//Riptide Campaign what else is new ;')
Istg I'll write about literally any other camping I just-
b r a i n r o t ^^;
I'm two episodes behind because I'm busy with college work, so pls excuse my little brain making these scenarios up ;')
Uh, Gillion angst? Gillion angst. I've been too nice to my boy >:)
I kinda wanna make a part two? Maybe after the whole thing takes place? Idk I don't plan these djnfhdf
I'm down for any requests anyone has for a part two of this or any other oneshot! :D <3
TW// none? If there are any please tell me! <3
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The waters were calm. The temperature wasn't too warm or too breezy, it was a completely perfect balance. It was moments like these that Gillion enjoyed sitting at the figurehead of The Albatross with his notebook, adding any extra notes in older pages, looking back on all he had documented, seeing how far he had come. He remembered when he struggled to remember very basic things, social mannerisms and how much they differed from The Undersea being the main one, and now he was so much more comfortable and accustomed. Of course, he'd always keep his destiny and the prophecy as a priority, there was no changing that. But it was nice to sit and bide his time with simple things, like looking out to the sea and listening to Pretzel's small comfortable purrs.
The past few days had been similar to today. Chip said it was nice but boring, that he much preferred at least something interesting to happen. Jay shared the same view as Gillion did, Ollie too. Though it was easy to assume that Ollie would always favour calmness to chaos. Earl never really had a very clear opinion on days like these; he always usually found something to grumble about, Gillion decided that one day Earl would come to age and see that these types of days can be a highlight of a week or a month. But he is very young, so Earl has time to develop his opinions on calm days like today.
Though he wasn't very verbal with his feelings, Gillion had to admit to himself at least that he did find it quite hard on relaxing days like this one. There was always an itch of missing home, missing The Undersea and that immediate familiarity, the way the water moved around him as he was completely submerged. His homesickness seemed to only be amplified when he found himself trying to fill the many hours of the day. Small wants and wishes worming their way into the corners of his mind. But these thoughts were silly, selfish even! He was lucky to have such a kind and loving crew. People that found him and immediately took him in, no hesitation. Despite his doubts of the Elders' knowledge of humans, Gillion knew for fact he could've been much more unlucky. Besides, he had Pretzel! And Caspian! Caspian and Gillion would have regular talks over Squirties about their memories of The Undersea.
Caspian had come from a very different area, even more so in his upbringing, so it was always intriguing to hear stories from his past. Caspian seemed to hold the same interest in Gillion's stories, his usual smile growing at the more heartwarming parts of Gillion's retellings, it fading slightly at the less heartwarming parts (mainly at Gillion's very strict training and studies, which Gillion understood, a small part of him even agreed and shared Caspian's feelings). Nevertheless, the talks always ended in a shared sense of nostalgia and comfort. No matter how difficult of a story the two had shared with the other, it was no secret that they both missed their home.
Which is why, Gillion supposed, Caspian had rushed over to him in such a hurry.
Gillion was sitting on the figurehead, showing his newer notes to Pretzel as the two were interrupted by faint yelling. Gillion quickly stood, getting back onto the deck of The Albatross, putting away his journal as he looked to the source of the sudden commotion. The Captain's Cabin of The Crescent Moon swung open with a very serious-faced Caspian looking around wildly. When he made eye contact with Gillion, Caspian broke out into a jog, ignoring the calls of Captain Elizabeth from the doorway of her cabin. Before Caspian could get to him, Chip and Jay had taken notice of Elizabeth's urgent calls, and with no context seeing Caspian head towards Gillion in such a serious manner, stood in the way of the hurrying Triton. "What the hells happened, Lizzie?!" Chip called out, standing now next to an equally confused Jay.
"Just don't let him talk to your fish guy! He's being reckless- I just need 5 more minutes, Chip-"
"Out of my way, you two. I need to talk with Gillion. Now. Please." Caspian's voice was breaking, he didn't sound teary, just urgent. This caught Gillion's attention, causing him to make his way over towards Caspian, Chip and Jay. Caspian saw this, pushing past both Jay and Chip, putting a firm hand on Gillion's shoulder and looking him in the eyes with an intensity Gillion hadn't seen before. It was not a fitting look for Caspian. If anything, Gillion only became more nervous than he had already started to feel. "Gillion, I... Captain Elizabeth just told me of this...We've had information come back to us from some other pirates... There's been sighting of the Navy making moves. Moves that we were afraid of them making... Gillion the Navy has started to close in on The Undersea's territory."
