#a third is an arsonist... on sea

[applepies-and-starlight]

Back to thinking about this post I made a while back where I mentioned I had an Ishmael LCB cbc/expy and I feel like I should talk about her some more someday

[wandaromanova]

never did.

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x Fem!Reader

Warnings: cussing, that’s about it

A/N: hello! i’m extremely rusty in the angst department, so i’m sorry if this isn’t up to par. hope i did the request justice. not proofread. happy reading <3

anon requested: Wednesday and reader are in a relationship but wednesday keeps not talking to reader and over all just being bad at relationships on multiple occasions, so reader breaks up with her even though it hurts them to do it.

Summary: Did Wednesday Addams ever truly love you?

Word Count: 2.7K words | wednesday masterlist

please do not repost or try and take ownership of my work. reblogs, likes, and comments are always welcome. <3

There are many factors that are essential to the longevity of a relationship. 

Time, effort, communication, attention, affection, patience, care; the list of necessities goes on and on.

Relationships are of the utmost delicacy. The weight of devoting yourself to another is heavy, but that’s where the beauty lies. 

Getting to spend time with your partner, learning them inside and out is a gift. The most tedious of tasks hold the most value when done with the one you love.

Each conversation turns out more enlightening than the last. Each minuscule gesture becomes the arsonist who set your heart ablaze. With each second that passes, your love grows.

However, this was not the case for your relationship with Wednesday Addams.

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

You had been dating the raven-haired girl for well over eight months. In the beginning, things were wonderful.

You spent all of your spare time with her and missed your girlfriend the second she was gone. You were attached to your other half and assumed she felt the same way. 

She made you feel special. 

Allowing you in her personal space, revealing little facts about her upbringing, letting you use her sweaters whenever the nights were particularly cold, asking for your opinion on a section of her novel, and occasionally sleeping beside her as the day came to a close. 

You were under the impression that your relationship was sailing steadily, but that all changed.

She had gone cold, essentially shutting you out. Gone was the quality time you spent together, let alone the conversations which clued you in on what made your girlfriend the person she is today. She was distancing herself, leaving you alone and confused.

Of course, you knew dating Wednesday would come with its trials and tribulations. She was twenty-four karat gold in a sea of sterling silver. There was no one like her, one of many reasons why you loved the girl.

The girl had been independent her entire life, insisting on being alone, and would ignite fear in everyone around her.

She made sure to keep people away and hated anyone who so much as breathed in her presence. And yet, you were the exception. 

Well… you used to be.

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

Every day after your third period, Wednesday would meet you in the quad. Like clockwork, the second you enter the area, your girlfriend wasted no time in getting to your side. 

She was never one for public displays of affection or affection in general. So, she would simply walk closer to you than she would others, her shoulder lightly bumping against yours as the two of you made your way to your friends. 

But one day, you arrived at the quad, your girlfriend nowhere to be found. Your eyes scanned over the crowded space, hoping to spot the cloud of darkness which stormed her way through your heart, but she was nowhere to be found.

Dejectedly, you made your way to your friends who sat at their normal spot, toward the center of the quad.

A sigh escaped your lips as you dropped your backpack on the ground, practically flinging yourself into the seat beside Enid.

“What’s got you so sour today?” Bianca spoke up as she took notice of your slumped form, one of your hands propping your head up on the table, elbow perched on the table.

“Have any of you guys seen Wednesday?” You asked, indirectly answering the siren’s question.

You tried to not seem upset, speaking normally despite your body language and behavior proving otherwise. Everyone shook their heads, confirming that no one had seen her.

You visibly deflated, and the blonde beside you took notice of this.

“Don’t worry Y/N. I’m sure she just got caught up with something. She’ll be here soon.” Enid, ever the optimistic, said as she sent you a reassuring smile.

All you could do was nod before the attention was diverted from you, everyone returning to their conversations once more. 

Sure, Wednesday could have gotten wrapped up in something she couldn’t get out of, but you knew your girlfriend.

She was extremely prompt, especially when it came to spending time with you. Maybe you were overreacting, but you had a gut feeling that you couldn’t quite shake. 

You sat there for the rest of lunch, not touching the sandwich that Enid had so graciously given you. All you could do was let your eyes wander, hoping that your girlfriend would show.

She never did.

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

It was a Saturday, meaning you were free from the confines of teachers and education. 

Normally, you would spend the day with Wednesday, but she had informed you she would be busy with “hummer duties.”

This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, knowing all too well how seriously Eugene takes the little club.

So, in the absence of your girlfriend, you decided to stay in for the day. You had an ever-growing list of movies you’d planned to watch, and just never had the time to. But before your plan could roll into action, you would need snacks to have a proper movie marathon. 

Begrudgingly, you crawl out of bed and quickly throw some clothes on before making your way to Jericho. Considering the fact that you were a fast walker, it wasn’t too long before you were in the local supermarket, flinging chips and candy into your cart. 

You received some stares but were unfazed. It was well-known that some Jericho residents still have a distaste for outcasts, despite the mayor’s efforts of inclusivity.

You simply ignored the judgmental glances, swiftly paying for your items and walking out with a bag in each hand. 

On your way back to Nevermore, you passed by the Weathervane. However, you stopped in your tracks when you caught sight of your girlfriend.

She was sitting across from Tyler, the normie boy she had mentioned a few times in the past who harbored feelings for her.

Sadness and irritation filled you, the latter winning by a long run. Without thinking twice, you walked into the coffee shop, stopping right in front of their table.

Both parties turned to face you, their conversation coming to a pause. 

“Hi, can I help you?” The curly-haired boy asked in confusion. You didn’t even spare him a glance, eyes trained on Wednesday who stared right back at you. 

“No, you can’t, but she can.” You spoke calmly despite the waves of negative emotion consuming you.

Even though you were standing there, visibly distraught, Wednesday’s expression never faltered.

“What do you want?” There was a bite to the raven-haired girl’s tone as she spoke, and it stung.

She had never talked to you in this way, at least not since the two of you began dating. 

“I didn’t realize normies were welcome to join the Hummers.” You said through gritted teeth, your patience slowly leaving you.

It was incredibly hard to keep your emotions in check, but that was thrown out the window the second your girlfriend responded.

“We’re a comprising club that encourages diversity.” 

“Jesus, Wednesday you have an answer for everything, don’t you? It’s fucking amazing.”

You were fed up, exasperated, and embarrassed by the lack of remorse from Wednesday. You didn’t care about the boy sitting across from her who fiddled with his hands awkwardly. You didn’t care about the sudden attention you gained from the coffee shop’s patrons. 

All you cared about was your girlfriend sitting here, unapologetic in lying to you. 

You shook your head in disbelief before storming out of the shop, the door loudly slamming shut. Your pace quickened when you heard footsteps approaching from behind you.

Before you knew it, a slender hand wrapped around your wrist, forcing you to stop. You turned to face the person, and as expected, it was Wednesday.

“What do you want?” You pettily reiterated the girl’s question back at her, venom laced in your voice. Her dark brown eyes bored into your own.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset. I was just discussing my Hyde theories with Tyler. It’s not a cause for jealousy and publicly humiliating yourself like a moron.”

Her monotonous tone met your ears and somehow, you were even more pissed than you were before. You didn’t even think that was possible.

“I’m not jealous of your little normie boyfriend. And I don’t give a damn about those other people. I’m furious because my girlfriend straight up lied to me. You lied to me! And you’re acting like you did nothing wrong! That’s why I’m fucking upset, Wednesday.”

You were yelling at the girl at this point, harshly yanking your wrist out of her grip before continuing in the direction you were originally going in.

You were hurt. Wednesday used to go out of her way to spend time with you, but now she was making up excuses to get away. And with each heavy step you took, you hoped your girlfriend would chase after you once more and apologize for what she had done.

She never did.

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

The following weeks after that fight with Wednesday, you contemplated the state of your relationship. It was abundantly clear that your girlfriend was no longer content with the bond you had built. And if you were being completely honest, neither were you.

You understood that spending every second with Wednesday was unhealthy and unrealistic, you knew that. But all you wanted was to see the effort she had shown before, the interest in you she had before. And yet, it never came.

Was this worth fighting for? Or had the battle already been lost?

Those questions swarmed your mind, unable to figure out what was the best decision for not only yourself but for Wednesday too. You hated that you were still keeping her feelings in mind after she blatantly disregarded yours. You loved her, after all.

So, you desperately tried to bring back the spark that was once as bright as a flame in the dead of night, but the winds of change were stronger than the dim light could withstand.

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

Each night, you would wander into Wednesday and Enid’s dorm. Your girlfriend insisted on this routine, claiming that your presence made her writing easier and that you were the source of her creativity. You were her muse, well at least that’s what she had told you. 

This practice stopped after your argument, but you decided to take a leap of faith and show up tonight. So, here you were, standing outside the door unsure if you should knock or simply barge in unannounced like you usually did. 

You didn’t have to wait too long before the door swung open on its own accord, revealing Enid who was all dressed up. 

“Oh! Hey, Y/N! You haven’t come around in awhile.” The werewolf smiled at you, pulling you into a bone-crushing hug.

“Enid, you’re acting like you don’t see me in class every day.” You laughed, quickly returning the gesture as your arms wrapped around her form.

“I know, but I’m just really glad you’re here. Wednesday has been… moodier than usual. Hopefully, you can fix that. It’s not fun fearing for your life in your own room.”

Enid pulled back, releasing you from her death grip.

“Yeah, hopefully.” You chuckled, awkwardly rubbing the back of your neck. The blonde opened the door wider, allowing you to step inside the all-familiar dorm that had become your second home. 

“Anyways, I’m gonna dip. Yoko wants to watch that new zombie-alien movie. I’m just going for the popcorn. So, have fun!”

Enid said excitedly, mouthing a noiseless ‘good luck’ to you before exiting the room, closing the door shut behind her.

Now, the silence was all that could be heard, and even then it was deafening. If you hadn’t turned around to see Wednesday sitting at her desk, you would’ve thought you were in the room alone.

“What are you doing here?” Wednesday was surprisingly the first one to speak, not even bothering to turn around to face you.

“I wanted to see you. I miss you…” You spoke sadly, looking at the back of your girlfriend’s head before she responded harshly.

“Well, you’ve seen me. Now you can go.”

“I’m sorry… what?”

“It’s my writing hour and I don’t need any distractions.”

You were at a loss for words. You were rendered silent as you processed the shock and hurt. She thought of you as a distraction. You were no longer the flint that sparked her creativity, you were now a hindrance. Wednesday didn’t want you there.

Neither of you moved a muscle, the tension so thick it could be cut with a knife. You didn’t even realize you were crying the teardrops slid down your cheeks. This was the moment you accepted the fate of your relationship, and you hated that it had come to this.

“What did I do, Wednesday? Why am I not good enough for you anymore?”

Your voice was shaking as you spoke, lips quivering as you suppressed your sobs. Your questions had Wednesday turning around, finally taking a look at you. 

“What are you talking about?” The raven-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, looking at you in curiosity and a bit of confusion.

“You’ve been avoiding me at all costs. You don’t want me around anymore. You used to always be there for me and now you’re nowhere to be found. We rarely talk. N-no matter how hard I try to get you back to me, you refuse and see no p-problem with it.”

You were sobbing at this point, stuttering towards the end of your sentence as the tears fell down harder. At this point, you couldn’t even look at the girl in front of you, your hands becoming very interesting to look at.

“Don’t take it personally. The Hyde situation is important. I need to crack the code on this before the prophecy is fulfilled.” Wednesday said smoothly, expression deadpan as you broke down in front of her.

“Don’t take it personally? Are you kidding me? I get that the investigation is important, but am I not important too?”

You gathered the courage to look back up at the raven-haired girl, tears blurring your vision. And yet, she still looked stunning.

“The investigation takes precedence, Y/N.”

All you could do was stand there crying. It was actually pretty embarrassing. You felt pathetic, crying before a girl who you loved as she was completely unbothered. After a few minutes, you gathered your composure, sniffles filling the silence of the room.

“Well… now you have one less thing to worry about. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to be your second or third priority. I deserve better than this.”

You were surprised by how strong your words came out as you turned towards the door to leave. It was as if Wednesday hadn’t fully registered what you’d said until she saw you reach for the door.

“Wait.” The Addams said, hastily standing from her chair and rushing toward you. You turned around, hand still on the handle.

And for the first time ever, Wednesday looked afraid.

“Don’t leave me. I promise I’ll do better. I will spend more time with you, we can talk all you want, and I will dial down on the Hyde.”

Wednesday was begging you to stay in her own way, but you weren’t going to give in as much as your heart and soul were screaming at you to do so.

“You shouldn’t have given me reasons to leave in the first place.” 

And with that, you opened the door and left without another word, leaving Wednesday in her dorm all alone.

You were proud of yourself for finally standing your ground, but the heartbreak outweighed it all.

The second you got back to your own room, you collapsed onto your bed, crying your heart out as you mourned your relationship.

Were you nothing but a game to her? Were you just something to keep her busy until something else piqued her interest? Were you just a person to ease the loneliness? Did Wednesday ever truly love you?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

She never did.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

───────── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

[outpost51]

About Fithum, Zegan, Stazor & Smith, part I: The Partners

A/N: Listen I didn’t spend years falling down a worldbuilding rabbit hole for a smut oneshot that turned into a much larger series NOT to share how completely normal I am about the Arsonist Chronicles.

