#but if it gives me more badass carina standing up for herself

[mayasdeluca]

Doctor Carina DeLuca? Yeah, that’s me. You’ve been served. 

[4-046]

Note - This is my first time writing anything, so please go easy on me :)

Soulmate AU! Where your soulmate’s first sentence you hear them say is tattooed on your arm

Idea by @akermanch on Tumblr

Art by @mushroomgrenade

Ace x Marco

“Welcome to Starbucks may I take your order?”

Those were the very words that were tattooed on Ace’s bare arms.

Ace has seen some people with the same tattoos on their arms just like him, and it’s not a rare sight nowadays. Being currently nineteen years old and almost twenty in a few months, Ace has been looking for his stupid soulmate for years. All his friends have found their soulmates, and even his stupid younger brother has Zoro!

They met when Luffy was a junior in high school, and the boy couldn’t be happier when he found out his soulmate had to redo his last year in the place. Not the same could be said with Zoro, but after meeting his hyperactive brother and falling for him after a few months, the boy wasn’t about to complain.

His other brother, Sabo, on the other hand, had met his soulmate Koala when he was twelve, and she has been like family to him since then.

All in all, Ace is happy for his brothers and is grateful for their other halves too.

But what about him? Where is his soulmate? And which fucking Starbucks do they work in?!

And now that question is something he’s been asking himself ever since he’s turned thirteen because he’s pretty sure that by then, he’s been over at least a hundred Starbucks in his state alone.

Ace is sick of getting “Nos” or sometimes a “Nah, my dude, I’m waiting for someone to order a grande skinny latte extra cream” whenever he asks a barista if they’re the one. And to make matters worse, most of the times he’d get a few snickers from people who are CLEARLY ON A DATE WITH THEIR SOULMATES.

And those days are the worst. Which are....most weekends.

Ace has been thinking of almost all the possibilities of why he hasn't met his soulmate yet. And you know what? Overthinking is seriously a bitch.

What if his soulmate doesn't even work in the United States? What if his soulmate found someone that isn’t Ace but ordered the same caramel snickerdoodle macchiato like him? Or what if his soulmate is sick of getting asked the same question and snaps at him?

Oh. Hell. No. is his soulmate snapping at him for asking that question.

Overall, you get the point, and as Ace said before, overthinking is a bitch.

Though honestly? Ace is ready to just give up right about now. As he just got another few snickers and laughs from a nearby couple grabbing their Frappuccinos after hearing Ace’s conversation with the new barista. New news, he got another no from the cutie with purple hair tied up in a chignon, she was nice enough to introduce herself as Carina, so she wasn’t that bad. The couple on the other hand?

“Y’know, I sincerely hope ya’ll get diabetes”

Did he just say that out loud?

“What the fuck did you just say you wretched fuck!”

Of course, he did.

Ace ran out of the door, not after grabbing his caramel snickerdoodle macchiato from another blonde barista and waving them off. He was taught to be polite, after all.

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

Marco wasn’t even supposed to be in the store today, but apparently his colleague Drake had to call a day off since his soulmate came over to visit.

And would you know that,

“Y’know, I sincerely hope ya’ll get diabetes”

Was tattooed on Marco’s arm.

Marco was never a fan of his own soulmate tattoo since he thought of how distasteful it sounded.

So he normally would wear wrist bands to cover it up.

But for fuck's sake that was him!

Marco was the one to handed him his stupid secret menu caramel snickerdoodle macchiato too!

It all happened so fast, he just finished break and went out with his apron in hand, handing it to the freckled bastard. No. His soulmate now. He was handing his soulmate his caramel snickerdoodle macchiato and heard him say that fucking sentence.

His soulmate ran after saying it too, while Marco couldn’t think, his body moved on its own. And that was the best thing his body has done for him in a long while.

He thought.

Marco lost his soulmate. And he felt it too.

The bastard was lying on the ground in the middle of a street, a truck right beside him, and blood. Oh, blood. So much blood was pouring out of him, and the fucking couple was just standing there, not knowing what to do.

Marco didn’t know what to do, he can only feel a horrible stomach drop in his gut, and he couldn’t do anything but stand there and watch. Watch as the life of his soulmate drains from him, in an alarmingly fast pace.

Marco was dazed, and what brought him back was the loud sound of an ambulance coming through.

Marco couldn’t do anything but watch from afar while his soulmate got taken away.