Gillion stood for a second, just keeping eye contact with Caspian for... longer than he was comfortable with. He took a few seconds to process what Caspian had said before it hit him.
"I... Wh-what? What do you... the... what of the Capitol..?" Caspian hesitated before slowly shaking his head.
"I... I don't know for sure... but the Capitol is... well, important. And big. So it's most likely a target if they haven't already started to move in to claim it as their land... Elizabeth told me that the pirates did see prisoners being taken to their ships, just like they did on Jeraldo. But... well, since there are no pirates in The Undersea, it's most likely that they probably took anyone who fought against them."
A wave of deafening silence passed between everyone. Gillion's head had lowered as Caspian spoke, the gravity of this new information slowly being processed. Behind the two tritons, stood Chip and Jay, Elizabeth just behind them. Elizabeth broke the silence with a frustrated sigh. "Look, I get this is your home. But you aren't the first people to get fucked over by the Navy. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want anyone to do anything stupid before we had enough information. Please, just... let me get back to the people that got us the info, from there we can try and come up with some plan-"
"I appreciate... you trying to help, Captain Elizabeth. But you cannot. I may not know much about things on the oversea, but in that same way, you do not know how my people will react to humans trying to take over their homes. If what Caspian said is true, then there will not just be a mere handful of my people that have been taken prisoner. It will be hundreds. Maybe even more than hundreds... There is no time for a plan." Gillion's voice was different. It was darker, it was the most serious he had sounded, even more so than when he challenged Chip to their duel. Without another word, Gillion walked past all of them, making his way towards the lower decks. He left and ignored any attempts the others made to stop him.
Gillion paced in the room that was assigned to him, though he rarely used it. He continued to pace until a concerned purr interrupted him, looking over he saw a worried pink frogtopus watching him from her bowl on the bed. Gillion sighed tiredly and made his way over to the bed, picking up Pretzel's globe and placing it in his lap as he sat on the bed. Only now, holding Pretzel's globe, could he tell he was shaking. For how long, he wasn't sure. The shakiness of his hands only seemed to worsen Pretzel's worries, letting out another small purr. "I-... It is alright, Pretzel. I am fine. I just... I need to gather my thoughts and think of something. I... I should've been there. We should've done something as soon as Caspian and Elizabeth warned us about the Navy..! I can't... I can't stop them from where we are, Pretzel... I... I can't let my people down, I... I'm meant to save them. That's my job as the Champion, I'm meant to protect my people from any dangers, no matter what, no matter the sacrifice... I-" Gillion stopped as he heard a weak set of knocks on the door he had closed very very loudly behind him. He stayed silent, hoping that maybe if he was quiet for long enough, the person on the other side of the door would-
"Gill, look 'm not going anywhere, man. I heard you in there. If y'don't let me in I'm letting myself in."
Gillion sighed quietly, speaking up "You cannot do that, Chip. It's an invasion of my privacy-"
"Pfft- Privacy. Gill, please, I'm the captain! M'coming in-" And he did. Chip opened the door and raised a brow cockily at Gillion, the very Chip-like expression fading when he saw Gillion's, slowly shutting the door behind him. "Look, I... I know what we heard from Caspian wasn't...good. But neither is going in blind. We gotta try and figure out some kind of plan, you're not stupid, Gill. You know you need a plan, and look! I'm right here! I've always got a pla-"
"Chip. You know I love you dearly. But if you say 'plan' one more time I'm going to smite you. Multiple times. Over and Over-"
"Alright! Jesus Christ, I get it. I get it, no smiting needed." Chip rolled his eyes, chuckling awkwardly as he sat next to Gillion, mindful to leave a bit of space for himself. Before he went to speak again, which he wasn't sure was a smart move - but Chip hardly had smart moves - he noticed Pretzel looking up at him with a worried expression, which was weird because she was a whole frogtopus, but he's seen stranger. With her encouragement, Chip spoke up, "Okay. So... what are we doin' Gill? What's your pla- aauuuhhh course of action?" Chip grinned and raised a brow at Gillion, not wanting to see if Gillion would keep to his threat. He watched as Gillion thought hard about this, then watched as his resolve slowly broke down with each passing second. After a minute or two, Chip was sat next to a different Gillion.
"I-I... I don't know, Chip. I don't have a plan. I don't know what the best thing to do is. I...All I know is that I should've been there. I should've never have left The Undersea in the first place... It wasn't part of the prophecy and now my people are in danger and I am on a ship. Sitting on a bed. Next to you. With a frogtopus on my lap. Shaking. I'm shaking, Chip, I-" Chip looked down and, Gillion was in fact shaking. Suddenly, as if it wasn't obvious, Chip realised; Gillion was scared.
