#ORCA brigade | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ihazyourkitty · 5 months ago

Text

For those of you who, like me, strongly disagree with Blackfish, most of you are probably aware of SeaWorld’s 69 point rebuttal here.

What you may not be aware of is Blackfish’s rebuttal to that rebuttal. In an effort to try and be balanced, I went and read it. Personally, I found most of their points to be underwhelming at best, and at worst some of the biggest piles of disingenuous brain rot I can think of in recent memory.

Needless to say, I do not have the time to go through each and every point here. I will simply address the common themes I noticed: TL;DR: they continually shifted goal posts, doubled down on their misrepresentation of facts/science/the OSHA hearing, and “excuse me, are you questioning the veracity of our eyewitness accounts!?” (Um. Yes…. yes we are)

You know what, at least SeaWorld cited their sources! These guys just expect us to take their word for it. This gets particularly galling when it's in reference to ex-trainers involved. “Trust us, we interviewed dozens of ex trainers! They all told us the same thing!” Did they? Because Mark Simmons and Bridgette Pirtle would like to have a word with you about that. Kyle Kittleson also has some thoughts.

See, by dozens of ex trainers, they pretty much mean Jeff Ventre, Dean Gomershall, Kim Ashdown, John Jett, Carol Ray, Samantha Berg, and John Hargrove.... the same ex-employees featured in the film. It’s certainly plausible that they interviewed others who wished to remain anonymous, but there’s no way to verify that. Anyone can say “well I’ve talked to an anonymous source, and they said X!” but unless you can independently verify that information, for all you know they’re just peddling gossip, if not outright lies.

That is precisely the problem with Blackfish. Even if we assume that the aforementioned individuals aren’t being outright dishonest, most of their information is coming second or third hand. Meanwhile the firsthand accounts they do provide either come from decades ago, contradict independent fact checking, and/or even contradict one another. These are not trivial things. It never seems to occur to these filmmakers that human memory can be flawed, especially when recalling information further back in time, or when retelling stuff heard through the grapevine. This is why things like cross examination exist.

What further complicates all of this is that each of the ex-trainers featured in Blackfish (Mark Simmons excepted) have an obvious anti-SW/cap agenda through which they are filtering the information they're providing. This info is then filtered even further by the film's very conscious, manipulative editing choices. Scrutinizing these things are not irrelevant cheap shots... it's perfectly fair game, and an important part of media literacy.

Still, we are expected to just take Ventre, Hargrove, et al. at their word, because listen, they worked at SeaWorld ya'll, and they've talked with other people there too, so they would know! Except that when Blackfish is confronted with other current/former employees who are pro-SeaWorld, oh no no no no, their accounts cannot be trusted! Of course they'd want you believe the orcas are happy, right? Never mind that they largely had more experience and expertise than the Blackfish brigade, or that some of them actually worked with Tilikum, or were the spotters who were ACTUALLY THERE when Dawn Brancheau was killed. Never mind that, again, SeaWorld has provided documents in their rebuttal that corroborates what they're saying. Nope nope nope, we can't trust them, because they have a conflict of interest, just like we can't trust anything any zoos say about animal welfare. Of course they'd want us to believe their animals are happy, right?

Except that bias is not the same thing as conflict of interest, and come on Blackfish, you can't have it both ways! Dr. Naomi Rose is part of the Animal Welfare Institute and Humane Society of the United States, both of which are ideologically opposed to animals in zoos, cetaceans in particular. Dr. Lori Marino is part of the Nonhuman Rights Project, another organization ideologically opposed to captivity. Samantha Berg, Carol Ray, and Howard Garrett were plaintiffs along with PETA, Ingrid Visser, and Ric O'Barry in a 2011 federal lawsuit against SeaWorld-- alleging that Tilikum, Katina, Corky Kasatka and Ulises were being held captive in violation of the 13th amendment.

All of that indicates that these individuals have a vested interest in convincing you that captivity=bad. But somehow, somehow, NONE OF THAT constitutes a conflict of interest? Is having an obvious bias or agenda only bad when pro-SW people do it?

What this creates is an unfalsifiable position shielding itself from criticism. This then begs the question..... What sort of expert would be an acceptable voice in SW's favor? If the evidence provided by SW's 69 point refutation isn't enough, then what would be enough for these people?

Case in point: their assertion that SW didn't properly disclose Tilikum's history to its trainers, or that it didn't do its own investigation of what happened to Keltie Byrne at Sealand of the Pacific.

Except that SW did inform trainers that Tilikum was involved in that fatal incident, and they had special safety protocols in place for him precisely because of that history. Those documents are there, cited in the SW response. So instead the Blackfish team shifted the goalposts. Well, they didn't tell them the full story, you see!

What full story? I'm sorry, were you expecting them to get into every single nitty gritty, gory detail of the event? But in truth, that's not what they meant. What they meant was that SW didn't disclose information that aligned with what Blackfish concluded about Keltie Byrne's death... that Tilikum was the instigator who pulled her in. He did it, he killed Keltie Byrne!!!

Except that that's not what the verdict from the coroner's jury concluded. According to witnesses, Byrne slipped and fell in, whereupon the whales grabbed her and would not let her leave. It was not clear which whale started it. This was the verdict that SeaWorld relied on when acquiring Tilikum. So, they shift goalposts again: "Well, according to the OSHA hearing, SW admitted that they didn't do their own investigation of what happened!"

.....okay? I'm sorry, but why should they have? They already had the investigation from the coroner's inquest. Did SW somehow have investigative means that the coroner didn't? By what authority could SW have conducted this? What, were they supposed to consider, and then include in official memos, training documents and SOP's, theories that contradicted the official coroner's investigation? Does the Blackfish team seriously not realize how unprofessional, if not potentially legally problematic, such a thing would have been?

