#west village piers

[arte-e-homoerotismo]

Alvin Baltrop - the Village People on the West Side piers and outside of Ramrod, 1970s

#alvin baltrop #village people #west side piers #1970s

[rose-lunaire]

nbc hannibal characters during summer vacation: headcanons

pairing: hannibal x gn!reader, will x gn!reader, bedelia x gn!reader

warnings: none, just fluff! suggestive content if you squint

hannibal lecter

summer’s not his favourite season, it’s way too hot for a his liking, but he enjoys it nevertheless

coat lazily draped over his shoulder, the sleeves of the shirt tucked meticulously just under the elbows, exposing the veiny forearms, slightly drenched in sweat and musky perfume

he would invite you for evening walks in downtown vienna, explaining every bit of the astonishing architecture

he loves your curiosity, how you find beauty in all things around, your eyes seem to bring out the best in everything that’s around

dark narrow streets of cobblestone feel safe with his arm around your waist

night museum tours!

stargazing through the glass walls of pyramide du louvre

as he goes on about the meaning of each constellation his eyes always come back to you, the center of his night sky, his universe

he can’t draw ever his gaze away from your awestruck face

the night walks never seem to end, the city’s like a mythological labirynth hannibal creates with his never-ending tales

in the end you forget about everything and just follow him into the dark

will graham

he’s an outdoorsy guy and every extra hour of sunlight is the best gift for him

would take you backpacking in the mountains

weeks of astounding views, piece and quiet, just birds and stars keeping you company

you talk for hours, sometimes just savour the silence around you

he’s prepared for everything: rain? he has two raincoats in your favourite colour. craving a home-cooked meal? will has a tourist cooker and all necessary ingredients. and when you’re cold at night, he drapes a warm blanket over both of you, enveloping you in a loving, almost too hot, embrace

if you’re not into survival stuff so much, you could just go see the waterfalls during the weekend and roast some marshmallows over the fireplace in the comfort of your own home

he loves your summer tan!

you would go sunbathing to the nearby lake and spend the afternoon reading books on the pier

and in the evening you would rent a boat and cruise into the setting sun, scaring all the swans with your laughter

bedelia du maurier

i can see her yachting as soon as the ice melts in the bay

would take you on trips along the west coast, visiting every city and village you see

you would discover new dishes and experiment with new drinks

sometimes you would stay the night on the coast, enjoy the nightlife until the sun rises

every day is an adventure with her

prosecco and reading philosophy essays

would definitely splurge on sundresses and silk headscarfs

everywhere you go, people seem to think of her as some aristocracy of sorts

she enjoys the attention and uses it to get anything you want

the world’s your oyster

a/n: have a wonderful summer, everyone! send me asks <3

#hannibal x reader #bedelia du maurier #nbc hannibal #will graham #hannibal imagine #hannibal headcanons #yandere hannibal #hannibal lecter #hannibal reactions

[irishwarriornyc]

Pier 44 West Village in 1978

[scopophilic1997]

scopOphilic_documentary_729 - scopOphilic1997 presents never before seen photographs from September 11, 2001 shot on film.

8:46am - American Airlines flight 11 attacks North Tower of World Trade Center.

It was a warm, late summer morning in New York City. These images are in chronological order from that morning and afternoon (Greenwich ave/Christopher street, Canal street, & Houston st pier in the West Village/Soho.)

Some moments in life are permanently implanted into our brain. A group of close friends gathered that night as we speculated on whether this was our last night on earth.

This 9-11 series were the last photos I ever shot on film. All seven sets of photos in this series have never been shown until today.

#scopOphilic1997 #scopOphilic #digitalart #NFT #nftart #streetart #graffiti #nyc #photographers on tumblr #original photographers #ArtistsOnTumblr #911 #2001 #Manhattan #WorldTradeCenter #attack #WestVillage #Soho #CanalStreet #WestSidePiersView #GreenwichAvenue #Tribeca #Film #35mm Film

[whenweallvote]

Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen, known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, she was a mother figure to many young LGBTQIA+ people in her community — especially those experiencing homelessness.

◾ TW Violence, Hate Crimes ◾

On July 6, 1992, Marsha’s body was found in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers. The police determined she had committed suicide despite adamant claims from her friends and community members that she was not suicidal.

