#omg they were shipmates

[ineffablekink]

The Terror AU?

(whispers) they were shipmates

[deepdisireslonging]

Nautical November Part 8: Retaliation

The Reader witnesses how a pirate raid can go wrong. To help distract her, Sam takes his vengeance for having to listen to her and Dean from the crow’s nest a few days ago. He and the Reader find comfort in each other.

Pairing: First Mate!Sam x Reader

Warnings/Promises: light description of battle, cw blood, reassuring Fluff, SMUT, dom/sub, degradation and name-calling (whore, slut, etc.), oral (female receiving), knife/blood play, aftercare

Word Count: 4321

Note: Omg, this chapter is so long. Then again, you have to take into account which Winchester I focused on. The fic is… proportionate. On that note, reblogs, keyboard smashes, and gif reactions are super appreciated. Happy reading!

Part 7: Against the Mast

A few days after Dean had you pay him back, he led the crew through another raid on a passing merchant ship. The Gazelle was deep into the Caribbean. The merchant ships here were loaded with fine goods headed north to the English colonies and across the ocean to Europe. And they were armed. The Winchesters had mentioned, off-hand, how lucky they were that they hadn’t crossed paths with another pirate vessel. Or the equally dangerous ships of privateers and buccaneers, who raided and attacked on behalf of one country or another. With the thicker pool of dangerous ships around wanting to gain some loot, the ships that just carried goods to and fro took bigger steps to protect their wares.

The shipmate you bought medicine for had recovered enough to participate. Not that you saw him. Or anything. You stayed in the captain’s cabin as you were ordered. You were thankful for its comforting walls. The boom of cannons and the sound of splintering wood nearly sent you cowering under the covers like a child. A few merchant cannons hit the side of the Gazelle. They made the whole ship shudder.

You didn’t feel worthy of God’s forgiveness and protection, especially with how you were paying your way to a future sinful occupation. But you still pleaded with Him not to let the opposite cannons aim too low. If the cannonballs pierced at the waterline, the ship could list and potentially sink. A sinking ship was the most dangerous place someone could be. Rushing water could block the doors and prevent passengers from shoving their way out. Even if they made it to open water, the waters swirling around the sinking ship could create a whirlpool-like effect. And anybody in the water could drown.

So when you heard the pirate crew’s triumphant return, you finally breathed a sigh of relief. You waited until the ship was well underway from the pillaged ship before darting out on deck.

Dean gave a little “umph” when you ran into his arms. Sam made a similar sound when you wrapped your arms around his waist.

“Were you worried about us, Sweetheart?”

A shiver ran up your spine. While Sam wrapped his arms around your shoulders, you turned your face out of his chest towards Dean. “The cannons were so loud.”

The Captain cleared his throat. He ran a hand through his hair, cut short against it being whipped into his face by the wind. “Yeah. The gunpowder will do that. You okay?” He startled. “I didn’t see anything hit aft, but did anything hit next to you? Are you okay?”

You nodded. “I’m alright. Nothing came through. I… I was worried about the waterline.”

Both brothers breathed a sigh of relief.

“They didn’t really have those kinds of cannons.” Sam tilted your face up. “The merchant ships out here add extra gunpowder for the sound and to make their cannonballs faster. It makes the impact wholes smaller due to their speed. This ship didn’t have many. They were trying to scare us off, not sink us. If they had, they’d be obligated to rescue the crew.” He hugged you close. “We would be fine. Besides, what kind of pirates do you take us for?”

Dean chuckled, “as if four piddlin’ cannons could sink the Gazelle.”

From the center of the deck, a crewmate called out to Sam. He passed you to Dean after a quick kiss to your forehead. The Captain pressed his lips to your hairline, swaying you to the rhythm of the ship’s cant. He waited until your trembling had ceased before loosening his grip.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Squeezing your hands, Dean glanced over as a couple of crewmates helped a third belowdecks. It was the young man who had been steering the ship while you and Dean had an evening on deck. “Unfortunately, I’m not going to be available for comforting you tonight. Adam caught some shrapnel in his ribs and Benny’s going to be up all night taking it out. So I’m going to have to steer tonight.”

“Oh.” You watched as Adam’s head disappeared; his grimace seared into your memory. Unconscious of your movement, you leaned into Dean’s chest, gripping his shirt in your fingers.

He slid his hands up and down your back. “It’ll be okay. You’ll have Sam.” He tilted your face up and away from the sight of other crewmembers patching their wounds. “You tell me if he doesn’t treat you right. Okay?” He bobbed his head. “He’s a little… miffed about what we did to him the other night. I’ve told him, tonight is not the time to take vengeance on you. Got it?”

Across the deck, Sam watched your conversation with rapt attention. He took notes of what came aboard. But also watched your face as Dean warned you what might be in store while he was away. Sam nodded at crewmates listing off who gathered what and who already had claims to some of the goods. As Crowley slid into your space to gift you a silver bracelet, Sam frowned. His thinly veiled growl sent his shipmates scuttering.

---

That night you slid into Sam’s bed and pulled his covers up nearly over your head. His scent was imprinted into the fabric. It washed over you, reminding you that you were safe. Dean was safe. Sam was safe.

But the young navigator, Adam, wasn’t safe. Sam had left a few minutes ago to check on him. You couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to take out splinters on a rocking ship. Not to mention, the lighting wasn’t great. The glass-encased lamps threw a good amount of light to see your way by, but would it be enough to…

You tugged the sheet over your head before the image of Adam’s bloody side could overwhelm you. Huddled under his covers is how Sam found you when he returned. Gently, he tugged the fabric away. “You alright in there?” He kneeled next to the bunk so he was eye-level with your face. Reaching up, he wiped away a stray tear from your cheek. “Adam’s going to be okay. I promise. They’ve got him knocked out on enough brandy to drink even Lee under the table.”

Shaking your head, you whimpered, “it’s not that. I mean, I’m glad to hear he’s going to be okay. But…”

Sam sighed as you couldn’t continue. Blankets and all, he guided you to sit up so he could squeeze himself into a sitting position in the corner. He sat you on his lap. With your forehead resting on the curve of his neck, you reached under his shirt so you could warm your hands against his skin. Maybe then, you thought, you could keep them from shaking. Instead, it passed on to Sam how unnerved you were. He leaned back. Closing his eyes, he focused on his breathing. Your body rose and fell with his chest, slowly calming most of your terror.

Just when he thought you had dropped to sleep, your body jolted. And your gasps picked up again. He fought against a hiss as your nails dug into his stomach.

Sam rubbed his large hands up and down your arms, trying to stop their trembling. “Did you forget what kind of ship this was?” He squeezed you close. You leaned into it, willing his strong embrace to calm you. “We’re pirates, little one. This kind of danger is our bread and butter. And we take it in stride.”

