered, although he still didn’t trust himself to not accidentally slam into Mumbo and send him off into the ether.

Understandably, Grian didn’t seem to trust him either. “Sorry Luke, but I saw how well you landed. Probably better to leave this to me. Unless Mumbo wants a chance to test how far his new wings will take him-”

Mumbo was increasingly looking like a cat clinging to a tree branch for dear life. “Grian.”

“What, do you not trust Luke to get you safely to the ground?”

“I trust Luke! But his flying skills…”

“Hurtful… but smart.” Luke circled Grian and Mumbo once more. “I’ll touch down and try to set something up for when you two land.”

“See if you can find a lead.” Grian suggested as he kicked at the air, tilting backwards as he started to slowly pull Mumbo down. “We can tie it to Mumbo’s ankle, fly him like a kite ‘til we get this all figured out.”

“I’m glad you can find this funny.”

“I don’t find it funny at all, Mumbo. I think it’s hilarious.”

Luke left Mumbo and Grian to their back-and-forth, grateful they were distracted enough they likely didn’t notice him eat shit in lieu of a landing. He brushed himself off as he got to his feet, shucking off his elytra as he started towards his house. After Luke decided he did want to keep the skeleton horses from the unfortunate lighting-skeleton attack, Mumbo had helped him stock up on everything one needed for the keeping of undead livestock, leads included, and he had a pile of them sitting in one of his storage chests.

Of course, on the way to his storage area, Luke had to pass his pile of art project potatoes. They were still exactly as he had left them, completely grounded, no signs that so much as one of them had suddenly activated like Mumbo’s moustache had.

With nothing else to think about as he started shifting through his horse-stuff chest, Luke’s thoughts turned to the question that Mumbo’s plight had created: why had the airborne sigil worked on Mumbo’s moustache, but not any of Luke’s potatoes? His drawings were detailed, as accurate as he could possibly get, and the potatoes were a much more reasonable size to start flying- the sigil he had traced into Mumbo’s moustache was crude, a shadow of what it should actually look like, and yet it had worked so well it was able to lift two people at once.

Luke idly shoved a lead and a spare fence post into his pocket. His memories of Inscryption were ones he typically tried to avoid focusing on, but as he made his way back outside he ran through everything he could think of that was related to sigils. They were mostly the domain of the Scrybes, not the players- it wasn’t like Luke was ever personally imbuing the cards with magical life.

The Scrybes weren’t the only ones who could work with the sigils though, were they? The Mycologists didn’t create sigils, but they could fuse their cards in such a way as to double their effect. There was someone else too, but the name seemed to be out of Luke’s grasp, flitting about on the edges of his memory.

Luke put the thought aside as he found himself once again in front of the building Mumbo had been clinging to only minutes ago. He and Grian were nearly to the ground, and Luke quickly busied himself with putting down the fence post and tying one half of the rope around it.

“Toss me the other end, once you can.” Grian was carefully hovering himself and Mumbo slightly above Luke’s head, likely getting as close to the dirt as Grian felt he could without hitting anything. He still had one hand holding onto Mumbo tightly, while he held his other out, waiting for the lead. Mumbo, for his part, had Grian in a vice grip, and Luke wouldn’t be surprised if that was due to more mischief from Grian.

Luke half-handed, half-threw the free end of the rope to Grian, who thankfully managed to catch it on the first try. Mindful of the precarious situation they were in, Grian managed to wrap the lead somewhat around Mumbo’s midsection, goading Mumbo into helping him tie it.

“I’m not that big of a spoon.” Was Mumbo’s immediate response when Grian asked him to let go for a moment and check the strength of the knot. “Can’t you do it yourself?”

“I could, I could.” Grian acknowledged as he rolled the lead between his fingers. “But then the knot might not be strong enough. And we wouldn’t have any way of checking other than me letting you go and seeing what happens. Which, now that I say it aloud, sounds like an excellent plan, let me-”

Mumbo snatched the rope out of Grian’s hand before he had the chance to finish the thought. “Let go of me, and the only part of your base left standing will be the back of it.”