Savras Zegan, Founder and Director of Acquisitions, initially started the organization in the 12th Century as a means of finding, cataloguing, and researching the material and immaterial scars left behind by The Deep’s unchecked wanderings before his imprisonment beneath the sea. No one is entirely sure what Savras is, other than Veilborne, as their appearance changes for each individual. Allegedly, the Mothers know. If true, neither Life nor Death have divulged the secret. The most popular rumor at the moment is that Savras is a demigod like Leviathan, but this has yet to be proven or debunked. What is known is that they are utterly baffled and fascinated with modern technology. It is a magic beyond their understanding and they have been known to grant boons for relatively simple things like changing the ringtone on their smartphone.

Miorina Stazor, Head of Resurrections and Immortal Affairs, got her start in resurrection with, of all things, the family pet — a spotted bengal cat named Lizzie. She alleged a tall woman in a black veil witnessed her crying by the little stone marker and couldn’t bear the heartache, and thus gifted her a book which now rests in a spelled glass case in her office. Lizzie also skulks about her office, and the building, and seems to possess the ability to use the Gateways to other FZS&S buildings. Mind your feet. Now, Miorina, affectionately known as Mia by friends and colleagues, and fearfully as The Reaper by those rare few who managed to get on her bad side, works closely with the hundred or so resurrectionists in employ at the firm.

Paghana Fithum was the third partner to join the FZS&S firm as the Chief Ambassador of Cross-Veil Resources and Research when Miorina responded to a blip on her radar of a returned soul radiating more energy than normal. Rather than a resurrected magic user or a self-risen necromancer (rare, but possible), she found Paghana’s Undead ass (actually Undead, not resurrected by anything, not a necromancer, and no one knows how it happened or if the body she’s inhabiting is even *hers*) flitting around ancient ruins — considered prominent Gateways, or places the Veil is particularly thin and easy to cross — to greet new arrivals, delivering supplies to isolated were and vampire communities, and in general running herself ragged trying to mother hen the entire nonhuman population. When asked why, she stated simply: “What else am I going to do? Shamble about and moan?” She saw a gap in the firm’s preternatural services primarily helping humans with Veil resources, but not giving anything back to the community from which they were benefiting, and established her department with Miorina’s blessing.

Tom Smith, Chief Security Officer, is… well, he’s just a guy. At the time, Fithum, Zegan & Stazor had no centralized security department, just several guards on rotation. Miorina suggested opening applications for someone to organize and lead the department. It’s unknown how Tom found out about the opening, since it was only circulated within the organization itself. Naturally, he got the job. Within six weeks, he had not only organized the security force, but also sniffed out and mitigated a significant amount of vulnerabilities. It’s also unknown whether or not Tom is human, as he hasn’t aged a day in the thirty years since he started working for FZS&S. Whatever he is, he’s just Tom to his employees and colleagues— not Mr. Smith. They aren’t sure what would happen if they called him Mr. Smith after the initial introduction, and so far no one has been brave enough to find out.

[whowhatifs]

Faith of Gods is updating and I'm so excited I was inspired to put together a Sol playlist at 2 am!

It's probably wildly inacurate, but half the fun is putting my adoration for @faithofgods work and characters out into the world. 🥺💕💕

Like the Dawn by The Oh Hellos: He'd put me deep / Deep under so that he could work / And like the dawn / You broke the dark and my whole earth shook

Arsonist's Lullaby by Hozier: But my peace has always depended / On all the ashes in my wake

Run Baby Run by The Rigs: So wait, keep your heart inside / My hands won't keep it safe / I'll just feed on dreams, and smile as hope slowly dies

Goodbye John Smith by Barns Courtney: Come on feet don't fail me now / 'Cause I'll fall too hard if I hit the ground / And these worn out souls are all broken now / I'll give it all, I'll give it all

Heavy In Your Arms by Florence + The Machine: This will be my last confession / 'I love you' never felt like any blessing / Whisper it is like it's a secret / Only to condemn the one who hears it

Third Eye by Florence + The Machine: But your pain is a tribute / The only thing you let hold you / Wear it now like a mantle / Always there to remind you

No Choir by Florence + The Machine: But the loneliness never left me / I always took it with me / But I can put it down in the pleasure of your company

House by the Sea by Moddi: They say home is the place where your heart is / Then I am home now, though I am far away / For so long I've let the forest guard it / And now it's begging me to stay

Bloom by The Paper Kites: And the trees are filled with memories / Of the feelings never told // Oh, the whole world it is sleeping / But my world is you

Hello My Old Heart by The Oh Hellos: And every day, I add another stone / To the walls I built around you / To keep you safe

(Yes, these are somewhat in an order so that the quoted lyrics relate to each other and there's maybe hopefully a bit of a story told in emotion there. 💕)

[fallow-foot]

You know what I’ve been thinking about again recently? The origins series Ori and Niki did. Specifically a few scenes from it. First one is Niki’s relationship with fire/flint and steel. In the I believe first or third stream of this series we learn that Niki likes fire. Specifically she likes to burn things and finds it fun (Ori from what I remember makes a comment about her being an arsonist fish as well as how it must be hard to set things on fire when you bound to the sea) which I find this interesting because besides her finding comfort in the fire she also I think burns down a tree. So that’s interesting. The second thing a part of ori’s speech on wanting to become human I found interesting. “Take away my blaze powers allow me to burn. Allow me to burn in fire so that I don’t have to burn in water. Allow me to be stuck on land so that one day I may take to the skies. If I could trade who I am now to be a human I would do that in a blink of an eye. I- I would..” what I’m specifically interested in this part is the wings because idk if everyone knows this but bearsmp Ori DID have wings even if he only showed them once. So if these two series were connected that besides the he got turned human esk some how also got his wings which fascinates me. The last two things I want to talk about are the flower as the first gift and Shy. First of all the flower. Theirs nothing really important about that flower besides it being the first gift Ori ever gave Niki until you see the two of them again and what is the first thing Ori does? Give her a flower saying it was just like the first gift he gave her. And now onto Shy. What the heck are you?! First we see you hanging out in Niki’s underground city with her then in origins we find out that A you can jump dimensions or B you’ve known Niki since her first memory but also seem to know more than you should. So what do you know you sus enderman. Also that’s not even everything I still haven’t talked about things like the book by a mysterious boo or the meteor thing that hurt Niki but made Ori go catatonic until he was away from it thanks to niki. So yeah I have a lot to talk about from this series.

[theuncurrentdispatch]

At the end ATWQ, *SPOILERS* do you have any thoughts on why, in-story and writing/meaning reasons, the Associates reject Lemony at the end? Is it because he became an adult or was becoming an adult as conceptualized in the story? Or was it something else?

Whether or not Snicket became an adult is a complex question. His “apprenticeship [is] over” (4.291), but the last thing he tells anyone before disappearing is that he’s “not old enough” (4.288), an assertion laden with irony and a callback to the Bombinating Beast not attacking him in SYBIS because it’s “not old enough” (3.221) to harm anyone. By the end of ATWQ both the Beast and Snicket have aged out of this inability and Snicket has fulfilled his destiny of becoming Hangfire’s disciple. Hangfire, ATWQ’s largest-looming embodiment of adulthood, may look “peaceful” and “as if something at last was his” (4.252) during the Beast’s siege because he’s completed his true objective of passing on his legacy. In SYBIS, the “box of matches in [Snicket’s] pocket” implied his potential to turn into an adult arsonist like Hangfire, and he’s held back only by childish beliefs like “adults should[n’t] be encouraged to smoke” (3.27). In the climax of WITNDFAON, Snicket now likens Hangfire to his “teacher” (4.245) and credits him for instruction on how to “play” (4.248) the Beast statue and unleash his potential for destruction. 

I’ve always held it as a weak deus ex machina that ATWQ’s master of treachery could be defeated with a deception as plain as “what’s that behind you”. I can only justify it as the metaphorical gateway into Snicket’s “wild, lawless” place, that he commits a sort of ur-deception or “very old trick” so archetypal that, like “the old myths and superstitions” (4.246), its recounting requires the Association of Associates to recite it like a Greek chorus outside the derailed train. Snicket’s apprenticeship in Stain’d-by-the-Sea ends not just because he murders Hangfire, but because he tricks Hangfire with malicious intent, because he summons the Beast, and because he reveals previously suppressing Hangfire’s identity. Eve’s original sin wasn’t a magicked apple but the indelible knowledge that she had the ability to disobey and, what’s more, to lie about it and to implicate others. 

After Snicket’s misdeeds culminate in a literal trainwreck (in the shape of “a dead serpent” [4.259] that recalls Eden’s lech), Snicket finds that “friend or enemy, associate or stranger, [everyone shrinks] from [him]” (4.258) like he’s “a moving shadow, casting darkness over everyone” (4.286). In essence, he’s like Armstrong Feint. Note the lone cross in Seth’s opening illustration to chapter thirteen, after Snicket reflects that Hangfire was the only person “brave enough to face the beast directly” and who Snicket classifies among “heroes [and] villains” (4.252). It’s uncertain whether Snicket views himself as more “like Armstrong Feint, someone once kind and gentle who lowered himself into treachery, or more like a mysterious beast, hidden in the depths and summoned to wickedness” (4.290), but he now empathizes with both figures. Daniel Handler and I are technically Jewish, but feel free to interpret Hangfire as a Christ figure martyred by his inability to overcome humanity’s disbelief in his message, and Snicket as his reluctant disciple as he records the man’s story in a tetralogy mirroring the four gospels. 

The series ends with Snicket’s coat housing the Beast statue (and presumably the same box of matches) even as Snicket muses that “long ago, [he] had made a promise to return the statue to its rightful owner” (4.289). Snicket told Theodora in WCTBATH that the Beast “has been associated with the Mallahan family for generations” and that they’re likely the statue’s “rightful owners” (1.93-94). But Snicket doesn’t give the statue to Lady Mallahan’s only competent descendant, nor would Moxie likely want something she now knows brings with it only destruction and covetous frenzy reminiscent of the Maltese Falcon. Despite his misgivings about alienating his friends, Snicket never offers up the totem of chaos, and alongside his warped notion that he “think[s he] kept [his] promise” (4.277) to help Ellington find her father by unmasking and killing him, it’s quite possible Snicket also believes he’s fulfilled his promise to find the statue’s rightful owner: Himself. A statue only capable of chaos would “rightfully” belong to someone capable of chaos, and by tricking Hangfire with malevolent intent, Snicket has wrested ownership of the statue from Hangfire like Malfoy wrested ownership of the Elder Wand from Dumbledore. Even the Beast, raised and nourished by Hangfire, recognizes Snicket’s authority over the hand that fed him; Hangfire points uselessly at Snicket when he speaks his last words, but the Beast only obeys Snicket’s wordless pointing to leave, after looking over “[Snicket and] the statue in [his] hands” (4.254). 

As discussed in my earlier essay, Snicket never shakes the feeling that he, like Ellington, will always be an outsider to the residents of Stain’d, Associates included. Snicket’s not surprised in the climax that “the Mitchums of the world just bicker” while ignoring evil, or that Gifford and Ghede think it's “not [their] job” to intervene in a wrongful arrest. What ultimately drives Snicket from Stain’d is alienation from his friends. The Association is horrified by Hangfire’s murder because, unlike Snicket, they had only learned his identity moments before his death—And his identity is that of the absent parent, a specter that haunts each Associate. The Association relies on hope, but Snicket quietly believes that “Moxie’s mother [will] never send for her” and “Pip and Squeak's father [is] gone forever” (4.288). That said, the Association’s schism isn’t about Snicket’s deviation from the group’s strict moral code. Moxie laments that Snicket “didn’t have to feed [Hangfire] to that creature” (4.270) while simultaneously dismissing Feint’s orphaned daughter as “deserv[ing] to be in a prison cell” (4.279) for a murder Ellington didn’t commit. Snicket is ultimately as repulsed by the Associates’ hypocrisy as they are by his.

This brings Snicket to his second epiphany, that not only has his apprenticeship ended, but it’s now his responsibility to document its events. This is a postmodern concept of penance, to make amends not to the man Armstrong Feint (by, for example, rescuing his daughter) but to Feint’s story, lest he be erased a second time. Handler distinguishes between signifier and signified several times in the denouement: The town’s ink becoming “weaker and fainter” made the facts it represented appear “less certain” (4.263); Moxie equates Snicket “destroy[ing]” Hangfire to destroying a book and its “important secrets” (4.269); the Beast’s and Snicket’s actions have erased Hangfire’s meaning like “spilled ink across paper” voids the meaning of the words (4.249). Feint and his words “have vanished,” and though Snicket “wish[es]” his actions would too (4.254), he knows these actions obligate him to record his wrongdoing. Snicket ends WCTBATH with “practically none of” its events entering his official report (1.252), and this pattern persists through the second and third books. It’s only after “destroying” a man that Snicket pledges to revive Feint and his story in a fragmentary plot for the librarians. After all, “paper will put up with anything that’s written on it” (4.272), whether it’s spilled ink that destroys important secrets or words that resurrect a dead man “the way an idea moves from a book to your mind” (4.248).