He was terrified.

For the first time in his life, he was so scared he started to sob in the middle of the streets, with everyone watching.

He just stayed there, bawling his eyes out, until his colleague came out for him.

After getting into the staff room, Marco didn’t hear anything his colleague said until she asked him that question.

“Is Ace your soulmate?”

Looking up, Marco saw his ginger-haired colleague, her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and her gentle brown eyes looked at him with worry.

“Pardon?” he asked

“Ace, is Ace your soulmate?” Nami asked again.

“Is that his name?” Marco’s face could be seen with confusion by now.

“The idiot that got hit by a truck outside? Yep, that’s him.” She explained.

Ace.

A-c-e.

“Ace”

His name rolled off Marco’s tongue without Marco even noticing.

That’s his soulmate’s name.

His name is Ace.

“Ace is your soulmate?” another voice chimed in.

Marco looked up. Red hair.

Why does everyone but him know his soulmate?

This is absurd.

But Marco replied to his manager regardless.

“Yes, uh, I mean, I guess? No. I’m pretty sure it’s him, but why-”

“Then why haven't you said so?” Shanks loudly exclaimed.

A tic mark formed on Marco’s forehead.

“It seems like he didn’t know until now boss.” Nami explained for him.

“Well, if that’s the case, come with me! I'm driving Luffy to the hospital now since he’s worried.” his manager loudly shouted right beside his BLOODY EAR.

But before Marco could utter out another word, he found himself standing up and leaving the store with Shanks.

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

The ride itself was absolutely horrible.

Red Hair’s son was basically bawling for his apparent “big brother”, Marco would have to remember that later. While the other, who introduced himself as Sabo, he was quite polite, tried to calm the kid.

Apparently his name is Luffy.

And with Luffy’s bawling, he could make out that this sort of accident, in fact, isn’t the first time that happened to this...Ace. To his soulmate.

Marco is beginning to worry more now.

And according to Shanks, the reason why literally everyone in the store knows Ace but him is because he’s a regular on Sundays.

And Marco just so happens to take Sundays off.

When they got to the hospital, Marco wasn’t allowed in the patient’s room since he wasn’t “family member” according to the nurse.

Marco was his bloody soulmate!

But oh no, since he couldn’t exactly prove it, he wasn’t allowed in.

After about half an hour, Shanks came out and told him that Ace was stable, and suggested him to go back home and take the day off.

He promised Marco that he would talk to Ace and inform Marco when Ace wakes.

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

The pain ringing inside Ace’s head was horrible, and when he woke up somewhere unfamiliar to him, you couldn’t exactly blame him for panicking.

The room was big and white, and there was a table beside him, a cup of water and two orange pills on it, a television right in front of him, and he could feel the wind to his left.

Ace looked around, but before he could move his neck further, a shot of pain ran through him.

He yelped, and not even seconds, someone barged into the room.

“WHAT THE OUCH!”

Another shot of pain ran through him, but way bigger this time, and Ace couldn’t help it anymore, as tears start spilling through his eyes.

“Don’t move so much Ace-ya, your wounds are still fresh, and you’ve been out cold a day and a half, let your body rest”

“I've been WHAT?!”

The guy that barged in just sighed in response, pushed Ace down softly to his bed, and started to write on his clipboard. He had a plastic name tag on him.

“Tr-tra-traflger-traflgar-”

Another pain shot through Ace, but this time, his arms. He could see the blue liquid being injected into his systems and roughly pulled his hand back with anger.

“What the fuck Traffy?!” Ace exclaimed.

“This is sedative Ace-ya, don’t worry, it’ll help you. You’re also just like Strawhat-ya I see, I suppose it makes sense since your siblings…” “Traffy” replied with a nonchalant tone

And Ace finally looked at “Traffy” properly, he had sideburns, a goatee, black messy hair, silver eyes, and a bunch of badass tattoos on him. He was also wearing a lab coat? Spotted jeans and a white fur hat with black spotted patterns on it.

He’s kinda hot.

But he’s not Ace’s soulmate.

“Traffy where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, room 311. Also, don’t call me Traffy. You can call me Law.”

Ace looked out the window a bit, as it was a sunny day, birds are chirping, and he could see kids outside playing.

Law looked at him and cleared his throat a bit.

Ace turned over slowly to look at Law.

