#hey look we got to the potc parts

[eileenslibrary]

Leave A Traveler's Path

Orc x reader pt.1

Oof the slight sexual tension has me

Warnings: sexual tension, kidnapping I guess, swearing, orcs in general

I'm deciding on adding slightly nsfw parts but just put it in my asks if I should or not.

You a traveler have been put on a task to deliver a package to a high ranking noble of house Bensvine.

But it came with complications, this package had something very valuable, and apparently someone got word you were carrying this said good and now you have a few issues like this one.

You have been quietly trailing a few miles behind a pack of orcs, for what reason? Because everyone you meet attempts to assassinate, assault, steal from, and kidnap you for this damn package. And you have gone off route so you can't be found but can I mention these orcs aren't any orcs these orcs are very dangerous and you assumed they would attempt to kill and take this package, so you are tracking behind them in the middle of the badlands (a very dry desert like imagine davy Jones locker from potc, that type of desert) and you are waiting util night fall to pass them, you've been doing this for about four days. So you usher yourself on foot to speed up so you can get a bit closer to the group but still be hidden until you pass them, then they'll be in the past.

That's the hard part because now you realize there's giant beasts in the group, beasts that will eat human flesh or any flesh for that matter, and on top of that these orcs have not yet gone to bed so now you are sitting waiting about a mile away waiting for their little pow wow to die down, their large bon fire was not helping you ease off, you could here their songs chanting and war cries, you'd be a bit happier if these were elves not orcs, you have no problem with orcs but your on edge with the treasure your delivering.

An hour passes and they all head to bed. You stand with your weapon out it was a knife you bought a few years back , it was about six inches long with a curved edge it's often used by pirates but you found it more comfortable to use than other weapons, you as quietly as you can approach the camp you scout out how many orcs and beasts there are, you count out seven beasts and in the tents you guessed about eight. You quietly went around the tents and silently sped up, but you didn't get far, a large hand grabbed your leg your eyes dilate you look back, a large orc grabbed your calf a mischievous smile on his face his body half out a tent that was facing towards you, he crawls out and pulls you down before he picks you off the ground until you were hanging upside down he raised you to his eye level, you drop your knife.

A single bead of sweat went into your hairline. "Well, Well, Well what do we have here" he snickered, "you are good at concealing yourself, why are you following us?" He asked, he pokes your forehead "I wasn't following you, I was trying to get around you" you say quietly "then why would you trail behind us like you were following us little human" he says, you couldn't tell if he meant to ask, it came out sounding like he was demanding more than asking. "I don't feel like answering that question" you say bluntly, he snorts "and what if it wasn't a question" he says slyly "maybe I'll answer more questions when I'm well rested and not upside down" you snarl. He throws you over his shoulder "hey what the hell!" You say hitting his shoulder, he laughs before stepping into the tent. you don't know where all this sass is coming from but it only got you into deeper shit.

He takes your pack and ties you up and sits across from you, you grimace becoming uneasy once again with your pack in his hands. He searches through your bag and finds the package, he gently messes with the wrappings "don't touch that!" You say desperately. "And what if I do?" You glare at him "I just said don't, that should be enough for you to understand not to touch it you twat" you growl, he smirks and gently pulls that string, you had enough of his games.

You lunge at him you bounds falling from your arms, you swing your left hook and attempt to grab the pack. But he grabs your hands in one fist, "you little shit" he scowls "your the one touching my shit" you growl, your faces so close your noses are brushing, his eyes mirror yours, anger.

He ties you up again, your hands in front of you. You're basically in his lap at this point, your mouth covered as you watch him open the package.

The golden crown sits on the cushion it came with. He admires it, he smiles wickedly "ah you're the traveler with the bounty, this is for the house of Bensvine" he smirks "you glaring at me won't make it any better pet" you growl at him "what cat got your tongue" he says. You turn your head away furrowing your brow in anger and closing your eyes, he was having none of that apparently, he grabbed your chin pulling you by your face you stumble onto your knees, you are face to face once again he removed the gag "you look like you want to say something" he teases "put the crown back and in my bag and maybe I'll tell you" you say glowering at him, he returns the gesture smirking "fine but you better not play your tricks again" growls gently wrapping the crown up to it's original state. You sigh in relief as he places it in the sack. "Speak human" he demands.

"Okay, okay I got it" you say before continuing "I was "following" you because I wasn't sure I could trust you guys behind me until I was far away from your group, since this package is what's gonna get me out of the hell I'm living in, and apparently plenty of others desire the freedom I have been promised and for that I've been nearly killed plenty of times to become uneasy going on the main path so I chose this route but I didn't expect your group to also be here, I've heard of your group and what you've done enough to be weary, so tonight I was attempting to go around your group since these past few days have been non stop travel so this night of rest you guys were attempting to take, I was planning on continuing on my way until you got in my way." you finish your sentence with a bitter sweet tone. He nods before saying "and you think you'll get far with little rest, you amuse me little one" he snickers, you roll your eyes.

"How about an offer, I like your spark, I could use a little companion and since we're heading the same way since I must drop a package off at another grand noble place how about you travel with us, and I promise protection from others and rest only for your company" he says, you quirk and eyebrow, he smiles awkwardly and holds his hand out, you take it with both of your tied ones, he looks surprised before laughing at you enthusiasm at the sound of rest.

#dnd orc #orc x human #orc x reader #dnd #x reader headcanons #fluff #angst #love

[chocmarss]

The HC of Din marrying Luke quietly where they’ll exchange the vows among themselves and only announcing it to Leia and Han a couple of months later is good and all, but the idea of Luke dramatically proposing to Din ala PotC in the middle of a battlefield just sings to me.

They’re probably on a rescue mission at a base on some moon that the Imps are holding a dozen of kids as hostages to recruit. It’s heavily guarded and there are a lot of Stormtroopers, because it isn’t the first base Din and Luke have destroyed and at this point, the Imps are ready for them.

But they’re ready for them too, so they go with Leia, Han, and Chewie, with Boba and Fennec coming along because hey, they wanted to join the fun too, and no, Han, Boba’s not gonna try and shoot you again. (“Unless he won’t shut up,” Boba adds breezily, staring straight at Han in the eye that has him spluttering out indignantly.)

So, Han manages to get the kids out of the base and are already on their way into the Falcon where Chewie’s waiting for them, while the rest of their mix-matched team are spread around outside, fighting off the Imps and taking them down with all they got. They think they’re winning, but it’s wave after wave of Troopers and Luke’s getting a little winded.

Then, he catches a gleam of beskar and a whip of a cape as he fights his way through Stormtroopers, and it’s not long before he finds himself in the same space as Din is.

Din’s slashing his way through the sea of white, wielding his Darksaber as if he’s born with it, even if it took months for him to practice with Luke until Din’s comfortable enough to use the saber like he uses his blaster, as if it’s an extension of himself instead of something that he has to hold onto until someone takes it from him. He’s precise in his hits and he moves as if he’s in his element, and perhaps he is, because this is one of the things he’s good at.

It makes Luke lose his breath, because Din looks absolutely powerful, absolutely stunning, under the vivid glare of the evening sun, and the only thing that goes through Luke’s mind as he finds himself distracted by the Mandalorian is, I love him so much and I want to marry him.

And, really, the latter sticks with him until Luke finds himself near Din enough that their backs are almost pressed against each other, fighting off their respective Troopers, before Luke whirls around and grips onto his arm.

Like a true Skywalker, there’s no stopping him from breathlessly say these words when everyone is trying to kill them, “Marry me.”

Din is, understandably, frozen in place, before he swipes the Darksaber behind Luke while he uses the Force to throw some Troopers into the trees. Din, understandably, shouts out, “What?”

“Marry me!” Luke repeats, and there’s a grin on his face and he knows he looks as giddy as he feels.

Luke also knows Din is gaping at him despite the helmet, but then a couple of Troopers try to shoot him down, and Din doesn’t hesitate to shoot them back. “I don’t think this is the best time!”

“I think it is!”

Then, they find themselves in each other’s spaces again, their sabers humming beside them. “Din Djarin,” Luke breathes out. “Will you be my husband?”

“What?” Leia suddenly shouts nearby, shooting down a Trooper. “Now? You’re proposing to him now?”

“That’s what I said,” Din laughs, and it’s as elated as Luke feels and he knows Din is grinning as hard as he is.

“That’s—“ Luke eyes widen for a second and he pushes Din to the side and runs his lightsaber into the middle of some Trooper’s chest. “That’s not an answer!”

Then, he gets pulled back and Din has his hand gripping his arm, his visor directly in his face. “Yes, you foolish Jedi,” he says raggedly. “I’ll marry you.”

Boba, a few feet away, grunts as he rams his elbow into someone’s throat. “Are you kidding me, Skywalker? Right now?”

Luke reaches out and grips Din’s shoulder as Din grips the back of his head, bringing their foreheads together. “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde,” Luke pours out, baring his soul to everyone, but most importantly, to the man he’s come to know, come to love, in front of him.

Din hitches in a breath, shoving his forehead into his as he holds Luke tight. “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde.”

And Luke laughs, before they have to fight these Troopers off until there are none left to attack them.

We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors.

#imagine #the DRAMATICS of it all #the skywalker motto: go big or go home #dinluke #skydalorian #luke skywalker #din djarin #the mandalorian #star wars #marswrites #marsrb

[lovlydovlyjaycie]

Ævi - Frontlines

Hey again! This will be a continued series. The first Ævi series is in my masterlist and is only four parts. This is going to be a ongoing series, so there is going to be a lot more of Ævi to come. :)

Summary: Y/n or also known as Ævi has lived through varies of world events. Now it is 1941, she has excepted that some things cannot be changed so Loki has convinced Y/n to go to New York and live a normal life, a life Y/n always wanted. Or as normal it can be, because new introductions lead to events that didn’t go down in the history books.

Characters: Bucky Barnes x reader, Steve Rogers, Peggy, Loki, OC Vera

Warnings: SMUT 18+, Fluff, Violence, we’re officially in Captain America the First Avenger now... So I guess spoilers?

Note: When I am writing and particularly writing about Bucky and y/n meeting again or them just being in love I always listen to Pirates of the Caribbean to the theme or Will and Elizabeth and I thought it would be good to share that with you guys. To get in the feels. Right now it jumps from POTC One day and the last minute or so from Drink up me hearties yo ho. I know it is so random, but I cannot get it out of my head.

Series masterlist

Part 11

""Are you ok?" I asked Bucky with hopeful eyes. "I-... I uh.. I'm ok. What happened?" He asked me as he sat up. Steve had caught up and dropped down next to us. "Are you ok! I saw you get shot!" Steve said. Bucky looked down at his shoulder. It was still covered in blood, but he could definitely tell something was off. He saw the wound, but it was small, but there was a lot of blood. He pulled down his shirt from his shoulder trying to see if there were more wounds, but that was it. He looked really confused. He slowly looked up at me. He tried to search my eyes for an answer. "I thought I got shot too. But I.. must have been blown back by something." Bucky looked at me to see if I had the answer for him.

"Blown back by what? Buck I saw you! Someone pointed a gun at you.. and shot it! How are you not hurt?!" Steve asked confused. I tried to avoid both their gazes. I wanted to explain, but I didn't know how. I startled a bit when Bucky put his hand on my leg all of a sudden. My leg was already completely healed. "I don't know.. Lets just get outta here before more Hydra agents decide to jump out." Bucky said as he stood up. He put his hand out to me and I took it to stand up. You could see Steve was at a loss for words. He was looking around him to see if there was a logical answer, but there was non.

"Com on, Bucky is right. We gotta go." I told Steve. He seemed to shake off whatever thought he had and started walking.

-

"Alright. Are you ready for today?" I asked Bucky as I jumped in bed next to him. I was already dressed for today. I was going to teach him how to work my knifes, or any knifes really. "I guess so." Bucky said a bit unsure as he turned around in bed to face me. "You know, usually I'm the one to wake you up." He told me as he pulled me over on his chest and gave me a kiss on my lips. I smiled in our kiss. No matter what thought or worry I had before the kiss it always seemed to go away when I was with Bucky. It gave me some sort of peace. Like nothing mattered what was happening around us. "I love you." I said as I slowly pulled back and hovered above him. "Now, tomorrow and forever." Bucky said with a big smile on his face and pulled me in tighter before letting me go and getting out of bed.

He was not wearing any clothes and I couldn't help myself but wander down. His back was turned to me which gave me a nice opportunity to look at his ass. So firm, I just wanted to smack it. I laid down and put my head on my hand. But as soon as I got comfortable he had found his underwire and put it on. Bucky noticed that I was looking so I gave him a big pout. He laughed and turned back getting his clothes. "You can see me naked again tonight." I snorted at that. Always so confidant.

After a moment of quiet Bucky spoke up. "So we're not gonna talk about what happened yesterday?" I looked at his back confused. "What do you mean?" I asked him, not understanding what he was talking about. As he got finished getting dressed he sat in front of me. He looked at his hands for a moment before looking at me again. Looking for the right words. "I got shot yesterday." That made me sit up right straight away.

I opened my mouth but no words came out. "I know there are some things you can't explain, but this one... I don't know how and I don't know what, but somehow you did something and now I just have a scratch on my shoulder. I need some kind of logical explanation for this.. Because I can't think of one." Bucky continued on. I owed him an explanation, that was for sure. "I-.." I closed my eyes, like that would give me the answer. "There is no logical explanation.. You did get shot, but..." I opened my eyes and looked at him. "There are things I can do the involve healing and.. I healed you.." I stammered on. Of course Bucky looked very confused, but he was trying to understand.

"That's how you healed yourself." He stated as he put his hand on my leg. I nodded at that. I didn't have to try technically, like with Bucky, but I still healed myself. "Alright. So you're a witch. Like in books and movies." He told himself more than me. "Not like in the Hobbit though." I laughed at him. I was ore relieved that he didn't make a big deal out of this. "Those are wizards." He tried to say serious, but failed as he started laughing.

After a moment of laughing I put my hand on his left shoulder. "Thank you." I told him. "For what? I should be thanking you." Bucky said as he smirked. "Thank you for not making a big deal out of this." That made his smirk turn into a smile. He put his left hand over the hand I had put on his shoulder and squeezed it. "You told me you would tell me when you're ready. And besides.. How amazing is it?! I am engaged with a witch! Not many people can say that." I laughed at that relieved. "You're a dork." He smirked and leaned forward for a quick kiss. "Your dork. And you gotta teach this dork how to fight with knifes... Soo lets go." He said as he stood up and pulled me with him with my hand.

-

We were at the base in London. I was strapping in my knifes and Bucky was looking at knifes he wanted to train with. There was so much to choose from and Bucky was taking it very serious into finding the right knifes. "You almost ready?" I asked him putting my hands on my hips. "Yeah I'm just trying to see..." He trailed off. I huffed at that. Then I'll choose. I walked over to the table of knifes. "These will do." I said as I picked up two knifes and flipped them around in my hands. The were very light and should be easy for him to handle.

"You gotta teach me how to do that." Bucky said in wonder which made me flip them around in my hands again before I handed the knifes to Bucky.

"Ok, so first of all.. Try not to stab yourself. Second try not to stab me." He scoffed at that. And I rolled my eyes. "Alright come here." I said as I walked towards the middle of the room and we stood slightly apart. "Besides wanting to know the tricks you need to know where to stab." I walked around him and took my knife from my holster.

"You want to avoid the ribs, because it can get stuck sometimes. If you go for the stomach it can get ugly. But there are two places that if you want to kill someone it will be the easiest." I grabbed his shoulder and pretended to almost stab him in the back. This made him startle and that made me smirk. "If you go for the lower back and hit up for the kidneys they usually won't come back up. And the neck." I said as I moved my knife up to his throat, but not putting any pressure on him. "If you go for the neck I assure you they will not come back up."

"This is nice and all, but I wanna see you in action." I could hear the smirk through his voice. And again I rolled my eyes. I removed my knife and put it in my holster again. Then I gave him a push forward. "Not so fast. You know where to hit, but you also need to know how to defend yourself if you ever get in a situation like this."

"To start, it is better to fight with one knife at a time. So if for what ever reason you lose one you'll have a backup." Bucky nodded taking it a little more seriously now. "Then obviously you don't want to be an open target. Keep your arms close to your body. And even though you have a knife in one hand and nothing in the other you can still hit them.. or kick them. Alright.. I'll show you now. Lets see how you can defend yourself Sargent." He nodded at that and got ready.

I took my knife out and flipped it in my hand. I charged forward and tried to go for his head, but Bucky was able to duck away which made me miss. He's fast, that's good. I went to kick him with my left leg which made him stumble back. I advanced forward again flipping my knife and went for his torso. If this was a real fight I would have hit him. "This would hurt." I said as I pushed him back. "I thought you said go for the kidneys and neck." Bucky said as he got back in his stance. "Yes, but if this is life or death I will try to hurt you no matter what to make you slow down. Now try to fight back." I charged forward again but faster. With my right hand I went for his neck but he blocked me and pushed me back. "Good... But you can do better." I charged at him again, but I quickly flipped the knife in my left hand and went for his neck again. This time he wasn't fast enough. "Dead." I told him. "You gotta teach me that one." Bucky said with a smile on his face.

"And you gotta fight back if you want to live." I told him a little serious but half joking. "I don't wanna hurt you doll." He told me seriously. "I promise you, you won't hurt me. Now try and get a grip on that knife and see how it feels." He did as he was told and swung it in front of him a few times to see how it feels.

"Hey! There you are." Steve said as he came walking in the room we were training at. "Hey Steve." I said as I turned towards him. "We got another mission. Tomorrow were going to Austria. Hydra is going to be shipping weapons on a train there and Zola should be there as well." I nodded at Steve. Maybe they would also be moving the Tesserect on the train. This could be a great opportunity. "What are you guys doing?" Steve asked looking over at Bucky who was still swinging his knife around and trying to flip it every now and then. "I'm teaching him how to fight with a knife.. But he's not very good." I said the last part a little quieter. "I heard that." Bucky said which made me and Steve laugh.

"I'm gonna head back up. Try not to hurt yourself." Steve said the last part to Bucky before turning to me. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He said jokingly before walking away.

"Ok, dork, lets get back to it." I said as I clapped my hands and turning towards Bucky.

-

"Doll.. I don't even think they are as cruel as you in the army." Bucky said as we came back in out apartment. I'll be honest I kinda gave him hell while we were training, but I want him to become good. I want him to defend himself. "So you rather have training from them then from me?" I asked smiling already knowing the answer. "Never." He said as he put his arms around me from behind and kissed me on my cheek. "I need a shower." He said sniffing himself. "Or we.." He started. I shook my head. "I don't think so." I said as I pushed him in the bathroom. "You go get that shower and after that I will. Then we need sleep, cause we're going to Austria tomorrow." Bucky gave me a big pout. "But.." "No." I interrupted before shutting the door in his face.

I smirked as I heard the shower turning on. I went to lay down on the bed and wait for my turn. It only took about ten minutes before Bucky came out of the bathroom with his towel sitting low on his hips. I gave him a quick up and down look which earned me a smirk from him before going into the bathroom myself to take a shower.

For some reason Loki popped in my head. I hadn't seen him in a while now. I hadn't seen anyone from Asgard in a while. They all knew I preferred being on Earth, but at least once a year I would visit them. I hadn't done that in a couple of years now. I missed Thor being his proud self and his stupid jokes, even though sometimes I'm not sure if he's joking. I missed Frigga, she would always teach me an new spell or practice some magic with me. Sif is the best drinking buddy anybody could ask for. Odin is.. Odin. Heimdall is basically my father, he has taught me how to fight with a sword and just taught me many lessons. I am honestly always happy that he is the first one I see as I go to Asgard. Then Loki, as annoying as he can be.. He has been my friend for so long. He had taught me a lot about fighting as well, but what I like the most about him that he was always up for an adventure. He had shown me many other planets and different realms. I know it was just an opportunity for him to get away from his family, but we always had fun doing it.. or usually we did. This had been the first time we had actually been in a fight like this.. And now I can't see him at all. Maybe after I tell Bucky what I am I could take him to Asgard. Most likely not a lot of people will be happy with that, but I'll deal with that after. Bucky wouldn't believe his eyes if he went to Asgard. I thought smiling to myself.

I turned the shower off and dried myself. I looked in the foggy mirror and looked at the dog tags hanging around my neck. I took them in my hand looking at them. Barnes. It is a nice name. Y/n Barnes. I thought to myself. "Y/n Barnes." I said now softly smiling. I like the sound of it. My name had been Y/n Ironside or Ævi for so long now, but I would love nothing more than to take his name. "Y/n Barnes." I said again. It sounded perfect. It made me even more excited for the war to be over and marry him. I let go of my dog tags and walked out of the bathroom with my towel around me.

As soon as I stepped out I heard Bucky whistle. "Wow! So beautiful, Doll!" He said with a smirk plastered on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. "How about now?" I said as I dropped my towel. He bit his lip. "There is nothing more beautiful in the entire universe."

I walked over to his side of the bed, swinging my hips as I did. Bucky's eyes never lost sight of my body. He was trying to take all of me in. Through the sheets I could already see something growing. I straddled his lap and he tried to sit up, but I pushed him down. "You did enough exercise for today." I told him as I grinded down on him which made him inhale sharply.

I moved closer and planted my lips on his. His hands went for my hips helping me move on his length as there were still sheets in between us. I felt him getting harder and myself getting wetter. Our want for each other growing. "I want you." Bucky said between kisses as he tried to go for my folds but I grabbed his hand, stopping him. "I said you did enough exercise for today." Bucky snorted. I moved his hand back on my hip and moved the sheets out of the way. His length sprung and I started grinding him again. Hitting my sensitive bud as I did.

I started moving my hips faster and felt a knot form. I started to moan in the kisses, which made Bucky grab my hips tighter. I pressed down harder which started to make me see stars. "Cum for me baby." He whispered in my ear. And I did, my hips losing it's pace. My vision clouded with stars and it slowly went away.

Bucky tried to sit up to flip me over. "I said, you did enough exercise today." I told him with a smile as I pushed him back. I grabbed his length and pumped him a few times before lining myself up. I slowly sat down, his length stretching my walls. When I was ready I started moving slowly. His whole length almost out before taking it all in again. Bucky was a moaning mess underneath me.

When the suspense was almost killing us both I started to move faster. His length filling me perfectly with every thrust. Both out moans became louder and Bucky's hips started to twitch. His hands were grabbing my hips tighter with every thrust. I put one of my hands on his chest and one in his hair. I went down to trail kisses under his ears. This earned me a growl and Bucky started to thrust up in to me. Every thrust went faster and harder, hitting all the right spots. Soon I felt another knot building up quickly. My moans became even louder and I was almost afraid the neighbors would complain tomorrow. Bucky took this as his que to now move his hand and rub it over my still sensitive bud. "Oh-.. Oh God-..Bucky." I said softly as I came undone.

Bucky started to quicken his pace before letting out a groan. Snapping his hips up irregularly and slowing down. He put his arms around me, trying to pull me closer, if that was even possible. He gave me a kiss on the top of my head. "I love you." He said in my hair. "I love you too." I told him as I moved, his length slipping out of me, giving me an empty feeling.

I sighed after a moment. "What's wrong?" Bucky asked sleepily. "I can't wait for this war to be over so we can marry." That made him pull me closer to his chest. "Me neither." Again it was like I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I'll be Mrs. Barnes." I told him. "I like that. Y/n Barnes." Hearing him say it made me even more excited. "Bucky and Y/n Barnes." Soon. Soon that would be real.

...

..

.

Let me know what you think :)

If you wanna be tagged let me know! :)

@darkdragonphoenix

@toribentleyva

@witchinpractice

@cat-astrophe4

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fandom #winter soldier #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier x you #first avenger #captain america first avenger #captain america #steve rogers #loki #loki imagine #steve rogers imagine #avengers #the avengers #avengers imagine #the avengers imagine #avengers fanfiction #the avengers fanfiction #thor odinson #thor #sif #heimdall #asgard

[descendantofthesparrow]

Shuffle Playlist - Rewrite - Part of Your World - Part 11 - James Hook

(first gif is supposed to be harriet fighting, dunno if it comes across) also lots of Gifs here srry

Warning!  Graphic depiction of violence!