[enbysiriusblack]

hey if you dont mind me asking, what was your conclusion abt the greek mythology thing? im rlly curious aljdlandlf

oh about my oc's??? I think that's what you're asking cjchch

so I have this book, its like a dictionary but for Greek mythology so,, its very helpful as well as google

1. I had this character who's a knight, uses she/her pronouns, in love with a bartender, she has a huge saviour complex, the main character/hero tm, her weakness is fire, was made by gods to help a kingdom thats getting attacked, so I named her Pandora, because there's this goddess in greek mythology who was created by Zeus as a punishment to humankind after they were given fire (zeus dont want us having fire for some reason 😔) so Pandora brought a load of misery and destruction to earth!! woo so thats why I named my character Pandora, both their whole creations was doing some misogynistic God's will (i hate zeus sm), and while the mythology Pandora was created as a consequence of fire, my Pandora is destroyed by fire

2. the second character is this bartender/blacksmith, uses they/them pronouns, in love with Pandora, very angsty character I'd say... they've got those good morals though, they're an arsonist (hehe), and hates the monarchy, so.. I named them Hephaestus, who is the greek god of blacksmithery, fire, volcanoes, also other gods seem to really hate this Hepha (as the gods and monarchy do with my Hepha) also Hephaestus is part of the creation of Pandora, he provided the clay she was molded by im pretty sure, and yeah.. little link between the two of them

3. the third is another Knight, not as high up as Pandora though, he/him pronouns, very cocky, besties with Pandora and immediately becomes besties with Hepha when he meets them, he's deaf so mainly uses sight, but he gets blinded later, and drowns :)), so I named him Leander, in greek mythology, Leander is this dude who falls in love with a priestess who lives in a tower in the middle of the sea so to visit her, she shines a light at the top of the tower but one day its really windy and it goes out while Leander is swimming to her so he gets lost and drowns

[alilfroginacove]

Best Friend Squad + Princess Alliance Powerpoint Night

modern but still magical AU

they have a powerpoint night at least once every few months. they alternate kingdoms, and this time it’s in Bright Moon

the order they present alternates between alphabetical order and the dibs system

the dibs system gets chaotic quickly

it’s held in the War Room, with guards watching the door. it’s a Very Serious Meeting, after all

snacks are, of course, a must. pillows, too

they choose alphabetical order, which means Adora is up first

she has an incredibly detailed and opinionated 75-slide presentation on why velcro is the superior to laces. she breaks it down into efficiency, comfort vs societal expectations, and most importantly style, with a section on it’s history

everyone knows it’s just because she cant tie laces though, no matter how many times glimmer’s tried to teach her

entrapta takes notes

there are pictures, transitions, the whole deal. overall very professional.

next up is bow

he is also fairly professional, and makes his dads proud by citing all his sources in chicago format

his topic of choice is on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, it’s ten slides but he spends a solid half hour on it because he rants every other slide on how important friendship is and how platonic relationships shown on TV for kids is important

it’s quite wholesome

Catra does hers on the proper ways to bury a body without getting caught. everyone is sufficiently terrified, except Mermista who already knew half of this from her love of mystery books

Entrapta’s is on genetic editing and how it could be used to give people things like an extra leg or arm

her powerpoint is the only one to rival Adora’s in length, and it’s very impressive

Frosta talks about how short people are easily superior, featuring diagrams on how to take out tall people

Adora looks visibily uncomfortable, Catra asks too many questions

they take a snack break at this point, and it ends with Catra doing a deponstration on She-Ra of the techniques learned from Frosta

they actually work

next up is Glimmer, hers is on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

it includes very detailed fan theories, along with all of her opinions and ratings of the characters, rated on both personality and sexiness

Perfuma and Mermista tag team it and do endangered species of plant and aquatic life. it gets emotional

Netossa does a powerpoint on the weaknesses of each member there. not all were present the first time, so she decides she needs to roast them all again

it goes about the same

Sea Hawk does his on John “Pillow Pyre” Orr, a famous arsonist who was responsible for about 2000 fires. it is third for most amount of slides, and he is very enthusiastic. it would be endearing if it wasn’t for the subject matter

Finally, Spinnerella does a short but sweet presentation on cloud formations, and spends a great deal of it talking about why they’re all equally beautiful, except for altostratus

she has a lot of opinions on altostratus clouds

it ends in a sleepover, usually in Glimmer and Bow’s room

the end <3

[supernaturalsongchallenge]

CHALLENGE CHAOS MONTH - MAY 2020

What is this?

Since we’re all being sensible and saying at home, for this month all of the challenges that I admin will participate in a chaos month. There are thirty one prompts per challenge, each related to their distinct themes.

How do I enter?

Just make one or more creations featuring one of the prompts below by May 31st. No need to sign up or send an ask for this month! Tag your work with #spnsongcc so I can find it!

Which challenges are participating?

Castiel Creations Challenge Multifandom Creations Challenge Sam Creations Challenge Supernatural Creations Challenge Supernatural Color Challenge Supernatural Song Challenge

Prompts:

The Islander - Nightwish

Alive - Sia

Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) - AURORA

Dig Down - Muse

Mercy Mirror - Within Temptation

Hollow Crown - Ellie Goulding

Across The Universe - The Beatles

Strong - After Forever

Human - Rag'N'Bone Man

Make Me Wanna Die - The Pretty Reckless

Dancing In A Hurricane - Epica

I'm So Sorry - Imagine Dragons

The Sound Of Silence - Pentatonix

Walk Away - Franz Ferdinand

Free Choice

Fix You - Coldplay

Guiding Light - Mumford & Sons

Scarlet - Delain

bury a friend - Billie Eilish

Third Eye - Florence and the Machine

Sinister Kid - The Black Keys

Put Your Money On Me - Arcade Fire

Devil's Backbone - The Civil Wars

Glory and Gore - Lorde

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - The Animals

That's Okay - The Hush Sound

Always Gold - Radical Face

Red - Elbow

Dear Fellow Traveler - Sea Wolf

Dead Man Walking - The Script

Arsonist's Lullaby - Hozier

[rebyell]

Chicago Fire Fic: What Was and What Should Be, Ch. 1

Sylvie tried to find something to say that was light and encouraging. She actually appreciated that she was now one of the people Casey leaned on the most at 51 – he didn’t really have anyone outside the house, and he’d admitted that with Kidd having moved in to Severide’s place, he felt awkward talking to Severide about much, like he was horning in on their couple time. So he was going out more, trying to ‘move on’ apparently while also staying out of their way, working long hours on construction projects so he was only really sleeping there, but Sylvie really wanted to be encouraging his pursuit of happiness, not be a jealous meanie, who thought he was hot, and kind, and sweet, and hot – how had she not noticed how handsome he was when he was married? She’d been so convinced that he was so lucky to have Gabby, but damn, Gabby had been lucky to have him, too. So Matt was talking to her now, not Severide. This time, it had been an insensitive bitch (Sylvie’s thoughts, not his) who had basically cut him off at the knees when he mentioned he had a roommate. They’d been going out three weeks (Casey’s attempts at being discrete were ruined by the perpetual gossip queens at 51, so this was not news), and the woman had wanted to go back to his, and he’d gotten to the fact he was living with a friend (he had not, he said, gotten to the whole ‘I lost everything I owned in a fire and insurance is insisting that the court case be finished before officially determining I wasn’t the arsonist’). Apparently, he’d passed along, having a roommate at 37 made him a ‘loser’ who was ‘immature, financially unstable, or worse, both’ and that he’d never find a normal woman who’d date a guy nearing 40 who didn’t at least have his shit together enough to live on his own. She could imagine Matt, sweet, solemn, genuinely-cares-about-what-you’re-saying, and much more sensitive than most people knew Matt Casey, listening to a woman he liked call him a loser and then getting stuck with the dinner-and-drinks bill, and here he was, of course, blaming himself, believing this woman (though he didn’t say as much, it was pretty obvious, and she was drunk, so it must be really obvious) and it made her mad. Very mad. He was such a decent guy, and that face, and he was nicely built, and he was not a loser at all – even when she was sober she totally did not think he was a loser at all. He was kind and warm and very responsible and very mature and very hot. Okay, she was drunk, and focusing on the ‘attractive’ thing a little too much.

“You don’t have to disagree with her, you know.” Matt managed a sad attempt at a half-smile. Her confusion must have shown on her face. “You look like you’re trying to come up with a nice, supportive, Sylvie Brett way of saying she’s right – of all the fish in the sea, I’m the worst catch, so to speak.”

“Uhm, no, not what was I thinking at all. Trust me, you have to scrape the bottom of a really deep barrel to be the worst catch in the sea.” She meant that, truly, there were a surprisingly high number of shitty people in the dating pool. Like apparently this Miranda woman he’d been seeing. Seeing the look on his face, she kept going, “Not that you’re a bad catch at all, Matt Casey. You’re kind, and sweet, and very handsome, and you’ve got a good job – two good jobs really, so bonus for that – and you’re a great friend, and you have the most amazing eyes, has anyone told you that?” “You’ve been trying to keep up with Foster again, haven’t you?” He asked, a more genuine smile spreading across his face.

“No, well, yes, but she bought and she kept buying, before she left to go to some thing for a friend or with a friend or about a friend.” Sylvie explained. “But me being drunk is not why you have beautiful eyes. You just do. Me being drunk might be why I’m saying it though. But it’s better than saying the other thing I was thinking, so it’s okay, because the other thing I was thinking is you’re hot. And that would be awkward. Maybe. If you’re not okay with that. Not with being hot, I guess you’re okay with that, you’ve probably been hot like your entire life, but with me saying it.”

“Were you drinking beer all night?” He gestured to what was in her hand. She didn’t follow his jump in topic, but oh well.

“What? This?” She glanced at the bottle. “No. After round three of whiskey, I told Foster I had to switch to beer.” “Three? And how many beers?” “This is my third, but I’ve had like…two sips out of it. You’re not going to buy me a drink, are you?” “Well, I was going to offer, since you’ve listened to me complain, but I think now I’m going to offer to take you home instead.” “See?! Nice, sweet, kind Matt Casey – definitely a good catch.”

“Yeah, nice guys, what every woman wants apparently.” Matt scoffed, rolling his eyes a little. “Stay here, I’ll clear my tab with Herrmann.” “I’ll be here.” She assured, thankful a moment later that the bar was kind of loud as “enjoying the view of your butt,” slipped out because she was actually that shallow tonight, he had a nice butt. His turnout gear of course did not show it off, but sometimes his duty pants did. Tonight, his dress pants did. He’d gotten dressed up, they must’ve gone somewhere nice, and then he got dumped, and told he was a loser. He probably paid the bill, too, he was the type to always pay for a girl, definitely. Typical Casey. Treated like crap and paid for the privilege of it. He was back a minute later, she almost laughed because he’d be the type to never realize but he always got served like first in the whole place because that was just Herrmann and Otis being respectful of their boss like that – everyone in the house adored Casey, even when he was making them nuts with drills and stuff.

“What’re you grinning about?” He asked with a smile.

“You.” “Laughing at me, huh? Can’t blame you.” His smile was fake now, though.

“Sort of, but not like you think. Her loss, Matt. I mean that. Everyone here loves you and if she doesn’t, well, that’s just poop for her.” “Poop for her?” Matt laughed lightly. “You’re in a bar, you can swear.” “I don’t like to swear much.” She shrugged. “Except, well, you don’t need to know that.” “You ready to head home?” “With you?” “Well, I’m driving, but no, I’ll take you back to yours. Otis said Cruz should be back from his date with Chloe by now.” “What if he brought Chloe back to ours? He thinks Otis and I are both out for the evening.” “I’m sure they’ll be in the bedroom in that case.” He reassured as he ushered out of the bar.

“Hey, Case, ‘hawks tickets on Friday, you in?” Severide asked as they passed his table. Kidd had a weird look on her face, Sylvie couldn’t place it, but it was weird. “Section 110, 2nd row.” “Hell yes I’m in. I’m gonna take Brett home – she tried to keep up with Foster again – catch you back home.” “Sure, later.”

“You know, I think Kidd doesn’t like you living there. Or maybe she was just jealous Severide didn’t take her to the Blackhawks.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking about getting a new place. I’ll have to rent for a while.”

“Ooh, let me help again this time! I love real estate. You should totally buy in this market, you know, you could make money on a fixer, you can do the work yourself and everything.” “I would, if I get the insurance settled. Then again, I have nothing to go in a house. Or an apartment. I don’t even own a mattress, or an entire wardrobe that doesn’t say Chicago Fire Department on it.” “Oh, I forgot for a second. Sorry. How long on that?” “Lawyers say a month or so until the case is wrapped up, so maybe six weeks.” “It’s been almost a year – since last December. Good thing you’ve got Severide.” “He’s a good friend, letting me crash in the guest room for 10 months.” Matt agreed. She looked at him, he was so earnest and kind and hot. She was stuck on the ‘hot’ tonight. Then something occurred to her.

“I just realized you sleep in the bed Kidd used to sleep in. The same sheets even. Washed but still. That’s kinda weird. I bet they had sex in her room sometimes. So like, you sleep in their bed, sort of.” “Now I’m going to be thinking about that tonight. Thanks for that.” Matt chuckled a little. They pulled up near her building. He didn’t have a parking spot, so he’d had to take what was sort of near her building. They had official visitor spots, she remembered. Too few, but it was a weeknight, so there were some left probably.

