#wizard words

I have a surprise: Gale POV, gasp. I actually quite identify with the wizard in some ways, which makes him for me a less compelling romance but quite a compelling subject! I will tag @missfortunetherogue @slightlyvampylee @adriel-s @perpetualmaladaptivedaydream @parkouringrabbit

No pressure to post if tagged, but if you do I want to see a WIP for whatever you’re working on, be that fic, VP, artwork or anything else! No time limit, either.

This is the beginning of an AU fic I’m writing for the bloodweave brainrot Mermay event wherein Gale is a marine biologist in the early stages of investigating bioluminescence when he runs into someone on the beach.

thanks to @adriel-s for the photos to accompany the snippet 🥰

“It was a dark night when Gale went out that first time. So dark, he could barely see the waves crashing at first. He locked his arms around himself, blinking furiously to try to get his eyes to adjust. He wasn't afraid of the dark, of course, perish the thought, but it was unnerving to be blind to what was six feet in front of his face. His new colleagues had told him that this was crucial to properly observing the bioluminescence phenomenon; too much light would trick the eye and wash out the delicate glow of the plankton. So here he was. So far, nothing. He squinted up at the sky, trying to make out the bitten-off thumbnail of the moon that he knew was there. But there must be cloud cover. So Gale stood there and pondered.

It had been only a few weeks since he'd taken this job, a continent away from his mentor and all of the animals he'd cared for and observed. The otters and their serious little faces as they beat clam shells with rocks. The far-too-smart-for-her-own-good octopus, Inky, who was always escaping her tank and making a crawl for the drain pipe.A smile tugged at his lips as he recalled the flutter of the stingrays under his hands and their rough sandpaper skin. There had been that one bat ray that always nosed at his hand, looking for shrimp. Stanley, Gale had called him. Myliobatis californica, Gale mumbled to himself reflexively. The memories helped loosen the tight feeling in his chest the darkness had provoked. 

But his smile faded as he recalled his mentor's reaction. The woman who proclaimed to have made his academic career. Her disappointed face floated in his mind's eye. "Your choice beggars belief," Mystra had said when he brought up the possibility of this fellowship over coffee. "Hardly constructive," he'd grumbled, but she'd continued her rant—told him he was throwing away his future, that no one would take him seriously over there without her, that no one cared if you weren't researching charismatic megafauna, it wasn't flashy enough—but Gale was tired of flashy. Didn't care for the attention, or the inevitable let down once you stopped getting it as regularly. Gods knew he had been feeling that with Mystra lately, now that he was no longer her prime focus, her golden boy. In any case, he wanted to be of use, and the role of bioluminescence in medical research seemed to be just that.

Eventually, he could tell other patrons at the cafe were craning their necks to look at who was getting berated, and his neck grew hot beneath his collar. There was something about the way her lips were pursed in that condescending expression of hers…he could feel himself start to become disconnected to what was happening around him. The sounds around him dulled, and his hands went numb. In the end, the public nature of the humiliation had snapped something inside of him and he'd been ignoring her calls since. Guilt fluttered in the cage of his ribs at the thought of her. She had done a lot for him, and—

His thoughts were jarred aside as his glazed brown eyes snapped toward something offshore: there was a pale glimmer to the nearest crashing wave. Could it be? He shuffled a little closer, wishing he'd thought to bring binoculars—and there it wasn't again, a glittering blue crest where the sea was churned up. "Remarkable," he breathed. The curl of shimmering surf became a line in the dark water, which became a rippling belt across the sea extending out in every direction. Gale's breath caught in his throat. Without any conscious effort, he started to drift toward the ocean's edge, his eyes never leaving the bioluminescent glow that stretched before him. And then without any warning at all he went sprawling headfirst into the sand with a pained grunt.”