“We had to cut your hair a bit to patch you up, I hope you don’t mind. You were in a car crash, and your head was unfortunately hit, but you’ll be fine, and you can leave in about a week. I will inform your family members soon, and you would be able to see them.”

Ace nodded but stayed silent.

“Would you like anything for now?” Law asked.

Ace looked up and shooked his head.

Ace didn’t want anything now.

He’s just tired.

Ace closed his eyes, he might as well have a nap right now.

Until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was Law, his cold silver eyes looked at him with no emotion.

“You’re uncle Shanks wanted me to give you this piece of paper. Remember to eat your pills, and stay hydrated, call me if you need anything else with the button beside your bed.”

Handing Ace the white piece of paper, Law left without a word.

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

Marco couldn’t sleep for the whole week without the help of sleeping pills.

Shanks didn’t call back, and he didn’t come to the store since last week, Marco was worried sick but no one could help him in any way.

This was Marco’s own problem, and this was HIS soulmate.

He’ll be fine, Marco assured himself multiple times during the day, and his tired droopy eyes were droopier than ever.

Dark circles formed beneath his eyes, and his colleagues have started to worry about him.

Marco was fine though, he must be fine.

He will be fine when Ace wakes up.

The bell ringed and without looking up, Marco automatically replied with

“Welcome to Starbucks may I take your order?”

After fumbling with his apron, Marco looked up with his pen in hand and his eyes widened.

“...Ah”

Right in front of him, stood a freckled face, half his messy black hair cut off with bandages wrapped around his head and face.

“Are you my soulmate?”

Marco’s froze.

He didn’t know what to say.

Ace looked back at him, disappointment could be seen from his face.

“Or, not. I-uh, Shanks just gave me a description that a guy named Marco with blond hair said he’s my soulmate, but maybe I got the wrong person-”

“I-I don’t understand.” Marco managed to mutter out.

“I’m sorry?” Ace asked.

“Red Hair didn’t contact me, I-I thought you were still in the hospital!” Marco stuttered out in a frenzy.

“Oh! Well, Shanks is on a business trip without any services, he would probably be back in a few days.” Ace replied, cheerfully now.

Marco looked at the freckled teen, and finally, relief washed over him, and the stress from the past week came crashing down. He reached over the counter and grabbed the teen and hugged him in an awkward position, but Marco didn’t care.

Because Ace is safe.

Ace hugged back with emotion, strong as Marco’s.

Pulling away, Marco gave Ace a tired grin.

Which Ace gave back with, but a lot brighter than Marco’s.

“My name is Ace.”

“I uh, already know that. Name’s Marco.”

“I already know that too.”

Marco would have to remind himself to kick Red Hair’s ass when he gets back.

[skarletterambles]

Pirates of the Caribbean 5

I just got back from seeing Dead Men Tell No Tales.  I have thoughts.  Quite a few of them, actually.

I should preface this review by giving a bit of background on my involvement with this franchise.  I saw the first PotC movie in the theater seven times.  I saw Dead Man’s Chest three or four times and loved it.  I saw At World’s End exactly once, hated it with the passion of a thousand burning suns, and never saw it again.

I was--and am--a hardcore Sparrabeth shipper.  The canon status of Willabeth only explains part of my disillusionment with the franchise, however.  My biggest problem was how Elizabeth had an amazing character arc over three films, going from a prim-and-proper governor’s daughter to the ass-kicking Pirate King, pursuing her dreams in defiance of society’s expectations, outwitting both the EITC and legendary pirates, leading an armada in battle...and then had it all stripped away at the end of the third movie, where she is left literally barefoot and pregnant to wait for her man to come back.  I was--and am--livid.  I felt betrayed, both as a fan and a feminist, to see one of my favorite characters do a 180 like that.

So I have very strong feelings about these movies.  I’ve tried to get over it in the years since AWE, with limited success.  Against my better judgment I did see On Stranger Tides in the theater, and thought it was mediocre.  Since Elizabeth wasn’t involved I could just ignore its existence, for the most part.

Then the fifth movie was announced, and Will was going to be in it.  I had hoped that maybe, just maybe they could try to rectify some of the mistakes (read: character assassination) of the past.

They didn’t.  But they still came up with a pretty good movie.  Honestly, I’d even give Dead Men Tell No Tales four stars out of five.  I was riveted to the screen for most of it, and it was thrilling to hear the theme music and see the familiar faces.  It was exciting and entertaining, the special effects were impressive, and there were some good laughs.  Plus, zombie sharks!