“You can go in the parking. You can have a visitor spots. I’ll give you the code. But shhh, we’re not supposed to give it out, we’re supposed to buzz you in with your phones, but I don’t know if I can type the code right right now.” “Alright, what’s the code I have to enter?” He asked, but he hadn’t moved the truck.

“Uhm, you have to be at the gate.” “I know that, I’m just not getting stuck up there and then you can’t remember it.” “Oh. I remember it! I’m not that drunk.” “You’re pretty drunk. It’s adorable but also a little concerning.” “It’s Foster’s fault. She drinks a lot. Not like at work, Captain Casey, sir. Just, like, out, she drinks more than I ever have.” “I can tell. The code?” “Oh, yeah. 03-04-18-37. Then my apartment number. Do you know that?”

“Yeah. Between you, Otis, and Cruz, it’s on a lot of paperwork I see.” “There’s an elevator. Thankfully. I’m not sure I like stairs right now.” “Probably not.” Casey agreed, as he punched in the code and the gate rolled back. He found the visitors spots easily up on the almost top bit of the parking deck. How did he know that? She got distracted, or something, because he was holding open his truck door, looking at her expectantly.

“What?” “You’re not sleeping my truck, Sylvie. Let’s go inside.” “Your truck is comfy. Not new, but reliable, comfy, lived in. Like you.” “I don’t know if that’s a compliment. Probably true, though.” Matt shook his head.

“I mean, it smells like you. Not that you’re lived in or comfy. You might be comfy. I’ve never sat on you.” She admitted as she slipped from the truck and headed towards the door into the residential part of the building. She was not sure the parking had always been this unlevel. She continued, “it smells like you. Like, good things. Like wood and sawdust and that guy smell, just whatever it is, that Matt smell that is just you, not anything else.” “I have a smell?” He caught her as she threatened to fall into him, the floor was really unlevel tonight and right in front of the elevator too, that was silly, who built it like that? “mm-hmm. It’s nice. See you smell like it right now. Sort of. You wore cologne though. It covers it up. It’s nice cologne, but I miss you smell.” “I did have a date tonight. I didn’t think ‘me smell’ was what I should go with.” “When we date, don’t bother with cologne. You smell sexier with the sawdust and you smell.” “Are we dating?” Matt asked with a chuckle. “I could stop being jealous of stupid mean women who say you’re a ‘loser’ then. And you wouldn’t get stuck paying for dinner with a woman who would call you a ‘loser’. Which isn’t good. Plus, then it wouldn’t be weird that I was checking out your butt tonight when you paid your tab.” “You were?” He wasn’t chuckling now, as they got out of the elevator on her floor. It wasn’t even many floors down from where they had been, but she was sure the stairs would be even more unlevel than the parking. “Mm-hmm. You have a cute butt in those pants. Also, you have the bluest eyes. I love your eyes. Did I say that already tonight? I’m drunk. I think I’m drunker than I think. Thought. I’m drunker enough to just decide we’re dating, so you can stop being with mean women and I can stop dealing with guys who don’t want what I want or whatever it is that means I keep ending up with guys who don’t understand me or the job. And since we’re dating, I can look at your ass and it’s not weird. And your eyes. And your…you.” “Is Cruz actually home? I could knock. I think you’re a little drunk to be left home by yourself.” “You can sleep over! If we’re dating now, it’s fine if you sleep over. Chloe sleeps over sometimes. And Lily too.” “That would probably not be a good idea.” “But if you leave, hey, what’re you doing, that’s my purse.” He just reached out and took her purse off her shoulder and was opening it. Rude. “And we’ve been standing at your door for a full minute. You have a key?” “Oh, yeah, it’s in there. Sorry.” “Let’s get you inside.” He said, as he found the key and opened the door. He guided her inside, even though she lived there. “Cruz!” He called out, but there was no answer. She figured that meant he was at Chloe’s, or maybe they were still out, it wasn’t that late, not really, she was just drunk kinda early. Because of Foster. Who was a bad influence. Whose bad influence led her to be here, being ushered around her own apartment by Matt Casey. Who was also her boss. Sort of. Not really. So it wasn’t a conflict really because he couldn’t give orders to ambo. Except sometimes. And he processed all their personnel paperwork and stuff. So some authority. But that didn’t mean he was her boss and she shouldn’t be attracted to him because of rules. He smelled good. Sexy. And he was probably really well built. She’d never actually seen him shirtless. But he had to be. She wanted to know. “Let’s get you some water.” His voice pulled her from her thoughts. Even his voice was sexy. “I’m not thirsty. I had lots of liquid, too much, I mean.” She was pretty sure if she drank anything more, she’d start to feel sick. Plus, she kind of didn’t want to sober up just yet. She was enjoying the feelings of being close to him. “You’re drunk.” Matt reminded. “water will help.” “But if I get less drunker, I won’t have the guts to do this.” She said, then practically fell into him to kiss him. Maybe it was his body heat, or his smell, or his Matt Casey-ness, but she was drunk enough to go with it and worry about whatever later, so she kissed him, good and long and hard. She kissed him and enjoyed that he kissed back and he was good at it. He kissed like he did everything else, like it was the only thing on the planet going on right at that moment, and damn it, she wanted him, wanted to throw him on the nearest surface and just kiss him until they both passed out from lack of oxygen. She always got wet easily when she was drunk, and she could feel herself getting really turned on, and she pushed impossibly closer to him, her hands roaming, trying to get their fill of him, all the things forbidden to her before right now, and speaking of forbidden, she fumbled at his fly, damn dress pants were harder to get than jeans, and she mostly ended up groping him through his pants, but just for a second because then his hands grabbed her wrists, firmly but not too hard, and he was pushing her away from him, which caused her to whine – she didn’t mean to, but she didn’t want to be away from  his heat and his smell and his Matt Casey-ness.

“Not tonight, Sylvie.” “Why not?” “You’re too drunk to make this sort of decision.” He paused. “And I’m not the kind of guy who takes one woman to dinner and sleeps with a different woman on the same night.” “She should’ve hit that then, her loss.” “If you really want this,” Matt sighed, but smiled at her, “you’ll still want it when you’re sober. I respect you way too much, and value our friendship too much, to not wait for sober enthusiastic consent. I mean, I always do, would, but especially with you.” “Why are you such a good guy?” She asked, half in complaint, half out of just sheer affection for this sweet, solemn, lovely man. Who was also really hot, hence her half complaint. “But I think I love it about you, you know? You’re good. Not nice, I mean, you’re nice, but you’re not nice like you have good manners and act the part, you’re good. Down to your bones. Do you know that? You’re good down to your bones, Matt Casey, and that’s why I love you. Well, that and you’re hot with beautiful eyes.” “Let’s get you to bed. With some water. I’ll text Cruz, see where he’s at.” “Don’t bother him, he’s with Chloe. Otis will be home at like 3. I’ll be fine. Or you could stay.” “On the sofa.” He gave her a sharp look, as her hands wandered down his body again. She couldn’t help it. He should be touched. She was drunk, but she also noticed that while his mouth said ‘no’ his body was saying ‘yes’ – he liked being touched.

“With me.” She shook her head. “Not like…I respect your ‘no’. Just in the bed.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “You don’t trust me?” “Drunk? Not entirely.” He chuckled. “So you’re good and you’re smart.” She laughed. “But I promise. No roving hands tonight. But I want a cuddle. Just a cuddle. I miss the cuddling.” “Yeah, it’s hard to go back to sleeping alone. Come on, this is you, right?” He gestured to the bedroom he’d led them down the hall to. She nodded.

“That’s me. I’m gonna brush my teeth first. Be right back.”

“I’ll get that glass of water.” She came into the bedroom, unsurprised to find he’d already turned back the covers. He was the type to do that. He was also the type, it turned out, to turn around when she started changing clothes. Which she’d probably appreciate when she was sober, but tonight it was just silly and adorable. She’d let him see the whole show anyway. She was in her PJs, nearly fell into bed, then looked up at him.

“Your turn. Oh, I could get something from Cruz’s room for you-“ “It’s fine. I’ve slept worse.” He shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed, taking off his shoes from what she could tell and guess. She couldn’t see it, the angle was bad and his shoulders were between her eyes and his actions and oooh, he had nice shoulders. He took off the outer, nice, shirt he was wearing, too.

“Your pants.” She prompted, then explained at his look. “I mean, they’re nice, don’t wrinkle them. I promise to keep my hands to myself, you can take your pants off. Though I’ll be tempted. It felt nice, the like second I touched it.” “Thanks, I think.” He chuckled again. “You know, this sort of thing is easier when you girls crash at a guy’s – I can just give you some boxers and an old t-shirt.” “I could give you my underwear.” She laughed. “I don’t think it’d suit you.”

“Or fit.” He grinned.

“Take your pants off. Unless you’re not wearing underwear. That might be too much temptation.”

“You’ve known me for almost five years.” He laughed, shaking his head. He also stood to remove his pants, and she unashamedly checked out his ass. “If you think not wearing underwear is an option, you don’t know me nearly well enough for us to do this. Or even think about going where all that kissing out in the living room was going.” “You’ve never not worn underwear?” “You have? I mean, gone out with no underwear?”

“Yep.” She popped the ‘p’. “It was kind of a dare. But it felt kind of…naughty and I kind of liked it.” “Damn it.” He blushed a little, but she didn’t know why.

“I was just joking.” She reassured, not wanting him to think she didn’t know him very well. “I mean, I totally did that, but I mean I knew you’d be wearing underwear. I even knew it would be black boxer briefs, plain black, always, and always Jockey. Dawson joked about how predictable you are.” She realized he looked taken aback or something and he was definitely blushing more now. “I just mean I know who you are, Matt Casey.” “Yeah.” “And you are comfy and warm and you smell good and I’m drunk enough to ask so just get over here for cuddles.” “Drink some of that water. I’ll stay until Otis or Cruz gets home, okay?”

[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

Six Baudelaires AU, Part Three {AO3} {Masterlist} {Part One} {Part Two}

Chapter Twenty-Nine → in which Sunny turns to Arson

“No.” Violet gasped. 

“No!” Nick shouted. 

“Lilac!” Klaus screamed. 

For a few moments, Lilac didn’t feel anything, and she was unsure why her siblings were so concerned, or why her dress was red, or why they’d all stopped fighting Olaf. And then, as soon as she realized what had happened, she felt… hot. Too hot. Holy shit, holy shit, she was on fire, she was on fire, who set her on fire? There wasn’t a fire, was there? Then why was she so… 

Klaus and Violet ran forwards, grabbing their sister as she lost her balance and collapsed. They helped her up, stumbling out of the elevator, while Nick gripped tightly to a screaming Sunny and Soli and lifted them up to follow. Justice Strauss let out a gasp and a shriek, dragged into the hall by Olaf, who lowered his harpoon gun only enough to put his bloody knife back into his pocket. 

Violet knelt beside Lilac, ripping her sister’s ribbon from her pocket and stretching it out. She was about to cry, looking ahead; there was a long strike against her eldest sister’s stomach, and a large line from where Olaf had swung his knife. It was bleeding too much, it was too big… 

“Klaus, you know how to patch a wound?” Violet asked, her voice breaking. 

Lilac opened her mouth to speak, but instead she just let out a cry as Klaus grabbed her hand, dropping to the ground. “We don’t have enough supplies!” 

“Will the ribbon stop the bleeding?” 

“You’ll have to tie it really tight-” 

“Lilac!” Solitude sobbed, as Babbitt hopped over to the eldest Baudelaire, chirping worriedly. 

“Li!” Sunny screamed, and then she whipped around to glare at Olaf, who had pushed Justice Strauss to the door ahead of them. “Bastard!” she screeched, trying to throw herself out of Nick’s arms, but he pulled her back, terror flashing in his eyes. He’d frozen again, fallen silent again, and now he was backing up, holding his younger sisters as tight as he could, refusing to risk Olaf hurting them, too. 

“You son of a bastard bitch fuck!” Klaus shouted, as Violet pushed Lilac up slightly to put some of the ribbon behind her. “I will kill you!” 

“Klaus-” Lilac began. 

“Shh.” Violet said. “Don’t talk. Klaus, hand me the other end of the ribbon.” 

“If you children are quite done with your dying sister,” Olaf said darkly, as he pushed Strauss a bit closer, “I need someone to type in this password so I can get the Sugar Bowl before I poison the hotel.” 

“You bastard!” Solitude shrieked. 

“Fucking asshole!” Klaus screamed. 

“You…” Nick was shaking very hard, clinging tight to two struggling children. “You…” 

“Yes, I got rid of one of you. I still have five left. Hurry up.” Olaf said. 

“She’s not dead yet, dickfuck.” Violet said, and at that, she tied the ribbon. Lilac gasped at how tight she pulled it, and she continued, “Sit still, Li. We’ll find something. Always something.” 

“And what the fuck makes you think you’ll be getting the Sugar Bowl, bastard man?” Solitude shouted. 

“Because I get the Sugar Bowl, or I kill Justice Strauss.” Olaf said. 

“You wouldn’t dare!” Strauss said. “As soon as my fellow High Court Judges-” 

“They’re on Olaf’s side!” Violet shouted, putting an arm under Lilac to help her sit up. 

