#captain-apostrophe

[bleachbleachbleach]

I don't usually care that much about grammar, in that it's important to me only if close reading it stands to say interesting things in a story or about a character, or if it's otherwise impacting meaning in some way. Getting up in arms about typos/errors that don't impact anything, meh.

BUT. I USE THIS PHRASE OFTEN ENOUGH NOW IT'S BOTHERING ME. In fact, it bothers me so much I just found out that I finally *do* have the polls feature! (I did not, for a very very very long time, long after it seemed everyone else did.)

-- "captain's meeting" -- possessive, the meeting of the captains. The meeting belongs to the captains. Potential double meaning, in that it could be a meeting for captains, or a meeting called by a captain (within their own division)?

-- captains meeting -- plural. A meeting of multiple captains.

-- captains' meeting -- both possessive and plural. A meeting of multiple captains for multiple captains.

-- Or even Captain's meeting??? Capital C? -- a meeting called by the Captain (Commander), but shortened for ease??

MIT uses "captains meeting." For the National Senior Games, though, it's "captain's meeting." And the Mock Trial Association uses "captains' meeting." All of these are used to describe a meeting for captains, attended by multiple captains.

Which do you personally use?

[saltpepperbeard]

*laying on the ground* so. stede taking the alias of “captain edwards” huh. captain edwards. captain edward’s???

[sins-of-the-sea]

“Don’t you normally hyphenate your surname when you write it out in the Romanized alphabet, Rashid?”

“Well....”

“...Racist Santa.”

[jewishraypalmer]

They should have never made me in charge of YA

[orphiclovers]

Even the 999th turn’s Uriel finally saw the vestiges of the man she loved in her Captain, only to see it foreshadow his doom once again. -Apostrophe by @lialox

My bribe for Lia to realize and admit I'm her number one fan >:)

Apostrophe SP angst was so delicious I HAD to draw it. Ft. his famously long and sexy fingers + the star veil, you know what I think of it usually. I can accept it if it's your SP though, he would wear something like that. And of course the SPuri of it all... the feels...

[stra-tek]

Kzinti and Star Trek

You don't see many Kzinti in Star Trek, and there's a very good reason for that: They're not actually Star Trek aliens, but a borrow from Larry Niven's Known Space series of books. And so Paramount don't actually own them. "The Slaver Weapon" episode of The Animated Series is an adaptation of Larry's "The Soft Weapon"

TAS' "Slaver Weapon" brought lots of Known Space lore into Trek. 4 Man-Kzin Wars were fought prior to the invention of faster-than-light travel, which really doesn't work in Trek where First Contact established, well, first contact and it was between humans and Vulcans after the first warp flight.

We also saw a Slaver, which have a rich backstory in Known Space where they're known as the Thrint and once ruled over the galaxy with their telepathy.

Some of Niven's backstory fits into Trek but other parts don't.

The Man-Kzin Wars don't. That being said, there have been attempts to bring Kzin back into Trek and several references to them. The Next Gen novel "The Captain's Honor" features the M'dok in the B-plot, a feline species who fought 2 wars with humanity one before the founding of the Federation and one after... sound vaguely familiar? They were originally the Kzin, and had name and details changed to avoid potential legal issues.

The Kzin exist in the Star Fleet Battles tabletop gaming universe (which is like a Trek splinter universe, licensed from TOS, TAS and the Star Fleet Technical Manual but nothing else), but they lack the distinctive bat ears.

Starfleet Command, the videogame adaptation of Star Fleet Battles swaps the Kzinti for the Mirak, again to avoid copyright issues.

But then came Star Trek Picard, where in season one Riker talks about an issue with the Kzinti (apparently permission was sought from Larry Niven and given for the mention) and then Lower Decks gave us Taylor, who is clearly Kzinti but likely will just never have anyone say it out loud just to be on the safe side

Oh, and the 1980 Star Trek Maps were cheeky and called them the K'zinti and hoped the apostrophe would make everything okay.

There have been attempts to bring the Kzinti back to Trek, like a planned Enterprise season 5 episode called "Kilkenny Cats" which was almost resurrected as a New Voyages fan film project. Here's the poster, where they'd replaced the Kzinti with the Kytharri (another Kzin-expy from the DS9 "Prophecy and Change" anthology

The "Kilkenny Cats" story read somewhat like a retread of DS9's "Armageddon Game". There were also attempts to get an animated Star Trek movie made called Lions of the Night, involving Sulu and the Enterprise-B dealing with a Kzinti invasion.

Oh oh, and read Ringworld. It's fantastic. And makes one wonder what the Kzin world is like in the Trek world... because they're unable to stop themselves launching violent wars on neighbours which they have no hope of winning, their world is essentially occupied by humans and that's very un-Trek (which of course makes it 10x more fascinating) indeed. How would Starfleet and the Federation deal with such a threat?

[cosmerelists]

Bridge Four: What Punctuation Mark They’d Be

Previously we considered what parts of speech the Kholin household would like best...for some reason. Next up: Bridge Four as Punctuation Marks!

1. Kaladin: Exclamation Point

We all know that Kaladin is a dramatic boy. When he arrives, he is an exclamation point embodied, usually glowing with Stormlight and there to save the day.

