#Wreck of the Ten Sail

[allaboutyoupostnthings]

A Prayer for God’s Blessings on Families, Nations, and the World, Day 74, Cayman Islands

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for today. Thank you for what you do for me each and every day and for that which I fail to notice. Thank you for taking care of my family, friends, and acquaintances. I ask that you shield and protect them and guide them in this life. Bring them safely home to you. Let them know that you are there for them. Never let me forget your presence in my life and guide…

[tippytopdays]

Dissolving into a rage fit again and listening to music that feels just a bit too close to how I feel about home.

[sca-nerd]

Happy Black History Month. Add this book to your pile.

BLACK TUDORS tells the stories of ten Africans. Miranda Kaufmann traces their tumultuous paths in the Tudor and Stuart eras, uncovering a rich array of detail about their daily lives and how they were treated. She reveals how John Blanke came to be the royal trumpeter to Henry VII and Henry VIII: the trouble Jacques Francis got himself into while working as a salvage diver on the wreck of the Mary Rose; what prompted Diego to sail the world with Drake, and she pieces together the stories of a porter, a prince, a sailor, a prostitute and a silk weaver. 

They came to England from Africa, from Europe and from the Spanish Caribbean. They came with privateers, pirates, merchants, aristocrats, even kings and queens, and were accepted into Tudor society. They were baptised, married and buried by the Church of England and paid wages like other Tudors. 

Yet their experience was extraordinary because, unlike the majority of Africans across the rest of the Atlantic world, in England they were free. They lived in a world where skin colour was less important than religion, class or talent: before the English became heavily involved in the slave trade, and before they founded their first surviving colony in the Americas. Their stories challenge the traditional narrative that racial slavery was inevitable and that it was imported to colonial Virginia from Tudor England. They force us to re-examine the 17th century to find out what had caused perceptions to change so radically. 

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

E Rated Fics Masterlist (52)

Part 1 -Part 45 / Part 46 / Part 47 / Part 48 / Part 49 / Part 50 / Part 51 /

Created: May 27th, 2024

Last Checked:-----

Ain’t it Funny-oakfarmer (ao3) Summary: Peeta is the Baker's bastard Seam son. Katniss is the Miner's merchant daughter. This story is based on oh-wellau's Funny How it Goes. Starting after the end of Chapter 3. Birthday Surprises-Pikelet184 (ao3) Summary: Growing up, Katniss Everdeen’s birthday had always been her favorite day of the year, spending it with the people who meant the most to her and doing the things she loved. These days, though, it was nothing more than an aching reminder of the people she’d loved who’d then left her without so much as even a goodbye. First, her father. Then Peeta, whose sudden disappearance from her life when they were 17 cut almost as deep as her father’s death. But now Peeta���s back. And there are 6 years of history that they’ll need to overcome if there’s any hope for them. Children of Paradise-OfPearlsAndShoelaces (ao3) Summary: Stranded alone on a lush tropical island, young children Katniss and Peeta live a simple and fulfilling life together. As burgeoning teenagers, their once easy and carefree relationship blossoms into something much more. An Everlark retelling of "The Blue Lagoon." Cursed-OfPearlsAndShoelaces (ao3) Summary: Katniss and Peeta end their Victory Tour with an encounter from a mysterious fortuneteller in the Capitol. When they wake the next morning, they're not quite... themselves. This is Everlark: freaky Friday style. Canon divergent AU. Destiny Is All (may the gods be ever in your favor)-oh_so_loverly (ao3) Summary: “Danes,” Peada gestures upstream, “A Dane-ship, sailing inland!” “Raiders?” one of the men asks. “Coastal scouts should have sent word.” “The fog?” another guesses. “Trading vessels,” Peersen scoffs. “No!” Peada insists. “They are high in the water!” Or, The Last Kingdom AU: Peeta and Katniss's Anglo-Saxon world is about to be turned upside-down by a Danish Viking invasion. Hope-papofglencoe (ao3) Summary: It took five, ten, fifteen years… It would have been easier to let go. But Peeta wanted them so badly.

Wild Flowers-LilyMaid (ao3) Summary: Part of the This Would Have Happened Anyway Winter Challenge. Peeta and Katniss finally get a chance to talk openly on their way home after their first Games. Wreck & Ruin-JennaGill (ao3) Summary: “When I tell you….you'll look at me differently. You'll see me as wounded and I'm not. Not anymore. And I don't want you to think of me like that. I'd like you to see me as a friend.” Peeta Mellark has struggled with moving on from his childhood. Can he do it with peer counselor Katniss Everdeen? Modern AU. Rated E for language, adult content, emotional and physical child abuse, and disturbing violence toward a child.

In The Middle-papofglencoe (ao3)

Summary: The only mercy in all of this was that she hadn’t been outside to see it. Or to hear it. It was bad enough she was seeing him bleed, could see the tracks his tears had carved through his caked and clotted face paint. He was just thankful she didn’t know she was the reason why.

Mile High-papofglencoe (ao3)

Summary: When Katniss Everdeen boards Pan Em Flight 1213, the last thing she expects is to be flying a mile high with Peeta Mellark.

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

Wreck Of The Ten Sails. Shipwreck Event Occurred Off The East End Of Grand Cayman

[jamesandnina6389]

Wreck of the Ten Sail is a historic shipwreck event that occurred off the East End of Grand Cayman on 8 February 1794. Ten ships that were part of a convoy on its way from Jamaica to the United States and Britain wrecked on the surrounding reef. While local residents braved the stormy waters and successfully rescued the ships' crews and passengers, eight people from the convoy died.

[theshadowbendersblog]

*Big One Piece Spoiler ahead*

I'm currently watching this show which aired in 1982 and ran for like a year, called "Mysterious Cities of Gold". It's quite an old series and very hard to find. Over the past couple of years many fans tried to upload it on various sites all over the internet but for some reason or the other, the show was taken out only a few weeks or a couple of months after the show was uploaded. Even if you try to google the show, most of the sites will tell you it was only one season but in reality it was 4 seasons. If anyone is up for it, I can provide links if it's still available. I was lucky enough to have been able to download all 4 seasons of it.

The show is interesting because it has so many similarities with one piece and i think Oda took some inspiration from it because

1. Back when the first season aired, Oda was probably just a kid

2. It even aired on Japanese television soon after, with the name "Taiyou no ko Estaban" (son of the sun Estaban)

The show is about the protagonist Estaban who lives in Barcelona, somewhat parallel to Luffy. Estaban can also command the sun and make skies clear even during the strongest of storms or rainfalls.

There are 3 more characters who run parallel with some op characters, Zia, an Incan girl who can read old and rare Incan texts and thus the Spanish govt. was always after her and in several instances they kidnapped her to find out what the incan scripts said about the cities of gold (El Dorado). She's parallel to Robin's character. There's a guy named Tao who's a descendant of an old advanced civilization called Mu who were known as the people of the Sun. They were famous for harvesting and using the power of the sun and they were technologically advanced (again somewhat parallel to the ancient advanced civilization in op). He's just like Usopp, good at fixing things and very crafty. In fact it was him who first provided the team with their first ship called Solaris. It had solar panels instead of sails and it had the power to run the ship 100 times faster than a normal ship running on sails. And just like Going merry, it got destroyed in an event. The second mode of transport they got was not a ship but a plane that looks like a bird.

Estaban was saved by a Spanish govt. navigator when he was just a baby. Ten years before the current timeline, the navigator named Mendoza (somewhat parallel to Shanks, since he uses one handed sword techniques and saved Estaban in the sea just like shanks saved kid Luffy) spotted a wrecked ship on a stormy night and the only survivors were Estaban and his father. The man hands Estaban over to Mendoza and then he was washed away. Ever since, Mendoza had been keeping an eye on Estaban. Estaban's father also handed Estaban a medallion on his neck that turns out to be one of the 2 keys to open 7 cities of gold that is scattered all around the world.

