Okay So For Me I'm Double Late, Its Currently 2:24 Am 11th Of The 10th, So I Was Supposed To Post These

Okay so for me I'm double late, its currently 2:24 am 11th of the 10th, so I was supposed to post these two on the 9th and now here we are. I owe you guys 2 drawings that I'll get up soon, just please bare with me.

Cinder Scribbles - OG Mythic AU origins

Okay, these were the origins for the tugs in my OG mythic AU before I writ what I have now, as well as some characters I planned on adding. WARNING! This AU originally contained traits of mpreg that I called a sea horse gene, that basically meant that some characters could become pregnant if they weren’t careful, I admittedly haven’t dropped this in my current AU but it has been dramatically limited, so that was your wanting, and now onto the original origins.

- (SG) = Seahorse Gene

Star Fleet -

> Captain Star / Beau Star: Male sea nymph

- A powerful sea spirit more interested with the land world than the ocean, Beau Star spent his entire adolescence on the surface, founding a harbour business after he had graduated from college. He first spent those years doing the work himself in the disguise of a rainbow betta fish merman until the business rapidly became popular and successful. He then had to ditch the alternate identity as the rainbow fish merman and find some actual mermen, he did in the form of a coelacanths merman who was trapped at one point in a rouge fishing net. Star saved the merman and the merman revealed that he was actually looking for a place to call home since his old one had been destroyed by a recent ocean quake. This gave Star the idea to offer the merman a place to stay with him under the circumstances that he help him with work, the merman agreed and introduced himself as Orion Jupiter, but Star gave him the nickname O.J.

> Orion Jupiter / O.J: Coelacanths Merman

- Orion had lived his whole life in sea trenches and underwater caves with a community of other merfolk when an ocean quake destroyed it leaving the community to scatter. While Orion was looking for a new home he found himself coming to close to the surface and got himself trapped in a fishing net. After a few hours he was rescued by a blonde human introducing himself as Beau Star, Orion thanked him and when he told Beau about his story he offered him a home with him in exchange he helps out with his work every once in a while. Orion agreed and the two have been working together ever since and was surprised when one day Beau brought in a young merman gup.

> Hercules: Whale-Dolfin Merman Hybrid (SG)

- Hercules was a guppy born into a breading program for merfolk being half whale half dolphin. Once he was 13 he was sold off to a buyer and that happened to be Captain Star. The young gup was given a red bandana around his neck as a welcome present and was handed to O.J to be mentored about the work for the time being. Around about a month in Hercules and O.J were trying to get a boat onto dry dock when Hercules spotted a centaur by the pier and started conversation with him, when O.J came back to see why the gup hadn’t followed him he noticed the centaur and asked if he could help them get the boat onto dry dock. The horse hybrid agreed and with little effort they all got the boat onto land. After that and a bit of chatting later the centaur said his goodbyes and from that point on Hercules promised to be better.

A few years down the line the harbor hired the help of some mermaids to help guide boats in through fog or the night, one of those ones was Hercules displeasure of seeing how she was treated. At the time she was an ugly looking tail and was bullied relentlessly because of it, Hercules had grown into a body more befitting of a whale merman by this point so all the merfolk fled when he threatened them to leave her alone. The young mermaid thanked Hercules relentlessly and he responded by escorting her into the harbor to stay the night, since that day the two had become fast friends into lovers when they were older.

> Top Hat: Merman Kraken / Sea Wizard (SG)

- Top Hat was once the heir of a powerful sea witch/wizard family, when he failed to live up to expectations set by his parents he ran away from home and found himself in the harbor of Bigg city. After studying the humans and other land folk about how to walk Top Hat found himself able to stand on land and even walk around. The docks by this point were no strangers to merfolk, but Top Hat was an odd sight when he actually walked around the harbor for a while until poachers tried to seize the opportunity, they managed to chase him back into the water were Hercules actually saved him and guided him into the star fleets underwater cave system that they use as their sleeping quarters. The next day Top Hat was introduced to Captain Star and was told the workings for mythic in the land world of society, how he had to be ‘owned’ by a company in order to not be hunted. Hercules made the suggestion that Top Hat could stay here, it was a roof over his head and protection so the merman didn’t exactly have many reasons to object, so he agreed.

Once Top Hat had become settled in, Captain Star pulled him aside one day and informed him that he knew Top Hat had magical abilities. At first Top Hat denied this until the captain demonstrated that he had water manipulative abilities himself, Top Hat quickly shut himself up after that and Star asked why he didn’t use his abilities. Top Hat explained his past and Captain Star took it with acknowledgement, he handed Top Hat a spell book that he himself made to help self-teach Top Hat in his own time. The merman was extremely grateful and promised to try and at least get decent with magic, the in disguise sea nymph only smiled and shook his head, saying that he’s not asking Top Hat to do this for him but for himself as sea magic is one of the most versatile tools in a sorcerer’s arsenal. He only requested that he come talk to him in privet should he need help and keep it a secret that he can use magic, only O.J knowing by this point that he wasn’t completely human. Top Hat agreed and from then on spent the rest of his days with his free time practicing water magic though in secret from the others as he didn’t want them to find out and see him as a failure.

> Big Mac and Warrior: Whale Shark Merman

- Big Mac and Warrior were two brothers born into a breading program, in their youth they had separation anxiety so if somebody wanted to buy them they would have to buy the two together. Captain Star wanted more muscle on his fleet at the time because of O.J’s progressing age and Top Hat continuous studying and Hercules wasn’t fully grown yet. The two came in younger than Hercules but around the same age as Top Hat, it took them less time to gain some strength than compared to Hercules so when they were work ready the twins were often paired up with Hercules as they were the same strength as him at the time. Over the years the two grew more confident leaving each other’s sides as long as they met up when coming back for the nights, Big Mac was often put on more labouring tasks as it became clear at one point that he was the strongest out of the two, Warrior was put on garbage duty for the majority of his days but didn’t mind it as it was simple and was a consistent way of having money roll in for Captain Star.

> Ten Cents: Sea Nymph and Merman Hybrid

- Ten Cents was the result of a intention breed in a breading program and was a singleton out of his mother. An intention breed was where the buyer handed the program a sample they could use to make the offspring, in this case it was Captain Star’s own blood, making Ten Cents half sea nymph and Captain Star’s son. The intention of having a biological child had been wrapping on Captain Star’s mind for a while now, he was a demi god of the sea, not a normal human, there were some things he would never understand about the surface and that was where this little guppy came in, his fleet deserved better than him, so when Ten Cents was older he planned on handing Ten Cents the keys, and letting him take it on from there.

When Ten Cents was still young he befriended an alicorn centaur from the inland breeding program that let him ride on his back around the harbor and town, not long after they met, Ten Cents was sold off to Captain Star who put him to work next to O.J, and after a year the alicorn friend that Ten Cents made had to be sent off for his own protection. Ten Cents grew up to be a great multitasking merman and was put in charge of showing the ropes to another merman from up river when Captain Star asked it of him.

> Sunshine: Betta Fish Merman

- Sunshine was another result of a mystery breed from a program up river in fresh waters. He was born with an ugly tail and looked to be fairly average which was why he was sold for so cheap to Captain Star. The young merman proved himself however when helping a big boat dock and it was later reviled by Hercules’s girlfriend that her and Sunshine were the same species as she started off looking ugly tailed too until she went through her maturing. This held out hope for Sunshine and the rest of the fleet that he would grow to be a powerful merman yet and a very reliable one at that.

