Monster who isn’t a dragon. Or a kraken. Or a wolf. Or a snake. Or a tentacled horror. Or some kind

Written to the prompt by Making Up Monsters — Monster who isn’t a dragon. Or a kraken. Or a wolf. Or a snake. Or a tentacled horror. Or some kind of undead. What are they?

Originally posted on cohost on April 26th, 2024.

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She's mostly a smile; the way the breeze moves the leaves, the way the wind whips your hair across your face. She's mostly the sense of dread at the bottom of your stomach; from standing too near the cliff's edge, from something dangerous passing too nearby. She's done this before; you've seen the bodies all red and shredded, you've seen whole swaths of land flattened. And you'll let her.

wizard who is indisputably certain that a pirate's life is not for them

Written to the prompt by make-up-a-wizard — wizard who is indisputably certain that a pirate’s life is not for them

Originally posted on cohost on April 26th, 2024.

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It’s not the seasickness. They got used to the seasickness. They’re still seasick all the time, but they got used to it.

It’s not doing their job (while seasick). Their job is easy, they could just about do it in their sleep (while seasick). A little wind here, a little calm there, a little luck for the rocks, a little protection from the seabeasts. Simple, easy work.

It’s not any sort of ethical or moral concerns. Pirates raid ships that have stuff, that stuff comes from people who can afford to ship stuff or from nations that can afford to ship stuff. They have absolutely no qualms about what they and the captain like to refer to as ‘wealth redistribution’.

It’s certainly not the company. They quite like the company.

It’s when the ship is down too many hands because the alcohol taken from the last raid was maybe not fit for consumption and so someone put a rope in their hands. It was the actual pirate life, actual pirate labour and ache, labour and ache while seasick and hungover from also that alcohol but apparently not as much as some of the crew had, that’s not for them.