The story goes like this, many years ago there existed 2 advanced civilizations, Mu and Atlantis. They fought a huge war against each other over power resources. Alas they ended up destroying each other. Later some survivors of the Mu empire built 7 cities of gold all around the world where they hid tonnes of gold and several ancient technologies for the betterment of the world, and handed down 2 medallions to 2 generations of families. And as time passed, the medallions kept getting passed on among certain families and one ended up with Estaban and the other ended up with Zia. The high priest of the first city of gold (turns out he was estaban's father) said that the advanced civilization was so powerful and so technologically advanced that the survivors of the Mu empire knew that any adult who gets their hands on these powerful resources and tonnes of gold, would surely get greedy and fall to the bad side. And if the adults started fighting for these powerful technologies, they would end up using these advanced technologies again to destroy the world.

This is where it gets important for guessing what one piece could be. The high priest said the cities of gold and the keys to their doors were wished to have fallen into the hands of kids, because a child's innocence and wonder would never let the advanced technologies be used for bad purposes, like greed for power and war.

We are now aware of how there existed an ancient advanced civilization in one piece too, that created cool robots like the one in Egghead island. And to think the robot is so advanced that even a man like Dr. Vegapunk couldn't get it activated or figure out what fuel does it run on.

What if, one piece is a child's toy? A toy that children of the 800 years old ancient civilization built and played with!! This is something Oda could do, a gag ! And he simply doesn't do gags, he makes things so silly, yet so meaningful. Where, if this theory is taken into account, and we consider that the one piece is indeed a toy that the children of the ancient advanced civilization played with, at the same time it could also turn out that the toy itself was so advanced that it was like a powerful technology for the normal humankind.

To support my theory even further, back when Roger and his crew visited Laugh-tale and figured out what one piece is, Roger laughed and even said something close to "I came at a wrong time, this is not my time to reveal or use the one piece". It's something that people are so serious about that they wanna turn the whole world upside down. But only someone with the innocence of a child can actually use the one piece, since no adult can value a toy as much as a child can. Which is why if recalled, op has always shown how boys like Luffy, Chopper, Usopp and the boys from Punk hazard are so fascinated with robots and cool mechanical machineries. And the term "man's romance" is always stressed at times like these.

If anyone has seen Ben 10 alien force and recalls that one episode where a mysterious cube shaped alien technology was mimicking anyone who attacked it, like Gwen, Kevin, their powers, and even transformed into every one of Ben's aliens and it seemed like a totally destructive and advanced weapon. But it turns out, it was just a child's toy from some higher dimension and the child's mother later came to earth and picked up the toy, saying that her kid had dropped the toy somewhere back when they came to the lower dimension on the earth, for a family picnic. Or to hang out or something like that.

I feel this little Ben 10 alien force scene is a coincidental yet strong correspondence with the theory i have proposed above. In short what I'm guessing is, there's a huge chance that in a story like one piece where Oda likes to just mess around like what children would like the most, with cartoonish art style and funny gags, where he not only shows us serious stuff, but never fails to make us laugh with his cartoonish composition of manga panels and the over all story, the one piece could very well be just a toy, like a robot or some sort of weapon or a machinery, which to normal humankind, would look like a powerful weapon and the adults will surely try to obtain it for their selfish desires. Whereas, only a child's innocence could make the utmost use of it.

[eretzyisrael]

Moroccan Jews recall the Egoz disaster

At this time of year Moroccan Jews recall the disaster of the Egoz, in which 44 passengers hoping to reach Israel  drowned off the coast of Morocco.  Raquel Levy-Toledano wrote up their story for l’Arche ‘s special issue on Morocco in November 2023.

Monument to the Egoz disaster in Ashdod, Israel

The collective memory of the Moroccan Jewish will forever be marked by the wreck of the Pisces, renamed the Egoz, which occurred on Wednesday 11 January 1961.

The Pisces was an old star of the British army, converted into a smuggling boat. On board, ten families of Moroccan Jews going  to the Promised Land with a Mossad envoy. They mostly perished during the shipwreck: the families Edery (Nissim, Mordekhay, Rosa, Annette, Marcelle, Shaba, Haim, Albert), Azoulay (Hnina, Gisele, Shalom, Pierre, Meyer, Rachel), Elmaleh (Isaac Alya, Albert, Simon, Messoda, Suzanne), Benarroch (Raphael, Tamar, Jacques, Denise, Jacqueline, Gabriel), Dadoun (David, Judah, Danielle, Jacky), Benlolo (David, Marie, Yochoua, Alice, Rachel), Mom (Henry, Gisele, Haim, Florence, Rebecca), Elkouby (David), Gozlan (Freha) and Librati (Esther).

Jacques and Denise Benarroch had married the day before. David Dadoun had been arrested and turned back at Casablanca airport with a fake passport. With his two children, he was excited  to join his wife and two other boys already in Israel. Henry Mamane, a Casablanca bartender, his 80-year-old mother Hannah Azoulay, and his children were looking forward to being reunited with two of his daughters. The first had left on January 2. The list of victims also included Haim Sarfati, a 28-year-old Israeli born in Fez, sent by the Mossad as a radio operator, on a last mission before returning to marry in Israel.  Francisco Pérez Roldán (Paco) was the Spanish machinist.

To divert the suspicions of  any possible inspectors, the group  had pretended they were going on a pilgrimage to Ouezzane, to the grave of Amram Ben Diwan and attending a wedding in the Al Hoceima region. The journey had been exhausting since they left Casablanca. At  Al Hoceima the group was boarded into tugs  by armed  and hooded men and led to the main ship.  Despite the favorable weather forecast, the sea was rough and the ship pitched and rolled violently. Only ten miles (16 km) from the Moroccan coast and after sailing for  thirty minutes,  the hull split and the boat sank within minutes. Three crew members embarked on the only  lifeboat, leaving the passengers to their sad fate. Only the machinist Paco Perez refused to abandon the passengers, mostly women and children.

On 11 January 1961, 42 passengers perished, despite the rescue efforts of  Spanish and Moroccan trawlers, a Coast Guard, a Rapid Star and a British aircraft and two French Navy escorts. Twenty-three corpses were found floating on the surface with life belts. The wreckage of the boat and the bodies of the other passengers, including 16 children, were never found.

This tragic event raised a global tide of emotion.  A  leaflet and poster campaign in Morocco and Israel, deploring the disaster, provoked the anger of the Moroccan authorities. Negotiations followed between the future King Hassan II and a committee of prominent Jews consisting of Doctor Léon Benzaquen, former minister and personal friend of Mohamed V, David Amar, president of the Jewish Community of Morocco and the Chief Rabbi Shalom Messas who wanted areligious burial for the victims. The Prince conceded to the burial of the 23 bodies in a remote corner of the Al Hoceima cemetery. The ceremony was discreet and relatives absent. After years of negotiations, King Hassan II authorized the repatriation of the remains of the  shipwrecked victims. They  received  a national funeral at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on 14 December 1992.

In the early 60’s the tragedy opened the gates to massive legal emigration  of Jews from Morocco to Israel.

In the early 60’s the tragedy opened the gates to massive legal emigration  of Jews from Morocco to Israel.

More about the Egoz

[analogwriting]

Childhood Crush

Chapter 21: Lithium

Killer x gn!reader word count: 2k a/n: got another 241 for y'all next

“You really should rest, y/n.” You look up from your clipboard at Wire who was currently in the doorway with a deep frown on his face, clearly worried about you.

