High seas and Cursed Melodies

Indie., fandomless semi-selective OC blog, run by Raven & Nova.

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Somewhere over the seas, a tune plays through the night.

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

// Apologies for our disappearance and inactivity! Both Raven and myself have been just swapped with things between work and school, and we just haven’t had time to keep up. But the blog isn’t dead! Activity will still be spotty, but the hope is things can be somewhat maintained as things calm down and schedules settle over time.

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

You say "over the centuries" pretty casually- I mean, yeah things change over time, but you act as if you've seen it change over those hundreds of years yourself??

“That’s simply because I have. We Phantoms are, as Refir previously noted, mostlymade of arcane energy- thus, our bodies work differently, and after a certain point age fails to further change us. In a sense, we are ageless... And since my grandparents and others of their generation moved to a better location, among our community at least, living well into your hundreds if not breaching a thousand is common place. It’s yet to be long enough for anyone to get older than that though.”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Since you are pirates, what's your favorite thing about it?

“Hm, I would say it’s the thrill of just being out at sea and being with the rest of the crew. You never know what each day could bring, and honestly I prefer things that way.”

“The unpredictability. Home was wonderful, but it’s a small community, and in day-by-day lifestyle, it’s rare things change. I suppose it ended up a bit too stagnant for my tastes... I mean, I suppose the place has expanded over the centuries, but it’s no big bustling city or anything.”

[horrificmemes]

Terrible First Meeting Starters

For breaking the ice in the worst possible way, featuring themes including: kidnapping, murder, stalking, injury, monsters, and just general meanness. [Brackets] indicate spaces to include your own words to personalize your ask!

“Wh-who are you? Where are we? Why are we tied up together?!” “You almost killed me, so no, it’s not nice to meet you.” “Oh my god, are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?” “I wondered when you were going to wake up. You almost didn’t survive.” “Get out of my way before I move you myself.” “Please, let me out of here!” “You’re staring like you’ve never seen a [monster/vampire/demon/etc] before.” “Hey. Pretend you were waiting for me. You’re being followed.” “You don’t know me, but something terrible is going to happen.” “You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.” “Please, someone help!” “You shouldn’t be out here all by yourself this late at night.” “Stop shining that flashlight on me! I’m not a damn ghost!” “I’m sorry if I hurt you.” “Shh, don’t scream! I’m not trying to attack you!” “I’ve never seen anything like you before.” “Stand right there and don’t get any closer!” “Now that you’ve seen this, I can’t let you leave and just tell anyone.” “Ugh, my head. What happened to us?” “Is there a reason you’ve been following me for an hour?” “If you come near me, I will scream at the top of my lungs.” “Holy shit. What have you done?!” “Is that blood? Is that YOUR blood?” “Don’t panic, I can explain!” “I promise you, this isn’t what it looks like.” “I won’t hurt you if you just keep your mouth shut.” “Who are you? Where are you taking me?!” “This is for your own safety. I’ll explain later.” “What the hell was that thing back there?!” “There’s something wrong with me. I need your help!” “Please, someone, there’s been an emergency!” “You can’t leave. You’re a witness and now you’ve involved.” “I’m being hunted, and now they’ve seen you too.” “If you believe in any god, I suggest praying to them now.” “Shh! Hide here, and don’t move a muscle.” “Can I walk with you? I think I’m being followed.” “I’m so sorry. I don’t like tricking people, but I had to lure you here.” “Fuck off, this is private property!” “I’ve seen some weird shit, but you’re something else.” “Oh my god. Are you a [monster/demon/angel/etc]?” “Don’t look at me like that, with those eyes.” “That isn’t your blood. What did you do?” “I promise not to tell anyone, just let me go!” “Come with me. I want to show you something.” “You’re not going to eat me, are you?” “You should never have approached me. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” “Go away, I’m not looking for a conversation.” “You don’t just follow people to their homes! I’m calling the police.” “Please, I’ll do anything, just untie me!” “I’m sorry if I scared you.” “I had to tie you up. You didn’t leave me any other choice.” “I don’t even know you. What do you mean, I ‘have’ to go with you?” “We almost died back there. Maybe we should introduce ourselves.” “Let go of me!” “I’m hurt. Please, I need you to call an ambulance for me.” “You have to come with me, something bad is about to happen!” “I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’ve been following me!” “Seeing as we may not survive, I should tell you my name. It’s [name].”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Starter Call!

{Ait! We hit the 10 follower mark as we’ve been waiting for so we’re doing a starter call! like/comment on this post if interested. If your blog is a sideblog, comments are preferred by mentioning the desired url the starter should be for so we know!}

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

could-have-gone-worse:

Justinia did whatever she could to ease the minds of her crew. She told stories of triumph, of taking down pirates with crews just like this, of defeating terrible sea beasts. Most of it was even true. And once they got sailing, everyone calmed down. Things seemed to be easy. Possibly a little too easy.

“Light the searchlights! Lookout, keep your eyes peeled! We’re hunting pirates who seem to like it dark, so keep it bright!” Justinia called out. Her orders were followed, though the lanterns were not as bright as she would have liked. She would be having words with the harbormaster when she returned to port.

No time to focus on that now. It was only a matter of time before they came upon the pirates, and she wanted to be prepared. Deep down, she knew this was not going to go quite as she had planned. Pirate hunts never did. But that didn’t mean she shouldn’t try. She had heard the rumors about “Phantoms”, beings that are left unharmed by attacks that should normally kill someone. Even still, everything had to die somehow. And she felt like she had enough magic at her disposal to find out how.