(a/n): i suggest reading this by listening to the potc sound track starting with “the black pearl” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP-BeFi58tQ&list=PL263677A4D1B673E4&index=3 )

=

Jay blearily opened his eyes, groaning at the soft beam of sun that was blinding him. He quickly sat up as the printer beeped and the wand was only seconds away from being finished. “Carlos” he muttered, smacking his arm when he didn’t respond “Carlos!”

Carlos snorted as he snapped awake, glaring at Jay before his eyes drifted to the now just finished wand. They slowly stood from their chairs, Carlos opening the printer and grabbing the wand. Carlos turned the wand in his hands, pursing his lips in an impressed pout as the wand was seamlessly perfect. “not bad”

Jay nodded, slipping the phony wand from Carlos’ grip and into his own, nodding towards the door “let's go, its” he checked Carlos’ phone, which read 10:45 am “shit come on, I’d rather be just a bit earlier than be late and risk losing Ben” Carlos nodded, about to walk out the door with Jay when he remembered your plan.

He turned back, whistling for Dude “Come on buddy, you’re gonna help!” Dude barked with an excited yip and barreled off his bed, bolting out the door and to the main area, waiting for the boys. “come on what are we waiting for!” Carlos and Jay shared a look and rolled their eyes, following after Dude.

They made it outside, Jay quickly hiding the wand behind his back as Doug came up to them “Hey guys, have you seen Evie….or anyone else for that matter?” Jay and Carlos shared a panicked look before Carlos quickly came up with an excuse.

“They went camping” Doug raised his brow, extremely confused.

“Evie…camping? Evie, I want to live in a castle? Sleeping on the ground with no place to plug in a hairdryer?” Carlos just shrugged.

“Hey, isle kid remember? none of us are against doing that. But (y/n) and Evie decided to plan a last-minute stress reliever trip before cotillion, VKs only thing” Doug crossed his arms, his eyes showing a bit of hurt “aaand (y/n) is there cuz she's an honorary vk, and you weren’t invited because Evie needed you to man her shop here, she must’ve forgotten to tell you, but we’ll be back by tonight!” Jay nodded, slightly impressed by Carlos’ swift bullshiting skill.

Doug sighed and nodded “Alright then… see you guys tonight” he passed by the boys and walked into the dorm building. “Later Doug” Jay laughed, giving Carlos a look as they turned to go back to the limo, groaning a bit as they were stopped again and hid the wand behind his back.

Lonnie smirked at them, tossing one of her braided twin tails behind her shoulder.

“I’m coming with you” Jay laughed, waving off Lonnie’s request.

“whaa, we don’t need swords at the” Lonnie gave him a look “waffle hut?” Carlos slowly turned his head to Jay, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Wait wasn't-? Oh yeah! “ yeah, you can come” Carlos covered Jay's mouth as he tried to object “(y/n) said we would need an extra hand remember? And she said to let Lonnie come when she asked?” Jay stopped, closing his eyes as he realized his minor brain fart. He tossed Carlos’ hand off his mouth and nodding to where they had the limo parked.

“I’m an idiot, come on, we got no time to waste” Lonnie squealed in excitement and tossed her arms around their necks, babbling away about the upcoming battle.

-

You looked down at the messily drawn blueprints of James Hook’s ship, eyes drawn to the brig where Harry was being kept. “Alright let's go over this one last time!” Harriet sighed, her crew all gathered around you, Harriet, and Gil “We storm the ship, you all keep my dad's crew busy by fighting them and sending in the smoke bombs, while (y/n) goes for Harry, and as soon as Harry’s off the ship we retreat. And do not hesitate to take any of them down. Understood?” the crew nodded in agreement, the plan was set and was ready to be put in motion. Harriet let them go mull around until you were all ready to go. She turned to you, raising her brow as you stared at the outline of the captain's quarters. “what's up?”

“He’ll be on the ship when we raid right?” you muttered, fingers drifting over the metal of Harry’s hook that rested in your hands.

“aye?” Harriet answered, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head “which is why we gotta be careful, he may be a drunk but even when he’s pissed for shit, he’s a damn good swordsman.” She stared at you as you just nodded and started muttering something to yourself “what are you planning girly?” you glanced up at her, giving her a reassuring, but terrifying smirk.

“you’ll see”

-

You, Gil, Harriet, and Xiaohui were crouched on top of the nearest building to the jolly roger, Xiaohui put down her telescope and turned to Harriet “all crew members are on deck captain, the plan is ready to proceed” Harriet nodded and took the hand-held scope from Xiaohui and looked down at the ship for herself.

“Good, if all goes according to plan, we should be able to defeat the crew and get harry out of there within ten minutes” you glanced at Harriet's pocket watch that hung off her belt, mentally groaning a bit as it read; 11:45 am. You hoped to get this done in time for you and Gil to get Harry to the limo safely.

And you wanted time to deal with a certain…backstabber.

“let's do this” Harriet muttered, watching her father go back into the captain's quarters. She handed the scope back to Xiaohui and put her fingers in her mouth, letting out a piercing whistle.

Within the moment of it, and Hook’s crew looking towards the building you and Harriet were on, several spray cans turned smoke bombs were hurdled onto the main deck, blinding James’ crew.

They all yelled in confusion as suddenly multiple footsteps surrounded them, the sound of swords being unsheathed made all of them leap back and draw their own weapon.

“Who’s there!” One of the men yelled, taking off his yellow cap and rubbing his eyes “You have no chance we-oop” as the smoke cleared, the crew took a step back, their eyes drawing wide as they realized they were outnumbered three to one. “Wha-Harriet?!” she smirked as she flipped her sword in her hand. “What are you doing?”

She didn’t bother to respond, letting out another whistle, and cackling as her crew rushed her father's men. She blocked a quick swing coming from the man with the yellow cap and spun around, deciding to end the mess for later quickly by slicing the back of his neck.

The man slumped to the ground leaving Harriet to move quickly towards the brig, eyes drifting to the captain's quarters.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!” Harriet stopped, fear filling her chest as her father stepped out of his quarters, his eyes drifting over his crew and Harriet’s crew battling. “Harriet” he snarled, his cold blue eyes looking into hers “How dare you, you little brat!?” he raised his hook arm at her, his eyes flashing red, making Harriet step back “first your insolent brother, now you?! Must I teach you a lesson as well!?”

Harriet's crew quickly finished off James’ crew, their bodies slumping to the ground as blood pooled onto the deck. They lifted their swords in James' direction, ready to do anything to protect their captain.

“I think I have a lesson to teach you instead” James' eyes drifted to you, smirking as he realized just who you were as you unsheathed Harry’s sword and gripped onto his hook in your left hand.

“Ahh, the Auradon brat that turned my son into a pathetic Auradon lovesick bastard~” you rolled your eyes at the simple insult and flourished your sword.

“No, I just made your son realize he deserves better than an alcoholic abusive shit mongering asshole of a father.” you smirked as James’ eyes flashed red again “And if you don’t mind, I’m here to get my boyfriend, so-“ you waved Harry’s sword in a motion for him to move out of your way.

James chuckles and unsheathed his sword, shifting his feet as he prepared to fight “if you want him back” he smirked, slightly unnerved as you continued to look at him with an oddly calm look. “you’ll have to kill me, because unless I die, that boy will always be under my command, free for me to sell and ruin as I please”

Your brow twitched…this “man” didn’t deserve death, no..it was too easy for him…you had a better idea. “To the death, it will be!” James cackles, shifting back on his feet as he prepared to rush at you, stopping as you suddenly yelled out;

“No!” James, Harriet, and Gil looked at you in shock. What one moment you were itching to spill blood and the next you backed out? “To the pain.” James' shoulders dropped as he tried to rack through his brain to remember if he knew that term.

“I don’t think I’m familiar with that phrase” he muttered, eyeing Harriet for a moment then glaring back at you.

You smirked, tilting your head down, oh this was going to be fun~ “I’ll explain, and I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you warthog faced Buffon.” Harriet covered her mouth and snorted, looking down at her boots as her father glared at her.

He turned back to you, his eyes flashing red again “I think that is the first time anyone dared insult me” you raised your brow. really? The first time? Man, James really must be off his rocker if he had forgotten “codfish”

“It won't be the last” your eyes didn’t move from his, challenging him to try anything on you. “To the pain means the first thing you lose will be your feet below the ankles, then your other hand at the wrist, next your nose”

James rolled his eyes, taking a slight step back before stepping towards you “and then my tongue I suppose, I've let this go on for far too long-“

“I wasn’t finished” you yelled, enjoying the look of surprise on his face “the next thing you lose will be your left eye followed by your right”

James groaned and rolled his eyes again “and then my ears let's get on with it!” he growled as you smirked at him again and continued to talk.

“Wrong! Your ears you keep, and I’ll tell you why.” Harriet’s crew’s muttering went deadly silent as your voice dropped into a lower tone, shivers running down Harriet's spine as she realized just how far you were willing to go for her baby brother. “So that every shriek of every child of seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish, every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out “dear god what is that thing!” will echo in your ears” James couldn’t move, his entire body was frozen in fear. You hadn’t blinked once during your speech, that unnerved him. “That. Is what to the pain means, it means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery. Forever.”

The occupants of the main deck stared at you in deathly silence, all trying to detect any lies that came from you. But even Harriet, who could sniff out a lie faster than a bloodhound looking for its favorite treat, couldn’t detect any deceit from you.

James looked from you to Harriet with wide frightened eyes, before looking back at you “I think you’re bluffing” he tried, attempting to get you to back down. You shrugged, slowly closing your eyes and rolling your neck, making hook grit his teeth as he realized you hardly had any guard upon you. You thought you could easily take him, and that pissed him off, but his knees were shaking too much for him to take a single step towards you.

“It's possible pig. I might be bluffing” you opened your eyes and looked into James icy blue ones, smirking again at the fear you saw swirling inside. “it’s conceivable you miserable vomitous mass, I’m only standing here because you lack the courage to step forward”

James' eyes flashed red one last time as he screamed and ran at you, hook swinging back in preparation to slice into your neck. With a sidestep and a flourish of Harry’s sword, James’ arm dropped to the ground, the metal of the hook clanging as it hit the floor and ringing in everyone's ears.

James stared at his missing forearm, looked at you, and let out a piercing scream. “AAAAAAAAAAAAH YOU BITCH-“ You twisted back around and swung the tip of Harry’s sword just inches from James' neck, a small smirk on your face as you stared into James’ fear-filled eyes.

“drop.your.sword.” the entire deck was silent, watching as James reluctantly dropped his sword and took a step back from you.

You spun down into a crouch, arching Harry's blade against James' ankles and slicing them clean off, un-flinching as the substitute spray of blood hit your face.

Harriet and Gil gasped as they watched James fall to the floor with a loud thump, his screaming echoing off the buildings and water below. You slowly stood up and walked to his right side, flipping the blade again and hooking Harry's hook on your belt, tossing Harry’s sword to your now free hand and arching up, slicing off James' right arm.

He screamed again but was silenced as you kicked his side and placed your boot on his face, glaring down at him. “If I ever. Hear about you again, that’s not news that you finally choked and went to hell, I will personally, make sure you can't even tell from your ass to your face.” You kicked his head and took a heavy step on his chest and walked towards Harriet and Gil, nodding back towards James “if anyone else wants a crack at him, go for it, I have a pirate to save”

You cleaned Harry’s sword on a low hanging sail above you and sheathed it, walking towards the brig and grabbing the set of keys that were hanging off a hook next to the opening.

As your steps echoed off the old rotten wood walls, Harry sat up, unsure of the new footsteps that were walking towards him. He glanced at the opening with weary eyes.

You stepped into the small beam of light that was shining through the port window, your eyes brimming with tears as you looked at your poor wounded Harry that sat curled up in a damp dirty cell.

“(y-y/n)?” Harry whimpered, trying to sit up more but fell back “(y/n) yer really here?” a bright grin broke out on his bruised face, tears spilling from his eyes and trailing down his cheeks “Yeh came fer meh” his voice wavered as you rushed to open his cell.

You threw open the metal door and slid down in front of him on your knees, reaching up and gently cupping his face, minding the black bruises and reopened cutes “Oh my Harry, was there any ever doubt?” you sobbed, brushing his messy bangs out of his eyes and shaking your head. “Oh, I’m so sorry I took so long, but it took forever to get to Harriet's ship and- and the smoke bombs and-“ he reached up, cupping the back of your neck and beamed.

“Yer here now, that’s all tha’ matters ta me” he whispered, sniffing and wiping away your tears with his other hand. You stared into his bright ocean blue eyes, you couldn’t believe the amount of hope, trust, and love that was pouring from them.

“I love you harry” you sobbed, a soft smile appearing on your face as Harry’s cheeks and ears turned pink.

“I love yeh too” one moment you were staring into each other's eyes, the next your lips were pressed to his in a passionate kiss. Harry's arms wrapped around your back as you held onto his face, keeping him close as possible.

Your first kiss.

You pulled back for a moment, cracking your eyes open to see Harry's still closed, his lips just slightly parted as he took soft, yet fast-paced breaths. His eyes opened for a split moment, before you both leaned in slowly, lips pressing and moving together in a dance.

Harry let out a quiet sigh of happiness, hands drifting up to cup the back of your head and tilting his to deepen the kiss. You licked his lip carefully, smiling as he whimpered and happily opened his mouth.

‘no’ you thought, pressing one more kiss to his soft lips and pulling back, biting your lip at the whimper that followed as he chased you. ‘not the right time for that’

“Harry” you whispered, caressing his cheek gently with your thumb as he slowly opened his eyes, the blue slightly clouded with his running thoughts “Did anything…happen to you?”

He shook his head gently, heavily leaning his hand into your palm “no” he whispered “nev-never got ta’ tha’ no clients of da’s came, jus’ just beatin’s from the crew” you closed your eyes as you tried to keep calm, getting angry over something that was now over was pointless, right now Harry was priority.

“Thank fuck” you whispered back, leaning forward and wrapping your hands around his torso “okay, Harry, we have to go, I don’t how long we have before the others leave with the limo and I do not want to leave you here” he gave a clumsy nod and stood on wobbly legs with you.

“Gil!” you yelled, smiling a bit as he came running down to the brig “ carry him, and get back to the limo as fast as you can” he nodded, his arms going under Harry's torso and legs and lifting him into his arms in a princess carry. Harry lifted his head up and reached out to you. You smiled and grabbed his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

“I’ll be right next to you love; the limo is right next to where I need to go.” Gil raised his brow, turning to walk out of the brig with a limp harry in his arms.

“Go where?” Gil wished he hadn't asked as he looked back at you to see a sadistic grin on your face.

“I need to deal with a traitor”

-

Xiaohui watched as you, Gil, Harry, and Harriet ran off the Jolly Rodger and towards the garage under the old pier. She turned to the crew with an impressed look.

“I now have no reason to think I’m straight” Sammy facepalmed and shook his head.

“Bitch you said that when Harriet beat you in a fistfight” Xiaohui shrugged.

“eh, tomato-tomato”

-end of part 11-

HOLY FUCK THEY FINALLY KISSED and YAY Harry is saved~ hopefully, that kiss turned out good! I was lowkey fangirling when I re-read it. Also!!! I hope that “to the pain” part was good, I was also re-reading my first part of your world fic and I was like “hoooow did anyone read this?” but I think I did it justice!!! Next chapter! The fight for the wand! Oh and-

Davy’s demise~

permtaglist!!!

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange (thank you again for being my beta reader/person who deals with my midnight ramblings about this)

@lunanight2012 @daughter-of-the-stars11

@musicarose (and thank you for commissioning me for the first four parts of this! if it wasn't for you, i probably still wouldn't have written the first chapter of Rewrite p1!) @random-thoughts-003 @remembered-license

@rintheemolion @descendantsobsessed @verboetoperee

@imtryingthisout @thecaptainsgingersnap

and taglist for rewrite

@thesailbells @beccad10x​

oh! have this kinda sad “meme” i made because i found a thing on twitter

#disney descendants #harry hook x reader #harry hook #harry hook descendants #harry hook imagine #captain hook #harriet hook #pirate ocs #captain hooks crew #whoooo this one took a bit to write #had so much energy while writing #was listening to the potc soundtrack while writing #thanks for the idea sephiralorange #rewrite #part of your world #shuffle playlist #tw blood #tw warning #loss of limb #princess bride qoutes bby #been waiting to do to the pain since i started the first rewrite

[miss-bvnny]

Yet another fan tweaks up TLK 2 and TLG: Todd Howard Expansion Pack

PART DEUX part 2 let's do this boys

Alright, so picking up where we left off, Kopa has been living in the Oasis for a bit while he heals mentally from Zira almost killing him. Zira and her blood children Nuka (Son of Scar and Zira) Vitani (Son of Zira and Mpendwa), and Kovu (Son of Jibu and an unknown male) were banished to the outlands with a third of the lionesses from Simba's pride who insisted on following Zira. Got it? Good. Let's keep moving:

Time has passed, and Simba and Nala are in NO rush to reinstate Kopa as the future king. He still has no wish to become the crown prince once again, as the thought is still...perilous to him. He's not sure about it, and....quite frankly, it makes him uncomfortable to think about. Simba and Nala understand, and do not force anything on him. Yes, the lack of an heir IS concerning, but...they know an answer will come with time. Nala remembers the way Scar used to pressure Zira and the other lionesses to find him an heir. She doesn't want the same pressure on her son. Simba agrees. But hey, sometimes we find an answer without meaning to.

Things are tense for a while, as Zira and her followers constantly sneak into the Pridelands to steal food and water whenever they need to. Simba enforces more rules and punishments for anyone caught trespassing, not being afraid to get harsh if he needs to. Zira is a persistent threat, and he's going to deal with her as such. It takes a while for things to calm down, and even then Simba and Nala are both restless (YES both of them because Nala being so passive in TLK 2 pisses me off, especially if you think about it in context to the story I'M trying to present). Regardless...things eventually calm down. Simba and Nala try for...another cub, about when Kopa would have been Simba's age, when he left the pridelands as a cub. THIS cub will one day be the crown ruler of the Pridelands, and they're going to be SURE to protect this one and keep her safe. Safe especially from the outlands and the outsiders. Kopa returns once or twice to see his parents and congratulate them on the new addition to the family. YEAH I see he was there when Kiara was born (Just like how Nuka and Vitani snuck across the border to watch the ceremony and report to Zira about it later. actually this is a good time to mention I consider all the deleted TLK 2 scenes totally canon, before going forwards). Kopa continues to visit, and loves his little sister as she grows up. We can just...say Kopa wasn't visiting the day she and Kovu met when she was older. Zira sees this as a chance to use Kovu as a pivotal figure to get her final revenge on Simba, standard TLK 2 stuff, you know how it goes. So anyway, even though Kopa has no desires to be the crown prince again, he IS thinking about moving back home. When word reaches him about the fire and Kiara almost getting hurt, his urgency to return is quickened. He makes the journey alone, and returns just in time for the final battle against the outlanders in the rain. He joins in, there's a sort of comical POTC 3 bit where he and Kovu catch up after all this time, and he sees Kovu and Kiara are in love, and ultimately they win when Zira refuses to let go of Scar and kills herself out of spite. Vitani and the other outlanders rejoin Simba and his pride, seeing the error of their ways following after Zira. They all vow to do their part in the pride and respecting the circle of life, everyone getting happier and healthier as they acclimatize to Prideland ways.

Not long after this, Simba and Nala are going on another moonlight hunt, when they hear a cub crying out in the night. They go to investigate, and see a lone newborn lion is all by himself. He smells neither of the outlands OR the pridelands, and they're unsure of who this little one is, or where he came from. But...it's a cub, and they can't just leave him behind. Simba and Nala adopt him as their own son, and name him Kiongozi (Or...just Kion for short).

Now...the lion guard (The actual team, I mean) is not really a thing in this rewrite. Vitani and her ''lion guard'' biker gang lesbians are instated simply because Vitani and her team want to express thanks to Simba by looking out for trouble, and to make sure Zira's not still somehow prowling around near the borders and waiting for a chance to strike. Like...YEAH if they saw an animal in trouble, they'd probably help, but they don't exist to stop predators from eating other animals because that's stupid. They don't overstep their boundaries when it coms to policing other animals in the pridelands, they just...want to make sure Zira's not around. Plus, I'd be lying if I said Vitani wasn't also secretly checking to see if Nuka was anywhere. She's having a hard time getting over him. Luckily, she befriends Kopa and he sympathizes with her, as..he's still got a lot of stuff from the past he's dealing with inside.

So, with Kiara as the future queen, Kovu as her consort, and Kopa acting as an advisor to his sister, there's...nothing much for Kion to do.

Kion is....kiiind of a little brat lmao. He thinks he's got a right to boss Pridelanders around because he's a member of the royal family, and often plays ''Lion Guard'' with his group of animal friends. He's basically trying to copy Vitani, but going about it in the wrong way by getting involved with the affairs of other animals and being a little know it all telling them what to do. He's...gotten in trouble several times, and Simba is TRYING to teach him that's not how a prince behaves. He understands Kion's hunger, but..there's a difference between a fair ruler and someone who bullies others for power. it takes Kion a while to understand this, but he DOES try, even if he gets it wrong a few times.

AAAAND that's....PRETTY MUCH it???? Really this was more about fixing continuity errors, making Kopa and Kion fit in a bit more seamlessly, stuff like that. IDK, lemme hear yuour thoughts if you got em.

#the lion king #the lion king 2

[carewyncromwell]

Hey guys! POTC AU update time at last! Very sorry for the delay, but s*** is really going down now in this story...

One of my biggest criticisms for the climax of At World’s End is how, ultimately, both the Navy’s armada and all of the diverse pirates gathered together as part of the Brethren Court are ultimately pointless. We get our huge confrontation between the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl, which ends with both ships blowing up Beckett’s flagship...and then the Navy just hightails it away with their tails between their legs, even if they still outmatch the pirates and there would surely be a chain of command under Beckett that could take over. There isn’t even anything to show that the Navy lost their nerve after losing their “great leader” or anything or were reluctant to fight to begin with. And again, that ends up making the non-main-character pirates that we only just met in At World’s End, like the Pirate Lords, completely unnecessary to the narrative aside from giving up their Pieces of Eight, which easily could’ve been rewritten to not include the Pirate Lords. This is why I’m restructuring this climax so that all of the Lords (and the Keeper of the Code) have a role in the coming battle, rather than just having them stand on the sidelines.

Black powder is a much messier, more combustible precursor to modern gunpowder, which has a very strong odor and produces a lot of smoke when it explodes. It’s better used for things like fireworks and rockets than firearms, particularly since it’s even more vulnerable to moisture than regular gunpowder is. Black powder was first developed in China circa the 9th century, before its use in firearms was phased out in favor of the cleaner, safer gunpowder we know today.

Although the traditional “Redcoat” was developed as a uniform for British soldiers in the mid-1600s, the British Navy actually didn’t have official uniforms for its sailors until 1748. Before that point, only naval officers generally wore uniforms. My guess about why the Pirates films don’t follow this model and have even the lower-rank British Naval soldiers wear uniforms in AWE is for the sake of visual short-hand for the audience and to further accent the divide between the uniformity of the law-keepers (the army and Navy) VS the diversity of the law-breakers (the pirates).

Previous part is here, and whole tag is here! Jules Farrier-Weasley belongs to @cursebreakerfarrier, Samantha O’Connell belongs to @samshogwarts​, Ellie Hopper belongs to @that-ravenpuff-witch, Arjun Singh and Aishwarya Mehra belong to @hogwarts9, and Finn McGarry/Davy Jones belongs to @theguythatdraws! Also briefly referenced is Gwendolyn “Wendy” Gordon, who belongs to @drinkyoursoupbitch. xoxo

x~x~x~x

When Jules, Jacob, and Orion returned, they immediately convened a war council with the other Pirate Lords and their crews in the Hall of the Codex. There was a lot of strategizing that needed to be done before the battle the following day -- and as to be expected, Murphy McNully was instrumental in pinpointing what they needed.