2. Sigzil: Colon

A colon indicates that further information will follow: perhaps a list, or a several-sentence description, or a series of questions. And as a Worldsinger, Sigzil is there to spread information and knowledge. Plus, when he found out about Kaladin’s powers, his first thought was to design experiments to get some good old data points. I can just imagine him writing, “Kaladin’s abilities are as follows:”

3. Rlain: Semicolon

Semicolons connect two independent clauses, much as Rlain, the Bridger of Minds, is able to connect disparate peoples and ideas. The semicolon is solid and steadfast, but does not end the thought like a period does. It brings different thoughts together.

4. Rock: Question Mark

I just remember the scene where we find out that Bridge Four goes to see Rock for advice, and he asks them questions to help them realize what they need/want to do. Rock is the type of person who can help people feel welcome, draw them in, help them open up. So I think a question mark suits him well!

5. Moash: Slash 

The slash can indicate separation and difference, but it can also show options and alternatives: and/or, his/her, color/colour. And yes, Moash has some black and white thinking (or should I say “black/white”)--light-eyes vs. dark-eyes, guilty vs. innocent, and so on. But he also represents alternatives: What if justice does mean killing a king who is liable in your grandparents’ death? What if the Singers should be the rulers? What if Kaladin is wrong? So for many reasons, I think the slash suits him.

He also, like, keeps slashing people to death, but maybe that’s a cheap joke.

6. Renarin: En-Dash

The en-dash is a poorly understood and little utilized punctuation mark: it is used specifically in ranges of numbers (like 14–30). And Renarin too had a specific and little-understood power--seeing the future--whose usefulness was not accepted at first. And when I use the en-dash, I have to manually download it because I don’t actually know the keystroke for it, and people tend to need some time to get used to Renarin too, as when he had to work hard to join Bridge Four.

Look, I swear this makes perfect sense in my head!

7. Teft: Hyphen

The hyphen is a support punctuation mark; it doesn’t get used alone, but rather connects together a compound noun or adjective. And Teft, as the sergeant and also as Kaladin’s friend, has always been there in support. He backs Kaladin up, even going so far as to stay behind when Kaladin was somewhat forcibly retired from the army.

The hyphen can also indicate speech or thoughts being abruptly cut off, but perhaps we won’t talk about that.

8. Skar: Apostrophe

An apostrophe shows ownership and belonging: my mother’s necklace, the captain’s spear. And Skar really is all about his love for being Bridge Four. He was the first to rip off the Cobalt Guard Patch in favor of a Bridge Four patch. He was completely crushed when he couldn’t draw in Stormlight at first, because he was afraid of not being useful to Bridge Four. He still helped others learn to drawn in the Stormlight, though. This love for the group and sense of belonging means the apostrophe suits him well, I think.

9. Dabbid: Ellipses 

Dabbid didn’t speak for a while, at first because of battle shock, and later because he didn’t want the others to know that he thought differently from most people. Now he does speak some, but carefully. And the ellipses can indicate not only silence, but also a pause before continuing.

10. Drehy: Period

Drehy is extremely dependable--he’s one of the first to back up Kaladin, one of the first to pick up fighting, one of the first to learn first aid. He goes with Skar on the mission to Kholinar, and helps rescue Elhokar’s son after we all (or at least me) thought that Sanderson had dared to kill off the one gay character.

And yes, I wanted to pick the gayest punctuation mark for Drehy, but that’s gotta be either the question mark or the ellipses (right?), and I had already used those.

11. Hobber: Comma

The comma lets you know that this isn’t the end; there is more (of the sentence) coming. And Hobber is a figure of hope: he’s so delighted that Kaladin rescues him, that he’s already smiling even though at that point it was likely that he would die. He loses his legs to a shardblade, but later is able to draw in Stormlight to heal himself. So I think “hope” is the emotion I’d associate with Hobber, and I’ve decided that the comma--the “there’s more; don’t worry”--is the punctuation mark for him.

12. Leyten: Brackets

Literally all I know about Leyten is that he is the armorer. And brackets are like strong, uh, breastplates that, uh, protect the words within? 

I’m so sorry, Leyten. I got nothing.

13. Lyn: Em-Dash

The em-dash is very versatile; it can be used in place of a comma or a semicolon or parentheses.  And Lyn is a versatile woman: scout, messenger, soldier, Windrunner. Plus, everyone likes her, in book, and I’m pretty sure the em-dash is everyone’s favorite punctuation mark.

14. Lopen: Interrobang

The interrobang is the combination of the question mark and the exclamation mark: ?!. You might say, “That’s not a proper punctuation mark!” but then, that’s the point! It’s Lopen. He likes to be improper, to joke around and try to shock people.

Plus, I think he’d find the word “interrobang” to be funny.

[this-machine-runs-on-coffee]

"LIFEBOAT" THIS IS NOT AN EXACT TRANSLATION, THIS IS AN ADAPTATION (AND ONE THAT STILL NEEDS TONS OF FIXING AT THAT)

@zhemchuzhina-x here it is! Hopefully it's good

ASK ME FOR PERMISSION BEFORE USING THIS, DO CREDIT ME IF YOU EVER USE THIS (I doubt you will it’s impractical and still needs so much fixing it’s unbelievable) AND TELL ME/LINK WHATEVER YOU USED IT FOR USING REBLOGS (because for some reason Tumblr doesn’t like comments with links and while I do think I understand why I don’t always like it)

(the apostrophes [or however ’ is called] are used to shorten the number of syllables often in poetry so I’m obviously abusing that power.)

