Sky Islands [Voice] (on the 7th)

[fierybluebird]

We're on a whatever they call Sky Islands here. It's funny because I was just telling Thatch I really wanted to go to one. All while forgetting how much Namur hates them. With good reason too, he can't swim in clouds, anymore than I can fly in the Fishman Island water half. Still, he's been a real bro about putting up with it to humor me and Ace, and the others, eh?

So it got me thinking again, about the kind of extreme things we do for those we care about, eh?

Now me, I wouldn't think twice before going to war with an entire universe if I had to, but what about the rest of you lot, eh? What kind of crazy things would you do to prove you love your family, or maybe crazy things you put a line at?

Comments

[fierybluebird]

Pretty much. [A shrug.] I love weddings, but that's overdoing it.

[theartofboom]

Do you? Really? Weddings? All that...commitment.

[fierybluebird]

[Both hands over his heart.]

I may be a pirate Chandra, but I'm a phoenix too. [Amused grin.]

I don't exactly have any role models as far as long-term monogamy goes though, eh? My Pops collected nurses, Thatch does his brothel tours, and even Shakki and Ray have their own understandings with each other.

[Rubs the back of his neck.] Actually until I met Ikki and Leanne and Naesala here I thought I was completely a freak. And I still don't know how to handle it completely but... [He waves a hand.] Aye. I love weddings. And happy couples in love.

[theartofboom]

Yuck. I can see the appeal in some ways? But...not for me. No adventure, there. Not that I'd marry someone that wanted to settle down. But, you know...I'd still wanna play with new people too.

[fierybluebird]

[Grins.] Everyone has to do things their own way, eh?

I think if I wasn't so bird-brained it wouldn't matter. But I can see the appeal in the way Namur and everyone else does things.

[theartofboom]

Well, I mean...there's a certain charm in it. I just know that nobody'd be able to put up with me long enough.

[fierybluebird]

Hey now, don't sell yourself short Firebrand. Anyone lucky enough to stick by your side would want to last as they long as they could. And I say this as someone who intends to stick by you for decades until you get sick of me, eh?

[theartofboom]

Yes, well, you're a little different now aren't you? Unless you have thoughts about me I don't know about.

[fierybluebird]

[Devious grin.] But if I told you they wouldn't be hidden anymore, yoi.

[theartofboom]

Well, I might say yes if they weren't secret. Yoi.

[fierybluebird]

Want to go on a group date with me and Nam-chan and Ace?

[theartofboom]

...you mean me dating the three of you? Or...uh...

[Because incest and fishmen?]

1/2

[fierybluebird]

What? No!

2/2

[fierybluebird]

No, it's like... double dating, but even less intimate. Since you like casual, and long story short, Ace has his big brothers worrying about him since he hasn't been on a date in this world yet. We don't want him to be too nervous or purposely sabotaging himself, ya know?

But I'd bring Robin, and Namur would bring someone and we might invite a few others to make it even more casual.

Just not too many because I'm kind of a wreck around Robin already.

[theartofboom]

Oh. Sure? Alright, no problem. Ace is cute enough, I think I can manage that.

[fierybluebird]

Awesome.

We haven't told Ace yet though. Mostly because I threatened him and then the discussion got stupider somehow.

[theartofboom]

Oh? How'd you make that dumber?

[fierybluebird]

He was getting ready to swear off dating all women because of angler fishwomen.

[theartofboom]

...huh?

[fierybluebird]

You know how Namur is a bull shark fishman?

[theartofboom]

...I do now?

[fierybluebird]

[Waves a hand back and forth.] Do you know what an angler fish is?

[Since it occurs to him she might not have come across them in her travels.]

[theartofboom]

No, I haven't.

[fierybluebird]

All right, they're deep deep ocean fish that live where there is no light. The males spend all their time hungering and starving because they're tiny and can't hunt for shit. The females collect phosphorescence like a fishing pole that lures out their prey. Of course when you spend all your time in darkness, any amount of light can start to seem like the most beautiful thing in the world. [AWKWARD PAUSE AND HE RUBS HIS CHIN.] Actually that explains Thatch... everything about him.

Anyway...

The males just see the light and finally know they're headed to paradise. Except they don't actually get food or sex. They just fuse to the angler's body and slowly melt away while the angler fish female gets to keep them as a pair of gonads for a trophy. The scariest and biggest and oldest of them can have eight pairs or more.

And frankly, the fishwoman version isn't that different. Except they have a kind of hypnotic thing going.