I drew one mermaid for Mermay so of course it had to be our ✨pretty fish monk princess Sting✨ who first met Aqua when she fished him outta the ocean 🌊🧜♂️
It’s pretty close to how the actually met but a little less traumatic (both the physical and the aesthetic kind)
As always Sting belongs to @worldsokayestmagicalgirl
I’ve been so bad at keeping up with posting these, which is a shame cuz I’ve made a lot
As always, Aqua : @captain-cappie
Big thanks to Cappie for also helping me write out this little…fuckin…vignette(?) below the cut . Nebulously placed sometime before session 0 ✨
It hadn't been a for sure thing that they would end up at this Gala. Sting's ship had just docked in port that afternoon, and the crew given leave for the next two days.
It had been a pleasant surprise to be greeted by a familiar face, they never fully had the guarantee that they'd meet up again quickly when they parted ways for work. But Aqua had come bounding up to him on the docks, smile wide on her face as she grabbed his arm as if six weeks of seperate travels had been a mere six minutes.
"Oh thank fuck," she says in lieu of a hello.
He's used to her antics by now and just wraps one of his arms around her shoulders in a side hug.
"Any longer and I'd have had to spend the night with Cahwel," she sneers.
He hums seriously, looking down at her as she begins dragging him towards town.
"I'm honored," he deadpans, though the corner of his mouth ticks up.
"There's a gala," she explains with a flourish of her free hand as she steers him through the streets. "Exclusive. Invite only. Ask me how I got in!"
He humors her and Aqua chatters away as she leads him to a cheery tavern and shoves him straight upstairs. He hears a few greetings he imagines are from fellow sailors he's worked with before and he manages a quick wave before Aqua bullies him into the room at the end of the hall.
"We have hours, " she stresses as she closes the door behind them. "And you need to match this."
She points to a dress hanging on the other side of the room, and he suddenly feels like hours won't be enough. It's a very nice dress, and he can honestly say he doesn't have anything even slightly comparable to it. He lets out a low whistle as he looks it over.
"Well then, I hope you have something to work with," he muses as he turns back to her. "Otherwise you'll have to call Cawhel."
"What do you think I am, an amateur?" she replies with a self satisfied smirk as she tosses a pack on the bed. "I have your fancy closet here."
He tosses his own pack down on the other side of the bed and watches as she starts throwing various garments out of her bags. He finds himself wondering for the millionth time since they've met where she manages to keep it all.
She pulls out a few loose yards of fabric, and he suddenly gets an idea.
"Give me that one," he says, pointing to the one that landed on the headboard.
It's blue, with a pink gradient and a cross weave that is patterned to look like the ripple of light of the surface of water. It will do perfectly.
"Cut this here," he instructs.
In a few minutes he's in the washroom, folding the fabric in familiar patterns that take almost no conscious thought on his part. He swallows the sudden intense bout of longing that lodges itself in his throat as he straightens everything out and steps back into the room.
Aqua perks up as he reenters. She gives him a once over before her eyes get a gleam in them and she dives for her bag again.
"Stand there," she orders. "Don't move."
She begins sewing it in place on him, adding petal details and small beads to the shoulder and end of his sabai to match her dress. He meditates while she works, keeping his awareness enough that he can follow directions to turn when needed.
Eventually, he's declared done, and Aqua sets in to do his hair and makeup for him. He lets her without fuss, eyes constantly roaming to his own pack as she weaves strings of sea glass beads into his braids.
In the end, while she gets into her dress, he pulls the jewelry from the bottom of his pack. He hasn't worn them since surfacing, but...they feel right tonight.
When she exits, they both pause and take long look at each other. He can see the question she's fighting not to ask. But this whole thing they have works precisely because they don’t do that, so she refrains and continues on to pick out her own accessories.
They are fashionably late, and absolutely not because Aqua took forever to finish getting ready despite being the one with the finished outfit.
They arrive, and as expected, Aqua slots into place like she belongs here. They're surrounded by plenty of attendees. He begins to feel a bit claustrophobic with all the people around him, leaning in to try and converse with them.