> Sea Rouge: Thresher Shark Merman

- After living out at sea for most of his life, Sea Rouge and his pod were hunted by poachers at some point during his childhood, causing him to lose an eye. His parents were killed and he was taken in next to his uncle to be sold to a marine company, they were both sold together thankfully but the company they were sold to made it mandatory for Sea Rouge to be able to grow legs, so after a few years of practice Sea Rouge was a sort of pirate shark merman.

After a few years and after Sea Rouge had grown up, the company he and his uncle belonged to went bankrupt, causing them to traverse the seas again until at some point rouge dealers held Sea Rouge’s uncle to ransom. They forced the merman pirate to steal material and barges for them so they would let his uncle go. That was until Ten Cents and Sunshine found the pirate in the act. They helped Sea Rouge get his uncle back and since the two were now alone without a company Ten Cents and Sunshine offered the two a place at the Star Fleet, they only had Top Hat at the time who could go on land and Sea Rouge would come in handy.

> Grampus: Angler Fish Merman

- After the world had started making businesses by putting mythic to work, the same was no exception for the navy. Grampus was taken out of his home and forced to serve as a marine solider when the training came to use in the first world war. Grampus was mainly put to underwater missions but neither the less he survived and got to witness the peace times afterwards on the surface as that was where he was stationed after the fighting had stopped. He was sentenced to Bigg City port where he lived out most of his time making friends with the Star Fleet and eventually joining them when he was bought by Captain Star.

> Boomer: Water walker

- Boomer was a various of mixed breading, he looked mainly human except for some gills and fins here and there. But his main attribution that gave him the name of his kind was water walking, as he was a water walker, he basically had the ability to walk on water and even skate across it as if he were on ice. After Boomer had been bought by a different business when he was being given his brandings the casters used the wrong type of magic that wasn’t compatible with Boomer’s own natural one, so while doing was is was supposed to do, it also set a jinx curse written in a tattoo for him. After a lot of bad luck following his path at some point he was founded by Ten Cents and Sunshine, but whenever Ten Cents splashed his tail in the water the magic that made Boomer’s jinx reacted with Ten Cents’s own, as at the time Ten Cents didn’t know of his water mage origins. After a month of being passed around from business to place they eventually figured out what was making the jinx and promptly removed it, after that Boomer built back a new reputation of being one of the most useful workers in the harbor because of his natural water walking abilities and he was also proudly a Star Fleet.

Z-Stacks-

> Captain Zero / Joshua Zero: Human Sea Nymph hybrid

- Joshua Zero was once a young sailor in his early youth, working alongside his father as a fishermen until an unfortunate stormy night caught them off guard. The storm capsized their boat and Joshua was forced to watch as his father was swept out to sea, the young man would have drowned if it weren’t also for a young Captain Star from before he left for the land world. Beau kissed Joshua on the lips and the sailor had to watch in shock as his legs turned into an eel tail after they parted lips. Beau helped swim Josh up to the surface were they then flipped Josh’s boat back over and they both climbed aboard.

Beau introduced himself and Josh did as well before promptly freaking out about how he had met a merman and how he was now one himself. Beau calmed the former human down and told him how to grow his legs back, unfortunately it wasn’t perfect as he still had gills on his body and his legs were covered in black scales and his teeth were monstrous. Beau did the same and told Josh that it just took a while of practice.

When Beau and Josh got back to dock Josh immediately ran to his house with Beau to tell his mum what had happened, she was shocked but was just happy that her boy was alive, and as in a thanks she said Beau could stay with them for as long as he liked. Josh and Beau high-fived and began to call themselves brothers, while going through school they worked part time as fishermen to pay to go to college, they took the same course of business management when they began to start having arguments. They argued on what they were going to do going forward of cofounding a business or owning separate businesses so they could wrap up more money. Eventually a lot of arguments got weighted together and it turned into a tearing into about Josh’s late father, that particular argument broke the straw on the camel’s back and they went their separate ways.

To help get the money to start his business Josh got involved with a lot of the wrong people and so was considered a shady man by the time he started his business, and as a result no breeding programs wanted to sell him their produce because they thought him a poacher. That changed one night when a young sea snake naga floated into the docks and landed close to Josh’s building, he helped get the kid up to strength when he found out that the kid didn’t exactly want to leave because he had been so nice to him. Josh sighed and said that the kid could stay if he worked for him, the kid agreed and helped get Josh a better reputation so he could buy some more mermen onto his fleet.

> Zorran: Sea Snake Naga (Later Palaeophis Naga)

- Zorran was once a wild naga living by the sea shore with his family before a group of poachers found their den and killed his parents. Zorran being the young child that he was fled into the water and swam out to wherever the ocean currents may take him, which happened to be Bigg City harbor. At some point Zorran had passed out from exhaustion as he drifted into the docks and was founded by Captain Zero, the merman in disguise helped heal the young man back to health and when he said that Zorran could go the young man was terrified to now leave the harbor, or more specifically leave Captain Zero as he saw him as his protection. Captain Zero worked this into his favour and said that Zorran could stay as long as he worked for him, Zorran agreed and the young naga was Zero’s housemate for a few years until he could hollow out some underwater caves under his docks.

After a few days of finally getting some jobs in Captain Zero fitted Zorran up in the required attire and sent him up closer to the harbor to pull some barges of goods across the harbor. It so happened that a late teens Hercules was doing the same job and when he sped past Zorran he tipped over one of his barges. Zorran freaked out as this was his first day on the job and he didn’t want Captain Zero to kick him out already, when Hercules saw Zorran frantically trying to pick up the goods he tied off his barges and swam back to help clean up. Zorran was in tears by this point and when he saw Hercules swim back he was terrified that he was going to make it worse, so Zorran got into a striking pose and hissed harshly at the merman hybrid. Hercules stopped in surprise and backed up when he realised that Zorran wasn’t merfolk, Zorran yelled at him to not make things worse for him, he had just finally got a home and he would be dammed if he were to lose it on the first day. Hercules apologised and swam slowly forward to try and help fix the mess that he had made, Zorran reluctantly backed down and silently accepted the help.

Afterwards Hercules introduced himself and so did Zorran, the two found themselves working together around the same places for a while and becoming friends until one day O.J was with Hercules and when Zorran told O.J what company he belonged to O.J then told Captain Star and he forbid Hercules from talking to Zorran. When Hercules told Zorran this news he was really hurt as to why he couldn’t talk to Hercules or any of the other stars. When he mentioned this to Captain Zero the man shared the same view as his counterpart, he did not want Zorran talking to the star unless it was for work related issues. And besides, Zorran would be getting some new pod mates soon.

> Zebedee: Orca Tiger Shark hybrid Merman (SG)

- After a few months Captain Zero was able to secure an actual merfolk around the same age as Zorran named Zebedee. He was the result of an orca and shark hybrid, so needless to say when Zorran first met him he was a little freaked out and so was Zebedee when he saw Zorran make a fake strike. After a bit of communication and showing Zebedee the ropes the two became okay companions and was more than willing to stay away from the Stars if he could still hang around Zorran.

