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popculty · 4 years

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52 Films by Women: 2020 Edition

Another annual challenge complete!

Last year, I focused on diversifying my list. This year I kept that intention but focused on watching more non-American films and films from the 20th century. Specifically, I sought out Agnès Varda’s entire filmography, after her death in 2019. (I was not disappointed - What a filmmaking legend we lost.)

I also kept a film log for the first time and have included some of my thoughts on several films from that log. I made a point of including reviews both positive and negative, because I think it’s important to acknowledge the variability and breadth of the canon, so as not to put every film directed by a woman on a pedestal. (Although movies directed by women must clear a much higher bar to be greenlit, meaning generally higher quality...But that’s an essay for another day :)

* = directed by a woman of color

bold = fave

1. The Rhythm Section (2020) dir. Reed Morano - Not as good as it could have been, given Morano’s proven skill behind the camera, but also not nearly as bad as the critics made it out to be. And unbelievably refreshing to see a female revenge story not driven by sexual assault or the loss of a husband/child.

2. Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) dir. Agnès Varda - If you ever wanted to take a real-time tour of Paris circa 1960, this is the film for you.

3. Little Women (2019) dir. Greta Gerwig - Still my favorite Little Women adaptation. I will re-watch it every year and cry.

4. Varda by Agnès (2019) dir. Agnès Varda & Didier Rouget

5. Booksmart (2019) dir. Olivia Wilde - An instant classic high school comedy romp that subverts all the gross tropes of its 1980s predecessors.

6. Girls of the Sun (2018) dir. Eva Husson

7. Blue My Mind (2017) dir. Lisa Brühlmann

8. Portrait of a Lady On Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma - Believe the hype. This film is a master thesis on the female gaze, and also just really effing gorgeous.

9. Belle Epine (2010) dir. Rebecca Zlotowski

10. Vamps (2012) dir. Amy Heckerling - With Krysten Ritter and Alicia Silverstone as modern-day vampires, I was so ready for this movie. But it feels like a bad stage play or a sit-com that’s missing a laugh-track. Bummer.

11. *Birds of Prey (2020) dir. Cathy Yan - Where has this movie been all our lives?? Skip the next onslaught of Snyder-verse grim-darkery and give me two more of these STAT!

12. She’s Missing (2019) dir. Alexandra McGuinness

13. The Mustang (2019) dir. Laure de Clermont-Tonnere - Trigger warning for the “protagonist” repeatedly punching a horse in the chest. I noped right out of there.

14. Monster (2003) dir. Patty Jenkins – I first watched this movie when I was probably too young and haven’t revisited it since. The rape scene traumatized me as a kid, but as an adult I appreciate how that trauma is not the center of the movie, or even of Aileen’s life. Everyone still talks about how Charlize “went ugly” for this role, but the biggest transformation here isn’t aesthetic, it’s physical – the way Theron replicates Wuernos’ mannerisms, way of speaking, and physicality. That’s why she won the Oscar. I also love that Jenkins calls the film “Monster” (which everyone labels Aileen), but then actually uses it to tell the story of how she fell in love with a woman when she was at her lowest, and that saved her. That’s kind of beautiful, and I’m glad I re-watched it so that I could see the story in that light, instead of the general memory I had of it being a good, feel-bad movie. It’s so much more than that.

15. Water Lilies (2007) dir. Céline Sciamma – Sciamma’s screenwriting and directorial debut, the first in her trilogy on youth, is as painfully beautiful as its sequels (Tomboy and Girlhood). It’s also one of the rare films that explores the overlap of queerness and girl friendships.

16. The Trouble with Angels (1966) dir. Ida Lupino – Movies about shenanigan-based female friendships are such rare delights. Rosalind Russel is divine as Mother Superior, and Hayley Mills as “scathingly brilliant” as the pranks she plays on her. Ida Lupino’s skill as an editor only enhances her directing, providing some truly iconic visual gags to complement dialogue snappy enough for Gilmore Girls.

17. Vagabond (1985) dir. Agnès Varda – Shot with a haunting realism, this film has no qualms about its heroine’s inevitable, unceremonious death, which it opens with, matter-of-factly, before retracing her final (literal) steps to the road-side ditch she ends up in. (I’m partly convinced said heroine was the inspiration for Sarah Manning in Orphan Black.)

18. One Sings, The Other Doesn’t (1977) dir. Agnès Varda – Probably my favorite classic Varda, this film feels incredibly personal. It’s essentially a love story about two best friends with very different lives. For an indie made in the ‘70s, the diversity, scope, and themes of the film are impressive. Even if the second half a drags a bit, the first half is absolute perfection, engaging the viewer immediately, and clipping along, sprinkling in some great original songs that were way progressive for their time (about abortion, female bodily autonomy, etc) and could still be considered “bangers” today.

19. Emma (2020) dir. Autumn de Wilde

20. Black Panthers (1969) dir. Agnès Varda

21. Into the Forest (2016) dir. Patricia Rozema - When the world was ending (i.e. the pandemic hit) this was the first movie I turned to - a quiet, meditative story of two sisters (Elliot Page and Evan Rachel Wood) surviving off the land after a sudden global blackout. Four years later, it’s still one of my favorite book-to-screen adaptations. I fondly remember speaking with director Patricia Rozema at the 2016 Chicago Critics Film Festival after a screening, her love for the source material and desire to “get it right” so apparent. I assured her then, and reaffirm now, that she really did.

22. City of Trees (2019) dir. Alexandra Swarens

23. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) dir. Eliza Hittmann - To call this a harrowing and deeply personal journey of a sixteen-year-old who must cross state lines to get an abortion would be accurate, but incomplete. It is a story so much bigger than that, about the myriad ways women’s bodies and boundaries are constantly violated.

24. Paradise Hills (2019) dir. Alice Waddington

25. *Eve’s Bayou (1996) dir. Kasi Lemmons – I’ve been meaning to watch Kasi Lemmons’ directorial debut for many years now, and I’m so glad I finally have, because it fully deserves its icon status, beyond being one of the first major films directed by a black woman. Baby Jurnee Smollett's talent was immediately recognizable, and she has reminded us of it in Birds of Prey and Lovecraft Country this year. If merit was genuinely a factor for Oscar contenders, she would have taken home gold at eleven years old. Beasts of the Southern Wild has been one of my all-time favorites, but now I realize that most of my appreciation for that movie actually goes to Lemmons for blazing the trail with her story of a young black girl from the bayou first. It’s also a surprisingly dark story about memory and abuse and familial relationships that cross lines - really gutsy and surprising themes, especially for the ‘90s.

26. Blow the Man Down (2019) dir. Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy - Come and get your sea shanty fix!

27. Touchy Feely (2013) dir. Lynn Shelton - R.I.P. :(

28. Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (2020) dir. Madeleine Parry - If you thought Gadsby couldn’t follow up 2018′s sensational Nanette with a comedy special just as sharp and hilarious, you would have been sorely mistaken.

29. Girlhood (2013) dir. Céline Sciamma

30. Breathe (2014) dir. Mélanie Laurent

31. *A Dry White Season (1989) dir. Euzhan Palcy

32. Laggies (2014) dir. Lynn Shelton

33. *The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood – Everything I’ve ever wanted in an action movie: Immortal gays, Charlize Theron wielding a labrys (battle axe), kinetic fight choreography I haven’t seen since the last Bond movie…Watched it twice, then devoured the comics it was adapted from, and I gotta say: in the hands of black women, it eclipses the source material. Cannot wait for the just-announced sequel.

34. Morvern Callar (2002) dir. Lynn Ramsay

35. Shirley (2020) dir. Josephine Decker

36. *Radioactive (2019) dir. Marjane Satrapi – The story is obviously well worth telling and the narrative structure – weaving in the future consequences of Curie’s discoveries – is clever, but a bit awkwardly executed and overly manipulative. There are glimpses of real brilliance throughout, but it feels as if the director’s vision was not fully realized, to my great disappointment. Nonetheless, I appreciated seeing Marie Curie's story being told by a female director and embodied by the always wonderful Rosamund Pike.

37. *The Half of It (2020) dir. Alice Wu - I feel like a real scrooge for saying this, but this movie did nothing for me. Nothing about it felt fresh, authentic or relatable. A real disappointment from the filmmaker behind the wlw classic Saving Face.

38. Mouthpiece (2018) dir. Patricia Rozema - I am absolutely floored. One of those films that makes you fall in love with the art form all over again. Patricia Rozema continues to prove herself one of the most creatively ambitious and insightful directors of our time, with this melancholic meditation on maternal grief and a woman’s duality.