#MarshaPJohnson #MarshaJohnson #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA+ #Pride #PrideMonth #PrideWasARiot #AmericanHistory

[creativespark]

Stanley Stellar, Dueling Dicks, West Village Piers, NYC, 1979

#art #street art #stanley stellar #photography #1970s photography

[gabrielle-darktree]

#star stable #star stable online #star stable polls #idk if this is necessary but: this is not an official thing! i’m just curious lol

[islestea]

I was catching up on some of last months posts and regarding where Barzal lives this is what I can share. So when he first moved to NY he stayed in his teammates basement in a house in garden city on Long Island. He would take girls home from bars when he was on breaks with his ex Danielle and have to take them to the garden city hotel because he couldn’t bring them to his teammates house where his wife and kids lived LOL. Then he moved to one of those sky rise apartment buildings in Long Island City near the piers which is technically Queens. During the pandemic he went back home to his parents house in Canada and when he got back to nyc he Then he moved to a luxury building on Long Island that’s close to garden city which is where that girl from tiktok was his neighbor I don’t wanna say the exact area for his / her privacy because I’m pretty sure he still lives there. He would go to the city a lot because Maya lived in the west village but I haven’t heard anything about him moving.

Thanks for the summary, at the time I made the publication I did not quite remember the exact information and I did not want to give you false information

#hockey gossip #hockey tea #hockey #mat barzal

[x-authorship-x]

"I admit this is a bizarre ask. But I figured, you've looked at all the conveniently high cliffs around Konoha, yes? (So many minecraft results, nooo.) Do you happen to know *where* that pier is where Sasuke and Naruto do all their male-coded moping? (I believe the Hatake had some man-pain moments there too.) All I can figure is it's on an east-west axis for maximum golden-hour angst lighting. And that embankment is artificial? Like maybe a levee?" - Anon

Woo did you open up a can of bullshit here, anon. I don't think you are but, just in case- if you're looking outside of the walls, then I can't help you because I think we both know that my research lies firmly within Shisui-spheres.

("you've looked at all the conveniently high cliffs around Konoha" YOURE CORRECT BUT ALSO 🙃)

Let's just look at Konoha (a "3D" image, instead of the variety of shots or "maps" online)

We have about 0 pixels to work with if you try and zoom in so I try and look at it with my eyes unfocused 🥴

So we're looking for the pier from here, I'm assuming

Assuming it's the same pier/lake-

We're looking for something that shows mountains when facing east, which is the direction the Hokage Monument is also facing in. So, wherever we look needs to put the Hokage Monument behind it (tHe wHoLE of KonOHa)

Well, let's have a look at the map (and not make fun of my art ability when editing with my finger on my phone)

The red lines show (obvs not including the Hokage Monument) the highest points of elevation within the village boundary.

The blue lines show that Konoha is built within a bowl but the whole valley is also at an angle with highest point marked with a white dot (Hokage Monument) and the lowest (black) where the largest part of the Naka leaves the village boundaries.

The Naka is split into several branches and we know that the larger sections can be both fast flowing as well as relatively peaceful. The cliffs lined in red are out, since we assume that is where Shisui died-

(Warning: Shisui Dying

It's a huge fucking jump and that current isn't messing around. Considering the waterfall, you'd think it would be at the waterfall I helpfully circled in red but NOPE. Because there's no cliff in front, the "red circle" waterfall seems fuller in shape (more circle 🥴), than the long and fast river we see above^

This is the issue with Narutoverse 🤡 the gaps are fucking massive, so there is an invisible waterfall somewhere on those red underlined cliffs where Shisui died, he was probably chased by ROOT in the trees just south of there, which means the Uchiha Shrine and Compound must be located in that area too (because otherwise how the fuck wasn't any of this witnessed or interrupted???)

I've gone off tangent. But, then again, you came to me for help so I think you knew what you were getting into, Anon 🤣

TL;DR: Shisui died at the cliffs underlined in red.)

Please scroll back up to the "Doodled Map"

From the look of things, I'd say the Pier of Boyhood Angst was the waterfall smack bang in the red circle.

If you think that the red circled body of water is flat, then voila, I've found the pier.

If, like me, you think those handful of pixels look more like a waterfall, we're in trouble.

It's not a neat answer. The water is too still and has the feel of a much larger body of water YET, from this panel, we know that it must be in the middle of the village because the buildings are positioned in such a way to suggest lines of streets going in different directions: if they were on the outskirts, the buildings would be better spaced.

In the doodled map, we can see that there is a grey smudge behind the top of the waterfall, that looks different from "Shisui's Cliffs" but that more closely resembles the grainy "city bits". This would fit with the panel of Sasuke with the buildings behind him if not for the huge waterfall also missing 🤣. Opposite the waterfall, are a few blurry somethings and then a lot of trees. Sasuke also seems to be facing the sunset, which is East and the direction that the Hokage Monument (and, roughly, the waterfall too) is facing towards, putting them at Sasuke's back.

So, either we accept that this is the spot anyway, and ignore the slightly glaring counter evidence, or we keep going.