“According to the Admiral’s intelligence, there are 34 Man O’ Wars out there waiting for us. We ourselves have a fleet of 73 galleons, brigs, schooners, sloops, and ketches. Now, naturally, that sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that each of the Navy’s Man O’ Wars has anywhere between 50 to 100 guns on each ship...meaning they have between 1700 and 3400 guns altogether. Even if we technically could have more guns numerically, there’s a 97.9% chance that our ships wouldn’t be able to withstand a full-frontal assault by those things. If we tried, we’d basically have to sacrifice our lives in the hundreds just to deal any damage, and even then, there’s less than a one percent chance that we could actually defeat the Navy, doing that.”

“It’d be a pyrrhic victory, at best,” said Ellie sadly.

Jae nodded. “I doubt any of us are much in the mood for a suicide mission, so we’ll need to come up with something better.”

“Especially since Carey’s on board one of those ships,” said Bill solemnly. “We can’t let him get hurt.”

Charlie, Jules, Jacob, and Orion’s eyes all narrowed at this. While Charlie and Jules nodded in agreement, Jacob’s jaw clenched and Orion clasped his hands in his lap and closed his eyes.

Ashe brought a hand up to squeeze Jacob’s shoulder, resting his head absently on top of his.

“Speaking from my own experience,” he said very dryly, “brute strength is hardly a be-all-end-all. Obviously one should think twice before attacking a larger enemy...but sometimes the element of surprise can turn the tide. Larger enemies often assume they have less to fear.”

“Aye...” said Jacob softly.

He considered the makeshift map and model ships they’d set up on the stained round table. Then he reached out to pick one of the miniature ketches and consider it carefully.

"We don’t have the firepower to defeat the Navy,” he said to the others, “but we do have stealth on our side.”

He immediately set about maneuvering the pieces around on the map, grouping all of the smaller ones together.

“The first thing we need is for a fleet made of the smaller ships -- the schooners, sloops, and ketches -- to carefully infiltrate the Man O’ Wars. Send a few of our men onto each ship in disguise, so they can load their lower decks with unlit explosives.”

“They could also easily sabotage their cannons and rudder chains, while they’re there,” said Orion softly.

Jacob shot a halfhearted glare at Orion out the side of his eye. Clearly even if they were allies and Orion brought up a great point, the Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean was still a bit resentful about the Lord of the Caribbean Sea’s relationship with his sister.

“...Right. Then I say we -- meaning you, Captain Farrier-Weasley, as the Pirate King -- warn Beckett and the Navy that we’ll release Calypso, if they don’t turn back and let us leave Shipwreck Cove in peace. With Jones being with them, Beckett and the Navy either should already know or will immediately find out just how dangerous that is. Make sure to bluff Beckett that Calypso has so much power that she could destroy a Man O’ War with her little pinky, if she wanted.”

Samantha’s face lit up as she caught on to Jacob’s idea. “Oh! Then once Calypso is free and the weather starts getting bad...we can have the galleons and brigs attack the Man O’ Wars -- ”

“ -- and we can blow up the explosives on board with our cannons!” finished Charlie, exchanging an excited grin with Samantha.

Merula’s face burst into an huge smile too. “And it’ll make it look to the Navy like Calypso has given us this supernatural power boost!”

“Brilliant!” said Bill.

“There’d still be a 34% chance we’ll lose a few ships doing that,” said McNully thoughtfully, “but even if we’ll be outgunned and out-manned, the Man O’ Wars should be sabotaged enough that they won’t be able to attack right away. And the explosions we’d get would no doubt give those Navy officers a good scare, which might discourage them from fighting.”

Jacob nodded. “That fleet of larger ships can then keep the Man O’ Wars busy while Captain Farrier-Weasley and I sail the Revolution out to confront the Flying Dutchman. The Revolution’s probably the only ship we have that’s fast enough to compete with the Dutchman in a sea battle.”

“And we’ll need to overpower Jones, if we want to get close enough to Beckett,” said Jules, her dark eyes hard with determination.

“Jones is the Queen in this chess match,” agreed McNully. “He’s the most powerful piece on the board, so if we can topple him, we’ll have a much better chance. If we can then corner the King -- namely, Beckett -- we could use that leverage to win the whole thing.”

Bill and Charlie exchanged a look. Then the elder Weasley spoke up.

“...The plan’s great, Jacob -- but there’s a problem. Captain Hopper said that most of you lot were never soldiers. There’s a lot of training that you have to go through before going out to sea with the British Navy, and there’s just as much protocol you have to follow while you’re there. If one of our men makes a wrong move and gets caught, it could blow the whole ruse.”

“Then maybe we should go, Bill,” said Charlie. “We know the way things work -- we’d be able to blend in -- ”

“Not with that hair, you won’t,” said Merula dully.

“Face Paint is here at the Cove,” pointed out Skye. “They could fix that -- ”

Orion shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s still too risky. The Admiral indicated that Percy Weasley is also on board one of those ships. As much as I don’t think he’d ever wish to harm you, I don’t believe one could fool one’s family that long. And judging by how your last meeting ended,” he glanced at Charlie and Bill solemnly, “one cannot be certain he would choose family loyalty over what he believes is morally right.”

“Yeah, I wager there’s only a 35% chance he wouldn’t try to stop you two, if he saw you,” said McNully with an apologetic look at the Weasley brothers. “Though there is a 25% chance you might collide with Carey Weasley instead, and he could give you a hand...but I don’t think that’s a gamble we should take.”

Ellie’s lips twisted into a frown. “Still...First Mate Weasley’s got a point. It’d be probably best to send someone with the Artemis and the other small ships who already knows how to fit in with the British Navy.”

“If only Captain Moody were still here,” mumbled Barnaby sadly. “He was in the Navy for a long time, before becoming our captain...”

Charlie offered Barnaby a sympathetic look. Jae, however, looked rather thoughtful.

“...I do have...one contact that could be helpful.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“He’s a bit of a loose cannon,” said Jae, “too impulsive for his own good and bull-headed as all Hell...kind of stupid, really. But he was in the Navy once, and he’s pretty good at working in secrecy. I work with him most often whenever there’s news of the East India Trading Company, since he’s got a contact who’s related to one of their most prominent merchants...”

Merula’s eyebrows furrowed. “...Wait a minute. You’re not suggesting Copper?”

Charlie and Jules both blinked.

“Behemoth Ben Copper?” said Jules in surprise. “The pirate who took out all three masts on an Italian frigate with one cannonball?”

“That’d be him,” said Arjun, and like Merula, he looked a bit skeptical. “Jae, I’m not sure. I don’t mean anything against Ben and all, but...well...it’s like you said, he’s a bit of a loose cannon. Ever since he mutinied against his captain, he’s just gotten more and more reckless -- leaving his crew abruptly with no explanation, rearranging his ship’s route on the fly...”

“He’s been acting weird,” agreed Aishwarya.

“Sounds like he’s the perfect choice, then!”

Everyone turned to look at Skye in bewilderment. Contrary to everyone else’s reactions, however, she looked perfectly undaunted, her lips curled up in a perfectly fearless, white smirk.

“From the sound of things, I’d wager Copper’s caught the same type of ‘weird’ that Orion’s had these last few months,” said Skye, shooting a significant look in her captain’s direction.

“And I reckon that kind of ‘weird’ would boost Copper’s motivation to help us by a good 63%,” said McNully very coolly from Orion’s other side.

Orion tried to feign a mild, patient expression as he bowed his head and avoided his crewmates’ amused looks, but he could not obscure the rosy color that was rising up into his cheeks.

“That settles it, then,” said Bill. “Let’s talk to him.”

Benjamin “Behemoth Ben” Copper did indeed boast an impressive height, being as tall as Bill with a scruffy blond beard almost as long as Jacob’s, a piece cut out of his left ear, and plenty of scars up and down his arms and along the base of his neck. He also came across as rather unpleasant, on first meeting. Although Jules had decided Orion and the Artemis would lead this smaller fleet in their mission, Ben seemed very skeptical of Orion from the off-set and was a bit forceful in trying to assert himself.

“For this mission, may us look to our friends, the cuttlefish, for guidance,” Orion said calmly as he addressed the small team of Navy veteran pirates they’d managed to assemble. “They change their appearance and attitude to blend into their environment, so as to evade the dangerous predators that might hunt them...and so too shall we.”

“The Navy isn’t that dangerous,” said Ben rather coldly.

Everyone turned to look at the much taller man, who was leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed.

Orion regarded him with patience, his hands clasping in front of him. “Not as dangerous as they’d like us to believe, true...but they do still out-gun us quite a bit.”

“That’d be more of a threat if half their new recruits weren’t so scared of the sound of gunfire that they all shut their eyes and can’t aim properly,” said Ben. “It’s not like most of those men have even seen combat like this, since England’s no longer at War.”

Orion didn’t respond, so Ben got up off the wall and strode over to look at him properly.

“Explain to me why we don’t just take down all of the ships ourselves, once we’re on board? We can more than take those lily-livered cowards...”

“We’re not doing that because it’s not the plan we agreed on, Copper,” Skye snapped. 

“Skye,” Orion said in a quelling voice without removing his gaze from Ben.

“They’d never expect anyone to actually try attacking them head-on, so the element of surprise will still be there,” Ben plowed on, his brown eyes flashing with righteousness. “I say we just take all of their sailors out, one by one, while that pig Cutler Beckett is too busy gloating to take notice.”

Orion raised his eyebrows. “‘Take them out?’ Oh, no. No, I’m afraid that won’t do.”

“You’re afraid of the ships and their firepower -- but the men on those ships are vulnerable,” Ben said sharply.

“All the more reason to not hurt them more than we have to,” said Orion. “If the Navy’s ships are damaged, most of the sailors on board will still have the time to abandon ship and leave the battle with their lives.”

“Those sailors mean to kill us -- to arrest and hang the ones we love and anyone who’s ever helped us -- ”

“Not all of them,” said Orion, and his patient voice for the first time dipped low into his throat and echoed with some edge. “And because not all of them seek to destroy us and the ones we love, we have more than enough reason to not destroy them ourselves. The ships are what we fear, as you said -- they are our enemy, not the men on board -- and without that weapon of theirs, those sailors will be unable to inflict the damage we fear.”

Ben’s brown eyes bore into Orion’s very critically. Then, exhaling through his nose in a short huff, he reluctantly nodded and stepped back.

Orion turned to Face Paint. “We’ll need to make sure all of our men look like they belong among the Navy’s ranks.”

Face Paint grinned. “Don’t worry! I’ve got this.”

With some guidance from the ex-veterans on the Navy’s usual dress code, Face Paint got to work covering up scars with make-up and dressing the team accordingly. Fortunately, unlike the British army, Navy soldiers generally had more freedom in how they dressed, so long as their clothes were neat and conservative. Once Face Paint was finished, Orion had a team of about eleven men who looked as out of place on Shipwreck Cove as he himself had looked on the streets of Port Royal.

Before Orion left with the Artemis and the rest of the fleet of small ships, however, Jacob rather sharply stepped in front of him and insisted on speaking to him in private. Skye and McNully looked notably concerned, but Orion agreed, and the two stepped aside so no one else could hear them.

“Don’t think I don’t know why you’re doing this,” Jacob murmured.

Orion raised his eyebrows, even though his expression remained grimly unreadable. “It was your plan, to send the smaller ships to infiltrate the Navy’s Man O’ Wars.”

“I was not including you when I said that!” snapped Jacob.

He took an aggressive step forward, right into Orion’s personal bubble.

“I know why you’re doing it, Amari, and it’s not just because Captain Farrier-Weasley asked you to be in charge of that mission,” he said in a very low snarl, rather like that of a territorial dog.

Orion’s eyes grew a little smaller, but remained too murky to read properly. “I daresay my reasoning is the same as why you arranged it so that you would be on the ship facing off against the Flying Dutchman.”

“Do not compare my motives with yours!” said Jacob fiercely, as his skull-like eyes flared like flames. “I don’t care what you feel for my Wyn -- you could never understand what she means to me! I would and will do anything I have to in order to protect her -- ”

“I know,” Orion cut Jacob off as calmly as he could. “I could never understand the bond you two share.”

His dark eyes flickered with a strange emotion.

“...But...I do understand what a beacon she is -- how, like a candle, she can light up a room enough to comfort you, when you’re most frightened. How the soft, warm light she gives off is for you alone...how the embers she leaves behind burn long after her light has left you. How she’ll...drain herself of whatever strength she has...just to make sure you don’t despair.”

Something cracked in Jacob’s eyes, betraying genuine vulnerability. A vein pulsed in his jaw and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Orion clasped his hands in front of him, regarding Jacob with a grim, sad expression.

“Care --...your sister...is a truly remarkable woman. She always has been, from the day I ended up on your doorstep back in Port Royal all those years ago. I can’t say for sure that I’ve loved her since then, but...when we found each other again, I realized that the freedom I have on the high seas is superficial at best...for I wasn’t free to stay with her...no more than she’s free to follow me. If she stays with Cutler Beckett...if she ends up impressed into service on the Flying Dutchman...”

Jacob’s fists clenched tighter and started to shake. Orion’s eyes rippled with pain and anxiety as he closed them.

“I can’t do nothing while Carewyn loses what little freedom she has left,” the taller captain burst out before he could stop himself. “However cruel Jones is in the legends I’ve heard, I know first-hand Cutler Beckett is a crueler master than he could ever be.”

He ran his pointer and middle finger alongside the inside of his wrist, where the “P” brand shone a tense white on his tanned skin. He breathed in and out through his nose slowly to try to calm his heart rate, before he opened his eyes to look back at Jacob.

“...I know our methods are different, but our goal is the same. Although I hope you succeed in overcoming Jones and force him to release her...I’m sure you understand why I have to take measures in case you don’t.”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed upon Orion’s face, but for the first time, there was confusion muddled with the distrust.

“I already told you that Jones won’t care if my Wyn gets married and takes on another name,” he said quietly. “He said she’d still be considered a Cromwell.”

Orion’s dark eyes softened sadly. “I know.”

Jacob’s eyes scrunched up further. Then they widened as he thought of something he hadn’t before. The thought made his face go very white.

“You...”

Orion did not respond, but Jacob knew he’d figured out what Orion was thinking. It made his fists shake at his sides and his pupils narrow to slits.

‘He’s...truly that selfless?’

Jacob didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe that this man loved his sister that much.

Despite himself, he couldn’t help but lash out.

“...I do not give my blessing to this! I don’t care what sincere affect you dance around with, I will never trust you with my Wyn’s heart, Amari! You could never deserve my sister!”

But Orion’s features merely prickled with the hints of a smile. "I know.”

Jacob gave an aggravated sigh, throwing his hand up in a violent smack at the air, as he threw his head back and rolled his eyes up in the direction of the ceiling.

He wanted to hate this man so much, but it was proving difficult when he wouldn’t rise to anything he said. He wanted him to fight back, to get mad -- then he could feel justified in protecting Carewyn from him...

But in truth, Jacob knew -- this man wasn’t someone to protect Carewyn from. Truthfully...he knew this man would likely do just as much to protect Carewyn as he would...

Jacob’s hollowed-out eyes ran over Orion’s face, narrowing critically. Then, at last, he said,

“...You were the boy, weren’t you? The one Wyn hid under her floorboards.”

Orion’s eyes flickered with fondness and he inclined his head in a small nod. Jacob inhaled slowly through his nose and then exhaled very heavily.

“I will stop Jones,” he said very lowly. “So your 'measures’ won’t be necessary.”

With this, Carewyn’s brother turned on his heel and strode away, his black boots clapping against the cobblestones as he went.

As the pirates set their plan into motion, Carewyn herself was finishing up business on the Flying Dutchman. She was meant to remain on the HMS Lion with Beckett for the battle, but she insisted on speaking to all of her men on the ship and leaving proper instruction before departing. After all, the Admiral argued, even if Rakepick was staying on board, she was not a Naval officer, nor was she their commanding officer. It also was the excuse Carewyn needed to speak to Davy Jones privately.

Jones looked to be in a fairer mood than she’d seen him last. Carewyn wasn’t sure for the reason for it, but she hoped it wasn’t in response to the impending battle. Regardless of how Jones felt about the pirates and Shipwreck Cove, she dreaded the thought of anyone actually anticipating the battle. Instead, however, she reassured Jones that she would pass along whatever intelligence she gathered about where Rakepick had hidden his heart.

“I know Rakepick said she was out for herself, but there are only so many places she could’ve hidden it,” she said. “Port Royal is out of the question: it couldn’t be used as any sort of leverage there. So she either one, was lying and has it close by somewhere on the Dutchman...or two, Beckett does know where it is, but Rakepick plans to backstab him.”

“I suspect the former,” said Jones lowly, his dark eyes narrowing as he shot a glance out the stained-glass window of the cabin. “I can feel my heart’s presence, so it must be close.”

Carewyn inclined her head slightly. “I see. In that case, you might be able to retrieve it yourself. I’m sorry I can’t be of further help.”

She paused. Then, taking a deep breath, she spoke again.

“Captain Jones, time is not on our side...but something’s been bothering me. When I first agreed to help you, you knew my real name, without me having told you. You said that was because you know everyone’s true name, but...”

She considered him warily.

“...It’s also because...you know my older brother...don’t you?”

Jones’s eyes narrowed. He considered her for a long moment, before he gave a clipped nod.

“...Aye. I know him.”

Carewyn’s heart sank. ‘Then Rakepick was right -- Jacob did make a deal with Jones. That must be why Orion said Jacob ‘would be disappointed’ -- ’

“...What does he owe you?”

Jones, for the first time, looked almost evasive. He turned away, casting his eyes to the opposite wall as he took a few plodding steps away.

Carewyn watched him move, her arms which had been folded behind her back slackening at her sides.

“Captain Jones, please,” she said, and some desperation echoed in her voice despite her best efforts, “I already might not have enough power to protect him from Beckett, I have to know what debt he might have with you.”

Jones was quiet for a moment longer. When he finally spoke again, his voice was very low, reluctant...even regretful.

“...The price...was a lifetime of service, from a member of his family.”

Carewyn’s eyes widened.

‘A lifetime of service...?’

Jacob’s intense, anxious reaction to the death of Charles and Blaise suddenly made sense.

‘He must’ve meant to give one of them to Jones,’ Carewyn’s mind raced. ‘Could he really have agreed to something like that -- enslave Grandfather or Blaise to Jones?’

Unfortunately it didn’t sound completely out-of-character for Jacob -- for as much as she’d hated Charles Cromwell and resented Blaise, Carewyn knew her feelings paled in the face of Jacob’s. Not only had he been older and thus forced to do more of their dirty work, but he’d also always loathed how much they hurt Carewyn when they were young, both to keep him in line and in a cruel attempt to “toughen her up.”

But now...now Blaise and Charles were dead. All of the Cromwells -- Jacob’s family -- were dead...except for...

Carewyn’s face was very white. Her lips came together and she bowed her head, casting her eyes into shadow.

“...I see,” she whispered, her voice shakier than she’d intended.

‘This is why Orion and Jacob want me off the Dutchman. Because I’m the only one who can fill Jacob’s debt.’

Jones glanced over his shoulder, his dark eye oddly ashamed.

“He did it out of love for you,” he said very quietly. “I confess, before we met, I’d seen irony in the situation. Now...I wish I could excuse the debt, but...”

Jones swallowed, and the tentacles of his beard gave a series of low pops.

“...Magical contracts...are not so easily broken. Once someone is marked with the Black Spot, the terms will be met, whether I want them to be or not. Fate will maneuver itself in such a way that you end up as part of my crew, even if I actively decide not to take you. As long as your brother and I both live...the terms are etched in stone.”

Jones then strode back over, fixing Carewyn with a solemn eye.

“Unless...you wanted to make a deal yourself? One soul could be comparable to another.”

Carewyn closed her eyes and considered this. After a long moment, she swallowed, and shook her head.

“That’s not something I can give you,” she whispered.

Jones’s eyes grew a little smaller as he faced the door. “I thought you might say that.”

He paused. His claw clicked together at his side.

“I...lament that a noble soul like yours is doomed to remain with me,” he murmured. “I will do my best to take care of you, as part of my crew.”

With another set of plodding steps, Jones walked over to the door of the cabin, opened it, and left.

Carewyn’s knees buckled out from under her. She collapsed onto the bench in front of the massive organ, staring down at her own booted feet without even seeing them.

She couldn’t thrust this burden on anyone else. How could she? No matter who they were...no one deserved to live their life in servitude. Carewyn knew she would never be able to live with herself, doing something so cruel...but...

It...it wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair! She’d already had to resign herself to the knowledge that she couldn’t shield the others from Beckett -- she’d already had to resign herself to staying under Beckett’s foot. Not only was she helpless in helping the ones she loved escape Beckett...but now...once she was a member of Jones’s crew...she would likely never see any of them again. She’d never be able to make that world that they deserved -- a world where they could live free of the fear of being captured and hanged...a world where they could live and chase their dreams in peace.

She’d never see Orion again. She’d never see Jacob again. She’d never see Bill again. She’d never see Charlie again. She’d never see Jules or Percy again.

Carewyn took a sharp intake of breath, trying to contain her emotions, but it was no use. Her hands flew to her face, clutching desperately, as she tried in vain to suffocate the tears spilling out of her eyes and the sobs erupting out of her throat.

Little did Carewyn know that a red-haired woman much taller than her had been beside the window of the captain’s cabin and had heard the entire conversation.

Under the cover of the fog that  swept in that night, Orion’s team of Navy veteran pirates split up and stowed away aboard the Navy’s ships, each carrying one of the hundred black barrels of highly explosive black powder Jae had prepared for them. They would then be able to fetch more from one of the many sloops, ketches, and schooners floating among the armada the rest of the night.

As luck would have it, Ben boarded a ship that turned out to be the HMS Lion itself. He was glad of it, as he was determined to make sure that Beckett could never target anyone else again. Unfortunately, as soon as Ben arrived on board the ship, he was immediately uneasy. No one had spotted him arrive, but this ship wasn’t like any of the ships he’d seen during his time with the Navy. Everything was so unusually clean and precise and brand new, as if none of it had been touched -- and stranger still, all of the sailors, from their perfectly polished gold-buckled shoes to their blue and white uniforms to their gold-trimmed black tricorn hats, looked as identical as a set of dolls.

Little did Ben know that Cutler Beckett had higher standards of uniformity for the ship he was on than he did any of the other ships in his armada -- and so, even perfectly disguised as an ordinary sailor, Ben stood out like a sore thumb.

“You there!” said one of the lieutenants, upon spotting Ben on the staircase down to the lower decks. “Where’s your uniform, sailor?”

Ben faltered. ‘Uniform? Regular sailors don’t wear -- ’

He immediately put down the barrel he’d been carrying and turned around, putting on his strongest face as he stood up perfectly straight and saluted.

“...I’m only a new recruit, sir. I have no rank.”

“All sailors on the HMS Lion were given a custom uniform, when first they were selected by Lord Beckett,” snapped the lieutenant, his black eyes narrowing suspiciously upon the much taller man. “I ask you again -- where is yours?”

Ben immediately guessed that he’d made a huge mistake. Knowing that if he didn’t do something drastic, he’d blow the whole operation, his hand slid down to the pistol in his belt. Did he dare silence the man by force? Would that not alert the rest of the ship?

“What’s going on here?”

Another officer -- this one with a ginger red ponytail and almond-shaped blue eyes -- came down from the helm and over to the two men.

“A-Admiral Weasley!” said the lieutenant, straightening up immediately.

‘Admiral?’ thought Ben. ‘Then this is Carey Weasley?’

His brown eyes narrowed upon the frame of the Navy’s greatest hero.

'...He’s so...tiny.’

Carewyn looked from the lieutenant to Ben, her blue eyes narrowing.

“Ah, I suppose Captain Weasley’s sent over another new recruit,” she said smoothly. “Where is this man’s uniform, Lieutenant?”

“That -- I just asked that, sir,” the lieutenant stumbled over his words.

“Respectfully, I hope,” said Carewyn rather pointedly.

“That -- well -- I merely thought it was suspicious. We normally are all given uniforms, prior to boarding -- I hadn’t known that Captain Weasley was sending over any...”

