Bridget And The Marimos

I think I've worked out (part of the reason) why there's been such a huge uptick in folks who don't reblog things on here.

This post has like 14k notes right now, and the tags and comments and reblogs are FULL of people who didn't know about fast-reblog, and -- you guys have been slow-reblogging this whole time!?!??!?!?

In the interests of a) making your lives easier, and b) encouraging you to reblog posts, which is what keeps this site alive, here's how you fast-reblog:

On mobile: press and hold the reblog button. Your blog icon will appear. If you have sideblogs, all of the different icons will appear. Drag to whichever blog you want to reblog to, and release. Job done.

On desktop: hold down the E key and click reblog. Job done.

You're welcome. Now get reblogging.

The Train Station

(Also posted on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38088436)

An older woman stands on an old and overgrown wooden station platform, waiting for a train to round the bend into the station. It’s foggy out, so foggy she finds herself unable to see anything past the platform and the bend where the tracks come from. In the corner of her mind is the faint memory of drifting onto the foggy platform and exchanging some coins for a one-way fare at the ticket booth.

She’s not alone in waiting, but she ignores all others in favor of looking at her watch. The hands don’t appear to be moving but she feels a strong anxiety in looking at the watch face.

“The train is late.” She mutters to herself, trying to explain away her stab of anxiety. “I don’t need to take a late train.”

She looks again at the watch with a frown. Making up her mind, she turns and walks through the crowd to the ticket booth. The young man stationed there has his feet up on the counter, leaned back with his hat over his eyes. Soft snores rise up every few seconds from under the hat. The woman huffs a sigh and rasps loudly on the window, startling him awake.

“Excuse me,” she said, but her tone held no politeness. “The train is late. I don’t even need to take this train, and I would like a refund on my ticket.” The man sits up, rubbing sleep out of his pale eyes and readjusting his hat. He takes a moment to look out over the station before leaning back into his chair.

“The train will be coming along soon, ma’am.” He mumbled sleepily.

She scoffed. “But I don’t need to take the train! I’m not sure why I wanted to take it in the first place, but I changed my mind. I don’t want to take the train. I would like my refund. Please.” She emphasized the last word like it was all she needed to get her way. The man just shrugged.

“Train’s coming. You got a ticket; you get on board. Look there.” He pointed down the tracks into the fog. She turned to see a bright headlight, a train following close behind. It emerged from the fog to come around the bend, breaks squealing as it slowed to a stop at the platform. Its cars were completely empty.

The woman resisted the childish urge to stomp her foot out of irritation at the whole situation. She wasn’t going to admit she was wrong.

“Fine!” she snapped. “I’ll take the damn train. Your customer service is terrible! You lazy kids nowadays. I should report you.” The man looked unbothered and slumped back into his chair to resume his nap. The sight only further irritated the woman, and she stomped off to join the others boarding the train.

She stood in the line as the conductor took tickets from the passengers. The conductor wore so much black that in the foggy station they looked almost like a shadow. People around her seemed to drift in and out of line with no real organization. She refused to look them in the face, their bodies like ghosts out of the corners of her eyes. She shoved past a few, who made no noise of objection as she did so.

“This train is late!” she exclaimed loudly to the conductor. “I came here to take the train, I expected it to be on time. This is unacceptable.”

The conductor offered her an apologetic look that looked out of place on their bony face. “There were more passengers today than normal ma’am.” They said in a soft tone.

The woman huffed. “That’s not an excuse. The train is empty! And this is your job, you do it every day! Shouldn’t you be able to do your job right?”

The conductor simply tilted their head and offered a small smile. “Apologies ma’am. Are you ready to board? I understand you are upset, but you are holding up the line I’m afraid.”

The woman scoffed. “I don’t know, are you going to do your job and get me where I need to go? You need to run a tighter schedule. This is ridiculous.”

The conductor sighed and shook their head. “This sort of attitude isn’t going to get you anywhere ma’am.” They said in that same soft tone. “If you aren’t ready to board, I suggest you wait a bit longer on the platform. But right now, you are disrupting the other passengers who are just trying to get on board.”

The woman glanced around at the people in line behind her. Her eyes slid off their faces like water off a duck’s back but seeing that no one else was making a deal out of the lateness of the train she felt a bit embarrassed at making a scene. She turned back to the conductor, who was waiting patiently.