In the Doodled Map, between the white dot and the top right hand blue arrow, there is a bit of river that looks fatter than the rest. I can't see where it connects to the rest of the Naka, so maybe it's an actual lake? Maybe it's just a weird bit of blue and not water? Is this the pier? Maybe! I'm not convinced but, once more, you're welcome to grab this option - wilfully ignoring that it might not actually be water - and enjoy!

But, oh, wait- look at Portrait of Hatake Familial Love, again

*please scroll up*

They're not in that high corner of the village because the whole of Konoha, if they are indeed facing the setting sun (and that's obvious 🤷), would be visible in front of them.

So that's a 'no'.

Let's swap maps. I love that they don't all look the same regardless of time period, variety is the spice of life ✨

Here there are no nice bodies of water for nice broody piers. Another damning fact: this is it after Pein's curb-stomp so it's a new version of Konoha, 2.0 if you will - or 3.0, depending on how much damage you think the Kyuubi wrought. Why did I use it? Because I was figuring that even Pein couldn't completely destroy the bodies of water/flow of the Naka, which in this post-rebuild map does seem to resemble the OG map above^. However, it's still not helpful. Conclusion: That's Not My Pier.

Let's try again!

0/10, there's no waterfall, barely ANY Naka river, and absolutely no pier to brood on. The Uchiha Clan looks weird and not very big and not very isolated and not very good for an uninterrupted massacre. I ventured to Narutopedia and everything. Conclusion: That's Not My Pier.

Third time is the charm, right?

0/10, where is the water? Let's fast forward-

Here me out 🤣

This is the Konoha of the Rookie Nine's childhood. Yeah, it's mid-destruction but look, look, look! An exploding body of water! Could that be where the Pier is? Well... maybe not because I'm not seeing any huge village boundary walls in the panel behind Sasuke, when he has his back to buildings. Conclusion: Not My Pier (but maybe like a close-your-eyes-and-pretend situation?)

Final thoughts... you have three options:

1) Sasuke is tangential to a waterfall which pours so perfectly, like those TikToks of teapot making, that the water doesn't even ripple. In Narutoverse, the setting sun wiggles around a bit on the horizon, very thoughtfully, so it's always in frame for Brooding.

2) Sasuke is located on a pier that may or may not be water in the very top corner of the Doodled Map. Godspeed, if so because there must be a serious (and not at all well-shown in the maps) hill that blocks the whole village from the view.

3) Sasuke is technically outside of the village boundary and the path, where Naruto is looking down from, is on the other side of the village wall (if you think the local Jinchuuriki would be allowed to cross it) and we just can't see it for mysterious reasons.

4) the red circled water is NOT a waterfall and I can't interpret pixels well enough. Ignore all of this P.I work and enjoy success!

Final-Final thoughts:

Narutoverse is a hot mess

-

You definitely got more than what you signed up for, Anon, but seeing as this took me several hours, I think I did too lmao

Hope this helped, somehow! ✨👋

#submission #anon #torship talks #torship talks a lot of crap lol #shisui #sasuke #konoha maps #konoha #Narutoverse bullshit

[scotianostra]

Waverley Trip - Knoydart.

The Waverley only allowed us about 30 minutes on shore here, the pub was still being refurbished, I could have bought a coffee, but by the time I stood in the cue I would be back on the pier queuing to reboard, so I just wandered around and grabbed a few pics.

Knoydart s a peninsula in the Lochaber district on the West Highlands. It comprises the Northern part of what is known as the Rough Bounds.

The principal village of the Knoydart Peninsula is  Iverie Other settlements on the peninsula include Sandaig and Airor.

Other than on the Waverley, which, if you are lucky, will make one journey to the peninsula a year, access to Inverie is across Loch Nevis from Mallaig at the end of the West Highland Railway Line. and a 30-minute boat ride from Mallaig. Loch crossings are operated by two ferry services.

If you have visited and taken the alternative route, a 17 mile hike over mountainous terrain, then hats off to you.

The population currently stands at around 120 full time residents. The village provides basic amenities including a Post Office and Primary School, along with our community shop, Tearoom and the remotest pub in mainland Britain, The Old Forge which came under community ownership in 2022.

#scotland #scottish #knoydart #isolated #my pics

[lansplaining]

The MDZS/Princess Mononoke Fusion That No One Asked For And Even I Am Not Going To Write But I’m Outlining It Here To Exorcise It From My Brain

A rampaging demonic boar gets into Cloud Recesses, and the Twin Jades stop it, but not before LWJ is cursed. The Lan Sect used to be part of the wider cultivation world, but secluded itself generations ago. The elders suggest the other sects may have a cure for LWJ’s curse, and he leaves to go find it.  

As LWJ travels, he realizes that the curse feeds on anger and resentment, even the righteous anger he feels when he comes across cultivators from different sects fighting one another. 