Justice Strauss gasped. “That can’t be. I’ve known them for years! They were so interested in your case-” 

“Because they were telling me all about it, dipshit.” Olaf said. “Now, I’m going to take the Sugar Bowl, then go to the roof to get the mycelium to poison the hotel.” 

“You won’t be able to poison the hotel without killing yourself, not that we give a shit about your life, pissfucker.” Violet said. 

“Okay, first of all, I commend you on the variety of swear words you have at your disposal,” Olaf said. 

“Bitch!” Sunny shouted. 

“Second,” Olaf said, “I’ll simply escape off the roof. There’s a sailboat up there Carmelita made me buy for her, I’ll simply push it off and escape into the sea.” 

“That drop will kill you.” Violet said. 

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.” Olaf growled. 

Violet took a deep breath, and then said, “I’ll help you go down the roof and survive!” 

“What?” Klaus said. 

“Violet!” Nick shouted. 

“If you take us with you!” Violet said. 

Strauss and Lilac both gasped, and Olaf said, “And why would six puny orphans want to follow me?” 

“Because we have nowhere else to go.” Violet said. 

“Violet, what are you doing?” Nick asked. 

Violet turned to him, and whispered, low enough Olaf couldn’t hear, “Stalling? I don’t fucking know.” 

“Well first, my dear Violet-” Olaf said. 

“Don’t go near her!” Nick said, pushing himself in front of Violet and Lilac, still gripping tight to the youngest two. 

Olaf continued, as if Nick had not spoken. “-we’ll need to get the Sugar Bowl. The cryptid Denouement said that the first password was some medical condition you all share. If you would be so kind as to type that in-” 

“I’ll do it.” Klaus said, jumping to his feet. 

“Klaus!” Nick said. 

“No, Klaus-” Lilac began, before Violet pulled the ribbon tighter and she gasped. 

“Very good. Glad to see most of you are seeing sense.” Olaf said. 

“Klaus, wait-” Justice Strauss began. 

Klaus knelt in front of the door, and typed in PEPPERMINT ALLERGY. After a moment, they heard a familiar click. 

“Fucking good.” Olaf said. “Next is the weapon that left me an orphan.” He turned and gave Nick a dark smile. “Would you be so kind as to type that in?” 

Nick took a deep breath, as everyone turned to stare at him. Then, slowly, he put Solitude and Sunny down beside Lilac. Solitude grabbed Babbitt, cuddling them close, while Sunny just stared, horrified. 

“I’m sorry.” Nick said to the others. “I wanted to tell you.” 

Then he went to the door, scooting beside a startled Klaus, and he spoke as he typed. 

POISON DARTS. 

Violet’s eyes widened, and Lilac started to cry, and Klaus’s mouth dropped open. Solitude and Sunny stared at Nick, as if hoping he was joking, but they all heard the lock click. 

“Now, bastard,” Nick turned to Olaf, glaring down the smug asshole, “You want me to type in the third one? The chorus of the lullaby?” 

“Of course.” 

Nick shared a look with Klaus, as Lilac whispered, “No…” 

Once again, Nick spoke aloud as he typed, but this time he sung a little, tears starting to roll down his face. 

And then they took him, yea, they took him They took him far away They took him in the dead of night Beneath a moon of gray

They took him from the kitchen  Like you’d take a midnight snack The VFD they took him And they never brought him back

There was a third click, and the door swung open. 

“Oh, what the fuck.” Solitude muttered. 

“Boys…” Lilac gasped as Violet hugged her tight. “Why would you help him?” 

Olaf raced into the room, just as Klaus said, “Because the Sugar Bowl’s not there.” 

Indeed, in a few moments, they heard Olaf let out a scream of frustration. Nick ran for the toddlers, while Klaus helped Violet stand Lilac up, both grabbing one of her arms to help support her. Her face had gone pale, and despite their best efforts, she was starting to bleed through the ribbon. Justice Strauss ran to them, as if trying to figure out how she could help. 

“Where is it?” Olaf snarled, whipping around; inside the small laundry room, there were some washing and drying machines, piles of dirty sheets, and plastic jugs, but no sugar bowl. 

“That secret died with Dewey Denouement.” Klaus spat. 

“Fucker.” Solitude said, as Nick picked her and Sunny up again. 

Count Olaf turned to face the children, and they had never seen him look so frightening. “Well,” he said, “He won’t be the only volunteer that dies today. I will release the Medusoid Mycelium on this entire hotel-!” 

“Burn down hotel.” Sunny said, and the Baudelaires froze. 

“What did you say?” Olaf snapped, turning on the youngest, who Nick tried to shield quickly. 

“Burn down hotel!” Sunny shouted. 

“Sunny, no!” Justice Strauss said.

Count Olaf laughed. “She’s become an arsonist! I knew I was a good guardian!” 

“You were a terrible guardian!” Violet said. 

“S-Sunny doesn’t know what she’s saying!” Klaus said. 

“Burn down hotel!” Sunny screamed again. 

“Good idea, little toothy freak!” Olaf said. He grabbed a jug from the shelves and started pouring it onto the sheets. “This should be flammable enough!” 

“Sunny, why?” Solitude asked, eyes wide. 

Sunny just turned to her, and said, “Signal.” 

The Baudelaires realized what she meant. Kit had said they’d be watching the skies. 

“Do you think Kit knew?” Solitude asked, shuddering. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Violet said. “What matters is a fire might also make people flee, before the mushrooms do.” 

“What if the fire alarms don’t work?” Klaus asked. 

“What’s a fire alarm?” Justice Strauss asked. 

Violet shut her eyes. “Oh. That explains so goddamn much.” 

“Give me that book, bitch.” Olaf said, and Justice Strauss gasped as he ripped Odious Lusting After Fortunes from her hands. “This should get rid of the evidence.” 

“Alexandria,” Sunny said, which meant, “Unless she has a backup, you son of a bitchass motherfucker.” 

“You can’t do this!” Justice Strauss said. 

“I can do what I want!” Olaf shouted, and he dropped the book into a hamper. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and dropped it into the sheets, and they all watched as the flames quickly caught. 

“Oh, fuck.” Nick stepped backwards, and Solitude let out a wail at the sight of the flames. 

How many fires will we see? They all wanted to say, but instead, they stayed silent as Olaf pushed past them. 

“How are we going to warn everyone?” Justice Strauss worried. 

Solitude looked up at her siblings, and then said, “Preludio.” 

They nodded at her, understanding immediately. 

“What’d be brat say?” Olaf asked as they crowded into the elevator. 

“She said you’re an assclown fuckface mcshithead.” Nick said. “And also that you won’t have time to spread the Medusoid throughout the hotel before it burns down.” 

“What?” Olaf roared, and the second the doors closed, the Baudelaires leaned forwards and slammed onto every button, like their father had taught them. 

“You wretched beasts!” Olaf shouted. “Now I-” 

“Won’t be able to kill everyone, we got it.” Violet hissed. “But we’ll be able to warn everyone of your dick move. Klaus, help me with Lilac, she’s losing balance.” 

“‘M fine.” Lilac lied. 

“We need more fabric to make a bandage.” Klaus said. 

Nick put the toddlers down as the elevator dinged open to the first floor. Several people were still running around, confused and blindfolded. 

“Everyone! The hotel is on fire! Leave immediately!” Violet shouted. 

The man with a beard but no hair was standing nearby. “Fire?” he said, in his strange, hoarse voice. “Good work.” 

“Was that the Baudelaires?” said someone. “We need to capture them!” 

“We need to capture Olaf!” said Jerome, hand-in-hand with Charles. 

“He’s the in the elevator with the Baudelaires!” shouted the woman with hair but no beard.

“Call the fire department!” Solitude said desperately. 

“Which one?” was the reply, from either Frank or Ernest, but the doors slid shut. 

When they did, Nick rolled up his sweater and began ripping at the sleeve of his undershirt. Violet gasped as he ripped it clean off, and then in half. 

“Wrap this around Lilac.” he said, hanging the strips to them. “They should be big enough to help.” 

Violet bit her lip, and then took the strips. “Thank you.” she said. “Klaus, help me sit her down.” 

“I can-” Lilac began, but she was starting to look dizzy. 

Klaus and Violet sat her down as the doors opened, and Nick shouted, “There’s a fire!” 

“Evacuate the premises!” Solitude shouted. 

“A fire?” said Esme Squalor. She was still wearing a blindfold, and holding hands with Carmelita, who was feeling around the walls. “Who said that?” 

“It’s us, bitch!” Solitude said, while Nick backed up a little. “Fire! Run!” 

“Oh, don’t listen to the cakesniffers!” Carmelita said. “They’re trying to escape! Let’s take off our blindfolds and peek!” 

“Don’t take off your blindfolds!” Count Olaf said. “These Baudelaires are guilty of contempt of court, and they’re trying to trick you into joining them! There’s no fire!” 

“We’re not tricking you, Olaf is!” Klaus shouted. 

“You’re all morons, anyway. And I still need to find my Sugar Bowl.” Esme said. 

“Piss off, cakesniffers!” Carmelita said. 

The doors slid hut before the Baudelaires could argue any further, and Violet and Klaus finished re-tying the fabric around Lilac’s wound. “How are you?” Klaus asked. 

“I’ll… live.” Lilac glanced between the two, barely able to speak. “But I’m… I’m real tired, I-” 

“Do not go to sleep, Li, the building is on fire.” Violet said. 

The door dinged open, and Nick backed up towards his siblings while he shouted, “Fire! Fire! Get out!” 

“Nicholas Baudelaire?” said Mr Poe. He was facing the entirely wrong direction, and holding his handkerchief up to his blindfold. “Don’t add the false reporting of fire to your list of crimes! You’re already guilty of contempt of court, and perhaps murder-” 

“It’s not false!” Justice Strauss said. “There really is a fire, Mr Poe! You have to leave!” 

“I can’t leave! I am in charge of the Baudelaires-” Poe said, just as the doors dinged shut. 

With each stop of the elevator, they were faced with more or less the same as the last few floors. On the third story, Ms Bass was wandering around with a suspicious sack, and on the seventh story was Mr Remora and Vice Principal Nero. Eleanora Poe was wandering around the fifth, and Charles and Jerome held hands so as not to lose one another, and Hugo, Colette and Kevin were wandering around carrying birdpaper, and they saw many people they didn’t recognize, and many they did, many volunteers and villains, some who believed them, and some who didn’t. There were so many people running around, and so many people who had their own stories, stories the Baudelaires would never hear and never see. 

But by the time they reached the roof, not a single one of them cared. 

Klaus ripped off the bottom of his shirt to add to the bandage around Lilac, as Nick knelt down so he, Soli and Sunny could be closer to her. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Violet whispered, pushing Lilac’s braids back. “It’s okay. Klaus, grab her when the door opens, we should be at the roof now. We’ll get her onto the boat.” 

“Thanks to you orphans,” Olaf grumbled, “I won’t have time to poison the whole hotel, but at least we got to start a fire. Though I’m afraid some people might escape.” 

“Some may not.” Justice Strauss shivered. 

The Baudelaires glanced to each other, and then they felt the building tremble beneath them. 

“The fire is weakening the structural foundations.” Violet said. She grabbed tight to Lilac’s arm, and then said, “Come on, we have to go. Klaus, help me get her into the boat.” 

Without another word, all six Baudelaires turned from the adults and strode out of the elevator and to the boat. They lowered Lilac inside, and she curled up, still gasping a little from the pain and overheating. “We’ll attach a drag chute.” Violet said. “Nick, get in and hold tight to the girls, do not let them fall.” 

Nick nodded seriously, sliding into the boat with his arms tight around Solitude and Sunny. 

“I- I can- you-” Lilac tried to say. 

Violet put a hand on her shoulder, and Klaus touched the other and said, “We’re not leaving you. Okay?” Lilac hesitantly nodded, tears in her eyes, and Klaus continued, “I’ll angle the sail to catch the wind.” Then, he whispered, “The wind would have pushed the bowl into the pond.” 

“Then it’s where nobody can get to it.” Violet nodded at him. “Help me with this.” 

Violet grabbed several towels and sheets and had Klaus help her bind them together, and then she turned to the adults and yelled, “Don’t just stand there! We need to push this to the edge of the roof!” 

“Don’t boss me around, orphan!” Olaf said, as he used his knife to rip open a beach ball, pulling out the diving helmet full of Medusoid Mycelium. 

“I’ll make you do whatever the fuck I want!” Violet said. “Boat, roof, now!” 

Olaf grumbled, but tossed the helmet into the boat and began to help them push it farther. 

“Come on! Get in!” Klaus called, turning to Justice Strauss. 

The judge sadly shook her head, backing away. “No, I won’t go, it’s not right.” 

“What else can we do?” Soli said, clinging to Nick. 

“I won’t run from the scene of a crime. You children should come with me, and we’ll explain everything to the authorities.” 

“They might not believe us!” Violet said. 

“They could be compromised!” Nick said. 

“Pease, children!” Just as they pushed the boat to the edge, and Olaf clambered inside, Justice Strauss grabbed the edge of the boat to stop them from pushing it. “Don’t make this your destiny.” 

“We don’t have a destiny.” Lilac gasped out, as Violet and Klaus climbed beside her, tears flowing from her face. “We just have each other.” 