“I have old eyes and waiting for so long on this foggy platform didn’t help. Now you get here late and embarrass me. I have rights as a customer! You should do a better job to make your customers happy.” She said with an air of entitlement.

The conductor didn’t rise to any bait. “Alright ma’am. Would you like to board now then? I can show you to a seat.”

“Well can’t I get some sort of compensation for being made to wait? Some decent customer service?”

The conductor shook her head. “We don’t do anything like that ma’am. Either you get on or you don’t, but everyone paid the same fee to board.”

The woman though for a few seconds before trying again. “Can I get a refund then? There are other trains, I could just take my business elsewhere. Just fix this.”

The conductor leaned against the door to the train car. “Good luck with that. This is a train station ma’am, I’m not sure what you would have me do. If you don’t get on this train, you’ll have to wait for the next. Or you can hand me your ticket and hop on the train and be on your way.” They said, soft and slow like they were taking to a wild animal.

“That’s not good enough.” The woman said crossing her arms across her chest. “I’ve been waiting for so long and I have places to be. Can’t you just do something for me? What about customer satisfaction?”

The conductor opened their mouth to speak but was cut off by the woman’s rambling.

“I’ve been so stressed out and I just want to get where I’m going. Can’t you just find me a seat away from others or something? I’ve never been on a train, but I don’t trust people on trains. I want to sit by myself. Can you do that? Do something?”

While she rambled, the conductor had started taking tickets from other passengers as they slipped past her into the train car. She attempted to glare at them, but they were gone before she could get a good look at their faces.

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. This train will be leaving soon, with or without you. That’s a choice only you can make, ma’am.”

The lady’s anger drained out of her body as frustrated tears filled her eyes.

“I’ve been waiting so long.” She choked out, trying to hold back tears. “I’ve been here in the fog on this falling apart platform, and no one is helping me! I just want to be on time and now I’m going to be late!” a few traitorous tears fell from her eyes. “Don’t you understand? I can’t be late! I can’t be!” she broke down in sobs as the conductor gestured to the few left in line to wait a moment. Carefully they circled their bone arms around her and gently coaxed her into the train car, slipping the ticket out of her hand and into the handful of others they had collected.

“Hush now, it’s okay. You’ll still be on time no matter what.” The conductor pressed a handkerchief into her hands as they lowered the woman into a seat by the window. With one final smile, the conductor slipped away to get the other passengers boarded onto the train.

The woman slowly stopped crying at rested her head on the cool glass of the train window. A few more passengers boarded the train before she heard the voice of the conductor ring though the car. “Now leaving the station. Thank you for riding today.”

As the train slowly started to pull away from the station, the woman saw that some people had stayed behind, although her view of them was quickly blocked as the train turned the conner into the fog. Suddenly she was aware of a figure sitting next to her. Turning, she met the eyes of one of the passengers who had taken the seat next to her. He seemed pale, no just skin but his whole person, like all the colors of him had been dulled.

“Hello.” He said, in a voice that struck a chord of familiarity in her.

“Hello.” She responded, suddenly feeling a bit shy. “Have we met before?” she asked. “You seem familiar.”

His face took on a thoughtful expression as a hand pushed his hair out of his face. She noted the wrinkles on his face and figured they must be around a similar age.

The passenger gave a shrug. “I can’t say I’ve seen you in the station before. I’ve been waiting around for a bit. I’ve never gotten on the train before today.” The woman studied him, the familiarity he carried making her heart ache with fond memories she couldn’t quite remember.

She leaned towards him. “What changed this time?” She whispered.

He frowned and said, “I don’t know. I was waiting for a while at the station. The train came and went a few times, but I just wasn’t ready to get on yet. Today I felt I had to.” Then his face broke out in a smile. “Glad I did, or I wouldn’t have met you.”

The woman smiled back before her face fell. “Where are we going?” she asked, suddenly worried when she realized she didn’t know the destination of the train. The passenger turned his whole body to face her in the seat and slipped his hand in to hers. When she looked down, she saw her hands too had that pale, dull tone. Looking back at the passenger’s face the woman noticed that he looked nervous as well.

“I don’t know.” He said honestly. “Does it matter?”

The woman pulled back. “Of course it matters! We got one-way tickets!”

The passenger’s smile returned, but it was sadder. “I don’t think the destination is important. In the end, we are just moving on. And that’s okay. The train won’t be late, and neither will we. We got on the train today, so it must be our time to move on.”