[HEATHER MCNAMARA] In barca non son sola In un oceano tempestoso Bassa nell'acqua Senza via di scampo La scialuppa più piccola Con persone che conosco Fredda, umida, e affollata C'è puzza di disperazione Affonderemo tra poco Quindi qualcuno deve andar La scialuppa più piccola Con persone che conosco Tutti spingono Tutti lottano Tempeste si avvicinano Non c'è via di scampo Se a parlare sbaglio il tono O indosso l'abito sbagliato M'abbandoneranno in meno di un lampo Mi stringo alle mie ginocchia E il capitano mi indica Beh, chi l'ha eletta capitano? Però, i più deboli se ne vanno La scialuppa più piccola Piena di persone che conosco La scialuppa più piccola Piena di persone che conosco

So, direct translation! (used in this to specify the meanings and explain certain word choices [and in one case this])

[HEATHER MCNAMARA] In (the) boat I'm not alone In a stormy ocean Low in the water Without a way out The tiniest lifeboat With people that I know Cold, clammy, and crowded It reeks of desperation We'll sink soon So someone must go The tiniest lifeboat With people that I know Everyone pushes Everyone fights Storms approach There's no way out If when I speak I get the tone wrong (it's more like I mistake the tone) Or I wear the wrong dress(/clothes) They'll abandon me in less than a flash

I'm holding myself tight to my knees And the captain points at me Well, who elected her captain? Though, the weakest go The tiniest lifeboat Full of people that I know The tiniest lifeboat Full of people that I know

OG LYRICS (if you’re seeing this I doubt you don’t know them, but here they are anyway):

[HEATHER MCNAMARA] I float in a boat In a raging black ocean Low in the water And nowhere to go The tiniest lifeboat With people I know Cold, clammy, and crowded The people smell desperate We'll sink any minute So someone must go The tiniest lifeboat With the people I know Everyone's pushing Everyone's fighting Storms are approaching There's nowhere to hide If I say the wrong thing Or I wear the wrong outfit They'll throw me right over the side I'm hugging my knees And the captain is pointing Well, who made her captain? Still, the weakest must go The tiniest lifeboat Full of people I know The tiniest lifeboat Full of people I know

[linguistics-and-such]

"Here," Captain Sham said, pulling a small card out of his pocket and handing it to Aunt Josephine. "Take my business card, and next time you're in town perhaps we could enjoy a cup of tea."

"That sounds delightful," Aunt Josephine said, reading his card. '"Captain Sham's Sailboats. Every boat has it's own sail.' Oh, Captain, you have made a very serious grammatical error here."

"What?" Captain Sham said, raising his eyebrow.

"This card says 'it's,' with an apostrophe. I-T-apostrophe-S always means 'it is.' You don't mean to say 'Every boat has it is own sail.' You mean simply I-T-S, 'belonging to it.' It's a very common mistake, Captain Sham, but a dreadful one."

- A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window

I know that prescriptive grammarians are douches, but this exchange never fails to make me laugh. XD

[angst-is-love-angst-is-life]

WARNING: YOU HAVE ENTERED MY UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENE-

or: Put your clothes back on, we're not having sex. I'm about to explain the naming conventions of the Chiss Ascendancy.

or: Get in loser, we're discussing Chiss culture!

Okay, so in Chiss culture, the parts of a name fall in the order they do on US drivers' licenses, separated by apostrophes- so Last'first'middle.

For example, we have Kiwu'tro'owmis. She's a member of the Kiwu family (and half of my Old Woman Yuri rarepair OTP but that's not relevant rn), so that's the first part of her name. Her given name is Tro, and her second name is Owmis. This all combined creates the whole name.

For convienience, Chiss often have core names, created by combining parts of their family, given, and usually second names, depending on how it'd be pronounced, since their whole names are mouthfuls. So, again with the previous example of Senior Captain Old Woman Yuri- Kiwu'tro'owmis=Ki(Wu'tro'ow)mis=Wutroow.

Another example- Mitth'raw'nuruodo=Mit(th'raw'n)uruodo=Thrawn.

In canon, there doesn't seem to be any official guide to why certain letters are chosen to create the core name, except ease of pronunciation. There may be something in Legends, but idk, I'm not that into the old canon yet.

It's custom for a Chiss to call someone of a higher social rank by their full name, rather than their core name. Core names are considered something rather intimate, shared between friends. Occasionally, as a sign of disdain between former friends, they'll also go back to using their full names as well.

Now, when a person reaches a certain rank in the military, it's custom for them to drop their family name, as it symbolizes they're no longer serving their family (the Chiss are very clannish and each family is basically a governing body), and are rather serving the Ascendancy as a whole. This also usually means they no longer have use of a core name, choosing to go by their full name- especially since they're now so high-ranked in society that it'd be customary to be called that way anyway- and

For instance, we have Irizi'ar'alani- formerly Ziara. After being promoted to Commodore, she cut ties with the Irizi family, becoming Ar'alani (the other half of my shitty Old Woman Yuri).

Usally, if a person is adopted into a new family, either after completing their military service or for other reasons, they'll get a new core name- for instance, Xodlak'in'daro/Lakinda became Irizi'in'daro/Ziinda. And Kiwu'raw'nuru/Vurawn became Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Thrawn.

I'm going to be honest a small amount of this might be fanon, it's been a hot minute since I've read the books, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Ooo this was incredibly interesting! I’d wondered where ‘Thrawn’ came from, and with the core names thing, if makes complete sense!