You were currently on the ship Momonosuke had provided for you. After the vivre card had burst into flames and you were able to move again, there was a small sliver of paper left in the palm of your hand. You had placed it into a small glass box and used it that way. You couldn’t risk losing the paper, especially knowing that something terrible had happened to your brother.

You were a wreck the whole way there. Countless scenarios racked your brain with the possibilities of what happened. The amount of stress you had was off the charts. You couldn’t eat, you couldn’t sleep. What happened? Your brother was obviously alive but what about everyone else? How much longer would your brother be alive? Just how far was he? Just what happened?

The vivre card didn’t burn anymore, but it was glowing on the edges. That meant he was alive, but he wasn’t doing well. He was hanging on by a thread. You only had his vivre card though, so everyone else, you had no idea how they were. You had no idea who was alive, who was dead - which you hoped to fuck was no one. You were so stressed, you wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up with an ulcer or ten. You had no idea what happened, no idea his condition. Just a tiny piece of paper that you hoped wouldn’t burn anymore.

Luckily, it didn’t.

You ended up finding them on some small island. You had laid anchor and went into the jungle-like part of the island. You were basically sprinting through the foliage. Did they get attacked by a wild animal? No, that couldn’t be it. Your brother wouldn’t be overpowered by something as simple as wildlife. 

You had reached a clearing where you saw everyone looking worse for wear. When they saw you, their faces lit up as if they had seen a god. 

Though you were focused on something else. You were focused on the two that were currently looking like they were dead on the ground. Eustass and Killer. The only tell-tale signs that they were still alive was your brother’s vivre card and the unnatural twist of a smile that was on Killer’s face. You had found out when a SMILE fruit user died, their smile finally disappeared. 

You had never been so relieved to see that haunting expression.

You immediately went to work patching the two of them up and stabilizing them before moving on to everyone else. Then, you loaded everyone up on your ship and set sail. It was safer than being sitting ducks on an island. Besides, based on what everyone told you with what happened, the island was close to where the battle was, so feeling the scene was a good idea. People wouldn’t know your ship either, so hopefully people left you alone.

“Y/n?” You were pulled out of your thoughts once more as Wire spoke again. “I’m fine,” you said and he just looked at you, folding his arms.

“We all know you’re pants at lying, just like the captain.” You made a face and sighed. He was right - you hadn’t slept in days, you weren’t eating. You were just so worried. Even before you found them, you hardly ate or slept.

Wire sighed, shaking his head. “It’s like a watchpot. Just cause you’re sitting here watching over them, doesn’t mean they’re gonna heal any faster. You also can’t properly take care of them if you’re not in the right state of mind,” he said. You looked at him, narrowing your eyes and frowning. You folded your arms, pouting a little bit. He was right, but you didn’t want to admit it. Damn, he was starting to sound like you. When did he start getting all wise?

You looked over to where the two were currently resting. It had been a week at this point. They’ve both been out the whole time with no signs of waking up. Their injuries were healing, luckily enough. It took many hours of operating to really make sure they were stable. The amount of broken bones and stitching you had to do - if you never did it again, it’d be too soon. 

“I…I feel like if I stop to catch my breath, I might never breathe again,” you mumbled. You were just scared that if you rested now, you wouldn’t be able to find the motivation to get back up again.

“You’re a good doctor, y/n. They’re stable. It’s not going to hurt if you get some sleep. We’ll take turns keeping an eye on them.” Wire looked at you with a face full of concern. This wasn’t the first time he had tried to get you to sleep and you knew he was going to just keep pestering. 

With a sigh, you stood up, looking at your clipboard once more.

“Just because you look at it again, doesn’t mean it’s going to change, y/n.” You glared at the man across from you. One of the cons of growing up with someone on the crew meant that he could see right through you. “We’ll come and get you if anything changes. Promise.”

You looked at him a moment longer before sighing. “Fucking-” You tossed the clipboard on to the desk and sighed. “Fine!” You threw your hands in the air and marched out of the room. Due to your lack of sleep, you were a bit more irritable even with Wire’s smooth way of speaking. You headed down the hallway and to your room.

You didn’t think you’d get any sleep but the moment your head hit the pillow, it was lights out.

--

When you slowly came to, you noticed you were having a hard time moving. You were also very warm. It took you a moment to wake up and when you did, you realized you weren’t the only one in your bed. In fact, just about everyone was in bed with you or around you.

You blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. It was dark outside, the moon peeking through the pothole, illuminating the room slightly. You let your eyes adjust before trying to move. You were currently in a mess of limbs. You realized that Dive was curled up into a ball into you as she usually did, but you also had Heat wrapped around you. You also happened to realize your cheeks were damp. Were you crying in your sleep?

You carefully slipped out of bed, not wanting to wake up the two in bed with you. Usually, you were a light sleeper. Were you really so tired that you didn’t notice everyone joined you for bedtime? Everyone else was scattered about the room, various snores and patterns of breathing filling up the room. Sure, the ship wasn’t spacious like the Victoria Punk had been, but there were plenty of other places to sleep.

After some careful footwork, you made it out of the bedroom and back down the hallway. You needed to check on your patients. You paused in the doorway, seeing Wire sitting at the desk stitching up something. He looked up as he saw you. “You’re awake.”

“What are you working on?”

“Eh, just working on something to pass the time.”

“How long was I out?” 

“I’d say about ten hours.”

Your eyes nearly fell out of your skull with how wide your eyes became. Ten hours? You couldn’t remember the last time you slept that long in one sitting! You usually tossed and turned, getting four or five hours at most. But ten? That was insane! 

“It makes sense considering you’ve been running on fumes the last few days. I can only imagine that you also didn’t sleep on the way here either. I’m surprised you didn’t keel over already or out for longer.” 

You felt your face heat up at Wire’s words. Had you really been that bad? “Yes. You were that bad and you looked like a walking corpse.” You just glared at him. Alright, smart ass.

“I just woke up, can you ease up a little?” You ran a hand through your hair and grumbled. Wire just smiled at you, standing up. He walked over to you, putting a hand on your shoulder as he passed. “Well, I’m going to get some shut eye now. Make sure you eat something, okay?”

You yawned and nodded. “I will.” Honestly, you’d probably end up forgetting.

You quickly went to work, checking on the two unconscious men. You needed to take their vitals and run some tests. The vivre card was no longer smoldering and even seemed to regain some of its paper; and that smile was still on Killer’s face. 

This was honestly the fucking worst. Two of the most important people in your life on death’s door and you were the last line of defense. You were up against the grim reaper himself. Things looked promising, but you knew better. You knew that shit could hit the fan at any moment and they could no longer be with you, but you weren’t about to roll over and let it happen either. You’d wrestle with the grim reaper himself if you had to. Hell, you’d probably trade your own life.

“Why did you have to go and pick a fight with Shanks again, dammit,” you mumbled, looking at your brother. You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose and groaning. 

You heard something come from your brother and every fiber of your being froze. You looked over at him slowly, eyes widened. You noticed his hands twitching slightly as well as his features. In an instant, you were at his side. You moved some of his hair out of his face to get a better look at him.

You watched as his face scrunched up. “Bigs?” he mumbled and you felt your eyes start tearing up. “Tungsten?” Your voice cracked halfway through the word, but you didn’t care. All that mattered right now was the fact that your brother had said something.

All the fear of what happened was hitting you at once. The tears started falling and showed no signs of stopping. You sniffled, wiping your tears away; well, attempting to. You watched as Eustass slowly opened his eyes, they seemed to struggle to adjust for a moment before fully opening. They weren’t particularly focused on anything before they fell on your face.