The woman again smiled back, a smile his eyes had seen many times before, although he didn’t know it.

“Well,” she started, “Your right. It doesn’t matter where we are going, only that we are going together. It feels right.”

As a blinding white light began to fill the train car, the woman stayed calm and for the second time in their intertwined existences, the last thing the two passengers were concerned about was seeing each other’s smiles one more time.

And somehow, that was enough.

A man and a woman platonically raising a child together and not falling in love has to be the biggest plotwist in the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie AND my favorite part

One of the most important things I have learned today..

i know there was a lot going on in at world’s end, but i’m really stuck on norrington’s sacrifice

like. i’m well aware that his death = redemption here. but there is a world where stubborn, capable, clever james norrington survives elizabeth’s escape on the flying dutchman. imagine for a second, if you will, just for one second, that he eschews his pride once more. he duels with bootstrap bill and davy jones just long enough to escape to the empress with elizabeth.

then james norrington goes to shipwreck cove, witnesses the inauguration of Pirate King Elizabeth Swann. he serves as her adjutant, having finally picked a side. james doesn’t have to be happy to be working with pirates, but damn if he didn’t outplay everyone to give beckett the heart of davy jones, one of the finest acts of trickery in the franchise, and hasn’t felt like himself since. damn if he won’t protect elizabeth and grieve her father with her, because weatherby swann was a friend to him until the end. damn if he doesn’t love the swann family. damn if he won’t stand right by elizabeth’s side, king of the pirates or not, to finally tell cutler beckett off.

imagine for a second, just a wee little second, that james norrington fights with elizabeth swann aboard the black pearl in the final fight. he’s a veteran captain and can help barbossa at the helm when the shit gets messy, and, as we know, shit does get messy when the dutchman’s crew starts to board. james is best man at elizabeth and will’s impromptu pirate fight wedding. james helps barbossa keep the pearl afloat in the midst of calypso’s malestrom. recall for a moment that he, y’know, destroyed a royal navy ship and lost his commission after chasing the pearl into a hurricane. how’s that for redemption, disney?? how’s that for bookends, DISNEY?????

sacrifice is well and good and emotionally touching in all the most heart-wrenching ways, but hot damn. imagine, for just one more second if you please, the defiance and satisfaction of james norrington, a man of honor willing to die for his cause, instead living out of spite. imagine him finally forging his own path from the wreckage of his mistakes.

also! collection of my observations on the various enemies in Dredge! for people who are cowards like me and want to know the mechanics of these Guys!

It's as spoiler-free as possible, but I do have to reference the creatures and the area they appear in, so bear that in mind! JSYK I've been uploading this as a steam guide and have been updating it regularly with new info, so this guide is extremely outdated! Please check out steam for an updated list! (it should be one of the first guides on the page!)

ANGLERFISH

The 'ghost ship' you will see on the water at night. It seems to spawn around midnight, at some distance from your current location, so it's pretty easy to avoid if you're careful. (Sometimes when sleeping at Greater Marrow or Steel Point, you can see it spawn on the horizon - I assume it spawns a set distance from your location, regardless of where you are, but I have no way to confirm this.)

If it catches sight/starts pursuing you, it'll make a very distinct blaring foghorn noise. Sneaking around it isn't much use, but's not especially fast, so it's possible to outrun it if you want to. It can be easy to get lost in the fog while being chased, so it's safest to try and keep an idea of your nearest dock's location if you're out late at night.

If it catches up to you, it will attack you once (causing hull damage similar to crashing into an object) and then swim away. I assume it despawns at this point, as I haven't been attacked by it more than once in the same night.

Overall, it's more scary than it is dangerous.

GALE ROCKS LEVIATHAN

The large, eel-like creature that lives inside the cliff caves at Gale Rocks. It first appeared for me upon entering the cliff caves for the first time, from the large 'archway' nearest the village dock. It seems to always cross across the 'path' between the cliffs in the same spot, rising out of the water once to attack you before swimming away. Once you know this spot, it's easy to just wait for it to swim by and avoid the hit entirely.

After a time (it may be following completion of some story quests in the area) the creature will begin to swim around the bay at Gale Rocks regardless of time of day/night. It's quite slow, so you can avoid it if you like, but it does make it hard to get to fishing/dredging spots, and it will attack you even if you're idling (ie., not passing time by sailing.)

