kurofai | [Team Sea](Spy) Shape of You

Title: Shape of You
Prompt:Spy
Rating: Teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, implied canon-typical backstories, magic, memory alteration, not safe for newbies, Ashura’s motivations/morality are questionable as always, near-drowning described, underwater, mermaids (or something like it) and other deep sea life

Summary: No one ever teaches the denizens of the deep to fear the dark. Instead, they learn to fear the surface dwellers and to mistrust the dry and desiccating world they live in. The surface societies continue to explore deeper, but the ocean is a large place. Avoiding them is easy. When his twin is trapped, however, and a surface exploration outpost is implicated, Fai finds himself infiltrating their vessel. Isolated and in a truly alien environment, he can only hope that he remains undiscovered.

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Or jump to individual chapters:
Chapter 1: Artificial Midnight
Chapter 2: Shadows in the Water
Chapter 3: Gods Below

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. How in-character was this fic?- 10
2. How well did this fic handle the prompt? -10
3. How well did this fic fit their team’s theme? -10
4. How much did you enjoy this fic overall? - 9
5. Was the my fic tagged correctly - Yes

Spoilers or not... dk
Not what I expected at all, I thought it'd be something either more dramatic or cutesy, but it's actually eerie in this gothic horror or lofcraftian kind of vibe. Which is very refreshing and cool. I'd love to have epilogue to epilogue, or at least know what exactly Kurogane sent to upper station in the 'one way' logs. Also the world building aspect is very interesting.

red-moon-whale@tumblr

Thank you! I am completely with you and would have loved an epilogue (or excerpts of Kurogane’s reports spliced through the fic), but I ran out of time to tag it on or work it out so that it flowed smoothly.

Edited to add: also, can I say that I love that you called it “actually eerie.” I think that’s the absolute best description of the bizzaro genre that this belongs to :D

Edited 2019-08-28 05:21 (UTC)

9
10
10
9
Yes

Wow. This fic really took an unexpected turn with the "GET OUT". It was really engaging and the setting was very detailed. My only complaint is that I had to go back and re-read the part where Fai and Kurogane fell into the water cause I could not understand (and still don't lol) how that happened if they were still inside the ika.

Lemazayahaza@tumblr

Thank you for the review! I’m so sorry for the confusion - I’m sure I skimmed over something crucial or poorly described something.

I don’t know if it helps (or if this is where the confusion was), but the deep harbor is open to the water (like a moon pool on modern ships). That’s how Fai gets in and where he’s found with his arm in the water when he’s trying to remove the spell. He’s in the deep harbor area during the “get out” part, and Kurogane literally just tackles him into the open water. At least that was the intention, at least - I don’t know if it helps sort things out....

1. How in-character was this fic? (9)
2. How well did this fic handle the prompt? (10)
3. How well did this fic fit their team’s theme? (10)
4. How much did you enjoy this fic overall? (9)
5. Was the my fic tagged correctly (Yes)

Yoooooo this was rad and intricate.

I usually can't do spy/false pretense/mind magic fics at all, but I was pleasantly surprised here. Fai didn't try to take advantage of Kurogane-just needed him out of the way and Kuro figured things out quickly enough everything turned out okay. There were a couple places where I wound up a little confused? But that's probably my sleep deprivation talking. Highfive, me and Fai match.

Great work!!! I agree with one of the previous comments; do we get an epilogue!? :D

https://crystalrequiem.tumblr.com/

Thank you so much! I totally agree about spy/mind magic stories and definitely tried my darnedest to come up with a plot that at least slightly circumvented the typical tropes (like telling it from Fai’s POV so the reader at least always knew what was up, having Kurogane know practically from the beginning, etc).

I’m so sorry for the confusion - you’re not the only one, so I think it’s probably more due to my sleep deprivation than yours. I’m sure I missed the boat (ha, pun intended) on explaining/describing crucial things...

Totally with you and the other reviewer on an epilogue. If only I’d had time to get it together XD I do really hope to write something though!

Yaaaaay!!! I'll look forward to it <3

1. How in-character was this fic? (9)
2. How well did this fic handle the prompt? (10)
3. How well did this fic fit their team’s theme? (10)
4. How much did you enjoy this fic overall? (10)
5. Was the my fic tagged correctly (Yes)

Your world building game is A+! Journal entry style interjections are my jam and everything about yours sounded natural.
Plus, the descriptions? I'm in the bad habit of instinctively skimming them, but yours set the mood so well I did my best to appreciate it
The interactions between fai and kurogane were golden and that epilogue where the fake past of the spell became a sort of truth? *chef's kiss*
Your characterisation overall is also the stuff of dreams, though with kurogane not only having known the truth all along but being so at peace with it by the time he talks to Fai? I'll have to reread to look at his actions in this new light, i'm sure there's an emotional journey there we didn't get to see bc of the pov
In any case, I absolutely loved the read!

1. How in-character was this fic? 8
2. How well did this fic handle the prompt? 10
3. How well did this fic fit their team’s theme? 10
4. How much did you enjoy this fic overall? 8
5. Was the my fic tagged correctly Yes

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hestiana

1. How in-character was this fic? (10)
2. How well did this fic handle the prompt? (9)
3. How well did this fic fit their team’s theme? (10)
4. How much did you enjoy this fic overall? (8.5) it was a little confusing at times. When we first have Yuuis POV I thought it was a dream at first from Fai. I liked the logs giving a bit of background and lead up to why Kurogane was there, but at the same time I first thought they might have been telling the story in reverse? Like they were set after the main story, telling what they had learned since it seemed they knew a lot about the history of merpeople?
5. Was the my fic tagged correctly (Yes)

Okay, so I really liked this fic and like the world building and the hints of things, it was just a little confusing keeping all the races separated. So Paareyans are humans? Are they ancient or are they modern humans and this is set in a far flung future? I really liked the sci-fi elements to it, but some of the world building got a little confusing for me.

Also wanted to ask what happened to Yuui? Is he living with Kurogane and Fai since it sounded like Ashura didn’t want them to live in the Deep anymore?

I’d love to read more from this world as well.

[Team Sea](Spy) Shape of You

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