39. Summerland (2020) dir. Jessica Swale - The rare period wlw love story that is not a) all-white or b) tragedy porn. Just lovely.

40. *The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) dir. Dee Rees – As rumored, a mess. Even by the end, I still couldn’t tell you who any of the characters are. Dee, we know you’re so much better than this! (see: Mudbound, Pariah)

41. *Cuties (2020) dir. Maïmouna Doucouré – I watched this film to 1) support a black woman director who has been getting death threats for her work and 2) see what all the fuss is about. While I do think there were possibly some directorial choices that could have saved quite a bit of the pearl-clutching, overall, I didn’t find it overly-exploitative or gross, as many (who obviously haven’t actually watched the film) have labeled it. It certainly does give me pause, though, and makes me wonder whether children can ever be put in front of a camera without it exploiting or causing harm to them in some way. It also makes one consider the blurry line between being a critique versus being an example. File this one under complicated, for sure.

42. A Call to Spy (2019) Lydia Dean Pilcher – An incredible true story of female spies during WWII that perfectly satisfied my itch for British period drama/spy thriller and taught me so much herstory I didn’t know.

43. Kajillionaire (2020) dir. Miranda July - I was lucky enough to attend the (virtual) premiere of this film, followed by an insightful cast/director Q&A, which only made me appreciate it more. July's offbeat dark comedy about a family of con artists is queerer and more heartfelt than it has any right to be, and a needed reprieve in a year of almost entirely white wlw stories. The family's shenanigans are the hook, but it's the budding relationship between Old Dolio (an almost unrecognizable Evan Rachel Wood) and aspiring grifter Melanie (the luminous Gina Rodriguez) that is the heart of the story.

44. Misbehaviour (2020) dir. Philippa Lowthorpe – Again, teaching me herstory I didn’t know, about how the Women’s Liberation Movement stormed the 1970 Miss World Pageant. Keira Knightley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s characters have a conversation in a bathroom at the end of the film that perfectly eviscerates well-meaning yet ignorant white feminism, without ever pitting women against each other - a feat I didn’t think was possible. I also didn’t think it was possible to critique the male gaze without showing it (*ahem Cuties, Bombshell, etc*), but this again, invents a way to do it. Bless women directors.

45. *All In: The Fight for Democracy (2020) dir. Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes – 2020’s 13th. Thank god for Stacey Abrams, that is all.

46. *The 40-Year-Old Version (2020) dir. Radha Blank – This scene right here? I felt that in my soul. This whole film is so good and funny and heartfelt and relatable to any artist trying to walk that tightrope of “making it” while not selling their soul to make it. My only initial semi-note was that it’s a little long, but after hearing Radha Blank talk about how she fought for the two-hour run-time as a way of reclaiming space for older black women, I take it back. She’s right: Let black women take up space. Let her movie be as long as she wants it to be. GOOD FOR HER.

47. Happiest Season (2020) dir. Clea Duvall - Hoooo boy. What was marketed as the first lesbian Christmas rom-com is actually a horror movie for anyone who’s ever had to come out. Throw in casual racism and a toxic relationship treated as otp, and it’s YIKES on so many levels. Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, and an autistic-coded Jane are the only (underused) highlights.

48. *Monkey Beach (2020) dir. Loretta Todd

49. *Little Chief (2020) dir. Erica Tremblay – A short film part of the 2020 Red Nation Film Festival, it’s a perfect eleven minutes that I wish had gone on longer, if only to bask in Lily Gladstone in a leading role.

50. First Cow (2019) dir. Kelly Reichardt – I know Kelly Reichardt’s style, so I’ll admit-- even as I was preparing for an excellent film, I was also reaching for my phone, planning on only half paying attention during all the inevitable 30-second shots of grass blowing in the wind. (And yes, there are plenty of those.) But twenty minutes in, my phone was set aside and forgotten, as I am getting sucked into this beautiful story about two frontiersman trying to live their best domestic life.There is only one word to describe this film and that is: PURE. I’ve never seen such a tender platonic relationship between men on screen before, and it’s not lost on me that it took a woman to show us that tenderness. Reichardt gives us two men brought together by fate, and kept together by a shared dream and the simple pleasure of not being alone in such a hard world; two men who spend their days cooking, trapping, baking, and dreaming of a better life; two men who don’t say much, but feel everything for each other. The world would be a much better place if men showed us this kind of vulnerability and friendship toward each other. Oh, and it’s also a brutal take-down of capitalism and the myth of the American Dream!

51. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) dir. Patty Jenkins - My most-anticipated film for the past two years was...well, a mixed bag, to say the least. Too many thoughts on it for a blog post, so stay tuned for the upcoming podcast ep where we go all in ;)

52. *Selah and the Spades (2019) dir. Tayarisha Poe

I hope this gives you some ideas to kick off your new year with a resolution to support more female directors!

What were your favorite women-directed movies of last year? Let me know in the tags, comments, or asks!

#finally finished this #52 films by women #2020 #writing #movies #movie reviews #orig

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windup-dragoon · 4 years

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Pain

|| FFXIV write - 2020

|| Prompt #15 - Ache

|| Post ShB - Some years later

|| Kirishimi lore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eyriwolk and Lynawyb are Kiri’s adoptive parents who have been missing since the fall of Dalamud

|| Word Count: 2,154

|| In which the Stray becomes broken

>>> Warning!!!! This piece involves mention of slavery, torture, blood, bodily injury and death!!!!!!!!

Ache.

Many types of ache exist in the world.

From the physical ache of old injuries -

His hands, so gnarled and broken over the years, no longer able to thread the line of a fishing pole. Scar tissue marred his face and pulls at the corner of his lip; his back is more broken skin then muscle any more. The once welcomed breeze off the ocean now stings at his injuries and gives him reason to shiver that evening.

He was forced to his knees beneath the glow of a single lantern, a motion that had him murmuring with pain. The years had not been kind to the old captain, the scars that disfigured him could attest. But a hissed growl from the Roegadyn woman at his side had silenced him.

She had promised him freedom. Spoken of his hearts true desire, the only dreams he still clung to so hopelessly in the middle of the night when sleep was outside his grasp. She was not a kind woman, but what else did he have to lose? He was a broken, lonely man, patiently waiting for death to claim him. Oh the sweet embrace it would be; at least he would be reunited with those who had parted before him.

But this offer? This once in a lifetime chance? He saw no other option than to reach for it with both mangled hands. Just maybe it would be enough to breathe life into him once more; to rekindle a spark that had been snuffed out years ago. Time and time again the little flame in his thundering heart had left him. He has suffered so much loss.

“Twelve, please...” He whimpered brokenly to any deity that would hear him. “Give me this at least...”

Just as his captor rose to her feet, a massive ax clutched in her hands, footsteps echoed.

They were along the coastal region of La Noscea to be sure, some long abandoned port that was previously overrun with carnivorous beasts. What were once pristine white buildings were now dilapidated skeletons. The only light casting long shadows was the swaying lantern, rocking listlessly in the breeze. The ebb and flow of the tide beneath the dock seemed to fade with the approach of the stranger; everyone in his company, including himself, held their breath.

From the darkness she emerged, stepping cautiously into the pool of color and light. The dock creaked beneath her footfalls. And all at once, Eyriwolk choked on a strangled gasp.

Snowy white hair glittered beneath the faint lanterns glow; familiar mismatched eyes widening as she looked him over. He would know this girl from a crowd of thousands and it made his broken heart swim for the first time in many moons.

Caution was thrown to the wind as the ran the short distance between them, the jetty beneath them all swaying in the tide. Although shackled still as he was, he raised his bound arms to catch her as she hurled herself to her knees before him, her own arms immediately thrown around his neck.

Scars along the length of his neck and scattered across his now thin shoulders kept him from feeling the sting of tears falling, staining his already tattered and dingy shirt. But he felt her sobs in the way her shoulders hitched; he could hear it in her broken hiccuped voice. His own tears welled and crested over his swollen cheeks.

His daughter. His sweet, beloved daughter.

She had grown since the last he laid eyes on her. From a little pup with a permanent scowl, to a beautiful young woman. He had never known such pride until now.

The woman pulled herself from him, taking his too thin shoulders in her hands and looked him over with bleary eyes.

“Da’...” There was hurt in her voice as she took in what the years without her had done to him. Once a powerful Roegadyn himself, who could eat supper for two without batting an eye and sang sea shanties well into the night with his crew; now little more than skin, bone, and pain.