“I won’t let you go, Baudelaires!” 

Sunny climbed out of Nick’s lap and stepped towards the judge, for a moment looking like she was going to get off the boat. But she merely looked into the judge’s weeping eyes, and gave her a very sad smile. 

“Goodbye,” she said, and bit the Justice’s hand. 

Justice Strauss gasped and stepped back, and the hotel trembled again, and the boat fell from the roof. 

It fell for a very long time, and while Olaf shouted, the Baudelaires just hugged and clung tight to each other. 

When it hit the water, the Baudelaires were still together, all in a huddle as Olaf settled down, laughed about something, and commanded them to row. 

“I’m sorry.” Lilac muttered. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Klaus whispered. 

“We’re noble enough.” Violet said, though she wasn’t sure if she believed it. 

They turned to see the smoke billow higher in the sky, as the boat sailed away into the ocean. 

“The Last Safe Place,” Sunny said, “Is safe no more.” 

[rankakiu]

Thoughts of the Droid: How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Hello, people of Tumblr! How has life treated you? As always, I hope very well. On this occasion, I share with all of you my impressions and opinions of the movie "How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World".

Being honest with you, this movie was not on my list of the most anticipated of this year. However, I went to see the movie, together with a family member who wanted to see it. I'm certainly glad I gave it a try since the movie was a rewarding experience.

WARNING: NOT SPOILER-FREE. Read at you own risk

And it is not for less since the franchise of "How To Train Your Dragon" has been one of the most solid proposals, not only of the animation company DreamWorks but also within the art of cinematographic animation. It has managed to maintain its standard of quality in high, in addition to extracting juice to the franchise without over-exploiting it.

Entering already full to the review, what did I think the movie? Short answer: simply great. Now let's go into detail to analyze the movie properly.

Characters: Without a doubt, the strongest aspect of this film (and the franchise in general). Hiccup and his friends Astrid, Snotloud, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, are still those very endearing characters that we met in the first film of the franchise. And although they are now young adults, their designs are still very identifiable. In addition, the chemistry that all the characters have is wonderful, being a relationship that goes beyond friendship, is a relationship in which everyone is part of a large family, which despite their personalities and attitudes so disparate, they can trust each other, work shoulder to shoulder and cover each other's backs, something often seen, but very rarely carried effectively as only this film knows how to do.

I especially emphasize the character of Hiccup, since he has matured to become a great leader for his village. He still has his characteristic awkwardness and innocence, but he has proved to be a man with all his letters. Without a doubt, I was fascinated by the balance that was given to the character, between being a great leader, but at the same time still young and therefore a bit inexperienced in such a huge responsibility. Fortunately for him, he will always have his great friends and his mother to encourage him to keep going. I also liked the message they give with Hiccup: He is a great leader, but even great leaders need support from their friends to face fate. That is to say, that not everything has to be solved alone. It is always good to listen to the opinions of those you direct in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution.

Something that I loved about this movie was the relationship of  Hiccup with Astrid, Hiccup with his mother, Valka, and of course, Hiccup's relationship with his faithful dragon companion, Toothless. In the first relationship, you really feel romantic chemistry between the two, plus it has the plus that said romance does not feel cheesy or too pink. The two love each other and practically both of them play their part so that this relationship continues to work. And despite the fact that several times they can not agree with the other's decisions, they are there to support each other. Practically Astrid not only fulfills its romantic role, but it is also the right arm of Hiccup to help him rule as a true leader. Without a doubt, Astrid's brazenness is quite fun to watch, serving not only as comic relief (that effectively works) but also as a way to help Hiccup, in her very particular way.

For its part, the relationship of  Hiccup with Valka feels like an authentic relationship of Mother - son. Valka is there for her son, to help him and advise him in his new role as village leader. However, Valka also understands that her son is now an adult, a man already trained and mature, which gives him his space and independence. You could say that Valka lets Hiccup open its wings and it flies away from its nest to find its own way in life. Here I will use to emphasize the flashbacks of Hiccup with his father Stoic the Great. These flashbacks are full of tenderness and emotion, showing a great and beautiful relationship between father and son. Stoic, being a warrior, he also had his sensitive side and never feared to show his love for his son in that open way. Of course, I could not leave out the friendship relationship between Hiccup and his dragon Toothless.

This relationship goes beyond an owner with his pet. It is a relationship of true friends, where despite being of such different species, both were treated as equals and had immense affection for each other. Despite being of such different species, having different customs, different needs and even coming from different worlds, even with all that, they were the best friends. Something to highlight, was the inclusion of the Light Fury, is a perfect complement to Toothless. The scenes of these two dragons are quite fun to watch, especially the courtship dance, whose comedy is pure gold.

To finish this point, I can not stop mentioning the villain of this installment: Grimmel. In truth, he is a very good villain. Maybe it is not at the level of other exceptional villains (such as Frollo from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), but it is a pretty successful villain for this third installment. Cold, calculating, ruthless and above all, charismatic. A villain who from the beginning is presented as the bad guy, without having to resort to a twist of unnecessary plot and nothing surprising, as Disney has done in recent years. Here I would like to highlight something that I found interesting: Grimmel tells you a part of his past, where he claims to have captured and killed a Night Fury. It is here where a conflict of very interesting ideas is created. Grimmel, killing a dragon and receiving the praises of his people, decides to dedicate his life to exterminate the dragons; while Hiccup, forgiving the life of his dragon Toothless, shows that the coexistence of these two species is possible, also forming an unbreakable bond of friendship. This is where a conflict of opposing ideas arises, being an intense and well-considered conflict. Undoubtedly an archetype of a cool villain and who was surprised to see on screen.

History: Well done and well structured. A solid and entertaining story that keeps you wanting to know what will happen and how the events of the event will unfold. We have a Hiccup more determined than ever to create a utopia where dragons and humans can coexist peacefully. However, although his intentions are praiseworthy, he did not contemplate the possibility of overcrowding of Berk. With these scenes, we are given a clear message that it is okay to have good intentions, but they must also respond to solve problems and not create them.

Another aspect of the story that caught my attention was the conflict of Hiccup’s intellects against Grimmel, where each one used his talents, wit, and intelligence to keep the victory. In truth, one as a spectator feels that Hiccup is facing a great challenge, an opposing force that will not stop until achieving its objectives. This confrontation reaches its peak in the final duel when both fall into the sea, where you can see a deranged Grimmel and willing to die if that also means the death of his enemy. A scene truly worthy of admiration, since it feels the tension and the struggle of good against evil.

On the other hand, the action does not disappoint, although it is not at all violent (is a film for children XD). That is to say, you can clearly see how the characters fight with each other with weapons, they strike blows and even walk of arsonists setting fire to the boats and houses (XD) and all without spilling a single drop of blood. In general, it is very fluid and fast and the combats feel with a genuine weight that gives more drama to the story, with its touches of comedy that takes a smile from the viewer.

But without a doubt, the most important detail of the story is to see the personal conflict that our protagonist has, who is debating if he should follow his dream of building a utopia of dragons and humans or if he should finally leave them free in the Hidden World. But the conflict is not only limited to Hiccup but can also be witnessed in the dragon Toothless. Particularly, in the scene where he saves Hiccup and returns with him to the new island of Berk, one can feel like the black dragon is sad and in a way, resentful of renouncing the new change he achieved.

In the end, Hiccup reaches the devastating conclusion that this utopia will not be possible, at least for the moment. Dragons face constant dangers because of greedy and destructive humans. So, in a sad farewell, Hiccup, supported by his people, decides that the best thing is for the dragons to go to their sacred sanctuary. The farewell scene is really very emotional, perhaps comparable when a father sees his son mature and walk his own way in life. The film could not close more effectively, leaving a glimmer of hope, which is a melancholy ending, but not tragic. A final where you still dream of reaching an ideal that, in fact, is possible. Not today, not tomorrow. But one day it will come true.

Animation: Simply beautiful. I highlight in particular the natural environments that have chosen of extreme beauty and exquisiteness. Set primarily in the nature of Europe, where you see forests, snow, seas with fog, inhospitable land, and even magnificent northern lights. Sure, who gets the prize is the Hidden World, where everything is sublime, a world full of minerals, water, and lighting that is very nice and warm to look at. On the other hand, the architecture of the places feels alive and unified by the Viking culture on which it is based. No doubt a remarkable aspect and a work neatly done by DreamWorks.

In conclusion, "How to train your Dragon: The Hidden World" is a magnificent and very well made film, which closes the franchise with a flourish. If you are a fan of this franchise you will not be disappointed. Practically a must-have movie. I give this movie 4 out of 5 Light Furies. A beautiful closing to the trilogy that made us believe that the friendship between dragons and humans is not only possible but also forms an unforgettable duo.

Greetings

Rankakiu

[uk-news-talking-politics]

An NI-only backstop is Johnson's only option - and it still won't save him

By Jonathan Lis

Boris Johnson's moment of truth is finally upon us. Yesterday evening the prime minister of Finland, which holds the EU Council's rotating presidency, announced that our favourite cartoon character must submit his legal proposals to replace the backstop by September 30th, or ''it's over''. The deadline provides a generous extension to Angela Merkel's previous offer of 30 days, which expires tomorrow, and allows EU leaders the necessary time to consider any new proposals before the summit on October 17th, when a new deal must be signed off. Sadly for Johnson, this is not so much an essay crisis as a sci-fi challenge. The UK has had three years to come up with a system which implements different economic regimes for goods on the island of Ireland while obviating the need to check any of them at the land border. It will not suddenly invent one in the next eleven days. If Johnson fails to submit a proposal, the EU will forget about signing a new deal next month. If he does submit one, it will combust the Tory conference on its first day. Not for the first time in his short and dire premiership, the prime minister is completely trapped in a hole of his own making. There is no replacement for the backstop which will satisfy everyone's red lines. The government's current informal proposal of an all-Ireland agri-food zone ignores the issue of the rest of the goods trade and also the small matter of customs. When the UK signs its new trade deals, the EU will need to ensure that goods from third countries are not arriving in Northern Ireland tariff-free and then slipping, untaxed and unregulated, into the Republic and the rest of the EU. That is why the only realistic solution in the time-frame is the one suggested by Brussels from the start: a Northern Ireland-only backstop. It's the only deal Ireland will agree to. It's the only deal ready to sign off. And it's the only deal that comes close to solving Johnson's predicament. Sadly for the prime minister, this deal will also destroy him. The NI-only backstop works for Johnson because he doesn't care about Northern Ireland or the DUP, and does care about delivering Brexit and signing new trade deals. If Northern Ireland were to stay in the EU's customs union and single market for goods, Great (sorry, Global) Britain could buccaneer across the seas to its heart's content while Dublin became the de facto guardian of Northern Ireland's economic interests in Brussels. So what happens if Johnson finally relents and brings it before parliament? Put simply, it disintegrates. The DUP could never support it in its current form. The backstop not only necessitates customs and regulatory checks in the Irish Sea, but also exempts Northern Ireland from the UK's new commercial policy and trade deals. It produces an economically united Ireland, which, they must fear, would eventually precipitate a psychologically united one as well. The DUP's hostility would also provoke serious consternation on the Tory backbenches. It is, after all, named the Conservative and Unionist Party, and it is hard to see how they might back a deal which Theresa May insisted (and Johnson agreed) no British prime minister could ever accept. It is not just the ERG which would rebel. More moderate Tories would also join battle. Johnson therefore needs to bring over supporters from the other side of the House. It is hard to see from where. The SNP, Lib Dems, Change, Plaid and Greens, along with a few of the purged independent Tories, are not going to vote for any Brexit deal. The Labour leadership would only ever whip for one with a confirmatory referendum attached to it. Now there is a law effectively stopping no-deal on October 31st, several of the would-be Labour Leavers would also feel far less pressure to back it. Who wants to tell their constituents that they signed up to a Tory Brexit, saving Boris Johnson's skin, for absolutely nothing in return? Johnson's woes would not end there. Faced with a May-style 'betrayal', the Brexit hardliners would quickly move to defenestrate him. Steve Baker and his ERG colleagues owe Johnson no personal loyalty and have no direct interest in seeing him remain as leader. Johnson could quickly face an internal vote of no-confidence, probably at the same time as Jeremy Corbyn launched one in parliament. Needless to say, Nigel Farage would enjoy every second of it, and capitalise to the full in the ensuing election campaign. Perhaps the most hilarious aspect of the deal is that parliament could support it and it would still destroy the prime minister. The key is in the timetabling. Johnson and his arsonist sidekick Dominic Cummings thought they were being extremely clever when they prorogued parliament to stop MPs blocking no-deal. What they in fact did was stop parliament approving any deal. Parliament now returns on October 14th for the Queen's Speech. Two days of compulsory debate on that speech will follow. The day after that, the EU summit will begin, ending on Friday October 18th. The Benn Act specifies that parliament must approve a deal in a meaningful vote by October 19th or else Johnson must request an extension. When are MPs going to have the chance to approve anything? Even if we assume the prime minister returns on the Friday waving a piece of paper, there is no time for parliament to scrutinise the document, still less to vote on it. Johnson could make the shattering concession of a Northern Ireland-only backstop and would still have to break his existential pledge not to seek a Brexit delay. As a morality tale this man's premiership almost feels too on the nose. Johnson is quickly discovering that Brexit will ruin him just as it did both his predecessors – and how. He can't accept the current backstop. The Yellowhammer leaks mean he can't accept no-deal. He has to seek a Brexit extension in all circumstances even though he proclaimed he would rather die in a ditch. After weeks of catastrophic blunders and own goals, he is finally set to bury himself under the monument of his own primal hubris. It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

[dunamanticarchivist]

Critical Role Liveblog C2E35 2nd part

Skirmish on the docks! 