[gaypiratepropaganda]

gay pirate glossary

articles- ship's articles. the papers you sign to join a crew. different ships have different rules. pirates got to make up their own.

bosun- boatswain. in charge of things that happen on deck. pretty sure there's supposed to be an apostrophe in there somewhere (bo'sun? bo's'n?)

bosun's chair- the swing thing for working on the side of the ship or bringing breakfast up to your co-captain.

bow- front of the ship.

bridge- the higher deck on top of the cabin? where you steer the ship from. only certain people are supposed to go up there, usually.

brig- the jail place below deck where you keep people who are annoying you.

captain- you know this one for sure, but pirate captains were a bit different than other captains. since they weren’t backed by any kind of government and could be mutinied or voted out at any time, they had to earn their crew’s respect. they needed the crew to see them as an equal, but still an authority on certain things. sometimes there was no captain, or they took turns.

doldrums- when the wind isn’t blowing for a while and everyone kind of loses their minds

flogging- punishment used on sailors in which a person is tied up and whipped a certain amount of times, depending on their transgression (30 lashes, 40 lashes, etc). It could get pretty bad, people died from it. allegedly you could volunteer to whip your friends so that it wouldn’t hurt as bad. people say this is where the phrase "I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine" comes from, but that doesn't seem true

galley- the kitchen on a boat. sometimes doubles as the infirmary.

grog- daily rations of rum, mashed fruit, sketchy water, and sugar mixed into a delicious punch.

gun- the thing that shoots cannonballs.

hardtack- hard sad little crackerbreads that keep well but are very bland. sometimes there were bonus bugs in (extra protein!)

head- the toilet. it’s basically a board with a hole in it at the front of the ship. it goes straight into the ocean.

keelhauling- tying someone to the end of a rope and dropping them off the front of a ship so that they’re dragged under it and they drown or their skin gets ripped up by barnacles. fun.

(note: pirates didn’t usually use torture methods like keelhauling or flogging, especially not on their own crewmates. that was the navy and the merchant ships. a lot of people started out on those, mutinied because of the harsh conditions, stole the ship they were on, and became pirates. if a pirate captain tried that shit, they would not be captain for very long.)

kohl- black eyeliner made by the indigenous people of africa, india, and the middle east. i think it was invented in egypt? if pirates wore it, then tragically no one wrote about it. but it’s part of the lore at this point and it’s pretty. just accept it.

letter of marque- papers that prove someone is a privateer.

matelot- pirate husband. there was a matelotage ceremony, papers to sign, and a party afterward. a mate served as, like, next of kin. they made decisions if the other couldn’t, shared quarters and possessions, all that. some people insist it was only a financial arrangement, and maybe sometimes it was. but so were straight marriages, especially at the time.

port- left when you’re facing front (like stage left)

press-ganged/shanghaied- being drugged, stolen, and sold to work on a ship involuntarily. the recruiters just had to forge your signature and then you were stuck. some people became pirates to escape. it’s press-ganging when the navy does it, shanghaiing for the merchants.

privateer- like a pirate, but authorized by the state. they were allowed to kill and steal but only enemies of the crown and they had to give everything to the king. it was a good way to get a pardon and avoid being hanged. privateers often went right back to being pirates at the first opportunity.

quartermaster- first mate, also elected by the crew.

raid- when you go on another ship and take their things. pirates weren’t really out there stealing fabulous treasure or anything. It was more basic necessities like food, water, medical supplies, clothes, dishes, money, sugar, spices, and anything of value they could find to sell. they tried to be as scary as possible so that people would surrender and they wouldn’t have to kill anyone unnecessarily. if you could get them to join your crew, even better.

rigging- all the ropes. you can climb around on them.

round robin- when you sign your names in a circle so that no one gets singled out for signing first. used in the navy.

salty- of or related to the sea, experienced as a sailor

sextant- that thing you use to measure the stars so you know where you are at sea. i think you can also use your hand somehow? i don't understand it.

shanties- those songs sailors sing. you know the ones. they were work songs, to get everybody in the same rhythm, but they were also for entertainment. there’s a lot of downtime on a sailing ship. my favorite thing is that when singing a song from the perspective of, for example, a woman waiting for her bonny lad to come back from the sea, they would sing in their man voices without changing the words.

shares- an equal cut of the loot. some people might get a share or half share more or less than other crewmembers. sometimes the captain was the one who got less? this was decided by vote. it’s like a non-profit stealing co-op.

starboard- right when you’re facing front (like stage right)

stern- back of the ship.

watch- everyone took shifts staying up to watch for other ships and make sure they stayed on course.

yardarm- the horizontal thing that the sails are on. yardies!

some basic pirate terms for you in case you need them. I did not do any research, this is 100% organic vibes-based pirate lore in honor of our boy david. i have read a lot about pirates over the years, though. fiction, nonfiction, and primary sources. these are just the fun bits that live in my brain <3

[gilmores-glorious-blog]

do you regularly go insane over that one piece of fanart about stede naming himself captain edwards and saying “they forgot the apostrophe” or are you normal.

[letsgethaunted]

The Cursed Brigantine Mary Celeste

On December 4th, 1872 an abandoned ship known to be cursed was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship appeared perfectly sound, possessed a full cargo, and even had enough provisions in the galley to sustain a crew for 6 months of sail... but what happened to her crew and captain? This week, Nat takes Aly across the Atlantic Ocean on a journey full of mystery and mayhem as she unravels the most confounding seafaring case from the Age of Sail. Hoist the colors and make yourself a drink- this one is a doozy!