Fundamentally, SW did disclose precisely what the trainers needed to know... that he was involved in the death of Keltie Byrne, then later Daniel Dukes, and as such no one should be in the water with Tilikum, ever, for their own safety.

And here's the really dumb thing here: on the one hand, SW didn't do their own investigation of the Sealand incident, but also they apparently knew how dangerous Tilikum was, and covered it up? Huh!? Again, you can't have this both ways!!!

But suppose SW did do their own investigation, or did include more comprehensive information on Keltie Byrne's death. Would that have satisfied the Blackfish team? Because I'm pretty sure they would still be accusing them of shoddy management.

Again, they are operating from a foregone conclusion ("Tilikum was known to be a dangerous killer who killed Keltie Byrne, and SW covered it up"), and are thus contorting the facts to suit that premise...

Then there's this:

I'm sorry, but accusing someone of lying because what they're saying doesn't add up with the evidence at hand IS NOT AN AD HOMINEM ATTACK!!!

Samantha Berg worked primarily with dolphins and belugas. Her experience at Shamu Stadium amounted to 1 year, and it's extremely unlikely that she was signed off to start doing waterworks in that time, given how much training it takes to even get approved to start interacting with the whales at all, let alone get in the water with them. Blackfish claimed it was "an event to which many bore witness", so okay... who were the witnesses??? Who has corroborated this!? Again, they're expecting us to just take them at their word here, and if you question the veracity of their interviewees, well how dare you!

Oh, and in another point they said there's no way Berg could have seen the internal memo on Tilikum's history because it was released in January 1993 and she was there in 1992.... except that she didn't leave SeaWorld until August 1993, well after that memo was released. Why the obfuscation here Blackfish?

As for the practice of using b-roll footage, yes that is a standard film-making technique. BUT... that doesn't make what they did a benign choice either. For one thing, it's not like the movie clarified who the trainer was in that footage, nor was it framed as just a generic clip. Second, well... let me just quote what Holly Byrd said about this: "that was two years of my career leading up to that point that they twisted and took from me."

Holly Byrd worked hard to get to where she could start doing waterworks. Blackfish reduced this down to just a bunch of uneducated dupes being able to swim well and look good, and they used this b-roll footage to achieve that effect. This is bad enough for trainers in general, but when you consider who the victim is here (a woman, whose education and training gets completely erased by Blackfish's framing), it's also incredibly sexist, IMO.

Lastly, Blackfish's response concludes by saying that no, it did actually consider all the evidence, and thus Blackfish was born. Gabriella Copperwaith, allegedly, went in wanting to make one movie, but then came out with this because something, something, evidence was, something, something, captivity=bad.

Except that this is kind of backwards. You see, Copperwaithe was inspired by Tim Zimmerman's Killer in the Pool, which also questioned the ethics of cetaceans in captivity. She also initially questioned SW's ponytail narrative. These were the circumstances in which she began her work on the documentary. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you, everyone gets inspiration from somewhere... but what's disingenuous here is pretending that all they did was "look at the facts" and then conclude that captivity=bad, when in fact they started with that conclusion.

Copperwaithe didn't just look at the facts, she looked at them as framed by someone else, and then made a movie about it. They claim Copperwaithe isn't an activist, Blackfish wasn't a piece of activism, and that animal rights groups were not involved in the production. Except that's not entirely true. Copperwaithe can claim she's not an activist, but that doesn't change what Blackfish itself is. Nor does it change the fact that Lori Marino, Naomi Rose, and Howard Garrett are all outspoken activists who were heavily involved in the film, or that their favorite ex-trainers have collaborated with organizations like PETA.

Oh, but don't worry. They're not activists. You can trust them. Sure.

They allege that SeaWorld didn't directly refute Blackfish's claim that orcas are ill-suited for captivity. Here's the thing though: like them or hate them, the burden of proof here is not on SeaWorld... ultimately it's on the Blackfish team. Over and over again in that document, Blackfish alleges that the evidence they've provided is enough, because "trainers X, Y and Z said so!" However, Blackfish merely insulated itself inside an echo chamber of like minded people, and then sold it to the public as an expose grounded scientific consensus. Except that this isn't actually settled science, there are researchers on both sides of the debate, and plenty of current and former trainers dispute what's in Blackfish. In truth, the issue of captivity is not so black and white.

So when SeaWorld and others then rightly highlighted the inaccuracies of the film and questioned the reliability of these ex-trainers, all Blackfish could do was double down. They don't present any new evidence. They didn't meaningfully back up their original claims beyond appealing to the authority of people like Rose, Marino, or Visser. As for their favorite ex-trainers, their defense is that even if they didn't see something directly, well, they've got connections with people on the inside, and those people told them all about it! In other words... gossip..... they're expecting us to believe gossip.

This is not meeting the burden of proof. It just isn't.

If you're still skeptical of SeaWorld, that's fine. I'm not asking you to accept their claims at face value either. But a skeptical analysis of Blackfish and the effects it has had is seriously absent from public discourse. It shouldn't be.

#Blackfish #Blackfish BS #i said what i said #SeaWorld #orcas #misinformation #Blackfish lies #marine parks #zoos #Peddling in gossip does not make you a credible source #Because how do you know the person spreading the gossip is retelling something accurately?#there's plenty of valid criticism to be made of these ex-trainers #but obviously I can't fit it all into one post #Blackfish rebuttal

7 notes · View notes

attorneys-against-court-violence · 2 years ago

Text

The Defense is not ready, your Honour...

🌙🪶Our main: @panged-lin

A sideblog for all the Ace Attorney discussion & fanart I happen to think of and like, respectively.

Our court record contains the following evidence:

Analysis on things that have stuck in my brain like corn kernels

Random ramblings I found amusing enough to put into words

JUSTICE!

Fanart. A lot of it. There's too much I can't not reblog...

An unusual amount of Dual Destinies-related posts. Athena and Simon have overwritten my neurological functions, to my chagrin.