Still, you willed your breath to even out. Your lungs fought your command, stuttering your gasps and sniffles.

“What do you need?” His arms tightened around you. “Do you just want to be held?”

You tried to answer. You tried to imagine a night resting in Sam’s arms. Having him there if you woke up from a nightmare. But the nightmare invaded your blinking. You heard the cannons. You heard the ships splintering. The wounds the fight produced layered over your vision until you were forced to open them to the darkness of the cabin.

“Make love to me,” you begged. “I – I can’t… I don’t want to think. All I can see or hear is the fight. Block it out. Make me forget.” You broke off with a sob. “Please. Love me so all I can see or hear is you.”

Sam shuddered. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “Okay. I’ve got you.” He thought for a moment. “Are you okay with a little danger? That is, if you know I would never hurt you?”

“Yes. Anything, Sam.”

Whispering in your ear, his voice took on a darker edge. “Can I press cold steel to your skin? Mark you as mine?” He waited for your whine of approval. “If it’s ever too much, you tell me. Got it?”

“Yes, Sam. Please. Make me yours.”

He pushed on a plank of the wall, popping it open for just a second. A small dagger slid out into his hand. He twirled it through his fingers. The dull silver blade caught the light, entrancing you as it spun in Sam’s deft fingers. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. You blinked. And it was suddenly pressed against your throat.

“It’s completely safe,” he hummed. In front of you, he slid the edge across his palm. It didn’t break the skin. “I’ve been meaning to sharpen it for ages. Kept it out of the way so I didn’t accidentally grab it for a fight. The only place where it’s sharp is the tip.” He gently took hold of your hand. He pinched your middle finger with one hand. As he pressed the tip of the blade to your finger, a tiny droplet of blood welled up. You gasped, not from the hurt. But from the tiny relief of pressure.

It was if that tiny droplet had released several lungfuls of worry.

He lifted your finger to his lips, lightly sucking on the wound and humming around it. When he returned your hand, the cut had already closed. “Is this okay? This is what you wanted, right? For me to mark you as mine?”

“Yes.” You twisted in his lap. You kissed across the expanse of his face. He was surprised at first. Then he grinned with a cheeky sneer.

His arms wrapped around your waist. Tugging and pushing, he maneuvered you to straddle his hips. He stretched his long legs out till they overhung the bunk, creating a more comfortable seat for you. Sam squeezed you tight. You were trapped against his chest.  He noted that your trembling had stopped, replaced by the subtle rocking of your body into his. Pressing the blade of his knife against your spine, he deepened the arch of your back. Your gasp washed a breeze over his face. His sneer deepened.

“I think you did forget. Did you forget what kind of ship this is? The captain and I have been very good to you. Fucking you deep whenever you asked. Whenever you begged for it. Maybe if you weren’t such a needy whore, we’d have taken what we wanted, whenever we liked. Like monsters in a fairy tale stealing away the princess. This is a pirate ship. Our ship.” He dug the knife deeper, forcing your face closer to his so he could mouth at the underside of your jaw. “And you are our slut. Our prize. For us to use and take as we like.”

The shiver that ran through you pushed you down onto Sam’s bulge trapped in his pants. He groaned as you began to roll your hips, chasing the feel of it against the apex of your clothed thighs.

“Sam,” you sighed. You tried to slide your fingers up into his hair.

But he caught your wrists in one of his large hands. Giving them a tug, your sleeves gathered around your elbows and exposed the red welts from Dean’s shackles. Sam froze. His gaze refused to move from the sight. You shuddered with the way his pupils began to eclipse his irises. He brought your bound hands close to his face until his nose could nuzzle over the welts. Dean had taken care of you well enough. They didn’t hurt anymore. Only time would heal them fully. Sam kissed your skin gently.

“Hmm. He really did a number on you, didn’t he?” His head tilted to one side. And he hummed again as if realizing something. “Maybe he had the right idea.” His hand tightened around your wrists, finally causing a little pain with his grip. Enough to make you whimper. Sam ate it up, kissing you deeply as you tried to pull away. The knife still in your back kept you from going far. “Yes, we’re taking you to Tortuga. And your commission. But what if you arrive… damaged?” He pulled back, pleased with the haziness in your eyes. “What if we get there… and the Headmistress doesn’t want you?”

As he glanced deeper into the cabin, you followed his gaze towards the desk. His words carried the old familiar threat.

“Anything can happen to a little sheet of paper. Water damage. It’s happened here before. Important paperwork lost to saltwater washing away the ink. Or fire. Dean accidentally lost us a map once, holding it too close to a lamp. But we don’t have to resort to such… accidents.”

The cold press of sharp metal across your cheek startled you. Sam pulled the blade away enough not to cut you when you jolted. But once your face was turned towards his again, the knife trailed across the round curve of your cheek. The sides may have been dull, but you remembered the small sting from the tip. Sam lightly traced your face with the sharp point. He breathed deep and slow as the blade travelled to press against your bottom lip. His words seemed less and less for you, and more like he was trying to talk himself out of maiming you.

“The Ambrosia only hires pretty faces. A girl’s smile is like a shoppe window. Promises of pleasures to come. The ones scarred by pox or old lovers end up in the common brothels. Where it doesn’t matter what they look like.” The knife traced a line from your ear to the side of your mouth. His voice dropped to a whisper. “If you’re not pretty when you get there… you’ll end up in a common brothel. Where Dean or I, or any of the crew can visit you whenever we like, paying pence for a good suck.” His tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. “But I like your face the way it is. Carving it up would be a waste.”

You breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the knife trailed against your wrists, barely pressing into the hurt already there. You waited for the moment when the blade would break your skin, but it didn’t come.

“I could cut up your hands. Make it so you have to hide them with long lace sewn into your sleeves. Or with gloves. How long would you be able to hide them from your Mistress? The scars on your palms, the long cuts running the length of your fingers, and the bands around your wrists deepened with knife point.” He pressed the side of the blade harder into the curve of your wrist. You waited for the blood, for the release of pressure. But he flicked it through his fingers, making it disappear from sight. “No. Can’t do that. You’re so good with them.”

With the knife gone, his hand was free to latch around your throat. Your eyes rolled with the sudden loss of oxygen. He bullied you to lay backwards across his bunk. With his body barely hovering over you, and his hand on your throat, your terrified breath had nowhere to go. Sam drank it in. How your eyes flicking between his face and looking for where he hid his knife. He smiled, watching the wheels turn in your head as you tried to figure out what he would do next. With a tiny shove, he used his leverage to push you further into the cot.

