tides of change

21 | siren | enby sophomore at Katmere University

[kamdecker]

imogenesargent​:

“Of course!” Imogene said, happy to help their fellow student out. They were glad to see another student that liked to write with pen and paper. So many students just did everything on the computer, these days. There was something so satisfying about writing by hand, the ink flowing across the page, words taking shape before their eyes. “That makes sense. Some of my history classes are like.” They were glad that they weren’t taking any English classes. “I’m sure that you’ve been learning some interesting new words!”

Kam appreciated that they could just write anywhere on a page, not having to necessarily write in a linear fashion. This did end up with their notebooks a mess, though, with scribbles and strike-throughs and arrows all over the pages. “What type of history?” Kam wondered. “Like human stuff or our history?” It was crazy to think about how humans had no idea about all of the long history of paranormals. But their public high school had barely even touched Eastern history, so asking for a wide scope would be too much anyways. “Definitely!” they said with a proud grin. It was fun sometimes to show off their knowledge. “I even learned a fun word from another student a few days ago: cavillator. It’s Latin for someone who mocks others.”

[kamdecker]

vasilvalek​:

        𝐒𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 that set the bushes on fire, that he didn’t even realize there was SOMEONE nearby until after he put the small fire out with his hoodie. Well, their scream was hard to ignore—it almost threatened to DEAFEN his sensitive hearing. ❝ Oh, fuck— ❞ Vasil was about to apologize while bending down to offer a hand them a hand, but the accusatory tone was swift to rub him the wrong way. Although he still did extend a hand, his eyes rolled back with a huff. ❝ Dramatic much? Please, that was barely enough to start a bonfire. ❞ The reference quickly has him assume that they’re some kind of seafolk—a selkie, a siren? Maybe the latter, considering their exaggerated remarks. The male then notices the rope and he frowns, head tilting just slightly to the side in CURIOSITY. ❝ …What are you doing, anyway? ❞ He asks, forgetting all about how he doesn’t even know who they are nor has he introduced himself.

Kam leveled a glare at his accusation. One was allowed a little drama when flames shoot over their head. “A bonfire is a pretty big fire,” they pointed out. The stupid dragon probably thought it took a forest fire to be dangerous. Zoe was much more reasonable than this guy. They knew from their friend though that dragons were having trouble with their breath weapons today, so they would cut him some slack. Kam’s waved their hand beneath their floating butt as they remained awkwardly reclined and floating. “Oh, you know, just floating around.” Their situation had nothing to do with the fire dragon, but frankly they were trying to cover up their embarrassment.

[kamdecker]

nicasiacastellanos​:

          Languages had been the one thing that Nicasia had been very good at picking up over everything else. She loved languages. The way there were different sentence structures in different languages and how some just easily flowed, made her love them all. “Yeah, I guess. I did a lot of traveling when I was back home. That’s what my mamá did for a living. Traveling. We got to go with her all the time too. It was a lot of fun.” But it made sense that she didn’t know everything. “Most of the pod I grew up with never ventured out of the ocean, so all my knowledge of culture was history from travels.” She had to admit learning a lot about above water culture was different. Land was well… very different.” Michigan. She would have to look up where that was later. “Uh, kind of Greece. Lesbos technically.” 

“That’s really cool,” Kam said. They felt like all they were doing was repeating how cool the other was, but well, she was super cool! “My parent’s jobs only required travel around the Great Lakes, but I am really familiar with them.” Kam wasn’t jealous, as they had loved their childhood and the Midwest. They just hoped to go to a lot more places in the future without family responsibilities weighing them down. They perked up at the mention of her pod. “Oh, so you’re seafolk too? We must keep missing each other in the water.” They would remember such a pretty face. They couldn’t help but giggle and say, “Nice.” It was their gods-given right as a queer to giggle at the home of lesbians, and they hoped there was no remaining straight cis vibe on them.

[vasilvalek-deactivated20220623]

𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑: April Fool’s 

        𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 when he’s become a walking fire hazard himself. By now, Vasil’s going to need another extinguisher and new sets of bedsheets—And he’s sure the fire alarms at this point, are going to have fellow students shower him with death threats. It’s not like he’s the ONLY one anyway. Getting out is something the male is actually looking forward to, because he simply can’t stay in one place for too long. There was a thought of going to the gym but melting one of the weight bars is a plausible outcome that is best prevented—As TEMPTING of an idea that is. So the young dragon decides to simply IGNORE the Dean’s urging for students to remain in their dwellings, and head outside; without any specific destination.