Court Proceedings:

Posts that deconstruct canon & ones that discuss fanon/headcanons will be clearly denoted. Keep discussions neat and cleanly defined in the pursuit of the truth!

Reblogged ship art will always be tagged for those who wish to block/find the respective pair tags.

Parrots are permitted on the witness stand to provide testimony under extreme circumstances.

Anon asks are enabled. Any assassins that wish to give testimony may do so with complete anonymity and safety.

The Investigation games and other spinoffs are unfamiliar territory for this page. Bare that in mind!

Orcas are permitted on the witness stand under the same conditions as for a parrot to be brought to the stand.

Old personal tags:

#order in the court! - Any old nonsense. If it would get me yelled at by a judge it's going here.

#witness testimony - Reblogs from other sources

#cross examining the witness - Replies via reblog

#evidence approval - General fanart tag

#the court record has been updated - Follow-ups from posts made here

#turn your thinking around! - Story analysis. Headcanons are kept to a minimum.

#this is baseless conjecture! - Headcanons and similar musings. Ranges from educated to pure nonsense.

#psyche-lock cracking - Character analysis.

#perceiving secrets - Visual analysis.

#let your heart be heard - Asks, either requesting or answering.

#herman crab approved - marker for strictly non-romantic readings of plot or pairings. Those without this are open to interpretation going forward!

#the cykes brigade is totally cyked! - Athena Cykes.

#auticykes - niche tag for Autistic Athena Cykes posts

#arothena/#arothena agenda - niche tags for Aromantic Athena Cykes posts

#hi widget! - erm, Widget. Duh.

#prosecutor birdman - Simon Blackquill.

#psych siblings - Athena & Simon duo posts. Mis-written frequently, my bad.

#twin-horned devil - Aura Blackquill.

#quillblings - Simon & Aura duo posts.

#rare moon of hope - Metis Cykes.

#dear bosom buzzard - Taka.

#in robert we trust! - Bobby Fulbright.

#blade of JUSTICE - Simon and Bobby's pair tag. Non-romantic variations included.

#fey appreciation posts - Mia, Maya, and Pearl-oriented posts. Other Fey clan-related chicanery is also included.

#maya apprecition/#mia appreciation/#pearl appreciation - See above, but more specific.

#mr fine - Apollo Justice.

#what's faith without doubt? - Apollo and Athena's shared tag. Do as you will, I just really like these two and their arc.

#apollo's girlfriend - Mikeko.

#the wright man for the job - Phoenix Wright (PW1-3, DD/SoJ).

#you've come to the wright place! - Trucy Wright.

#the perceptive pair - Duo tag for Apollo and Trucy. Non-negotiably platonic/sibling.

#the king of prosecutors - Miles Edgeworth.

#beanix - Phoenix Wright (AJ:AA).

#piano man - Klavier Gavin.

#for skyentific purposes - Ema Skye.

#gone swimming - Damon Gant.

#foolishly foolish fools! - Franziska von Karma.

#call them karmic justice - Egdeworth/Franziska's shared tag. Non-negotiably silbing/sibling-esque.

#man freed from karma - Manfred von Karma.

#dirt earthman - Clay Terran.

#judge junie - Juniper Woods.

#an orange for strength - Thena and Junie's shared tag.

#17 cups of coffee - Godot/Diego Armando.

#moon's haunted - ???/"The phantom".

#hang loose baby! - Roger Retinz.

#a sad monk - Nahyuta Sahdmadhi.

#udgey - The Judge.

#this isn't texas dude - Jake Marshall.

#DISMANTLE DISMANTLE DISMANTLE- - Ted Tonate.

#a covetous crow - Kay Faraday.

#fresh as a spring breeze - Matt Engarde.

#splendiferous! - Redd White.

#i want to protect you! - Blue Badger. Yes I'm serious.

#emotional noise - Old version of #order in the court!

#updating the mood matrix - Old version of #the court record has been updated

#dual destinies analysis - dedicated tag for DD analysis posts, defunct

#dual destinies watchthrough - officially retired

#thena thoughts/#a thena - Athena Cykes text and fanart respectively, defunct

#simon soliloquys/#art of the twisted samurai - Simon Blackquill text and fanart respectively, defunct

#case 6 2 watchthrough - officially retired

#pinned post

71 notes · View notes

nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 1 year ago

Note

Did you hear about this? Some orcas have been spotted ramming boats, with boats of their own design. These seafaring vessels are built by the crafty cetaceans using only coral, seaweed, and seafaring vessels they find. A brigade of trained dolphins has been armed and sent to intercept the orcas. Authorities have called for people to remain indoors as the dolphins "immediately turned around" and destroyed a nearby Levi's factory

dude this is awesome

#zonkeddle #zukriuchen

7 notes · View notes

zestyderg · 2 years ago

Text

Some mer au stuff under the cut

Alright so basically the whole gist of the mer au is that the twins are originally humans who wake up as mers after getting lost at sea (got caught up in a bad storm and a brawl between two certain idiots at the same time) and they're just freaking out over everything and adjusting to their new lives as fish people.

Some mers that I probably won't make proper refs for but I already know what kind of mers they are:

Stella: nurse shark

Terry: Tiger shark

Kent: great white shark

The bb brigade commanders: orcas. All three of them.

Scatterly: dugong

The staff leaders are now the shark trio, and they basically run a mer nursery/orphanage thingy. The bb brigade are the older trouble makers who give the shark trio constant headaches. The patrol team are the younger mers who the shark trio keep a close eye on and primarily care for. Scatterly is basically the funky grandpa who hangs around the nursery entertaining the children.

