Nach unserem Gespräch auf der Spiel Essen kündigt die Redaktion Phantastik mich direkt als Teil der "fähigen Hände" an, die bereits für den nächsten Steampunk-Abenteuerband eingeplant sind. Über die Jahre habe ich tatsächlich viele Ideen mit Wolsung entwickelt und freue mich darauf, sie bald zum Druck bringen zu können. Uchronie und Rollenspiel sind für mich große Möglichkeiten, über komplexe historische Themen zu lachen und sie dabei zur Debatte zu stellen. Der deutsche Starterpack des Spieles ist übrigens nur noch wenige Tage in Vorbestellung erhältlich.
Der Almanach des Gratis Rollenspiel Tages war dieses Jahr etwas schwieriger zu besorgen, aber jetzt habe ich dank der Redaktion Phantastik auch eine Printausgabe davon ergattern können. Darin publiziert ist ein Steampunk-Abenteuer, das ich für die Welt von Wolsung entworfen habe. Als pdf ist es auch noch zu haben.
Für diese Jahreszeit hatte ich auch ein Steampunk-Abenteuer für das Rollenspiel Wolsung geschrieben, in dem die Helden einen magischen Tannenbaum in den Kohlwerken nachspüren und Elfen über verschneite Dächer des Irrenhauses nachrennen. Ehrlich gesagt bin ich mit keiner Gruppe bis zum Ende der Geschichte gekommen, aber das Abenteuer erscheint dafür nächstes Jahr bei der Redaktion Phantastik.
But they always sing together and when one is lost they sing until they can find them and get them back.
Like the time Joe got captured and they sang for him and he sang for them, but they were too far away.
And eventually Joe gave up singing all together when he was convinced that they weren’t looking for him and didn’t care about him.
Joe didn’t sing at all when he came back.
For years, he stayed with his family and swam around with them but he never sang.
And then he saw this fisherman that he was intrigued with from the start.
He didn’t think anything of the boat, until he noticed the way Mark would watch it from afar.
And sometimes he would swim just far enough away to stay out of sight while he followed it around.
Sometimes, when the fishermen were having a bad day, Mark would even chase fish over towards the net for them from out of sight under the water.
Joe became interested in the boat too and decided it must not be too dangerous if Mark kept going over there.
So Joe started to swim off away from the family to watch the boat and the interesting fisherman.
He learned his name was Ox from conversations he had with the other workers on the boat.
Gordo and Chris and Tanner and Rico didn’t really interest him though.
He wanted to know more about Ox.
Sometimes, when Joe is watching Ox, his family notices that he is missing and they start singing to try to call out for him because they are worried.
And Joe watches the humans notice the singing and he knows how humans get drawn in when mermaids sing.
So he swims back quickly and leaves Ox behind on his way back to his family.
Sometimes, Ox is out there on the boat fishing and working and laughing with his friends and Joe is careful to stay far enough back that there is no risk of him getting caught in a net again.
Sometimes, Ox comes out on the boat alone late at night and just sits there in the moonlight.
And he looks so sad and Joe doesn’t understand why, but he wants to fix it.
So one night, when Ox is seeming particularly sad and Joe wants to cheer him up, Joe starts singing a happy song to try to cheer him up.
He figures it’s okay to sing to him when he’s already out in the middle of the lake by him because there is nothing for Ox to crash into trying to get to him.
And afterwards, he can disappear with his song and everything will be fine.
Maybe Ox will be happier and there will be no harm done, right?
Joe means to stay hidden, but that doesn’t exactly work.
Ox sees him and starts talking to him and Joe quickly cuts off his song and gets nervous because last time a human spotted him it did not go well.
His dad warned him not to go near humans and he got too interested in them and made a mistake before.
He should no better now.
But Ox seems so nice and gentle and he’s talking to him like he thinks Joe is drowning and he needs to save him.
And Joe doesn’t know what to do so he just ducks under the water to think and wait for the effect of his song to wear off.
Except, Ox thinks somebody’s out here drowning in the middle of the night so he jumps in the water to try to save Joe.
Only to find that Joe isn’t human.
Ox is so surprised by the sight of Joe’s tail that he forgets to swim.
And so Joe ends up being the one rescuing him from drowning and getting him safely back onto his boat.
Joe knows that he should go now.
He knows that he should stay far, far away from the boat now that Ox knows what he is.
But he can’t make himself swim away yet.
So Joe is floating there in the water next to the boat, just staring at Ox, and Ox stares back at him for a long time.
And then Ox tells him, “My name is Ox. What’s yours?”
Joe is nervous, but his name isn’t the most dangerous thing about him so he tells him, “I’m Joe.”
And Ox says, “Hi Joe” like he isn’t some monster with a tail.
And Joe says, “Hi Ox” and it feels so surreal that he is actually talking to Ox and this is very exciting, even though it is also very dangerous.
Ox says, “You’re a talking fish.”
Joe corrects, “I’m a mermaid.”
“You’re a mermaid,” Ox repeats. “Like Ariel?”
Joe says, “I don’t know who that is.”
Ox says, “She’s a mermaid. She doesn’t talk.”
“I don’t talk either,” Joe admits.
“You’re talking to me right now though,” Ox points out.
“Yeah,” Joe agrees.
“Yeah” Ox echoes.
Joe asks, “Are you scared of me?”
Ox tells him, “You saved my life. So not really. Should I be?”
Joe says, “Most humans are scared of us. It makes them do scary things.”
Ox asks, “Us?”
Joe says, “Me and my family. We’re all mermaids. You should come meet them! We never have guests over!”
And then Joe’s face falls as he remembers that humans are scary and he should definitely not be bringing any around his family to show him how many of them there are and where they live in case Joe is wrong about Ox.