> Zak: Orca Narwhal hybrid Merman

- Zak was another hybrid breeding of an orca and narwhal. He had a horn sticking out of his head not to dissimilar to that of a unicorn centaur and as a plus he was also knowledgeable in magic, for a few years of palling around with Zorran and Zebedee they actually called Zak an ocean unicorn until they grew up a bit more and dropped it, appreciating and respecting his skill as he was their go to if any of them got hurt.

> Zug: Orca and Manta and Sting Ray hybrid Merman (SG)

- After a few years of going without getting a new merman the Z-stacks were in need of a new one at some point as work picked up. That was when Zug came into the picture as Captain Zero had gained a reputation of taking in the more dangerous merfolk types. Zug was another hybrid between an orca and a manta ray, so he was mainly put to work going up river or working closely in the harbor. Zug at first was terrified of the trio that had come before him, but they were open with him about being happy to have something new come in to the dock finally despite his small size, which they wisely didn’t mock him for as he showed off the blades in his arms and tail.

> Zip: Were-Orca

- The breeding program that had been selling Captain Zero his mermen for a few years had grown a respect for him and as he did them, to the point where they asked him if they could to them a favour. Apparently an unintentional breeding had been made with a werewolf and orca merfolk, resulting in a sort of were-orca. It was a very unique opportunity indeed for Captain Zero so he took the request and settled the gup into the pod, him being the only other of the pod to be able to go on land aside from Zorran. The other Z-stacks quickly found themselves fascinated by Zip as the gup could grow legs and follow Zorran around but also it was rather scary when they heard him roar for the first time, making Zorran get into a strike position for the first time in a few years out of fear.

> Zepher: Kelpie Centaur

- After getting a boost in money since Zip came back from his maturity migration, Captain Zero chartered a centaur kelpie to act as a railway tug for the Z-stacks. He was already in his late teens with a few years of experience from working some of the railway lines further inland, so it was a surprise to Top Hat when this fish-horse started to show him up. He’s provocative and smooth, knowing just what buttons to push and how far to turn something out so it leaves an impression, he’s also smart about his battles, ones he’s about to start or finish.

> Zeus: Orca-whale Merman Hybrid

- An old friend of Hercules’s from before he was a Star bought by Captain Zero as their first official ocean tug. Zeus is a lot like Hercules surprisingly but in a further inspection you could say Zeus is more of a smooth criminal and charmer, knowing very well that he’s sexy and he knows it, he can also be quite manipulative.

Side Characters-

> Lillie: Betta Fish Mermaid

- Lillie was once a part of a travelling pod of mermaids when they decided to stop in Bigg city harbor for a night. The coast guards came to them with a proposition that any of them were free to take, the offer was that they could have a free roof over their head if they were to use their magic to make light sources for travelling ships in the night or where there was fog. A few agreed while the others left, one of those few was Lillie.

Lillie was really young when she said yes as the reason she agreed at all was to get away from her abusive mother. So because she was so young her tail was considered an ugly sight, the way how her breed worked was that they would grow more beautiful the closer they got to puberty. So with the other mermaids that stayed behind they relentlessly bullied her until none other than Hercules came to her rescue one night, after he chased the mean merfolk away he offered her a spot with his pods sleeping quarters. She accepted and the two became fast friends ever since as they spent more time together. After she went through the prosses of having her own unique tail grow in she was the talk of the harbor for a few years as her appearance made her look like a wedding bride out on the ocean. She even took to a mother figure for Sunshine when she realized what breed he was.

Okay, I'm triple late behind now... SO HERES A LIST!

> We got Diesel 10 as human (Should be up today.) > We got wolf form Diesel 10 (Hopefully get done today as well.) > And for today I'm gonna work on designs of the Star gathering in my mythic AU, we already have Ten Cents so I'll post him and then get onto finishing Big Mac for the 13th.

Cinder Scribbles - Original Mythic AU

So I writ a mythic AU for Tugs and Thomas before I went back onto tumbler and when I was making my transition form Thomas to Tugs. In this first take on the AU I did all the tugs as merfolk or aquatic in nature, and all the trains as centaurs with the diesels as werewolves or were-creatures. I got around 8 pages with this and as I’m pretty sure you can tell its a way different take on what I have now, so, happy reading!

The years were the mid-18th century, the world we were in was nothing but forest and plateau and the sparsity of desert every now and then.

A young stallion centaur along with very few others was tied bound with his arms to his chest and a saddle on his back, he was a pure mustang breed complete with temper and all. He adorned dark brown hair in a rough haircut and his tail the same colour and just as cut down, his horse body was a cream brown fading to black at his legs and then turning dark blue at his hooves, his human body was semi muscular and youthful looking, his eyes a strong bright blue that anybody could look into and read like a book. That is, if they dared try, because what looked back was vexation and rage.

 This young stallion just like most were brought here against their will, roped and chained to be broken and submitted to by humans. This one in particular was just being extremely durable, or in the humans eyes, difficult. He had been tied up for two weeks by this point and the humans weren’t any closer to breaking him as they were when they first found him, and the young centaur knew this.

 But you may be wondering, how can humans do this to something that looks so human itself? The answer, they didn’t think he was human. You’d think something with half the body of a man would be able to talk and announce its displeasure right? Well to the humans they didn’t hear his yelling and rage as normal screams, they just heard it as horse noises. Anytime he huffed or sighed they would hear him blowing air through his lips, anytime he let out a scream they would hear a mighty high pitched screech, but for other centaurs and others of their nature they could hear him scream as he was whipped at his flank, pulled by his mouth and roughly held down as they subdued him to cut his hair, but he’d be dammed if he let them break him. He just had to wait for the right moment were he wouldn’t be monitored as well and he could sprint out of here.

 But it seemed fate had other plans.

  By the time the third week rolled around the humans weren’t making any progress, some were doubting if the stallion was worth it by this point, some started to take bets on who would stay on the longest before being thrown off. But all of that had to be put aside and packed away one day when a very rich and important man came to the property, a man who owned a railway system off the mainland and he was looking for centaurs in particular to pull the carriages, up until this point faun had been pulling the carriages, but the supply was becoming more heavier by the year to the point they needed something stronger, and a centaur was just what they needed.

 A man, his wife, and his son walked into the yard, all of them looking of rich origin. The troublesome stallion in the pen directly in the centre of the yard caught their attentions first as he idled in the centre, not wanting to go near the fencing. “Is this a sort of prize centaur you wish to advertise?” the father asked the seller. “Oh no, that is just the pen we use for taming them. This one in particular is rather aggressive when it comes to getting our men off him, I’d advise to stay away in case he decides to do something drastic.” The stallion huffed seeing the right to fear him, but also being insulted that they’d think he’d attack a defenceless family.

 The seller showed the father and wife around to the other centaurs they had and some strong normal horses as well while the son actually stood back a bit not able to take his eyes off of the one in the pen. The stallion actually noticed this and watched back as the family walked around the yard when the mother got the sons attention, she whispered into his ear and when the son had his attention back on the stallion again he walked over to the fence. The stallion grew stern from his curiosity before as he watched the boy approach the fence, he was a little perplexed when he just saw that the boy leaned on the fence by his elbows, he was expecting the young human to jump it and try to catch him but he just watched.