It’s unlikely that everyone will follow those instructions, especially when there are no classes to take away from a day with MANY possibilities. The instant Vasil steps out, though—A FIERY sneeze ( thanks, pollen ) escapes and the flames bathe one of the nearby hedges, quickly catching fire. ❝ Shit, shit, shit— ❞ Quickly, he sheathes his light hoodie, staying only in a black form-fitting undershirt, and tries to smother the fire before it can really take. ❝ This is fucking ridiculous. ❞

[kamdecker]

Today was such a chaotic day that Kam at least wanted to lay in the sun rather than their room. A swim would be fantastic, but they had no hopes of making it to the ocean. So, they were chilling in the courtyard only a dozen meters from the front of the dorms. Anyone leaving the dorms would see a person lying a foot off of the ground with their arms across the chest and a rope tied around their waist leading to the door. Kam felt the rope slack, indicating that someone was opening the door, and they lifted their head to make sure their knot was holding. Just after a tall figure exited the building, he shot fire and a nearby bush went up in flames. Kam screamed bloody murder and tried to scramble back, towing themself along with the rope but still in a mostly reclined position. “You could have killed me!” they yelled angrily. “Charred fish is not on the menu tonight!”

[kamdecker]

benwaters​:

          He bit his lip and shrugged. He’d been in therapy and while it helped, his anxiety was just bad in public spaces. He learned to cope with it. Plus he didn’t stay invisible for very long anymore. “Yeah. He shrugged and looked at them. “Honestly, there’s not much else they can do for me.” Ben was on medication for his anxiety. He shrugged. “It’s fine.” The vampire didn’t really know what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation. No one was ever that interested in talking to him about this kind of thing. “Er, it’s a work in progress.” 

“I’m glad you’re doing what you can,” Kam said with a supportive smile. They almost reached forward to lay a hand on his shoulder, but most people weren’t as touchy-feely as them. Recognizing boundaries was a major point they have had to work on with their therapist. Kam seeks connection by oversharing and getting physically close. “There’s always more to be done, but I don’t think anyone ever gets perfect. Sorry if I’m being like pushy.”

[kamdecker]

zoeazure​:

Zoë carefully closed the door behind her, making sure that she heard the latch click shut before she closed it. “Yeah, let me just put this down.” She said, holding up the bag that she’d loaded up with supplies, carefully crossing the room to put it down on Kam’s desk. “Okay, on three.” Zoë said, taking their offered hand and then getting a good grip, adjusting their stance. “Okay. One… two…. three.” She said, before tugging on them with all the strength that they had.

Kam nodded and tried instinctively tried to brace themself for the pull, but their stance didn’t matter much floating in the air. Nevertheless, they were not ready for Zoe’s dragon strength and flipped over forward, their face coming within an inch of the ground. “Oh my god, not that hard!” they exclaimed as they floated there lying parallel to the ground. While their body was supported in floating, their arms flopped down to the ground and they finally touched the floor for the first time this morning. Kam groaned as they pushed themselves over to floating on their back. “Now this is just ridiculous,” they complained.

[kamdecker]

zoeazure​:

Zoë waited patiently for Kam to come and unlock the door, wondering what was taking them so long. Her eyes widened as she heard all kinds of alarming noises coming from inside. “You already?” She called out, opening the door slowly, like she’d been instructed. It went against her instincts, she wanted to make a dramatic entrance, but worry for her friend overrode that. She looked around, trying to spot them and make sure that they didn’t need any help. Finally Zoë located them, where they were… floating? “What are you doing up there?”

Kam was grateful that their friend heeded the warning about opening the door and didn’t end up whacking them with it. They had the mental image of being a pinball bouncing around their room. It was strange looking down on the dragon. “Well, I wanted to fly like you,” they joked, “but the genie has cursed me with uncontrolled floating! Or it’s that weird magical experiment mentioned in the email.” Kam reached their hand out to Zoe, becoming for them to grab it. “I literally can’t touch the ground. Maybe try and pull me?”

[kamdecker]

benwaters​:

          She had to know multiple languages to help her mum out and learning languages was honestly her favorite thing. Maybe she should be studying linguistics. That might actually be fun for her. “Six. I probably will take a few more language classes while I’m here though. I think it would be cool to learn more of them.” She wanted to travel all over, but she knew she had to be careful. “I’m going to be honest and say that when I found spiders were real, I freaked out. Lobsters are so much cooler.” She hated the idea that they could crawl all over her. “It’s Greek.” The mermaid smiled. “Nice to meet you Kam! So where are you from?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. 