“You gonna beg for me, whore?” He chuckled. “Gonna beg for me not to hurt you? You could try begging forgiveness, little thief. We could destroy your commission at anytime and you still stole from us. And then that stunt you and Dean pulled on me.” He growled, pressing his hips into yours. “That was torture. Having to listen to you from a mast up. Having to listen to what my brother was doing to you without being able to see you.” He pressed close. “Should I return the favor? Maybe I should bend you over the back railing over the stern. Where Dean can’t see you. If he’s steering the ship, he can’t stop looking ahead, or he’d take us off course. Which could prolong your voyage. Can you imagine him gritting his teeth, angry as a shark that he can’t do a damn thing. Just like I was up in that crow’s nest.”

Your lips trembled. “I’m sorry. Sam. Please-“

“You will be.”

In a scuffle of fabric, he pulled up your skirts over your head. Tucking the fabric around you, he constricted your limbs with your own dress until you couldn’t get out. His hands smoothed up and down your thighs. He parted your legs slowly. As if watching your slick shine in the lamplight like it was the complete purpose of the night. You felt the cot dip. And you felt his hot breath over your tummy. His lips kissed where they wanted. You couldn’t track where he’d kiss next.

You startled as the blade pressed flat against your inner thigh. Sam’s arm darted out to pin down your hips.

He tsked. “Try not to move too much. I’d hate to hurt you.”

Still, a tremble crept into your limbs. You couldn’t make it stop as the sharp tip traced unknowable patterns over your flushed skin. You cried out as Sam latched his mouth over your sex. Loudly, he lapped and drank up your arousal. His arms wrapped around your thighs to tug you closer. The butt of the knife hilt pressed into your skin.

When he finally broke away for a breath, you couldn’t find your own air.

“I wondered how wet you’d be. You were made to be a pirate’s whore. Can you feel it?” He curled his fingers through your slick. “How wet you got while I threatened your life and your livelihood? Only a true harlot would find pleasure in what I threatened you with.” He sucked his fingers into his mouth, knowing you could picture the sight of him humming around your essence. “Even if you leave this ship and never come back, you will always belong to us.”

Then he was on you again, sucking and flattening his tongue against your sex. You called out his name, muffled by your skirts. He didn’t care how much your torso thrashed as long as he could hold your hips close. You managed to loosen the fabric around your arms. Cool air rushed over your face as you managed to push it all away. You whimpered at the sight of Sam’s face dripping with you. He grinned. Shifting to kneel, he pulled your hips up so you were trapped on your upper back. He continued to eat you out, groaning with the feast of you.

Your release washed over you. Trembling head to toe, you waited for Sam to let you go. But his mouth kept working you over. You cried and begged for him to let you go. To put you down. You promised to suck him off. To use your hands how he liked, but he didn’t relent. Not until your voice was hoarse and spent, and your eyes crossed with the overflow of it all.

He eased your body onto the sheets. So exhausted by the ordeal, you didn’t move when the blade smoothed across your thighs again.

“There she is,” he crooned. “Look at you. All blissed out. And I’m not even done with you yet.”

The tip finally broke through your skin, dragging a tiny line across your tender inner thigh. It didn’t bleed at first. But Sam dug his thumb into the skin around it, and finally tiny drops of blood welled up. He laid across you again, watching the red drops make their appearance. You shuddered as his tongue darted out, gently lapping up the drops before he flattened it wholly over the cut. Your body shook as the side of the blade pressed harder into your other thigh. But Sam made a similar shallow cut, waiting as before for the drops before lapping up your terror and your blood. You couldn’t move. You couldn’t speak. The haze that settled over your mind when he first pressed the blade into your spine was solid by now. You couldn’t think if you wanted to get away, or if you wanted to lean into the pain.

Sam stroked the tip across your skin, thinking aloud for you. “I want to mark you. Make you mine. Maybe carve my initials into your skin. Did we show you? When we took you to the wheel. Dean and I carved our initials into the back of it. We could do the same here. I could carve my initials here,” he flattened the blade against one of your cuts. “And Dean could do the same on the other side.”

Gasping, your chest rose and fell with the force of the threat. With the force of the potential.

“What would your future clients think? When they finally got between your thighs and found our initials there?”

He nicked the tip at your skin. Twice more, each side, he carved away your earlier panic. You arched into the sensation. Softly sobbing, you welcomed the tiny lines of pain. By the time you breathed air back into your lungs, Sam’s cock was out. He speared into you without warning. And he didn’t wait for you to re-catch your breath. He held the knife at your throat; its dull edge held you in place as he thrust. Desperate for his own release, he took what he needed, hissing as your walls gripped his length. You had to reach back to press your palm against the wall to keep him from forcing you back with the force of him. There wasn’t a point trying to roll your hips to meet him. Sam was relentless. You listened to his moans and sighs as they dipped and rose in pitch.

When he finally filled you, spiraling you into your own release, he collapsed on top of you. Gangly limbs and muscle pinned you to the cot. It helped keep your shivering to a minimum. His weight and the warmth of his body over yours, including his slowly evening breath, calmed you. Your trembling ceased. You were able to inhale easily.

And the thoughts came back.

Sam helped you out of your dress and chemise. He cleaned up the small cuts on your thighs. When he looked back up at your face, his soft grin fell.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” You shook your head and tried to burrow yourself under the blankets.

But Sam met you there, curling you into his chest. “You know we’d never let anything happen to you, right?”

Despite the reassurance, a few tears traitorously escaped your eyes. “I know.” What was making you so unable to control your emotions? Your body felt wonderful. Relaxed and pliant except for one last knotted bead in the small of your back. There wasn’t a single doubt in your mind that the brothers would drop you off at the Ambrosia. They could threaten your letter all they liked; they were empty threats. But something about Adam’s face as it grimaced… “What about you two? Who keeps you safe?”

Sam rested his chin on the top of your head. His answer was quick, well-practiced. “We watch out for each other. We always have.”

As you closed your eyes, you wondered if he could feel your eyelashes fluttering against his chest. “Why did you choose this? Who could ever choose this?”

“We didn’t exactly choose it. There were… complications to the lives we wanted. Our dad… it doesn’t really matter how we got here, but we’re the best now. No taxes, no mortal laws to obey besides our own. We have code our hearts follow, and that’s all we need. That, and the open sea.” He groaned lightly. “Startin’ to sound like Dean. ‘The open sea.’” He breathed a laugh. Glancing up, you just barely caught him rolling his eyes.

You reached up and cupped his cheek. “And I want you to know: you’re not monsters from a fairy tale. Not to me.”