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!! Find out more about this week’s advertisers below!

Athena Club: This episode is sponsored by Athena Club! Head over to https://athenaclub.com and get 20% off your purchase with code “HAUNTED” at checkout!

Factor: This episode is sponsored by Factor. Head to https://www.factormeals.com/letsgethaunted50 and use code “letsgethaunted50” to get 50% off your first box and 2 free wellness shots per box while subscription is active. 

Apostrophe: For listeners of Let’s Get Haunted, go to Apostrophe’s website at https://www.Apostrophe.com/LETSGETHAUNTED and click “Get Started”, then use our code “LETSGETHAUNTED” at sign up and you’ll get your first visit for only five dollars!

[sowlmates]

List 8 shows for your followers to get to know you better

Thanks for the tag @captain-apostrophe 😇 as you said already, it was challenging but fun to think about tv shows that might have been formative / are meaningful to who I am as a person.

1. Mona the Vampire (my favourite childhood cartoon)

2. Haikyuu!!

3. The Untamed

4. Hannibal

5. OCN The Guest

6. The Haunting of Bly Manor

7. Twenty Five Twenty One

8. Tatort Saarbrücken (a fairly new but worthy addition)

I'm tagging @viciousbootyhunter @svedupelle @sinnsenke but of course there's no pressure to play. Have fun <3

[blackjackkent]

A few thoughts, apropos of nothing in particular, about the scene with W'wargaz and Therezzyn:

I love the opening shot of Durge/Tav poking their head around the door like a kid scoping out whether Santa is leaving presents at the Christmas tree.

Therezzyn's VA really struggles with the word "ch'r'ai". In her defense, each person in the creche pronounces it a slightly different way, but you could really drive a car through those apostrophe pauses when she says it. (It's a mark of the overall incredibly high quality of the VA in this game that moments like this really stick out to me.)

I really don't actually blame her at all for being pissy at W'wargaz. Her message is basically look, the artifact is clearly at Moonrise, let's just go storm Moonrise and then we will get the artifact, and W'wargaz is like, stop talking and go find me the artifact and she's clearly like yes you dumb bastard that is what I'm trying to tell y-- oh forget it.

She's not really thrilled about Rakha's arrival either which is kind of funny:

-----

Rakha has been listening very closely to this conversation from her place by the door. There's a lot to take in here.

The man, W'wargaz, is the Inquisitor the others have spoken of - the ch'r'ai. The woman, Therezzyn, is a kith'rak like Voss - the creche captain. Ostensibly they are both looking for the artifact - the "weapon," the "Astral Prism" - but they are distinctly at odds. Therezzyn definitely dislikes W'wargaz, while W'wargaz finds her beneath his notice.

Neither of them, at the moment, knows that Rakha is carrying the Prism herself. What would they do, if she told them?

She initially considered doing so, back when she thought the zaith'isk was going to be their salvation as Lae'zel promised. But now that it has tried to kill them and then exploded, she's not so sure. Even if Lae'zel is right that it was a conspiracy, that means they can't trust anyone here.

And deep down, she didn't want to turn it over anyway - because it would mean giving up access to the guardian, the one person who has managed to bring any sense of peace to Rakha's fractured brain...

(A/N: I am not sure if I noticed this before, but poor Shadowheart has to pass wisdom saving throws against Frightened in order to stand on the side of the office where Therezzyn is, because Therezzyn's two wolves are also there chewing on dead cultists. :( )

"An istik. In my creche," Therezzyn says coolly, having finally noticed Rakha standing silently in the doorway. "You are one of the mercenaries sent to bring the weapon?"

"The istik is with me, honored kith'rak," Lae'zel says.

Therezzyn shoots her a disdainful look and shrugs. "So noted," she says. "But my question goes unanswered. Do you bring the weapon?"

"Don't tell her anything..." murmurs the guardian inside Rakha's head.

Rakha says nothing for a long moment. Then she shrugs. "I seek audience with your Inquisitor. There's a traitor among you," she says curtly.

"She speaks the truth, kith'rak," Lae'zel agrees earnestly.

This does seem to get Therezzyn's attention to a greater degree, and she narrows her eyes warily. "Hshar'lak among us?" she growls. "Whom would you accuse?"

"Your doctor," answers Rakha. She keeps her voice deliberately steady and direct in spite of her own inward doubts on the matter.

Therezzyn's eyes narrow even further, to cold slits. "The ghustil? Chk... a strong accusation from the mouth of an istik. The very same said to hold the weapon we seek."

Rakha goes still. She hears Shadowheart curse under her breath behind her.

This has all been posturing, then. Therezzyn knew who she was from the moment she walked in the door. She knew Rakha had the artifact. Perhaps she knew about the zaith'isk as well. Rakha feels rage start to bubble in her gut. She has been one step behind ever since they arrived at this creche, and it's infuriating.

Therezzyn smiles harshly, seeing Rakha's reaction. "Ch'mar zal'a Vlaakith!" she snaps. "Give it to me."

Produce the artifact.

Little point in pretending, Rakha supposes. She reaches slowly into her pocket, pulls out the artifact. Its sharp spines dig into her palm as she turns it in the flicker of the firelight.

"No," she hears the guardian protest, with audible anguish. "NO!"