In a village, LWJ is rescued from confusion over his attempts to pay in solid silver by an elegant young man who introduces himself as Jin Guangyao. They make smalltalk, and it’s clear that JGY has an inkling about who LWJ really is, but promises not to tell. He says there’s a forest to the west where it’s said resentful energy is stronger than anywhere else, and the cultivators who live near it are more practiced than anyone at dealing with resentment and curses. LWJ slips away in the morning, not realizing JGY is very much awake to see him go. 

At the edge of the forest, LWJ catches sight of a man in black with a flute and is immediately captivated. He calls out, asking if he is a cultivator from one of the great sects, and gets a succinct response: “Get lost.” 

LWJ comes across the scene of what appears to be another fight, or perhaps an accident, but finds that there is a survivor: a very young cultivator named Jin Ling. He helps him back home, despite his protests taking him on a shortcut through the deadly forest called the Burial Mounds. He explains that this is the territory of the fearsome Yiling Patriarch, who hates all cultivators. It’s heavy with resentful energy, but they’re able to pass without harm and make their way to Lotus Pier, a walled fortress on a lake just outside the Burial Mounds.

Sect Leader Jiang is grateful to LWJ in his slightly surly way, and invites him to stay and tour Lotus Pier. LWJ learns from the other cultivators about their endless war against the Yiling Patriarch, and their slow attempts to purify the Burial Mounds piece by piece. LWJ realizes that that was the man he saw, and says he didn’t seem evil. Jiang Cheng confides that he used to try to live in peace with the Yiling Patriarch, but then the Yiling Patriarch’s puppets killed his own sworn sister, and JC realized that he was utterly corrupted by resentful energy and couldn’t be saved or reasoned with. 

That night, the Yiling Patriarch attacks Lotus Pier, and he and Jiang Cheng face off one on one. LWJ intervenes, insisting that there’s no need for conflict and violence, but neither are willing to listen. LWJ tries to escape with the Yiling Patriarch, but Jin Ling attempts to stab the Yiling Patriarch as he goes and hits LWJ instead. Curse flaring, LWJ manages to escape and only collapses when they are safely at the border of the Burial Mounds. WWX is initially furious, but brings LWJ (who definitely has the ‘you’re beautiful’ moment as he passes out) into his home to save him. 

A few days go by, and JGY arrives at Lotus Pier with word from his father, Sect Leader Jin. He suggests that JGS doesn’t think the Jiang have taken a firm enough hand against WWX, and that he’ll be sending cultivators to help the Jiang Sect deal with the problem. JC insists that their method of slowly reclaiming the Burial Mounds is safer in the long run, but JGY says that JGS disagrees, and after he has been so generous as to let his grandson be raised at Lotus Pier, it would be such a shame if it were deemed too dangerous for Jin Ling to remain. 

Word reaches WWX of the planned siege of the Burial Mounds. LWJ insists that there must be a way to come to an agreement, but WWX is adamant that the only way is to stand and fight. LWJ realizes his curse is growing worse, as it is fueled now by resentment at WWX’s treatment by the sects. WWX apologizes for not being able to heal the curse, and insists LWJ go find someone who can.

The morning of the siege comes. LWJ travels by way of Lotus Pier and finds it under siege by Jin cultivators, who have taken advantage of the absence of JC and his senior disciples. The junior disciples, led by Jin Ling, are doing their best to hold out, but ask LWJ to go find JC. He agrees, realizing it’s the perfect way to draw JC off of WWX. However, when he finds JC, JGY refuses to let him leave, insisting that there’s been a misunderstanding that can only be clarified once the Yiling Patriarch is dead. 

They find and corner WWX, who unleashes his final weapon: he attempts destroy his Yin Tiger Tally. LWJ leaps forward to shield WWX from the backlash, but it unleashes a torrent of resentful spirits that kill whatever they touch. JGY hurries to gather the pieces, but a passing spirit scythes off his arm. Even so, he insists that no matter what, the pieces must be delivered to his father. LWJ and WWX pursue, realizing that the destruction wasn’t complete and WWX needs to finish the job. The spirits are attracted to the remnants of the tally, and though JGY’s men succeed in handing it off to JGS, the spirits immediately descend on him. It is heavily implied this was JGY’s intention. WWX and LWJ manage to get hold of the tally, and with their combined strength, properly destroy it. A shockwave passes through the Burial Mounds, and when it passes, all is quiet. The resentment is gone. 

Jiang Cheng returns to Lotus Pier, but not before hinting in a typically surly manner that WWX should come check in on his nephew some time, if he wants. WWX and LWJ decide to travel together back to Cloud Recesses-- at least for now. 

#oh my god this got long #but it's a long movie #i just had to get it out i'm sorry!!!!!