Sam tried to grin away the reassurance, but the sad way his gaze listed to the side revealed the nerve you touched. Maybe one day they would tell you their story of how they got into the life. And if they ever wanted to leave it, if they could. But right now, Sam’s even breathing finally triumphed over your fear.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me.” You curled your hands to your chest, accepting Sam’s cocooning embrace. “Both of you. You take care of your crew and you’ve taken care of me so well.” He kissed your forehead as your voice drifted off.

“It’s an easy thing to do, with a sweet thing like you. You’re a wonderful woman.” Sam’s voice also began to drift off. But he did his best to pass on as much reassurance as he could before sleep took over. “I’ll be here when you wake up. And Dean’ll be along soon. We’ve got you.”

***

Part 9: Like a Diamond

Masterlist

No Cum November 2023

[amalia9]

OMG THEY WERE SHIPMATES

[caramel-cream50]

Omg they were shipmates…

[jenn-i-guess]

Omg they were shipmates

Our Flag Means Death season 2 Trailer

[ganymedian]

POV you catch your weirdest officers in flagrante

[ckerouac]

I close out tumblr in the morning after seeing unhinged take after unhinged take (affectionate) and open up the paper for a dose of serious news, only to find this:

*sigh* I’ll bite. They were shipmates? OMG they were shipmates. 25K friends to lovers, hurt comfort, warning period-typical homophobia & MCD.

[child-of-hurin]

About the white tree (lol why): I tried to match the scene in Akallabêth and the scene in Mariner’s Wife and felt like they fit, so I’m quite convinced it’s Nimloth indeed. That adds a new layer: it’s also called Ancalimë (by Aldarion), which matches with your name idea Míriel? I like it as a symbol of the beginning and ending of queenship plus the spiritual mother of Númenor?Maybe I’ll post that white tree standing alone scene later that feels quite profound but also 👀 Tolkien what…?

The white Elven-tree alone he spared; and when the woodcutters were gone he looked at it, standing amid the desolation, and he saw for the first time that it was in itself beautiful. In its slow Elven growth it was yet but twelve feet high, straight, slender, youthful, now budded with its winter flowers upon upheld branches pointing to the sky. It recalled to him his daughter, and he said: ‘I will call you also Ancalimë. May you and she stand so in long life, unbent by wind or will, and unclipped!’

My brain had absolutely, completely, a hundred percent erased this fact from my memory??? Oh my god?!?! 😭😭😭😭 I'm a fake Nimloth stan... And I thought Aldarion thinking the Tree reminded him of Ancalimë was a headcanon I had come up with... URGENT reread needed...Now I'm wondering if Aldarion ever told Ancalimë about that, and if she also had a special relationship with the tree! Despite everything she doesn't strike me as a gardener-type, you know? But now I'm wondering! Thanks for reminding me of this I'm 🥺🥺🥺🥺 omg...

And now I'm wondering WHEN she started being called Nimloth - we don't know if she had a name when she was given to Aldarion? (And yes you're right, even more basis for my HC that either Isildur or Elendil or both would call their sapling "Míriel" 🥺🥺🥺🥺 Thank u for thinking about it... I know it's so silly but. Absolutely attached to that idea...)

It had literally never occured to me to think of the connection between the tree's life span and queenship but wow, it really adds up, huh! One more point for Nimloth the Fair as the symbolic female to Earendil's symbolic male <- I typed this in a jokey tone, but um, thinking about the divide between expansionist kings and insularist queens... well! Huh.*

@echoofthemusic One more thing (sorry): Aldarion compared to Eärendil is interesting but I read about that in the past under [a context I dislike] so I’m conflicted… I’m into more nuanced takes on Eärendil! But I feel like some takes gave him…I dunno…a kind of ego that I don’t see? But the sea-longing is actually quite similar? I think there is also a theme of various Númenórean projections on Eärendil: Elros-affinity to Men, Atanamir-immortality, Pharazôn-power, Amandi-plea for mercy?

(do NOT apologize for sending me cool messages) Earendil and ego, really? I believe you have seen this because I believe Tolkien fans are capable of producing any take on Earth, no matter how divorced from the source material, or bad-faith, or boring. Earendil's motivations in sailing range from curious to heroic, but where does ego even factor in it? It is not even framed as selfish or childish. He's not doing it to prove himself to anyone... Unless there is some HoMe thing I don't know and probably don't care about.

I agree SO MUCH with Númenoreans fighting over what Eärendil means as a symbol! Everyone loves him and everyone wants to identify with him. I absolutely agree Aldarion and other expansionists after him would focus a lot on Eärendil as a mariner, his passion for sailing; King's Men on his sailing West, Faithful on his respect for the Valar... Honestly, this is my personal taste, but generally speaking I think the First Age is at its most interesting when we're looking at it through the eyes of the Second Age Númenorians. I love the historical dispute over heritage and symbols and history and what... specially on what concerns the Edain and their heroes. I think of King's Men presenting themselves as the ones who are true to their legacy, who want to claim their birthright to choosing immortality as descendents of Eärendil and Elros while the Faithful are mere "elf-lovers"; meanwhile the Faithful can say they are the ones honoring their biology, not wanting to change into something they're not. Elros chose mortality; tradition says so would his father have, if not for Elwing.

And like, are any of these assessments completely wrong, really?

Amandil-plea for mercy is definitely the one that haunts me the most because it is the most on-the-spot one, after all! This is the true legacy.

Then Amandil said farewell to all his household, as one that is about to die. ‘For,’ said he, ‘it may well prove that you will see me never again; and that I shall show you no such sign as Eärendil showed long ago. But hold you ever in readiness, for the end of the world that we have known is now at hand.’

He even takes three shipmates with!! But he has no Elwing to come flying in wings of pale flame to him, with a light to guide him west,

Men could not a second time be saved by any such embassy, and for the treason of Númenor there was no easy absolving.

You bet I think early Gondor and Arnor they bore this in mind a lot :(((

[ccstiles]

Omg this actually goes along with my latest brain worms ^_^

Also this turned out longer than I thought- anyways

*AHEM*

The setting is on an alien ship, think Star Trek but with no humans. Why? Because a lot of alien species think that humans are an abomination to whatever being created the universe.

Like, what do you mean they have a super corrosive acid in their stomach??? You have to be shitting me Vekktar.

Well, as I said, no humans allowed on the ship. The problem? It's one of the most popular and most dangerous ships in the universe, carrying very important people and information in it daily.

So you, the listener (a human) was tasked to infiltrate the ship, get blueprints of it and it's software, as well as a general idea as to the specific types of info and people it carries.

You'd think that it would be hard disguising yourself as another alien race, but thankfully, most aliens think humans are dumb. They also have no idea just how realistic human special effects makeup is.

So now, thanks to hours and hours of training in special effects, a little bit of interplanitarian black market shopping for a new identity, you finally board the ship under a disguise as one of the more peaceful alien species (so that if they find out a human tried to sneak onto a ship disguised as them, they won't instantly declare war on humans).