“Bigs?” he repeated, a bit louder this time. You nodded, smiling through your tears. “I’m here, mo laochain,” you said softly, using the old nickname you had given him a long time ago. The one in your native tongue. A tired smirk spread across his features as he let his eyes close again.

“C‘Mon, Bigs,” he mumbled. “‘M not little.” He let out a single scoff. It was a small noise, but you smiled all the same. That’s what he had told you one day when you used the nickname. Since it had meant ‘my little hero’, he didn’t want to be associated with being little anymore, so he had said those words. That’s when you had started calling him ‘Tungsten’ instead. Only, he’d always be your little brother. No matter how much larger he ended up being than you. He would always be little to you.

You buried your face in his chest and held him as he laid there, placing his hand on your head as he gently soothed you while you cried. Much like you had done for him so long ago.

[kivaember]

ac6 drabble: unsolicitated advice

okay i got some prompts already, so first one is "dolmayan and rusty get a moment to talk about their doubts to eachother" from @rend7

this ended up waaay longer than the few paragraphs i expected fhfh thanks for the prompt, and i hope you enjoy!

Unsolicitated Advice

"You're lucky I'm not being supervised right now."

Dolmayan didn't really respond to Rusty's idle comment, the blocky outline of his BASHO AC stark in the thick snow flurry they both found themselves in. Snow that was rapidly covering up the remnants of Rusty's mission: intercepting an RLF raid.

It was difficult to get the balance right, he could admit. He was a spy and he was a Rubiconian through-and-through, but his time on Earth had taught him to compartmentalise his soul and morals into easily stored boxes.

'Ruthless calculation, that's what it means to be a spy,' Uncle had told him all those years ago, with a wry twist of his mouth.

'You can’t let yourself be human here,' O'Keeffe had told him only a year ago, when Rusty realised just how much he had to draw and quarter his heart to survive in the Vespers.

The wrecked MTs had carried the ambitious hopes of a few hot-blooded Rubiconians, wanting to achieve at least one bloody nose against the Corps. It was just bad luck for the both of them that Arquebus had him in the area already, and that Rusty had no choice but to kill them ruthlessly, so they avoided the worst fate of re-education while he got to maintain his cover.

A clean up squad was only ten minutes behind him, after all. Any ejectees would've been rounded up before they even managed to get a mile away - especially in this weather.

"Go," Rusty said. "Now."

"...or you'll kill me too, child of Rubicon?"

Rusty squelched the urge to groan in frustration, conscious of the time pressure on him (less than ten minutes before he had to act, with eyes on him), and said: "I didn't do this because I enjoyed it."

Dolmayan just sighed, tiredly. Uncle had said that ever since he'd been sprung from Redgun custody, he hadn't quite been the same since. Ten years ago, Rusty remembered Dolmayan as a passionate firebrand, whipping the Rubiconians in a patriotic fervour, willing to throw themselves on as many swords as they had to to liberate their home, the Coral...

Inefficient, Uncle had complained (quietly, under his breath). This man seemed like burnt out charcoal in comparison, his booming voice now a raspy mutter, lacklustre and exhausted.

Maybe even he was starting to lose hope of where this war was headed.

"I'll go," Dolmayan finally said, "but first, a word of advice, from a man who's made his mistakes and regrets them every day."

Rusty couldn't help but frown. While he had never personally bought into the mystique of Father Dolmayan and his connection to the 'Coral's Voice', as others stated him to have, he understood that the Liberation Front had only lasted this long - spiritually - thanks to him. While the cautious part of him doubted that any advice Dolmayan would give him would be relevant, he wasn't too prideful to turn a deaf ear.

"What is it?"

"Be wary not to tunnel vision on the dream ahead of you," Dolmayan said. "I know the mission Flatwell placed on your shoulders, the burdens you have carried to get this far... you want a free Rubicon, but you should be mindful of the price that will come at."

"...I think that ship's long sailed, Father Dolmayan," Rusty murmured. "But thanks for the advice anyway."

His HUD beeped. Incoming comms from the Arquebus MT squad.

Before he could draw breath to tell Dolmayan to get out of here - now, the BASHO AC across from him was already turning and boosting away, the eerie, ghostly crimson fire trailing after it as the leader of the Liberation Front vanished into the snow.

[saiiboat]

i’d love to hear about your fuga sailing stuff \o/

HII ^_^ awesome. ok. so atm i have one silly racing au that i rotate in my head and one fic in the works which takes place directly after fuga when guaxinim, pac, and mike leave the island together on the boat. this one is heavy on the hurt and lighter on the comfort and is essentially just pac on one massive spiral now that he's starting to process everything that happened in prison and the island. lots of pac feeling guilty about cell's perceived suicide and struggling with his anger at mike for getting them into this mess. he's very much an emotional wreck LOL. hes been through so fucking much man. also going from being enclosed in a prison for a year and a half and then being out on open water and the crazy anxiety of being in such an open space is. well. its really getting to him. i'll leave some snippets of it under the cut 💪💪💪

the racing au is really just silly⛵💪💪🔥🔥🔥the nature of the sailing autism being that i always need to take some guys and throw them on a racing team, all of their insanities included.

when i talked about this au before i said that they sailed j22s but im upgrading them. they now sail Melges 20s. its official. ill put images under the cut. god. gorgeous boats.

the general idea is that JV and cell are two sailors looking for new members for their respective crews. felps is already on cell's crew and guaxinim sails with JV. probably at some point jv was on cell and felp's crew and now they have some kind of crazy beef. anyways. cell is just as weird and gross and intense as he is in fuga and he really wants pac and mike on his crew and having nothing to do with JV. obviously mike is skeeved out by the weird gross guy who looks maybe a bit too hungry sometimes and tries to get pac to join JV's crew with him. unfortunately pac is way too enamored with cell's negative rizz and cell proposes the idea to pac that tazercraft splits ways and mike can join JV's crew on his own. Mike is understandably upset at this but still ends up joining JV and guaxi's crew. the two boats have insane tension and pac is torn between pretending none of this happened at all and ignoring mike/sending worlds saddest eyes back to mike. mike is hurt and pissed off at pac and cell and felps and does his best to pretend that they dont exist at all while also needing to beat them in every regatta ever or he'll DIE because maybe if he wins against them enough times it'll prove something to pac. what will it prove? i dont think even he knows lol.

cell is actively trying to drive a wedge in between pac and mike and JV is doing the same thing on the other side. felps is purposely looking the other way during all of this and guaxinim is watching it all go down with some sick sense of fascination. definitely just hanging around to watch it happen like a long drawn out car crash.

cell in this au is especially fascinating to me. squeezing him like a stressball. he's ten ways fucked in the head and the reason why he started sailing in the first place is because his therapist told him to get a hobby and it was downhill from there. anyways cell tells his therapist about pac and the next time cell sees pac he walks up to him and says "my therapist says that we need to get coffee together and have normal interactions so i stop thinking about eating you" and pac just goes. oh! and its the hottest thing anyones ever said to him

obsessed with them, frankly

^^ sexual images fr

[crepuscularqueens]

Why you have to be a goddamn saint, nobody’s dying for this love

[image i.d.: 6 stills from black sails edited to be black and white

1. still from season two episode one, close up of Flint’s face as he’s standing in the hills looking down at the wreck of the Urca on the beach. He has a few cuts on his face. text reads “Saint who raised you”

2. still from the same episode, Silver is tugging Flint down by the shoulder so he’s not spotted by the Urca crew. Flint is looking down at Silver, holding a spyglass. text reads “From the dead”

3. still from season four episode three, Silver is lying on his back propped on his elbows on the sand, looking intensely past the viewer towards where Flint would be standing. text reads “Saint who saved me”

4. still from the same episode, Flint is looking at Silver with a wide smile on his face, wiping off the knife he just used to kill British soldiers on his leg. He is flanked by Dooley on the viewers left and Joji on the right, we can see the back of Silver’s head as Flint approaches him. text reads “From the party”

5. still from season one episode five, Silver is looking past the viewer to Eleanor, in this scene he would be telling her guilt is only natural. text reads “Saint who lives with no regrets”

6. still from season four episode ten, Silver is facing away after Madi tells him to get out, his face in profile toward the viewer, he is looking down. text reads “How pathological”.

end i.d.]