The stallion huffed and trotted around and when he looked over his shoulder he could see that the boy was still there, it was bad enough being forcibly ridden on but being watched like he was some sort of exhibit he found oddly enough to be more annoying. The stallion made a hiss/snarl at the boy which actually came out as such to other centaurs as well, they could talk but sometimes they did make horse noises on purpose or by accident on a few occasions. The boy did back off but not out of fear, out of what seemed to be sadness, hurt even. The stallion shook himself off, he guessed the men here really were breaking him because this kid hadn’t done anything, he had just taken an interest and when he repaid him for it he growled at him.

 The stallion sighed and walked forward, then when he was close enough he stopped a few feet away from the fence just staring at the boy. He sat down on his back legs and waited to see what the boy would do, he grew back that curios look in his eyes but he still looked hurt. The stallion decided to give a vein effort at something to at least humour himself and make himself feel better, he spoke. “You’re the oddest one I’ve seen so far that’s for sure.” The stallion said smiling down at the boy a little bit in amusement when he saw that the boy’s face lit up and he laughed a little too. The stallion grew from smug to confused, did it sound like he did something funny? He knew horses could make some odd noises so he wouldn’t put it past the idea. But to his shock, the boy responded. “And you’re the most high pitched grown man I’ve ever heard,” he said going into a round of giggles.

 The stallions jaw dropped and any centaur that was watching grew shocked to. The horse-man hybrid stood back up quickly and strode over with caution and interest, he was now standing directly in front of the boy on the other side of the fence. “Did you just…” the stallion trailed off waiting to see if the boy would respond. His response was a shake of his head in the direction of a group of on lookers, when the stallion looked he quickly caught on that they probably didn’t want to be seen talking to each other, he looked back at the boy who smiled and winked at him before looking up at the sky to the direction of the sun, seeing it was past noon he walked back to his family and gave the stallion a kind smile, knowing they would have a chance to talk again.

  That chance came a few hours later when it was dark and most of the people were asleep, the same boy came out with a big coat on and a lamp held out. “Psst, you out here still?” the young man asked. He was greeted to the silent trots of hooves and a form owned to them soon after, it was the same stallion. The boy smiled from the other side of the fence and sat down on the ground with the lamp next to him, the stallion did the same except completely laying down on his horse body against the fence. Not exactly knowing where to go from here the stallion decided to make the first move.

“So… you can hear me?” he asked. “Mm-hmm.” The boy responded. “How?” asked the stallion. “Well, I’m similar to you, I’m not actually human.” “You look human to me, how are you different?” “I and my mother are known as immortals, we look human but can’t die under any conditions. I can’t drown, I can’t bleed to death, I can’t die of sickness, I can’t burn to death, nothing! And that includes old age. And because I’m like you in that I’m not human exactly I can hear you, normal humans just hear you making horse noises.” “I figured that since they have been often mocking me about it. Well you’ve answered my question about how you can hear me, may I know what you’re even doing here in a place like this?” the stallion asked and the boy seemed to smile for his answer.

 “Well my father owns a railway system on an island far from here called Sodor, and he needs people to pull the coaches, so that’s why we’re here, we’re looking for some centaurs to pull the coaches and wagons and the like.” “What is it like on the railway you mentioned?” “Well for your interests, up until this point we have only had faun pull the coaches, they are hooved like you except they have two legs and are more goat like, so I’m afraid I’ve only got them as reference, but they are kept in insulated stables which are on paddocks and that’s as far as I know, I’m good friends with one of the older fauns that we have but otherwise that’s about all I can say.” The boy said shrugging. “Do you have to be ridden if you work on the railway?” the stallion asked. “Nope, you’d be given a harness and attached to a carriage, and they would piolet you from the top of the carriage, though I think as a passing requirement you have to not be minded being ridden on.” The stallion groaned.

“Ugh, being ridden on sucks. At first it was fun kicking people off but now it’s just painful.” “How so?” “So you are going to tell me its comfortable having a heavy object pressed into the centre of your back all the time while also walking or running around with it? As well as a thing pulling your mouth in the direction they want you to go?” “Okay, fair… is there any place on your back that wouldn’t be painful to sit on?” “I find it better the further up my back they sit the better it feels, so closer to my second shoulders or first back.” “So the closer to your more human looking body the better it feels for you?” “Yes!” the boy seemed to give it a little thought. “Then I request you bear with me for tomorrow, I think I have an idea for a new saddle design.” “If it ends up hurting I will give you my politeness of being put down instead of being thrown off.” “Gee, thanks.” “Don’t mention it.” The stallion said with a cocky grin watching the young man disappear into the night.

  The next morning true to the boy’s words he made a new saddle for the stallion as well as some modified rains that went around his torso instead of in his mouth. He heaved them over to the pen and chucked them over the fence and climbed after them, a few of the men tried to warn him to stay away and grab him to pull him back but the stallion beat them to it, he grabbed a hold on the boys shirt with his mouth and pulled him over to his side, once the young man was set down he rightened himself up and carried the new saddle and rains to the centre of the pen where the stallion followed him. The men were floored at how this teen seemed to have the stallions kindness as he walked with it, but they immediately grew scared as they watched the boy untie the ropes that kept the stallions arms bound to its torso.

 The stallion shook off the remaining rope and watched as the boy picked it up and wrapped it around his hand and elbow, cleaning it up so it would be out of their way. “Saddle or reins first?” he asked. “Thing that’s on my back,” “that would be the saddle.” “Whatever it is, I want it off.” “Okay bear with me a bit, my hands are cold.” The boy took the saddle and let it drop to the side, the stallion now completely free of all the man made items. He shook and trotted around a bit happy to finally be out of all those ropes when he looked to the boy, he stood there smiling at him happily, “come on, show what you can do.” He called. The stallion didn’t need to be told twice.

 He ran into a sprint and leaped over the pen and ran around the yard, the workers panicked and ran to grab their rope to grab the stallion again but they were to slow for him. The man-horse hybrid dodged and weaved in between the flying rope when he came up to a dead end with a blank wall, the stallion grinned and charged full speed at the wall, the boy grew scared when he saw that the stallion wasn’t slowing down but shocked when he saw him do what he did next.

He ran up the wall, and backflipped off it, over the workers who had been trying to grab him, and landed back down on all fours and without missing a beat, ran back around to the pen, jumping over it again and coming to a harsh stop in front of the boy, kicking up a lot of dust. When the dust settled and the boy looked again the hybrid was standing in front of him looking as happy and proud as ever. He kneeled with one leg out and bowed his body towards the boy, the centaur way of bowing and showing respect, the boy in the stallions eyes had more than deserved it.

 All of the men who had been watching were amazed by the stallions actions, and that included the boy’s father, he watched and circled the yard in the shadows watching to see how his son and the stallion interacted. The boy smiled and pushed the stallion up right, “none of that, your way to proud and powerful to be giving a teen like me your respect. I’d rather you and I be friends then you following me like a servant, that’s what they’ve been trying to do to you here after all right?” the boy asked watching as the stallion grew from confused from being pushed up, to beaming another smile. “They haven’t earnt my respect, you have. And your right, I’m way to proud to be your servant, I just did that to spite them. And a teen like you? More like a teen like me, I’m at the end of my teen years despite not looking like it.” The boy was surprised by the stallions response but started laughing full heartedly, kneeling over slightly with laughter still trying to hold himself up right, the stallion started laughing to but the more he laughed the more it turned into horse wheezes.