The mission goes well! You're able to communicate and create bonds with other shipmates since they see you as an equal. You try your best to not form friendships that are too close (as you do not want them finding out your true identity) but you just can't help yourself. After all, one of a human's greatest weaknesses is their friendliness.

You meet a particularly nice alien (the speaker) and become quite close along your journey around galaxies. You two spend lots of time together, playing games, goofing off, and generally having an absolute blast.

It isn't until the very end of your mission, when you've gotten all the information you need, that your new alien best friend finds out.

It wasn't a grand ordeal when your friend found out. You were turning in for the night, doing your nightly routine of taking off the heaps of makeup you put on every morning before you head to bed for a good night sleep. This was routine to you at this point, and that's where you slipped up.

You forgot to lock the door.

So halfway through removing all the gunk on your face, you hear the door to your quarters open.

"yo! Where are you?" They called out, "I have something to show you!"

You tried to quickly run and shut the door to the bathroom, but you were too late. Standing face to face with your best friend, their eyes widened in shock.

"wha- a human?" Their voice turned cruel as they drew their weapon at their hip, "how the hell did you get in here."

You quickly explained yourself, your friend recognizing you from your voice.

"wait you... You're a human??" They were confused, slowly putting the pieces together in their brain.

They then questioned you, asking about your mission, its purpose, and other things.

(I can't think of any more at the moment, but yey :])

VAs/Writers! Writing prompt time;

You just released an audio or script with the title "Your Friend Discovers You Are Secretly a Human"

What's the story, what's the characters, and how do you interpret it?

[toss-a-coin-to-your-bard]

made up fic title: a song about pirates

oh so many possibilities and so little space to bring them to light! I choose Geraskier for this but the sky is the limit (Jeskel or Lamden or Yenn/geraskier or idk)

Is it the good ol' pirate!AU in which Jaskier ends up on a pirate ship under Vesemir, The Direwolf, and the fic is a song itself because Jaskier's life work is singing praises about the White Wolf and his pack and they were shipmates omg they were shipmates?

Is it a Modern!AU with Jaskier as the Indie/Folk/Alternative Rock singer who gets a gig at the bar Geralt and his brothers meet up for drinks and on one particular Friday night Geralt hears Jaskiers voice sing a song about pirates and he looks up to the corner of the room to be gutted by the feels - call him horny and in love lmao but why a song about stupid pirates?? (Jask wrote it cause the first time he saw Eskels and his scars in the audience his knee-jerk reaction was fear and yet, the same night Eskel was brought to tears by one of Jaskiers songs so he vowed to write a sweet and silly song for him... T.T I made myself sad, sweethearts, ABORT MISSION) this would make a beautiful songfic btw if I could write solid lyrics myself I would do it cause hoo boi I am a Lil big romantic atm something something your scars are the letters mapping your survival and I will hold them dearly for i can lovingly follow them to your heart something something

Is it an in-universaI au? Where Geralt goes after Ciri and then travels to the coast with her cause he needs a Plan B and Jaskier was his standard plan B-X so he has to improvise? (by doing what Jaskier would have done with him, oh my sweet summer idiot) And they hear about how a bard has gone missing and Ciri wants to help after she learns it was Jaskier, her birthday party bard and GEraltS OwN PersOnAL BaRd of OVer 20 YEaRs, I know you're my father now but what in the actual fuck, dad? How could you not tell me about how your best friend is the kidnapped bard which means it's my fault that he's tortured right now?! Cue rescue mission and meet-up with Lamden cause I want Ciri to meet Alive Aiden and a #happyLambert and slow recovery of physical and emotional wounds on all fronts. Aiden and Jask are two little shits together and the song about pirates is for the cat, as he made Jaskiers recovery possible with his outlook on life and tenacity to get Jask back on track. And it's also for Ciri cause she thrives on helping them prank the wolves and loves pirate stories. Are all three singing the song together and Aiden learns to play it on the lute? Is Jaskier unable to sing ever again so the other two sing while he plays?? The song would be very bittersweet in this AU and Geralt would cry hot, hot tears with me...

thank you for indulging me, dear heart! this was so much fun <333

[leafticket]

madeira day 2!

i have a house! honestly im not lovin the green roof, i wish id known what color the door was gonna be before i picked it 😔 im sure i can change it later tho so i’ll just have 2 hold out for it

i donated a shit ton of stuff to blathers and my museum is opening soon (hopefully tmrrw cuz i have SO MUCH i need 2 donate and the area behind my plaza is a nightmare lol)

i got the pocket expansion, the pro custom designer (see: new sweater from the pre generated designs!!), and the upgraded tools! and i unlocked and funded the nook shop (i think it’s timmy who’s in charge of that? i can’t tell them apart lol but i like that one is the shopkeeper and one is like wandering the island for questions n stuff... we love character development)

things r goin good w my fellow islanders! charlise checked in w me and it made me cry and antonio said smth rly cute abt germs and i was like... sir in these times i wish it were that easy but i appreciate the sentiment. also i wrote both of them letters so we’ll see what happens!

im not sure where Norma is?? i invited her to madeira yesterday and I totally thought she’d be there but she was nowhere to be found and i haven’t heard anything from her. idk i hope she arrives soon 🥺

i got a shovel and a vaulting pole and explored around a lot! and i planted some stuff including a bell tree!! also i bought a slingshot and knocked down some cool stuff so I’ve almost paid off the first house loan, i think i have like 20k ish left so that’s rly cool

sir legend gulliver washed up on my island today and then he got left on read..... real king shit 😌☝️ every time i checked in on him his shipmates still hadn’t responded and it stormed for a few hours later in the day and I felt so bad for him omg but hopefully he’ll find his way home soon! otherwise i’ll pitch a tent 4 him so he can live somewhere he’s rly appreciated :”~)

i did two mystery island tours, one with a ticket tom nook just like. Gave me for free for some reason and one with a ticket I bought myself!! i met tucker the first time and curve-flattening icon raddles the second but i didn’t invite either 2 my island rip.... i feel bad but their aesthetics just don’t rly speak 2 me (and also i have tucker in corambo (my acnl town) rn and i wanna try n have diff islanders w me maybe)! i forgot to take screenshots of tucker cuz i was rly sleepy (i took a random 3 hr nap today idk what happened) but yeah i did get raddles As U Can See

Also idk what to think abt my plane name theory!!! Wilbur referred to the plane as “soaring rose” on the trip where i met tucker and “soaring hyacinth” on the one where i met raddles so idk. I guess it’ll b different every time?? or dodo airlines has like a fleet or smth? but i like it!