Grian chuckled, the picture of untrustworthiness even as he switched to holding onto Mumbo with both hands. “No need to threaten, Mumbo, I’ve got you.”

True to his word, Grian waited until Mumbo had securely triple-knotted the lead around himself, wrapping it around one arm a couple of times as an extra precaution. Only then did Grian hesitantly release Mumbo, hovering and at ready to re-grab him if the lead broke. Thankfully, it didn’t, and Grian gracefully joined Luke on the ground while Mumbo used the rope to slowly pull himself downwards.

“Now that Mumbo’s not going to disappear into the sunset,” Grian folded his wings over his back, Luke having learned over time he was one of the hermits who never really put his elytra away, “can I ask what potion caused this? And does it only work on moustaches?”

“It’s not a potion.” Luke replied as he helped Mumbo in his efforts, tugging him down close enough to the fence post he was able to latch onto it. “And I don’t even know why it’s working in the first place. It wasn’t working on the potatoes.”

“Potatoes?”

“I was using them as test subjects.” Luke frowned at Mumbo’s glorious moustache wings, as if once again seeing them up close would provide him with the answer he needed regarding their existence, before glancing towards Grian. “None of them started to fly. Why did Mumbo?”

If Grian was capable of frowning, Luke was sure he would. “Does this usually work on potatoes?”

“Or moustaches?” Mumbo tacked on.

“I’m… not really sure. I’ve only ever seen it work on cards.”

“Did you try it on any cards?”

“No.”

Luke’s response was a second too fast, but Grian thankfully didn’t comment. “Maybe it just doesn’t work on potatoes, then.”

“I was a potato!”

“But I never was.” Grian tsked, shaking his head. “This is why you don’t steal souls.”

“We had a contract!”

“I don’t think potatoes are the defining difference with this.” Luke interjected, before Mumbo and Grian’s all too familiar soul sharing-borrowing-stealing argument could escalate past the contract stage. He still didn’t understand ninety percent of what the argument was even about, and he intended to keep it that way. “Or moustaches.”

Luckily, Mumbo’s moustache wings were still a greater distraction than anything else, and Mumbo and Grian abandoned their debate. “Well… you said this was like an enchantment. Did you do something different with the activation?”

Luke half-leaned on the fence post Mumbo was clinging to, trying to think through if he had accidentally muttered an incantation at some point with Mumbo that he hadn’t when working on the potatoes. None of the Scrybes had ever used one, to the best of his knowledge. And the Mycologists had used a hacksaw, not wordplay. “Not that I know of.”

“How did you apply the enchantment?”

“I used dye to paint it on the potatoes.” Luke answered Grian, looking back at Mumbo. He still couldn’t remember who the other sigil-manipulating character was, but it was starting to feel like an itch, like something he was right on the verge of getting. “For Mumbo, I, uh…”

“He traced it in my moustache.” Mumbo finished for Luke when he trailed off.

“Young love.” Grian said teasingly, although Luke only half-heard him. He was distracted, staring at the fence post he had been leaning on. Staring at the wood.

In Inscryption, sigils almost exclusively appeared on cards, but those cards were created only by the Scrybes. That was the whole point of the base game- only the Scrybes, with their tools, could create cards. The Mycologists could manipulate the cards, but not make their own, not really. If you wanted to imbue a card with the power of a sigil as a player, you needed a totem.

And if you needed a totem, you needed to see the Woodcarver.

The moment Luke remembered the name, his head started to hurt, but he ignored the pain in favour of following his realization to its full conclusion. His potato drawings hadn’t worked because he wasn’t Magnificus, wasn’t Grimora. He didn’t have a magic paintbrush or quill. But that was for drawings.

Inscryption. Inscription. Inscribed.