“She said I could see ya’ again, lass.” Eyri choked on his own voice, the smile on his lips hurting his cheeks. How long had it been since last he smiled?

With this, mismatched eyes lifted from his to stare up at the company he shared.

There had been three others in total. The ax wielding mountain of a woman, Eyri had to double take at the resemblance she shared with his own daughter. A hyuran woman, young and frail who hadn’t spoken a word since they had taken him from his handlers. The way her eyes seemed vacant had unnerved him dearly. And the third, a Garlean man. However, he was more machine and technology than man any longer. Magitek parts kept him together like some old broken toy, a patchwork of metal and weeping flesh.

The roe woman moved between them, her ax breaking their reunion.

Kiri reeled back on her heels, not quite knocked back but still unsettled. “Yer letter,” his daughter ground out as she rose to her feet. So tall she had become, no longer the little pup he had found stranded on some island out at sea. “Ya’ wanted ta’ bargain?”

Her eyes shift between the company. Eyri feels his stomach churn as the conversation begins to fill in the missing pieces he lacked. Why would anyone free a slave to reunite him with lost family? Kindness? Not in this cruel world.

But he had been desperate to see her. At least one last time.

It was the Garlean that advanced next, his movements mechanical and jittery. “My my! You’ve grown!” He announced with a voice filled to the brim with joy and happiness. Did he know Kirishimi? Had Eyri’s assumptions of her past been accurate all these years?

Was Kirishimi Garlean?

But Kiri crossed her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. “Sorry, mate, but have we met?” Before she receives an answer, she moves on to her next question. “What do you want?”

“Ah, you waste no time I see. Fair enough.” The Garlean man reaches a hand for Eyriwolk’s head, patting ever so softly at his now silver touched hair. If he had been stronger, younger, Eyri would have taken that hand and cast the man into the ocean in one swift motion. Instead he deigned to grimace. “A trade, my dear Warrior of Light.”

Eyri’s stomach falls. His blood runs cold as ice. His round eyes stare blankly up at his daughter, her stony features and furrowed brow only causing his heart to thunder like drums in his ears. “No-”

“You, for your fathers freedom.”

“No!” Eyri finds his voice at last and calls out with a boom that shakes his core and echoes along the forgotten stonework of the ruined port. His eyes search hers although she does not remove her fixated stare from the Garlean before her. “Kirishimi, you bull headed- Don’t’cha DARE think-”

It is the sound of metal grinding metal that stops him cold. The blade of an ax drags across his shackles, just shy of taking fingers. A practiced swing or a lucky miss; no matter which, the action had startled both he and Kirishimi.

There’s a feral look to her mismatched eyes as she glares and snarls at the roe woman. “Bitch-”

“Not my name,” The woman sighs casually and hefts the ax over her shoulder. “But nice guess.”

“Ladies! Please!” The mechanical man steps to the other side of them. “Lani, take a seat and cool off for a moment, hm?”

There’s a groan of protest, but the woman abides and marches out of Eyri’s sight, no doubt alongside the other girl lurking in the shadows at the edge of the dock.

“Look at your father, dear. The man who raised you. Took you in and cared for you.” The man kneels beside Eyri now, grabbing him forcefully by the chin and tilting his head back. He squints against the light of the lantern but sees the concern glittering in Kiri’s eyes. The tears beginning to shimmer beneath her thick lashes. “He hasn’t much life left to him. Refuse and he will be returned at once to the slaver that neglects him.”

Eyri tries to plead with Kirishimi but his voice is lost to the Garlean man.

“Where’s Lynawyb?” She asks at last, tearing herself to look away from him. “The letter said-”

“Ah. There was a... lack of communication, to put it simply. At the time the missive had been sent, we had the full intention to return both your parents to you.” He says this sorrowfully, as if truly apologizing for the misunderstanding.

Eyri’s heart echoes with a hollow thump in his chest. His wife... His wife...

Kiri lurches forward and grabs the collar of the mans shirt, dragging him to his feet despite the weight of his metal parts. Her lips curl back as a snarl fills the night air. “Where is she?!”

But the man is once more unaffected and merely chuckles. “...Why not ask your father? Eyriwolk, be a sport and tell her?”

Her grip loosens and the man slips away as her eyes slide back down to Eyriwolk. Her lips tremble even as her jaw slackens. “...What?”

“Gods, please!” Eyri fights through a sob that makes his throat hoarse. He casts his eyes away, shaking, his whole body shaking. “She shouldn’t have’ta hear it.” The memory will always be fresh in his mind. From the scent of ash and smoke, to the wails and cries echoed on the wind.

But without telling her, Eyriwolk has already shown her.

Kiri crouches suddenly with a hand to her temple.

Lynawyb, his beloved wife... The woman she called mother...

Eyriwolk’s last memory of her is of a frail woman cradled in his arms. Crimson blossoms across her apron. Blood splutters in her mouth and spills over her lip as she stares up at her husband with hopeful, broken eyes. She had been cut down in an attempt to free themselves, and others, from their hell. Countless others lay motionless around them while the house of their captor burned.

“Don’t’cha cry....” Lyna had whispered. “I’ll go see... Fraethota first... I’m sure she’s waitin’...” Trembling as she was, the dying woman clutches her husbands hand. “...A-And if you see her.... Tell our little pup.... Her ma’ loves her....”

To the ache of the heart-

Hours had come and gone. She tried to drown out the pain as her lip was split from a punch; desperate to busy her mind with thoughts of Hien and the others as she heard her arm snap and Lani curse her to the Hells and back.

Hien...

His coronation was only days away. He had been a child at a carnival with excitement for it as he and his company delighted in the details of the festivities they would have. He would be King or Emperor or something along those lines, Kiri couldn’t focus long enough to remember which it was... But she knew he would be perfect for the job. He would do his father and mother proud while ruling Doma. But... he would have to do it alone.

Eyriwolk...

Kiri tried to forget the events that transpired only hours ago before she had been thrown like cargo onto an airship. The trade agreement had been complete, she should have been elated. Her father was a free man once more. It would be a shell of a life, broken as he was... But what better gift was there than freedom?

The chains at her wrist rattle and slither across the floorboards as she lays herself down. Lani had exhausted herself for the evening, talk of resuming her punishment in the morning was the last Kiri had heard before she slammed the door to her cell and locked it.

Lynawyb...

A sob, painful as it was to even breathe, ripped through Kiri as she lay curled in on herself, knees to her stomach and shackled hands buried against her drumming heart. The echo had granted her one last chance to see Lynawyb alive. All she had ever wanted for all these lonesome years was to know her family was still breathing and living... but what sort of life had that been? How long had Lynawyb been waiting for rescue? How many nights had she stared up helplessly at an expanse of star dusted sky and wished on every falling star for her freedom? Just how many nights... did Lynawyb dream of the day the Warrior of Light... her own daughter... save her from her misery?

Coward...

She had been a coward for not searching for them all these years. Fear of what she might find had kept her from investing herself to the task... And now?

She paid the price...

#ffxivwrite2020 #ffxivwrites2020 #CAUTION WHILE READING #Kirishimi #ffxiv #I have plans to turn this into a story but idk ???????#at least her dad is alive right :')))

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khoicesbyk · 4 years

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The Good Captain.

Author’s Note: This is my version of what book 2 of Distant Shores should be like. Y’know the book 2 that we readers of Distant Shores rightfully deserved! One more thing: in this fanfic, the MC’s last name has been changed to Bennett but; in the game it’s Carter. I decided to change it from Carter to Bennett; because Bennett sounds better to me. Also; her original occupation has been changed as well.

***Rated: Mature 18+. Contains sexual content, nudity, some violence and strong language.

***Bolded and/or italicized words are conversations and thoughts of the characters.

***Characters: Captain Edward Mortemer (LI), Kyra Bennett (MC), Robert Finnegan (Main Antagonist), Charlie, Ginny, Jonas, Maggie, Samuel, Octavia, Henry, Axton, Adelia, Kendrick and Oliver Cochrane (Side Characters)

***Disclaimer: All character names (except MC) and/or some dialogues belong to Pixelberry.

Current Word Count: 2,784 words.

To make this chapter, a little more accurate; I’m timing this around winter 2019/early 2020.

Chapter 2: The Revelation…

As the sun sets; Captain Edward Mortemer gazes over the ocean and watches the colors blend into one another. She’s on his mind again. Her smile. Her eyes. The touch of her skin. He clenches his fists; in order to fight back the emotions and tears that were creeping up on him. She was just in his arms then she was gone.