 When the two composed themselves the boy walked over to the saddle and held it up for the stallion to see, “well?” he asked. The stallion walked over and held it up himself, it didn’t seem to heavy but it looked really complicated. “Where does it go?” he asked. “It sits close to your second shoulders, I’ll need your cooperation again on this.” “I appear to have lost the memory where I said you ever lost my cooperation,” the stallion said smiling at the boy who smiled back.

The boy laid down the saddle on the dirt with a leather loop made, he asked the horse hybrid to put his left front leg through which the stallion complied to, the boy lifted the loop onto the stallions left second shoulder and threw the seat part over the space where his back was in between his shoulder blades, he then walked around and asked the stallion to stick his other leg through the other leather loop and when that was done the boy tightened the saddle and moved to the rest of the piece. He straightened out the rest of the straps down the stallions body and tied one around his underbelly, it wasn’t tight enough to cause discomfort and it also had a fabric in-surface so the stallions previous complaints about the saddles weren’t warranted, he then moved to the stallions tail and pulled out a long thick blue ribbon, the boy had seen many people use this method on normal horses to strengthen the base of the tail or to simply get the tail out of the way, but in this instance, it helped keep the saddle down and not move as much. The boy wrapped the ribbon around the base of the stallions tail like tying up a pony tail hair style and when he was done he flipped a leather strap behind it and tied it to the ribbon.

 “Okay, the saddle is on, how do you feel?” the boy asked when he stood back. “It feels good, not tight but not lose ether, firm, I like it!” the stallion said trotting around a bit. “Great, now for the reins. These are going to go around your first shoulders and torso so I’ll need you to sit down.” The stallion lied down on all fours as the boy got to work on opening the reins. He tied and clipped the reins around the stallions torso like a harness and left a loop of rope connected from his first shoulder blades at the back, he then hopped on the saddle. “Okay, how are you feeling so far?” “Pretty good, you want me to stand up?” the stallion asked. “Yep.” The boy swayed as the stallion stood up to full height, when they were fully up the boy made sure everything was looking alright.

 “Okay, everything checks out. Now, do you know the signals of moving?” the boy asked. “I know them, but I’d rather you ask me to move and speed up then to be kicked.” “Then what if I whistle?” “Whistle?” the stallion asked not knowing what a whistle was. The boy bit his lower lip and made a high pitched but short whistle, “one to start, and more as a signal to speed up.” “That works, just not so loud or right next to my ear.” The boy nodded to the stallions request and made a lighter pitched whistle to start off.

The stallion started moving at a casual walk as he traced around the fence, the boy tugging every now and then at the reins to guide him in another direction. “This works well, I’m happy with this system.” The stallion said looking over his shoulder to the boy. “I believe I’m happy with this to. Father!” the boy abruptly called out to his dad that had been watching the whole time. “May we get this one?” “I was honestly waiting for you to ask that.” The boy’s father said then turned to the seller and they began to work out a price.

 As they did the boy looked to the stallion and smiled. “So, you got a name?” the boy asked. The stallion seemed to look shocked for a second before smiling back and answering, “yes I do, its Edward.” “Well Edward, its finally nice to meet your acquaintance. My name is Bertrum Topham Hatt, but please for now, call me Bertrum.” “Okay then Bertrum, so I can assume I’m now heading to this, island of Sodor?” “Yep, there’s a comfortable stable there just waiting for you, but I have to warn you now, it’s going to be a long ride to get there. I hope you don’t mind being in a box for a while.” “How long is awhile?” “Maybe a few hours, we should maybe be there by sunrise tomorrow.” Edward looked a little nervous for a second but quickly swallowed it as he formed a happy grin on his face showing that he was ready.

  Edward was loaded onto a truck cart that could house animals, a line of coaches in front of him that were being pulled by normal horses, the last coach was where the Topham family would be using so Bertrum could see Edward whenever he wanted by crossing over. Edward was removed of the saddle and reins and was given a blanket for the cold night ahead, he settled down in a corner close to the door that lead to the coach that the family were using and once he was locked in he was surprised to see that not long after, Bertrum joined him in a thick coat that he had on the night prior. The teen smiled when he saw Edward and pointed to where the centaurs side would be under the blanket, “mind if I sit there with you?” he asked. Edward smiled and patted the spot in a wordless yes. Bertrum sat down against Edward’s side and made himself comfortable as Edward laid his body down completely to rest. “Are you going to be okay there?” Edward asked. “I’ll be fine, immortal remember?” Edward chuckled at the answer then yawned, using his arms as a pillow. “Are you going to stay there the whole night?” Edward asked. “If you’ll let me.” Bertrum said. “Hmm.” Edward huffed with a smile confirming that Bertrum could stay there, the stallion then got comfortable and began to doze off with the young immortal not far behind, the two sleeping the cold night away until they heard a loud horn being sounded causing them to wake up.

  “Oh… turn it off.” Bertrum groaned as he rolled his body over to smother his head to block out the noise. “What the red plains is that?” Edward groaned to but starting to wake up as he had never heard that sound before. “That’s just a boat horn…” Bertrum said when he registered what he just said. “Wait, boat horn? Oh my god where here already,” “where is here?” Edward asked now suddenly growing afraid. “Bigg City harbour, this is where we’ll catch a boat to Sodor, we better start getting up.” Bertrum said standing up and brushing himself clean. Edward followed his lead and shook himself off of dust when they noticed the carriages were coming to a stop, after a while, Bertrum’s father walked up to the carriage that Edward had been kept in, he opened it and handed Bertrum Edward’s reins.

 “Edward will have to be kept in reins while we’re here Bertrum, the boat we’ll be taking to get back won’t be here for another few hours and its by law to keep “animals” on a leash in the city.” Bertrum’s father said handing his son the reins. “Do I look like a pet?” Edward asked sounding insulted. “You do to the law enforcers here Edward, sorry.” Bertrum said handing Edward the reins for him to put on, he reluctantly did so then looked back to Bertrum. “So where are we heading if we’re stuck here for a few hours?” Edward asked. “Good question. Dad, where are we going now for the while?” Bertrum asked. “You can feel free to explore, but meet back at this station in five hours.” “Five hours? Well I suppose I’d better put your saddle on as well Edward, we might be a long while.” Edward nodded to Bertrum and had his saddle put on as well. “See you in a few hours dad.” Bertrum said then whistled to start Edward off. The stallion grinned and galloped out at a standard pace and into the harbor area of the city.

 As the two weaved through the crowds, Edward couldn’t help but be amazed. There were so many different mythic here, he saw what Bertrum described as faun, he saw some that had looked incredibly human but had traits of different animals and their eyes glowing, he even saw some other centaur breeds around the place, he was amazed that this had been happening outside of the plains of his home. “Are you okay Edward?” Bertrum asked. “Just, taking it in. I’ve never seen other mythic before and I’ve never been to as much of a crowded place.” “Well Sodor has some areas like this just not as populated, and where we’re heading right now is a more quieter place.” “I have no choice but to take your word for it.” Edward said then picking up pace as Bertrum held on.

 The two were eventually down at the harbor as Edward trotted on the piers taking in the salty air. “And this smell is what I’ll come across often around Sodor?” Edward asked. “Yep, Sodor is an island, so that means the ocean will always be close by, the closer you head inland the lesser the smell is.” Bertrum explained. “Hmm.” Edward hummed in thought.