Like the Anglerfish, it will attack once, doing hull damage similar to crashing into an object, and then swim away. After this, it seems to despawn for a few in-game hours. Letting it attack you so you can explore the area more freely is a valid option, especially since navigating the tight areas can be a bit of a pain.

Again, more scary/intimidating than it is dangerous. Not completely avoidable like the Anglerfish, but pretty easy to deal with.

THE KRAKEN

The giant octopus at Stellar Basin. It lives inside the deep pit at the centre of the ring of islands. The spot is easily identifiable as it's surrounded by glowing blue plants/coral during the day, and bright pink jellyfish at night. The Kraken has large, harmless tentacles that rest around the edge of the pit, and several smaller, moving tentacles within.

It doesn't leave the pit at any time, and will not attack you if you don't stray into the water above the pit. If you do approach it, it will make a rumbling sound for a few seconds, and then quickly hit you with a tentacle. This attack, like the others, causes hull damage similar to crashing into an object. This creature is probably the easiest to avoid, as it doesn't pursue or seek you out in any way, and is only a danger if you deliberately cross above it.

At a certain point in the story, you will gain access to the ability to activate a device that a character claims will either scare the Kraken off for a while, or enrage it. The device will always scare it off, and you'll be safe to explore the entire area for as long as the device is running (which seems to be significantly long enough to check all the fishing/dredging spots you might need to.) When the device turns off, you will get a few seconds of warning as the Kraken climbs back up into the pit (via a rumbling sound).

Even less dangerous than the previous two, just visually intimidating.

MIND SUCKERS

These are (relatively) small, worm-like creatures that hide in the water at set locations within Twisted Strand. They are easy to see if you're vigilant, as they have bright yellow glowing orbs/eyes on their heads. They are initially invisible under the surface, but will slowly peer out of the water as you approach, giving you time to spot them, before emerging fully.

Mind Suckers are sensitive to movement, so when you see one emerge, just hold completely still for a few seconds until it sinks into the water again. In my experience, once they've disappeared into the water, they won't respawn for a while, similar to the other creatures. (Note that there are several of these creatures, and having one despawn won't despawn the rest of them - you'll need to repeat for each one.)

They're very easy to avoid if you're cautious, but if one does spot you moving, its yellow eyes will turn red and it will begin pursuing you. They're not especially fast or nimble, so you can outrun them, but the tight spaces can make it difficult to navigate, so the 'Banish' spell is a pretty safe way to get rid of them.

If they get within range of you, they will begin to cause the fisherman significant panic, similar to the whispering fog that spawns late at night. After a few seconds of this, they will lash out with a set of small tentacles, which I believe can cause hull damage (I managed to avoid being hit by/crashing into these tentacles, so I'm not 100% sure.)

As the story progresses, you will gain access to traps that can permanently remove the Mind Suckers from at least three key locations - I didn't explore enough following this to know if it removes all of them from the area, but I doubt it.

FIRE FISH & MAMA FISH

Fire Fish are small, orange/red fish that live in small groups around the ruins in Devil's Spine. They're pretty harmless on their own - they have a fairly small detection radius and will begin to chase you if you get too close. If they reach your boat, they'll begin making a lot of noise, but won't do any damage. They will, however, slow down your boat, which is very noticable if you have a large crowd on you. They're nimble, but not particularly fast, so you should be able to outrun them if you have a decently upgraded boat.

They're easy to see due to their bright colours, but they can look similar to the lava veins that also occur in the area. You can fairly easily avoid them by being very cautious and vigilant, so as to avoid getting too close to them.

The area has lots of barriers that you can destroy with bombs in order to reach places without disturbing the Fire Fish, but banish is also quite effective. They're also afraid of the hot vents scattered around the area, and will flee if you cross over one, so try to plan your routes if need-be.

Mama Fish is a much larger, paler version of the Fire Fish. She's still relatively small (about half the size of your boat.) She slowly patrols the area, and won't pay much attention to your comings and goings. You can hear her from pretty much anywhere in the Devil's Spines, and her 'roars' will get deeper and louder the closer she is (and be especially loud when she is actively chasing you - see below.)

Mama Fish is blind, so relies on the sound of her babies (Fire Fish) to target you. If her babies reach your boat and start making noise, Mama will start to head towards you. She's pretty slow and easy to avoid, so out-running her is a good solution. Banish will also cause the Fire Fish to disappear, and Mama will lose interest in you and back away.