The lieutenant looked a bit sheepish. It was remarkable how he looked and sounded so much more boyish around the Admiral, compared to how harsh and suspicious he’d sounded when he addressed Ben.

“No matter, Lieutenant,” said Carewyn, giving the young man a soft smile. “You thought of the safety of our ship and crew. That’s the right instinct to have, despite the circumstances.”

She turned to Ben, her eyes becoming a bit more solemn.

“What’s your name, sailor?”

“Cooper, sir,” Ben said at once, giving a salute. “Gordon Cooper.”

“Well, Mr. Cooper, you’d best come with me, before Lord Beckett sees you out of uniform. He likes his flag ship run just so.”

And so Ben reluctantly followed the Admiral down to the ship’s lower level and into the cargo hold. She fetched him a blue and white Navy uniform, but rather than just leaving Ben to put it on himself, she insisted on helping him put it on properly.

“I told you, Lord Beckett likes things just so,” she said. “I will not have any sailor under my command end up on the wrong side of him.”

“I can put on a bloody shirt,” Ben said before he could stop himself.

“See that you do, then,” said Carewyn very coolly.

Ben watched, perfectly bewildered, as the Admiral hung the blue coat she’d set aside for him off of a nail sticking out of one of the beams of the ship and smoothed the wrinkles out of it.

With a dull snort, he pulled the faded red shirt and brown trousers Face Paint had dressed him in up over his head and switched it out for the white Navy breeches, stockings, and shirt he’d been given. He tried to keep his back to Carewyn, so as to obscure the scars on his upper chest and arms.

As he changed, Ben suddenly realized he heard a soft, husky voice humming a tune in the back of their throat.

“Now some have died, and some are alive...and others...sail on the sea...”

Ben straightened up sharply.

“...With the keys to the cage and the Devil to pay,” he echoed, “we lay to Fiddler’s Green.”

He turned around to look at Carewyn, who still had her back to him.

“So you are allied with us,” he said under his breath.

Carewyn glanced over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow. “‘So?’ You sound like someone already told you that, previously.”

“Two people, actually,” Ben corrected her, crossing his arms. “Orion Amari, for one. The other...”

He glanced off to the side absently, his brown eyes growing a bit mistier at the thought.

“...She...has family who works for the East India Trading Company. While one of their ships was docked in Port Royal, she’d spoken to some of the prisoners awaiting execution...and though most of them were no state to talk, the ones who were expressed their admiration for Carey Weasley -- how he was the only person on the Dutchman who showed them any kindness.”

The thought of Wendy’s face as she described what the prisoners had told her made Ben’s heart clench. 

“...That kind of decency...was something I thought the Navy lost long ago.”

Carewyn’s eyes grew a little smaller and grimmer as they fell down onto Ben’s shoulder.

“I’m afraid it has, for the most part,” she said softly, “but only because of those currently in command. Our men are still good men...just misguided.”

Ben couldn’t keep the disbelieving, resentful glare from his face. He strode past Carewyn to fetch the blue coat, but the Admiral bustled in front of him, fetched a gold-buttoned white vest, and set about slipping it over Ben’s shirt.

“Here -- you’ll need this, first.”

Ben’s mouth dropped open in bewilderment and irritation.

“Wha -- oh, come on, I’m not some little lost lamb!”

“Definitely not,” said Carewyn dryly. “You’re anything but ‘little.’“

She started buttoning up Ben’s vest. The pirate gave an aggravated groan.

“Seriously? Ugh...will you knock it off? You’re acting like my mother -- ”

“Well, you’re acting like a child, so I reckon that’s appropriate,” Carewyn shot back. She then added a bit more solemnly, “Look, I can’t help Orion, Bill, and the others while I’m stuck here...but I can help you help them. So that’s what I intend to do, whether you like it or not.”

Ben’s face darkened with an embarrassed flush as he looked away, shooting daggers into the far corner with his eyes, while Carewyn finished buttoning up his vest.

“I should probably help you trim your beard too,” said Carewyn absently. “Navy men don’t wear beards much these days, even when they’re not officers...”

“I don’t need you to trim my beard,” Ben said grumpily. “I can shave myself.”

“Oh, you don’t believe in the old superstition, then. Good...I’ve had to shave some of my men’s faces for them, so that Beckett wouldn’t give them a hard time for looking scruffy...”

Ah, then it was about reassuring the men who were too superstitious to shave on board so they could still follow Beckett’s dress code, more than simple smothering. That made Ben feel a bit better.

“...Hm, well...I suppose I have been meaning to cut it a bit anyway...”

Once Carewyn had finished buttoning up Ben’s vest, she adjusted his collar.

“When did you leave the Navy?” she asked without looking at his face.

Ben considered her for a moment before answering.

“...Four years ago. I’d gone to sea to try to rise above my station...to earn enough money that I could...well...improve my prospects. But I ended up on board a ship with a captain who sacrificed the lives of his own men, not to protect the innocent, but to protect a ship he held financial stock in. A ship owned by Cutler Beckett, transporting gold, spices, ivory, and slaves to the colonies.”

Carewyn was immediately reminded of Orion. “So you rebelled.”

“Not right away,” Ben corrected. “I tried to have the captain court-marshalled first. But the Navy only gave him a light talking-to and left it at that. They didn’t remove him from service or strip him of his rank, or even publicly reprimand him -- he was allowed to just go about his business like before. And worse, he knew I was the one who’d reported him -- so he ended up retaliating against me, since he was still my commanding officer. I, well...eventually I just got fed up -- so I stopped cowering and fought back.”

Carewyn’s light blue eyes narrowed. “I see. ...You did the right thing.”

Ben’s face seemed to soften slightly. “...Thanks. It hasn’t always felt like the right thing.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t.”

Carewyn fetched the blue coat and helped Ben put it on. This time, he didn’t put up as much of a fuss, even though he considered Carewyn with a more critical, solemn expression.

“Why haven’t you fought back against Beckett?” he asked lowly. “You know what he’s doing is wrong.”

“If I were to fight now, I’d lose,” said Carewyn, “and if I lose, then the ones I love will be in more danger than ever.”

‘My future is already out of my reach. My freedom is already out of reach. If anything happened to them...I’d lose the best part of myself.’

“... I need to wait for the right moments where I can actually make a difference...like this one, for instance,” she added with a slight smile.

Ben’s eyes grew a little smaller as he studied her face.

“...It’s hard for you to stay silent, isn’t it?”

Carewyn didn’t respond, but her eyes squinted a bit too, rippling with a dark emotion as she yanked a loose thread free of Ben’s coat and adjusted the buttons.

“There,” she said at last. “Don’t forget your hat, when you’re out on deck.”

She handed a gold-trimmed black tricorn hat to him, but Ben didn’t put it on, instead holding it loose at his side.

“I won’t be on deck long,” he said. “I’ll be here below deck most of the time...I’ll be gone by dawn.”

Carewyn blinked. Then her whole face seemed to light up in realization.

“...Sabotage,” she whispered. Her almond-shaped blue eyes were almost over-bright. “Black Jack Roberts planned this, didn’t he?”

Ben was startled. “Uh...yeah, he did.”

‘Oh, that’s just like Jacob! He’s always been brilliant...’

Carewyn’s eyes gleamed with warm, intense pride and fondness as she cast her gaze aside.

Ben looked at Carewyn curiously. “...You know Black Jack?”

Carewyn beamed. “Oh, aye -- we go way back.”

“How far back?”

“We grew up together.”

‘I don’t need to explain how we’re related,’ thought Carewyn. ‘If Orion didn’t feel the need to tell him my real name, I don’t have to...it’s not exactly necessary information.’

Carewyn’s response, however, sparked an interesting reaction from Ben. Almost instantly, his hard, overly serious expression had become much softer and warmer, betraying a genuine smile.

“Really...”

The faintest ghost of a laugh seemed to fall from his lips as he bowed his head, his eyes drifting down to the ground. Carewyn smiled slightly in return.

“Now then, Mr. Cooper...I’ll leave you to your work. The barracks are on the lower deck on the starboard side of the ship,” she nodded to the the hallway behind them, “and the officers’ quarters are just up the stairs from there. The walls are thin and most of the officers will be up and about doing nightly rounds, so be careful not to make too much noise. If they catch you ‘out of bed,’ do as they say and pretend to go to your bunk -- you can always use the shortcut that goes through the spirit room on the far right wall to get back out into the hallway without going out the way you came. When you’re up on deck, avoid the windows by the captain’s cabin at all cost -- Beckett can be up when you least expect it, and if he sees any movement outside his windows, he might see fit to investigate. I’ll try to keep the other officers occupied at the helm as much as I can, so they don’t notice you.”

Ben picked up his barrel again with a nod. “Thank you.”

Carewyn saluted him, and he returned the gesture with his arm not holding the barrel.

“By the way,” he added, “the name’s Copper, not Cooper. Ben Copper.”

Carewyn’s lips spread into a full smile. “Nice to meet you.”

She reached out and took hold of the taller man’s shoulder, giving it an abridged squeeze.

“Godspeed...and best of luck.”

By dawn, Ben had finished his preparations and left the HMS Lion, slipping onto the Artemis so that it could sail away before the fog dissipated. Ben had been the last one to finish and return to the fleet, so Skye had expressed the (rather irritable) concern the crew felt that Ben might have gotten himself caught. Ben confessed that he would’ve if it hadn’t been for the Admiral, and told them what had happened. Orion hadn’t said a word or drawn any attention to himself during the entire recounting, so Ben couldn’t have taken into account how the captain turned his focus up to the large, gold-trimmed Navy ship as they sailed away from it. Neither he nor McNully also never heard Orion pull one of his crew members aside and give him one of his gold earrings, explicitly instructing him to deliver it to Jules.

“She’ll need it, for the unbinding ceremony,” he said.

At dawn, the two Navies -- Royal and Pirate -- assembled for war. All of the Britiwhs Navy’s ships got into position, completely unaware of the trap that lay under their decks. The fleet of the pirates’ galleons and brigs -- including the Phoenix, Blackbird, Naga, and Treasure -- came up around the mouth of Shipwreck Cove like a wall, while the Revolution -- captained by Jules and assisted by her First Mate Bill, Jacob, and Ashe -- sailed out in front as the pirates’ flagship.

In the midst of all of this, the fleet of smaller ships were meant to retreat into the ranks of the larger ships, so as to offer support if any of the large ships were to fall and their crews needed to be rescued. But all of a sudden, the crew of the Artemis realized that Orion was nowhere to be found. Panic set in on deck as they searched for him, with crew members all frantically trying to figure out when they saw him last. It didn’t take long for McNully to put together where Orion had gone.

McNully wheeled his chair across the deck, looking with anxiety up at the HMS Lion, sailing just to the right of the Flying Dutchman.

Bounding up through the ocean waves still trimmed with fog, he caught sight of Orion steering the Artemis’s jollyboat into the Navy ship’s shadow.

Skye came up to the railing too. When she caught sight of the jollyboat too, she violently grabbed hold of the railing, her eyes very wide with horror.

“What’s he DOING?!”

“He’s going after the Admiral,” said McNully.

“The Admiral?” said Ben, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Skye looked beside herself with anger and concern. “No, no, no, no, NO! Orion, you bloody dunce! Just because I said that your and Copper’s kind of ‘weird’ was helpful at the meeting doesn’t mean I wanted you to act on it in the middle of the goddamned battle!”

She whirled on McNully.

“We have to stop him! He’s going to get himself caught again -- ”

“There’s only a 21.3% chance of that,” McNully cut her off. “It’s a bit hard to be caught and stay caught when a sea battle is about to kick off. There’s a higher probability of him getting himself killed...”

The First Mate felt the urge to swear both out of frustration and out of anxiety, but he kept his head. He rolled his chair around to face the rest of the crew.

“Signal to the Kumiho and the rest of the fleet to continue with the retreat,” he told them. “We’re going after him.”

#potc au #au #pirates of the caribbean #hphm #hogwarts mystery #my art #my writing #orion amari #carewyn cromwell #murphy mcnully #jacob cromwell #skye parkin #bill weasley #jules farrier #samantha o'connell #charlie weasley #finn mcgarry #jae kim #merula snyde #ellie hopper #aishwarya mehra #arjun singh #ben copper #gwendolyn gordon #other people's mcs #whew this took way longer than it should've #action scenes are things I have to put a lot of work into so I think this next part will take a bit too #particularly with how many characters we've got #but yeah things really are getting crazy fast

[thirteenthspirit]

Not a Very ‘Organized’ Organization (XIII)

I thought hard about this week’s topic of choice. Brexit was on my mind - I pondered about doing a comparison between parliament’s never-ending struggle with delays and failed agreements, vs Harvest Moon’s unending gameplay, farming and shipping and eventually marrying and digging in the mines and COLLECTING ALL THE DAMN SPRITES in that DS one. But that’s as far as it goes… I didn’t think I’d be able to milk it like those cows (hey!).

Speaking of Hey, I still want to get Space Channel 5 in there somewhere, those Chu’s and Hey’s have been on my mind like crazy…

So I settled on writing about one of my favorite topics – Organization XIII!

Organization XIII was always one of my favorite parts of the Kingdom Hearts series. They are cool and mysterious and (debatably) heartless, ranging everywhere from the mute heavyweight champions (*cough* Lexaeus *cough*) to the twink rockstar wannabes.

So, Organization XII is, like the name implies, a group of 13 nobodies – wait, scratch that – a group of 14 nobodies (eyeroll) who have banded together to… um… depends on who you ask. And in which game. Their primary goal was to be whole, to be granted a heart/soul, even if practically EVERY ONE OF THEM had a different agenda and there was a whole underlying separate reason for the creation of the Organization. NO WORRIES, let’s stick with that, because it’s more fun.

Ok so, breaking down the members, should we go by number? Order of appearance? Relevance? Element of choice? Maybe click (you know, high school clichés)?

Well – first you have the Mains. Roxas (no. XIII), is the counterpart of Sora, the main character in the whole series. So you know he’s gotta be pretty high on the list. The most interesting thing about Roxas is surprisingly NOT that he’s voice by Jesse McCartney, but the duality of elements he controls. Light and Darkness are everywhere with this guy – his outfit has chess squares on it and he wields both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, not to mention having an incredibly sad and traumatic origin story! He’s like, a slightly smarter and moodier Sora. I like Roxas, I’m sad they didn’t give him anything to do in KH3. Dual-wielding keyblades is pretty awesome and his light attacks can hit pretty hard. One of my favorite moments of the series will always be his fight with Riku in the secret ending of KH1, over 10 years ago! Seeing Roxas clash with Riku in mid-air in front of that clock tower (not to be confused with the one from Neverland – I mean England) really made my heart race as a kid. He can also boast to having shared quite a couple of awesome struggles (go Vivi), with Sora in that “Station of Awakening” place where Destati usually plays, and then with both his best friends - while trying not to be kidnapped by his “Flurry of Dancing Flames”, best friend Axel, and when dispatching Xion.

Xion (no. XIV) is a “puppet”, made to take over Roxas’s place and role in the Organization, should anything happen. She is an interesting character, tragedy befalls her and her journey with coming to the realization that she must sacrifice herself for Sora’s behalf (in order for him to become whole again) is a beautiful one to see. Vector to the Heavens plays when you’re fighting Xion for the last time, ending with Roxas effectively killing her and is a beautifully crafted piece. Xion suffers a bit from that ‘unintentional retcon’ where she didn’t really have a place, story-wise, and was created solely for 358/2 Days. So she was effectively written-out of the main storyline until the later games, with every character practically forgetting about her (literally losing their memories of her).

Rounding out the trio is one of everyone’s favorites – bad-guy good-guy Axel (no. VIII). Axel’s portrayal changed throughout the series. In CoM, he is responsible for unmasking a conspiracy and dispatching rogue members of the organization. He is the de-facto assassin. With not a hint of remorse. As his friendship with Xion and Roxas builds, he regains access to some degree of emotion – perhaps it’s caused by the (stick with me on this one) Lea-Ventus-Sora-Roxas-Axel connection, or perhaps he grows a heart, sitting on that clock tower overlooking the (ALWAYS SETTING) sun of Twilight Town and eating sea-salt ice cream. Eventually he turns on the organization, proving his loyalty is to his friends and even joins the main cast as a Keyblade wielder, turning the tides on some occasions (he really makes the end of DDD worth it). It helps that he has a wicked-cool design. His element is Fire and he wields twin Chakrams, boasting two tear tattoos and incredibly spiky hair. His relationship with Kairi is a cute element to the story, I wish (aside from some more combat or like ANY AT ALL) they had more scenes together and overall relevance to the main storyline. My favorite moment, aside from him rescuing Sora from his peers in DDD, has to be when he executes Vexen in Castle Oblivion.

From Axel, the most closely linked member, aside from Roxas and Xion, is SaÏx (no. VII). SaÏx is a warewolf. The moon sends him into a trance and he is often plagued with anger management issues. Berserk is his Nirvana. Him and Axel go way back and there is still a storyline to be uncovered there, judging from the secret reports found in KH3. In the end, his motivations aren’t really clear and fully explored, so his presence is not much more than Axel’s right arm, who happens to have a big “X” scar on his face. Sorry SaÏx – maybe see a therapist. At least you got a happy ending! SaÏx was one of the last Organization members to fall, in KH2. One of the last defenders of the Castle in (one my my all-time favorite KH worlds), The World That Never Was.

Another of the final defenders and members of the Organization to be vanquished at Sora’s had is – *drumroll* arguably MY FAVORITE OF THEM ALL, the incredibly hot and suave Luxord (no. X). Now – this guy is blonde. Has facial hair. Earrings. A British accent (maybe that’s just in my mind) and makes me look up his voice actor just to drool over that sweet sweet voice. He is the “Gambler of Fate” and shows up in the POTC world to basically taunt you and play a few games. Everything’s a game to this guy, even fighting. Which I can’t say he is great at… For someone able to control the element of Time, he’s kind of a pushover. But he’s still got a place in my heart – and maybe we’ll get to see him again, since he was the one who gave Sora that “wild card”… “Parlay!” more like “Let’s play strip poker pls”.

Who next… well let’s round out the oddballs with this guy. Ladies and gents, fans of the underground metal, garage bands and mohawks – I give you… Demyx (no. IX)! The Melodious Nocturne! …although there is nothing ‘nocturnal’ about him. This guy irradiates happiness and excitement and joy. I suppose he is just pretending, since Nobodies can’t really feel, rather they remember what it was like. Dem-dem too is a fan favorite. He is very young and has a different disposition than the rest of the members, he’s just your lazy, average Joe that just wants to spend his days jamming out on his Sitar. He is the first Organization member to fall in KH2, and is considered “not much of a fighter”. I would obviously disagree with this BECAUSE DANCE WATER DANCE MOTHERF***** is hell. Hell! Still, Dem-dem brings some lightheartedness to the game and the entire group, so he is a welcome addition. He is shunned even in KH3 but that’s just a side note of his… personality traits, I suppose. Never forget when he ‘drops the act’ just before turning on Sora, before what would be his final battle. Demyx controls the element of Water.

And since when it rains, it pours; and when it pours, usually it thunders (at least here in Portugal), that seems like a decently-crafted segway to the next member – Larxene (no. XII). Larxene is… a bitch. I don’t say that lightheartedly, I consider myself a feminist and I never forget that quote “when a man is assertive, he’s called a Boss. When a woman is assertive, she’s called a bitch.” But Larxene is just MEAN. She’s the mean girl of the bunch – together with her GBF Marluxia. Larxene poses some of the hardest fights in CoM but sadly, and like most female characters in this series, she’s shunned in favor of other members. This is a critic I have with the entire KH series – Aqua is virtually my favorite character but she’s really the only female character that is given storyline, relevance and overall strength. And like most fans I was DYING to see Kairi kick ass in KH3, but… we all know how that went. Not much to say about Larxene, her lightning-fast attacks and knives give her a pretty sharp demeanor and she’s not afraid to play every trick to her advantage. Standout moment is, unfortunately, her demise in CoM, fading into darkness. Oh and that laugh.

Larxene’s ‘somebody’ appears in KH: Unchained, together with Marluxia’s somebody. Marluxia (no. XI) controls the attribute of Flowers.

Yes.

Flowers.

He also boasts pink hair and – the best part – a huge pink scythe. His nickname is “The Graceful Assassin” but aside from plotting to overthrow the Organization and posing as the main antagonist in CoM, he doesn’t really do a lot of killing. The fights against him in KH2: Final Mix are among my favorites, especially with that countdown as he swings about the field. It seems he has quite a role in the Mobile game, so maybe we’ll get to see more of his backstory in the future. His final parting words were somewhat mysterious. Together with Larxene and a sneaky Axel, Marluxia betrays the Organization and his fellow members in Castle Oblivion, for his own agenda.

The assignment to Castle Oblivion introduces us to 3 other members of the organization – Vexen (no. IV), Lexaeus (no. V) and Zexion (no. VI). And 3 character tropes. The mad scientist, the jock, and the emo kid.

Vexen, aka “The Chilly Academic”, controls my favorite element, Ice. He is, ironically, killed by Axel in a flurry of flames, in a very dramatic moment in CoM. Vexen merely wants to conduct his experiments in peace – he doesn’t care who rules, what happens to the worlds, even who might or not be possessing him. He only cares about his “Replica” program. The Replica program consists on the creation of “puppets”, bodies able to function who are only missing a heart. He plays quite the role in KH3, effectively redeeming himself. Vexen is one of the creepiest characters around – he has long blond hair and green eyes, but really that ‘mad scientist’ vibe is all that transpires. Shout-out to his English voice actor, Derek Stephen Prince, for giving him a creepy vibe. He’s not much of a fighter, with his weapon of choice being an icy shield called “Frozen Pride”.

Zexion is one of the younger members of the Organization – perhaps even younger than Demyx. He is also arguably one of the smartest. Like Vexen, he cares mostly about his research and specific topics of interest *cough* Riku *cough*. However, his young demeanor reflects some innocence – he is the only member you don’t fight against in CoM, ending up murdered at the hands of Axel (with a little help from a Replica…). I really like Zexion, to battle he wields a book (the Lexicon) and would rather dazzle the opponents with some crafted illusions than hit them hard. He is one of the most prominent figures in KH3 and his reunion with his Master, Ansem the Wise, is very touching and reveals once again his innocence. He is often accompanied by Lexaeus, who is essentially a shadow of Zexion, a silent guardian to the smaller member. It is suggested he has been protecting Zexion since the latter was a small child.

Lexaeus fights Riku at one point, effectively forcing Riku to unleash the darkness in his heart just to defeat him. The Organization member is a towering figure and barely ever talks – he is just muscle, but emanates a safe and caring feel outwards, especially in his interactions with Zexion. To battle he wields a huge hammer-like weapon (which totally reminds me of Rikku’s weapons from FFX) called the Skysplitter and commands the element of Earth.

These 3 members are one half of the initial 6 apprentices, who formed the Organization. These founding members all worked together under the tutelage of Ansem the Wise and range from the scientists like Vexen and Zexion to the guardians like Lexaeus and Xaldin.

Xaldin (no. III) is very much… wasted. His virtually only appearance is in KH2, in his vain attempts to turn The Beast into a heartless. His most evident feature is his sideburns. Xaldin’s sideburns are thick, dark and intimidating. He also wields a lot of lances – like, more than 3, which he uses his wind powers to attack you with. He has a really cool attack where he forms a dragon out of wind and blows you to pieces with. Other than another “werewolf” look, that’s pretty much it. Mickey to the rescue!

Then we get to Xigbar (no. II). Xigbar, or Braig, or Luxu, OR ONE-EYED PIRATE, I’m not sure there is much of a difference, became a usual presence throughout the series. Apparently he’s been around for a loooooong time, ever since the forgotten time of the mobile game. He is a cool dude. His “As If” will go down as a pretty cool quote. Xigbar’s nickname is The Sharpshooter and he immediately stands out from the bunch. We are still unaware of his agenda and interests, not knowing to what extent he is controlled or, rather, he is controlling the narrative. He is overall an awesome character, essentially sniping you from afar with his stylish gun-like weapons. He even fakes his own death in KH3! In what is one of the best moments from the final act. His interactions with the rest of the Organization are always funny to watch, especially with his on-and-off younger lover, Demyx. The standout moment against him is undoubtedly that moment during his fight where he corners you and forces you to run around trying to avoid the millions of blue bullets being aimed at you. One of the best members overall.