[katforll313]

Christmas Ornament Catalog

I had a friend over for Thanksgiving and we put up the tree on Black Friday. As we were decorating they kept having to ask us where each ornament went and interpret our frequently contradictory instructions, and my sister said "Ko I thought we had set rules but you've made me realize it is a weirdly specific case-by-case system." It made me think of all of the family stories and tradition and life that goes into the tree.

The Glass Hummingbird

Top of the tree

A gift from Grandmama Denise from the Greenbriar in West Virginia

Glittery Katie Ornament

Mid to low, side or front of the tree

Homemade by Katie in 2004

This is my favorite picture of me as a baby- my eyes look like blueberry colored pits in my head it’s terrifying.

Small White Owl

High on the tree

A gift from Grandma Harriet to Dad

Porcelain Cherub with Gold Accents, one of five

Mid to high on the tree, far from each other

A gift from Grandma Denise to Mom

For a few years there my grandmother would buy these inexpensive angel ornaments and give them to my mother and her sister every single Christmas. Mom sounded fondly annoyed when explaining this.

Glitter Spider Tree Ornament

Mid back of the tree

A gift from Dad to Abbi

It’s because she had a pet fishing spider named Daisy at the time. This is only the second most terrifying pet Abbi ever had placed in her room by my father. The first were the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which were an actual horror story to have in the home.

Orange Peel Angels, one of a matching set

Mid on the tree, far from each other

Bought by Mom from Ten Thousand Villages, made by artisans in Colombia

These make everything in the box they get stored with smell like oranges to this day.

Wizard of Oz Rainbow Ornament, part of a set of two

Mid of front of the tree

Bought by Mom for Abbi

Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor

Mid to high on the back of the tree

A gift from Mom to Dad

Nightmare before Christmas is my Dad’s favorite Christmas and Halloween movie. One year we were at the Petco and he found chew-toys, like the ones for dogs, that had all of Boogie’s Boys’ faces and one of the Mayor’s and bought them as decor to go up on the mantle.

Silver Wizard

Low front of the tree

Bought by Mom for Abbi and Katie from Pier 1

Wooly Sheep

Bottom side of the tree

Bought by Mom for Abbi and Katie

By far the softest ornament we have. Mom bought it specifically to have ornaments that the cats couldn’t break that she could hang low on the tree.

Acorn, one of a set of five

Anywhere, spread out from one another

A gift from Abbi to Mom from an antique shop in 2021

Abbi's clay angel

Back middle of the tree

Handmade by Aunt Barbara

Purple Spirals

Cover, in any tall empty spots

Bought by Mom from the Cheshire Cat antique store

We went on a shopping trip with her around 2014 after she bought a purple tree skirt and wanted more ornaments to match it.

Dirty Sock Snowman

Bottom back of tree 

Handmade by Grandma Harriet

“Mom, I know you did not just hang that dirty sock lookin’ snowman at the very front of tree like that’s where he belongs.”

“Don't say that about him Grandma Harriet made him for us!”

“Yeah out of the dirty sock off of her own foot!”

Dude-man's sand dollar, one of a set of two

Front low on the tree

A custom made gift from Ms. Laura to Mom from a Crabtree Valley Mall kiosk in 1989.

We have another that looks like my Dad’s old cat Simon that my Mom bought for him a different year.

The Apples

Cover, in any empty colorless or empty spaces

Antiques from Grandma Denise to Mom when she first moved out

The black airplane

Top of the front of the tree

A gift from Grandma Harriet to Dad

Aunt Sharon’s ugly-ass pink bear egg

Mid to bottom back of the tree

Handmade by Aunt Sharon in 1998

This is by far the most hideous ornament we own, undeniably one of the most memorable.

Gold-tipped lute-playing angel

Front, mid on tree

A gift from Grandma Denise (also during her angel kick)

Star square Abbi

Eye-level on the tree

A gift from Aunt Lisa to Mom, photo taken in a shoot from the daycare

Star Plush Santa

Bottom of the tree

A gift from Aunt Kimmy to Mom for Abbi's first Christmas

Bonus:

The Christmas Slug

❗NOT❗ allowed on the tree!

The Best Gift

Under the tree. Always. She’s difficult to reach. Bear please come out we have to put the lights on.

#mine #written #photography #cats #christmas

[ventidetta]

From the second they drop, it’s chaos.

Gunfire starts the second their boots touch the ground, and Chris takes point on finding a safe location to hole up in – Piers is at the rear, making sure the rest of the team is accounted for. This is how they’ve always run it, and there’s no one Chris trusts to have his back like Piers does.

A lot – if not most – of the villagers are either dead or infected. J’avo, which are the smart kind of zombie that can hold and use things like machetes and guns and grenade launchers – which one of them definitely has based off the explosions happening around them.