So Joe quickly adds, “Or not. Probably not. I’m not supposed to be here talking to you so I don’t think I should bring you back with me.”
Ox was pretty interested in meeting a family of mermaids and he was as interested in this mermaid as Joe seemed in him, so he can’t totally hide his disappointment as he says, “Oh.”
Because Ox feels like there is something wrong with him that Joe doesn’t want to bring him around his family.
Something like the something wrong with him that made his dad leave them.
Something like the something wrong with him that made it so that no one wanted to be friends with him, other than Gordo and the other fishermen.
Joe sees Ox’s disappointment and he doesn’t want Ox to be sad, so he quickly insists, “But maybe I can come visit you here. At night when they’re sleeping. Like now.”
Ox tells Joe that he would like that.
And so Joe and Ox develop a routine.
Ox comes back late and takes Gordo’s boat out at night.
And Joe comes over and swims around the boat in circles and chats Ox up excitedly and he’s so happy to have a real friend and he’s so excited to have a human friend that can tell him all about the world outside of the lake.
Joe even sings with his family sometimes now and other times he sings at night and swims around so happy when Ox joins in with his off-key human voice.
And the Bennetts know that there must be something going on with Joe because suddenly he’s talking and singing again after years of silence.
So it isn’t too long before Joe ends up blurting out all about his human friend Ox and how no, really, he’s really nice and he saves me fish and he tells me stories about humans and did you know they have a mermaid movie about a girl that trades her voice to go on land and maybe someday I can watch it with him if I can figure out how to trade my voice for legs and really you should meet him because he’s so so great and he’s so so nice and he’s nothing like the humans all the other mermaids say are monsters and maybe humans really are nice if most of them are like Ox and really you should meet him.
The Bennetts are still weary of Ox, but Carter and Kelly are curious so they swim out with Joe one to get a closer look at the boat and the fishermen.
They ask Joe which one is Ox and Joe excitedly points him out.
Carter teases Joe about his taste and says he should have picked a different fisherman and Joe starts chasing after Carter, annoyed because Ox is perfect and he chose him for a reason.
Carter swims away as fast as he can while Joe chases after him.
Carter is laughing about how Joe won’t catch him until Joe gets caught in a net.
Carter and Kelly are terrified and risk getting themselves caught by humans, trying to get Joe back out of the net while Joe is panicking because he has been stuck in one of these before and it did not go well.
Ox cuts Joe out of the net and blatantly lies about there being anything strange when Chris starts commenting on that huge fish and Rico starts insisting that it wasn’t a fish.
Joe and his brothers swim back home, but Carter and Kelly approve of Ox now because Ox protected Joe when he had him in a net and could have taken him off to show off or study or do whatever else it is humans do to mermaids that get caught in fishing nets.
So they tell their parents and Mark all about it.
Joe expects to get in trouble for getting himself caught in another net.
Instead, he gets a short warning about being careful and then he gets told to invite Ox over because they want to thank him for protecting them.
Joe is so so excited to go thank Ox for saving him and invite him over to meet his family that night.
And Ox is so honoured by the invitation and doesn’t know why it is a big deal that he saved Joe from the net because of course he was going to help Joe get out of the net.
Carter makes the mistake of making a joke about how Joe’s magic voice must be what lured Ox in and is keeping him there.
And so Joe stops talking again.
And he doesn’t start up when he brings Ox to meet his family.
He sticks close to Ox and glares at anyone who dares to say anything less than perfectly nice to him, but he doesn’t say a word.
Ox thinks it is a little weird that Joe is so quiet, but Ox is usually a quiet person himself and he knows how annoying it can be to have someone point out how quiet you are, so he says nothing about it.
Joe stays silent because he’s afraid Ox really does only want him for his magic voice.
The other mermaids talk and laugh and sing later on and Ox joins in with them like he sometimes joins in with Joe, although he still thinks how quiet Joe is being is weird.
Joe doesn’t say a word or sing a note for over a week.
Ox keeps coming back to see him anyway.
He isn’t mooning over one of the other mermaids who has been singing and talking instead, which is beyond rare out of a human.
Usually, mermaids lured in other mermaid mates with their songs that aren’t as powerful on mermaids but are still beautiful.
Occasionally, mermaids have found human mates and their bond would be so strong that other mermaids’ songs would not work to draw the human away from their mate.
When Ox isn’t around, Joe speaks up for the first time in over a week to say something about how it’s weird Ox is still coming around and isn’t going after any of the other mermaids.
So Carter says that maybe he’s Joe’s mate and suggests that he should sing his best magic mating love song at Ox next time he comes around to see if he can tear him away from Joe.
Joe gets super mad and tells him not to because he is terrified of the idea of Carter’s song working and him having to watch Ox follow Carter around like a lovesick puppy.
Carter tries it out anyway.
Ox sits down on the dock and listens to the pretty song and when it is over, Carter looks at Ox expectantly and Ox just blinks back at him.
“So?” Carter asks.
“So?” Ox repeats confused.
“Are you in love with me? Do you want to kiss me? Am I all you can think about?” Carter asks.
Ox furrows his brow and responds,”Uhhh... No?”
He isn’t sure if that is the right answer or not.
He’s very confused.
But Joe isn’t anymore.
Joe is ecstatic because Ox really isn’t falling for other mermaid’s songs and Ox really keeps coming around without hearing Joe’s voice to lure him in.
Which means Ox really likes Joe and wants to be there for him and Ox doesn’t know it yet, but Ox is his mate.
And so Joe starts talking again.
And starts spending a lot more time with Ox.
And Carter tells the whole family how Ox is Joe’s mate and doesn’t know it.
And suddenly the Bennetts become even more welcoming and start treating human Ox like one of their own.