And then there was I. Mr. Xemnas (no. I) aka “The Superior of the In-Between” (seriously bro, that’s the nickname you’re gonna pick?) aka “MANSEX” among the fans, aka “Xehanort’s nobody”. He is the man behind the Organization, the one really pulling all the strings. I’m gonna skip the part behind his motivations, they’re murky and the writers decide to change them between games, and I’ll get right down to the cool bits – THE SWORDS. Yes, Xemnas wields two red lightsabers. No, he is not Darth Maul, just a fan. He is calm and has a raspy voice, never really getting too flattered (that one’s yours, Axel). The coolest interaction with Xemnas is the final battle against him. Besides his black and white coat, he eventually summons a plethora of red projectiles which surround Sora and Riku, as they (in a very realistic, grounded and believable moment), deflectem with their respective keyblades. Xemnas ends up falling a bit short when compared with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness… He was just never that menacing of a villain, especially with his always calm behavior.

And that’s it. That’s the full list of the organization members. This turned out to be more of an exposé on each of the members, than anything else. I thought about trying to find real-life personalities to match each of the members, but eventually came up short on that. Organization XIII’s struggle to “be whole” and regain the part of their humanity they had lost – their soul, the ability to feel, always struck me as a really interesting motivation. For quite some time, the idea that you could shed the part of you that is able to “feel” struck me as something good, something to be envious of. I was, of course, wrong – even the dark feelings within us are what gives us the ability to connect and empathize with others.

So be sure to deflect those projectiles, and someone PLEASE give my number to Luxord,

                                                                                               -João A. (Pachiren)  

#Kingdom Hearts #Oranization XIII #Sora #Riku #Kairi #Roxas #Xemnas #Xigbar #Xaldin #Vexen #Lexaeus #Zexion #Saix #Axel #Demyx #Luxord #Marluxia #Larxene #Xion #Mickey #KH #Gaming #Square Enix #Disney #Ansem #Jesse McCartney #Lea #Isa

[kayura-sanada]

What worlds did you wish would have appeared in Kingdom Hearts that never got a chance or worlds that appeared but you don't feel got a chance to be properly fleshed out and explored properly?

Oh, god, another long answer is coming; I’m sorry. I’m just going to do the ones off the top of my head, and I can already tell you with absolute certainty that this is gonna get long. I’ll try to keep it to a simple list form:

Worlds That Could Have Been Fleshed Out Better:

Lion King - It honestly feels like this world didn’t get fleshed out at all. It brought back Scar’s ghost without having us see Simba deal with him the first time, and quite frankly, the story of Kiara and Kovu absolutely should have shown the tale of accepting light and darkness both.

Mulan - Am I the only one who got legitimately annoyed that Mulan got carried by Sora throughout her time in the army? Or that Khan’s actions were hidden by the game, so Sora didn’t react to them at all? Also, once again, the sequel showed the need for balance. “Sound and silence, dark and light! One alone is not enough; you need both together!” Come on!

Aladdin - Merely because the third movie, though it was pretty weak compared to the first two, would have once again shown how to accept a person’s darkness.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Look, all I’m saying is that anyone who thought that KHIII’s PotC world wasn’t a complete farce is wrong.

Cinderella - They needed to go back to her world at some point, and once again, the sequels show that those with a lot of darkness can still choose light. Oh, look, another chance at showing balance wasted. Again. (I love Anastasia in the sequels. Love her.)

Lilo and Stitch - They should have met him again. I’m still angry that they didn’t. And Lilo is amazing and deserves more spotlight.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - This world got skipped over too much, and it played too small a part for something that teaches open acceptance of others. Riku met Quasimodo, which is great, but I feel like their interactions should have meant more. And guess who else should have met them all? That’s right. The Wayfinder Trio.

101 Dalmatians - Shocker, collecting puppies in treasure chests doesn’t count for much. Let me at least summon Pongo and Perdita to show me how to get to them or something, geez.

The Little Mermaid - We went to this world in two games and not once did we actually play through the plot of the movie.Wow.

Worlds That Should Have Been In the Games:

Pocahontas - I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Pocahontas needed to meet several people. PLUS, seeing her world would have shown that neither side in the war was right, and that people on either side made horrible choices, but could still choose the right ones in the end. Also it shows that love conquers darkness come onnnnnn

Moana - This one’s pretty self-explanatory. A world like Destiny Islands, a main character like Riku, a storyline that includes a character’s heart being stolen from them, the iconic song that I immediately linked to Terra that says, “They have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you. This is not who you are. You know who you are.” UGH. Hits me every time; Terra needs to hear this.

The Princess and the Frog - Tiana and Terra needed to meet. Period.

Coco - I’m pretty sure they’re going to be introducing this one in the next game, but the story of family, finding each other, and forgiveness honestly should have taken place before everyone was reunited.

Wreck-It Ralph - Showing that ‘villains’ can be more; match this with some insight into Axel or Vanitas and I will be here for it all day.

The Fox and the Hound - It would have been the perfect world for KH1, when Sora and Riku were still at odds.

Atlantis - Oh, look, another story that includes people getting rid of incorrect presumptions and choosing to do the right thing when the wrong thing is easier. Also, hey, a Disney character of color. I’ve seen a disturbing lack of those in these games.

Anyway, that’s just the ones I thought of while sitting here; I’m sure there’s more I’ll think of later. But thanks for asking, because this is something I think about a lot!

#anon #response #kingdom hearts #long post #thanks nonny!!! #i consider this often #if i could list out ones not directly associated with disney/pixar #i would add the mcu and spirited away to that #but honestly i also have a 'not disney' list in my head too haha #there are SO many worlds I wish they could visit

[hashtagkairideservedbetter]

My main issue(s) with KH3

Spoilers abound, so please don’t read if you haven’t beaten the game or don’t want any negative opinions influencing how you see the ending/ the game. I did enjoy several parts of KH3, but this post is focused on things I had issues with, and if you don’t want to see criticism of your media please look elsewhere. 

This is how I interpreted the game as someone coming into KH3 with KH2 being the last game I played, and a playlist of youtube videos spanning lets plays, summaries, and humorous deconstructions as a codex. 

Here’s the thing. I’ve seen several people already break down how KH3′s story and pacing could have been handled better. Specifically, to more comprehensively tie in the 10,000 plot points that needed to be covered in a way that actually helps connect the main characters. I’m not going to get into all of that, because frankly I can’t fake knowing enough about the background lore of Kingdom Hearts to know how to better juggle all of the intermediary games into KH3. 

Most of my grievances honestly lie with the handling of the Destiny Trio and the Disney Worlds. 

I’m going to do a read more on this because it’s gonna be a long one. (Also very much a train of thought, so disorganized, sorry). 

So. Sora. Protagonist of the game (mostly. kind of?). 

A cheerful ray of sunshine.

A Keyblade wielder who has overcome traumatizing ordeals that tore him away from all he loved and knew at least twice now for over three years. 

A continuity disaster stuck being pinballed back and forth between happy goofs and hollow tragedies every thirty minutes in between busywork battles and off-scene disney films for 85% of KH3. 

I understand that Sora’s greatest power is supposed to be his optimism, as it’s sort of the prerequisite for going through disney worlds where people sing about their problems. I get it.  

However, there’s a difference between, “I’m naive and happy and oblivious and that’s why I’m a guardian of the light,” and “I have battled true darkness and felt true loss and decided that choosing to be kind, choosing to embrace joy in new experiences and relationships, is a bigger middle finger to the darkness than anything else.” Guess which one I prefer. Guess which one I was thinking would finally be Sora’s character arc. Instead he’s happy, happy, happy, happy... and then suddenly in the eleventh hour having a mental breakdown. 

Sora is written into a loop every game of kind, naive, but unchanging (”Don’t ever change, Sora”). That was endearing when we were both 14, but after almost twenty years it gets tiring to watch Sora get hit with a reset button every time you meet up with him again. There’s a scene in the gummi ship early on in the games where Donald asks Sora to “take this seriously,” and Goofy remarks that they seem to be stuck in a rut as Donald and Sora have the same conversation over and over again before entering the first series of Disney worlds. Sora knows he needs the power of waking in order to help his friends and free those trapped in his heart, but seems content to just drop into various worlds and wing it, and hope that it all sort of works out. 

And then when it does work out, and Sora uses the power to save everyone, he’s immediately told he’s doomed now? Like, what was the point of him being able to use this to connect with people if he’s doomed. Why did they want him to have this. What’s the point then of Sora having these strong connections. 

Each world makes a big scene about the friendships and connections that Sora makes so easily, but in KH3 there never seems to be enough time for Sora to actually pay them any attention unless the person is right in front of him. Sora seems to make connections for the sake of making connections in KH3, and the ones he has, he does very little to advance or reconnect with.  

Like, the whole point of 100 Acre Wood this time was apparently that Sora’s connection to Pooh was weaker for some reason. I honestly didn’t understand the reason or how it was magically resolved just from Sora showing up and saying hi? But whatever. 

My two least favorite worlds were Corona and Arendelle, for the same reason. There was no believable connection between Sora and the characters there. For fuck’s sake, the combat ally you get in Arendelle is the snow monster, not even a main character.

Sora is like the living embodiment of the B99 clip of Rosa with her dog. He just met Elsa and spoke a whopping five sentences to her, but damn if he won’t climb a mountain five times just for her to save herself without ever talking to him again. Like, literally that is the only interaction Sora has with Elsa. Same thing with Anna, and in her case I literally had to mute my tv so I could track what she was actually saying since they decided to shove two songs from the movie into this game.  

You spend the majority of your time in these worlds trying to play catch up to the leads as they have their movie play out around the bend in the road in front of you, out of your sight. Props to Disney’s ego that they think I remember the beat by beat plots of their films when they came out 9 years ago (Tangled) and 6 years ago (Frozen). I actually had the thought of going and watching Tangled just to remember what Flynn and Rapunzel got up to while Sora wandered around a marsh and had a pointless conversation with Marluxia. 

(Also, getting real tired of the “Good to see you Sora” “Who the fuck are you?” “Oh that’s right you don’t remember that game haha it’s fine it was a gameboy game nobody even knows what those are anymore.” That shit was getting old midway through KH2.) 

To be fair, the PoTC world suffers from the same problem as the other two. Sora shows up, sees everyone for thirty seconds, gets separated, and while we’re dicking around trying to find white crabs on the islands there’s a whole movie going on that we don’t see or participate in. I feel really bad for anyone who did not keep up with that franchise because I only watched the third movie the once and I was confused as hell. Also, the whole time I was finding the crabs in Port Royal all I could think about was this ProZD video. 

I just. I’m 26 years old. These movies hold no nostalgia for me, and maybe that’s the problem. I already had a connection to Aladdin, Peter Pan, etc, so I was maybe more willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the interactions. But those Disney worlds also felt more tied in to the plot. You can make the argument of Marluxia and Larxene putting pressure on Sora to find the Wayfinders so that six princesses of heart aren’t used as backup... but where are the other three? Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Kairi make four. Where’s Merida, Tiana, Moana? Mulan or Pocahontas even, since Moana was probably too recent. (But probs not, as it was probably starting development in 2014). If that’s going to be yet another subplot, shouldn’t you at least see it through?  

My point is, I can distinctly recall prior games mostly keeping to the established script in the disney worlds, but still letting Sora really get in there and interact with the characters. The heartless, nobodies, etc were a real wrench in the works for the plots, and had an actual effect on how the story was told and the order of events. Sora felt more involved in cutscenes and was an active participant in the world’s events instead of just a bystander. 

In KH1 and KH2 there was a dialogue happening between the villain of each world and a greater evil. Hell, in KH1 they were a unified council! In KH3 they’re puppets who don’t even talk to the bigger bad like Randall or Mother Gothel, or are there for a whopping thirty seconds like Hans. It makes it more and more obvious that the Disney worlds are just being shoehorned in as a contractual obligation than for any real purpose anymore.

 The only world that’s appeared in all three games, Olympus, was especially jarring. Like, you could tell there was a lot of corners cut on what VAs they could get for this game, as Phil does not speak once. Meg spends more time making eyes at Hercules and nodding than showing any of the sass she has from the film. (This was a thing in KH2 as well tho so I can’t complain about them continuing to drop the ball on even background women characters-- Oh wait, I can, because they’ve had T H I R T E E N YEARS to get it right.) 

Which I guess is as good a segue as any into Kairi Time. 

Listen. Did I mention I’m 26? Yeah. I started reading fanfic on livejournal. I was there when AO3 first got its start. I’ve seen the shipping wars. I know the dark past of Soriku vs Sokai.

I couldn’t give less of a fuck. 

These characters are still 16 and I am now 26. I’m fine with them trading noogies and maybe being able to kick back and play some Mario Kart. Kairi would wipe the floor with both of them because she had time to get good enough to beat Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie combined between KH1 and KH2. 

The point is, I don't care one way or the other about shipping. If my 15 year old self were here, they would be horrified I wasn't over the moon when Kairi and Sora finally shared the paopu fruit. As it is, I kind of stared blankly at my screen and went 'huh, there's gonna be a lot of fanfic fixing this moment.'  From both sides, I think, because even if you're into Sokai you gotta admit that moment did not feel romantic. It felt forced. Like "Oh hey, we've been putting this off, huh. Welp, here we go!" 

It doesn't help that I really, truly, don't like whoever Kairi's VA is in this game. Like, she sounds so ditzy and soft. Get that shit out of here. The dialogue and voice acting in this series has never been its strength, but honestly, I cringed my way through every interaction between Kairi and Axel because of how stilted and bad their conversations were! I’m definitely not saying that Kairi’s voice was stellar in 1 and 2, but at least her voice was clear, and had personality, and by the end of 2 was actually fairly strong. She sounded strong, and determined to be fighting with Sora and Riku, green as she was then, in the World That Never Was.

Whenever she talked in the third one I just sort of grit my teeth and wondered why someone on the production team wanted Kairi to sound so weak. 

Then they killed her at the labyrinth and I said, ‘Ah, that tracks.’ 

I played FFXV, so I guess shame on me for not seeing the signs when the girl love interest is about to be capable and not needing the hero to save her. She gets taken! And killed. Fool me twice, shame on me. 

I actually saw people excited about that Verum Rex thing and after seeing the Noctis ripoff reaching for the Luna ripoff covered in purple light I laughed, and laughed. And then sighed and reached for a stiff drink. 

All this to say that while I’m angry but not truly surprised that Kairi was once again shafted, I’m all the more pissed that they did it in the laziest, most insulting way possible by hinging it all on Sora needing a reason to fight Xehanort. Like, really???? Really. That’s your angle. The man-pain trope is so painfully overdone. Please. It’s 2019. Come into the future with us, Nomura. 

And I feel bad that all of the stuff I just wrote mostly revolves around Kairi being Sora’s romantic interest. But that’s because that’s all this game allowed her to be! Princess of light what? Bequeathed Keyblade wielder in her own right who??? Every battle she and Axel share with Sora they get their asses kicked in 30 seconds flat, so maybe Merlin should have left them suspended in time a little longer. Maybe long enough to convince someone out there in the universe that these two deserved to be competent. 

Hell, not just competent. Amazing. Kairi deserved to be able to stand on her own two feet and hold her own. To be running alongside her boys and not just be an object for them to tussle over or save. As Aqua’s somewhat successor, she deserved to be a terrifying wielder of battle magicks and flurries of light magic. 

To be replaced by Xion was just insult to injury. Like, I’m very happy that Xion got her heart back and was reunited with Roxas and Axel, but she didn’t need to be brought back at Kairi’s expense. The world won’t implode if the replica and actual person inhabit the same space. 

Which is leads us to our third member. 

Riku. To be fair. Riku got the most growth as a person out of the three of these kids, easy. We finally see a Riku who is confident in himself and his journey, and willing to take everything he learned along the way to help Mickey, Aqua, and even his own replica. However.... 

He doesn’t seem to give two shits about Kairi anymore? Did they even talk, like, once during the whole game? I can’t recall a single instance where Sora, Kairi, and Riku were in the same place together where it was just them, and they held an actual conversation. Hell, where they even said “Hi, how’s it going? What have you learned, had any good food lately?” 

God, even when Kairi was taken, and then when she was killed, Riku had one moment of anger, and then was completely, like, chill again, and back to talking Sora down. Like, what? I don’t want any love triangle bullshit, but Riku and Kairi were friends as much as Sora and Kairi and Sora and Riku are friends. 

And that’s what bothered me the most about the disappearance of Kairi introducing this bullshit narrative of Sora abusing his power of waking. He spent two games trying to get him, Riku, and Kairi together. But he doesn’t want Riku to help him get Kairi back? And Riku’s just going to let him go?! After all Riku has done and learned about falling to darkness and clawing yourself back to light and peace, he’s just going to let Sora do the same?

I call bullshit. 

And this is why when Sora suddenly faded out of view on the beach next to Kairi I slowly leaned back in my chair, dropped my controller into my lap, and flipped off my tv screen with both hands.

#vent #kh3 spoilers #kh3 #writing criticism #give these kids the happy ending they deserve #they can be paired in any combo you want #but let them be happy

[romanovanatalia]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (or Salazar’s Revenge ugggh what even is that change of name) spoilers (sorry for not using the ‘read more’ cut but I’m on my phone and it’s not showing)

first of all: THEY DARED TO KILL CAPTAIN HECTOR BARBOSSA, RIGHTFUL CAPTAIN OF THE BLACK PEARL AND PIRATE LORD OF THE CASPIAN SEA (AGAIN!!!!!) What the hell was even that dead???? The best character in this entire franchise deserved a much better written death than just dying because of the cliché plot of the “long lost daughter” PLEEEEASE. The Hector Barbossa I’ve known for the past 14 years wouldn’t have cared about having a daughter, he only cared about himself. 

Which leads me to the next stage: denial. HAHAHAHAHAH HE’S NOT DEAD. He became the richest fucking pirate in the entire world and we all know about his obsession with becoming immortal: Barbossa totally went back to Isla de Muerta and grabbed a few pieces of the Aztec treasure AGAIN. Exhibit A: we see him eating some sweets but not apples because he wouldn’t dare to eat his most beloved food without feeling its taste in his mouth. Exhibit B: He’s Barbossa, he’s the greatest and the one truly pirate in all these movies. He can’t be dead. “It’s a pirates life, Hector”❤️

Now going back to the plot.... Javier Bardem was a cool villain (better than Blackbeard, but never like my beloved Barbossa and Davy Jones*)

Kaya Scodelario and the Brendon (or Brandon???) Tw-something cannot act. Sorry children.

Jack Sparrow was the least interesting part of this movie of course, but I’d like to point something about him: there are some POTC books (which were considered canon) and they had a much more interesting backstory for Jack. He worked for the East India Trading Company and was in charge of a ship, the Black Pearl or as it was known before, The Wicked Wench. Beckett (you know, the villain from the previous movies) wanted him to trade with slaves and Jack refused, reason enough for Beckett to sink The Wicked Wench and mark Jack with the P of “Pirate” in his arm. In exchange, Jack seems to have hit Beckett so hard between his legs that he ended up as an eunuch (the scene in Dead Man’s Chest when Will asks Beckett which mark did Jack leave on him also strongly implies it). In the end, while the ship was sinking and Jack was dying, he made his deal with Jones to bring back his ship as the Black Pearl and he sailed under pirate flag. So yeah, that was a much interesting. Which leads me to...

Someone hasn’t been paying attention to the plot of the previous movies, part 1: TIA DALMA GAVE JACK THAT FUCKING COMPASS, HE DIDN’T GET IT FROM A DYING MATE. In Dead Man’s Chest she clearly says “The compass you bartered from me it cannot lead you to this?”. Do your homework dear script writers; see the previous 4 movies.

I WAS FORCED TO PAY TO SEE A MOVIE WITH ORLANDO BLOOM ONLY TO SEE HIM 3 MINUTES. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??? I knew he wasn’t going to be a lot in the movie, but hey! At least I thought that since the movie was motivated FOR him, we would see him a bit more.

Someone hasn’t been paying attention to the plot of the previous movies, part 2: Davy Jones and his crew looked all fish-y because Jones wasn’t doing his job of reaping the souls of those who died at the sea. Will Turner would have never stop doing his job, plus according to the post-credits scene in At World’s End, 10 years after he became the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, he looked the same. And wasn’t the first scene in this movie 8 years after this (according to those papers Henry had)??? Uggh, I hate lazy writing.

I loved to see my beautiful Pirate King, Elizabeth Swann but couldn’t she have had some dialogue??? It’s not so hard. At least, the Turners got their well-deserved happy ending (where is Bootstrap Bill Turner tho??? he should have been with Will at the Flying Dutchmen)

The movie had its fun moments and some great moments (Barbossa *cough cough*) but overall, the script was very poorly written. Pirates of the Caribbean holds a very special place in my heart since I was 8 years old, but the last 2 movies shouldn’t have existed.

* THAT! POST! CREDITS! SCENE! It was AMAZING. It kept me on the edge of my seat. It was so so good. I’m willing to tolerate another movie just to be revealed that after all the sea curses were broken, Calypso brought Davy Jones back. 

#pirates of the caribbean #potc spoilers #potc #dead men tell no tales

[lovlydovlyjaycie]

Ævi - Frontlines

Hey again! This will be a continued series. The first Ævi series is in my masterlist and is only four parts. This is going to be a ongoing series, so there is going to be a lot more of Ævi to come. :)

Summary: Y/n or also known as Ævi has lived through varies of world events. Now it is 1941, she has excepted that some things cannot be changed so Loki has convinced Y/n to go to New York and live a normal life, a life Y/n always wanted. Or as normal it can be, because new introductions lead to events that didn’t go down in the history books.

Characters: Bucky Barnes x reader, Steve Rogers, Peggy, Loki, OC Vera

Warnings: Fluff, Violence, we’re officially in Captain America the First Avenger now... So I guess spoilers?

Note: When I am writing and particularly writing about Bucky and y/n meeting again or them just being in love I always listen to Pirates of the Caribbean to the theme or Will and Elizabeth and I thought it would be good to share that with you guys. To get in the feels. Right now it jumps from POTC One day and the last minute or so from Drink up me hearties yo ho. I know it is so random, but I cannot get it out of my head.

Part 10

I woke up next to Bucky the next day with the blankets sprawled all over me and Bucky laying his arm lazily over me, still asleep. I looked at the dog tags that I was wearing. It felt nice having something with Bucky's name on it, to have something of his with me. I carefully turned around towards Bucky. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. Even in his sleep he had his well known smirk plastered on his face, probably dreaming about some good things. I reached with my hand towards his face. Slightly tracing his lips with my fingers and then up to his cheek. I was rubbing slow circles on his cheek with thumb.

"Good morning." He said quietly, his smirk becoming bigger. "Sorry for waking you up." I told him apologetic sliding my hand back to my place, but he quickly grabbed it. "Waking up next to you is the best thing, so never apologize for that doll." He told me as he guided my hand back to his cheek and he opened his eyes to look at me.

"What are you up to today?" I asked starting to rub circles on his cheek again. "If it were up to me.. I'd stay here the whole day." Bucky moved closer, our heads touching. My hand slid down to his neck. "But sadly it is not up to you. So what are you gonna do?" I said smiling. "Training. I wanted to ask.. Do you want to train with us or did they teach you enough in Sweden and Norway? You still got me curious about that, doll, but if you don't want to tell me I'll respect that." He continued on. I understood the curiosity and I wanted to tell him, but I didn't know what his reaction would be. "I have learned a lot from Sweden and Norway. And I will tell you everything you want to know, but I need time to find the right words.. And I want the world not to be going to shit." I slightly laughed. There was so much going on.. And how do you even tell a person that I am from the future, but have lived so far in the past as well. I honestly never told anyone before, besides Bjorn and his family, but they were there when I was figuring out what was happening to me. And then Loki, Thor, Odin, Heimdall and Frigga know, more like everyone in Asgard knew, but those five actually know the whole story. But besides that I never even tried to tell someone. And this time I really wanted to tell Bucky, but I have no clue how.