He missed her. He longed for her. He wanted her back. He loved her.

“I knew I could find you here!”, a familiar voice called out to him. It was Charlie coming to check on him.

“Aye. I’m here.”, he replied.

“Thinking of the lass again?”, she asked.

“Always, Charlie. Always…”, he told her.

“She’s out there Edward. You’ll find her.”, she said reassuringly.

“Aye. I will find her. Wherever she is. I WILL find her.”, he responds. Charlie pats him on the back and leaves him to his thoughts.

“Kyra…wherever you are. Just know; I will not stop until I’ve found you. I will not give up until you’re in my arms again.”, he tells himself before making his way back to town.

She’d been gone for almost 3 1/2 months, at that point. Just vanished into thin air. And poor Edward; the man drove himself crazy, endlessly searching for her. He never got to tell her; what she truly meant to him. He never got to tell her; that he would move heaven and earth for her. He never got to say the words “I love you”. That’s what he wanted. To tell her, that he is MADLY in love with her. He had to find her. No matter where she was. He was GOING TO find her.

But for now, he had to shift his focus to this mysterious Captain Finnegan he’d been hearing about. Apparently this new captain and his crew; had been terrorizing many across the Caribbean. And always at night. This new captain sailed aboard the Dios Del Mar. He and his crew were effective and brutal. Leaving nothing behind; but terror and destruction.

They had even struck down the first of the Seven Lords of The Sea.

Whereas Edward and his crew sailed aboard The Jewel Of The Sea. It was slightly bigger and more agile of a ship than; The Revenge. It did the job he needed it to do.

By the time he reached the tavern; the sunset had turned to night but a ominous dark cloud started to form. He couldn’t put his finger on it but; after looking at the cloud for a brief time something didn’t sit right with him. An eerie feeling was in the air; and he and the crew were about to discover why.

After ordering pints for everyone; Edward settled into, what supposed to be a night of being with his crew. They were his family. Even though; Samuel and Octavia had crossed and mutinied against him. He forgave them. He welcomed them back into his life, his heart and his crew once again. They were all sitting around Kendrick, singing the shanties of old, drinking and laughing. It brought joy to his heart; to see the family he created together again.

That’s when thunder started to rumble; and the winds picked up. It sounded like a hurricane was brewing outside. But as Edward and his crew would discover; this was no ordinary storm. A violent wind blew into the tavern, dousing all the lamps. And then suddenly; they were reignited and when they reignited, a familiar figure stood before Edward and the crew.

“Hello everyone! What a time to be alive!”, he exclaimed.

No one could believe who it was they were seeing. It was Robert. He was alive. He had returned.

“What witchcraft is this?!”, Charlie asked. She was the first to shake herself of the initial shock.

“Ahhhh my dearest Charlie! Such a quick one, you are.”, he replied.

“You’re supposed to be dead! You were killed by the Admiral!”, Edward says to the man who was his former first mate and friend.

“And yet; here I stand before you, boy! As nimble as ever! And with my own crew to boot!”, he replied as he gestures to the crew behind him.

“You can’t be alive! You’d have to be a God to have survived.”, Edward said to him. His hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword.

“I’m not a God my boy. Well; at least not yet.”, Robert casually replied.

“This is impossible!”, Edward exclaimed.

“You know, that’s funny. She said the same thing.”, he answered.

“What are you babbling about?”, Edward asks.

“Ohhh I think you know exactly what I’m referring to Edward. Or should I say; I think you know exactly who I’m referring to?”, he replies.

“Robert…”, Edward sneered. His jaw clenched tight.

Robert merely rolled his eyes.

“Kyra, my dear boy.”, he tells him. Edward froze in his place.

“You…you’ve seen her?!”, he asks.

“Ohhh yes! We had lovely little conversation in future. That’s how I got this!”, he says before producing the golden compass, “although, she might not be happy that I stole it from her.”

“If you did anything to harm her; I swear I will have your head!”, Edward growled as Charlie and Jonas restrained him.

“And there in lies your problem, boy. You’ve always let your emotions cloud your judgement!”, he replied.

Edward was livid. But, Robert once again just rolled his eyes.

“Calm down, boy! I never touched her!…Pearson did!”, he said with sly grin as he gestured to his first mate.

“You bastard!”, Edward hissed, clearly ready to pounce. He was going to kill Robert.

“Would you lot like to see her? That way Edward can finally calm down, about the girl he clearly loves.”, Robert asks the crew, clearly overlooking Edward’s fury. Most of the crew nodded their heads.

“Very well! Mari! Be a dear and show them the girl, will you?”, he commanded one of the women in his crew to do.

“Sí, mi capitán”, she replied before waving her hand, and producing a screen that gave everyone a view into the future. The tavern was mostly empty at that point; save for the two crews.

And there she was. She was alive and judging by the look on her face; clearly troubled. She was sitting down but he wasn’t quite sure what; but it looked like she was in some kind of room, surrounded by strange contraptions. Edward couldn’t believe what he saw. He thought he’d never see her again, but there she was. And although he was rightfully furious at Robert; he was thankful and his heart overjoyed to see her.

“Are you happy now?”, he asked, obviously annoyed at this point.

“When was this? Where was this?”, he replied with questions of his own.

“When? About a month ago. Where? A doctors office.”, he replied.

“Doctor?! Is she sick?”, Edward replies; clearly trying to hide the concern in his voice.

“Watch!”, Robert replied.

Just then the door opened.

“Good afternoon Miss Bennett! I’m Dr. Everett. I’m here to take good care of you.”, he said as he greeted her with a handshake.

“Thank you Dr. Everett.”, she replied sheepishly.

“I know you’re nervous Kyra, but I can assure you that I will do my very best; to offer you the best care possible.”, he tells her.

“I know…I’m just…I guess I’m still in shock.”, she replied.

“I can understand that. But as I said; I will do my very best; to offer you the best care.”, he says with a warm smile.

“Thank you again doctor. So; what do the results say? I can’t be that far along can I?”, she asks.

“You’re actually a lot farther along than you think, Miss Bennett. You’re currently at 11 1/2 weeks.”, he tells her. That was right on time with her timeline.

“Holy shit…”, she thought to herself before asking the doctor, “so, what happens now?”

“Well today, you’re scheduled for an ultrasound. We have to calculate what your due date will be.”, the doctor replies.

“Okay. I can…we can do that.”, she said.

“Excellent! Right this way!”, he says as he gestures for her to follow him.

“That’s enough for now Mari.”, he tells her. That’s when the screen vanishes.

“Happy now? She’s fine! Well…as fine as she can be; given her condition anyway.”, he tells everyone.

“I don’t understand. What condition she be in?”, Henry asks clearly confused.

Robert lets out an aggravated sigh.

“You lot never were all that bright. So, allow me to put it plainly: she’s with child. More specifically; she’s with his child.”, he replies, nodding towards a now very pale looking Edward.

“M-my child?”, he asks.

“Yes, my dear boy. She’s having your child. You’re not only a captain but soon; you’ll be a father as well. The doctor she went to see, helps new mothers give birth.”, he explains.

Edward was stunned into a dead silence. Kyra was having his child; and he wasn’t there with her. She was in the future and he was currently in the past.

“My God…”, he said still trying to process this new information.

“I’d order you a celebratory pint buuuuuut seeing as how the tavern is empty; I’ll just have to owe you one.”, Robert says to Edward.

“So, you’re doing all of this was to torture me?”, he asks Robert.

“No not at all, my dear boy! I’m only here to offer peace…and to get you and the crew to stand down.”, he replies.

“Stand down?! For what?!”, he asks Robert. That’s when he gave Edward and the crew, the rundown of the legends of Atlantis and Poseidon’s Trident. He told them how he was going to find the the trident, and use it to become the greatest pirate of all.

“Yer mad Robert! Absolutely mad!”, Maggie exclaimed.

“Why thank you Maggie darlin’!”, he replies with an icy smile.

“Captain Robert sir, I’d like to point out that; we all know the legends. And we all know that; the trident as well as Atlantis can never be found. Sir.”, Samuel quipped.

“That’s why I intend to be the one to find it. To prove you all and the world wrong. The trident will be mine!”, he proclaimed.

“Robert what the hell happened to you?! You used to be brave and smart and strong! And now? Yer babbling about old legends that ain’t true!”, Charlie says to him. That’s when he shows them the first of the seven key fragments. “But it is true! As you can plainly see! Once I have all the key fragments; it will only be a matter of time!”

“We will stop ye!”, Ginny yelled at him.