“Alright,” Chris says, when they get to a relatively safe zone. “The mission is simple – terminate the threat. Nothing more than some pop-up back alley dealing going on here, but it can’t be allowed to continue. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” they chorus.

“Piers.” Piers stands up straighter, nodding to show he’s listening. “Take Finn. I want their hideouts blown to bits – find a high vantage point, lay down some cover fire. That church south-west of the drop point seems to be where they’re concentrated – head there.”

“Yes sir,” Piers says. “Finn.”

They jog off together, and it’s probably less than two minutes later that he hears demolition work, and an entire building – filled with insurgents, if the screaming is anything to go by – collapses in on itself. “Good job, Finn,” he says into the radio. “Press to target.”

“Copy,” Piers says. “Pressing to target.”

It’s a bloody fight to get to the church. Everyone takes hits in one way or another, whether it’s grazes from bullets or shrapnel or even large chunks of the infrastructure falling down on them. At least once, Chris is sure two or three of the J’avo have got the upper hand – and every time, their heads explode into fountains of blood and gore. Piers’ sniper skills are second to none, and he must have found a good vantage point to be able to snipe from. Chris just hopes he and Finn stay safe.

Finally, the gunfire and shrieking from the other side mostly ceases. He taps the radio – everyone checks in with him. “Nice job, everyone,” he says, even though three of them are currently with him. “Piers – good shooting. I want you and Finn to scout ahead, do a little recon. Don’t pick any fights you don’t have to.”

“Will do,” Piers’ voice responds.

“Rendezvous?”

“Back at the drop site in twenty.”

“Roger.”

They regroup, reload weapons, take a brisk overview of what their injuries are. Thankfully, everyone seems to be mostly unscathed – from this round, anyway. Chris has no doubt that there’ll be more down the track – he’s never known any insurgents to give up land this easily. Not ones that can sort of think, anyway.

They make their way back to the drop site and get there just in time – Chris checks his watch, realises that it’s now been twenty-five minutes. Piers is pretty anal retentive about being on time, even on missions, and something cold and slimy curls in Chris’s gut.

“How’re we all doing?” he asks, scanning the horizon for any sign of Piers and Finn.

He gets various affirmative answers – now all they’re waiting on is for Finn and Piers to return from recon on the south side of the city. The rendezvous is meant to be brief, more so Chris can check in on them – but as time drags on, he gets a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He clicks his radio. “Finn, Piers, come in,” he says.

A pause. Then – “This is Macauley. Lieutenant Nivans is uh-”

“Fuck OFF!” he hears Piers shout, and then a gunshot.

“He’s busy,” Finn finishes.

“Finn, what the hell is going on out there?” he demands.

“We found a pocket of insurgents, Captain. They’ve gained control of the bridge – L.T is just taking them out.”

The bridge is the only way in or out of the town for backup – no wonder Piers sounds more than a little stressed. “We’ll rendezvous with you there,” he says, clipped. “Alright, c’mon.”

It happens when they’re halfway there – he can hear the sound of Piers’ prized anti-materiel sniper rifle firing from here, knows they’re headed the right way, and then there’s a boom – a plume of flame and smoke arises from the approximate direction they’re in.

His blood turns to ice – he doesn’t hear what, if anything, the rest of Alpha are saying as he breaks into a full sprint, dodging his way through barricades and bodies until he reaches the scene.

“Piers!” he yells. “Finn-”

“Duck!”

He drops – a shot cracks above his head, and when he turns, it’s to see a J’avo insurgent behind him with a recently-acquired hole between the eyes. Turning back shows him Piers – who looks absolutely fucking livid.

“What the fuck are you thinkin’, charging in like that?” he yells. “You didn’t even look!”

Chris doesn’t say anything, he’s that shaken. Piers is right – it was a rookie mistake. He’s not just shaken by the explosion – he’s shaken by the idea that he lost his cool totally because Piers was in danger. Not just both of them – Piers, specifically.

“Are you alright?” he asks, and looks Piers up and down – immediately notices the blood on his vest. “Piers-”

“It’s a scratch,” Piers says impatiently. “Let’s get out of here. Getting bombed once is enough for me.”

They clear out of there – head for one of the safe drops HQ has organized them, a shack with maybe four rooms in it. The last of the insurgents have managed to take themselves out in the explosion – for now, at least, it’s peaceful, until either side can get more troops in.

Chris cleans his gun and then his knife after checking in with the others, rattled. He forgot everything – all of his training – because he thought Piers was in danger. He ignored all reason, went rushing in. These feelings he’s got for Piers-

“Captain?”

Speak of the devil. Piers is standing in front of him, having taken off his tactical vest – it takes Chris about half a second to register how he’s slightly hunched and a little paler than normal.

“Piers?” he asks.