"I understand. Don't worry." He smiled then sighed. "I need to get ready." He turned over on his back. "At least we work at the same place." And he gave me a kiss on my mouth. But as soon as it started, it was over. "Lets get ready for work." I told him as I started to get up. "But lets end our day like this." He pulled my arm, making me fall on him. He kissed me again, this time it was deeper. He flipped us over, so now he was hovering over me. "I need to get these replaced." He said as he held his dog tags in his hand. He gave me a smirk. "They do look a lot better on you." He leaned in again for another kiss. "Bucky.. We.. Need.. To.. Get.. To.. Work.." After every word I got another kiss. I couldn't stop giggling between the kisses. "Bucky." I tried, but not really trying to stop him. "Alright. Lets get to work." And he stood up. As he started to walk away he turned around quickly once more and gave me another kiss. "Last one." He said as he almost skipped to the bathroom. All I could do was laugh.

-I walked in the facility to meet up with someone named Howard. Before I greeted everyone I decided to put the dog tags under my shirt. "Ah! You must be Y/n Ironside!" A man called and kind of startled me. "Yes I am." I said with big eyes turning around to see where the voice was coming from. It was a man with dark hair and a mustache. He walked up to me and put out his hand. "Nobody told me how beautiful you are. I am Howard Stark." He happily said as he was shaking my hand. "Howard Stark, I swear I have heard that name before. What's your full name?" He smirked. "Howard Anthony Walter Stark. You may have heard of me through my inventions. I have been trying to make cars fly and I see it happening in the near future." The last part I barely heard what he said. I could only think of the name Anthony. Anthony Stark. Tony Stark. Right before I got zapped away to the past he told everyone he is Iron Man. Is Howard or I Howard going to be his father, I mean they are on the same path of inventing things.

"I think I have heard Bucky mention your name before." I responded. "Bucky? Your husband?" He asked, trying to figure out whatever he was trying to figure out. "No.. But I am taken, if that's what you're getting at.." I said as I narrowed my eyes at him. He put his hands up. "Just curious. Anyway, I'll give you the tour of what we got." He said as he started walking, indicating I needed to follow. "So we have been dismantling the guns you had found in Switzerland. And there are some really interesting parts." He walked towards a machine that was holding up something that was shining blue. "This was something that was found in the guns." He explained. I stepped closer. There was no way. It looked like it was part of the Tesserect. That's how they made the guns. With the machine he was holding up the little piece, carefully. "Seems harmless enough." Howard stated. "Hard to see what all the fuss is about." He moved another machine arm closer, this one had a sort of laser. "NO!" I yelled as we got hit back by the blast of the little stone. "Write that down." Howard said. "Are you ok?" I asked as I came over to help him up. "I'm fine darling." He said as I helped him up. "Whatever that small thing is.. it is powerful." He stated.

This was actually good to know. To have the power of the stone, you don't need the whole stone. Even small bits and pieces could be powerful enough if you used it. I know the power I have is strong, but having the spell on me that Frigga helped me with so the stone can not be traced was not letting my powers come out to my full extend. I also have never really been able to use my full powers, for my own protection and others. Sometimes I do wonder what my limit is, but what if it is too much? What if I hurt people that I swore to protect? What if I cant control it? These are questions I don't want answers to right now or maybe ever.

As I turned around I saw Steve walking up. "Hi Steve." I said happy to see him and giving him a quick hug. "I have a question. What does fondueing mean?" He asked quietly. I snorted. "What? Fondue is just cheese and bread, dork." He narrowed his eyes seeing if I was joking. "Really?" He asked. "Really." I laughed.

"Alright ladies come on." Howard said ready to get back to work. "Right now we're working on everything to make sure you and your men, and woman, do not get killed." He told us showing Steve around the lab. I had no idea what they were making. "Carbon polymer. Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although Hydra's not going to attack you with a pocket knife." Howard told us as he showed us some material. It was most likely for his suit. "I hear you're kind of attached." Howard said as he patted the shield Steve had with him at the Hydra facility. It had a few bullet holes in them. Would be useless now. "It's handier than you might think." He told him. "You know you should think about a weapon or something to protect yourself with as well. Not just a shield." I told Steve. "I don't know. I don't think I want a offensive weapon. I want to protect people and defend them. How am I supposed to do the with a weapon." The last part wasn't a question. And he was right. To have a sort of shield as a symbol for protection would be such a good message. Steve has always been such a good man, fighting for what is right. I almost feel like a proud mother. "You're right. I completely agree with you." I told him. But what does that say about me? I swore to protect Life. And always when I fight I have my sword with me or knifes. Was I wrong for doing that?

"I took the liberty of coming up with some new options for your shield." Howard broke my train of thought. On the table there were many other shields. And they were the complete opposite of what Steve wanted. Howard was explaining somethings about the shields as I saw out of the corner of my eye another shield. Much smaller than the ones on the table. "What about this one?" I asked as I took the shield from next to the table and handed it over to Steve. It was very light. "No, no, that's just a proto type." Howard said dismissively. "What's it made of?" Steve asked him. "Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent." Steve was spinning the shield around in his hands checking it out. He put the shield on his arm and gave it another look. "It looks good, Steve." He smiled and nodded at me. He also seemed to like it a lot too. "That is the rarest metal on Earth." Howard told him.

"You quite finished Mr. Stark?" Peggy asked as she came walking in the lad. "What do you think?" Steve asked Peggy. I could see in his eyes that he really like her. Slightly trying to show off his stance with the shield. In a quick motion Peggy grabbed a gun and fired at Steve. I quickly stepped away looking on in shock. Four shots and not even a dent in the shield. Howard's mouth was gaping open from shock. "Yes I think it works." Peggy said as she brushed by Steve. When Peggy was out of sight I spoke up. "What the hell did you do?!" I yelled at him punching him in the shoulder. "I-.. I don't know.." Steve said stammering. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Steve?" I said in a warning tone. "She might have seen me kiss another dame." That deserved another punch to his shoulder. "You what?! I thought you like Peggy? What are you doing kissing other girls for?" He shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't mean to." I pushed him. "Well you better get your priorities straight, cause we are leaving soon." I said as I walked away from him.

-

We had done a few missions already. It felt strange working with multiple people at once. I was so used to working alone. But there was still no luck on the Tesserect. There were many people with the same guns we had found earlier, but that was it. It was becoming so frustrating to still not be able to find anything. Even more so when people around me were getting hurt.

"Alright, here is the plan. Sergeant Barnes, you are gonna go up on the hills and you will be the look out for us. I will go down first to the facility and take out any threats that are outside. Dugan, Morita, Falsworth you take the Eastside. Jones and Dernier take West. Sawyer, Pinkerton and Juniper take North. Y/n, you stay close to me." Everybody nodded in agreement. We all got ready and checked our things. I put my knifes behind my back and Bucky had added a hand gun to my belt as well. He had told me it would make him feel less worried if I didn't just have knifes with me.

"You got everything?" Bucky asked coming closer and strapping his riffle to his back. "I do." I told him showing off the gun he gave me. "You have enough bullets?" I smiled. "I do. Don't worry. I am probably not even gonna use the gun anyway. So don't worry." I said smiling coming closer. "Besides.. I have this to protect me." I showed him the dog tags that were hidden under my shirt. "I would feel better if I was actually with you." He told me as he took the dog tags in his hand and gave them another look. "You know I need to check the facility. Who else is gonna make sure it is safe from a distance?" I told him smiling. "You really need to teach me how to fight with knifes." He told me as he pulled me closer to his chest.

It was always scary separating like this. Bucky was always somewhere behind up in the hills or between the trees. When I was somewhere at the front with Steve or Gabe Jones. I knew Bucky could defend himself, but I never have really seen him fight hand to hand.

"Alright. After this mission I will teach you a few things with me knife. Just don't do anything stupid." He laughed and nodded and hugged me a little tighter. I put my head down on his chest. Hearing his heart steadily pump. His warm embrace always calmed me down or just made me feel at peace. I breathed in his scent, he smelled like gunpowder and warm wood. "Be safe out there." I told him quietly. He put his hand up to my hair and started rubbing circles. "I will."

-

The mission had gone fairly well. We took out every Hydra member at this facility. But still no Tesserect. I mean how many hiding places do they even have? I feel like I have looked everywhere, but every single time there was nothing.

"Did you find what you where looking for?" Steve asked coming up behind me. "No, still nothing." I shook my head. It was getting so frustrating leaving empty handed every single time. "Did anybody know about what you were looking for?" Steve continued on. I wish someone did know as to where to find the Tesserect. "No, I need to find someone who is in some of the higher ranks they-.. Ahh!" My leg felt hot. I looked down and there was blood gushing out of my upper leg. I fell to the ground from the pain. In just a moment it would be gone, so I couldn't make a tooo big of a scene about it, but right now it hurt a lot and it was hard not to scream. Steve quickly jumped in action to the offender. He threw his shield towards the Hydra agent and he fell down.

"Y/n!" I heard coming from my right. Bucky was running down a hill towards me. "No! Stop!" I yelled. He didn't look if it was clear. Because behind the tree I saw another agent come out from hiding pointing his gun to Bucky's back. I quickly grabbed my knife I had behind my back and threw it at the Hydra agent. Bucky was trying to turn around and put his gun up at him at the same time, but the knife already hit the Hydra agent in his chest. In that moment the Hydra agent had pulled the trigger and hit Bucky in his right shoulder. "Bucky!"

My leg was not fully healed yet, but I bit down the pain and ran towards Bucky as fast as my legs could take me. Everything seemed to go in slow-motion from that moment on. I slowly saw Bucky fall to the ground and I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. Every step I took made my heart beat faster for the worry I had for Bucky. As I came close to him I dropped to my knees.

"Bucky keep your eyes open!" I said. I checked his shoulder and saw all the blood gushing out. "Are you ok?" Bucky asked me out of breath. "Worry about yourself, Buck. You need to stay awake." I had to heal him even though there were people around me. I looked at Bucky's face and saw it drain of color. His eyes were slowly dropping. "Stay with me." I told him as I put my hand on his bullet wound. I quickly looked around and saw that Steve was already running towards us. It was now or never I thought. I put all my energy I had towards my hand and it started to light up. White and gold swirling around my hand and going through Bucky's skin. I looked at Bucky's face again and saw his eyes snap open. It worked. I slowly lifted my hand up and saw that the wound was already as good as healed. There was still a cut left, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was before. This would be naturally healed in a little more than a week. My hand had stopped glowing.

"Are you ok?" I asked Bucky with hopeful eyes. "I-... I uh.. I'm ok. What happened?" He asked me as he sat up. Steve had caught up and dropped down next to us. "Are you ok! I saw you get shot!" Steve said. Bucky looked down at his shoulder. It was still covered in blood, but he could definitely tell something was off. He saw the wound, but it was small, but there was a lot of blood. He pulled down his shirt from his shoulder trying to see if there were more wounds, but that was it. He looked really confused. He slowly looked up at me. He tried to search my eyes for an answer. "I thought I got shot too."

...

..

.

Let me know what you think :)

If you wanna be tagged let me know :)

@darkdragonphoenix

@toribentleyva

@witchinpractice

@cat-astrophe4

#bucky barnes #bucky barns fanfiction #bucky barns x reader #bucky barns x you #bucky barns x y/n #bucky barns imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes fic #loki fanfic #loki laufeyson #loki #loki imagine #loki fanfiction #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #marvel #captain america #captain america first avenger #first avenger #mcu #avengers #the avengers #avengers imagine #avengers fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #image

[isakthedragon]

A Dragon Sized Adventure Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Everybody's Super Sonic Racing...

*The next terrarium up on the list is the Motorworld Terrarium. Nitros Oxide has decided to exact some revenge on the bandicoots by recreating the dangerous park that is Von Clutch's Motorworld and forcing everyone that was at the park (humans and all) there to endlessly race until they die. Now that our heroes have arrived, hopefully they can stop this nonsensical race.*

Sonic looks at their new surroundings. "Hmm? Racetracks, huh? I didn't know you guys did some racing."

Coco: "Yeah. And it looks like we are at-"

*Coco is interrupted by a loud, fan-girlish shriek. A short (like 4') cyborg-man runs their way, accompanied by an Opossum and 2 chickens.*

Ebenezer Von Clutch, with his thick German accent: "Crash! And all other video game heroes! They'll save us! I have all your games!"

Spyro: "What the heck is he talking about?"

*Crash, Coco, and Crunch look a little uneasy to talk about it.*

Pasadena Opossum attempts to steer the conversation away from what is clearly unknown knowledge. "You'll have to excuse him, he's a little loopy. It's actually nice to see you guys, though. Hopefully you can help us."

Sonic: "What's wrong?"

Chick (To the cameraman, with his Howard Cosell voice): "Good morning, race fans, to what is our 3rd day in this endless race. Morale is running low here as Nitros Oxide runs us ragged."

Stew (Wearing what looks like a blue Mohawk): "That's right, Chick. In fact, he reminds me of my wife chasing me with a frying pan-"

Chick: "I think that's enough, Stew, before your wife actually kills you."

Pasadena: "Any way, we need your help to defeat Oxide in a race against him. But first, you need to collect the 5 crystals he's offering for winning each race."

Sonic: "Doesn't sound so tough if you ask me."

*Oxide flies in in his hovercraft from somewhere in the park to where the heroes are.* "That won't be easy, you blue pincushion! Don't think I haven't been studying you heroes! You guys have to race in these karts I provided!" *He calls the transport beam and forces everyone into karts* "I doubt you guys can win this way!" *He laughs and flies off.*

Sonic feigns being scared. "Oh, no! He's taken away our only chance of beating him! Oh, what will we do?!"

Shadow: "Sarcastic much, Sonic? I agree, he is an idiot. Let's go beat him."

Sonic: "Let me. I want to show him the meaning of speed." *The others don't object and let Sonic take this world. He screeches his kart's tires and speeds off.*

(I should note that the HUB are here is of the Midway.)

—–

Level 61: Mystery Islanding

Crates: 60

Time Trial

Sapphire: 4:00.00

Gold: 3:50.00

Platinum: 3:40.00

(There is no helping partner in this world. Other than you, 7 other characters are chosen at random to be in the race. Everyone does have their own strengths and weakness, so there is no clear easy pick. There are also 4 kart riding lab assistant pawns too, bringing the roster in a race to 12.)

Badniks: Kart-Driving Lab Assistant Pawns: They're mostly here to make the race harder, but they won't be actively after you. Pirate Lab Assistant Pawns: They run down the track dragging anchors to make you spin out, wasting time. (It's all they can do, any way. It does also take away some Wumpa fruit and rings.)

Chick: "Welcome, race fans, to Mystery Island, your first driving challenge. Race your way through this pirating wonder that is a complete remake of Von Clutch's Tiki Turbo, Pirates of the Carburetor and Deep Sea Driving!"

Stew (Wearing yellow fox ears): I've never had such a blended mash since I put chocolate bars with a salad-"

Chick: "Ahem!... Any way, do you think you can plunder victory from the Jaws of defeat or will you end up a casualty of Davy Jones Locker?

Oxide has made 5 courses made out of the race tracks of the original Motorworld. This one is specifically made of the Mystery Island tracks: Pirates of the Carburetor(POTC), Tiki Turbo(TT), and Deep Sea Driving(DSD). The track is somewhat of a mishmash of the 3 since it has the pirate ships of POTC, the underwater parts of DSD and TT's mountain and sea walk. At least it's a short race (It should only take a minute for a lap to suggest how long the track is).

There are plenty of weapons at your disposal, like the missiles and bowling bombs, beakers and TNTs and even warped clocks. They come in nice, floating objects that you simply need to drive through.

There are also rings and Wumpa fruit about the track too. Collecting Wumpa fruit makes the kart go faster, with 10 making the kart its fastest and also making the weapons stronger. Although rings won't make the kart faster by themselves, collecting 50 rings will let you change the kart into it's super form, probably guaranteeing you the win.

Getting first place on these tracks wins you a crystal and getting all the boxes strewn about wins you a gem.

Achievement Unlocked: Animatronic Pirate Island.

-----

Level 62: Stinking Beauty's Fairy Tale

Crates: 62

Time Trial

Sapphire: 3:30.00

Gold: 3:20.00

Platinum: 3:10.00

Badniks: Knight and Horse Lab Assistant Pawns: They run down the track to try to spear you.

Chick: "Magic fills the air here, race fans, in Happily Ever Faster."

Stew (Wearing bat ears): "Almost like it came out of a storybook. I wonder if we will see the beautiful Stinking Beauty."

Chick: "Well, if our racers can survive Once Upon A Tire, Track and the Beanstalk and Evilocity, we might just get that." 

This level is made out of the Happily Ever Faster tracks. We have the drive through the castle from Once Upon a Tire, (I shit you not) a drive on a rainbow from Track and the Beanstalk, and the trip through the mirror and the drive by a dragon from Evilocity.

Achievement Unlocked: Took One Too Many Poison Apples

-----

Level 63: Dangerous Curves

Crates: 58

Time Trial

Sapphire: 3:10.00

Gold: 3:05.00

Platinum: 3:00.00

Badniks: Cave Man Lab Assistant Pawns: They stand near the edges of the track, trying to club you.

Stew (wearing Dragon horns like Spyro): "Hey, man! Tyrannosaurus Wrecks is freaking crazy now with all the dinosaurs running about!"

Chick: "Aren't we related to them? Maybe we can blend in..."

Stew (wearing horns more like Ember and Cynder): "Well, if our racers don't go as slow as tar through Fossil Fuel Injection, Labrea Car Pits, and Tire and Ice, we might just make it out alive."

Chick: "I second that."

Oxide decided to add some realistic charm (Read: more dangerous) by letting actual dinosaurs roam in the Tyrannosaurus Wrecks tracks. We have the dinosaur drive by in Fossil Fuel Injection, the trip down a volcano from Labrea Car Pits, and a icy slide through a cave from Tire and Ice.

Achievement Unlocked: Another Blast from the Past

-----

Level 64: Mummy Drivest

Crates: 64

Time Trial

Sapphire: 3:40.00

Gold: 3:35.00

Platinum: 3:30.00

Badniks: Mummy Lab Assistant Pawns: They just waste space on the track with their slow lumbering.

Chick: "Well, race fans, it's a return to ancient-ish Egypt once more in this race in haunted Tomb Town."

Stew(Wearing bandages on his head): "I hope these racers won't by running for their mummies while driving through Dead Heat, Crash Test Mummies, and Pyramid Pass. I got money riding on some of them!"

Chick: "I have the exact same sentiment, Stew, cause I know I'm gonna beat ya!"

Stew (Wearing an Egyptian headdress): "No, you aint, Chicky-poo!"

Mummy Lab Assistants come out in force here in the Tomb Town tracks. We have the S curve area from Dead Heat and the drives through the pyramids from Crash Test Mummies and Pyramid Pass.

Achievement Unlocked: I Want My Mummy!

-----

Level 65: Totally Spaced Out

Crates: 70

Time Trial

Sapphire: 4:00.00

Gold: 3:55.00

Platinum: 3:50.00

Badniks: Astronaut Lab Assistant Pawns: They hide off the track, firing laser shots off at the track.

Chick: "Well, sports fans, here it is, the last racing challenge known as Astro Land."

Stew (Wearing an astronaut helmet): "Hey, Chick? How are we breathing? Cause all I can see is *Bleep*ing SPACE!"

Chick: "Best not to question it, but I assume Oxide had something to do with it. Hopefully, Sonic will emerge as the victor to save us from Oxide's reign, but he'll have to race through Uranus's Mine, the Craters Of Uranus, and the Rings of Uranus."

Stew (Wearing a black and red Mohawk): "That's a lot of Uranus!- Wait, hang on, the script made us go through the same joke as last time? Jeez, the writer must be lazy!"

Chick: "(Aside to Stew) I think he saw it as a repetition joke. Besides, he might just hate it too." *He looks back at the camera.* "Oh! Right. Just win this thing, Sonic. We're counting on you."

Oxide felt that Astro Land was a little lacking... so he decided to make these tracks actually take place in space! We start with the drive on the Rings Of Uranus, then through the mining area in Uranus's Mine, and then a warped trip through the strange gated area in Craters on Uranus.

Achievement Unlocked: A Trip Amongst the Stars

-----

Chick: "That's it! He's done it! Sonic has collected all five 1st place crystals!"

Stew (Wearing his black pompadour): "Now he has to defeat Oxide to set us free from this horrible, horrible nightmare!"

*The camera pans out to show Oxide in the next chair over.*

Oxide: "Horrible nightmare?! It's more like a dream for me!"

*Chick and Stew are surprised to see Oxide and are taken aback. Stew loses his hear, revealing a bald head.*

Oxide: "No matter. I am quite curious about this blue hedgehog..."

*Transport beams send Oxide, Sonic and everyone else to the Midway.*

Oxide: "So, we finally meet on better terms, Sonic the Hedgehog. I see you won all the crystals very easily."

Sonic: "Well, I am pretty fast, and known for it too. I am called the fastest thing alive."

Oxide: "Hmm, you remind me of my younger self on Gasmoxia. In any case, I doubt that adds up much since you live on a small world. I'm known as the fastest in the galaxy!"

Sonic: "I seriously doubt that."

Oxide: "Care to put you money where your mouth is? If I win, you guys are stuck here, racing till the end of time!"

Sonic: "Fine, but if I win, you take us out of these karts, and let all of these humans home."

Oxide: "Fine, but I doubt you can beat me on a racetrack like this!" *Oxide sends him and Sonic to a new area. He took all of the racetracks from Motorworld and rearranged them into one long super track that are even more messed up from before...*

Boss: Oxide

Chick: "Here we are, race fans, the last race. Sonic is challenging Oxide for our freedom."

Stew (Wearing hair like Silver): "You better win this race, Sonic, and it's not because I bet on you. We wanna get out of here!"

Chick: "You're reading our minds, Stew. Sonic just has to beat Oxide through what is his rendition of all the Motorworld tracks combined into one big mess."

Stew: "Sounds like one of my hard drunken nights. I can barely even tell one thing from another."

Chick: "Win this race, Sonic, to help free us all."

Oxide has decided to challenge you on a racecourse of his design. It's a race through all 12 of the Motorworld tracks, but it looks almost unrecognizable, an example being that Mystery Island has Astro Land and the other areas stuff. Even the courses have turns changed so they can all fit together. And, worse, Oxide cheats at the start by leaving a bit early and tends to fire off weaponry behind him more often. But, don't panic, Oxide still has his flaws. Since he tends to be a heavy taunt-er, he rarely is too far ahead of you. He also isn't tending to boost all the time, and his prone to making mistakes (Especially if you hit him with something.) Once you overtake him, it will be a lot easier since his hovercraft has no way to attack in front. Just keep ahead of him to win!

Achievement Unlocked: The Fastest Thing Alive

Oxide: "NO! I can't believe it! Once again, I lost to these small little Earth animals once more! What the hell is wrong in this backwater planet!-"

*A transport beam calls Oxide back and transports all the humans back to Earth. This leaves all the heroes, Von Clutch, Pasadena, and Chick and Stew left on in the Midway. They all get out of their karts.*

Sonic stretches. "Ah... it feels good to spread your legs out."

Chick: "I want to know why we are still here."

Crash: "I doubt Cortex was going to let you guys leave. You're free to follow us if you want."

Pasadena: "I suppose so. We don't have anywhere else to go. And you guys are probably our ticket out of here any way."

Von Clutch: "Ah! I am so happy! I get to see my favorite video games heroes in action! I have so much glee!"

Rouge: "I wonder why they transported the people away. It's not like Eggman." *Since they had nothing else to do here, they left the terrarium.*

Death Head's Bridge

Cortex: "Well, I don't think we could really use those for anything. The heroes are still going to come and kick our butts, so might as well do something good."

Eggman looks displeased, as though he didn't want to do it, but had to. "Cortex, do you even consider yourself a villain? You're not supposed to do something good!"

Cortex sounds defeated. "What's the point? Every plan I try to use on that bandicoot fails miserably."

Eggman: "You give up too easily, Cortex."

Cortex: "Just you see, Eggman. They're going to fight Uka-Uka next and I doubt he can do anything to stop them."