“My little one! Ever the fierce protector you are!”, he replies sarcastically as she sticks her tongue out at him.

“Enough! This madness ends now!”, Edward growls as he draws his weapon. And when he draws his; Robert’s crew draws theirs as does Edward’s crew. All ready to strike at one another.

“Don’t be daft boy! Think of your child! What will Kyra think if she were to find out that you died being foolish?”, he asks him.

“You blackguard! You won’t touch her!”, he sneered back.

“You’re right. I won’t. But if you die here; neither will you.”, he tells him.

“What are you talking about?”, Edward asks.

“Callie hand the boy the amulet, won’t you?”, he tells one of the women with him. With a flick of her wrist; she tosses him an ornate amulet. “This is the amulet of Atlas. It’s one of three amulets. I have the amulet of Orion. Can you guess who has the other one, my boy?”

“Kyra has the other one?”, he answers.

“Aye. That she does. I gave it to her. They give you the power to transport you to the future and to the past. Consider them as presents from me and my crew; to you and her on the impending birth of your child.”, he tells Edward.

“You’re lying!”, Edward told him.

“Mari! Show him please?”, he commanded. Once again the screen into the future was up. “This was ohhh…about a week ago.”

There Kyra was sitting at her desk; clearly showing the biggest sign of pregnancy: her stomach had grown. She was going through stacks and stacks of papers, scrolls and books in both English and Ancient Greek. She was trying to figure out two things. 1.) how Robert got his hands on that key fragment; and 2.) the legends of Atlantis and Poseidon.

That’s when a noise startled her from her studying. She knew that it wasn’t good.

“Not again. Not now.”, she muttered. She knew not to leave her office; but she had to find out what that noise was.

And there stood Robert and his evil company. “Why Kyra! You’re pregnant and glowing! How are you doing dear? Are you alright? I hope the last time we spoke; didn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.”

“Go fuck yourself!”, she snapped at him.

“Quaint as ever I see. Well you’ll be happy to know that; I’m not here to steal from you. I’m here to give a gift, actually!”, he explained.

“Thanks but no thanks! If it’s coming from you; it’s a curse not a gift!”, she replied.

“So, you’re going to be defiant, eh?”, he asks her.

“I think the term you’re looking for is stubborn; and yes I am!”, she said to him. Although she’s pregnant; and clearly in danger, she was not about to back down. She then asked him, “What do you want?”

“Callie? Be a dear, won’t you?”, he commands her. And just like with Edward she tosses Kyra an amulet. “Now pay attention girl! That is the amulet of Triton. It’s one of three. The others are the amulet of Orion and the amulet of Atlas. I have Orion. All of them, give you the power to travel back and forth in time. To use it; think of the place and time you want to be or the person you want to be with; and the amulet will do the rest. I discovered that in my studies; as I’m sure you will in yours.”

“Why would you give me this?”, she asked him.

“Don’t you think Edward should know, that you’re pregnant with his child?”, he replied with a question of his own. “I mean unless of course you’ve already told him…ohhhh wait!”

His crew snickered behind him. She stood there fuming.

“You really are a sick bastard! You do know that, right?”, she told him.

He merely shrugged. “You may see it that way; but to answer your previous question; I’m giving you that amulet for the same reason, I’m going to give the other one to your beau: to get you both to stay out of my way!”

“So this is a threat, is that what I’m to understand?”, she asked.

“Think of it as a promise my darling girl. A promise that if you get involved; you, your child, your dearly beloved and even the crew might not survive.”, he sneered at her.

“I will stop you! And even if I don’t; I know that Edward and the crew will!”, she snapped at him.

“It’s adorable to see how loyal you are to them. And I’m sure when I see them, they’ll be just as loyal to you. Well I don’t want to keep you; I know you’re busy studying, so we’ll see ourselves out. Goodbye for now! And ohhhh! At least, think about my promise to you?”, he says to her; before disappearing into the shadows with his crew.

“What am I gonna do?”, she says to herself while clutching the amulet to her chest and holding her very growing belly.

When screen vanishes again; Edward is furious. “You dare threaten her and my child?!”

“I’ll tell you; as I told her. It’s a promise not a threat. As long as you and the others stand down; no one will be hurt. But if you get involved no one will survive!”, he says to him. Clearly annoyed by the defiance he then asks, “let me guess my boy, you’re going to stop me?”

“We all will!”, Charlie growls. Edward was poised and ready to slice Robert’s head clean off his shoulders.

“I was hoping to avoid this but; so be it! If you plan to stop me you might want to do it fast…like right now!”, he says before a lightning strike hits the tavern; setting it on fire and trapping the crew inside. Edward had to get out. He had to see her. The amulet was his only hope…

Stay tuned for chapter 3! 😘

K. @txemrn @choicesficwriterscreations

#choices #choices fanfiction #fanfic #khoicesbyk #pixelberry #choices stories you play #distant shores #edward mortemer #captain edward

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nh935 · 5 years

Text

The Adventures of Solaire, Part VIII: Top Deck Shenanigans

The Incredible Yet Accurate Adventures of the Dread Pirate Captain Solaire Ravenheart Otherwise known as The Adventures of Solaire

Part VIII Top Deck Shenanigans

When one reviews the catalogue of bardic interests, both of their profused “muses” and of unoriginal tales bards find interesting enough to steal for their own under the guise of “archiving folklore,” one sees that the subject of mariner tales and sea shanties are very under-represented. Indeed, the attitude of most bards is that sailors are an unrefined and coarse people, and any poetic substance gleaned from them will be a diseased kind of substance, one more fit for scrawling on the walls of taverns than gracing the pages of a book.

I find this rather disappointing. During my time on the sea, both whilst I sailed under Solaire and then afterwards, I discovered that a great amount of maritime culture was beautiful in it’s own right: the sea shanties used to keep time were gorgeous examples of multi-part harmonies, their superstitions offered a fascinating and rarely-used doorway in the journey of unraveling the human mind, and many of their tales are far more poignant and far more funny than some of the so-called “master bardsmen” on land, and much less likely to come attached with pretentious conversations about the survival of self when cast into the storm of a constrictive society… or whatever the hell “Maestro’s Lament” was supposed to be about.

Take, for example, the popular sailor’s tale of “The Twice Captained Ship.” In it, two twin brothers, both sea captains, mistakenly board the same ship, believing it to be their own. As the first mate steers the vessel onwards, one captain comes up and tells him that they’re on the wrong barring, and to adjust, which the first mate, of course, does. Then, after that captain goes down below deck, the other approaches the first mate and yells at him for changing course and tells him to correct the barring before leaving. This back and forth continues for quite a bit, with the poor first mate unable to understand why the same captain keeps giving him contradicting orders, until, by chance, both brothers happen to come on deck at the same time, see each other, and immediately laugh in understanding and at the bizarre coincidence of the whole thing, at which point the off-course ship hits a rock and sinks, condemning everyone on board to a slow death by drowning.

Writing this now, I suppose it is possible that the reason sailor’s tales are often overlooked is that their gallows tone is… upsetting, to a more soil-based audience.

No matter. The point I am torturing out of this long, rambling introduction is that ignoring the tales of sailors is a bad idea, as we stand to lose the valuable information inside. The dangers of making two leaders work on the same task, for instance. Perhaps if Austin was a sailor as well, he would be more engaged in his struggle of authority versus Solaire and fought that fight harder in the beginning. Who knows? Maybe he would have abandoned the fight to begin with.

Oh well. All we can do is watch from the shores of hindsight and wait for the ship to sink. At least it will be entertaining when it does happen, regardless of the amount of twins.

***

“WHUMP!”

Weiss grimaced as the mermaid thumped against the glass enclosure once again. He was hoping that the creature would have calmed down by now, or at least protested its capture in a manner that was less potentially damaging. Weiss had never seen a mermaid, but based on the creature’s swollen limb and darkened skin, he assumed that she had already broken her arm trying this tactic. It didn’t matter much in the end, he supposed.

He just hated to sell damaged cargo.

As he stared at the glass, a thin man in a deep blue suit stepped next to him. “This is marvellous, Weiss. Truly marvelous!” he marveled. “I mean, a true Triton! How did you even find it?”

Weiss smiled and gave a little shrug. “I hafe my vays.”

“Well, however you did it, I’m stunned.” The other man turned to Weiss. “So, how much to keep her?”

Weiss’ eyes went wide and he took a step back. “But sir, slafery is illegal! I vould nefer be infolfed in such an immoral business!”

The silence hung in the air for a minute. Then both men burst out laughing.