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 24th of March, 2023

This is speculation only

Cards drawn on the 24th of March 2023

Question: Does King Charles still want both his sons present at his coronation, or has he given up on that idea?

Warning of Bias: King Charles is not my favourite person, as most of you will know. I have tried to be as objective as possible in this reading and simply report on the energies of the cards, but my bias may have influenced my interpretations of the cards despite all my care to not have that happen. Just keep that in mind as you read.

Interpretation: He hasn't decided yet.

Card One: The Ten of Wands in reverse

The Ten of Wands is a card about being burdened by something, of seeing your creative vision or dreams burn to ash around you. In the reverse, it means that either that you have shed the burden or that you have collapsed under the weight of it.

The energy of this card is of a burden that King Charles wants to put down. The energy of this burden is of duty, obligation, responsibility, and a lot of stress. King Charles does not want to be the one to decide whether to have his second son at the coronation or not. He wants someone else - anyone else - to take responsibility for that decision and to lift the burden of deciding from him. However, no-one else wants to be responsible for that decision, and so King Charles is left to carry the burden of making the decision when he really does not want to be the one to say Yes or No.

I feel that King Charles is trying to revive his dream of having both sons by his side when he is crowned king. He knows the British public are hostile to this idea, and he knows that having Harry at the coronation is a bad idea from an abstract viewpoint (increased security risk, risk of things and people being filmed for Netflix fodder, risk of conversations being used ditto, world leaders not wanting to be anywhere near Harry and Meghan, etc), and yet he can not bring himself to say "No, Harry is not invited". It feels like a part of him is still clinging to his dream of having both sons beside him on the balcony, supporting him as he is crowned king, even as the other part of him knows that this is a very bad idea.

Card Two: The Nine of Wands

The Nine of Wands is a card about making one last stand to defend yourself, one last effort to get to your goal. Wands is the suit of PR. The energy of this card is of King Charles thinking that if he just puts out enough PR and keeps pushing the idea of Harry at the coronation on to the general public, finally something will break and he will be able to have his second son at his coronation without the bad publicity and without the negative hit to his image. The energy here is of someone going "try this, now try this, now try this, and one of them should work and give me the result I want". It is a persistent energy and an energy with a single focus, but at the same time there is a sense of time running out and a half acknowledged idea that maybe the PR game will not work its magic this time and King Charles will have to either admit defeat or knowingly go against public opinion and make himself look bad (it is the looking bad that is the sticking point here, not going against public opinion).

Unfortunately, this is not going to work. When I look at this card, I see the ship as being crushed between the two rocks instead of sailing between them (which is how I normally see the ship). That change in how I see the image is a message to me that if King Charles keeps trying to push Harry onto the British public, he (King Charles) will end up like a wrecked ship, with no reputation or goodwill left.

This card has a lot of rough water in the picture, and water is emotions in the tarot, indicating that King Charles is very unsettled emotionally about this situation.

Card Three: The Two of Swords

This is the card of having to make a difficult decision and not wanting to make it. This is exactly the position that King Charles is in. He knows that it would be for the best if he gives up his dream of having both his sons supporting him at his coronation, and yet he can't do it - he can not bring himself to abandon his dream. A part of him still wants both his sons with him on the balcony and it is hanging onto his dream with everything it has. Because he is conflicted within himself, he is unable to issue clear instructions for his staff and advisors, and so the whole situation remains an ongoing crisis.

King Charles has a limited amount of time to make up his mind as to what he wants and to implement that decision, otherwise someone else is going to make the decision for him - which may be what he really wants to happen, given the energy of the Ten of Wands card.

Underlying Energy: The Empress reversed

This is the only major arcana card in this reading, and as such it is a strong energy in the reading.

The Empress upright is a nurturing and supportive energy. Having it in the reverse tells me that King Charles does not want to appear to be cruel and cold to his son - he is worried that he will not be seen as supportive of his second son. Another meaning of the reversed Empress is that you are relying on other people to make decisions for you, and that is exactly what King Charles is doing - he is looking for someone else to make this decision for him so he does not have to make it (and also so he then has someone to blame if things go wrong). The Empress reversed is an insecure energy, and King Charles is feeling very insecure on this matter. He can not make a firm decision on it and so he is looking to others to do the deciding for him. Instead of being the adult and taking responsibility for his actions, he is like a child hiding behind his mother's skirts and wanting his mother to solve his problems for him. Unfortunately, King Charles's mother is gone and he has to make this decision on his own.

The Empress is also the mother card, so in the reverse it could be that King Charles is worried that he will do something of which his late mother would not approve, or he is worried that he will somehow tarnish her legacy, or something like that.

Conclusion:

King Charles does not want to make a decision on this matter. That is coming through very clearly. He knows that having Harry at his coronation is a bad idea, for a variety of reasons, and yet he is not able to let go of his dream of having both his sons there with him on the balcony (I keep saying 'on the balcony' as that is the image that appears in my mind - King Charles in the middle with his crown, with William on the left and Harry on the right as you look up at the balcony). He is trying to use PR to get the British public to change their mind about Harry being at the coronation, or at least to soften their stance on the matter, and the PR is not working. He is trying to reconcile two opposing ideas - what he wants and what would be good for his image - so he can have them both. That is not working, and trying to manipulate someone else into making the decision for him is not working, so he is faced with making a difficult decision that he absolutely does not want to make.

Underneath all this is the desire to hide behind someone else and let them take the responsibility for the action. The image of the underlying energy, the one that I get in my mind, is of a child hiding behind its mother's skirts and looking out to see what is going on, secure in the knowledge that the mother will protect the child. That protection is gone and King Charles is the one who has to make the final decision, as he is the one in charge now, and he is finding it very difficult to do so.

[positivelybeastly]

@thissquirrelgirl

For Hank McCoy, it's bad luck - very bad luck indeed - that sees him being thrown through a wall like a particularly blue wrecking ball, collapsing back onto a bed of brick and mortar with a groan and a mumble, his eyes unfocused and his mouth letting out a soft, "Whew."

For Doreen Green, however, it's pretty good luck - she could've been hit in the face with a stray brick or, even worse, been directly in the path of the Avenger as he went sailing through the air; mighty as she may be, Hank is heavy and physics is a cruel mistress.

Slowly pushing himself up onto his elbows, Hank blows out a breath and gives Doreen a wonky salute.

"You didn't happen to catch the name of that truck, didja? I feel like it was about ten foot tall, kinda giant robot-y, bad-tempered?"

[joshuaorrizonte]

Untitled Chapter Ten: Across the Distance

@eventide-imp @zottower

Comment to be tagged/untagged!

Breakfast was waiting for them in the morning. The delicious scent of cooking meat and eggs wafted into the room, rousing Kain from his restless sleep. Ash, sleeping on the floor, was beginning to stir as well, rubbing his eyes and stretching his long limbs. "Sorry for making you sleep on the floor," Kain said, soft and sheepish. 

