#m asks

(ao3 link)

man, babyfish, that's not a weekday question, i have work to do but i'm rotating them in my mind like barbies in a microwave.

anyways! let's talk about why i find the (potential) relationship between Desscaras and the World Hater Majik (one of) the most interesting in the series.

First a disclaimer: We actually still know so. very. little. about WHM and how they work and what they want. It's literally sad how little we know! So a lot of what I talk about will be extrapolation and conjunction. But that's the fun of it, I feel!

So, what do we know?

We know that the World Hater Majik is accepting of their fate:

This guy's fine with the lot assigned to them. If they're not fine, they're not about to show it to anyone, they're not gonna fight it, it's "the sole reason [they] exist."

Which is literally the complete opposite of Desscaras's approach to fate.

We meet Desscaras fighting to acquire Uroro, because at the time that was what was the prophesied requirement to reach where the WHM is:

I can't find the post now, but the Japanese for the prophecy specifies that it'll be a magic man who acquires Uroro and that finesse got lost in translation, but it is a factor to my interpretation: Dess knew from the start that it can't be her in the prophecy and yet! She went for it. Because Desscaras fights fate.

This continues with the way she challenges WHM when they come face to face:

And then with the way she rejects the very premise of the prophecy by tying her life to Ichi's, because as she says herself, it doesn't matter what the prophecy says, throwing all of that on the shoulders of a child is just not right:

So right from the start you have two characters that operate from opposite positions, one passive, the other proactive. Just this on its own this makes their interactions extremely compelling to me. (There's stuff to be said about the ways Ichi and his attitude to it all compliments it all as well but. lol. this is already long.)

Of course, there's also the emotional aspect going on here. For the WHM emotions are a thing that needs to be pulled out of them like teeth, something that they're very aware and careful about; any show of emotion being suppressed and dismissed.

Yet, Descarras terrifies them:

Dess's side of things is equally interesting to me: She's usually so expressive and yet, while going against the WHM she's almost like a (mocking) doll:

(and yes, this really is just an excuse to show off everyone's favorite uber talented badass, are you appreciating her?)

She's locked in, her feelings neatly packed away because there's work to be done. That is, until this point:

This is the most expressive Desscaras acts in her entire confrontation with the WHM, and it's to seek understanding.

That is the crux of it for me: to Desscaras this is an enemy that has done her a great wrong. A wrong they've proceeded to express zero remorse over, going on to completely dismiss her feelings about it even. An enemy who is threatening her new family just as they've destroyed the old one. By all accounts, someone Desscaras has every right to strive to destroy, to try and get in at least a parting shot, she's shown she can get under their skin after all. Instead, she asks "What are you trying to do?!"

Here's the thing: we know that majik trials are not always shows of strength. We've seen many things so far: violence but also makeovers, endurance challenges, and I'm sure we'll see many more to come.

Desscaras is the greatest witch with the most majiks. For that you need brute force, yes, but you also need an unusual amount of empathy and willingness to meet the other where they are. I can't imagine Golconda had a trial where you needed to beat it up.

When Togeice called Desscaras kind, this wasn't just her saying it, we can infer from her status that this is just how Dess approaches life: with consideration and empathy for the other.

Interestingly, the WHM responds to this. They, big, broody nihilist they are, take the time to look back and detail their plans. Hell, they take it further, explaining their reasoning and promising they'll be back soon.

We've got two characters on opposing sides, with clashing worldviews and a whole mess of volatile emotions between them. Yet, the one instance a bridge is attempted, it's responded to in kind.

Finally, there's the aesthetic aspect of it: I've gone on about the WHM being the sacrificial lamb, the princess chained to a rock, and in general a fundamentally passive, resigned figure. (Seriously, go look at how they're posed in almost every panel they're in, they're in an action pose maybe twice).

Desscaras, in contrast, is always in motion, but on a more aesthetic note, Desscaras is a knight. She has a sword for a magic wand, when she meets royalty, she does a little bow with her hand to her heart, her volume cover has her in a duelist's position, etc. you get my point.

A princess chained to their fate, and a knight fighting it, on opposing sides of a conflict, yet both have demonstrated willingness to meet across the abyss. Kind of has a romantic air to it, don't you think?

THAT IS REALLY REALLY SWEET OF YOU TO DROP BY AND SAY THANK YOUUUU,,,,

The mer au!!! That is something I cooked up with friend @bbeeohazardd !!! We actually have! Looks left looks right! LIKE,,, THREE I THINK,,, MAYBE 4 ACTUALLY I FORGOT ABOUT THE PIRATE MAD SCIENTIST ONE FOR A SECOND. BUT!!!!!!!! I can explain that one from the art with the porthole for you at the very least NOW (:<

You have to bear with me a little because it does base upon our own MST headcanons and Sleepless take by the wonderful Bee BUT!!!!! Essentially Forzen is an employee scientist for Black Mesa, and ze moves to one of Black Mesa’s other locations to pursue a robotics opportunity there, but this facility is actually a Coastal One that specialises in marine research and thus is using robotics for ocean exploration stuff! However Sleepless is like SUPER not okay with water, on account of (here’s where some of the Headcanon stuff comes into play <3) a condition of zers that makes zer have a lot less energy than most people and susceptible to passing out. Which! Is NOT something that combines well with water! So ze’s VERY careful and VERY wary around here.