Piers grimaces. “You know that scratch?” he asks. “I uh, I think it might be worse than that.”

“What are you-”

Piers pulls his hand away from his side, and it comes back wet with bright red blood – his undershirt is torn, and there’s blood pulsing from a wound about as long as Chris’s hand, beginning to stain his pants as well.

Surprisingly, Chris doesn’t lose his shit. “Okay,” he says, and directs Piers over to a table to sit on. “Just there. Pull your shirt up-”

He does, and Chris leans closer to inspect it, trying not to notice the way Piers’ ribs are moving jerkily with each pained breath. The wound isn’t all that deep, he doesn’t think – but it’s got debris in it. Chris can stitch it, stop the bleeding, but he’ll have to clean it first.

“Pretty nasty wound, kid,” Chris murmurs worriedly.

Piers gives a single, sharp nod, hissing as Chris applies antiseptic and begins to clean it up, trying to get as much debris out as possible. It is nasty – and if they’re not careful, it’ll get infected.

“Didn’t realise at the time,” Piers says, grunting as Chris wipes particularly hard at a stubborn patch of dirt around it. “Think I’ve lost some blood.”

He’s not wrong there, but Chris focusses on treating the wound instead. “I can stitch this,” he says. “If you can lie still.”

“Fuck,” Piers groans. “Okay, fine. Finn.”

Finn turns. “Yes sir?”

“You’re on watch with Alfonso.”

“Yes sir.”

Piers lies back on the table uncomfortably – it’s not long enough to take his full height – and rolls towards Chris when he’s directed to. Chris finds what he needs in the first aid kit – surgical thread, a needle, scissors – and begins to get everything together.

“If you tell me you learned to do this from looking after Claire…”

Chris snorts. “No. Not this particular skillset.” He pinches Piers’ skin together, watching the powerful jaw tic when he does. “Ready?”

“Just do it.”

Stitches aren’t fun even when the area is numbed. Stitches are even less fun when they’re part of non-medicated field medicine in a shitty backwater country where most of the residents are trying to kill you. Piers only makes a few small noises – and one threat – before Chris manages to close up the wound.

He cleans his hands off. They’re shaking a little as he grabs the antiseptic, wipes the area gently, and puts a gauze bandage over it to stop anything from getting into the wound.

Piers is bone-white and looking entirely displeased by his situation – but he hops off the table, barely wobbles, and puts his torn-up clothes back on.

“Thanks,” he says to Chris, something unrecognizable flickering across his eyes.

“Don’t mention it.”

[dawnslight-aegis]

21. grave

Estinien sighed as he stared down at the list in his hand, comparing the messily-scrawled kana on the parchment to the signs around the market. 'Twould be a great deal easier on his barely-functional grasp of Hingan if the woman who had written the damned list was close at hand to translate the last few ingredients they needed, but Marz had disappeared sometime between buying herbs and arriving at the fruit stalls, leaving him to decipher her handwriting on his own. 

Finally making an educated guess that the last entry was what Eorzeans knew as a mango, he had a few sent to the Shiokaze Hostelry with the rest of the supplies they'd procured.

Why he had been wrangled into accompanying her on a trip across the star for what amounted to grocery shopping, when the twins or Kaede could have kept her company just as easily, Estinien did not know, but it was often easier to go along with Marz's whims than fight them. Besides, Mor Dhona had grown quite dull over the past moon, and he welcomed the chance to stretch his legs, so to speak.

Their task concluded, the dragoon turned his attention to finding his erstwhile companion. Fortunately xaela were not much more of a common sight in Kugane than they were in Eorzea, and he was able to pick up her trail as it led from a flower stall to the nearby waterfront. After that, all he had to do was look down, and he found her easily, small dark form curled in on itself on the edge of a pier, her calves half-submerged in cold salt water.

A single jump had him landing on the wooden slats behind her, but she did not stir at the sound as she stared out to the west, towards the unbroken horizon of the Ruby Sea.

When his shadow fell over her, she finally spared him the briefest glance before returning her attention to the bouquet of flowers in her hands. "Have I ever told you how my tribe buries their dead?"

The morbid question caught him briefly off guard, but then several things began to slot neatly into place – Marzanna's sudden desire to cook one of her family's traditional meals for the Scions, the insistence that it be today, and the necessity of coming all the way to Kugane just for the correct ingredients. Grief was what was pushing her forward today, which made even her preference for his company over the others' make sense.

Very few people knew what it was like to lose both everything and everyone that made you who you were, to be the last person left to remember.

So he sat down on the pier next to her, unlacing his boots and setting them aside with his lance, rolling up the cuffs of his trousers to dangle his feet in the water next to hers, the way he used to do on warm summer days as a boy. "No. You haven't."