“Come on boy’o, yer a whale aren’t ye?” “I’m trying Mr O.J!” Edward and Bertrum suddenly heard shouting from further down. An idea suddenly came into Bertrum’s head, this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce Edward to other types of centaurian, by the sounds of things and given they were so close to the water it sounded like these people were mermen. “Hey Edward, I think this could be a good experience for you to see other centaurians, let’s go have a look.” Edward slowly walked toward the voices but what still very confused. “What do you mean by ‘centaurians’?” “Centaurians are any creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of something else, typically animals. These guys sound like mermen, they are centaurians that are half human half fish.” That did sound odd to Edward but in a good way as it fuelled his curiosity and made him speed up.

 When the two got there, they saw a young merman teen and an older middle aged one trying to pull a boat out of the water with ropes by its bow. The two were under a ramp in the water that the boat was on and there was a gap between the ramp and the land that the ropes were through, as the two tried to pull, the boat was barely just out of the water when they suddenly lost the ropes and the boat came sliding back down into the water. The older man grabbed the ropes and the younger dived out from under the ramp and swam up to the stern of the boat and tried to push it forward from crashing into something, he seemed to catch it just in time as he resurfaced behind it and the older one tied the ropes down to the underside of the ramps supports. “Oh…” the older one groaned when he saw that the progress they had made was gone. “Let’s take a break Hercules and tell captain Star we may need the help.” The older one who the two assumed was named O.J said. “I’m… I’m really sorry O.J…” the teen merman who they heard was Hercules said as he sank lower into the water. “Oh it’s quite all right Hercules, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. You’re not a full grown yet your still a gup, I just need to get that through my head. And I also need to tell captain Star to not give us such labouring jobs from now on until your older.” Hercules still didn’t seem to perk up. O.J sighed then began to swim towards the docks. “Come on then.” He said then diving slowly.

 Hercules was about to follow when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him double take his head. He looked up and saw on the walkway Edward and Bertrum, Hercules’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped, he had never seen another mythic like Edward before so his curiosity grew as he slowly swam forward. Edward approached slowly as well until his hooves were just at the edge of the walkway, Bertrum took this time to hop off of Edward and watch Hercules approach as well. When the young merman stopped just under them he continued to look up in amazement, he was awed by how Edward looked, so powerful looking, so free spirited, he looked like he was something worth it in the land world of society. Despite the merman’s meek personality his curiosity was stronger as he was the first to speak.

 “Hello, my name is Hercules.” The young merman said timidly. “My name is Edward, and this is my friend Bertrum. He’s a mythic like us so he can understand what we’re saying.” “Wow, I’ve never seen any mythos like you two. One looks completely human and the other looks like what pulls the trains.” Hercules said as he gained more confidence and raised out of the water more. “Edward species are the base for where the word centaurian came from, as he is called a centaur. And my type are really rare, I’m an immortal, basically I can’t die to anything.” “Except people draining your magic dry.”

O.J responded to Bertrum’s comment as he had come back to see why Hercules hadn’t followed him. All of the young mythic turned in shock as if they had just been caught doing something of the typical rebellious teen. Hercules shrunk back down into the water and Edward and Bertrum backed away. “Oh calm down you lot, none of you are in trouble.” That seemed to ease the teens as the older swam towards them. “I’m O.J, currently Hercules’s mentor.” “Nice to meet you sir.” Bertrum said nodding his head a little in greeting. O.J nodded back with a smile when he saw Edward.

 And idea trailed his fins as he asked, “say boy, how strong are you?” O.J asked. “I’d like to think pretty strong, why?” Edward asked. O.J smiled and pointed to the boat that he and Hercules were just pulling before. “Me and Hercules have been trying to get that boat onto dry dock for a while now, but the problem is we’re not strong enough. If we maybe got some additional help we could get the thing out of the water, the problem with that though is that the only other marine help in the harbor happens to be our business competition. So say we get some help from you, me and Hercules pull from the bottom and you pull from the top.” O.J explained waiting to hear the centaurs response.

Edward looked to Bertrum who pulled out a pocket watch and read the time. “We haven’t even been gone for half an hour, we got plenty of time.” “I guess we’re helping then.” Edward said looking back to the mermen with a smile who smiled happily back.

 Edward was handed a third rope by O.J as the merman sat on the corner of the boats bow, Bertrum grabbed it from Edward and tied it around the centaurs torso like a harness, once he was positive it was secure on Edward he gave the thumbs up to O.J signalling they were good on their end, O.J signalled back saying it was secure on the boats side as well before jumping back into the water with a splash. Hercules handed O.J his rope and once the mermen were ready O.J called up, “okay, on the count of three, we pull. Ready? One, two, three!” all mythic pulled as the boat began to lift out of the water. Bertrum took to the side as the supervisor and watched as Edward leaned into his pull, his hooves slipping every once in a while on the wet wood. “Half way!” Bertrum called out as the boat was half way up the ramp. “Sailing stacks we’re doing it!” Hercules cheered as he continued to swim backwards with O.J. “Don’t celebrate yet, we still have to get the thing to the top.” O.J said as he pulled.

 Once the bow was in the air and over the gap Hercules and O.J swam out from under the ramp and appeared next to its sides having run out of room under the ramp, Edward continued to pull until the bow leaned down and landed on the actual dry dock, the centaur continued to pull until the boat was completely on the dock and he was confident that it wouldn’t be sliding back down the ramp. “It’s up!” Bertrum cheered. The others cheered as well, Hercules jumping out of the water and doing a back flip before splashing back down, O.J did a celebration circle in the water before clearing the water as well, and Edward raised to his back legs making a victory cry, but of course it came out as a horse neigh.

Once everyone calmed down Edward and Bertrum came back down to the water where they saw the two mermen waiting for them. O.J laughed as he splashed the water, “Ha-ha! Thank you so much you two, this means a lot for us.” “Happy to help,” Bertrum said before looking at his watch again. “We still have a while, anything else we can help you with?” Bertrum asked. “This was actually one of our last jobs for today, we don’t have anything else until sundown. We could all head to our companies docks, we can chat there for a bit.” Hercules suggested. Both land dwelling teens looked at each other and smiled. “Sure, we’ll follow you.” Edward said letting Bertrum climb back onto him.

 The group trailed along the pier and dock sides as Edward kept up with the mermen in the water below them, the entire time Hercules actually had his eyes on the centaur above him, he was amazed by how effortlessly the centaur turned and jumped across the docks, leaping over the gaps as if he was hopping from cloud to cloud. His stern build, his grace, and his oozing confidence made a star twinkle in Hercules’s eye as when he came up to the next pier he leaped out of the water and cleared the pier easily with the speed he was going at. Edward saw this and ran closer to the line of docks lined up with only a few meters apart, he skipped across them with joy as he howled into the sky with a drawn out cheer, Hercules did the same as he cleared the water, the two even giving a high-five as they jumped together.

 Eventually they got to the Star Marine docks and Edward came to a sharp stop on the wood followed by Hercules and O.J as they sat up on the docks with their tails hanging over the side until Hercules turned around and crawled closer to Edward. “That was amazing! I’ve never had that much fun before!” the gup cheered as they all laughed. “I never once though in my wildest dreams that all of this was just outside my home, there’s a whole new world out here and I’m going to be heading to another one in a few hours, this is almost something out of a fairy’s fable.” The mythos all laughed when the door to a building they were sitting in front of opened.