The twins arrive one day and they are some of the most weird/concerning babies that the shark trio have ever dealt with. They can't swim for shit, which is really bad when baby mers are predated by most of the ocean's fauna. It took them forever to eat, they act like they've never seen anything ocean related in their lives and tend to panic over every little thing, and there's something off about their appearances (but no one can quite guess what). Stella just makes sure to stick by them often.

(Stella's first encounter with the two was... less than pleasant)

Todd was the first to gain their trust, and so where Todd goes, Dina and Dino follow. Whether it's snoozing in the seagrass, getting tangled up in kelp, or exploring patches of coral reef, those three do it together. Pauleen and Rupert of course don't take too long to join the little group and now all five of them are inseparable. The twins are still wary of the adult shark mers but they try their best to seem as non-threatening as possible so over time the twins warm up to them. It isn't uncommon for the kids to be sleeping in a pile while Stella is curled up around them.

Aside from making sure no large predators try to munch on them, the twins slowly get used to life underwater. As long as they have supervision, they can pretty much go wherever they want in the shark trio's territory.

Well...except for the deep waters beyond the biggest reef. No one is allowed to go there.

#fossil fighters #fossil fighters champions #the mer au #zesty's ramblings #my doodles #the twins kinda suck at being a mer but they are trying

7 notes · View notes

b3crew · 2 years ago

Text

No Borders No Race: The SXSW 2023 Showcase | B3 - Boston Bastard Brigade

The annual South By Southwest Festival is just around the corner, and King Baby Duck's got you covered! Over a dozen Japanese acts (and a couple of Boston ones) are on display, with the where's and when's people can see them live in Austin, Texas! (Although there are a few that were, at the time of the recording, still to be determined!)

PLAYLIST (with album/single links):

the tiva - Go back our home (from The Planet Tiva part.1 EP)

Haru Nemuri - Seventh Heaven (from the album SHUNKA RYOUGEN)

VivaOla - Runway (from the STRANDED EP)

Kami Lyle - Much Too Young (digital single)

POT - Beginning (from the album Journey)

Chihiro Yamazaki+ROUTE14band - Fairy Tale (from the album Oto no Sekai)

BackDrop Cinderella - Bond Girl Sugu Shinu (from the 3rd e.p)

GracieHorse - Crustaceans (from the Gracie EP)

NTsKi - Kung-Fu (from the album Orca)

Otoboke Beaver - YAKITORI (from the album Super Champon)

Yogetsu Akasaka - Heart Sutra (digital single)

Snøw - Wxrds (digital single)

NEMOPHILA - Seize the Fate (from the album Seize the Fate)

YAYOI DAIMON - Sin Miedo (from the MY OWN BOSS EP)

CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE - LaLaLa (digital single)

Muck and the Mires - Beat Revolution (digital single)

DYGL - Under My Skin (from the album Thirst)

Wez Atlas & Seann Bowe - The Plot (digital single)

YU-KA - Hoshizukiyo (digital single)

Click here to listen!

4 notes · View notes

courtesanofdeath · 3 years ago

Note

I am still waiting for the day that we get a few panels of all of the magic knight captains and their squads going out to a Black Clover equivalent of a Karaoke Bar and we get to see the captains get up on stage together all singing blank.

__________________________

So I Challenge YOU to BLACK CLOVER KARAOKE

__________________________

Finish this by filling in the following:

(AND THE CATCH?… classic karaoke songs 60s - 00s or Disney soundtracks are your only options)

(If you can, provide gifs or headcanons of at least some of the characters in each scenario to prove why this would work or be utterly hilarious)

What song would Julius and all the captains sing together on stage?

What song would the The Golden Dawn all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Black Bulls all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Silver Eagles all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Blue Rose Knights all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Crimson Lion Kings all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Green Praying Mantises all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Coral Peacocks all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Purple Orcas all sing together on stage?

What song would the The Aqua Deer all sing together on stage?

__________________________

After answering this, please copy and pass along to your favorite BC blogs and let’s see what we come up with (if you choose to add other side characters and what they would sing, that’s fine as well btw) and please sound off in the comments if you wish to play along

#BlackCloverKaraoke

anon you really got my brain working here and i got a little carried away lmao so sorry it's pretty long. it's full of headcanons! thanks for this, it was very fun!

1. Captains

ok so everyone would have different song choices

julius wanted to do what's this from the nightmare before christmas

rill wants to do we're all in this together from hsm

dorothy suggested supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and everyone was like ??????

nozel just wanted to get tf outta there but is being forced to join

so at the end marx told them to sing don't stop believing by journey bc it's a safe and fun choice for squad captains

in the middle of the performance he be like "julius you're doing amazing sweetie" just because the wizard babie boy actually stayed still for three mins

2. Golden Dawn

stayin alive

david suggested walking on sunshine and immediately gets bonked by langris

patri: let's do a circle of life because reincarnation arc -

william: patri nO

they decided to do bohemian rhapsody by queen because it's the ultimate karaoke song and they are the ~ ultimate brigade ~

3. Black Bull

100% gonna do a rock/punk song

killing in the name by rage against the machine

the lyrics + overall sound is perfect for them

it'll be magna's idea. with nacht going 'you're all gonna sound like shit but i guESS' but he's secretly happy bc he most defintely sang that song in his bedroom when he was 15

featuring a very drunk yami and vanessa

canonically, noelle, magna and asta are 3/5 of the worst singers in the series so it's gonna be really funny

luck: open up the fucking pit !!!!