Next Time: Fear the wrath of an angry mask in the Cortex Terrarium.

#Isakthedragon's fanfiction #A Dragon Sized Adventure #ADSA #ADSA: Chapter 38

[leviismybitch]

I’ve been lazy with these things bc life but I decided to put my effort into them again because I miss being active on tumblr. So, hey, what’s up? Also hey this is hella late :’D

I was tagged by @mongoose-bite. Thank you cruncharoo :3

Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

--

1. You can (safely) visit another planet in our solar system. Which one and why? 

Uhm, I... don’t know which one I’d visit tbh. A planet that can sustain human life? Maybe take a couple of friends with me and we could chill there to get away from bullshit? That’s a nice thought :’D

2. What are you looking forward to?

Well, currently? The weekly updates of Yuri on Ice because it’s kind of become my grounding. It’s got me hyped. Also I’m looking forward to ... some kpop stuff XD one of my favourite groups is promoting right now so they’re on a lot of variety shows and they have a lot of performances which are great to watch.

3. What do you dance to when no one is watching?

Upbeat, hard bass, body-rolling type of music. I usually dance in the mirror or around the apartment when no one is home. ... I just really hope none of my neighbours decided to window watch bc my dancing is anything but graceful haha :D If you want specific songs rn? Mostly kpop songs, Also Uptown Funk bc ofc. Uhhh also ABBA songs sometimes... and the PotC soundtrack :’D

4. What’s something about where you live that only a local would know?

Hrm. Idk I guess that we have a festival of culture (kind of, it’s actually hard to explain what it is) every year where people can go to artist corners and japanese workshops and i remember there being a kendo lesson one time and there’s also mini concerts and food stalls and ye it’s nice.

5. How’s that thing you’re working on going?

UHHHHHHHH y dis? ;o; it’s going very slowly and painfully. The WIP I’m currently working on doesn’t seem to be going anywhere but I’m trying to push on. I’ll make it work. It’s been ages since I’ve posted anything and it’s making me feel restless so I need to somehow break this endless circle of non-productivity :’D wish me luck haha

6. Have you ever had a food that you ate some much of you put yourself off it forever?

YES. Potatoes. I honestly do not like potatoes all too much because when I was a kid my grandpa liked to overfeed me with them so I just never really got over that. Now I occasionally eat mashed potatoes and very very rarely fries (from mcdonalds where they basically don’t even taste like potatoes but more like salt >.>) but not any other kind of potatoes. I just don’t like them at all. Rice is the bae for me.

7. What’s on your bedroom walls?

My guitar and four photo frames: a picture of smol me, a drawing I drew of Elsa, a grafitti painting I bought one time at the seaside of a horse in the moonlight (it’s very pretty), and a painting I did myself of my grandparents’ last puppy and kitty (I miss them). That’s basically it. Used to be posters, but, :’D

8. What do you wish had a fandom (or a bigger fandom)?

Huh, I dunno, I used to wish fandoms for anime I had just finished watching, but at the moment I feel like I’m mostly covered. So, yeah, currently nothing, but that’s liable to change :’D

9. What fictional organisation would you most want to work for?

To be honest, the only organisation I’d be willing to work in is any post-voldemort Wizarding organisation. Like, idk, maybe somewhere in the Ministry of Magic, or maybe at Hogwarts? If you can even count that as an organization? Dunno. But yes. I’d love to be able to do magic and work in a field for it!

10. Favourite pasta dish?

Spaghetti Bolognese :’D It’s a guilty pleasure.

11. What’s a trope guaranteed to make you love a character?

I’m trash for the most weird things tbh? And it doesn’t even make sense? Like, sometimes I love the asshole character(tm) but sometimes I don’t want to see a character like that at all. Sometimes I love the sunshine chars, sometimes I want that heavily tattooed char with a heart of gold, sometimes I want to see that grumpy char, etc. Idk. I just like well-written flawed-yet-still-lovable chars for the most part. IDK. I have weird preferences.

QUESTIONS:

1. What do you do when you can’t sleep?

2. What show/anime/movie/book etc. made you finally fall into the deep hole that is fandom?

3. What makes you hyped up and get things done?

4. What are some of your favourite singers/bands/groups?

5. What is your current show/anime/book etc. (choose one or many) that you’re watching/reading?

6. If you could give a hug to someone fictional, who would it be and why?

7. What is your favourite junk food/dessert?

8. What is your favourite thing of the town you live in?

9. That one song you always jam to?

10. Do you have that one trope you just can’t stop reading? If yes, which one is it?

11. If you were given a chance to master one language in a day, which one would it be and why?

I tag: @perksofbeingawaifu @erenbaegerr @monsoondownpour @pureren @raindrop-rouge @sugarplum-senpai @bfketh @ryukoishida @onewhositswiththeturtles @titanteeth @xenophonspeaks and anyone else that wants to do it ^^

#i'm so late #sorry QQ #meme thing #here it is finally lmao

[carewyncromwell]

The POTC AU is continuing, and with it, the reveal of the Brethren Court at Shipwreck Cove! Above we have six out of our seven Pirate Lords -- you’ll be meeting all of them in this section one by one, but to list them off, we have Merula Snyde; Arjun Singh (pictured with Aishwarya Mehra) @hogwarts9; Ellie Hopper @that-ravenpuff-witch; Jacob “Black Jack” Cromwell Roberts; Orion Amari; and Jae Kim.

Merula’s outfit is modeled slightly off of Angelica Teech’s from the fourth Pirates film, though with an oversized 18th century-style men’s undershirt rather than the “Renaissance Fair”-style shirt we get in the movie, while Jae’s most closely resembles Elizabeth Swann’s Pirate King ensemble from the third movie. Ellie’s is most closely modeled on Carina Smyth’s from the fifth Pirates film, though I did make some more period-worthy adjustments like the sleeve length and the light-weight scarf underneath the neckline, which were often worn by women of the time to obscure any deep cleavage and/or for warmth. Arjun and Jae, like the rest of the male pirates, I also gave facial hair because it was considered bad luck to shave while on board a ship, and so most pirates would invariably have beards of some variety, since they would be at sea much more than on land. In the 18th century in particular, beards were kind of “out of fashion” for men on dry land -- were you to have one, you were generally presumed to be eccentric, wild, uncouth, or just flat-out insane. (Which honestly kind of fits the traditional image of a pirate. XD)

The song “Hoist the Colours,” in the original Pirates films, actually refers to Davy Jones and the Brethren Court “binding Calypso in her bones” -- but since in this version of events, Finn McGarry/Davy Jones @theguythatdraws had no part in the Court binding Calypso (because seriously, OG!Jones?? Dick move), the “King” in the song is the original Pirate King, not Jones. It’s actually a rare case where one can take a lyric more literally than metaphorically. XD

A kumiho is a nine-tailed fox spirit from Korean mythology, rather like the Japanese kitsune. One of my personal headcanons for Jae Kim is that his Patronus is a fox. *grins at @kyril-hphm* 83

Previous part is here; whole tag is here; and also featured in this section are Jules Farrier-Weasley @cursebreakerfarrier (happy belated birthday, mon couer!) and Samantha O’Connell @samshogwarts!

x~x~x~x

Shipwreck Cove was a settlement made out of hundreds of wrecked ships, all stacked on top of each other inside of a dead volcano. It was an imposing fortress, lit by thousands of lanterns in the night. Even its location at the end of the treacherous Devil’s Throat gave it a sense of impregnability -- it needed no tall walls to keep its enemies out.

As soon as Charlie arrived on the island, his new First Mate Barnaby Lee cheerfully showed him and the rest of the Phoenix’s crew around before he guided them to the Hall of the Codex, the room where members of the Brethren Court gathered, whenever they convened. Barnaby advised Charlie to make sure he stuck his sword in the globe before approaching the table -- it not only signaled his status as Pirate Lord to the other gathered Lords, but it also was a sign of respect to the others, indicating that he would not incite violence at the meeting.

“You can bring other weapons to the table, though, so you could still start a fight if you really wanted to,” Barnaby added rather brightly.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” laughed Charlie.

“CHARLIE!”

The new captain of the Phoenix looked up, and his face lit up at the sight of a familiar freckled face racing towards him.

“Bill!”

The two Weasley brothers latched onto each other, squeezing each other in a giant hug.

“Thank God, Charlie!” Bill mumbled as he clutched at the back of his brother’s coat.

Jules ran over too so she could also bring an arm around Charlie, resting a hand on the back of his head as she and Bill both hugged him tight.

“We were so worried about you,” said Jules, her voice a bit more level than Bill’s but no less relieved.

She glanced curiously at the new hat and coat his new crew had lent him.

“...Is there a story behind the new clothes?”

Charlie grinned a bit sheepishly. “Uh...aye! Actually...”

“Can we send Weasley and her crew out so we can call this meeting to order already?” came a rather impatient female voice from the table.

“Captain Farrier-Weasley and the crew of the Revolution are my guests,” said the level, patient voice of Orion.

“This meeting is for Pirate Lords, Amari,” said the impatient voice irritably. “You can’t just invite non-Lords to it -- ”

"Jules’s father is the Governor of Port Royal,” said the logical voice of McNully. “Since Port Royal’s the current base of operations for Cutler Beckett and the Navy, there’s a 65% chance she’ll have some good insight about how to approach this whole thing.”

“And considering we’ll likely be missing a member of our Court, I thought it might be helpful to have another captain present who could fill in for our seventh Lord,” Orion added calmly.

"You can’t decide that all on your own, Amari!”

“He’s not trying to!” snapped Skye’s voice. “At least Orion’s trying to bring something to the table besides tantrums -- !”

“Skye, please,” Orion soothed quietly. “Samantha, is it against the Code for Pirate Lords to invite other captains to meetings?”

Charlie’s ears perked up. Samantha O’Connell was there too?

Jules beckoned Bill and Charlie with a jerk of her head to follow her into the Hall of the Codex properly.

There was a large, stained, circular table set up in the middle of the room, around which two women and two men --  presumably four out of the seven Pirate Lords -- were already seated with Orion. One of the Lords -- a young man with tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and a black ponytail -- had a dark-haired woman who closely resembled him standing behind his chair with her arms resting on top of the back. Charlie guessed they must be related.

“...The Code does state meetings of the Brethren Court are to be attended by the Pirate Lords and their crews,” said Samantha. She was sitting with her legs slouched over the right arm of a high-backed chair in the corner of the room, a gigantic, dusty, leather-bound book open in her lap. “But it doesn’t say that it can only be attended by those people...so any dispute to the rule could be settled by popular vote. If any other Lord wished to co-sponsor your guests, Orion, they could stay.”

Samantha then flashed a beady look at the brown-haired female pirate -- likely the one who’d been arguing with Orion -- across the table.

“What is stated, though, is that all active Pirate Lords must be present before a meeting starts.”

The blond female captain sitting closest to the door nodded in agreement. “And we’re still missing one Pirate Lord.”

“Technically we’re missing two Lords,” the tanned young man pointed out in a rather charming, amused voice.

“I doubt the Lord of the Pacific Ocean will show up, Arjun,” said the woman leaning against the back of his chair. “I mean, there hasn’t been one since the first Brethren Court...”

“You’ll have one for this meeting.”

Everyone turned around in surprise as Charlie strode forward toward the globe, stabbing his dragon-hilted blade into it just as Barnaby instructed.

“Charlie?” said Bill, perfectly stunned.

Charlie walked up to the table, the crew of the Phoenix following along behind, and stopped in front of the empty chair beside Orion’s. He shot Samantha a smile and a little wave, before he glanced around at the other Lords more more seriously.

“I’ll second Captain Amari’s sponsorship of Captain Farrier-Weasley and her crew,” he said firmly. He tapped his hat to indicate the S-and-anchor-trimmed “Piece of Eight” button he’d sewn onto it, before removing it and setting it down on the table as he took a seat. “The crew of the Revolution is welcome to attend this meeting.”

He shot a cheeky grin over his shoulder at his brother and sister-in-law. Bill’s mouth had dropped open in shock and disbelief. Jules looked rather stunned too, but she recovered more quickly and soon smiled broadly herself, coming up to stand between Charlie and Orion the way the woman with Arjun stood behind him.

Orion gave Charlie a muted, but still very pleased smile.

“Captain Charlie Weasley...allow me to introduce Captain Merula Snyde of the Blackbird, Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea -- ”

He indicated the impatient pink-eyed brunette, who was now slouching in her seat and crossing her arms irritably.

“ -- Captain Ellie Hopper of the Treasure, Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea -- ”

The blonde pirate wearing the thigh-length teal dress and brown tricorn hat nodded politely to Charlie and smiled. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“ -- Captain Arjun Singh of the Naga, Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean, and his cousin and co-captain, Aishwarya Mehra -- ”

The man called Arjun and the woman behind him both smiled and inclined their heads respectfully to Charlie.

“ -- Captain Jae Kim of the Kumiho, Pirate Lord of the South China Sea -- ”

A pirate with a long black braid dressed in a beautifully patterned gold silk tunic, who was slouching casually in his seat, raised his hand in an off-hand wave. “Hey.”

“ -- and last but certainly not least, Samantha O’Connell, Keeper of the Code.”

“We’ve met,” said Charlie with a cheeky grin.

Samantha’s lips were tugged up into a broad smile too as she closed the large book in her lap and got to her feet.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And of course you already know Orion -- Pirate Lord of the Caribbean Sea.”

“So the last Lord is for the Atlantic Ocean?” said Jules after a moment, once she’d mentally listed off all the seas she’d heard.

“Aye -- that I am.”

Everyone looked up as a man with a long mane of dark curls and hollowed-out, almond-shaped blue eyes strode up to the round table.

“Black Jack!” said Barnaby in relief.

The rest of the Phoenix chattered happily at the sight of the Tower Raven’s captain. Charlie was relieved too, seeing that Carewyn’s brother was all right after all. Unlike the rest of the captains present, Jacob only had Ashe accompanying him instead of a full crew, and both men were also missing their hats and dressed in sopping wet clothes.

“Apologies for my tardiness,” muttered Jacob as he sidled into the seat next to Merula’s. “Ashe and I had to swim most of the way here, as that twat Rakepick decided to blow up my ship -- ”

“Swim?” repeated Merula, sounding both perfectly scandalized and disbelieving. “How could you have swam all the way here from...wherever the Hell you were?”

“Very strong lungs and muscles,” Ashe said in such a cool voice that it put an end to the train of conversation. He stood over Jacob much the way Aishwarya stood over Arjun, draping his arms around the back of the chair so as to hug Jacob from behind, and shot beady looks at the remaining Pirate Lords. “Seems they’re all in attendance, Jack.”

“Aye,” said Jacob. “Shall we begin, then?”

“Aye,” agreed Samantha. “Now, as per the Code, we can call this meeting of the Fourth Brethren Court to order.”

“Finally,” growled Merula.

She immediately shot to her feet and addressed the others.

“All right -- for those of you who aren’t aware...the Flying Dutchman, cursed ship of the damned, has been impressed into service by the British Navy. Then, under that arse Cutler Beckett’s orders, it attacked Tortuga.”

Jacob looked stricken. “Tortuga?”

Merula nodded. “Two hundred people have now been hanged in Port Royal, all for supposedly aiding and abetting pirates -- men, women, and children.”

Ellie looked back at her crewmates, visibly disturbed by the news. Arjun and Aishwarya exchanged a grim look.

“Both of the Captains Weasley and I were on Tortuga at the time of the attack,” said Orion, indicating Charlie, Jules, and himself. “I’m afraid the Flying Dutchman has burned the settlement to the ground. It’s no longer safe to return to.”

“It’s worse than that,” Charlie said lowly. He glanced from Jacob to Orion. “...Commodore Carey Weasley...warned me that Beckett is on his way here, to Shipwreck Cove.”

Orion’s dark eyes widened. Jacob stiffened sharply.

“You saw Carey?” said Bill, his voice strained with desperation.

Charlie glanced at his brother uneasily. “Yeah. ...He’s aboard the Flying Dutchman.”

The pronouncement made Jacob lunge to his feet so violently he knocked his chair over with a clatter.

“What?!”

His face was as white as a sheet as the rest of the Pirate Lords and their crews muttered amongst themselves. Ashe squeezed his lover’s shoulders that bit more tightly, his own brown eyes narrowing in concern. Bill had also blanched, his freckles sticking out sharply on his face. Orion’s gaze dropped onto his hands as he clasped them together on the table in front of him.

“Sh -- he can’t be on that ship!” Jacob shouted. “I explicitly told him to stay in Port Royal, away from the sea -- !”

“Carey had to have been ordered to go,” Jules cut Jacob off as gently as she could, even if she looked just as anxious as Bill and Charlie were. “If he got the order, he wouldn’t have been able to disobey it...not if he wanted to keep his position as Commodore -- to protect all of us.”

She glanced at Bill and reached out and took his hand, squeezing it empathetically.

Arjun exchanged a confused look with Aishwarya.

“I’m sorry -- but I think we’re missing something here,” said the Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean with a bit of a sheepish smile. “Is the Commodore of the British Navy our ally now?”

“Of course not!” scoffed Merula. “Beckett’s been puffing his chest out for weeks, crowing about how he’s roped ‘the great Carey Weasley’ into his anti-piracy campaign. Rumor has it that the Commodore himself was the one who suggested sacking Tortuga in the first place!”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” said Jae.

Everyone turned to look at him, startled.

“Amari here captured Carey Weasley to send a message to the British Navy and the East India Trading Company, didn’t he?” said the Lord of the South China Sea. “Yet Weasley escaped him. Then, only a short while later, Amari got arrested in Weasley’s hometown of Port Royal, only to be ‘liberated’ by Weasley’s own brothers and the Governor’s daughter, who has now become his sister-in-law.” He nodded curtly at Jules, Bill, and Charlie. “...It seems clear to me that all of it must’ve been planned. There’s no reason I can see for Charlie, Bill, and Jules Weasley to break Amari out of prison unless he and the Commodore were allies.”

The Pirate Lords’ crews excluding Orion’s starting muttering again. Charlie glanced at Orion, but the Captain of the Artemis’s gaze was still solidly on his clasped hands on the tale.

“...That’s true,” the second eldest Weasley said at last. “Captain Amari and my twin staged the escape. That was the reason Jules, Bill, and I helped Captain Amari escape prison, so he could help us rescue Carey from Charles Cromwell. Carey may be with Beckett...but he’s only agreed to it so that he’ll be in a position to protect us, now that we’ve been branded pirates.”

“Your twin’s smart,” said Jae with a nod. His black eyes then flitted over to Jacob. “What I want to know, though, is how you know the Commodore, Black Jack?”

Jacob’s skull-like blue eyes narrowed very coldly upon Jae’s face. “My history with the Commodore is none of your business. Nor is it relevant.”

He turned his focus back to the rest of the Brethren Court, his eyes blazing. “If that bilge rat Beckett does know where Shipwreck Cove is, then we’ll need to make preparations.”

“What preparations?” said Jae. He looked oddly unconcerned as he slouched back in his chair. “Shipwreck Cove is a fortress. It would take ages for anyone to penetrate our defenses.”

“The British Navy has broken out their Man O’ Wars from the War against the Spanish,” said Jacob grimly. “No pirate I know of has a ship that large and heavily armed.”

“Even so,” said Arjun bracingly, “it would take at least a month for them to reach us here, even if they found Shipwreck Cove. Would Beckett really want to waste that much time?”

“And money too,” Ellie pointed out. “That’s always what men like him worry about most.”

“Not to mention all the lives of the men he’d lose,” said Aishwarya.

“I’m afraid those things mean little.”

Everyone looked at Orion. He slowly raised his gaze from his clasped hands at last to look at them all.

“Cutler Beckett may be a man of business,” the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean murmured, “but he’s also a vengeful, close-minded, and ambitious person. He seeks status and wealth, and he has no compassion for those who might stand in his way of achieving them. And right now, in his eyes, what stands in his way -- in the way of the East India Trading Company’s profits and his own personal ambitions -- is every person who sails under a pirate flag or who shows any sympathy for our plight. Beckett may be crafty enough to manipulate others rather than just using his own physical strength...but he only acts like a gentleman when he doesn’t have absolute power over another person’s life. When he does have that level of control over someone...he can be as ruthless as the Kraken itself.”

Despite the calm, serious expression on his face, there was an odd flash of cold emotion that crackled through his dark eyes. No one doubted Orion’s testimony.

“If the fleet Beckett’s assembled does contain Man O’ Wars,” said McNully, as he rolled his wheeled chair up beside Orion, “then there’s a 73.2% chance this could turn into a siege.”

Jules’s dark eyes became a little smaller and she set her jaw tightly.

“...Then we’ll just have to assemble our own Navy and fight back,” she said firmly after a moment.

The other Pirate Lords’ crews started to laugh.

“‘Navy?’” repeated Arjun. He wasn’t laughing, but he did look a little incredulous. “Captain Weasley...we pirates may have a Court and Lords, but we’re not a country. Even those of us who have fleets -- or had fleets,” he gave a nod toward Jacob, “don’t answer to anyone else.”

“Even Shipwreck Cove isn’t a military fort or town,” said Aishwarya. “People stay here, and it’s very well-protected...but it’s no one’s home.”

“No pirate has a home,” said Samantha solemnly from the sidelines. Her emerald green eyes had drifted off toward the wall absently. “Just a ship, if we’re lucky.”

Charlie’s eyes lingered on Samantha’s face, clearly struck by how grim and oddly sad she seemed, saying this.

Jules, however, didn’t falter in her conviction even slightly. If anything, her dark eyes grew sharper as she put a hand down on the table and leaned over it.

“Cutler Beckett is an ally of my father’s, so Beckett hates pirates just as much as he does -- likely more, if we take Orion’s word -- and we’re all pirates. There’s no way any of us could defeat Beckett on our own, and if he reaches Shipwreck Cove, it’s likely he’ll treat it the same way he did Tortuga. If that happens, where else will anyone branded as pirates be able to go? Where else will we be able to go, if we decide to run instead of standing our ground? Even if you don’t have a home, we all need a safe place to rest and resupply...”

Bill nodded in agreement. “We all need a sanctuary to escape to, now and again.”

Jacob rested his head in his hands on the table, interlacing the fingers over his lips thoughtfully. Ellie Hopper placed both of her hands on the table so as to hoist herself up and out of her chair to her feet.

“You bring up a good point, Captain Weasley,” she said to Jules, “but it’s as Captain Roberts said -- none of our ships are comparable to a Man O’ War. And although there are pirates who were once soldiers...” she inclined her head respectfully to Bill and Charlie, “...there are quite a few of us who never were. Most pirates who were once in the Navy were privateers -- sailors who only ever attacked merchant vessels, not war ships -- and others, including both you and me, have no military experience at all. We don’t have the strength needed to defeat an entire fleet of Man O’ Wars.”

“We don’t,” said Orion very softly. “But there is someone who does.”

He glanced at Charlie. “Charlie Weasley...is Chia Dalma still with you?”

Charlie blinked. “Aye...she didn’t seem to like the thought of meeting the rest of the Court, so she stayed behind on the Phoenix.”

Orion nodded, but seemed unconcerned -- likely he’d presumed as much.

“You all recall, I hope,” he said, “that the Brethren Court was first formed when the original Pirate Lords decided to steal control from the goddess Calypso?”

Most of the people in the room nodded and murmured in assent. Charlie, Bill, and Jules did not.

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that story,” said Jules.

“I’ve heard of Calypso,” said Bill slowly. “She’s supposed to be a goddess of the sea, isn’t she?”

“She was, once,” said Orion. 

“There’s a song that tells the tale,” Skye added.

They both glanced at Merula, who straightened up in her seat and sang in a rather lovely voice,

“The King and his men stole the Queen from her bed

And bound her in her bones --

The seas be ours, and by the powers, where we will, we’ll roam.”

The tune immediately sounded familiar to Charlie, Bill, and Jules -- it was the same one Carewyn had sung for Pearl, just before she died.

“You see, the original Pirate King, Henry Morgan, and his allies were buccaneers who were scared of how dangerous the sea was,” said McNully. “Because their livelihoods depended on their ability to sail, they all decided to tame the sea enough that it’d be safe to travel on, without them needing to appeal to the whims of a ‘heathen goddess.’”