Therezzyn's eyes brighten eagerly and she lifts a hand. The Prism glows bright with the light of githyanki psionic energy; in a sharp gesture, the artifact is ripped from Rakha's hands into the kith'rak's grip.

"Yes..." Therezzyn whispers gleefully. "There it is. Exactly as described. The inquisition will finally come to an end..."

For a moment, Rakha simply watches in fascination - distracted from the import of this moment by the beauty of the githyanki magic. Therezzyn's psionic power seems to sit outside the usual ripples of the Weave that Rakha can normally perceive; they're deeper, darker, a strange undercurrent pulling from the energy of Therezzyn's own mind.

Then, as she watches, Rakha starts to become aware of a different force, some other magic clashing with the psionic strength - something from within the Prism itself. A golden light swells within the artifact, then bursts outward, knocking Therezzyn almost off her feet.

Like a dog returning to its master, the Prism slams back into Rakha's hands, sending a few bright pinpricks of pain through her where the spines poke through her robes into her chest.

She can feel the guardian's irritation and relief - and fear - as she regains her grip.

"Tsk'va!" Therezzyn snarls. She's recovered her balance and is staring at Rakha with a fierce, baleful glare. "Trickery! Heresy! How did you--" Her voice is trembling with indignation and humiliated rage. "You manipulate it when I cannot?"

She straightens, takes a step forward until she is almost nose to nose with Rakha. For a moment Rakha thinks the kith'rak is going to strike her (and oh, I hope you do, I hope you do and I can take you by the throat and hurl you into the fire until your bones blacken and your flesh crisps...) but she controls herself and simply glares. "You are forbidden to leave," she snaps. "Report to the Inquisitor at once. Deliver the Prism. Do not try to leave or it will be your death!"

She stalks past Rakha and triggers open the forcefield that leads to the corridor W'wargaz walked down.

Rakha remains still, looking down at the Prism in her hands. Well. That certainly got us where we wanted to go...

The artifact feels oddly warm in her hands, though, and her own confusion and anger are still rumbling just beneath the surface. There are too many threads, too many things she doesn't understand. And she is beginning to wish they had never come here at all.

[afterthegreatunknown]

An Unexpected Interlude at Aunt Josephine's House

Hello! Welcome to the third 'chapter' of my Seven Six Widdershins Family Members AU. Inspired by the Six Baudelaires AU by tumblr user unfortunate-stranger-losers, in this AU, the Book!Widdershins Family and Netflix!Widdershins Family are now combined together to make a family of six. This 'chapter' is as the title gives away, an interlude at Aunt Josephine's house.

While Violet, Klaus, and Sunny aren't the main focus of the AU, they are still important characters to the narrative. They're just having their own canonical misadventures off-screen. That said, this chapter is 100% all on them, because I legit wanted to write this particular part of TWW for the AU due to...reasons, that may or may not be related to a minor subplot of sorts that should come into play by TGG.

“Aunt Josephine! We’re back!” called out Violet, shutting the door close.

The house soon began the shake not long after Violet spoke. However, it wasn’t a violent shake that could send things crashing to the floor, or break windows.

Violet turned to Klaus, who was carrying Sunny in his arms. The two older siblings gave each other the same worrying look. The walk back to the house after grocery shopping (something their Aunt Josephine asked them to do to get them out of the house to be on her date with Count Olaf, under the disguise of Captain Sham) unlike their non-windy walk there, was not just windy, but bringing in grey storm clouds from the distance.

What had the two older Baudelaires worried was not just the incoming storm of Hurricane Herman. It was also the fact that their Aunt Josephine didn’t respond.

“Aunt Jo?” asked Violet, setting the groceries onto the kitchen table.

“Aunt Josephine?” Klaus careful set down Sunny, keeping a firm grip on her tiny hand.

“Ent Jo?” cried Sunny, which was her way of saying, “Aunt Jo?”

There was still no response.

Violet called out once again. “Aunt Jo? Are you here?”

Klaus took a sharp breath in. “Do you think it’s possible that…Count Olaf got to her?”

Violet didn’t response. All she does was stare at the double doors in front of them. The doors led to the other side of the house. And that included their Aunt Josephine’s grammar library, which had a grand wide window overlooking all of Lake Lachrymose.

The Baudelaires didn’t dare to speak as Violet pushed the double door open.

There from the doorway, was the other half of the house. The double doors to the library were open, and there from the distant they saw the wide window, shattered in the middle, as if someone was standing there, and they were pushed out of it.

“Oh no,” said Violet, as she and her siblings approached the broken window. “We’re too late. We came back too late…”

Violet did her best to hold back a sob. However, Violet couldn’t help herself but rub the back of her coat sleeve over her eyes. Sunny stood there, looking upward at Violet, before turning her attention to Klaus.

Klaus was focused on the chains that drew open the metal shutters of the window. There on the chain, was a hand-written note. Klaus tapped Violet’s shoulder, and pointed to the nearby note. The three children walked to the note, and Klaus quickly pulled it off from whatever it kept it attach to the chain itself.

“Violet, Klaus, and Sunny,” read Klaus. “It’s for us. From Aunt Josephine.”

“‘By the time you read this note’,” continued Klaus, “‘my life will be at it's end. My heart is as cold as Ike, and I find life inbearable.’ I-T-apostrophe-S? Inbearable?”

“Go on,” said Violet.