She idly ran her fingers over the petals of the orchids, voice quiet. “My people believe that the ocean and the sea of souls are connected, and to return a body to the water is to return their soul to the great flow, as well. And that when we touch the sea, our ancestors are all around us. So to do that, we bind their bodies with reed ropes, adorn them with shells and flowers, say the words, and then take them to rest at the seafloor, weighed down with stones so they do not return to us too soon.”

‘Twas a far cry from Halone’s halls, indeed, but it struck him as kinder, as well. No great deeds or valour required, no fear of the seven hells to separate one’s kin. No graves to visit, though, save the ocean, which was cradle as well.

She paused for long enough that he thought perhaps she was waiting for him to respond, when the words wrenched themselves free. “I ran out of flowers by the time I buried my mama. Orchids were her favorite. I wish I’d been able to do it right.”

The grief in her voice was palpable, painful. It had been bad enough, to find his parents, his little brother, his entire village lost to stone and flame – he hadn’t had to bury them himself. The Temple Knights had seen to that. He’d had somewhere to go, as much as he’d loathed the city at first. There were people who knew his story, if not his face, but Marzanna…

How many dozen of corpses had she had to swim to the seafloor, in the wake of what the Garleans did to her people? How long had it taken her? He couldn’t fathom the exhaustion, the way something so brutal must have become banal in the repetition.

And then to come to Eorzea after, to leave her lost tribe for foreign shores, where there was no one who looked or sounded like home – well. ‘Twas a small wonder she had been so angry, when they’d first met. Angry enough that even Nidhogg took notice, despite there being not a drop of Ratatoskr’s blood in her veins.

Were he anyone else, he might have given her empty platitudes, about how he was sure her mother forgave her for being unable to attend to the rites the way tradition dictated, but Estinien knew better. Such words did nothing to assauge the guilt of the living, only breathing life to resentment. Instead, he nodded. “Next time, we should bring some Nymeia lilies, as well. If you think should would have liked them.”

The Spinner’s favorite flower, which he had left at too many graves – the memorial at Ferndale, the gates of Azys Lla, the depths of Sohr Khai – it wasn’t Marz’s people’s tradition, but Eorzea was part of her now, too. Perhaps if the flowers reached her mother, the woman’s spirit would be gladdened to see that Marz had found herself a new family.

“I… Yeah. Okay. That sounds… nice.” The side of Marz’s head rested lightly against his upper arm, and they sat there in silence for long moments, as the sun disappeared beneath the waves, the crimson of sunset fading into the violet of dusk. When no sliver of sunlight remained, Marz dropped the bouquet into the water with a murmured invocation to Nhaama and a “happy nameday, mama,” before rising to her feet. One small, tattoo’d hand curled around his shoulder as she used him for balance to put her sandals back on. By the time they were secured, the melancholy was nearly buried again, in whatever grave in her heart she normally kept it. “C’mon. We should get back, if I’m going to make dinner. It may be morning in Mor Dhona, but some of the dishes take a few bells.”

Estinien rose, picking up his boots in one hand and lance in the other, shadowing Marz back to the Hostelry. “Dare I ask what you’re making?”

A small smile, not quite one of her usual grins, but more genuine than he’d expected, brightened her face. “It’s a surprise. Though, in case you were wondering – I did buy some squid, just for you. As repayment for coming with me.”

“Oh, aye? You might have mentioned that sooner, you know.”

“What, and miss out on you grousing about carrying my groceries for me?” Her husky voice tilted more towards teasing than anguish, and Estinien accepted the jab with a small, half hidden smile as they collected their provisions and set out for the aetheryte, and from thence to Eorzea.

Home, for both of them.

#wow I sure am glad I had a silly one between this one and weal because WHEW #ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite 2023 #tales from the dusk #we were slaves to any semblance of touch

[matthewgallaway]

This is yesterday on the Hudson just north of 145th Street. I think these are the pilings of an old pier or maybe a dock from when they used to have swimming beaches up here. I’ve read that the Hudson is coming back to life and I hope it’s true but I fear there’s still an industrial wasteland of garbage on the riverbed. A few times I’ve seen people swimming here and I understand the temptation, especially in the summer, and because the water is so bewitchingly calm, but it always makes me shudder, not because of the water itself but what’s in the water. Coincidentally I was just reading the chapter in Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles where her girlfriend has a breakdown at a bar in the West Village and runs down 14th Street to the Hudson and dives in, even though it’s January. I feel like that’s the kind of drama we’re secretly craving in 2023.

#Eric Adams is a terrible mayor #harlem #eileen myles #fog is the best weather

[creativespark]

Stanley Stellar, Rolling a Joint, West Village Piers, 1982

#photography #street photography #black and white #stanley stellar #1980s photography