yesterday i was like crazy confident going fishing even tho my mental health was honestly In Tha Pits and today i was feeling better but somehow i had more anxiety abt catching fish and. 2 make a long story short i fucking broke my 52x streak for that one nook miles challenge thing and i will never forgive myself. also i tried catching wasps twice and... got stung instead twice LMAO and also i chickened out of going after a t*rantula and it just scuttled off and disappeared. queen of ruining my own life 😌

i caught an oarfish!!! it’s like a tiny thing i guess but it just made me rly happy cuz i wasn’t expecting it at all, the fish shadow size looked rly normal so i was pleasantly surprised by that hehe!

idk how to get a ladder but i rly hope i can soon! also im getting kinda antsy cuz the main part of my island is running out of space for new amenities and im rly hesitant to cut down trees / pull weeds bc it all looks so pretty but i might have to soon bc I don’t think islanders can access the upper layers or diff sections of the island and i dont want to put someone in a place where no one else can get 2 it 😔 like i need bridges and stuff and it’s stressing me out!!!!

i forgot to post this yesterday but heres the map of madeira.... the madeira map if u will. and also my passport as of tonight!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

EPISODE 4

(written as a liveblog, as I see the scenes)

LOL THE HEADSMASH is so much funnier in context (I've only seen it in the trailer and in gifs lol)

Aw, Stede interacting with the crew, how I missed you

Buttons is so mysterious LOL

At least Stede and Izzy are talking now, hah hah. I actually feel a bit sad that Izzy's drinking himself dumb though :(

Oooooof the banishment... BUT LOL the Sammy thing and Nathan not being able to keep a straight face, I love that that made the final cut LOL

FUCK OFF NATURE LOL. Ed is such a mood

Oh dear the poor man is talking to a bunny

OMG THE BUNNY!!! 😫😫😫

Buttons WHAT???

OMG I love Anne and Mary already YAY!

OMG they were Shipmates 🙃

Lucius and Izzy are having A Time™ it seems oh my

OMG Ed and Stede are so married jesus christmas

Aww, Stede's just trying to help you Ed :(

OH GOD that Anne/Mary knife thing must be awkward for them to watch.... Payback for them making Izzy hear them in S1 I guess LOL

Aww this poor crew has so much trauma. I hope they can help each other heal!!! <3

LOL speak of the stabbing devil, Ed brings it up with Mary

OH JESUS ANNE LOL

Oh dear this Crew :(

Oh dear, Izzy... Jeez this character arc for him is amazing, he's won me over now. I feel so sad for him :(

Ugh oh dear Stede. PLEASE just tell Ed that you were kidnapped and threatened initially!!!!!

OH ARE THEY GOING TO TALK!!!!???

Ohhhhh romantic music is starting????

AWWW Stede is so soft!!!!!! AWWW THAT TINY SMILE FROM ED

GODDAMMIT MARYANNE!!!! you spoiled it

LOL the awkward prying of did they/didn't they LOL

Oooof this toxic relationship talk from Mary... :( God I hope Ed and Stede don't end up like them.... they're both too soft 🥺

OHHHHH THE CREW MADE IZZY A LEG!!!!! 😭😭 OMG HE'S CRYING!!! I'm sobbing omg... DAMNIT Izzy's arc is SOOO good!!!

WOAH WOAH WOAH WAITAMINITE. Buttons became a Seagull???? Were.... were Carl and Livvie once humans too and that's why Buttons understood them?!?!? Does this mean Buttons is gone now for good??? :( But I get it though!! Because it's to show Ed that people can change, so there is a future for Stede and Ed yet!

Also I love the awkward "wanna come to my place" first date vibes lol

AWWW THAT NOTE TO IZZY IS SO SWEET!!!! 🥹 😭

Aww, what a WONDERFUL Episode!! It was ALL about healing and moving on, and I think that's so beautiful! I love that the crew heals over trying to make Izzy feel better and cared about; that Izzy has a healing arc where he hits rock bottom and then finds a new lease with the crew caring about him; that Buttons found a new freedom in the skies; that Stede and Ed learn to SLOWLY communicate and heal their fractured relationship. I hope that the true way Stede left gets found out eventually though.

I really like Anne and Mary, they're fun!

Most of all, I love that this episode made me actually warm up to and sympathize, then finally like Izzy. His redemption arc was so satisfying, especially after all the horrors he suffered at Ed's hands. Now, I am looking forward to Ed now gaining back the trust of the crew. I feel like the theme of the season is "healing". It is literally their "Talk it through as a crew" motto <3

Onto Episode 5!

OFMD S2, E4 & E5

OKAY I'VE FINALLY GOT THE EPISODES! I'm gonna watch them before the Loki S2E2 release at 9, now that I'm caught up on my blog stuff for tomorrow :)

Some of you seemed to be amused by my live enjoyment of last week's eps, so I guess I'll do the same thing again that I did last week: Liveblog as I'm watching and then post all at once :)

Like last week, I’ll just reblog onto this post and will tag with “ofmd s2 spoilers”

[ripplestitchskein]

If you ever want to simulate what having ADHD is like (especially when I’ve forgotten to pick up my prescription refill) here’s a breakdown of the last couple HOURS for you to follow along:

-Start rereading one of your WIPs to get you back into the groove of writing it this week. We’re gonna be productive! Read one and a half chapters and remember something that happened on Current Obsession (YOI) for no reason.

-Switch tabs. Read a few paragraphs of a YOI fic you already had opened but don’t remember starting, run across a Russian word.

-Switch apps to Duolingo to make sure you’re still on top for League promotion today.

-Realize after three exercises you forgot to pause your music and it’s annoying that it keeps interrupting and then playing again. You forgot you were even listening to music, it’s just always there, so this is understandable.

-Switch apps to Apple Music, scroll too far down and see a recommended artist you do not know, start playing their track list from Top Songs.

-Switch apps back to the YOI fic, resume reading. It’s really good, such a unique concept, I love it-

-Get a message notification. Switch to Tumblr app, it’s from a lovely shipmate. Be reminded that you were reading your own fic to get back into the mindset for working on it.

-Switch back to browser. Finish reading Chapter 2 of your own fic. Reminisce fondly and pat yourself on the back for a second. Think about how much you love fan fiction.

-Switch apps to read the YOI fic you were reading. It was delightful.

-Reach end of the Top Songs for the artist you started, they only have one short album. The silence is super jarring and now the Alexa Sleep Sounds- Distant Thunderstorms noise in your room you forgot to turn off because you were listening to music is really obnoxious. Think about morning time, realize you want tea.

-Go to kitchen and turn on Keurig. Are we out of Naan? Yes, bummer. Check on the children who are napping. Remember that it is Sunday.