Klaus gave an uncertain look at Violet, but he nodded his head, agreeing to his sister’s order. “‘I know your children may not understand the sad life of a dowadger, or what would have leadled me to this desperate akt.’ …Dowager has one ‘d’, leadled isn’t a word, and act is spell with a ‘c’.”

“Does it matter?” asked Violet. “Keep going.”

“‘As my last will and testament, I leave you in the care of Captain Sham, a kind and honorable men. Please think of me kindly even though I’d done this terrible thing. Your Aunt Josephine.’ Violet, something is funny about this note,” said Klaus. “Funny as in wrong. I-T-apostrophe-S stands for “it is.” She meant to write I-T-S.”

“Why are you focusing on Aunt Jo’s errors?” asked Violet.

“Aunt Josephine told us her greatest joy in life was grammar,” said Klaus. “She cared so much for grammar, there’s no way she would be making all these mistakes.”

“…Unless Count Olaf wrote the note instead,” suggested Violet.

“Do you still have Aunt Josephine’s list of groceries?” asked Klaus.

Violet quickly dug into her coat pocket. She felt the folded-up list of paper, alongside the plastic bag holding the peppermints Mr. Poe gave to them a week ago when dropping them off to Lake Lachrymose, before going back on the ferry to the City.

Violet pulled the letter out, and unfolded it. The two silently read the note and list of groceries together. There they saw how the V in ‘vinegar’ matched the V in ‘Violet’, and that the C in ‘cucumber’ was identical to the C in ‘Captain Sham’.

As Violet and Klaus re-read the note and list once more, they felt their unspoken and shared hope shaking. This was not help by the fact that the house was shaking once again. The more the house shook, the thuds also became stronger.

“It’s in her handwriting,” said Violet at last. “This was Count Olaf’s plan all along. Win her heart, get her alone to write this suicide note, and then push her out the window.”

Violet crumbled the list of groceries, and shoved it into her pocket. Recalling the peppermints, Violet pulled out the bag, and threw it out the shattered window.

There’s no point in keeping them if they’re not going to be useful.

Klaus stared at the window, and then back at the note in his hand.

“It’s…It’s…” Klaus burrowed his brow, and then gasped. “Violet, it’s not a suicide note.”

Klaus then dug into his pants pockets, and pulled out a retractable ball-point pen Uncle Monty let Klaus kept, for Monty had many to spare. Klaus clicked the pen, and underlined the ‘it’s’ on the letter. He then circled the ‘K’ in Ike, and turned to Violet.

“Writing “it’s” was to get our attention. Ike is our first clue. Ike is supposed to be ice.”

Klaus wrote the letter ‘C’ at the bottom of the note. He then did the same with the word inbearable, circling the ‘I’ and wrote down the letter ‘U’ next to the letter C. Klaus repeated this for every error that was written, until he finally got the last mistake of ‘I’d’, writing down the letters of ‘V’ and ‘E’. Then, Klaus heavily underlined the hidden word that was inside the note all along.

CURDLED CAVE

“She’s not dead,” said Klaus, a small smile forming on his lips. “She’s hiding.”

“Curdled Cave…” repeated Violet, smiling herself as well.

Another shake. Another thud. Items are now crashing onto the floor.

Violet and Klaus soon realized after that crash that not once, did they hear their baby sister speak throughout the reading of Aunt Josephine’s note, their comparison of the handwriting, and the reveal of the hidden message. The two gave each other another set of identical freak-out looks as another shake happened, this time sending several books down, which send loose papers all over the place.

“Sunny! Where are you?” shouted Violet, cupping her hands together over her mouth.

Another rumble. Another thud. More crashing was heard. The sound of something tearing apart from the house caught Violet’s attention. She turned her head towards the direction, and widened her eyes from the fear taking over her.

The front door was off its hinges, flying right towards her and Klaus.

Violet hastily grabbed Klaus, pushing himself and herself to the side. The door flew past them and out the window. It’s there a familiar voice caught their attention.

“Ey! Ey!”

The two looked down, and saw Sunny, pointing to the door their Aunt Josephine said was her deceased husband’s Ike private room. Their Aunt Josephine told them that she couldn’t bear to set foot in it, and made sure none of the Baudelaire went inside also.

The strong winds busted the door open, showing the three children the office. Inside there was a small wooden desk with matching chair, and a small window overlooking the desk itself. Clipped onto hanging string, were newspaper articles with headlines black and bold with the darkest ink seen, as well as loose book pages.

Violet quickly picked Sunny up, while Klaus’ curiosity got the better of him. He took a few steps inside Ike’s office, with Violet (and Sunny, being in Violet’s arms) behind him.

Much of the book pages were text, though two pages were full illustrations of a three-legged crow, and a deer-like creature with two sets of antlers. Regarding headlines, one came from a newspaper from Paltryville—the town where a photograph of their parents, their Aunt Josephine, Uncle Monty, and others was taken. The headline talked about an accident regarding the now defunct stream train, The Thistle of the Valley.

The small window in the office soon shattered. The desk opened up, and loose papers went flying. One paper flew right towards Klaus, and the middle Baudelaire child caught it. In his hands was a sketch. It was a hand-drawn sketch of an unknown creature that was curving its body, almost like a question mark.

Klaus lowered his eyes to see the artist’s signature: E.B.W.

“What was Ike investigating?” asked Klaus, focusing all too much on the sketch.

Violet didn’t reply to Klaus. Another shake of the house had Violet turning around, allowing her to focus on all the destruction and chaos surrounding them.