“One million gold,” Weiss finally managed to gasp, wiping tears out of his eyes.

The other man grabbed his hand and shook hard. “You have a deal, sir. I’ll have Jamesy contact Winthrop and transfer the money over.”

Weiss nodded and watched the man walk away, then he motioned Winthrop over. “The crev member who first contacted zis creature… Kallovs, vas it?”

“Yes sir,” Winthrop said. “I’ve already put him in the interrogation room.”

“Good, good. I vant to queshtion him all day. If he can find one, he can find more. So no interruptions, no matter vhat.”

“Weiss! Weiss!” Austin’s tinny voice yelled through the brass intercom system.

“Damn ze day I applied my mind to ze field of acoushtics,” Weiss growled. He grabbed the pipe and screamed “VHAT?!”

“We’ve got a top decker going ape shit. We need some help pacifying him.”

“Zat’s vhy I hafe you, you lifink mountain! Figure it out. I’m busy.”

“But sir…”

“Are you unable to do your job?” Weiss asked, his voice taking on a sharp and dangerous edge. “Because if you are, I can alvays collect your collateral…”

“No sir!” Austin immediately spoke back. “We can do this. I’ll… I’ll find a way.”

“Good! Don’t bozer me any more today.” Weiss shook his head and stormed off. “Come Vinthrop! I need to blow off some shteam wis Kallovs!”

Winthrop hurried to match pace with his employer. “Very good, sir.”

***

“So what did Mr. Wiess say?” Tomo asked, crouching under a gaming table.

“He said to figure it out,” Austin grumbled, slinking away from the brass intercom and joining Tomo. “Don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

“We could always ask Solaire…” Tomo said.

“There is no way in all the Nine Hells I would ever ask that back-stabbing, two-faced, little silver spoon…”

“HEAR ME AND TREMBLE!” a voice boomed behind them. The statement was then punctuated by the sound of an explosion.

Tomo looked to Austin.

“Fine, get Solaire,” Austin mumbled.

***

And where would Solaire be at this moment? Why, walking the bottom deck of the ship, stern to bow, with one foot flush in front of the other like a tightrope walker... obviously.

The action wasn’t as insane as it seemed. Solaire’s spying of Winthrop notebook had alerted him to the fact that there was a more complete archive of the ship’s going-ons somewhere on board. This would be the record that told him where River was. Problem was, he had nowhere to find it.

However, not all was lost. Solaire knew two things about the codex, as he had been calling it. One, the codex contained a massive amount of notes, and therefore had to be stored in at least a small room, and two, it contained information on Weiss’ criminal activities, information that could potentially ruin the small Eiswhen man. So where would one store a massive amount of hidden objects?

To the son of a noble family, the answer was obvious: a secret room.

Which is where the weird walking came in. The best way to find a secret room was to compare the length of the building, or ship, in this case, against the length of each room in the ship added together. If the ship length didn’t match the length of the rooms combined together, then a secret room had been added in somewhere, causing the discrepancy, and from there, you could narrow down its location.

But the only measure he had on him was his own foot. So walking from one end of the ship to the other it was. It had taken him all day and his legs were beginning to cramp, but he was close now. Just a few more, he thought. 13,856… 13,857… Almost…

“Solaire!” Tomo shouted as he rounded the corner and came out of nowhere. Solaire jumped, withdrew his pistol, and then panicked.

“Thirteen thousand, thirteen and six, or was it twelve… Damn you!” Solaire shouted, pointing a finger at Tomo. “Damn you in the name of every created world!”

“We need you on the top deck,” Tomo remarked, ignoring the man’s outburst.

“Fuck off. I have something important I need to redo, thanks to you.” He walked over to the other wall, placed his heel against the surface, and began the walk again.

“This is not a request,” Tomo stated.

“Wonderful,” Solaire huffed, taking some more wobbly steps, “I still don’t care.”

“You will come.”

“No, I wonAAGH!” Solaire sunk to his knees as the all-too familiar feeling of electric pain and ozone smell hit him. He glanced backwards, murder in his eyes, to see Tomo holding a slave plate controller, identical to Weiss’.

“You seem to be confused about the nature of the hierarchy of authority here,” Tomo began with an even tone. “It’s possible that my friendliness with you has confused you, so allow me to clarify: you are not in charge here. You follow orders given to you from both Austin and I, just as we follow orders from Weiss in turn. Any actions that upset that chain of command will not be tolerated by any party. Is that understood?”

Solaire narrowed his eyes. “No, it’s not. I think I need another lesson.”

“Granted,” Tomo replied. He watched expresionlessly as Solaire writed around in agony, yelling and twisting, holding the button down for almost two minutes of torture. “Is the lesson clear now?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Solaire gasped, feeling the skin around the plate in his neck begin to burn. “As a crystal.”

“I’m glad. Be at the top deck within five minutes,” Tomo finished, leaving Solaire on the ground and running up the stairs.

***

“Skyler! Willaby!”

Solaire’s two companions jumped as their names were called, both engrossed in a game of dice with the other crewmen.

“What is it now?” Willaby wined, looking up to see the white-clothed figure of Solaire stomp his way down the hallway that served as their makeshift casino.

“Top deck,” Solaire clarified. “We’re needed.”

“By who?” Skyler demanded.

“By me. Let’s go.” Solaire strode past the two men, stopped as he realized he was not being followed, and turned to face them.

“Well?” he asked.

“We’re not going,” Skyler said.

“What?”

“You heard him, we’re not going!” Willaby scrambled to his feet and stood inches away from Solaire, staring directly into the man’s eyes for a full minute.

Solaire’s eyes met his, face refusing to change.

Willaby’s gaze hit the floor. “We’ll be there shortly.”

“Now!” Solaire moved and began his march back down the passage, now followed by a scrambling Willaby.

“But what about… ah hell!” Skyler threw down the dice in disgust. “Don’t you two go away now, you hear me? I’m coming back to this hot streak in just a second.” Then he too left and ran down the hall to catch up with his two compatriots.

One crewmember raised his eyebrow at the other. The second merely shrugged and pocketed the gold coins left behind.

***

“Took you long enough,” Austin groaned, bracing up against a large wooden table as the sound “FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM!” rattled away on the other side.

Tomo stood with his back to the barrier and peeked around it. “I suppose my task did take exactly as long as it needed to.”

“I really hate you sometimes,” Austin muttered. A loud BOOM! sounded and he threw more of his weight against the table. “Where the hell is Solaire?”

“He should be here soon. I let him know in no uncertain terms that his presence was required here.”

“And how do you know that snake didn’t just hide as soon as you left?”

“Alright, alright,” Solaire shouted, ascending the stairs. “I’m here to fix all your problems, as usual. Now where’s the fire you can’t put out?

A high PING! cracked through the air and Solaire’s hat flew off of his head, landing near his feet with the unmistakable shape of a bullet hole in the fabric. Solaire looked at it, then back up to the deck.

Standing in front of him was an intimidating mixture of man and machinery. Seated in the center was a balding, slightly pot-bellied man in an amber suit. However, he was not the intimidating part. The intimidating part came from the skeletal brass form surrounding him. Extending from his arms and legs, holding him inside the mechanism with straps, were long limbs of sturdy metal, connected together with interlocking tubes that hissed with steam as they moved. Two more of these limbs jutted from his shoulders, independent from the human frame, giving the man the appearance of a strange gold insect.

At the ends of these appendages were different weaponized extensions. The legs ended in heavy clamp feet, each looking as strong as the hand of a gorilla, if not more so. The left arm ended in a long straight blade with a sharp edge. A long rifle-like firearm was mounted to the left shoulder arm, appearing to lock in on targets of its own volition, and a large cannon was mounted in the right shoulder, still emitting smoke.

But the piece-de-resistance was the weapon seated in the right arm. The main body of it was a large gun, resembling a scaled up hunting rifle: a long body and long barrel, opening easily the size of a man’s fist, with a wide stock that presumably stored a powerful firing mechanism. However, halfway up the gun, where the ammunition would be normally loaded, there was a large revolver barrel instead. To make the mechanism even stranger, this revolver barrel was attached to a set of two hoops that made a wide circle around the gun and spaced every two feet or so was another revolver barrel, and the whole circle was connected to a motorized chain. The exact mechanics of the design were lost on Solaire, but he knew what the machine was built to do:

Kill.

“Ah,” Solaire spoke. “I suppose you didn’t take too kindly to the whole ‘please vacate the premises, sir.’”

In response, the man raised the gun. The barrel rotated away as the entire hoop moved, placing another barrel into the chamber with a soft click.