*cricket noises*

4. Silver Eagle

this one's hard bc nozel doing karaoke is wild to imagine. to convince him to go you'd have to either blackmail him or be noelle

nebra jokingly suggested under the sea from the little mermaid and everyone just agreed

so like they do it very reluctantly with only nebra and solid knowing all the words

nozel is dying on the inside while singing

5. Blue Rose

just a girl by no doubt

song choice by sol, who I headcanon as a pop punk kinda lady

charlotte had to take some shots (like one and half so she's still conscious) before partaking

6. Crimson Lion King

"LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS !! TO DEFEAT !! THE HUNS !! "

i'll make a man out of you from mulan, mereo's song choice (she sings it every time they go training)

even though fuego and leo wanted to do hakuna matata

7. Green Praying Mantis

hungry like the wolf by duran duran

it's very jack-like, i think

sekke would probably wanna do something like take on me by a-ha but jack'll threaten him to go with his song choice

8. Coral Peacock

originally dorothy wanted to do sweet dreams (are made of this) by eurythmics but she ended up falling asleep before karaoke night so

kirsch decided to make everyone do mamma mia by abba

he just seems like the type to like abba lmao

9. Purple Orca

they're pretty chill so something like africa by toto

10 . Aqua Deer

friday im in love by the cure (if that counts as a classic karaoke song)

chosen by rill, dedicated to that one mysterious dark haired woman ✨

#i've imagined a black bulls karaoke night before so i was prepared lol #black clover #asks

5 notes · View notes

chromatic-lamina · 4 years ago

Text

national geographic hearts

Orcas (shachi) are found in the North and South Poles, Penguins (Penguin) mostly in the southern hemisphere, though a few natural colonies exist near the equator. Polar Bears (Bepo) are from the North. Largha seals (Law) also.

Narwhals (Ikkaku) are from the north, and sea urchins (Uni) and various types of sea slugs (Clione) are found in a variety of places.

Safe to say that Penguin hitched a ride with Shachi on some migration to get him up to the North Blue (if we equate the One Piece world with our world, and equate the characters with the animal of their name, or connected to their character)?

Ignoring anything we already know, Penguin and Shachi were such good friends that Shachi decided not to eat him? Or he, or his ancestors, were some kinda lost souls who, like Bepo, just drifted into North Blue one day? He certainly didn’t fly—sticking with his animal theme. Anyhoo, just a thought, and maybe some fodder for the Kilguin shippers.

Have a bit of Heart Pirate, marine animals—an excerpt from a long fic. They’re all debriefing and applying first aid after a battle. The Hearts, in the story, are marine shapeshifters, true to their names.

"You communicate with shellfish?" Law asked Uni and Clione. He wasn't surprised, but didn't realise how deep the network went.

"Strength in numbers, man," Clione said.

"Couldn't have done it without ya, ya bottom feeders." Shachi slammed his hands down on Uni and Clione's shoulders.

"Them urchin spikes are poisonous, y'know. Don't go getting all apex on us." Uni had almost dropped the surgical tweezers. Sterilising them again was a pain.

"Waste not want not," Clione said. "And not all. We're varied."

Shachi grinned, but dipped his head. True. Their captain belonged to the seal family, straddling a line between the extremes of life and food cycles. Orcas ripped out the tongues of baleen whales. They were full of protein and the easiest part to access once the pod had drowned the whale by brigading and dragging it underwater. He didn't know if his animal's feeding habits were any more savoury.

#one piece #one piece meta #opmeta #op meta #heart pirates #one piece shachi #one piece penguin #one piece ikkaku #one piece fanfiction #one piece fanfic #opfanfic #fanfic excerpt #trafalgar law #my writing #my stuff #chromalami #long post #national geographic hearts

89 notes · View notes

hotpinkstaples · 4 years ago

Text

im not sayin julius is a dumbass, but with him thinking charmy was yami’s daughter when in reality she’s just the clover kingdom version of a little person and a straight hustler just speaks VOLUMES of how detached julius has been from his own magic knight brigade, and ultimately, ineffective as a political leader. i know issa joke cuz charmy’s literally two feet tall, but even then, you’d think the WIZARD KING was paying attention to his own roster.

like, if julius put in even HALF a braincell into keeping a close eye on his soldiers, he probably could have figured out on his own that billiam was possessed, but instead, he just let everyone run buckwild to the point where yami was recruiting excons and not offering therapy as a workplace benefit when almost all of his subordinates are mentally ill, purple orcas were STILL acting up, and billiam was literally harboring a terrorist, like i GET julius is incredibly powerful.......... but at the end of the day, he’s also incredibly apathetic to the machinations of his own kingdom and THAT’S why he needs to excuse himself soon, or simply perish and marry zara in the afterlife.

i understand that he KNOWS he’s not really the best king, since he never had any intention of leading people to begin with. the one that wanted change in the world was zara, but he died before he could see his dream come through, and julius only took the bare minimum of that dream and put it into action.

the reason i like to call out that JACK is the one who’s really carrying out zara’s will, is because jack knows that if HE doesnt hire all the common kids with low magic potential and give them a reason to do better for their world, then NO ONE is gonna stand up for the commoner. now, is he actively ignoring people like asta who’re probably the clover version of a mutant? yes, but jack doesnt run his squad to cater to hurt feelings, and i tend to believe his view of asta was similar to father orsi’s, ie asta having no magic was viewed more as him having a disability than a mutation and thus exempt from joining the military brigade. from characters like en ringard and sekke, you understand that jack knows that their world is virulently hateful towards people of lower classes, and YES he sold out when he joined the clover version of a corrupt military, but en ringard’s character makes it clear that this military is one of the few ways people in jack’s and en’s class can thrive in their world..... and when you got bellies to fill, you not gonna give a FUCK who you gotta kill. in a way, as idealistic as zara was, jack parallels that idealism with the staunch realism of being dirt poor.

it’s also why more and more, im inclined to believe that julius WILL die in the end, not bc he’s gonna get one-upped by a ghost elf, but bc he KNOWS that the kingdom will never grow if he and people in his level of power (damnatio, king kira, the noble houses) continue to maintain that control. as MUCH as everyone wanted to wordsmith the goddamn WORDSMITH DEMON to say that humans werent the ones at fault for the elven genocide....... it’s pure and utter bullshit bc zagred could do what he did BECAUSE the nobles of clover were that selfish. lumiere and secre just happened to be the only outlier nobles who WEREN’T dirty, but two people cant change the world, and the elven genocide DID happen, and to this day, the nobles who helped carry out the genocide ARE STILL IN POWER. issa moot point that uwu asta and yuno are now peasant bois in the clover military cuz HELLO, the ones running that damn military are descendants of people who financed and carried out a genocide.