"Apologize for it again and I'm going to pop you one." Ash's voice was sleepy and good-humored, straining slightly as he yawned. "I wouldn't have insisted if I didn't want to do it."

"You wanted to sleep on the floor?"

Ash made an unamused face at him. "You know what I meant. I hope you slept better than I did, though."

"That'd be a negative." Kain sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, sitting on the edge of the bed. Ash cast a worried look at him, and he ignored it. He knew what that look was about, and he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about Gavin. Knowing he was alive was enough for him, it had to be. They were gods only knew how far apart; the brief sensation of comfort last night told Kain only that Gavin and Stormsong were alive, not where they were. 

He wanted to abandon their quest, to find them. It was a foolish, childish desire. His best chance of finding them was to go to Darkfell. They would almost certainly continue on, and they could rendezvous there. But Kain had no idea how big a city Darkfell was, how hard it would be to find them once they were there. It simply made no sense for him to pursue Gavin and Stormsong right now. 

But oh gods, did he want to. He didn’t know what the night elf had done to him, but he felt Gavin’s as a gaping wound in his soul, a hole in his heart he could neither fill nor repair. The thought crossed his mind that he was in love with Gavin, but that was absurd on its face. They barely knew each other. Kain couldn’t be in love with him.

Ash was watching him in morbid curiosity, as the emotions his thoughts dragged up flickered across his face. “You know,” Ash said, his tone less mocking than his words, “you’ve got a great bluffing face for someone who wears his heart on his sleeve.”

“Ah, shut it,” Kain said tiredly, standing with a groan. “How far is it to Darkfell from here?”

“I’ll put it this way: that shipwreck put us twice as far away as Maizana. We’ll get there, but we may have nothing to do by the time we do. Gavin and Stormsong might accomplish everything by the time we’re half-way there.”

“Would it be faster to catch another ship to Maizana?”

“Are you seriously suggesting we get on another boat after-“

“Are you scared?”

Ash snarled quietly, as if Kain had just insulted his entire family. “No, I’m not,” he snapped, “I’m just concerned with how you will handle it, being inexperienced with sea travel.”

“I’m certain it’s safer than taking a carriage,” Kain replied, almost defensively, not quite. He added in a diplomatic voice, “I meant no insult, Ash. Fear is a perfectly reasonable reaction to wrecking because we were attacked at sea by a giant lady with dogs coming out of her-“

“Your point is noted!” Ash said, loudly, to drown out Kain’s vulgarity. “I’m sorry. I’m not afraid of getting back on a boat—I love the sea, and all of its dangers—but I get how it might look liked it. But the answer is no. It would not be faster to sail back to Maizana than to simply head northwest. There’s a straight shot between Southtide and Darkfell. The road is unbroken between the two cities. It’s treacherous in parts, but no more treacherous than the sea. It might be a bit safer to go back up the coast to Maizana and then through the forest to Darkfell, but we’ll lose time. I suppose what we do depends on how much time you’re willing to lose for security.”

Kain sighed heavily. “None. None at all. I guess we’re going on your road straight northwest.”

“I thought you’d want to do it that way.” Ash smiled, dragging himself to his feet. “Now that that’s settled, I’m hungry. Let’s go get some breakfast.”

~*~

Gavin woke with a start.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Liashta and Stormsong had been utterly exhausted by his use of their magic to help them escape the sinking ship. He was a trained soldier; he should’ve been able to stay awake for much longer than he did. The thought to give himself some grace crossed his mind; after all, he, too, was exhausted after their narrow escape from death, most of the magic he had used being his own. It would be so, so easy to blame Stormsong, going along with her idea to seek Kain’s presence out, let him know they had survived the disaster. 

But he knew doing so, even with her guidance, would wipe out what little energy he had left, and he did it anyway. He had no one to blame for his failure to watch over the girls but himself.

Fortunately, he thought, they hadn't been accosted in the dark of the night. He had brought them just shy of Maizana, even in the crisis, having the presence of mind to know that dropping them in the middle of a busy city would be bad. All three of them, though, were too exhausted to make the trip into Maizana, though; and after a discussion of how best to handle it, Gavin told Stormsong and Liashta that he would guard their sleep, that he'd be alright to wait to rest until they made it to Maizana, and to safety.

So the girls settled around him, Liashta nestled under his arm and Stormsong with her head in his lap, and the two of them went to sleep while Gavin struggled to remain conscious.

And lost that struggle. He wasn't sure how long he lasted before succumbing to the exhaustion, but at least the girls didn't know of his weakness.

Well, he thought with a sigh, as he looked down at Liashta and saw the woman looking up at him with an odd expression on her face, one of them didn't know of his weakness.

Trying to play it off, Gavin said quietly, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too," Liashta said wryly. "I told you nothing would happen if you rested with us."

"We are incredibly lucky that was the case," Gavin replied, looking down at Stormsong, still sleeping soundly. "So what's the gameplan?" he asked softly, keeping his voice down to avoid disturbing the slumbering child.

Liashta's gaze went confused. "I was going to ask the same thing of you, actually. This is your realm, Gavin. You know it best out of the three of us. I'm pretty sure you should be the one to tell us what comes next."

Gavin sighed heavily. "I want to find Kain," he said after a long, silent moment. "Something isn't right. I haven't felt right since Stormsong and I made contact with him last night. Like something changed drastically when I did that."

"Can you define it?"

"No." Gavin's voice was low and frustrated. "But it almost feels like I lost something, which makes little sense. What could I have possibly lost?" 

That last was whispered mostly to himself as his mind went over the possibilities. It wasn't pride, definitely not. He wasn't ashamed of his affair with Kain, wasn't afraid to admit that he wanted the man. Perhaps he even cared for him. It would certainly make sense if he did. He had never felt this way before about anyone... including Dryden. How he felt about Kain, and how he felt about Dryden, were so dissimilar that Gavin couldn't believe he thought he had genuine feelings for both of them. Thinking of Dryden made his chest ache, his pulse quicken. A sense of urgency would come over him when he thought of his former teacher and lover, almost... almost dread.

While thinking of Kain calmed him, except for the feeling that every moment without him was a mistake. And he couldn't reconcile the two sensations. He was positive none of this was love; he didn't think himself capable of love, not anymore. Yet, if any of it was, he had a choice to make - and the wrong one would shatter him. 

Sighing heavily, he tried to put his emotions out of his mind for now. Liashta noticed, and gave him a worried look. "That one came up from the depths of your soul," she murmured. "What's on your mind?" 

"Nothing worth discussing," he replied, not looking at her. She opened her mouth to respond and he cut her off, "Not when we still need to get to safety. Maizana is not safety. Darkfell isn't even safety, although it's safer than Maizana. Unfortunately, we'll need to be here for quite some time before we can move on. Were you able to save anything at all?"

"I have my money pouch," Liashta answered, "although it's not as heavy as I'd like it to be."

"Nor mine," Gavin admitted, "but it might be enough to get us lodging for the night, at least. Tomorrow I can search for work. I'm not sure how much I can make in a day's work, but hopefully it will be enough to keep our heads above water while being able to build up our supplies again. Or," he added, hopeful, "we can see about booking passage with a caravan."

"That might be the better solution," Liashta agreed. "It would certainly be faster. And it would be safer for Stormsong."

"It would be safer for you."

Liashta made a face, pulling away from him. "I can take care of myself, thank you."

"I wouldn't dream of implying otherwise," he muttered, letting her go, but he did not move, unwilling to disturb Stormsong. Instead he looked up at Liashta with a challenge in his eyes. "Would you mind finding us breakfast?"