-Manically flit about the house gathering all laundry and throw it into the washer. Worry your phone got mixed up in the pile. Run back to your room to check.

-Phone is fine. Pick it up, ooh Facebook notification. Scroll through Facebook until annoyed (approx 6 posts). Rabbit thinks you are coming to feed him since you’re awkwardly standing next to his pen with your phone.

-Play peekaboo with rabbit and sing songs about what a beautiful baby rabbit he is. Lay on bed.

-Switch back to YOI fanfiction. Read until encounter Russian word.

-Oh yeah! Duolingo. Back to Duolingo. Get annoyed your music keeps pausing for each exercise. Switch to Apple Music.

-See recent addition of Angelè Dubeau album. Start playing that because it’s gorgeous and her rendition of A Time for Us is absolutely beautiful and it’s your favorite of all time, and you can still remember when you heard it and you love when it comes up in figure skating programs and figure skating is just the best sport, and omg speaking of figure skating.

-Back to YOI fanfiction. But oh my gosh this arrangement of Por una Cabeza that just came on is also stunning and I need to wake Ryan up so I can practice my violin and pretend I’m Angelè Dubeau and if I do maybe he’ll make me some tea. Chai. Чай. Russian Caravan teа. I should order that.

-Switch tabs to price out tea. Realize Ryan would be mad if I spend money on tea without consultation. Budget is tight this month. Look up antique samovar’s instead because they are beautiful. This one is 15,000 US dollars wtf. I bet Viktor would casually own a 15,000 samovar in that AU I was reading last night.

-Oh yeah. Back to YOI fanfic. Encounter Russian word. Fuck, Duolingo.

-Write tumblr post about how ridiculous you are. Realize that you still have no tea, have not woken Ryan, and the Sleep Sounds- Distant Thunderstorms is still playing.

[tespuco]

PotC Liveblog: Dead Man’s Chest

I’d been looking forward to rewatching DMC for some time. It was the movie that canonized my OTP and inspired so many amazing Sparrabeth fics. I fondly recalled seeing it in theaters with my family, my eyes and shipper heart growing bigger and wider with every subtext-laden appearance of Jack’s compass. I remembered feeling personally betrayed by Elizabeth’s death-kiss, like the writers had deliberately buoyed my hopes only to ruthlessly crush them. Unlike CotBP, I had only seen DMC once before, and I couldn’t wait to appreciate the complicated Jack/Elizabeth dynamic with more mature eyes.

Boy, was I disappointed. Not by the Sparrabeth, thank the gods, but by literally everything else.

Is it just me or was this movie composed of a bunch of standalone scenes and set pieces strung together? Did they bring in Tim Burton just to direct the visuals of the interrupted wedding scene? Why does the Turkish prison sequence look like the opening cutscene to a high fantasy RPG videogame with the brightness setting turned down to zero?

OK I laughed at Jack popping out of the coffin and using a femur as a paddle, but I’m confused about everything else

Oh look, the crew’s on the verge of mutiny again, and this time it is Jack’s fault

Listen, I have Ted Elliott’s compass meta tattooed on my heart, but in retrospect the “Why is all the rum gone?” scene was probably too subtle. The audience doesn’t even know at this point how the compass is supposed to work. Maybe if they had the balls to actually include the deleted Sparrabeth scenes in CotBP, Jack’s emotional turmoil wouldn’t have seemed so opaque!

Still, a character being Vexed about their affections/feelings and doing a poor job of managing that vexation is my idea of high romance

(and both Jack and Elizabeth are quite vexed with each other indeed)

I CANNOT believe I had to sit through an uninterrupted half hour of racist filler that does absolutely fuck-all to advance the plot while ticking at least four boxes on my postcolonial bingo card what the fucking fuck

Let’s tally the cinematic sins: unfunny physical comedy in a style that would’ve been more suited to animation; indigenous cannibals speaking in unrealistic, buffoonish gibberish; said cannibals worshiping our hero (and later a dog) as a deity; and worst of all--

All the brown men that Gibbs hired as extras additional crew for the Black Pearl in DMC were put into a separate cage from the recurring white characters from CotBP (btw Anamaria is absent without even a throwaway line of explanation) because apparently even barbaric islanders know and practice segregation

And so segregated, the crew enters the stupidest, most contrived rat race up a cliffside with each other that ends with the brown people’s cage falling into the ravine THEREBY GETTING RID OF ALL THE CHARACTERS OF COLOR IN ONE FELL SWOOP

Also egregious racism aside, I’m put off by the film’s rather cavalier attitude towards gratuitous loss of life? Idk I feel like in the midst of all the action and adventure CotBP knew how to handle death and violence with the appropriate modicum of gravity and horror

Meanwhile on the island Gibbs is just like “oiya we’re standing in cages built from the bones of our former shipmates ha ha”

As for Jack - Jack has yet to save a cat or anything else besides his own skin, so he’s rapidly losing the goodwill he accumulated in the first film

holy shit yet another Elizabeth Swann-related realization about my sexual awakening: her look as a cross-dressing stowaway - pretty, delicate features in a boyish, flat-chested, slender form - is literally my sexuality 

She’s literally pulling the strings of all the men on that ship! What a puppet-master queen

Tia Dalma’s interest in Will and the “touch of destiny” line is an interesting bit of foreshadowing that doesn’t get any payoff in this film. DMC and AWE have been criticized for being impossible to watch as standalone films, but I think there’s something to be said for a universe that strives for internal continuity and demands more than a casual investment in its proceedings (a related but distinct model from the MCU)

If you gave me half a reason to I would ship Jack Sparrow with anybody and everybody. Look at the flirtatious lines and looks he exchanges with Tia Dalma!! Give me that story! (Actually, artaxastra did, twice: once in her standalone Creole!Jack origin story, And All of Them True, and once again in Gods and Heroes, a Jack/Calypso interlude in her Outlaws and Inlaws ‘verse)

Tia Dalma’s acceptance (and release) of Jack’s payment for her services tells me two things about her that I really like: (1) she’s like a magpie that collects interesting miscellany (witty tricksters, cunning pirate lords, undead monkeys). and (2) she’s not interested in caging creatures (the foreshadowing!!)

FINALLY WE GET SOME JACK/ELIZABETH INTERACTION

God bless Keira’s face and acting choices!! The chemistry!! All the little smiles and smirks they share!!