He's also horrible at small talk.
It's not until Aqua speaks up that he realizes what's actually going on.
“Sorry people," she declares, squeezeing his upper arm. "But his dance card is already filled, by me.”
And with that, she successfully extracts him from the crowd and pulls him towards the dance floor.
Bewildered, he follows without much resistance. They fall into rhythm, dancing more formally than they usually do, though if Aqua is surprised he knows how, she does not comment on it.
"What's a dance card?" he asks, brow furrowed as she prompts him to spin her.
“Don’t worry about it, Weather Boy," she teases as she spins back into him. "Just dance with me. Unless you want to get thrown back into the sea of people?"
He looks back at her arched brow, meeting her empty challenge with a deadpan response.
"I'll stay where I'm better acquainted."
There's a pause before their faces crack and they both burst out laughing. They fully relax into each other, and while this definitely isn’t how he thought his night would end up, Sting can’t really find it in him to complain.
There’s nothing like a spinning the Halloween Costumes wheel and being humbled by the fact that I seem to have a TYPE when it comes to duo dynamics… 👉🏼👈🏼
This was only supposed to be for ONE of them 🫠 but then I made a realization…
I promise they were supposed to have different costumes, though I do appreciate how they all seem to be different flavors of this trope (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
Happy start to spooky season.
There will be more of these because what are dnd characters other than part time dress-up dolls
As always, Diana : @wolfy1298 & Aqua : @captain-cappie
Some session zero nonsense because idk what I was expecting but it wasn’t him IMMEDIATELY busting out some Tarzan style nonsense on the ropes in his pajamas.
Boi was locked in…thriving even. Completely in his element ✨🪸
The greatest minds of our generation will now be having their debate about who holds the title of the most prolific bodice ripper author in all of Calloway.
Will Cahwel be able to break out his PowerPoint about historical accuracy being necessary for full immersion before Aqua drops her diss track about how Skyler publishes 5 books a year because she’s not bogged down by her fans fact checking her every 3 pages?
We’ll never know because they’re already beating each other up on the floor of the tavern.
As always, Aqua : @captain-cappie & Cahwel : @clovedown
Settle the debate for them?
Skyler Bone (who cares that you can’t actually tear off a corset with one hand)
Faye Sterling (MY PORN MUST HAVE PLOT AND HISTORICAL ACCURACY)
This year’s pride piece features the Calloway Crew ✨(they have infested my brain and Aqua is anything but straight so she was a perfect fit 💅 lol)
As always Sting belongs to @worldsokayestmagicalgirl
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Pride month is a time to celebrate being who you are no matter if that’s out loud and proud or kept to your self. Closeted Pride is still pride ❤️ Stay safe y’all. I know life right now isn’t great but we all need to keep fighting and being proud of who we are. No one can choose who they love but everyone can choose to live with respect and fight for equality
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Stay safe and remember:
🩷Protect Trans Rights
❤️Protect the Dolls and the Bricks
🧡Black Lives Matter
💛Indigenous Lives Matter
💚Remember to thank Marsha P. Johnson and all the amazing people who came together with her and after her to help fight for us all
So I started this MerMay piece like….last year and never finished it so 👉🏼👈🏼
Fun fact @clovedown is a very meticulous DM so I credit this entire idea to the one time they offhandedly said trying to drown Aqua (an air genasi) would be like trying to shove a beach ball under water.
Hence :
So, no fairytale mermaid encounters here. Just one brief glimpse before she’s immediately rocketed back up to the surface 🤣
As always, Aqua : @captain-cappie & Adalon : @zrllosyn
Aqua and Cahwel to each other 24/7: “This bitch (affectionate)”
The dynamic between these two is so fun to play I can’t wait to keep flipping this stupid rat man off (but if anything happened to him I would riot. I would destroy everything in my path. And Aqua would either cackle maniacally or scream)
Thank you @kyroki for giving me a beautiful meme to draw ✨