Without saying anything, Luke took a quick step back from the fence post, garnering confused looks from both Mumbo and Grian as he pulled one of the many potatoes he hadn’t yet drawn on out of his pocket. Luke dug into the skin of the potato with his fingernails, not worrying about precision or accuracy as he carved the airborne sigil into it. The resulting symbol was messy, and terrible, and had the two hermits looking at him like he had gone mad.

But the sigil still flashed yellow.

Just as with Mumbo, it only took a second for the sigil’s effect to set in, the strips of potato skin and flesh to the sides of the etching peeling away from the body and growing into potato wings as Luke watched. He let go of the vegetable as soon as its wings started to flap, the potato immediately launching into the sky with wild abandon.

“I see you’ve figured it out.” Grian’s eyes were on the potato, tracking its ascent. “The trick was-”

“Carving.” Luke cut him off. His hands were shaking, ever so slightly. “The difference- it had to be carved.”

“You were carving my moustache?!”

Luke tore his gaze away from the flying potato, turning to look at Mumbo instead. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but laugh at the exaggerated distress in his expression.

“Carving might be… might be a bit dramatic of a term for it.” Luke amended, forcing a calmness into his voice he didn’t entirely feel. He moved back to Mumbo’s side, crouching down in front of him, squinting at his moustache. After a moment, he spotted where he had originally marked the symbol. “Hold still.”

“I’ll try.” Mumbo said, his moustache wings flapping in protest. Careful to not accidentally jab him in the face while he was at it, Luke tousled the section of Mumbo’s moustache that had the sigil, effectively removing it.

Near instantly, the moustache wings stopped in place as though they had been frozen, causing Mumbo to abruptly drop fully to the earth. They began to shrink as well, reversing the process that had created them in the first place. By the time Luke had shifted to sit beside Mumbo, checking to make sure he was alright, his moustache had fully reverted to its original form, albeit not as well-maintained as it usually was.

Mumbo’s hands flew up to his face, patting down his moustache as if confirming it truly was back to normal. Once he had determined all was well, Mumbo let out a breath, slumping against Luke’s side in a more dramatic manner than was entirely necessary. “Oh, thank End.”

Luke wrapped his arm around Mumbo's shoulders, offering support while also taking some for himself. "Mumbo, I can't apologize enough for- for all that."

"Don't apologize!" Grian spoke before Mumbo could, sounding excited. "This is the best thing you've carried over yet! Think of the opportunities this offers Boatem incorporated! And all at the very minor cost of nearly losing Mumbo to the sun."

"That's it. Luke, put wings on Grian's house."

"Yes, please, prove my point."

Luke huffed a laugh. "I'm not sending anything else flying today." He turned towards Mumbo, who was heatlessly glaring at Grian. "Are you okay?"

“Oh, I’m fine.” Mumbo patted his moustache another time, as if illustrating his point. “And you don’t need to apologize- accidents happen all the time.”

“This isn’t really your typical ‘accident.’” Luke pointed out before sighing, more fond than exasperated. “Not that anyone here knows what that even means.”

“We pride ourselves on that.” Mumbo joked. “Besides, once I got past the shock of it all, it was a bit fun. Spoiled by the fear of flying so high I’d have to starve to death to return to the surface, but still fun.”

Luke decided that, coming from someone whose hobbies included pushing coworkers into the void and working directly with quasi-radiation-dust, only being somewhat put off by the possibility of dying in space was a fairly tame statement. It was also one he had no good response for. “Regardless, I promise not to test any more sigils on you, supposedly working or not.”

“No more on Mumbo, alright, but what about-”

“I’m not testing sigils on any hermits.”

“Not hermits then!” Grian pivoted without a second of hesitation. “But what about inanimate objects? As long as you can carve into it, it’ll fly, right? Imagine, Boatem’s newest advertising campaign- an army of flying boats, taking over the server!”

“Won’t they just fly into the sky?”

“Not if we weigh them down properly!”