Do I have issues with parts of it?  Yeah.  And I’m going to ramble at length.

**** MAJOR POTC: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES SPOILERS BELOW ****

Sequel creep is definitely at work, where each installment has to be bigger and zanier than the last.  The gags are broader, the willing suspension of disbelief gets even more strained, the stakes are higher, and it becomes almost like a Saturday morning cartoon version of itself.  

Thinking back to CotBP, we had to buy into the curse turning Barbossa and his crew into undead, but other than that the world operated on fairly realistic terms.  Yes, there was movie logic involved as far as coincidences, travel times, fast wound recovery, and all that, but it still felt more or less like the real world.  Stakes got higher with each sequel, until we have whatever the hell that “bank robbery” was in DMTNT.  

Don’t get me wrong; it was an enjoyable action sequence, but it felt more like a cartoon than anything that could happen under the laws of physics as they exist in our world.  That’s not inherently a bad thing, but the tone was noticeably different compared to the earlier films.

Moving on, I was glad Captain Salazar didn’t have that slurpy, blood-drooling voice through the entire film.  When I first heard that in the early trailer I was both grossed out, and concerned that he would be hard to understand.  Instead it was just that one scene, and he spoke normally the rest of the time.  He was a great villain, from his badass and scary entrance through to his delightfully ironic death.  He was genuinely threatening, which was kind of surprising considering the cartoony feel of some of the action scenes.  Javier Bardem killed it.  Thumbs up to him!

The legend surrounding the trident, and the map to find it, seemed cool until you thought about it for more than two seconds, and then it didn’t really make any sense.  Calypso is the Sea Goddess in this universe, so where did Poseidon come in?  How can his trident override curses that she put in place?  If it could be broken by a single sword blow, how did it stay intact under the sea for (presumably) thousands of years?  I mean, sure, maaaaaagic, but...eh.

And why did Will get all barnacley anyway?  Elizabeth waited for him, so that part of the curse shouldn’t have kicked in.

And what will happen to the souls of the dead without the Dutchman to ferry them to the afterlife?  

And what happened to Bootstrap Bill?  Did Will figure out how to free him and let him move on to the afterlife?

And if breaking the trident cancelled all the curses related to the sea, how did Davy Jones appear in the after-credits scene?  (Assuming it was him.  The gait, crab claw, barnacles, tentacley silhouette and the music box theme all pointed to it being him, anyway.)  I could almost buy him coming back to life when the curse was broken, but as a normal human again, not ol’ squidface.  The mythology makes no damn sense at all!

This review is coming across pretty negative so far, but I really did enjoy the movie.  I thought it was much better than OST, and felt like a return to the original vibe of the series.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching (almost) every minute of it, and I left the theater grinning and humming the theme music.  As a summer popcorn movie, it’s pretty great.  It’s just when the adrenaline wears off and I start thinking and analyzing that I see the issues.  And, like I said, I have a long history with this franchise, so overthinking it is what I do.

There were definitely some surprises, although I saw a couple of the twists coming.  The instant I realized Carina was Hector’s daughter, I was like, “Well, he’s going to die saving her somehow.”  And I was right.  It was sad (and that damn monkey gave me more feels than any creepy little primate has a right to), but at the same time I’m delighted at how his character grew into so, so much more than he was originally planned to be.  He was supposed to be a one-shot villain in CotBP, but Geoffrey Rush is so damn awesome, and he and Johnny Depp brainstormed a history between their characters, decided his first name was Hector, and one thing led to another and here we are, genuinely mourning him in the fifth movie.  It was a worthy sendoff for a memorable character.

One of the themes that got raised over and over in the earlier movies was the idea that it’s possible to be a pirate and a good man.  Bootstrap Bill Turner was.  Jack is.  Was Hector Barbossa a good man?  I don’t know if I’d go that far, but he wasn’t 100% evil, either.  And he was a lot of fun to watch.

Henry definitely reminded me of Will.  He had the same wide-eyed earnestness about him, as well as the tendency to charge into danger because it’s the Right Thing To Do without thinking through the full plan first.  Elizabeth’s legacy is a bit harder to see, except in the first two scenes.  Keeping a secret stash of pirate memorabilia and legends?  Totally Lizzie.  Back-talking authority figures?  Yep, Lizzie’s genes are in there.  And later, in the jail, taking Jack’s ego down a peg by scoffing at his legendary reputation in comparison to the reality of a scruffy, rum-soaked pirate?  Also from the Swann side of the family.  So I think they did a pretty good job of making Henry his parents’ son. 