Solaire dove for Austin’s improvised table-shield, moving right out of the way a half-second before the space he was standing at began to explode into tiny pieces under the “FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM!”ing barrage of the gun.

“Glad to see you finally decided to grace us with your presence,” Austin shouted as he braced against the table once more.

“And a similar thanks to you for the warning. That could of…” Solaire stopped. “Wait a minute.”

A shape clad in green tweed appeared in the doorway Solaire had just entered from, and Solaire could see the man’s eyes suddenly track and notice the shape.

“HEY!” Solaire bellowed, waving frantically. The man’s attention was diverted for a crucial half-second, causing the arm to swing towards the disturbance as the barrel clicked into place. Solaire ducked behind the barrier and the firearm began to fire again, unloading it’s chamber across the room as the recoil seized the motion of the gun and forced it to continue to swing wide.

Skyler jumped to the side and landed into a roll, sword and gun at the ready. Willaby, meanwhile, belly-flopped to the side, hands covering his head, thus bringing both men behind the shelter.

“Mind warning us?” Skyler shouted in outrage.

“I would if someone else had passed it along!” Solaire responded.

“Why the blazes did you bring those two?” Austin asked. “We just asked for you!”

Solaire pointed a finger at Austin. “A captain is no captain without reliable, competent…” he trailed off as he noticed that Willaby was now noticeably more white and soft than he had been a second ago.

“Are you… covered in feathers?” Solaire asked.

“Er… yes,” Willaby admitted.

“So is that just… a thing now?” he continued.

“Looks like.”

“...Right.”

“GUEST,” a mechanical voice spoke from behind the upturned table, “YOU ARE TO BE TERMINATED. WE APPOLOGIZE FOR…”

A loud KA-BOOM interrupted the speech, followed by the sounds of metal arm blades on metal arm blades.

“So how much did this guy lose?” Solaire asked.

“Close to 150,000 gold in net total,” Tomo answered.

Skyler gave a whistle. “How the hell do you lose that much in one night?”

“I believe the poor judgement he exhibited would be to blame.”

“Stop fucking gossiping and figure a way to stop him!” Austin yelled.

Solaire ventured a peek around the table, pistol in hand. The man was currently engaged with several of the construct guards, arm blade through the center of one. As two more attempted to flank around his backside, one was destroyed as the rifle arm whirled around and put a bullet right through its brass head. The other was taken out as the man whirled around and pointed the large gun at the automaton, firing the barrel with another resounding set of “FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM” until the entire chamber of eight bullets were spent.

“Twelve barrels of eight bullets a peice…” Solaire muttered to himself.

“That machinery is powered by Elysium stored in the large container strapped to his backside,” Tomo declared. “If we could destroy that container, the exoskeleton would become depowered.”

“...making him just a regular guy,” Skyler finished.

Solaire shook his head. “Uh-uh.”

Everyone turned and stared at him.

“I don’t know about you,” Solaire continued, “but I have never seen that kind of thing before. Means he built it himself. Smart guy like that knows his own machine’s weak points and is going to be covering them the entire time.”

“So what do we do?” Willaby asked.

Solaire leaned back to look his companions in the eye. “The biggest threat from that thing is that blaze-weird gun. Everything else there is useless at short-range; that blade’s too long, as is the rifle. And no way is he going to risk blowing himself up with that cannon.”

“So we take out the gun!” Willaby exclaimed, shouting with enough enthusiasm to spit feathers.

“You wanna study that thing while it’s firing at you? No, we exploit the weakness we know. The design it has seems to make it impossible to stop firing until that entire chamber of bullets is spent. And that man is no steely-eyed aimer. We duck, weave, and exhaust the chambers.” Solaire looked to Tomo. “How many times has that thing fired?”

“Unknown,” the samurai replied. “I left during the battle to find you.”

Solaire glanced at Austin.

Austin extended his fingers and counted off one, two, three, and then shook his head and backtracked to two.

Solaire rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t matter. There’s twelve chambers there and he’s fired at least four times. My guess is six with how trigger happy he is.”

“You seem to be glossing over the fact that your entire plan is to get shot!” Skyler protested.

“No, get shot at,” Solaire clarified. “There’s a huge difference between the two.”

“Being?”

“He’s a soft noble who’s obviously compensating, not a battle-hardened fighter. All we really need to do is startle him and duck.”

“Hold on!” Austin interjected. “Why are you trying to call the shots?”

Solaire reeled back, as if he had just been asked if he was sure the sky was blue. “Because I’m the most qualified to.”

“No, you’re not,” Austin insisted. “I am. Tomo is. You take the orders.”

Tomo nodded, slowly raising the shock remote.

Solaire narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

Austin addressed the group at large. “Right! We’re going with Tomo’s plan, because it’s the plan that won’t get us killed. Split left on my mark, Tomo. I’m going right. We’re gonna flank him and rip out that Elysi-whatever. You three knuckleheads, stay here and keep him distracted. And three, two, mark!” Austin darted over one way while Tomo split to the other, leaving Solaire, Skyler, and Willaby crouched in the shadow of the overturned table.

Willaby started to round the corner, magic rod in hand, only to be yanked back by Solaire by the jacket as a resounding PING! managed to clip one of the floating white feathers and cause it to explode into fuzz.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Solaire hissed.

Willaby looked at Solaire with confusion. “Creating a distraction, like Austin said.”

“We’re not doing that. We’re sticking with my plan.”

Skyler gave Solaire a glare. “You’re not our boss.”

“No, but I am your captain. I said so in the mess hall.”

Solaire received blank stares back.

He sighed. “Look, I’m not going to be happy until I put a bullet in Weiss’ head. And to do that, I’m going to need help. Help from my crew. You can do things I can’t, and because of that, you are…” he grimaced a tiny bit, “valuable to me. I’m not going to do anything that may be too dangerous to your lives. I can’t, not until we’re off this ship.

“But if you think that Austin feels the same way about you, feel free to step around that barrier and be his distraction.”

Willaby and Skyler looked to each other, then back to Solaire.

“So what do we do?” Skyler asked.

“Well first things first, we save those idiots. Weiss would be unbearable. Willaby!” Solaire pointed to a large decorative column. “Think you can knock that over?”

“Should be able to.” The baker raised his arms and thrust forward with his rod like a sword, forming a large screaming blue missle to appear and slam into the side of the pillar. The large mass slowly tipped before falling over with a thunderous CRASH! landing right in front of Tomo mid-charge, forcing him to back up and scan the room around in bewilderment.

“Skyler, I need you to get over to that rope,” Solaire said. “When I give the signal, cut it. And not a second before.”

Skyler nodded and took off, jumping from one pile of debris to another to reach a long golden rope tied to the side of the room. As he did, the man in the machine noticed the man in leathers leaping from cover to cover, and raised his gun to meet him.

The barrel started with a FOOM and Skyler cut a hard stop behind his current cover, waiting for the barrage to be over before continuing on.

“Five,” Solaire mummered.

Seeing his opening, Austin hooked around to get behind the man before breaking into a full charge. Once he did, the mechanical man pivoted away, bringing the tank out of reach and swinging the barrel of the gun right at him.

“NOW!”

Skyler cut the rope in front of him and the line went slack, releasing its support from the crystal and gold chandelier hanging above the assailant’s head. Seeing it, he instinctively covered his head with his arms just in time for the firearm to engage, blowing all eight high caliber rounds through the roof of the cruise ship.

Austin paused, realizing his opportunity to go in for a closer melee but not to reach the fuel tank that he was so desperately trying to get to. As he hesitated, the attacker recovered, and so the giant man warily ducked around the corner instead.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” the man yelled.

“Four. And don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Solaire turned back to Willaby, still crouched behind the table with him, and picked up a small metal contraption, tossing it at the baker. “I need you to make a spark.”

Willaby caught it and stared at the strange object in his hands. “A spark? Wh-”

“Just do it!” Solaire reached into his coat and withdrew his cutlass, hooking the end of the blade into the decapitated head of an unfortunate automaton.

“Damn these feathers. Okay. Spark. Electricity. Like first love…?” Willaby’s rant was stopped by a sudden sizzle and a blue crackle, which leapt into the metal object and spoke “GUEST, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE STATE OF THIS UNIT.” At the same time, Solaire waved the construct head in the air.

The ruse worked. The man immediately whirled towards the source of the noise, aimed at the brass head, and fired, unloading yet another set of rounds into the object and causing it to explode into a shower of gears and shrapnel.

“Three.”