Luke let the focus of the conversation shift away from him, Mumbo and Grian debating logistics of how to best utilize the symbol they didn’t even know the name of despite how the discovery had gone. After all, to them, there was no difference between this carry-over and one of Luke’s potion ones.

Tilting his head back, Luke watched the airborne potato disappear into the clear blue sky and tried to think of anything other than an old woman and her proffered totems.

As far as Luke could tell, the unfortunate incident of moustache wings hadn’t had any lasting effect on Mumbo, outside of him worrying over his moustache’s appearance slightly more than usual. He had been carefully brushing out and styling it for at least ten minutes, time Luke had spent sitting on his bed and waiting for Mumbo to finish up so they could go to sleep.

When Luke had eventually returned to his art project potatoes, Mumbo had tagged along, just to see what the sigil actually looked like, before returning to the interior design work he had been busy with before Luke sent him sky-high. He had been detailing the work to Luke for about as long as he had been messing with his moustache, although Luke admittedly hadn’t been paying perfect attention to it all.

Unlike the one who had actually been in a position of danger because of it, the sigil business was still sitting heavy on Luke’s mind. Or, better put, the implications of it were.

“Mumbo?” Luke felt bad for cutting Mumbo off, but he had something he needed to say before they went to bed, and he didn’t want to try and broach it after the lights had been put out.

Mumbo clearly took no offense to the interruption, turning cheerily towards Luke as he put his comb away. “Yes?”

At that- Mumbo’s ease, how unbothered he was- Luke nearly lost his nerve. He didn’t actually want to talk about what he had to talk about. He had chosen Hermitcraft, and Boatem, and Mumbo over his past, with the intention of leaving one part of it completely behind. Speaking it aloud in his new life felt like it would break something, as though merely mentioning it would summon it to him.

But actions spoke louder than words, and the actions of the day had screamed the one thing Luke had been trying to avoid. It wasn’t a matter of keeping it out any longer, and it didn’t feel right that Luke was the only one who fully understood what Mumbo’s moustache wings meant in the grand scheme of his carry-overs.

“I… there’s something I need to tell you.” Luke said haltingly. “About… the sigil.”

Picking up on the (rather obvious) distress in Luke’s tone, Mumbo moved to settle on the bed next to him, concerned. “What about it?”

“It- it has to do with where I came from. And how I got here.”

"We don't have to talk about any of that unless you want to." Mumbo reminded him, since Luke was certain absolutely nothing about the way he was approaching the conversation made it seem like it was one he wanted to have. "I'm completely fine, I promise. And Grian's excited about the flying symbol, but if you don't ever want to use it again now that you know it works, he won't push. None of Boatem will."

"It's not just about the sigil." Luke clarified, although he did appreciate Mumbo's reassurances, although he'd be happy to drop the subject there and never return to it. "And it's not about wanting to talk about it, it's- I need to."

"I only want to talk about it if you do."

Luke huffed in lighthearted exasperation as his own words were thrown back in his face. He doubted there was any way he could convincingly argue this is different. "If I say I want to, will you believe me?"

"Not in the slightest." Mumbo reached over, taking one of Luke's hands and holding it in his. "You're shaking, love.”

“Barely.” Mumbo affixed Luke with a look. “Alright, alright. Maybe I don’t want to talk about all of it. But… I won’t feel right if I don’t tell you some of it now.”

“Well, if you want to,” Mumbo stressed each word, leaving the backdoor for Luke to escape the conversation wide open, “I’ll listen to it. However much you want to tell me.”

Luke nodded, taking a deep breath, steeling himself. Hermitcraft wasn’t going to deteriorate around him, no matter what he said next. The past was still past, even if he spoke it aloud. Mumbo squeezed his hand, comforting, and Luke let out the breath.

“I want to tell you about Inscryption.”

#lucky jumbo #luke carder #mumbo jumbo #grian #hermitcraft #inscryption #m.y funky words #everyone ready to enjoy this crackfic that is all funsies and no accidental lore/plot angst :]

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