A man who appeared to be in his forties walked out, he had bright blue eyes and long straight blond hair tied in a low ponytail. “Well it seems you have made quick graces with these young men haven’t you boys?” the man asked the two mermen. Hercules smiled as his tailfins wagged behind him in the air. “Yeah Captain Star, these guys helped us get that boat up to dry dock! They’re really fun!” Hercules said looking happy at who was apparently his and O.J’s captain. “Really? And who may you boys be?” Captain Star asked as he walked up to Edward and looked behind his torso to see Bertrum.

 “I’m Edward sir.” Edward said feeling a little nervous. “And I’m Bertrum.” The young immortal said gingerly hopping off of Edward. “Well, I believe I owe you boys a thanks for assisting O.J and Hercules. That was rather nice of you.” “Just happy to help sir, it was a nice introduction to mermen all things considered.” The water workers laughed a little at the centaur. “O.J and Hercules are called merfolk, there any centaurian that have the body of a fish. Mermen are what you say when referring to a male of their kind, a mermaid is what you say for a female.” It was an honest mistake that Captain Star happily educated Edward on but now the young centaur felt silly. “Ah it’s okay boy’o, honest mistake. Ye did say that this is yer first time at the ocean.” O.J said smiling at the lad and Bertrum giving his friend a reassuring pat.

 After a bit of talking the two eventually sat down and talked about tales from their homes. How Edward was first found and captured, how life was like for Bertrum on Sodor, how Hercules was from a breeding program, and how O.J first met Captain Star. Speaking of the captain, he took notice of how Hercules seemed to really bond with Edward, the two were also roughly around the same age. He had to ask Bertrum how the mailing system worked on Sodor, “say, Bertrum?” “Hm?” the young man hummed. “What is the mailing like on the island? I was thinking Hercules and Edward could become pen pals or the like, it would certainly give me an excuse now to finally educate him.” Bertrum hadn’t even really thought about that, he thought this could have been a onetime thing and after they leave they would never see each other again. But it seemed Captain Star wanted Hercules to have some friends. “That reminds me I need to try to educate Edward myself, it would definitely serve him well reading the signs for the platforms and stations. And as for the mailing I believe it works quite well, though I can only talk from seeing my father’s mailing. I never get anything.” “Well now you can on Edward’s behalf, why don’t we write addresses and these two can start talking.” Captain Star said looking to the smiling faces of Hercules and Edward.

 After a little more while of talking and Captain Star offering some drinks, Edward saw something in the water just in front of the stars dock. He was creeped out by how it swayed in the water and its shadowy colour, so he brought it up to Captain Star. “Umm, sir? What’s that thing in the water?” the centaur asked pointing. Everybody looked to where Edward was gesturing and were surprised to see that something was there under the water level, the figure slowly peeked out from under the water revealing black hair and some scales on its face, it looked uncertain as it slowly swam forward.

Hercules seemed to recognise the figure immediately and looked to jump up with a smile and ready to say something when he caught his captains gaze and cut himself short, suddenly deflating and growing a sad expression. Hercules slid off the dock and into the water to talk to the figure, it raised itself further above water to reveal it was another young boy around Hercules’s age.

 Hercules swam closer until he was just in front of the person he recognised. “Zorran. What are you doing here?” Hercules asked. Who was apparently named Zorran hugged his body with his arms, he timidly spoke as he tried to look Hercules in the eyes. “I was told by Captain Zero to go to Captain Star for medical stuff, I got punctured harshly with some metal yesterday and now I’m starting to feel sick.” Hercules looked from Zorran to Captain Star. The man sighed and beckoned with his hand in the air to bring Zorran here, Hercules looked back to Zorran and swam back to the dock before jumping out of the water and sitting back next to Edward. Zorran slowly swam forward and as he jumped out of the water hissed through his teeth harshly, revealing long fangs and the sound coming out as more of like a snakes hiss.

 Edward fidgeted sharply in a scare but he had just been spooked, not expecting a snake sound to come out of something he thinks is a fish. Captain Star walks over and grabs Zorran from under his arms and drags him closer into the dock, as he keeps on being dragged its revealed that Zorran’s body kept on going and going until Captain Star stopped just behind the others, Zorran’s lower body began to coil closer to him and when the end of his tail finally appeared over the dockside they could all see that he had a massive wound traveling up his side from his tailfin. Zorran hissed again in pain as the wound became exposed to open air.

 “What happened Zorran?” Captain Star asked. “Was taking some metal up river when a rouge current pushed the barge into my tail and pined me against the side of the river, once the water level fell I was able to get free but when I got back Captain Zero told me that if the wound got worse I should go to you.” Zorran explained. Captain Star sighed in annoyance. “Ether that man learns some healing magic or he gets a person who does know. Okay Zorran sit here and I’ll come back out with some equipment.” Captain Star then walked back into his office and was out of sight.

The air rested a new feeling of awkwardness or tensity, Edward decided to be the first one to ask while they had time. “So can anyone care to explain why they appear to not like the new guy?” that seemed to snap everyone out of their trance as it was Zorran who actually spoke up. “The one who owns me has a hatred to Captain Star, so by process of association, that also means their pods have to have hatred towards them to.” “It’s not like that and you know it.” Hercules said looking at Zorran. “Well I don’t know what to call what we have then. You and I certainly don’t talk anymore and whenever we do there’s this atmosphere of like you don’t want to be near me, I thought we agreed that we didn’t have to be friends but not strangers ether. I feel like your pushing me away, what’s wrong with not being happy to at least receive a hello?” Zorran asked sitting up from his position but still hunching over, not mad, but not happy ether.

 “I don’t know Zorran things have become complicated.” Hercules said looking away. “If it’s that complicated then I’d be happy to hear it… tell me the complex tight turns that are hurting you, I couldn’t give a care how long it took.” “I’d give a care if it makes Hercules late.” Captain Star answered Zorran as he walked up to the young man.

Bertrum knew instantly what was going on, and as he knew it really shouldn’t be any of his business, he believed what was happening would cause more harm than good later down the line. “Then why don’t you two talk out when you have free times together? That way nobody can be late.” The young immortal suggested. “I don’t want Hercules seeing Zorran or any other future Z-stacks that Zero may get. Knowing Zero he’ll probably do something to the Stars through them.” “Wow that is vexingly bold of you to allow your paranoia to get that much into your head.” Edward said to Captain Star looking cross at him. All the merfolk’s mouths gaped open with surprise that someone had the guts to say that straight to Captain Star. “I can’t believe you have that little faith in both Hercules and Zorran to not recognise that if either of them were being played they wouldn’t know about it. Whatever beef you have with this Zero guy is your business and your business only, don’t wrap these two into it, it will only hurt a lot later down the line. These two clearly still trust each other, at least let them build up an acquaintance back together.” When Edward finished even Captain Star looked surprised.