Channeling Ashley’s shit initiative

Travis plz Summer’s eve

Pops up, come with us

Nope, thunder step the fuck out of there

Subtlety Nein, subtlety

GET DOWN MR WIZARD

uh oh squishy wizard

Inb4 Caleb nukes the whole ship with fire again

Jester has hold person as well? Holy shit

CATAPULT YEEEEEET

We don’t? Yes we do want to kill all the pirates

Yasha ft Travis Willingham

Hypnotic Pattern holy shit Travis what the fuck has your patron been teaching you

Fuck yuor crits and the snitch it came on

Rough night he says, as all the pirates get annihilated 

Called it, Caleb hears “Burn it” and welp there we go, you asked for it

Liam is now a pyromaniac

15 + her a lot

Reaction and sentinel him down

Oh boy Fjord is going to take some hits

GO GO GO HIJACK THEIR BOAT all your base are belong to us

I’m fine, says the guy that took 29 piercing 

VAX IS BACK 120 ft on a wizard are you fucking serious

The one sailor we do have is not onboard

EVERYBODY ON BOARD 

They assume you are stealing a ship. Which you are

Vox Machina is dead. Long live the Mighty Nein

Sees enforcer burning paper. One arsonist to another

Now we all can’t come to Nicodranas

They split the party, Caduceus alone again RIP

Fjord take the wheel!

Sure would be useful to have the Gust spell

Travis plz 

How to sail 101 by the Mighty Nein

“I hate water” is now a mood

Holy shit the tiny goblin grapples

He ain’t going down easy

The dice just want chaos to get away scot free

Health to all and confusion to our foes! (Vermintide 2 quote)

CAST OFF

WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT LAURA WHY

More chaos 

No shit ofc its a confusing scenario

Oh god there are sharks in the water. Roll a third character Taliesin

Matt, the consummate planner, who has a map for every occasion, can still be surprised

They should try to keep one other for interrogation other than Marius

You’ve got to declare you don’t want to kill. RIP

Well we’re off to do Yasha’s quest now

Btw I believe that everybody is fully cleaned out of their every single ability

They are going full pirate, murderhobo raiding on the high seas now

Welp there goes Professor Thaddeus

Good lord christ there is so much Chaotic energy in here

[nako-doodles]

Rules: Tag 10 followers you want to get to know better.

I was tagged by the lovely @se0kjinie & @jins-kiss & @oxyjinetics thank my sweets 💘

Star sign: scorpio

Height: 172cm

Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 4 songs:

utada hikaru - heart station

sam kim - sunny days, summer nights

wheein x jeff bernat x b.o - da ra da

hozier - arsonist’s lullaby

Grab the nearest book to you, turn to page 23, what is line 17?

“‘No one need wonder at the disorganization, at the fragmentary condition of everything, when we remember that man, who represents but half a complete being, with but half an idea on every subject, has undertaken the absolute control of all sublunary matters.’” 

- “The Destructive Male” 1869 Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, DC. Address, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Greatest Works of Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Ever had a song or poem written about you?

recently my cousin has taken to annoying me by singing the various chinese new year songs but w my name replacing the lyrics

When was the last time you played air guitar?

listening to Raon Lee’s cover of Tokyo Ghoul:re’s OP trying to find motivation to hand in my last batch of job applications before the New Year Rush(tm) starts

Celebrity Crushes?

I mean putting aside my laundry list of j/kpop artists: gal gadot, anna kendrick, emma watson, emilia clarke, rihanna, jason mamoa, leslie cheung, sam smith, john legend, (recently) terry crews....

What’s a sound you hate? Love?

the squeaking of unoiled/not break padded breaks 

light rain falling on leaves or wind blowing through tall grass

Do you believe in ghosts?

not particularly, but I come from a superstitious (in other words: asian) family so im not going to pull off a dumb white girl stunt and tempting things out of my control

Do you believe in aliens?

I mean statistically speaking its kinda impossible for there not to be intelligent life out there you feel? but then im going to go off on a tangent over the Fermi paradox and no one really wants to hear me write a 10 page essay over the elegance of the Drake equation....

Do you drive? If so, have you crashed?

unfortunately I do have the ability to manipulate a medium-sized four wheeled vehicle yes.

luckily no, but ive had a few close calls merging into and off the freeways, and that one time I was driving down a hill in SF while it was pouring and felt the car slide down the hill with no way to stop my momentum. thankfully it was in the middle of the night and no police car in sight to catch me hydroplaning past the 4-way stop (but can you imagine me stuttering my way through my explanation after seeing my life flash before my eyes: but sir, I was even pulling on the emergency hand brakes, but I couldn’t stop sir, I was going slow sir but I was hydroplaning down a steep hill sir you know I can't stop earth’s 9.8m/s^2 gravity sir ill be careful in the future sir’)

Last book you read?

I finished the professor by charlotte bronte like a week ago, and I’m attempting to read through 孽海花 (a flower in a sea of sin) by jin tianhe and zeng pu. keyword being attempting bc the only version of the book I found is in traditional and trying to decipher the characters and late qing vernacular is lookey giving me a headache....but apparently none of the translations do it justice so I may just ask my dad to read it to me lmfAO.

Do you like the smell of gasoline?

gross no thats the fast track lane to get me car sick

Last movie you’ve seen?

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

I think I mentioned how I almost tore a ligament in my elbow for being an extra lil shit at my last senior piano concert, and also almost taking off my thumb from being high as a kite post wisdom-teeth removal, so I guess ill say the third worst injury I’ve suffered (also from being an idiot -- its a trend around these parts) (warning: its a little graphic don't read if you don't like gore) is that one time I went skating with some friends and didn't tuck the tongue of my skaters properly against my shin.....so like...........the laces on my skates started sawing through my skin TLDR; LACE AND TIE YOUR SKATES PROPERLY FOLKS. THAT TONGUE IS THERE FOR A REASON!!

Do you have any obsessions right now?

watching youtube videos that analyze old masterpieces, like degas’s the little dancer of 14 years or velasquez’s las meninas; or picking apart films and their cinematography and plot structure etc. ive also been watching people mixing music based on a single parameter given to them by the comment section, or a random doodle based on a random scribble

Do you tend to hold grudges?

listen......I am already running on a deficit of spoons........I have better things to use them on than to hold grudges. like watching people remake kpop instrumentals! or reading akatsuki no yona!

In a relationship?

HA! thank u, next.

im tagging: @t0d-oder-freiheit @seokjinsult @taejintual @odeng1e @seokjiniesgf @kimseokjinniestan @jinergy @bangpdgf @jinbeann @yoooooongiis 

also: if anyone wants to do this pretend I tagged you 💘

[didanawisgi]

Abstract:

           This paper provides a detailed case study of an elaborate legend that grew out of a small kernel of historical truth. It scrutinizes the salient primary-sources upon which the legend was based, seeking to determine the extent to which it owes its origin to verifiable fact. While the content of the paper pertains to the specific story of an black slave-turned-pirate who allegedly terrorized the mangrove swamps of south Florida during the early eighteenth century, the greater implications of the paper suggest that constructed narratives and invented traditions, though based in historical truth, say more about the cultural context, aspirations, and self-perceptions of the people who construct and perpetuate them, than they do about the historical subjects that once provided the inspiration for their beginnings. The present study examines the historical basis of the legend in order to lay the groundwork for a followup investigation that will trace the development of the legend throughout the cultural contexts that perpetuated it for nearly three hundred years.

Introduction:

           This paper is an historical investigation of a particular legend—that of Black Caesar, an eighteenth-century fugitive slave from the West coast of Africa operating as a pirate in American waters—that seeks to uncover the extent to which the legend was based in verifiable truth. On its surface, it is a specific case-study of an obscure American archetype—that of the black pirate—but on its deepest levels, it is a commentary on how historians approach the task of analyzing modern legends that find their basis in a moment of historical truth, no matter how small that moment may be. Determining the historical truth behind the subject of a legend means scrutinizing the primary sources from the time period of that subject, something which this essay seeks to do; but that is only the beginning. A followup study must trace the development of the legend throughout the various contexts that created, reinvented, and perpetuated it, using the knowledge gained from the initial historical analysis as a framework for evaluating what is fabricated and what is real. Only then can we begin to understand the unique reasons that lead people to appropriate, maintain, and shape some historical legends and not others.  

What we can know about the historic Black Caesar:

       The legend of Black Caesar refers to the stories of an African slave-turned-pirate who operated in the waters off south Florida during the early eighteenth century. He used the mangrove swamps of Elliot Key as his personal haven until he joined forces with the notorious English pirate Blackbeard, and ultimately died an ignominious death by hanging as a result of this acquaintance. For the purposes of this essay, he should not be confused with the nineteenth century Haitian pirate named Henri Ceasar, who also operated under the moniker “Black Caesar”.

       The legend finds historical basis in a collection of stories told by a mysterious British author from the eighteenth century named Captain Charles Johnson. In the first edition of his General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, Johnson refers to an anonymous “Negro” who is widely considered to be Black Caesar.[1] The work is dated during the twilight years of the Golden Age of Piracy (~1700-1730), making it a valuable primary source. Unfortunately, the name “Johnson” is only a pseudonym and the author’s real identity is shrouded in mystery. American scholar John Robert Moore once championed the theory that ‘Charles Johnson’ was a nom de plume of the contemporary English writer, Daniel Defoe—author of the fictional autobiography Robinson Crusoe.[2] This theory prevailed for over fifty years until it was thoroughly debunked by scholars P.N. Furbank and W.R. Owen in their 1988 book, The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe.[3] Since then, the identity of Johnson has once again returned to obscurity and provides no clue to the context or reliability of his sources.

       Johnson provides a colorful biography of the infamous pirate Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, in his General History. The biography includes a laconic anecdote pertaining to an anonymous “Negro” in the lower-decks of his ship, the Adventure, during its final engagement with Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard at Ocracoke Inlet off the coast of North Carolina on November 22nd, 1718. According to Johnson, Blackbeard instructed this “Negro who he had brought up” to detonate a powder keg and destroy the Adventure in the hypothetical event that defeat became inevitable.[4] A near-facsimile of this anecdote was relayed in the unpublished letters of the Virginia Governor, Alexander Spotswood, who commissioned the expedition against Blackbeard.[5] In both cases, the would-be arsonist is cryptically described as an unnamed “Negro.”

       At the end of this biography, Johnson provides a list of fifteen captured members of Blackbeard's crew who were transported up the James River to Williamsburg, Virginia.[6] The name “Caesar” is among them. As Johnson indicates, thirteen of these fifteen prisoners were convicted of piracy and executed four months later (on March12th, 1719) near Capitol Landing Road in the same town. “Caesar” was one of these condemned souls. The remaining two pirates were pardoned and acquitted. A 1992 excavation inadvertently uncovered the probable location of the eighteenth-century Williamsburg gallows, the spot where “Caesar” and these twelve others allegedly swung to four winds. The gallows were located outside the borders of colonial Williamsburg, about a one-mile tumbrel ride from the jail, and one-hundred feet from the current junction of Capitol Landing Road and Maynard Drive.[7]

        Unfortunately, the records of the Virginia trial—likely transferred from Williamsburg to Richmond when the capital moved in 1780—are believed to have been lost forever during an April 1865 fire.[8] Additionally, no contemporary sources on the trial records appear to have been created during the period between their composition and their supposed conflagration 146 years later, and court procedure did not require duplicates to be made. After all, this was before the 1730 establishment of a printing office[9] and such duplication would have been unnecessarily time consuming. Notwithstanding this loss, the depositions of four other executed black pirates—taken during the Virginia trial—did survive because they had been stored in North Carolina, where they were used but disregarded as testimony in the trial of the Secretary of that colony, Tobias Knight, an alleged accomplice of Blackbeard.[10] The depositions suggest that “Caesar” was one of at least five black men condemned at Williamsburg on March 12th, 1719.

       But there is no deposition by “Caesar”. This absence, along with the presumption of coercion during the captives’ four month imprisonment, and Knight’s claim that the depositions were made “in hopes of obtaining mercy,” led historian Robert Earl Lee to assert that “Caesar” had refused to testify in court as an act of allegiance to his pirate brethren.[11] This assertion is more an attempt to rationalize a lack of source information than a claim based on evidence, as there is no way to confirm why a deposition by “Caesar” does not exist today, if it ever existed at all; however, the depositions do say something. They say that “Caesar” is not the only suspect of the powder room anecdote. There were more black pirates onboard the Adventure during its final engagement at Ocracoke, and any one of them could have been the “Negro” fire starter.