i’d go as far as to say that the elven genocide probably WASN’T the first time a species was wiped out or exiled to make room for humans to exercise their power. bringing it back to charmy, i think about how she was arguably one of the most powerful characters BEFORE her wolf and her heritage was revealed, but the second the wolf showed up, it’s like HIS rage poured into charmy like he was waiting for her to wake the fuck up and smell the music, and it’s not unlike the generational trauma that follows descendants of oppressed minorities, cuz when you snap, you SNAP! what’s worst is that charmy doesnt even really know WHO she is, bc somewhere along the way, she wasnt taught about half her heritage, and i can only believe it’s either bc her parents were trying to protect her, or bc they’re simply dead and that there was no one to teach her about the wolf living in her soul.

which brings me the purpose of this crackheaded rollercoaster... i believe tabata is setting up an interspecies continent-wide war! one of the things i also tend to believe is that not ALL the elves were killed in the genocide, and the few that survived either a) ran to different continents to regroup with different elves of different cultures, or b) integrated with humans and hid their heritage with magic makeup, or c) a lil bit of both! we’re probably another hundred or so chapters from meeting the dwarves, but i suspect we’ll meet them, along with the earth elemental spirit, and of course the rest of the demons. in addition, i also dont think the dark triad are the final villains of the black clover saga. if anything, i believe they’re the gateway to exposing the real villains, which are the clover royalty, and i would NOT be surprised if the story drives all of our main characters to band together against the very institution they’ve been protecting thus far. i see a commoner uprising, a peasant uprising, a fucking dwarven and or elven invasion, i see yami’s people rolling up with their ki-based martial arts and dimensional magic as secondary invaders, and anti magic demon straight SAUNTERING into the chat with booty shorts, a croptop, and a cigarette while proclaiming he’s asta’s wife.

#julius novachrono #black clover #asta #charmy pappitson #real talk

27 notes · View notes

simpingforthisonedeer · 4 years ago

Link

Chapter 2: The War Room

Summary: You'll learn more abt Aika and Julius gets some time in the spotlight and shows off his military genius :)))

Notes: Like in BC canon, everyone's like omggg hes such an amazing wizard king who brings us so many victories!!! but we never actually see any of his ideas and plans? So i've decided to showcase that in this fic

A week later, Aika hummed a playful tune as she planted a few wisteria trees around the Magic Knights Headquarters. Lord Raymond, the current Wizard King, was planning a stressful military campaign against another imminent invasion from the Diamond Kingdom so Aika planted a few trees for him to enjoy whenever he relaxed in the gardens to get away from work.

Aika had helped Lord Raymond with foreign matters over the years and had grown to become good friends with the older man. It was only by accident that they found that his dead younger brother was Aika’s father.

Years ago, she was selling paintings her father had painted before he died and in curiosity, Raymond came to the pseudo-art show. When he noticed the artist’s name and signature, he knew it was his brother. Needless to say, Aika was ecstatic. She had lost her entire family at sixteen and finding family again nearly two decades later was like a dream come true.

Though she was his niece, her experience and information from other kingdoms was something Lord Raymond highly valued and since Aika needed a cover for her work. So she worked as an unofficial consultant to him. She would rather not be paid by her own family.

She stood up as she dusted the dirt from her knees. Aika curled her toes to grip and grass and tightly clasped the plant stone in her right palm. She took a deep breath in, spread her arms out towards the little grove and pushed her magic into the seeds and willed them to grow.

She couldn’t grow plants quickly with Time Magic alone because she would have to accelerate the day-night cycle and provide the plants with constant water and nutrition, theoretically speaking. But Plant Magic, on the other hand, doesn’t have such limitations and plants could grow just with magic alone with extra magical properties. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Aika had noted that Time and Plant magic shared similar properties because during her studies, she had found that magic wasn’t a catalyst in some Plant Mages cases but actually accelerated time while providing all that the plant needed to grow. In other Plant mages’ cases, most notably the ones who grew plants slower, the magic only acts as an accelerant with no time magic in play.

Aika dodged as a clump of hard dirt nearly hit her in the face when the trees sprouted and rose rapidly. She watched with a small smile as the vine-like branches grew and sprouted wisteria flowers that shone in the afternoon sun. She had no doubt that they would glow in the night as well.

“Miss Aika!” her guard’s voice yelled out.

“I’m fine!” she yelled back as she adjusted her sun hat.

“No, Miss Aika,” he ran to her side. “The Wizard King wants you in the Captain’s Conference room immediately.”

“Oh? Did he say what for, Evan?” Aika adjusted her plaid skirt.

“He said it’s time you were brought in,” Evan gave her a knowing look. Aika sighed. Today was going to be a long day. At least this meant that she didn’t have to wear that god-awful amulet that made people forget her.

“Alright, thank you. Take the rest of the day off. I’m sorry I can’t join you, Ellie and Jayce tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am and it’s alright. The trees look really beautiful by the way.”

“Thank you, Evan.”

She turned and looked up at the Headquarters Tower with a squint.

It’s time, huh? Is it really that serious, Uncle Ray? Aika thought as she slipped into her heels.

She slid her backpack on and waved ‘bye’ to her guard as she flew to the arched, slightly open, clover windows of the conference room. She hid her mana and flew a little to the side of the windows and peeked in.