Well, nothing could be seen quite yet, but something was certainly heard. An eerie tune came from somewhere in the darkness where the lights could not quite reach. Clearly an instrument of some kind, sounded like a fiddle or violin, it went on for a moment, steady and constant, but suddenly it stopped just as quickly as it had started. The silence was almost more ominous than the music its self.

Something was CLEARLY out there. Whether the lights were a good choice or a bad one had yet to be known, be it a ship of spirits like some of the tales may have told, or pirates; only time would tell which.

The music started up again in a different direction, following the same pattern; play for a bit, and then suddenly stop. Always just out of sight of the lights, but clear enough to be heard. This went on for a moment in various directions, not all the instruments that could be heard were quite the same, but the eerie song remained unchanged. Then the silence returned for much longer, as if waiting for something.

[memeasaurus-promptus]

It’s WorldBuilding Weekend!

Send in questions about my muse’s world, the setting, the politics, their family lineage, the NPCs that may have shown up at points, their past and potential futures, the climate, the food and culture, religion, anything! Dig deep, ask about the mechanics and framework of the world that lays underneath! 

Note: This can be reblogged at any time, not just on a weekend! Have fun!

[could-have-gone-worse]

A Hunt for Pirates

No matter where she is, Justinia is always searching for pirates. It seems to be a constant at every port. Everyone has some story about pirates to tell. Most are legends, tales of sailors cut down as they tried to navigate. A few painted the pirates in a positive light, but Justinia found those hard to believe.

She knew better. She knew the damage pirates could cause.

When Justinia heard talk of a ship captained by a Phantom named Soln, she listened in. She heard the stories of what them and their crew were capable of. Phantoms were new to her, but she had dealt with magical beings before. This wouldn’t be much different.

Justinia chartered a boat equipped with whatever weapons she thought might work against Phantoms. The crew was ready and informed of what they were getting into. And with that, they set sail to find this Captain Soln, Refir, and their ship.

@melodic-misfortune

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

The boat was available, though, it certainly sounded better in the description. Yes, it had canons, though the bottom was just littered with barnacles- and it was probably best to not ask about the mystery smell. Oh well, it could float, that was better than what could be said of a merchant ship docked next to them.

Several boards in the bottom the the ship had be broken... Inward, in broad areas. Cannonballs didn't do that... Cannonballs wouldn't have cracked the keel of the ship, or left claw marks. Perhaps the waters were more dangerous than that fellow in the tavern led Justina to believe. The sight of the merchant ship certainly didn’t seem to make the crew feel confident about this whole thing- pirates, alright, how bad could it be? But... That looked like sea beasts, not pirates.

No matter, though. There were pirates running amok, and no time to waste on staring at the troubles of others. Come nightfall, the search began, as any stories to tell of the mysterious and supposedly terrifying crew took place in the dead of night. An odd, notable detail though, was that there was never light accompanying the pirates in these tales. No torches, no lanterns, no nothing- with little knowledge of what the crew even was, aside from an idle whisper or two of the word “Phantom” circling around, it was hard to tell if this was an exaggeration, perhaps forgotten details, or if they didn’t need light to function.

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

{Yo, just a heads up, while we haven’t done much reaching out to people quite yet, we’re waiting to hit 10 followers before we do a starter call. In the meantime, despite our muses only showing up at night, you are more than welcome to send asks at any hours of the day, we’ll probably just do what we've done before and queue things for later hours. We aren't nearly as nocturnal as our characters are haha}

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

What exactly is a phantom anyway?

There’s a moment’s pause. It… Wasn’t hard to explain, but it wasn’t entirely easy either.

“We’re… Well, w-”

With that pause it gave someone else time to slide right on over and interrupt.

“Short answer, we are Phantoms. Longer answer, we’re semi-corporeal, vampiric beings, made of arcane energy, with a little bit of chaos and other stuff thrown into the mix.”

Perhaps not the best explanation, but they seem more interested in just being noticed overall.

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

So you're what, a vampiric pirate then? Are the rest of your crew like that?

“Any crew member who’s a Phantom, yes. That’s just how our race works.”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

How exactly can you eat magic? Seems a little weird

“Well, we’re already made of arcane energy, so it’s not that weird- that, and basically we’re vampires. We latch onto a target and drain it’s magic power. But, I know some of my ancestors did somehow find a liquid version of it that could be taken straight from a being’s soul. I have no idea how to get such myself, unfortunately.”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

P-prey on others? Are you implying that you kill and eat people?

“Not exactly. We don’t eat people- we eat their magic energy. As for whether they are killed in the process, that just varies on individual. We need them alive to take their magic, but some will kill them afterward, some don’t.”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Why do you see so well in the dark?

“Because we are meant to be in it, and such ought to be expected. For a creature easily hidden in the darkness, and a creature that must prey upon others, does it not make sense to be able to function in such conditions? Why would we adapt to function in full light, when we have better chances to sneak up on our prey where they cannot see, but we can?”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Isn't it more dangerous to be out at night?

“Not really. Navy ships can’t see us properly at night, we can see better than most if not any opponents just by moonlight, and the usual monsters of the night do not follow us out to sea.”

[melodic-misfortune-blog]

Why have you only shown up at night?

“Simple. Our eyes are naturally light-sensitive, so we live a nocturnal lifestyle to avoid being blinded by the sun.”