The woman went pale, understanding fully what his point was. "Pardon me," she huffed quietly, "for not being a trained soldier after all. That doesn't mean that I can't take care of myself."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't need to."

Gavin sighed. "Liashta... sit back down. I'll find something for us once Stormsong is awake."

Grumbling, Liashta obeyed, taking her place snuggled up to Gavin again. "I don't know what he sees in you," she muttered, disgruntled.

"I don't know, either." 

"Don't think you're going to trick me into complimenting you."

"I wasn't fishing." Gavin thought about that for a second. Fishing... he had no gear, but the river nearby was shallow. Could he catch anything with his magic and his bare hands? It was worth a try. 

The two of them sat in silence, not quite companionable, listening to the sounds of the wildlife around them. Gavin had been surprised at how similar, actually, the two continents had been. There were differences, of course. There was more light on the other continent, everything brighter, greener, more vibrant. But the twilight of Darkfell's continent was beautiful in its own right. Gavin found the dimness easier on his eyes, easier to see in than the scorching bright light of Reythak's continent. 

But the life, the pulse of the land was the same. As Darkfell and its inhabitants needed the darkness, Reythak needed the light - and after spending time in the other continent, he could see how Darkfell would seem unwelcoming, unforgiving - even dangerous. He was certain Liashta was having difficulty adjusting to the perpetual half-light here. Not, he thought wryly, almost affectionately, that she would ever admit to it. 

For his part, it was comforting to be home, even if the danger to his life was greater here. 

Stormsong roused herself after a while, rubbing her eyes and looking up at them in confusion before seeming to remember where she was, her expression falling, turning pensive. "That's an awfully heavy look for one so small who just woke up," Gavin said kindly. "What's on your mind?"

"I don't suppose there is anything to eat, is there?" Stormsong asked in a small voice.

"Not yet. Now that you're awake, I can go see what I can do."

"It's alright. I can go without-"

Liashta interrupted, "No, you can't."

Irritation crossed Stormsong's features. "I am a dragon-"

"Right now, you're a little girl," Gavin told her bluntly, disentangling himself from both of them and standing. Stiffness shot pain through his legs and back, and he stretched, irritated by his body's limitations. Were that he was a dragon... "And little girls need food. We all do. It's a long walk to Maizana and I don't intend to spend another night outdoors. That means you need to eat. Both of you."

"You, too," Liashta said quietly.

He nodded grimly. "I intend to get enough for all of us. Liashta, are you able to light a campfire? We'll need to cook fish, if I'm lucky."

"I can do that, easily. I'm pretty sure Stormsong can do that." And he heard the unspoken question in her voice: can't you?

Gavin didn't answer it. "Good. Get one started, and I'll be back with something for us to eat. I'm not going to waste too much time in the river. If I can't do what I think I can, I'll look elsewhere, but whatever I bring back must be cooked before we eat it."

Stormsong's eyebrows rose. "Even greens and berries?"

His voice was solemn. "Especially greens and berries. On that note, do not eat anything before running it past me first. We don't have the luxury of losing either of you."

"What do you mean?" Liashta asked, her voice sharp. "Do you honestly mean to tell me that everything here is poisonous if not cooked?"

"Not everything, no. Enough that I wouldn't take the chance with anything."

"Surely your field training-"

Gavin snarled, a bit louder than he usually was, "My field training warned me that organisms can mimic each other and there's no safe way of knowing if you've picked a button mushroom or an animal that will eat you from the inside out if you consume it."

"Well, that's horrifying. Thank you for that information." Liashta's incredulous attitude was gone, replaced by contriteness.

Stormsong looked at Liashta first, then Gavin, her eyes wide. "How do you survive here?" she asked. "How do you survive, let alone thrive?"

"Very, very carefully." Gavin turned away then, heading for the river. 

As he approached, his mind went to how unfortunate it was that they had no vessel to boil the river's water in; thirst was as dangerous to survival as hunger was, even moreso. One died of thirst faster than hunger. It was what it was, though; they would just have to be thirsty until they reached Maizana. He didn't plan to leave it at just fish; despite his admonition not to eat any raw vegetation, there was water in the berries and edible flowers surrounding them. He could gather enough to provide them with a little bit of water, at least, even after cooking, but it wouldn't be enough. It would have to do, though.

As he reached the river's edge, he stripped off his dark, heavy armor, stretching his muscles as he did so. The water was going to be cold, and would be caustic to the metal, beginning to rust it on contact. He placed the pieces far enough from the water line that there was no chance of them becoming wet, and then waded into the river, shivering despite himself. He began to hum, then, singing a wordless melody to draw the fish to him. It worked like a charm; in seconds, he was surrounded by them. One of them nipped his thigh. 

He grabbed that one first, tossing it onto the shore. The fish scattered. He sighed. It was going to be tedious, singing the fish to him every time he caught one. Fortunately, he didn't need many. Just enough to feed them today, and then they'd be safe in Maizana. 

As safe as anyone could be in Maizana.

Suppressing a grimace, Gavin began to hum his song again, and shook his head as the fish once more swam to him. "Poor idiots..."

~*~

By the time he returned, he was back in his armor, his pack full of fish and berries and mushrooms. It had been an hour or so, and Stormsong and Liashta sat around the fire Liashta had summoned, talking softly. Relief flickered on Stormsong's face as Liashta said accusingly, "You were gone for a while."

"I was gone for how long it took," he sniffed disdainfully. "We have enough to last us the day, if we're careful. No water, but I was able to find berries that are mildly hydrating, even after they've been cooked. It will have to do until we're in the city." Stormsong swallowed thickly, and Gavin cast a pitying look at her for a moment before he caught himself. Stormsong was a dragon; she didn’t need his pity, she deserved his respect. And she was Kain’s dragon, so that went doubly so. “I’m sorry,” he said, having chastened himself. “This is the best I could do. None of the water here is safe to drink without boiling, and we have nothing to boil it with.”

“It’s not your fault.” Stormsong’s voice implied that she very much thought it was his fault. He sighed, and set about skewering fish on sticks to roast them over the fire. 

~*~

An hour later, a third of the food that Gavin had gathered eaten, the three cleaned up their campsite, stowed the remainder of the food in Gavin’s pack, and started walking, heading for the shore to follow it south to Maizana. Gavin couldn’t help but wonder how Kain was faring; he hadn’t expected the man to reach back last night as he did. He hadn’t expected Kain to be able to reach back the way he did. It was a mystery how he was able to do it, but it at least let Gavin know that he was as well as he could be. 

But how had he formed that kind of connection? He understood Stormsong getting a response. Kain was her rider. They held a bond that allowed them to sense each other, a bond that Gavin hadn’t felt from Skyfall since his disappearance. In fact, when Stormsong had remarked that Kain had answered, a stab of jealousy had pierced him. That jealousy evaporated in surprise as he felt Kain’s presence in his mind, and his answering touch back.

Gavin hadn’t told Stormsong of it. He wouldn’t. Not until he knew what it meant. 

It didn’t take them long before the port city’s high walls were in sight, once they were walking along the beach again. “Don’t get too excited,” Gavin cautioned as Liashta exclaimed in surprised happiness. “Visibility is shockingly far today. We’re still a good twenty miles from the city. It will take us the entire day to get there.”

“It’s just a shame that you can’t just transport us there,” Liashta answered, her voice sobering again. As Gavin began to issue a retort, she said, “I know, I know the logic. And you’re right. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” 

“I know,” Gavin replied simply, shifting Stormsong in his arms. The girl looked at him apologetically, but didn’t ask to be put down. She was exhausted, too exhausted to walk on her own. He knew that she would let him know when she could walk on her own again. He would carry her for as long as she needed. Because she was a child who needed help, because she was a dragon who needed help. Because she was Kain’s dragon, and Gavin couldn’t bear the thought of Kain’s anger or disappointment that Gavin let Stormsong fend for herself when he was perfectly capable of helping.