“Klaus,” said Violet loudly, “we got to get out of here!”

“R-right!” Klaus nodded his head, and folded up the sketch, shoving it into his pants pocket, as well as the pen still in his hand.

The Baudelaires were only a few or two away from Ike’s office, when another shake of the house happened. They heard the creaking of the house walls wanting to tear itself off, the groans of the beams below them. The children did their best to pick up the pace, for the wind was much stronger than before, and the floor was now slightly slanted.

Another creak. Another shake. The sudden sound behind the children terrified them. They couldn’t but look back behind them, and saw that Ike’s room and parts of the library fell down into the lake below.

Another thud. The children looked back in front of them, and saw the refrigerator tipped down, and began sliding towards them.

“Come away from the fridge,” said Violet, recalling their Aunt Josephine’s words. “Because if it falls it could crush you flat!”

Violet and Sunny quickly fell to the right side of the slanted room, while Klaus rapidly fell to the left side to dodge it. The three children upon seeing the refrigerator falling into the waters below, stood up, and continued marching on to the entrance of the house.

They marched through everything falling around them, as well as everything detaching themselves from the house. They marched through the light debris flying past their heads that could harm them, if it hit them right. The children marched on over the slanted floor, which keeps on slanting due to the support beams weakening.

One support beam was so weak, the stove —which had broken free from its plug and caught on fire due to a phone wire sparking on it— fell through the door with a heavy splash. The Baudelaires gave each other a sigh of relief.

Relief didn’t last long as they looked forward. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny saw another loose wire heating up the doorknob. The doorknob turned from its black metal color to an orange color that’s seconds aways away from turning red.

“No way,” said Violet.

When the doorknob turns a bright red that’s almost white, the Baudelaires quickly ducked down to the floor. The children refused to look up. They kept themselves low, and they heard the harsh winds over their heads, and whatever debris flying pass them. They kept themselves in this position for minutes, before the winds began the slowly calm down. The wind calmed down to where Violet felt she could finally ask a question.

“It is over?”

Klaus slowly lifted his head up, and saw a fire extinguisher two inches away from his head. He flipped over onto his back, and swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

“Violet, I think you might want to tie your hair up.”

Violet slowly looked up, wondering what Klaus meant by that. Violet once again widened her eyes upon seeing the newest situation they were in.

Despite having survived the worst that Hurricane Herman could throw at them, being stranded on what little remained of their Aunt Josephine’s house was equally worse. Perhaps more so. The creaks and groans of the still standing beams told the Baudelaires that any second now, they could fall to the doom if they don’t act quickly.

Violet looked at Sunny, who was moving her head around quietly, looking around at their surroundings. Feeling certain Sunny would be safe where she was at for the time being, Violet stood up, and she too, observed their surroundings. She kept on her observation as she pulled out her ribbon from her other coat pocket.

Violet quickly tied up her hair, and walked over towards the edge near former front door. Violet looking down at the beams below, and briefly bit the inside of her lower lip. Violet then looked back up, turning her attention to a wall that somehow, wasn’t gone with the wind. The wall had an empty cabinet that once held fancy dishes, but now had an anchor inside it. Near the cabinet was also a few empty metal cannisters that look like they could have held helium for balloons.

“Klaus, bring me the fire extinguisher,” said Violet.

Klaus looked at the fire extinguisher. “Why?”

“Because we need to move this anchor,” continued Violet, point to the edge near the former front door, “over there.”

“…Okay.”

Klaus did as he was told. He helped Violet lower the anchor from the cabinet, onto the fire extinguishers and the other metal cannisters. The two siblings carefully rolled the anchor towards the edge, and stopped right before it could go over.

Klaus looked back down at the beam. “Violet, what is exactly your plan?”

“On the count of three,” replied Violet, “we’re going to break the beam.”

Klaus did a double take from the beam to Violet. “Break it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the only thing keeping us up.”

“I know.”

Sunny’s voice suddenly ranged out. “Epon!”, which translated to, “Violet, please tell us you tied your hair tight enough.”

“Just trust me.” Violet took a deep breathe in, and then out. “One, two…three!”

Violet and Klaus soon rolled the anchor off, and they saw it falling right onto the beams. The house stood still, before it began tilting back and forth. Klaus quickly ran over to Sunny, and picked her up. Klaus continued to hold Sunny close to his chest, as he and Violet prepared to jump. Violet was even in a jumping stance.

“Hold on, Sunny,” said Klaus, as the house began to tilt back once more

Violet bends her knees, as the house tilt forward once again. “NOW!”

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny —granted, she’s being carried— soon jumped over to the remains of their Aunt Josephine’s front porch. The children turned around just in time to see the house tilting backward, with everything now falling into the lake as last. They stood there in silence, still reeling in the events they went through minutes ago.

Sunny soon spoke up again. “Wohat?”, which translated to, “What do we do now?”

“It’s obvious,” said Klaus. “With the proof we have that Aunt Josephine alive and hiding, we can go to the authorities for help.”

Violet shook her head. “No.”

Klaus and Sunny stared at one another, before staring back at Violet. “No?”

“The authorities don’t listen. They never listen to us,” said Violet. “And that’s because of Olaf. He won’t stop. He’ll never stop. We have to find Aunt Josephine ourselves.”

“But—” Klaus was unable to finished his sentence. The distance sounds of sirens took the children by surprise.

Violet stared at Klaus. “Have you read any books on sailing?”