 His face began to mould into something of anger and then stern as he seemed to think something over. “I don’t want you two talking to each other until I’ve made up my mind. Until then bring your tail over here Zorran.” The young man did as asked and the captain smeared a medicine along the wound. Zorran hissed harshly at the pain, it almost turning into a snarl on a few occasions as Captain Star started to dig into the more open parts. The times Zorran did snarl it made Edward jump a little as he begun to back away, Bertrum noticed this and looked towards his friend. “Edward?” the young immortal asked. “Is it just me, or does Zorran sound like a snake?” “I’d hope I sound like a snake because I am one.” Zorran replied to Edward’s comment as he hissed again in pain. “Wait, you’re a snake?” Bertrum asked. “Naga. Type of centaurian that has a snake body, I happen to be a sea snake. Note that I have no gills.” Zorran said bluntly as he watched Captain Star finish up.

 That officially made the fear in Edward spike as he stood up and sat behind Bertrum, ready to maybe use him as a human shield. He did say he couldn’t die to anything after all. Zorran obviously saw this and reassured the horse. “Keep ya saddle on, I’m not interested in hunting anything as big as you. Let along another mythic.” “That and you don’t know how to hunt.” Hercules said smiling smugly at the sea naga. “That to.” Zorran agreed smiling back. That did put Edward at ease seeing that Hercules at least wasn’t scared, but it did still odd Edward out that there were mythos with half the bodies of snakes out there.

“Say, Edward was it? What’s your story? I haven’t seen any real centaurs before, I’ve only seen illustrations of them in books. Are you going to be replacing normal horses on tracks or something?” Zorran asked to change the subject. “Edward is coming to a new railway line that my father runs, so while he won’t be here, he’ll be running rails definitely.” Bertrum answered. “You’re lucky Edward, you get to see more of the land than any of us can. Well, I could, but I feel rather safe here.” Zorran commented. “I bet it must be fun to feel the dry air blowing past your face every day. My what I wouldn’t give to be able to sit on a grass hill for even a day.” Hercules said as he looked behind himself to see an odd looking out of place green hill around the buildings in the city.

 “You don’t look to heavy, maybe I could give you a ride around the harbour for a bit.” Edward offered. Hercules’s jaw dropped, he turned to Captain Star with a pleading expression with his hands together, begging him to say yes. The captain pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head with a smile on his face as in a way of ‘oh boy’. He looked up and brushed the air in front of him in the gesture of- ‘go on’. That was all it took for Hercules to cheer into the blue sky, “woohoo!”.

Edward kneeled beside Hercules and the young merman grabbed a hold around Edward’s shoulders, when the centaur lifted up he pushed Hercules onto his back and soon the young man was on his friends back just behind the saddle that Bertrum had made as it was built with the idea of legs in mind. “Yeah! I’m up!” Hercules cheered. “All right, let’s get you a little more secure on Edward’s back and then you two can head off running.” Bertrum said walking up and then slipping off Edward’s saddle. Hercules scooted closer to Edward’s upper body so he had a better grip, he looked to be more secure as Edward also grabbed a tight hold.

 Zorran slided up to his standing position and circled around the two taking quite an interest on how cool it actually looked. “If I could keep up I’d run alongside ya, that looks like fun.” “I’ve seen you glide across surfaces before Zorran using your arms as extra strength, I’d imagen you could keep up.” Hercules said smiling at his friend to encourage him. “I don’t think the harbor will be thrilled to see a snake running across the docks.” Captain Star said watching Zorran. “To bad, they’ll get a little spook over nothing then. I’ll see if I can keep up, are we gonna start?” Zorran asked. Edward looked to Bertrum. “I’ll stay here a little longer. Just run around the harbor once and when your done come back here.” “Easy enough. All right, I guess we’re ready!” Edward raised to his back legs and kicked out his front ones, he let out a mighty and low neigh before landing back down and beginning to run as Hercules held on a tight grip. Zorran leaped after them, his body and swift movements making him look like a piece of animated string and he let his whole body work for him like more grounded motions of a kite.

  The three teens ran out of the Star docks and came onto flat pathing. Edward made long powerful gallops as he ran to open sidings in the footpaths while Zorran snaked closely behind them, his body gliding across the ground and bouncing on one point of his coils should he needed to. As they ran into open high air Hercules released his hold on Edward slightly to look around, he lifted his head and he could feel the more dry air blow his hair back and make the tips of his gills freeze. His bandana fluttered against his chest like a flag and his eyes awed like looking at his first love, the surface was so much more solid looking than anything he’s seen from the docks, the atmosphere felt heavy and powerful as they ran under the might of the city’s tallest buildings. Hercules’s lips curled up into a smile as the kept on running, he could feel the slip of his hide and scales dry off in the wind and his tailfins brush Edward’s side, in turn him being able to feel every muscle in the area.

 As the trio ran back down to the docks they started to slow down, eventually coming to a complete stop close to the opposite end of the harbor. Hercules still with a smile on his face started to laugh, his tailfins swishing with every movement of his body. Zorran and Edward looked back to the merman and before they could even catch their own breaths they started to laugh to. The trio falling to the wood with smiles that beamed from ear to ear, eventually they calmed down and took a second to recuperate.

“That was amazing! I am so jealous of you Zorran and Edward, you can experience that any time you want, that is such a thrill!” Hercules cheered. “You can go faster than that under water, I don’t see what there is to be jealous of.” Zorran said resting on the wood of the walkways with one arm holding up his head. “The imposing nature of the buildings that you can confidently sprint under, the commanding wind that blows past your face and freezes your body after a while, the stoic terrain that you can swiftly skip over, there is everything to be jealous of. You can have no fear, you can walk around and let the ground meet your motion of walking, you can breathe this indefinitely. All I have is the constant reminder of pressure around my body.” Hercules said leaning back and falling with his back to the wooden dock and his tail still on Edward’s back as the stallion had taken to lying down and having a rest.

 Edward looked to Zorran with a raised brow, confused as to why Hercules would feel this way. “I wish I could connect with you like that Hercules, I’m of both worlds in a sense. I can breathe under water despite having to gills, I can hiss out air though people are terrified of it, I can swim but not very fast, I can slither on land but that’s still not fast ether. I’d rather belong to one so I can have the full experience of that particular then just have the bare minimum to move in both.” Zorran said. “I came from a terrain that the biggest body of water you could find was a lake, I’m more amazed by you twos appearances more than the actual world you come from, because you yourselves speak so much more. How you both are so adapt to the things you can do but you see the outside world so much different to me, how your abilities can mirror my own but in such a uniquely different way, how your work is basically the same mine will be just of different elements. Our worlds can tell so many stories on their own, but its up to individual interpretation to tell a tale.” Zorran and Hercules were very moved by Edward’s words. He had a great point. Everybody can look at dirt but everyone has a different thought of the first thing that comes to mind, maybe someone sees it to draw in, maybe another wonders if its farmable, maybe another watches an ant go across it, the list went on.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’d be a fortune teller.” Zorran said smiling at the centaur. Everybody broke into a laugh

If any of my posts blow up please let it be this one:

Australia is currently petitioning to make it that all gender confirming surgeries for transgender individuals are covered by Medicare. This is absolutely huge as surgeries are super expensive even with private health insurance.

It doesn't ask for an address or phone number or anything so I think anyone in the world can sign for it? But I'm not entirely sure.

EDIT: yeah you gotta be a citizen, so if you're outside the country, if you could reblog this to reach more Australians, this would be amazing!

Here's the petition link:

Petition information:

Please reblog this and spread it as far and wide as you can, this is super important!

Sorry I'm late, but have the no.6 Percy!