One day ze’s on one of the forgotten piers of the facility that spans across the water filtration between the ocean and the pools of water contained within the facility, somewhere ze goes to rest alone and escape from work alone. And then there is a LOUD SPLASH and around the corner comes!!! A very very soaked scientist who ze has never seen before and is ALSO very surprised to see zer there!!

Lo and behold that would be the one and only GORDON FREEMAN (: Someone who at first is presumed by Forzen to be a diver of some sort for Black Mesa, but in actuality is a past intern who disappeared under mysterious circumstances!

As it becomes more and more routine for the two to cross paths in this forgotten area of the facility, eventually after a LOT of trust building Forzen is clued in on what Doc ACTUALLY does here. And that is. Secretly a fish person living in the flooded domains of the forgotten wings of Black Mesa’s Seaside Location, as well as an old oil rig nearby (:

Doc as well as. YOU GUESSED IT! THE REST OF RESTRICTED RESEARCH <3 The assignments go as follows!!

Doc: Firefly squid

Harold: Coconut octopus

Bubby: Ghost knifefish

Benrey: Sea lion/oarfish

Tommy: Bluespotted ribbontail ray/Coelacanth

The Old Man: Chimaera/Coelacanth

And also Darnold who’s a sturgeon but he’s still part of the rest of Black Mesa and doesn’t live the flooded facility fish life like the other guys do (:

ALSO SUNKIST WHO IS PARTIALLY A SIAMOGALE (OLD ANCESTOR OF OTTERS)

They all have the ability to go either human form or fish form, and Doc in particular frequently used the human form to root and loot around Black Mesa. Other than the Soaking Wet and subtle subtle colour in the hair, there really isn’t any indicator when in human form of who is and isn’t also a fish EXCEPT. For fish pattern markings that appear on the body in a way that’s only perceptible to folks with certain type of vision aka. FISHHH!

One day Forzen realises that Black Mesa is Onto Him for all of his disappearances and such, and that the science team is Very Much Being Suspected Now which is NOT GOOD and Forzen is very much being Followed about it.

Forzen manages to find Sunkist, and being a bad swimmer himself due to Scared Of Water, overcomes it for the team and jumps in and Sunkist whisks him off to where the science team is hiding out, and then Forzen is able to warn them in time to circumvent Black Mesa’s schemes.

In the process of jumping in however Forzen got cut up pretty bad by an oyster bed and WELL. LO AND BEHOLD. THATS HOW THIS WHOLE FISH THING HAPPENS. The water around Black Mesa is contaminated with a chemical that’s causing the mutations, but in such such small trace amounts that on its own it doesn’t appear to have any affects, and thus isn’t a concern of Black Mesa’s. HOWEVER. AS OYSTERS ARE FILTER FEEDERS. They notoriously pick up large amounts of chemicals and contaminants from whatever water source they reside in, and when Forzen jumped in and got cut he got exposed to enough of it from the oyster that. WELL. GUY WHO ALSO IS FISH NOW.

After the woes of body doing body stuff mutations and fish genes and the like, Forzen too gains ability to fish in the form of lionfish (: Their spines ARE indeed toxic, but with the primary symptoms being lethargy unconsciousness etc (:

And thus after everything and surely now being on Black Mesa’s list, Forzen joins the science team instead in their underwater research endeavours hehe.

Other cool things to note about this AU! Firstly it’s a huge running gag to shove Doc into the water at any given moment. If he’s on a pier and not paying attention he WILL be treated to a tendril by the ankle yanking him in for the bit. Happens frequently among the team though Sleepless is spared from it and only splashed instead, at least until they get their working set of gills later and then they’re fair game pfhehehe. They do prefer sitting on the piers or laying in really shallow water though, and so you must imagine Doc hanging out in the water in fish form leaned up on the pier chattering away and then getting yanked into the depths for a second for the bit <3

Doc by the way is bioluminescent, specifically in such a way that his flashes and flickers of light can indeed translate to stuff in a way only the team understands (: In the pirate AU this results in Doc being the navigation guy because it’s really easy for him to give directions or note hazards from far away from the boat at night, but in this au it’s primarily just emotion expression stuff! Every tail flick giving away what he’s feeling to those who know him well enough to learn, and to those who haven’t yet (Sleepless) it is incredibly fascinating and endearing seeing the lights react to words and gestures and touch and such (:

Hadn't determined if it applied to the newer context or not for the AU so imagine if you please, but in the original drafts Doc not only wears scuba goggles instead of safety goggles, but also had a faulty tracker or something on one of his fins that doesn't actually work as intended but is VERY good for zapping things if he slams it with his tail <3

In terms for art for this AU! I will give you everything I have, but be aware some of this is from previous iterations of the AU so really do what you want forever with Doc design because a couple of these are from when I was still trying to give him lantern shark traits too haha

(There's a few other AU doodles scattered in here but you know which ones are the fish au <3 AND SHOUTOUT TO BEEEEEEEEEEE For designing Sleepless and for cooking up swagful AU with me HEHEHEHE )

AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ASKING, A LOVELY ASK INDEED AND I LOVE REASON TO RAMBLE THE AUs AND DOCZEN THOUGHTS (:

Im on team comedy and my user is TheOneAndOnlyPiper

YIPPEEEEE

YAYAYAYAY

oh my god??? i literally salute you for loving waycest for so long.. peak knows peak!!! i’d love to chat with you for a bit!! did you find me off the waycest website or anything ??

i miss when bandom was able to actually enjoy waycest so i’m very glad you’re still around!!!

cheers :)