Tomo cautiously rounded the far end of the pillar, katana in hand. He shifted his pose, ready to rush, but the man immediately whirled around and saw the samurai, releasing another set of “FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM” as Tomo moved backwards and placed himself behind the pillar, protecting him from the barrage.

“And two. This is going better than I thought.” Solaire moved to look at Skyler, who had just now caught back up with the other two men. “Skyler, these last two are on us. Think you do one on your own?”

“Born ready.” Skyler withdrew his other hook sword and ran into the open gripping both blades. The motion immediately drew the attention of the attacker in the center, who aimed the gun at the charging man in leather armor. Skyler gave a slight smile and hooked the swords onto a piece of debris on either side of him, heaving himself up and over the man in the metal skeleton as the rounds uselessly struck where he had just been.

“One. My turn.” Solaire put away his pistol and cutlass, ran over to the edge of the room lined from floor to ceiling with large window panes, and leapt onto the curtain there. As he hung on for dear life, the curtains moved and continued down the track they were set into, pushing Solaire along the wall like a fly attached to a speeding cart. The barrage-gun immediately began to track the clinging noble and fire away, blowing giant holes in the curtain a few inches away from Solaire with every shot.

Now at the end of the track, Solaire dismounted and rolled behind an overturned slot machine. “And zero. Lead the target next time, moron.”

Skyler, who had been swinging upon the ceiling with his swords up until this point, landed nearby and began to run towards the man’s backside.

Solaire saw the charge and yelled “STOP!”

Skyler only hesitated for a half-second before diving for a nearby upended card table, leaping into cover just as the long rifle twirled to face him and PING!ed what would have been a fatal shot had he not just moved out of the way.

“Those weapons are still a problem!” Skyler shouted.

“Obviously!” Solaire peeked out, then ducked back. “I’m going to take care of the rifle. When I call out a name and a weapon, move to neutralize it.”

Skyler nodded, and Solaire ran straight for the man. In response, the man aimed the gun, rotated the old barrel out, and clicked in a new one; a new one, Solaire realised with horror, he could just barely see had a full set of rounds.

He had staked his life on a miscount, and now there was no time to save himself. Even as time began to slow, all he could do was watch as the instrument of his doom readied with a soft click.

“HRGH!”

A sudden mass of brown and green appeared right between Solaire and the deadly firearm. It fired with a “FOOM”, breaking the card table into pieces like a child smashing a glass vase and giving Solaire the opening he needed to roll to the side and hide behind a sturdier roulette table. As the barrage continued, he traced the flight path of the furniture back to the spot it had came from: Austin, standing only five or so feet away.

Austin nodded to Solaire. Solaire nodded back.

There was another soft click, followed by a hydraulic hiss, a lack of “FOOM”s, and swearing from the man inside. Confident now, Solaire moved back out, feinted left and continued right, letting the rifle uselessly PING! at the spot it had assumed he would be. He then hopped onto the sword arm just below the blade, scrambled onto the shoulders of the construct, withdrew two daggers and finally dug both of the short blades into the arm holding onto the rifle, leaning his weight into the improvised hand holds. The rifle attempted to turn and aim, but the unbalanced force the pale noble introduced caused it to swing around wildly, going nowhere near its desired targets.

“Skyler, cannon!”

Skyler charged out, hooked his sword into a hanging chandelier, and pulled, flinging himself upwards as the light fixture crashed to the ground. He landed next to Solaire on the construct’s shoulders and attached both blades by the hooks into the upper lip of the cannon. Thus connected, he leaned back and forced the large barrel to swing upwards, the cannon now unable to muster enough force to move itself back down.

The man inside growled and moved the large firearm backwards, readying to swing it as an improvised club.

“Austin, gun!”

Austin gave a battle roar and tackled the weapon, holding onto the mass and digging his heels in. Against the grunzen’s enhanced strength, the arm stood no chance, simply groaning in protest as the hydraulics attempted to haul it upwards.

The man’s attention now snapped to Austin. With a snarl, he lunged the blade arm back, ready to skewer the man.

“Tomo, sword!”

With a fluid motion, Tomo moved between Austin and the blade, holding his katana upwards at an angle. The blade smashed down right on the sword’s edge, sliding it just sideways enough for the weapon to miss its mark. Before it could draw back for another stab, Tomo quickly spun his sword upwards and down, locking it into the space that attach the arm to the blade. He then began to counter the limb’s movement with his own, shifting back when it moved forward, shifting left when it moved right, unbalancing each gesture and making the edged implement stay pointed down each time.

The face of the man seated inside turned a furious shade of red. “YOU… YOU… VIPERS! I’LL DESTROY YOU ALL!” He began to stumble around in circles, forcing everyone around to hold on tighter or risk losing control of the weapons they were locking down.

“Willaby, keep him still!”

The mass of fluffy feathers and green suit appeared from behind the sideways table, drawing himself up and attempting to appear intimidating. “And she broke up with me, me, because being a baker isn’t an ‘attractive career for a husband.’” He finished the statement with a long exhale, cold and sparkling light blue wind escaping from his mouth. It settled around the feet of the brass monstrosity and covered them in several inches of ice, thereby locking the legs in place.

The man struggled for a bit, jerking this way and that, attempting to free something, anything, but failing every time.

He looked up at Solaire. “You’re all devils, every last one of you! You hear me?”

Solaire shrugged. “So?”

“You’ll get yours. You’ll see.”

“And on behalf of Mr. Weiss’ casino, we apologize for the inconvenience.” Solaire let go of one dagger and brought his arm around to the mans head, releasing the single-shot spring flint-lock from inside his sleeve and firing it in the same motion, putting the shot right through his head and painting the inside of his wonderful, deadly contraption red with his own blood.

***

Two hours later, everyone had returned to their preferred activities: Tomo had gone back to his quarters to sharpen his katana and meditate, Willaby and Skyler were attempting to win back the gold they had already won, Austin had disappeared to parts unknown, and Solaire was back to the bottom deck of the ship, counting steps.

“13,860… 13,861… 13,862!” he finished, putting the toes of his shoes to the opposite end of the hull. Then he sighed and raised his head. “Please stop spying on me.”

The giant shape of Austin emerged from the shadows with a small, sheepish grin on his face. “Sorry. Didn’t want to interrupt… whatever that was.”

“Well, I appreciate that, at least.” Solaire crossed his arms. “So what is this? A dressing down? Disciplinary meeting? Punishment?”

Austin reached inside his coat pocket, pulled out a brown bottle, and handed it to Solaire.

“Is this… rum?” the noble asked. “I thought Weiss had a strict ‘no-alcohol’ policy with the crew.”

Austin’s grin went a little wider. “He does.”

Solaire uncapped the bottle and sniffed it.

Austin rolled his eyes, snatched the bottle back, took a long swing, then gave it back. “Not poisoned, see?”

Solaire nodded and took a large drink himself, wiping his mouth off with his sleeve.

“Look,” Austin began, “I wanted to see if we could patch things over. Think we got off on pretty hostile ground from the start.”

Solaire took another hearty swig. “There a reason we shouldn’t?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Tomo has a slave plate. You don’t.”

Austin sighed. “My relationship with Weiss is a bit more… complicated than that. But I promise you, I hate him just as much as you do.”

“Mmm.”

The silence hung in the air for a second.

“I know you’re not the best at taking orders,” Austin began, “but I’m stuck as the commander of you three. If Weiss tells me to make you do something and you don’t, that’s my head on the line. I’m willing to back off on the battle orders. I’ve never pretended to be smart, and I think you’ve proven yourself to be pretty good at that stuff, but I need you to recognize me and Tomo as the boss. Just to make our lives easier, alright? Do that for me, and I promise you’re off this ship the second Weiss gets his fancy armor pieces.”

Solaire thought for a second, slowly rotating the bottle and making it slosh. “I suppose I can agree to a temporary truce. Just for convenience's sake.”

“Thanks,” he clasped a giant hand to the noble’s back and walked away.

As Solaire watched him leave, he extended his fingers into the shape of a mock gun and said “bang.”

Austin turned around, confused.

“Turned your back on me,” the noble explained. “Took you out.”

The confusion on Austin’s face lingered for a moment, then he broke into a smile. “You’re a funny man, Solaire,” he said with a chuckle as he rounded a corner and ascended the stairs.

Solaire smiled as he watched him go. Inside of his coat sleeve pocket, he could feel the spring-locked flintlock itch at his skin.

#the adventures of Solaire #short_story #series #adventure #action #fantasy #steampunk #pirate

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