Jules’s eyebrows came together tightly.

“And how did they ‘tame’ her, exactly?” she asked, her low voice betraying some cold disapproval.

“They ‘bound her in her bones,’” said Jae, “or, more simply, trapped her in human form. The transformation restricted the use of her powers significantly, making the seas less turbulent to sail on and therefore making it safer for the Lords and other pirates to evade the Navy and ‘ply their trade.’”

Jules looked furious. “So they cursed a goddess, just to help themselves?”

“To protect themselves,” Merula shot back a bit defensively.

Skye nodded in passionate agreement. “Calypso was terrifying at full power. She could create maelstroms out of fat air, send wild sea creatures to attack ships. She was the one who created the Kraken and the Flying Dutchman in the first place. Davy Jones was her lover, so they say...”

“The decision is more complicated than you think, Captain Weasley,” said Jacob, and his skull-like blue eyes drifted absently off toward the ceiling as his voice grew more thoughtful. “The Pirate Lords, much like us, could only support themselves and their families through their buccaneering. They did not come from wealth as you have. There was no other good way for them to make a living or a better life for themselves and their loved ones, as they weren’t land-owners and didn’t have any financial collateral. Not to mention many of them were God-fearing Christians who were intimidated by what they thought must be a servant of Satan, since there can be no other God before Him. What they did was cruel, of course -- no question...but it was made out of self-preservation and fear, not just greed.”

Jules crossed her arms, clearly unmoved. “It seems to me that people who so clearly value freedom shouldn’t try to justify why someone else should be denied theirs.”

“I agree,” said Orion, and although his voice was much softer and more level than Jules’ was, his eyes twinkled with something like approval in response to her words. “And that is why I propose that we reverse the First Brethren Court’s decision, from all those years ago...and release Calypso from her bonds.”

There was a silence. Then, very abruptly, all of the other pirates started shouting and arguing.

“Are you insane?!”

“That’d just make everything worse!”

“Cut out his tongue!”

“Calypso has no reason to help us -- she’d no doubt hate pirates, for what we did to her -- ”

“Give him a good shot to the head!”

“We’d be fighting both a sea goddess and the entire British Navy, if we did that -- !”

Even Skye and McNully looked at Orion with notable trepidation.

“Orion, I’d say you might want to pull back on that idea a bit,” McNully muttered to him.

Even if the volume and anger in the room did take him aback slightly, Orion kept his cool. He rose to his feet, holding up a hand for calm, but many ignored him and instead shouted louder. Seeing this, Charlie got to his feet too and, pulling his pistol of his belt, pointed it at the air and shot at the ceiling. The loud BANG scared everyone enough that they fell silent and the Lords who were standing all returned to their seats.

Orion nodded to Charlie in mute gratitude and addressed the rest of the pirates again, his hands clasped in front of him.

“We currently don’t have the force needed to overcome Cutler Beckett and his Company. We do not have the force needed to defend Shipwreck Cove, or even to ensure that we all escape this storm alive. We could hole up here for a month or so and hope that the Navy tires themselves out -- but as McNully stated, that could easily become a siege, at which point this place would become our tomb. We could all evacuate the island before the Navy arrives -- but as Captain Farrier-Weasley said, we’d lose the last sanctuary we have remaining in the world, as well as the last place from which we could plan a counterattack. We would all be out for ourselves at that point...leaving us to be picked off one by one by Beckett’s greater forces.”

His dark eyes grew a little smaller and more solemn.

“Therefore...the only path remaining to us is to stand our ground. And if we don’t wish to die on that path, we’ll need to gather whatever strength is available to us. Uranus and Saturn are set to collide in the Heavens...hinting to a climatic battle between order and chaos. We cannot know what the outcome will be unless we decide not to fight at all...but if we did that, then we’d only know the outcome because it would indisputably be failure.”

The other Pirate Lords exchanged wary looks among themselves. Jacob then gave a loud sigh and gave a reluctant nod.

“Amari’s right,” he said lowly. “Regardless of what your positions on releasing Calypso are...we don’t have a choice in whether to fight or fly. We will have to fight...and it’d be stupid and pointless to try doing it on our own.”

He glanced at Ellie, who nodded in agreement, and Merula, whose pink eyes narrowed disapprovingly.

“We can’t declare war,” the Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea pointed out in a rather arrogant sort of voice. “Only the Pirate King can do that.”

Orion actually blinked in surprise. “Really?”

He turned to Samantha. “Is that true, Samantha?”

The Pirate Dragon’s emerald eyes narrowed slightly as she reopened the large leather-bound Codex in her lap, flipping through the pages and scanning each line to find the proper section.

“...As per the Code,” she said lowly, “‘the Pirate Lords shall select a captain by popular vote to serve as Pirate King, who shall represent the entire Court when all cannot be present. The Pirate King alone can declare a state of emergency; declare war; take custody of the eight Pieces of Eight; take governorship of Shipwreck Cove; and give commands to ships that he himself does not sail.’ Looks like Merula’s right.”

Charlie frowned and turned to glance back at Barnaby, who’d been standing on the opposite side of him as Jules.

“The Pirate King is the leader of the Brethren Court, right?” he muttered to him.

“Aye,” Barnaby whispered in his ear. “Only, there hasn’t been one since the first Brethren Court.”

“Why?”

“Everyone from the other Courts just voted for themselves...so there was always a six-way tie and no one could decide on a winner.”

“I call for a vote,” said Orion serenely.

A lot of the other pirates in the room sighed in frustration or covered their faces and shook their heads. Jae himself plopped his chin down on his hand and rolled his eyes.

“Amari, are you serious?” he said tiredly.

Orion looked perfectly nonplussed. “Captain Roberts, would you start us off, please?”

Jacob raised an eyebrow at Orion and exchanged a suspicious look with Ashe, before he shrugged and nodded.

“I vote for Black Jack Roberts,” he said coolly.

He glanced at Merula sitting next to him.

“Captain Merula Snyde of the Blackbird -- most powerful ship on the seven seas,” she said, her lips curled up in a dry smirk.

“Ellie Hopper,” said Ellie uncomfortably, exchanging looks with some of her crew members.

“Captain Jae Kim,” sighed Jae.

“...Arjun Singh, of the Naga,” Arjun said after he’d exchanged a bemused shrug with Aishwarya.

When it was Orion’s turn, the Pirate Lord gave a quick sweep around the table with his eyes, before they shifted to his left, twinkling with something almost like mischief.

“Captain Juliette Farrier-Weasley.”

“What?” said Jules.

“What?” said Charlie and Bill, just as taken aback.

Orion’s lips actually spread into a full, broad grin seeing how much his choice had blindsided everyone.

“The Pirate Code said that the Pirate Lords must select ‘a captain’ to be the Pirate King,” he said airily. “It never said that captain had to be a Pirate Lord. So I vote for Captain Juliette Farrier-Weasley of the Revolution to be our Pirate King.”

He then nodded to Charlie. “Captain Weasley -- your vote?”

Charlie grinned broadly from ear to ear and he shot a glance over his shoulder at his sister-in-law, who had flushed a dark shade of red and looked very stunned.

“Captain Juliette Farrier-Weasley,” said the Lord of the Pacific Ocean.

The other Pirate Lords and their crews all started chattering at once.

“What?”

“If I’d known you could pick any captain, I would’ve voted for Aishwarya -- ”

“Choosing your own sister-in-law -- ”

“I call for a recount -- ”

“How long has she even been a pirate?”

“Pure nepotism, that’s what it is -- ”

Orion raised his eyebrows very coolly. “Am I to take this to mean you all will not be keeping to the Code?”

Everyone almost as a unit turned to look at Samantha, who was glaring very pointedly at them as she rotated a pair of grenades in one hand.

Ellie, the Pirate Lord who had reacted with the least hostility to the decision, turned to Jules with a solemn look.

“The votes have it,” she said. “So Pirate King Weasley -- what say you? What shall we do?”

Jules, her face still very red, glanced hesitantly at her husband. Bill looked at her with pride, his eyes sparkling fondly as he squeezed her hand. Her lips spreading into a comforted smile, Jules raised her head and faced the Court with new confidence.

“Gather together and arm every vessel that floats,” she said firmly. “At dawn, we’ll prepare for war.”

With the meeting having come to a close, the Pirate Lords departed one by one to begin their preparations for the battle to come. Jules (knowing that, even though she was now Pirate King, she lacked military experience) immediately asked Bill, McNully, and Charlie to help her with figuring out what strategy would work best to defend the Cove. Orion himself seemed very pleased with the final outcome -- Charlie had asked him why he didn’t vote for himself, but Orion merely smiled and didn’t reply. Bill, however, thought he could guess.

“I don’t reckon Orion’s the sort to want to rule over anyone,” he said with a knowing smile. “Guide them, yes -- lead them, maybe -- but not rule.”

Orion looked at Bill, his eyes as calm and unreadable as ever.

“Interesting conclusion. What made you draw it, Bill Weasley?”

Bill’s smile faded, but his brown eyes lost none of their warmth. “Because Carey’s the exact same way.”

There was a strange spark in the back of Orion’s eyes -- something almost like surprise, which then morphed into something warmer and softer...fonder.

“...True,” he murmured. “Although she may have the heart of a queen, and all of the grace...Carewyn Cromwell would never choose a crown for herself.”

Bill’s gaze softened. Before he could say anything, however, there was a very loud WHAM.

Jacob, who was still in his seat and had been talking to Ashe, had abruptly slammed the large table across the floor with all of his strength, nearly knocking it over as he barreled over.

“YOU!”

Out of nowhere, the Pirate Lord of the Atlantic seized Orion by the collar with both hands.

“Jacob?” said Bill, completely taken aback.

“Jack!” said Ashe, his eyes narrowing in concern.

But Jacob didn’t seem to hear either of them. His blue pupils were dark, irrational slits of rage.

“IT WAS YOUR VOICE! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO CALLED MY WYN BY HER NAME! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO SPOKE OF HER IN THAT SOFT VOICE, YOU MAGGOT-INFESTED BASTARD -- !”

“Jacob, let him go!” said Jules. 

Orion amazingly didn’t look the least bit scared -- instead his expression was rather tense as well as a bit confused.

“Captain Roberts,” he spoke quietly in an attempt to soothe the other man’s anger, “I understand what Carewyn means to you -- what you mean to her. I would never harm your sister. I could never hurt Carewyn, nor could I ever wish to -- ”

Bill was reminded of when Orion was trying hard not to fight him, back in Port Royal. Jacob, however, was just as unmoved as Bill had been.

“STOP CALLING HER BY HER NAME!” he roared.

Jacob yanked Orion around by the collar, slamming him roughly into the wall.

“IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT JONES IS AFTER WYN! SHE WOULD BE SAFE NOW IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU -- I’LL KILL YOU, YOU SCABBY, BILGE-SUCKING SON OF A -- !”

“Jacob, stop!” Charlie bellowed.

“Get off Orion NOW!” yelled Skye.

Samantha, Barnaby, Skye, Jules, and Charlie had all grabbed onto the back of Jacob’s coat and onto his arms, trying in vain to pull him off of Orion. Jacob, however, was ridiculously strong, and his grip tightened around Orion’s collar and throat, making the taller man wince.

Bill, his expression darkening more than anyone had ever seen before, very sharply skipped grabbing onto Jacob and instead stepped right between Orion and Jacob, taking his pistol out of his belt and pointing it right at Jacob’s temple. The move prompted Ashe to make an angry move toward Bill, but the eldest Weasley put out his other hand to hold him at arm’s length.

“Jacob, Carey’s not here, so I’ll say this for her,” Bill said very icily. “‘I’ll never forgive you if you hurt him.’”

Jacob gave a sharp flinch. His mad, hollow, slitted pupils never left Orion’s face, but they seemed to lose some of their focus -- almost as if he was looking right through Orion.

Ashe, furious at Bill having held him back, grabbed the red-haired man’s wrist and twisted it painfully out of the way so he could run over to Jacob himself. He brought both of his arms tightly around his lover’s neck, his face resting in the dark curls over Jacob’s brow as he hummed something under his breath. The sound seemed to calm Jacob little by little, making his shoulders loosen and his grip slacken. Light gradually returned to his eyes as he slowly removed his trembling hands from Orion’s throat, breathing shakily.

Jules immediately moved to Bill, bringing up a hand to his wrist to make sure it wasn’t too badly hurt. Once she’d confirmed he was okay, she turned to Jacob with a fierce look.

“Jacob, what do you mean Jones is after Carey?” she demanded. “Why is she in danger?”

Jacob’s gaze had fallen to the ground, throwing his eyes into shadow as he continued to take heavy, labored breaths. Ashe, still holding Jacob tightly, turned around, a very hard, grim look on his face as his eyes flickered from Orion to Jules.

“Jones aims to force someone into servitude on his ship,” he said lowly, “and he’s decided that person is Jack’s sister.”

#potc au #au #pirates of the caribbean #my art #my writing #charlie weasley #barnaby lee #bill weasley #jules farrier #orion amari #jacob cromwell #skye parkin #murphy mcnully #merula snyde #jae kim #samantha o'connell #ellie hopper #arjun singh #aishwarya mehra #duncan ashe #carewyn cromwell #finn mcgarry #jacob #*sighs deeply* #seriously jacob it's really more *your* fault than it is orion's #I don't really blame you fully either though I mean carewyn wasn't using the 'cromwell' name when you went off to sea #you had no reason to think anyone would be calling her by that name or that jones would count that #but yeah even with that don't take your overprotective brother anger out on your sister's one true love mmkay? #also yay pirate king jules!! <33 #I'm actually really happy with how these doodles turned out

[olivieraa]

I low key (who am I kidding since when am I low key) dont trust anyone that has Game of Thrones on their list of favourite tv shows

GoT is filmed here and Croatia, so the actual throne is either here up in Belfast at all times, or its in Croatia

I think its here...

well whatever, its been making its way around all of Ireland

I did not know this until I went to the cinema today

I was down in Boots browsing around and all I could hear was the opening playing over and over really loudly

so I got to the cinema and there it was

the stupid fucking chair

surrounded by people

I cant even describe how nauseous I felt

this show... hates women

how a woman can watch this and ADORE it I have no idea

I dont even know how a black person, especially a black woman, in THIS day and age, can adore it

like we’re in a more AWARE stage now, where we now notice “hey... why this movie so white”, “why it so male”, more so than 10-60 years ago. millions of black kids grew up with the same movies white kids did and, like how I did with the lack of women, I bet so many black kids never questioned the white casting. I’m sure a lot did but I’m sure a lot were oblivious to it. the BIGGEST movies out there are white. films labelled iconic are white, and black people grew up with those movies and loved them.

but now black people (and anyone that isn’t white tbh) are starting to see things now (then again, we’re not producing blockbusters anymore. we’re doing remakes, sequels and superhero movies, that’s IT). think of Jurassic Park, The Terminator, Jaws, E.T, POTC, Star Wars, Titanic - they were the first of their kind and they were white. 

GoT comes out, and black people fucking love it. and I’m just like “how????” 

but then I see women (white included) absolutely adore it and I’m like “holy fucking shit how”

that show is the definition of an ugly white dudes medieval fantasy

the writer turned out to be an ugly fat white dude (surprise, surprise)

its as shocking to me as 50 Shades is - of all the fanfics created by thousands of women, you choose THAT to become a movie

fanfiction, something that would be MOCKED by “normal girls” (those that don’t read comics or watch anime and don’t have just one or two friends and actually leave the house) and I’m sure HAS been “like ew she cant get laid irl so she writes porn of two people fucking in ways she only wished would happen to her”

then 50 Shades comes out and fanfiction is all of a sudden “oh yeah ALL girls are into that!”

we mock men over their gross fantasies, like medieval abuse porn has been made before, medieval porn is not new, and we’re like “eww wtf is wrong with men”

but turn it into a TV show and its the greatest show on earth and even women are down with it???

and the worst part, and this is what REALLY gets to me and makes me so cautious of people, is that... everyone associates GoT with sex scenes. so you know there’s a lot.

and I’m pretty sure only ONE of them, ONLY ONE (maybe two), were actual intimate scenes

if a woman is not being raped (no prep of course), then she’s just getting doggy styled by a dude (again no prep, no going down on her, nothing, just straight in, raw)

I remember one of the first one’s shown, uuuuuh... Ima say late season 1 - start of season 2?

a consensual one - one of the main dudes is fucking a girl on his ship and he tells her to stop smiling cause she’s not hot enough, and then flips her around so he doesn’t have to look at her

yeah it was REALLY sexy. the non-rape one’s are SUPER yum

men, have said, the sex scenes are hot

there’s even dads doing their daughters and nobody gives a shit

there’s one scene where a woman rapes a man pretty much, not a brutal way like the reverse is, aaaand her naked body is the focus of course. but when a woman is raped (and usually crying) her naked body is the focus in that as well

SO HOT, MAN

adding onto the rape, women are abused left right and centre

and when they’re not raped or abused, they’re sexualised. and when they’re not sexualised they’re humiliated in a way you would not see happen to a male character

like that walk of shame, where a woman who had power had to walk naked in front of hundreds of men and have shit thrown at her including rocks and have the word “shame” yelled at her, yeah this scene definitely was not disgusting fanservice

its 100% a male power fantasy show with a shit load of rape and abuse of women but like, its FICTIONAL, so the writer does not condone this shit!

this writer makes sure to please his male characters. when is he gonna please a woman? aside from that one time???

when’s he gonna sexualise the men? rape the men? have the camera focus on men during sex? show the man having barely any emotion while he’s being fucked cause it doesnt feel good for him (but it for once feels good for her)?

and its all brushed off because DRAGON CHICK. SHE’S SO BAMF. EVERYTHING IS EXCUSED BECAUSE OF THIS ONE AWESOME FEMALE BADASS CHARACTER. CLEARLY THIS WRITER RESPECTS WOMEN. THIS CHARACTER MAKES UP FOR EVERYTHING BAD HE HAS WRITTEN.

to know so many people worldwide love a show that hates women...

I’m sure so many POC (and white women but many cant say shit) felt absolutely disgusted when they realised that half the country voted for an extremely racist, sexist ugly old man to be their president. I’m sure they felt so damn BETRAYED

and you can spew it all you want about how its not the same but it is - a lot of those black people (and white women) probably fucking love Game of Thrones. I feel EXTREMELY betrayed knowing how loved that is

I am so uncomfortable around my dad when he talks about it. my older brother. any friend (every one of my girls talk about it and I feel so disrespected)

I’m already aware we live in a world that despises women, and Game of Thrones existing and people being fans of it is one of those ways that shows how despised we are, but its disguised under “its fictional”

its almost like, thank you Donald Trump and GoT for existing. because one of you being voted in by millions to be the most powerful man in the world by people AWARE of the bad shit you’ve done and not caring, and the other being 100% a male power fantasy with no women taken into consideration in its making is the biggest show in the world, is proof ENOUGH to any misogynists that I argue with, that a woman can do the smallest thing wrong and be despised, and a man can do a million things wrong and be loved by many

#game of thrones hate-/ #tho why do I care if anyone feels like Im disrespecting their fave show #I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU

[falconedreams]

House of the Caribbean (Pirates of the House?)

A lot of my dreams have weird fandom stuff so like, I can’t possibly give context on every single fandom that ends up in my dreams, so i’ll just tag with the fandom at the end and you can go google it for more information.

Anyway, this dream is a combination of House, Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC as I like to call it), and the weird-ass Chinese dramas that always play on CNY and have all kinds of messed up morals. So! Apparently, I was Jack Sparrow. And DR JAMES FREAKING WILSON of all people was my sidekick, because Mr Gibbs retired from seafaring to own a banana plantation. He took the monkey with him. Anyway, at that time a plague seemed to be sweeping my crew. Someone would get real nervous and twitchy, and get increasingly frantic and incomprehensible, and a few days later would be found dead with his heart torn out of his chest and an hourglass drawn on the wall in their blood. So Wilson and I paid a visit to Tia Dalma/Calypso (spoilers! In case anyone never watched POTC until now) to ask what the fuck was going on. (it's expensive and time consuming to train new crewmen!) Apparently, some demon whose signature was an hourglass was responsible for this.

So we went to find the demon to tell him to leave my crew alone. But then once we got to the lair Wilson had a freakout and made a lot of noise, attracting the demon. There was a scuffle and everyone got out safe, and we caused a landslide which buried the demon in his cave, so we thought that was that, and were celebrating and all in a pub on Tortuga, when Tia Dalma showed up and was like "ooohhhh Jack you are fuuuuuuucked" (not those exact words but that meaning) and I was like, whaddya mean I'm fucked I already buried him in his cave, and then she grabbed my wrist and turned it over, and pointed out to me the hourglass symbol burned into my wrist. Then I was like, oh, does that mean I'm gonna die? Then she was like nope, just means he's gonna show up and cut your hand off. And I was like wait what?! I thought his M.O. was to tear out his victims' hearts?? Then she was like ah no you see he only takes the parts which bear his mark. Your dead crewmembers all had his mark on their chests, which you couldn't see, because, you know, heart torn out. And I was like wait but how does he choose where to put the mark?? Then she was like uh it is not where the demon chooses but what you choose to give him. The mark will form where you touch the demon. Your dead crewmembers allowed the demon to touch their hearts with promises of gold and power. You.....probably touched him in the scuffle back there. Then I was like SERIOUSLY?!?! METAPHORICAL AND LITERAL TOUCHING BOTH COUNT?!?! Then she turned my wrist over again, and pointed out to me that the sand in the hourglass was steadily falling towards the bottom half. "You can go take it up with him, when he comes." she said.

So then I went back to the ship, where APPARENTLY EVERYONE had heard ALL ABOUT IT (news travels fast) and then Barbossa (wtf was he doing on MY SHIP) was like hey I can recommend you a good prosthetic maker (for those of you who haven't watched Stranger Tides, Barbossa has a peg leg then) and I was like, shuddup Barbossa, I'm not going to lose it if I can help it. And then Wilson was wailing and being like IT'S ALL MY FAULT I SHOULD BE THE ONE TO SUFFER and I was like okay chill we got time Imma go sail to his place again and figure this out. But oh NO STUPID WILSON decided that he would offer himself to the demon instead because he felt guilty, then he freaking summoned the demon, but he didn't do it properly, and the demon was stuck in the bird in the clock, you know the ones that come out and chirp the hour? Yeah. So it was like 3 o'clock and the bird was going to come out 3 times, and each time it came out the demon shot a blast of fire, so Wilson had like dodged the fire jet twice by the time I came running down to see what the fuck was going on, and at the last jet he didn't move out of the way in time so I dived in front of him (why???) And blocked the fire jet with my sword. (WOW). Then the clock shut up and my sword disintegrated and fell to pieces.

Then I was like Wilson stop being such a self-sacrificing idiot and let me handle this! Then Wilson was like "oho YOU'RE lecturing ME about being a self-sacrificing idiot? That's twice you've paid the price for problems caused by me already! You just lost your sword, and you're going to lose a hand!" Then I lost my shit at him "YES WILSON I AM THE FUCKING CAPTAIN IT IS MY JOB TO PROTECT MY CREW AND INTERPOSE MY LIFE FOR THEIRS IF NECESSARY. THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE CAPTAIN TO GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP. NOW SHUT UP AND STAY OUT OF TROUBLE."

AND THEN SUDDENLY THE CLOCK WHERE THE DEMON WAS IMPRISONED STARTED TO GLOW AND THEN THE FIGURE OF A MAN FLOATED OUT AND GAVE US A SAD LOOK AND THEN DISINTEGRATED and then we were all like what. The fuck. Was that. And then Tia Dalma appeared (AGAIN!) and showed me that the mark on my wrist was gone, and I was like WHAT THE HECK??? And she was like ah you have set his spirit free. The demon was actually a man, wealthy but ugly. His wife conspired with her lover to murder him and take his money, and so he became consumed with anger and became a demon who punished greed by taking any part of a person that touched him, apparently. But you have shown him that TRUE SELFLESSNESS still exists in the heart of mankind, and because of that he remembers his true self, and his soul is free to go on to the afterlife.

What a freaking drama.

#falcone dreams #fandom dreams #potc #pirates of the carribean #house m.d.