Her Uncle had his back to her as he faced seven captains. By the way he was gesticulating at Lord Silva, the Silver Eagles Captain, Aika could tell he was getting impatient for some reason. The walls and tables were strewn with papers blotted with inks of various colors. The rest of the Captains were in deep discussion in varying states of distress, no doubt about the upcoming confrontation with the Diamond kingdom.

She looked around at the Captains for one particular one. Her eyes met Julius’ and she grinned openly. She gave him a hesitant wave at the confused tilt of his head. Maybe he forgot her? A few Captains looked her way along with Julius, suspicious of the woman by the window.

Aika quickly sobered as she lightly touched the window. She wasn’t here for him. Maybe she’ll talk to him after whatever her Uncle needed her to do. He had been plaguing her mind for days , like who gave him permission to do that? Maybe another sit down with him will reveal something about him that will annoy her nitpicking self and she will completely stop idealizing him. Yeah, that’s a good idea.

She slipped between the windows and into the room, as quiet as a breeze. All the captains except Julius and Captain Vermillion stood and moved to attack but Lord Raymond whipped his head around and motioned the Captains to stop.

“Why use the window when there is a perfectly serviceable door, Aika?” her Uncle asked in a bored voice.

“Why use the door when there is a perfectly serviceable window, sir?” She retorted as she took off her hat with a flourish. He shook his head with a scoff.

“Enough with the cheek.”

“Yes, sir.”

Aika clasped her hands and clicked her heels together as she turned to the conference table where all the standing Captains sat down slowly, all eyes on her. They all might’ve seen her around the Magic Knights Headquarters, sitting on the floor in the hallways or in the gardens with a bunch of books and papers scattered haphazardly around her or running around with maids and guards but they would’ve all forgotten about her, thanks to her amulet. And she hasn’t been in the Clover Kingdom in a couple years so she doesn’t expect anyone except Captain Vermilion to remember her.

She had always worked behind the scenes on this continent, running her businesses, private clandestine services, professional development, etc, so she had to stay lowkey to protect her identity and her work. But when she needed to continue her work without arousing suspicion and provide information to the next Wizard King, she needed to step up into the spotlight once again, at least until some trust was established. A spy network was incredibly valuable to her Uncle and his agenda to clean up the criminal underworld from the worst of its traits like slavery, forced prostitution, anti-monarchist movements, and apocalyptic cults.

But Aika herself had personal value for her strategies, diplomacy, connections, and experience in foreign warfare. And so, here she was, her position and identity exposed along with her physique too coincidentally, in the tight, black sweater and thigh length skirt she wore.

The price I pay for trying to feel sexy today.

She was pleased to note Julius’ eyes roving over her with a small smile. She winked when his eyes met hers. He looked away with a small blush. Aika wouldn’t mind working with such delicious eye candy.

“This is Aika Tolliver,” Raymond began as he faced the Captains. “She will help us pinpoint which General will be attacking us this time and where.”

“Who is she, exactly?” The Purple Orcas’ captain asked as she leaned forward, her gray eyes scrutinizing her.

“Her curriculum vitae is irrelevant,” Raymond sat down in his chair with a heavy sigh. “What she knows and what she can do for us is the only thing we’re going to discuss today.”

“Gosh, is he like this all the time?” Aika asked jokingly as she leaned on the table and crossed her arms. While she won’t outright tell them that she was his niece, if he was going to bring her in front of the captains, she was definitely going to have a lot of fun implicating all sorts of things that will leave the captains confused about who she is to the Wizard King.

“Aika, not the time.”

“Alright, alright,” she set her hat down on his desk with an amused smile and took out a leather-bound notebook and a fountain pen. She looked up at the captains with a mild look.

“Long story short, I’m an off-the-record tactical strategist who helps Lord Raymond every now and then,” Aika looked down and flipped through the pages of her notebook as she continued. “I didn’t want my name to be known for my own privacy and the safety of my assets. That’s why I was never brought in but I assume the situation is dire if Master Raymond wanted to bring me in front of the captains.”

Said captains stayed silent as they processed the vague information. Aika looked apologetically at Julius. For all Julius knew, she lied to him but he shrugged and shook his head with a small smile.

“So what is the issue here?” She quickly skimmed the papers next to her. There were several different combinations of squads that could be dispatched but it was all useless if they didn’t know which general or generals they would be facing. In her opinion, they should bring down the hammer and send out all the squads and end this mess once and for all. “I’ve already told Master Raymond what generals and where and I’ve given him the maps of the location of the fortress their brigades have relocated to. I've also said when. They are going to execute their plan next Saturday.”

“Captain Silva here doesn’t believe me,” Raymond crossed his arms and glared at the silver-haired man.

“Well, now it’s even worse,” Silva slammed his fist on the table. “because your information comes from a dubious source we have never heard of!” he barked, spittle flying as he pointed an accusing finger at Aika. Raymond was about to retort but Aika only hummed thoughtfully at his outraged face.

She knew Captain Silva and Uncle Raymond had a fierce rivalry because they both had Water Magic, but it should’ve ended when her Uncle became the Magic Emperor. But Captain Silva still seemed to hold a grudge and Aika also knew that he had become severely depressed and irritable after Lady Acier’s death and the stress of this war was really getting to him so she bit back a reflexively cutting remark. She took the diplomatic route instead.

“I definitely understand where you’re coming from but I can assure you that this information is from our spies in the Diamond Kingdom.”

“Lies! We don’t have any spies in the Diamond Kingdom!”

Julius quickly moved to interject when he noticed Aika’s cheek twiched in annoyance. A verbal smackdown like the one he got that night wouldn’t be received well by the proud captain. He saw how easily she shrugged off the pressure he put on her, so he wasn’t taking any chances with an actual confrontation.

“Well, let’s not get hasty,” he addressed the captains gently. He turned to Aika and quickly masked a smile when her face lit up. “Even if we did have spies, the information they’ve given us is wrong. We destroyed the South Fortress last month and Lord Raymond told us that two brigades have relocated to the South Fortress which I assume is the information from our ‘spies.’”