I just wish we had more information on how he was raised, and where.  I always imagined him scampering around Shipwreck Cove and up the rigging of Elizabeth’s ship(s), the mischievous pirate prince.  Based on the house Elizabeth is living in at the end, and the fact that he was enlisted in the royal navy, I don’t see that happening in canon now.

When Carina was introduced I had a couple thoughts:

1.  “I wonder if she’s related to any existing characters...  No, don’t be silly.  This isn’t a fanfic.  They’re trying to move the franchise forward into the next generation.”  (Or not.) 2.  I don’t want to like her because no one can ever replace Elizabeth Freaking Swann the Pirate King as the best female character in these movies.  And that’s still true, but she definitely grew on me.  She had a fairly good balance of “smart woman who can take care of herself and doesn’t need a man to complete her story” and “too perfect to be likable or believable.”  I could have done with a costume that didn’t draw quite so much attention to her heaving bosom, but I suppose there’s some vaguely historical style going on.

Honestly, there’s a reason her backstory could have been lifted from a story on Fanfiction.net circa 2004:  those kinds of long-lost relative reveals can be a hell of a lot of fun.  Especially when you have Jack there to tease “daddy” Hector mercilessly.

I’m glad they didn’t have her be Jack’s daughter, though.  That thought crossed my mind, too, and that would have been...not good.

Pity Hector never got to introduce himself to Elizabeth and Will as the father of their potential daughter-in-law.  Awwwwwkward!  Bwahahaha!

Speaking of the dreaded Willabeth...  Jack saw them smooching in his spyglass, made a face, and announced that it was a revolting sight.  Same, Jack.  Same.

Therein lies my biggest complaint about the movie, and, as I mentioned above, it’s just the latest sprout on a tree of dislike that I’ve been nursing since the ending of At World’s End was leaked.  How in the seven hells they thought it was an appropriate, satisfying, logical plot development for Elizabeth Freaking Swann the Pirate King to end up standing around passively on a beach in a frilly dress and a fucking corset, waiting for the menfolk to do the important stuff, I will never, ever understand.  It’s a slap in the face of everything her character arc was over the first three movies.

“Sure, little girls, you can have adventures and play pirate for awhile if you want to, but in the end you still have to get married, grow up, conform to society’s beauty standards, put aside those dreams, and take care of your husband and children.”  Fuck that with a rusty garden trowel.

And here, when they had the chance to redeem that travesty, when they could have showed a glimpse of her at the helm of her own flagship, or holding court with the other Pirate Lords, or just simply wearing pirate-type clothes and carrying a sword, for the love of all things holy, did they do any of those things?  Oh, no.  No, they doubled down and had her be so passive that she didn’t even get to speak.  (Doesn’t that mean they don’t have to pay Knightley as much?)  Literally all she’s there for is to be a reward for Will upon his homecoming, and then sleep with him--on land in a fancy house that could have been in Port Royal, for all we know.  Any journey her character had is moot.  She’s back to square one, and it makes me want to throw things.

Oops, I was going to keep that rant short, and failed.  Oh well, it’s a sore spot, obviously.  I have never felt so betrayed by a franchise as I did when they did that to Elizabeth in AWE, and it still stings after all these years.

My ire didn’t even stem from my shipping preferences, although that certainly was salt in the wound.  If they couldn’t give us a series of movies with Jack and Lizzie, the best pirates in the world, having amazing adventures while flirting like they did in DMC, at least they could have given us a sort of open ending, where she, Will and Jack all sail in their separate directions, knowing that their paths would cross in the future in any number of entertaining ways.  I’m never sure if I should blame the writers, the studio, or the actors, or all of the above, but I would have bought, like, ALL THE TICKETS to see those movies.

But, alas, that’s not what we got.  We got OST and DMTNT instead.  OST was quite forgettable, but DMTNT packed a pretty good punch and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.  I won’t say it totally redeemed the franchise for me, but it’s got its head above water for the first time since DMC, so that’s progress.

Should you see it?  Yeah, I think so.  If you enjoyed the precious PotC movies, or just like pirate movies in general, it’s a fun couple hours.  Just don’t think too hard about it afterward (like I did.)