I haven't been attacked by Mama, so I don't know exactly what she does, but I assume it's similar to every other creature (ie., hull damage.) I'll update when I have a clearer idea!

Fire Fish & Mama were the most frustrating enemy for me to get used to, but they're fairly easy to deal with if you're cautious!

OTHER:

WATER RUMBLES

The deep, roaring noises that you'll sometimes hear when crossing the ocean. Almost always completely harmless - just audio design that makes you nervous. The one exception I know of below.

SPINED LEVIATHAN

A large creature that will occasionally spawn following a 'water rumble' in the deep water nearby Twisted Strand. I've only seen it once, and it didn't attack me, but other players report being attacked (and instakilled) by it. This could be a result of lingering nearby for too long (I immediately moved away from it 'til I reached a dock) or a result of high panic levels.

If you spot it, just keep moving and you should be fine.

(Note: this is the same creature you'll see if you stray too far out-of-bounds from the edge of the map, as well as one other story-related appearance!)

SHIPWRECK CRABS

Giant crabs that disguise themselves as regular shipwrecks in set positions around the map. I found three of them during regular play. They will look exactly like a normal shoreline shipwreck, even having scrap dredging spots nearby, but will become active when you approach. They'll quickly stand up and lash out with their claws, but won't pursue you, and are easy to avoid as long as you don't get too close. If you do get hit, they do minor hull damage.

WHISPERING FOG

Not a creature so much, but it can pose a threat. This is the red/pink/purple patches of fog that appear late at night. They cause significant panic, but don't damage your boat at all. They're fairly easy to avoid, but you can run into them if you're already fleeing from another creature, like the Angler Fish. They're more of an annoyance than a real danger, imo!

BONUS: DOLPHINS AND WHALES

Completely harmless! They can bump your boat a little but won't cause damage and won't actively pursue you in any way. They're just normal little guys (:

If you have any other questions about the game, shoot me a message and I'll do my best to let you know!

You ever have a compliment that just sticks with you for literal years and years? Maybe forever?

For me, it’s when I was working as a figure model for art classes at my university (because it paid well due to being an early-morning thing and was easy to get because nobody else wanted to apply due to the near-nakedness and pervasive body image issues in our culture). There was this one professor who was always so happy when I showed up as the female model for that day because he said that I had a “good sense of motion”, and it was fun to draw. (Which, in itself, was a great compliment because I am a clumsy, self conscious person.)

But what really got me was one day we were doing 15-minute poses, which are harder to do because you need to come up with something interesting and dynamic, but you have to be able to hold it for a quarter of an hour without moving even a little bit. They didn’t have any specific guidance for us, so I just… did something. Idk. But about five minutes into wandering around helping the students and talking to them, he paused and told me that I was doing a good job, and, “What a fun pose. You’re reminding me of Rodin’s ‘Eve,’ there. You always have a very Rodin sort of energy about you. Thanks for waking up early for us.” And then just went back to discussing the use of ink with one of the students like he hadn’t almost reduced me to tears.

Then I went home and looked up Rodin’s ‘Eve’ and was blown away because she actually did look like me? I had ended up in that pose almost exactly just by chance, but she also had a soft, squidgy tummy and the hip dips and weird butt and big feet and thunder thighs and strong calves, just like me.

And I don’t have a great relationship with my body. Very much the opposite. I frequently hate the way I look and fit into it, but then occasionally from the depths of the past comes the voice of an art nerd telling me I’m like a Rodin sculpture, and I feel like, “Yeah, I have Rodin Energy so suck it, brain!” And it helps me reframe the way I’m thinking about myself because I can get outside of my head for a minute and see that while I’m frustrated with my body, it has an art to it just by existing. Soft tummy? Fun to draw, nice curves! Big thighs? Strong lines! Dimples and wrinkles and slopes become a place for light to sit. Bodies are so cool, and that includes mine! Even if it’s not quite what I want it to be, it’s still a work of art that nature sculpted just for me.

And for him it just seemed like such an off-handed, normal, natural thing to say. He thought “Hey, that looks like Rodin,” and so he said it.

Just… Idk. Compliment people. Say what’s on your mind. You have no idea whether it’s going to totally change a person’s life. It’s just words to you but it could be really, deeply important to them.

the two genders are “i no longer wish to be perceived” and “i have to be the most fuckable person at the grocery store”

this is so fucking cool

Ranboo, running a fever and delirious: the Twitter people. They need to know how much I love men.