Kam gaped. “That’s so many! So you can go a lot of places and talk in their native language.” They wanted to travel and learn about other people’s cultures, on land and in the sea. Kam had only been to North and Central America and the North Atlantic. They swam in the Pacific for the first time after coming to Katmere. “Wait, how did you not know spiders were real? They’re like literally everywhere except I guess Antarctica, where nothing is. Lobsters taste good, but they still have too many legs.” Only up to four legs was reasonable, and most things in the water had forgone legs. “I’m from Michigan. Are you from Greece?”

[kamdecker]

brianaroth​:

“I’m sorry…” Briana replied softly but still held her smile. As she held the cookie up to the other, she paused and her face froze at their question. “Ohhhh…um, I didn’t taste anything, but, let me ask real quick…..” Briana paused and quickly turned to ask her friend if any nut or nut products were used before turning back around. Her smile lifting more and Bri held the cookie out closer to Kam. “No nuts! But it’ll make you nutty for more.” She teased.

They laughed maybe a bit harder than necessary at the pretty girl’s joke. “Thanks again,” Kam said, taking the cookie. They took a giant bite and found it to be nice and gooey, just how they liked it. Maybe it was being from the water, but they hated dry foods. “It’s delicious! So, what do you study?” they asked.

[kamdecker]

zoeazure​:

Zoë was having great fun with today’s developments. She hadn’t even realized anything was off until she was brushing her teeth, when she happened to look into the mirror and noticed the blue scales covering her face. And then froze the toothpaste that she attempted to spit into the sink. And her toothbrush. It only gave her ideas. She’d gathered some supplied and was gleefully going around campus and leaving small ice sculptures in strange places She was debating what to do next when the text came in on her phone, was she was quick to reply. Be there in fifteen. She replied. She made a quick detour back to her dorm, getting the requested items and dumping them into her bag before making their way towards Kam’s room.

“Kam?” She called out, knocking on their door. “It’s me, Zoë. I come bearing gifts.”

Kam played on their phone while waiting for Zoë to arrive. They couldn’t even sit down properly, but at least floating wasn’t taking much energy. The siren looked up videos on how people swam with legs and of people moving in space ships. They were bitter that the spell mishap didn’t just let them fly. When Zoë finally knocked on the door, Kam called out, “Come in!” After a beat they realized, “Ah shit, it’s locked. Let me make my way over there.” They were hovering near their desk on the far side of the room and didn’t want to get stuck floating in the middle of the room, so they pushed off of their desk, hard. Kam went careening across the room and smacked into the door with a bang and a yelp. After unlocking the dock, they ordered, “Open the door now, but slowly please.”

[kamdecker]

@zoeazure

Kam had woken up floating six inches off of their bed, and the day had only gone downhill from there, even though they couldn’t physically move in the vertical direction. It had been a fun and exciting development for all of fifteen minutes until they tried to leave their room. Swimming through the air was way harder than swimming through the water, and they didn’t even have their tail! Pushing their way off of walls to their nightstand, Kam picked up their phone and scrolled through their contacts for someone who might know more about being in the air. Landing on Zoe, they texted, SOS, magical fuckery has me trapped in my room. Please bring food and a rope.

[kamdecker]

benwaters​:

          He did like his power, even if it was a bit annoying at times. Honestly, Ben was better about controlling it now than he had been when he was a child. It was his father that taught him how to control it, although even when he was living with his mother, it was more difficult. Ben liked being able to control it. “Yeah, I suppose.” Except his anxiety was worse than the average college student’s. At least he typically knew how to deal with it. There wasn’t any reason for his anxiety most of the time. “Yeah, it just isn’t fun when I’m in large crowds or surprised.” 

Kam was very open to talking about mental health, coping strategies, and therapy. But this guy didn’t know them, so Kam tried to hold back. “That’s rough buddy. I hope you’re getting some help for that. Our counseling center is great, if you wanna check it out.” They wondered if they still overstepped some bounds, as they were apt to do. They started talking to the stranger just to share a joke and make sure they were okay.

[kamdecker]

alastrionaoconnor​:

          “It’s Gaelic,” she explained as if that answered what it meant. “Specifically Gaeilge. That is the Irish one.” Because most people mixed them up. It wasn’t as common to know Gaeilge these days, but both her and Aisling had learned it. “Shite should count as a curse word. I agree though, ass just sounds… well so crass.” Honestly, she didn’t curse that much, despite what people thought. Just when she was trying to make a point. Alastríona laughed. “Yes, I imagine they care if you’re pre-law or pre-med.” Arguing with a patient or client seemed to be a horrible thing to do. “Bein’ creative must be a big draw to your magic then. I do not have a creative bone in me.” 