       Thanks to news coverage of the Ocracoke engagement, and firsthand accounts of the skirmish, historians have reason to believe that at least six more black pirates were present on the Adventure at the time of Blackbeard’s last stand, perhaps confirming the evidence of the Virginia depositions. Alexander Spotswood, in a letter to the council of Trade and Plantations, says that a crew of eighteen men was present on the ship, and at least a third of them were “Negroes”.[12] This estimation squares with a report made to the Admiralty by Captain Ellis Brand, a subordinate officer on the Blackbeard expedition.  The report states that eighteen men were on board the pirate ship and six of these eighteen were “Negroes”.[13] This number is further corroborated by contemporary newspaper accounts of the conflict, such as those printed in Virginia and London.[14]

       Johnson's execution list refers to "Caesar," but this was likely not the person’s real name; rather, "the name Caesar suggests [that] he had been a slave,"[15] as it was customary for slave dealers to bestow Euro-historic names to the "unnamed" Africans whom they captured and sold. This habit explains the biblical and Eurocentric names of three of the four black pirates who gave depositions against Tobias Knight in Williamsburg (James Black, James White, and Thomas Gates).[16] A bestowed name did not necessarily mean that there was any likeness between the named figure and the suggested namesake—for example, Black Caesar and Julius Caesar. However, it is possible that the name alluded to the fact that Julius Caesar dealt with piracy on the Mediterranean Sea,[17] or that it was an ironical reference to the Roman epithet that denoted imperial status. Lastly, because there is no record of “Caesar” joining up with Blackbeard, it is possible that his name was an appellation acquired while already onboard. In this sense, it is interesting to note that Blackbeard and his crew looted and vengefully burnt a Boston ship called the Protestant Caesar seven months before the skirmish at Ocracoke.[18]

         Overall, the combined historical evidence allows scholars to verify six facts related to Black Caesar: that at least six “Negroes” were present on the Adventure at the Ocracoke engagement, one of these “Negroes” was entrusted with the task of burning the ship in the event of defeat, at least five “Negroes” were tried and convicted in Williamsburg four months later in relation to Blackbeard, and a “Caesar” was among them, though “Caesar” was likely not this person’s real name.  As we shall see, the paucity of what we can know surrounding the life and death of Black Caesar sharply contrasts with the magnitude of all that we cannot know.

What we cannot know about the historical Black Caesar:

         To begin with, historians may never know if the “Caesar” from the execution list and the “Negro” from the powder room were one and the same. The sources examined in this study form the foundation of all that can be verified about the historical figure Black Caesar. There are no references to him remaining from Blackbeard's arrested ship, no trial records, and no primary sources pertaining to the captured pirates from the four-month period between their detainment and execution, though Johnson suggests that they told stories during this time.[19] Alexander Spotswood makes no direct mention of “Caesar” in his Official Letters, despite including his version of the powder room anecdote.[20] Other key players in the Ocracoke engagement—such as Lieutenant Maynard, Captain Brand, and Captain Gordon—are silent on the matter. Based on this evidence, historians cannot be certain that “Caesar” was even on the Adventure at Blackbeard’s last stand. Primary accounts of the Ocracoke engagement reveal that only nine of the fifteen pirates who were tried in Williamsburg were direct captives of the conflict. The other six were rounded up in Bath Town afterward as suspected affiliates of Blackbeard.[21]

        Even if “Caesar” was onboard the Adventure during the battle of Ocracoke, there is no way to confirm that he was part of the crew. Both sides of this issue are arguable. Historian Marcus Rediker states that it was not uncommon for Blackbeard to employ black pirates on his seafaring exploits, stating that “60 of Blackbeard’s crew of 100 [pirates] were black” at one time in 1718.[22] Archaeologist David D. Moore and researcher Mike Daniel state that according to depositions made at the trial of Major Stede Bonnet, to whom Blackbeard abandoned his original flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard once left Topsail Inlet with a crew of forty whites and sixty “negroes”.[23] Also, the fact that Blackbeard moored at Ocracoke with such an uncharacteristically small crew—nineteen men when he previously employed hundreds—makes it easy to believe that the captured black men were intimate confidants of Blackbeard.  But the presence of black men aboard a pirate ship does not necessarily denote a multi-racial crew, especially in the case of Blackbeard, who was known to have acquired and harbored contraband slaves with the hopes of selling them to the American colonies for profit.[24]

        If “Caesar” was once a slave, as his name suggests, then it is possible that Blackbeard conscripted him from one of the many slave ships he plundered during his two-year career as a pirate. Blackbeard stole sixty-one slaves out of a French slaver from Nantes named La Concorde near the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent in 1717.[25]On another occasion, Blackbeard took approximately fourteen slaves out of the brigantine the Princess while leaving Charleston in the wake of his famous blockade.[26] In both cases, it is unknown whether any of the acquired slaves assimilated with the crew. It is also possible that “Caesar” was acquired from a similar yet undocumented incident. When discussing the black pirates aboard the Adventure at Ocracoke, Arne Bialuschewski argues that “the fact that they were not killed or severely injured in combat indicates that they were not fighting members of the pirate crew.”[27] The “Negro” in the powder room stayed below deck during the fracas, suggesting that he was a slave, rather than a free pirate who fought for his life.

         Perhaps most importantly, nothing of Black Caesar’s life prior to his enlistment with Blackbeard can be historically verified. The modern legend states that Caesar was a king stolen from the west coast of Africa and brought to America by way of a slaver that wrecked on the jagged Florida reefs in the late seventeenth century, but no slaver matching those specific circumstances appears in the historical record.[28]  The legend states that Caesar plundered merchant ships from a base-camp on Elliot Key, where he acted as the self-established warden of an ad hoc stone prison compound for over one-hundred women. But the current in-house archaeologist of the Biscayne National Park, Charles Lawson, states that there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that such a stone compound ever existed on Elliot Key.[29] The label “Black Caesar’s Rock” appears on a map of South Florida in the mid-eighteenth century,[30] but there is no way to verify whether it was named after “Caesar” himself. The legend states that Caesar embedded a metal ring in this rock so that he could capsize his boat to enable ambuscade and elude pursuers, but no metal ring exists today, if it existed at all. Black Caesar’s much-talked-about caches of buried treasure have never been found, and a fantastic story of his mixed-race descendants can be traced to a Jim-Crow-era novel entitled Black Caesar’s Clan. Finally, the presence of an equally undocumented homonymous black pirate in the early nineteenth century—fresh off the Haitian revolution—greatly obfuscates all knowledge surrounding the legend of the first. In the end, all we know is that the name “Caesar” somehow appears on a second-hand execution list of unknown authorship. The epithet ‘black’ was likely a sobriquet created sometime later for the purpose of racial identification, as there was no obvious contemporary reason to embed a racial distinction in the name of this particular pirate and not others. But even this is only an assumption.

Conclusion:

           Historical analysis of the available primary-source documentation from the lifetime of “Caesars” has revealed extreme incongruity between the historical record and the modern-day legend, suggesting that once people believed that “Caesar” was the “Negro whom Blackbeard had brought up,” it became necessary to account for that upbringing with an origin story that entirely ignored the limits of primary-source documentation and logical inference, and instead spoke to the unique cultural contexts, aspirations, and self-perceptions of the people who continued to create, reinvent, and perpetuate it for the next three-hundred years. The next stage of this study must leave the historical period of its subject—Black Caesar—and trace the development of the legend from the early-eighteenth century gallows to the modern day, asking why people decided to create their own Black Caesar, rather than the one that history gave them.

Notes

[1] Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates (Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2010), 52.

[2] John Robert Moore, Defoe in the Pillory and Other Studies (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1939).

[3] P.N. Furbank and W.R. Owens, The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).

[4] Johnson, 52.

[5] Alexander Spotswood, “America and the West Indies: December 1718, 22-31,” Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 30: 1717-1718, ed. Cecil Headlan (1930): 424-446.

[6] Johnson, 56.

[7] Joe B. Jones and Charles M. Downing, Phase III Data Recovery for Mitigation of Adverse Effects to Site 44WB66 Associated with the VNG Mechanicsville to Kingsmill Lateral Pipeline, City of Williamsburg, Virginia. Prepared for Virginia Natural Gas, Inc. Technical Report Series No. 18. (Williamsburg: College of William & Mary, 1992).

[8] Robert E. Lee, Blackbeard: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times (Charlotte: Heritage Printers, 1974) 216-219.

[9] Gail S. Terry and John M. Hemphill, “The Wheels of Government and the Machinery of Justice: the

Workings of Virginia’s Colonial Capitol.” Virginia Cavalcade 38, no. 2 (1988): 63.

[10] Lee, 153.

[11] Ibid, 153.

[12] Ibid, 114.

[13] David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life among the Pirates (New York: Random House, 1996), 196.

[14] Arthur L. Cooke, “British Newspaper Accounts of Blackbeard’s Death,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 61, no. 3 (1953): 304-307.

[15] Cassandra Pybus. “Black Caesar: Our First Bushranger…” Arena Magazine 57, (2002): 32.

[16] Lee, 153.

   Johnson, 56.

[17] Plutarch, The Complete Collection of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives Comparisons, ed. Charles River Editors (Amazon Digital Services, 2011).

[18] Johnson, 44.

[19] Ibid, 55.

[20] Spotswood, 424-446.

[21] Lee, 126.

[22] Rediker, Marcus, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004) 54.

[23] David D. Moore and Mike Daniel, “Blackbeard's Capture of the Nantaise Slave Ship La Concorde: A Brief Analysis of the Documentary Evidence.” Tributaries, Vol. 11 (October): 27.

[24] Spotswood, 424-446.

[25] Moore and Daniel, 21.

[26] Ibid, 21.

[27] Arne Bialuschewski, "Pirates, Black Sailors and Seafaring Slaves in the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1715-1726" Journal of Caribbean Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 147.

[28] The legend is an amalgamation of twentieth-century folkloric histories and internet sources that can be found in the bibliography of this paper under the heading “Sources of the legend”.

[29] Charles Lawson, resident archaeologist of the Biscayne National Park, phone conversation, November, 4th, 2011.

[30] Dean Love. "Pirates and Legends,” Florida Keys Magazine. (1st quarter, 1981): 10-14.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bibliography

Sources of the legend: (selected)

Cross, James. Blackbeard, or, the Captive Princess: a Serio-comic Ballet of Action in   Two Acts. London: J. Duncombe, 1798.

Love, Dean. "Pirates and Legends". Florida Keys Magazine. (1st quarter, 1981): 10-14.

McCarthy, Kevin M. Twenty Florida Pirates. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, 1994.

“St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.” The Pirate Museum. Accessed September 28th 2011.

http://thepiratemuseum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=95:black-caesar&catid=46:notable-pirates&Itemid=199

Terhune, Albert Payson. Black Caesar’s Clan: A Florida Mystery Story. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1922.

True, David O. "Pirates and Treasure Trove of South Florida". Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida (1947): 3-13.

Woodman, Jim. Key Biscayne, the Romance of Cape Florida. United States: Jim Woodman, 1972.

All Other Cited Material:

Bialuschewski, Arne. “Pirates, Black Sailors and Seafaring Slaves in the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1716-1726.”  Journal of Caribbean Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 146-158.

Cooke, Arthur L. “British Newspaper Accounts of Blackbeard’s Death.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 61, no. 3 (1953): 304-307.

Cordingly, David.  Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life among the Pirates. New York: Random House, 1996.

Furbank, P.N. and W.R. Owens. The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

Green, Bartholomew. “The Boston Newsletter, Monday Feb 23rd-Monday Mar 2nd, 1719.” In The Golden Age: History and Interpretation, 1660-1730. Cambridge: Pickering and Chalto Limited, 2007.

Johnson, Charles.  A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2010.

Jones, Joe B., and Charles M. Downing.  Phase III Data Recovery for Mitigation of Adverse Effects to Site44WB66 Associated with the VNG Mechanicsville to Kingsmill Lateral Pipeline, City of Williamsburg, Virginia.  Prepared for Virginia Natural Gas, Inc.  Technical Report Series No. 18.  Williamsburg: College of William & Mary, 1992.

Lee, R.E. Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times. Charlotte: Heritage Printers, 1974.

Love, Dean. "Pirates and Legends". Florida Keys Magazine. (1st quarter, 1981): 10-14.

Moore, David D. and Mike Daniel.  “Blackbeard's Capture of the Nantaise Slave Ship La Concorde: A Brief Analysis of the Documentary Evidence.” Tributaries, Vol. 11 (October): 14-31.

Moore, Robert John. Defoe in the Pillory and Other Studies. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1939.

Plutarch. The Complete Collection of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives Comparisons. ed. Charles River Editors. Amazon Digital Services, 2011.

Pybus, Cassandra. “Black Caesar, Our First Bushranger.” Arena Magazine , Vol. 57 (2002): 30-34.

Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.

Spotswood, Alexander. “America and West Indies: December 1718, 22-31,” in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Volume 30: 1717-1718. Ed. Cecil Headlan (1930): 424-446.

Spotswood, Alexander. “Feb 14th, 1719 Letter to Lord Cartwright, proprietor of North and South Carolina.” In The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1710-1722. Richman, VA: the Virginia Historical Society, New Series, vol. I, II, 1882-1885.

Terhune, Albert Payson. Black Caesar’s Clan: A Florida Mystery Story. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1922.

Terry, S. Gail and John M. Hemphill. “The Wheels of Government and the Machinery of Justice: the Workings of Virginia’s Colonial Capitol.” Virginia Cavalcade 38, no. 2 (1988): 56-65.