Eventually, though, they had to stop, not for Liashta or Stormsong’s sake, but for Gavin’s. The closer he came to Maizana, the deeper the sense of dread that filled him, until he came to a halt, struggling to breathe through the irrational panic. “Gavin?” Liashta prompted, turning to see him set Stormsong on the sandy beach. 

“You two stay here.” His voice was tight. He made no effort to hide his fear. “I’ll come back for you when I’m certain it’s safe.”

“What do you think is in there?” Stormsong asked, eyes wide.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “and that’s a problem.”

“You can’t possibly know every danger-“

“My gut is telling me not to take you into that city,” Gavin cut her off. “My intuition is rarely wrong. Maybe it is this time. Hopefully it is this time, and I’ll be right back out to get you. But do not enter that city if I don’t come back.” He pulled his pack off his shoulders and handed it to Liashta. “If I’m not back by tomorrow morning, go around the city to the road to the north of it. There’s a village that will take you in.”

“Gavin?” Stormsong asked, sounding very, very afraid.

“You’ll be alright, little one.” Gavin placed a gauntleted hand on her head, stroking her hair. He wouldn’t meet Liashta’s eyes. “All three of us will be. I promise.”

“Come back for us,” Liashta begged.

“I will do my best.” With those words, Gavin turned and trudged towards the city.

The guards at the gate were bored, barely giving the dark knight a second look. It disturbed him; they were new. There didn’t used to be guards at the gates of Maizana. Why were they there now? He didn’t stop to ask them; such an action could be seen as suspicious, something Gavin wasn’t willing to do. 

Instead he headed for the inn he intended to take Stormsong and Liashta to. A pub was attached to it, on the lower floor; he couldn’t spare much, but he could spare enough to buy someone a drink, perhaps loosen their lips a bit. His eyes scanned the large, dim room, and he froze, the dread he’d been feeling exploding into absolute terror as his gaze fell on a man wearing armor similar to his own, a dangerous smirk on his handsome face. 

“Hello, Gavin,” Drayden said, cold green eyes meeting Gavin’s violet. Gavin swallowed hard as he watched other dark knight dragon riders surround him.

Drayden stood and approached, taking Gavin’s chin in one hand. “I assume you have good news for me, Skyglow,” he murmured. 

Gavin stared defiantly at Drayden, his mind turning. He couldn’t tell the man about Liashta and Stormsong. And certainly not about Kain. “The continent of light are missing their dragons, as well,” Gavin answered, trying to maintain his composure. 

“That is good news.” 

Gavin’s eyes widened. “What?”

Drayden leaned in closer. “Come up to my room with me,” he whispered. “And I’ll… fill you in.” He moved in even closer, their lips inches from each other, and Gavin flinched away, thinking of Kain as hard as he could. Drayden stared at him in open disbelief, and shoved him away as if he was the most disgusting thing in the world. “Hmph. I thought some distance might bring some sense back into that pretty little head of yours. I see that’s not the case.”

He didn’t respond as Drayden turned away. “Very well. Have it your way. As for how this is good news, it means we’re once more on equal footing. The Light continent can’t invade us—nor can they defend against us.” 

Gavin’s eyes narrowed as he gasped, understanding. “This was more than just a mission to figure out if all of the dragons were gone, or just ours, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed. It was reconnaissance. And I expect that you have good information for me.”

He shook his head. “No. Of course I don’t,” Gavin said, bewildered. “I didn’t know I was to collect that information!”

“Surely you spent time in villages-“

“I did my best to avoid them, Drayden! I was nearly lynched in more than one village. If I’d known-“

Drayden turned back to him, his expression sour. “You are worthless, Gavin,” he sneered. “You’re just like your parents. I have nothing more to say to this failure. Take him to one of the rooms we’ve commandeered. Let him stew alone for a while.”

Just as the night elf soldiers were grabbing him, he yelled, his voice shrill and desperate, “Wait! The woman who tried to kill me at the shrine of light—was that your doing, Drayden?!”

Genuine surprise crossed Drayden’s features. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who tried to kill you, Gavin?”

“I don’t-“

“Who tried to kill you?”

The words were fiercely protective, possessive, and Gavin swallowed hard, believing him. “I don’t know,” Gavin answered, “but she told me not to stay away from Darkfell if I wanted to live.”

“Hmph. You’ve got a problem, then. Because you’re going back to Darkfell, whether you like it or not.”

Gavin snarled, “I was on my way there anyway. I’m not afraid of a vague threat.”

“Good boy. If that’s all?” Gavin lowered his eyes, and Drayden said, his voice insidiously quiet, “Good. Now go wash up and rest. I’ll have clean clothes brought to you. You smell of mildew.”

Gavin nodded, letting the dark knights guided him to the stairs. Please, he silently begged Stormsong and Liashta, please obey me! Don’t try to rescue me!

But he knew, somehow that his prayers were in vain. They would attempt such a rescue.

And they would die in the process.

[roxannepolice]

for the choose violence ask game, 6, 13, 23?

6. which ship fans are the most annoying? I try not to get too far outside of thoschei and some timepetals shipping, so it's hard for me to answer… but there's definitely that tautological conspiracy theory-like attitude in tha/smin of "we saw that amazing chemistry while everyone else was blinded by heteronormativity"… I guess the straw that broke the camel's back was the insistence it's as epic as ninerose, which. Wow, the heteroglasses on my ace ass must be really strong if I missed the part where Yaz shielded some villain with her body and called Thirteen out on her bs or Thirteen absorbed all of time to burn her body to rescue Yaz!

13. worst blorboficiation As Verayne pointed out, this question is ambiguous! If we talk my own blorboification and "worst" as in "cringe police should absolutely put me in cringe jail", it's of course Simm!Master, who's my precious baby that's never done anything wrong in his life and if, instead of going "Let me help!", Ten brought some catnip to the Valiant and proceeded to rub the Master's tummy and scratch his ears, everything would have worked out just perfect! If we're talking fandom in general and "worst" as in "I think it's actually detrimental to interpretation", then, and it actually doesn't make me happy to bitch about Chibnall Who three times in a row, I'd say Dhawan!Master. It's mostly about his motivation to destroy Gallifrey, where it seems like everyone's so focused on making him so very in love with the Doctor to the point of being written by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch that I get really frustrated. And I agree, the canon motivation of "can't stand having the Doctor's DNA" is absolutely bs, that character parasited himself on one Trakkenite, one human, absorbed the life force of four more humans, tried to suck out Eight's remaining regenerations, and was apparently ok existing thanks to Rassilon's experiments, but the Doctor's DNA? Dealbreaker! But I also think the latching onto the concept he destroyed the planet for the Doctor makes even less sense. It's like the fandom is trying suck whatever last bits of charisma this era had...

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to I already answered this one here, with Martha and Mickey. I think one of the charms of sailing the thoschei unsinkable wreck is that there's hardly a ship that would either threaten yours (can you even imagine if those two disasters kept to monogamy????? the universe would fall apart) or really shock you into any pearl clutching, so there's hardly anything to come around to? Like yes, the Doctor definitely dated some of their companions, and is absolutely married to River Song, and probably had sex with a Dalek (outside of its casing), and yes, this interhuman relationship isn't tumblr definition of "healthy", but at least they don't trap each other in indefinite timeloops, so…