“You assumed correctly, Julius.” His lips twitched up at being addressed so familiarly in front of everyone. “And forgive Master Raymond for not clarifying, he’s just a little sleep-deprived,” she pursed her lips when the captains threw her confused looks at that causal comment. “They’ve moved their operations in the former South Fortress to a black site previously used for human experimentation and other R&D.”

Silence fell over them. Human experiments. While the captains were aware, being reminded of what they had read in the reports of said experiments sickened them.

Aika quietly flipped through her notebook.

“Here it says that Generals Hennequin and Allard have mobilized their forces into the black site, now called the South Fortress.”

“And how can we know for sure,” Julius began mutely. “That what you are saying is true?”

“I’ve been working for the Wizard King for years, providing him with information regarding foreign matters—”

“And don’t forget about unsolicited advice on domestic ones,” Her Uncle’s muffled voice quipped, unaffected by the mention of human experiments. She threw a mocking glare at his head which was now buried in his arms.

“And most of the information I was given was accurate and useful. We take very good care of our assets so malicious betrayal and misinformation is incredibly rare. I can assure you that this information is accurate.”

Julius and the other briefly scrutinized her for any tells that she was lying and were satisfied that they didn’t find any. While they believed her, they were still wary. Aika sighed.

“Now, if we’re done discussing whether facts are actually facts, let’s get back to the planning. We can’t agree on what squads to send,” Raymond groused as he pushed maps of movements that a trio of squads will follow towards Aika. Each map was a different combination of 3 squads and movements and attack sequences. It was all on the surface. But Aika left her Uncle notes in his folder last night about new intel. The two Diamond generals purchased rights to build exclusive tunnels to the Main Channels from the black site which was underground, the Main Channels that lead directly into the Common Realm in the Clover Kingdom.

Aika suppressed the fear that struck her heart and turned to glare at her Uncle for real this time. He didn’t look at the notes she had left and now he was making completely wrong moves. The wrong moves that would cost many civilian lives.

“Master Raymond,” she nearly growled. “I assume you haven’t looked at the new intel and notes I left last night?”

He glared back.

“What new intel?”

“New intel saying that the Diamond Generals bought rights to tunnel into the Main Channels from the black site.”

“What?!”

She sifted through his papers and found the thin folder and showed him the notes and explained the situation.

“So there would most likely be a fight on the surface for a distraction while they invade us through the tunnels, meaning more than two brigades will attack us.”

Aika nodded gravely.

“I’m sorry, what are these tunnels and channels you’re talking about?” The captain of the Praying Mantis, Marcus, asked. A few others nodded, confused as well.

Captain Vermillion cleared his throat to draw attention to him. He sat up straight and his deep voice rang clearly through the room,

“They are talking about The Innkeeper’s Tunnels. The Innkeeper is a neutral, underground organization that provides safe houses indiscriminately. And in order to get to the safe houses, the Innkeeper had built a tunnel system. This tunnel system was built centuries ago and today it’s also used for underground travel, trade, and the black market, across the continent. It is the only way we trade for magic gems with the Diamond Kingdom because of the current hostilities,” He turned to Aika. “I don’t believe The Innkeeper would allow them to send brigades through the tunnels.”

Aika masked her surprise that he even addressed her. He had completely and deliberately cut her off after she broke up with one of his children and now he was talking to her all of a sudden?

Despite his surprising behavior, Aika agreed with his explanation. She remembered when she tailed him on his frequent missions to the criminal underworld so he knew what he was talking about.

“I agree, The Innkeeper wouldn’t allow them, but they have no real means to stop them. They don’t have a private army and the magical barriers won’t hold against two whole brigades.”

“Then they will call in a favor.”

“From who?”

Captain Vermillion leveled his gaze at her.

“From you.”

“No,” Aika said with absolute finality. He raised an eyebrow as she bristled.

“‘No, they won’t ask,’ or ‘No, you won’t do it?’” He knew she wouldn��t and did he really need to bring up her past here?

“No to both, Leonardo,” Raymond cut in with a scowl and changed the topic. “We need to be ready to face them under and over, and that means all squads need to roll out.”

“Actually,” Julius interjected. “We should leak the information that we know,” he suggested. The captains turned to Julius, not surprised by his unorthodox idea. He may be the youngest of the captains at the table at nearly thirty-six years old, but he was also the smartest and the strongest. His unexpectedly brilliant ideas and the strategic way he built his squad left no doubt that he would be a great military leader as The Magic Emperor.

“Why would we do that?” Captain Silva asked as he pressed his fingers to his temples, knowing full well that there was a good explanation coming.

“Because this plan to use the underground tunnels would only work if we are unaware. If they know that we know, and that we would come prepared to the tunnels, they will change their plans. They will think that their element of surprise and lack of resistance is gone, so their chances of winning decreased. And since they don’t know that we leaked it, they would think that we put our squads underground for their ‘attack.’ So they will put their troops on land or air to take us on.”

“But instead,” Aika began quietly as his idea became clear. “we will be prepared to attack with the full weight of our army above ground and overwhelm them completely, giving us a chance to negotiate a ceasefire.”

“No,” Julius laced his fingers together with a cool expression. “We demand a surrender.”

Notes: Julius is lowkey scary in canon and i plan to show more of that in this fic. The end was just a lil taste, but in battle? oooooh I can't wait to write ruthless Julius ;))))

oh and yall should read the hashtags in the posts. There’s info abt next chap in them:)

#julius novachrono #julius novachrono x oc #julius novachrono x reader #can yall believe i did a thorough character study and researched realistic behaviors??#sighh #sorry this was lil plot heavy #the next chapter focuses more on the two lovebirds #so don't worry ;)))#we get to meet Aikas friends and help Julius with his lil liver problem :)

9 notes · View notes