How doth she look at thee? Let me count all the ways: her amused, tentatively credulous smile at Jack’s storytelling and posturing over a magical compass and chest, while Norrington scoffs disbelievingly in the background; her having to bite her lips and walk away before Jack notices her giddiness because she literally cannot handle their flirting; her little laugh as he gently rebuffs the idea that he’s a good man

Also “I have faith in you. Both of you,” were her parting words to Will and here she gets a chance to tell Jack in person yay

Their little dance of “persuasion” is hot and all (Jack literally looks like he has to bite back a groan and whimper), but I’m really here for the banter (“Friendly?” / “Decidedly not.”); they get each other, and, under the right conditions, can communicate so effortlessly

“Why doesn’t your compass work?” - alright so ofc I love the legendary “curiosity” exchange, but I’m so confused by the abrupt transition in their conversation here? Like why didn’t she follow through and tug on that line of inquiry?? The “Because you and I are alike” line that follows makes no logical sense in context (ETA: I guess it could suggest that Elizabeth already knows why the compass doesn't work for him, because he's torn between doing the right thing and the selfish thing... But at this point she doesn't suspect him of lying to her, so...idek)

“You’d never put me in a position that would compromise my honor” - my god what a TEASE my queer heart

Oh, Norrington, what’s happened to you?? What happened to serving others, not just himself?? :(( It kinda confuses me that he goes on about the “dark side of ambition” and the “promise of redemption” when he’s the one who voluntarily resigned from his post...

Norrington carrying both shovels while Jack just poses prettily though lol

JACK’S COMPASS FINALLY WORKS FOR HIM BECAUSE THE TWO THINGS HE WANTS MOST IN THE WORLD--THE CHEST AND ELIZABETH--ARE IN THE SAME PLACE AND HE KNOWS IT

idk I guess some people find the three-way swordfighting scene hilarious but I’m with Elizabeth on this one: men are stupid 

ugh this script makes no sense

I’m so fucking confused by the narrative logic here: if Jones is dead, there’s no one to call off the Kraken?? But isn’t Jones the one calling the Kraken in the first place, to settle Jack’s debt? So if they killed Jones, wouldn’t the debt be null and void? NO JONES, NO KRAKEN, DUUUH.

OK but Jack is really unlikable in this film, last-minute “heroic” acts notwithstanding. Give me fix-it fics please

I mean it’s rather telling that by the time Jack returns to the Pearl there are only enough survivors to fill a single longboat. Oh yes he “saved them all” - the few that were left!!

This script has more holes in it than the Pearl does right now: everyone unquestioningly follows Will’s orders like he’s the captain (what happened to the dork who shouted, “Aye! Avast!”?? And there’s no evidence that since his engagement post-CotBP he’s practiced any sailing)

I mean it’s like no one but Elizabeth even noticed Jack was gone; the moment he comes back Gibbs chirps, “Captain, orders?” as if he never left. This coward just abandoned you all!!!

“It’s only a ship, mate.” - This is actually just the saddest line, and I’m glad Elizabeth was there to witness it because if there’s one thing she took away from their fireside conversation in CotBP it’s that the Black Pearl is more than a ship to Jack; what it really is is freedom, and here Jack’s set to lose both

And that’s what Elizabeth--not the Kraken--definitively takes from Jack: his freedom. Not just his ability to run away from his fate, but also the chance to take a stand and face it. (I like to think that, more than the murderous act itself, is what he finds so hard to forgive post-DMC. The darker Jack in salr323′s oneshot, Perfidy, written post-AWE, articulates this eloquently: “You know nothing of my debt, love, nor of my payment. But had you allowed me a nobler death, my account might have been lighter.”) His last act of defiance entails reclaiming what choice he has left: slipping slickly out of his shackles, hat on, “hello beastie,” into the monster’s maw.

Ugh they could have given Jack’s whole arc with Davy Jones such PATHOS instead of waiting until the very end--he struck a deal with the devil in all his youth and despair and hubris; now the bell is tolling and he realizes 13 years is nothing, no time at all, and he’s not ready to die; not today, not ever--yes it’s selfish and dishonorable (Will’s willing to square the debt of a father he hardly ever knew; he wouldn’t have blinked at paying his own) but how human is that? to fight and run even as the flames lick your heels? 

omg Jack is the jackrabbit

The irony of that eulogy still gives me feelings tho: “Guess that honest streak finally won out.” Elizabeth wrested away Jack’s control over his own story, so now she has to write it for him. When she toasts, “He was a good man,” it’s in both unearned homage and recompense. 

“And the world is a little less bright.” - OK but that’s too much. Moving words from Gibbs, but here it’s like he’s speaking directly to/for the audience, and not in a good way. It’s too obviously meta, and especially out of place in a film where Jack did not shine very bright at all

In-universe, it’s not very believable that two pirates like Pintel and Ragetti--who mutinied against Jack before, without a hint of remorse!--would now risk their lives to save him

Honestly if Disney wanted to include familiar faces/fan favorites in the supporting cast for AWE, they could’ve easily written a more realistic line like, “what the hell do we have to lose?” or some more selfish motive, none of these panegyrics

btw who are the native people standing in the swampwater? holding candles with mournful tears in their eyes?? no seriously who are they??? (I dearly hope such a striking tableau was meant to hint at Jack’s history with Tia Dalma and the residents of this bayou, but the more cynical part of me thinks: “Now hiring: extras of color, to play the part of human candlesticks lit in exaltation of an ambiguously white man” The writers get no benefit of the doubt from me after forcing me to sit through that cannibal island act)

It sounds sadistic of me but seeing how anguished Elizabeth is after claiming she’s not sorry gives me life

She keeps crying, and can’t even bring herself to drink Tia Dalma’s concoction against cold and sorrow! She just fakes a sip, which is such a great little character beat, because it shows she doesn’t think she deserves the remedy! She’ll just have to live with it...

That is, until Will decides he can’t stand the sight of her grief, and opens up Pandora’s box for her despite just catching her passionately kissing another man: “If there was anything to be done to bring him back, Elizabeth...” He really is too good for this world

And Elizabeth MUST know there’s a price, that she’d be staking not just her own life and happiness but her betrothed’s, and yet selfishly, always selfish, she says, “Yes” 

BARBOSSA!!! Still the most epic character reveal ever. I still remember the theater bursting into gasps and applause, good times

[ganymedian]

Must….make….boat boys

[greyjedireylo]

lol plus cw fandoms act like whatever they do is actual social activism, when really it's sending death threats to writers and actors for doing the 'wrong' ship lol. not naming any names but it's a fandom about a girl who is super. rly rly put things in perspective for me tbh, now i'm just like 'it's just shipping'

omg I was never in that fandom but one of my good friends was and I saw all the fuckery secondhand. for some reason CW shows just attract the worst of the fake-wokes, it’s ridiculous. like my CW fandom was a post-apocalyptic show in which literally EVERYONE did fucked up things and had blood on their hands and yet the fandom turned the whole thing into the Woke Olympics and stupid ship wars into performative activism and then when TFA came out all my shipmates were virulently anti-reylo and I yikesed right outta there lmao