“Ooh, cool!” Kam exclaimed, being completely unfamiliar with the language but loving any words. “So are you from Ireland?” They shook their head laughing at the unintentional rhyme. “Ass sounds crass. You have quite the shite on your crass ass. Sorry, sorry, I swear I’m not making fun of you,” they apologized, waving their hands as they still giggled. “Oh I could never be pre-med. My magic is much more harmful than healing, so the only creativity I get is how much to make someone’s ears hurt.” There was a lot more room for creative use in their other water powers, but Kam’s preferred medium would always be words.  

[kamdecker]

nicasiacastellanos​:

          Words had always been something that fascinated Sia. She and her family were fascinated with words. While she had never learned in a traditional classroom, she knew several different languages just from her travels around the world. Honestly she liked learning the meanings of words. “I don’t know about all that. I just know a lot of languages.” She wasn’t going to brag about it, not really. And plus that wasn’t what she was thinking about studying here in college anyways. “I did not know that. I can’t say I’ve ever been to Zimbabwe though, so that’s probably why.” She let out a laugh. “I guess if you ever need a word, you could always ask me. I’m Nicasia Castellanos. Sia for short.” 

Kam only knew English and Spanish, but being fully bilingual was still more than most Americans. “Like how many? I think it would be so cool to know like 10 languages.” Well, they had taken French in high school but didn’t keep up with it. Kam returned the laugh. “I’ve not been to Zimbabwe either. I don’t know that I could name a lot of spiders though, and I don’t care to learn more about them.” They think animals are valuable, but they don’t want to be near any spiders. “That’s a really pretty name. I’m Kam Decker, short for nothing.”

[kamdecker]

benwaters​:

          Usually he was better about not turning invisible when he was nervous, but this year seemed to be a bit different. For whatever reason, he was nervous all the time and he didn’t know if it was because he was about to graduate, but he wasn’t planning on leaving Katmere University after that anyways. “Yes, I did. It happens when I get nervous, anxious, or surprised. Which unfortunately seems to be a constant state for me.” It was a neat party trick though. “I suppose they do.” He personally wouldn’t get into a fight with another student anywhere that wasn’t the Ludrares field, but no one needed to know that. 

His power sounded simultaneously very useful and very annoying. Kam had mediocre control over their waterbending yet a pretty powerful siren call, but they never had to worry about accidentally using their powers, especially on land.  “Isn’t it for us all?” they commented. You’d be hard pressed to find a college student who wasn’t nervous or anxious. “But good survival instincts there,” Kam tried to not downplay his mental issues. They sent a double thumbs up.

[kamdecker]

imogenesargent​:

“Sardonic?” Imogene asked, a furrow in their brow. They really weren’t the person to be asking about words, at least not those kinds of words. “I’m sorry, that kind of writing isn’t my strong suit.” They apologized. “I would just call them a sarcastic little shit and move on, but I assume that you’re trying to make some prose and that wouldn’t work too well.”

Kam thought for a second. Sardonic wasn’t the exact word on the tip of their tongue, but it was definitely close. “Yeah, I think sardonic will work. Thanks!” They wrote it down but circled it to come back to later. Kam liked to write in their notebook, but it did take time to type it up for submission. “Eh, prose isn’t inherently formal, but Professor Armani can be a stickler for word choice. I have definitely expanded by vocabulary this semester!” It had killed Kam to get a C on one of their papers, but Armani really was helping them push their writing.

[kamdecker]

brianaroth​:

Briana had been caught up listening to a new recipe that a friend of hers had been trying out that she had almost missed the question that came from the table next to hers. Smiling wide, still beaming from the new cookies she tried just then, Briana turned her face towards Kam and froze. “Uh…a douche? Or….sarcastic shit?” Briana tried, giving a weak laugh-which was followed by an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry….nothing’s coming to me right now. But…..” She paused and turned around grabbing a cookie and handing to to them. “Here’s a cookie! Might help jog the memory!”

Kam laughed lightheartedly. “That exactly, but I was looking for an adjective.” Not everyone was a wordsmith, but people could provide inspiration in different ways. “Ooh, thanks!” They started to reach for the cookie then stopped their hand midair. “Wait, are there any nuts in there? Sorry, better safe than sorry.”