"...Chip, I'm scared"
Or maybe he realised because Gillion said it himself, look give him a break he wasn't good at this.
"Hey, c'mon..! You don't get scared, you're Gillion Tidestrider. You're all about impossible missions to save the day, right? This is no different..! Besides, you gotta save the most important thing ever, right? So you don't have time to get scared, man. You need to breathe and think straight. C'mon. Like this..." At this, Chip put one hand on Gillion's, removing it when he got the panicking triton's attention and started to take long, deep breaths. He nodded once at Gillion as encouragement, smiling slightly when he saw Gillion attempting to copy his breathing. It didn't take long before Gillion was able to meet Chip's breaths, worrying more so about maintaining the new breathing pattern to regain his very lost composure. After a few minutes, Chip stopped, seeing Gillion's shaking had stopped, noting how his hands would twitch now and then, but he decided it was much better than full out shaking.
Gillion took another deep breath before talking, ignoring the cracks in his voice or how it wavered as he spoke. "I... firstly, thank you. I... I appreciate your help, Chip. I suppose I... I just wish I was there when they needed me... I cannot think for a second without getting overwhelmed and scared of 'what if's... I... I need to get there now, Chip. I need to help my people... m-my sister..." As Gillion spoke, his voice got quieter and quieter, Chip now understanding what he had meant by getting overwhelmed by 'what if's. Chip frowned, placing a firm hand on Gillion's shoulder and looking at him, no traces of any jokes or sarcasm.
"We're gonna get you to your home. And we're gonna help them, okay? Don't worry... You're not doing all this alone. I-I... I can try to talk with Lizzie, see where she's at with a plan and... go from there. We'll get a location, which is first priority. From that point, you and Caspian are in charge... You both know The Undersea more than any of us, and from what we heard, they aren't a fan of humans, especially not now... We'll make a safe point somewhere near where all of it's happening and try to get everyone there..." Chip smiled softly when Gillion lifted his head to meet his eyes as Chip spoke, his hand going from Gillion's shoulder to his hand, holding it gently as he continued. "We'll fix this, Gill. It'll be fine. Just remember, deep breaths, keep a cool head, and we'll get through all of this." Gillion nodded, relaxing slightly as he felt Chip's hand hold his. He went over what Chip's plan had been, making sure he understood what would be happening. With a simple nod, Gillion spoke.
"Whilst you have that talk with Captain Elizabeth, I can go and inform Caspian... He seemed very, well, worried is a weak way of describing it, but you understand. I... I think it would help him to know the course of action ahead of time..." Chip nodded, grinning.
Before he could reply, the two heard a quiet purr, seeing Pretzel twirling in her globe and motioning at the two's hands still intertwined. Gillion glanced down, same as Chip, and when the two realised Chip quickly pulled his hand away and coughed awkwardly. "H-Ha... sorry uh... buddy. I forgot I... I uh... I'm gonna go find Lizzie! Get that plan into action!" With a single (louder than intended) clap, Chip stood up and walked backwards to the door, doing what Gillion had learned to be 'fingerguns', before turning around and leaving quickly.
Gillion was left with Pretzel and his very busy mind. It seemed that the moment Chip left, he started to feel that sense of overwhelming... everything all over again. Before it got too bad, Gillion felt himself take a deep breath, remembering Chip's plan. Gillion just had to keep a cool head and take deep breaths. They'll fix this. They'll be fine...
"Fingerguns?!" Jay's voice broke through the few seconds of silence Chip and she had in their conversation. Chip groaned and shook his head.
"Now is not the time to question my stupidity! Yes, yes, I did fingerguns. A-And you know what?! I'm glad I did. Fingerguns are cool. I'm the fuckin' coolest person on this ship and you're jealous. Moving on! Do you get that whole plan? I wanted to tell you and Gill before anyone else just so we're on the same page..." Chip watched as Jay stifled a few more snickers before regaining her composure, clearing her throat and nodding.
"Yeah- yeah no that uh- that's all good with me. Good plan." Jay nodded again, smiling, though Chip couldn't tell whether or not it was an 'understood' smile or her trying to hold back more laughter. Either way, he rolled his eyes and motioned for Jay to follow him, the two of them heading over to The Crescent Moon, soon enough joined by Gillion and Caspian, to discuss the plan of stopping the Navy's attack on The Undersea.