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potc-musical · 1 year

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POTC: Dead Men Tell No Tales Musical fan concept ACT 2 synopsis

TW: cannibalism (not actually happen), miscarriage mention, brief discussion of maternal mortality, grief and loss, suicide

Act 1 synopsis

The resistance still ongoing, between the living pirates and the bewitched seamen fought against the tyrannical sea witch Morgana and her minions on land of the ruins of the fort and on sea.

At the Queen Anne's revenge, Barbossa patiently waiting for meeting Salazar as La Silencia Maria approaches Revenge and finally met immortal Salazar to destruct the Revenge. Salazar boards on the Revenge and has his men killed the living crew until he gets Jack's location but Barbossa don't know where Jack was. Unfortunately, Salazar orders Barbossa and his crew to find him. Barbossa take Salazar's promise and some of his Barbossa's crew and him travel with Salazar.

At the Dying Gull, Carina having a breakdown. The crewmen watch Jack trying to calm her down and told her everything is okay. However, Carina being paranoid that Jack's about to hurt her, but he actually isn't until she pushed him on the floor. Carina began to realize what she have done to him and starts sobbing and apologizing that she wants to be a good friend to help for Jack and Henry but she felt like she isn't. She thinks it's her fault and Jack mention that she wasn't her fault. Jack comforts her and told the crewmen that he and Carina to be alone.

Back at the Revenge, as Barbossa traveled with Salazar to find Jack, Barbossa takes a different turn to the uprising. Salazar began to realize that Barbossa's turned against him. Salazar forces Barbossa if he takes Salazar to Jack, he'll kill him and his crew. Until Barbossa's tells him that he noticed the Dying Gull ship sailing up ahead. At this moment, Salazar was ready to pursue Jack. Back at the Gull, when Jack feel the sense of Salazar chasing him. Jack made a plan and told his crew that if they want to form a mutiny against Jack for caring Carina "the madwoman" . They agreed and Henry and Carina joined Jack in a row boat to the closest island.

Meanwhile, the uprising is still ongoing, Elizabeth hopes her son and Jack found the most powerful crystal, the Legendary Silver Crystal brought to the still ongoing uprising. Peggy hope if Barbara will be with her after long years of grief and found her "treasure"

At the sea, the three were on a row boat. It wasn't long until La Silencia Maria catches them up. Carina left the boat to the island, then, Henry, and leaving Jack alone until he left the boat and swims.

As Carina, reached the island, as well as Henry and Jack. Luckily, Salazar and his men unable to walk on land because they're cursed. Carina asked Salazar if he was her dad, and he said no. Carina groaned and runs off and Henry went after her. Jack meet Salazar again. Jack said he had enough for him and runs off after two.

As Carina runs off, she gets caught in a trap in a net. Jack and Henry found her and tried to free her until both got knocked out by three people.

At the Revenge again, Salazar and Barbossa got the confrontation. Salazar kill some crewmen until Barbossa tells him that he still got his promise to bring Jack since he can't escape the island. Salazar accepted and free Barbossa and his surviving men. Without Salazar knowing, Barbossa secretly break his promise.

Elsewhere, Jack awakens and found himself being and found Henry and Carina are also tied as well. He finds himself being with the group of deserted pirates who are supposed to go to the resistance and trying to survive on the island. The crew asked the three who they are and the three introduce themselves. The deserted pirates told them they’re looking for a food to eat to survive. One of the pirate said he will cannibalized the Jack, Henry, Carina and this made the three panic. The three trying to disturbed the deserted pirates to attempt escape. Until, Barbossa rescues three and shots the person who wants to cannibalized the three. Barbossa scolds the deserted pirates not to be jerks to Jack, Carina, and Henry and ask them to search for the silver crystal and bringing them to the uprising and the deserted pirates fully agreed.

Jack remembers that he has his pearl in the bottle and become aware that he’ll bring his Black Pearl to be restored to life to its original size. Jack and Barbossa together break the bottle and the ran off to the nearest open waters. Barbossa throws the ship to the waters until it grown on its original form. Jack began to his joy for his Pearl was restored until he get encountered by his former lover/FWB, Angelica. Angelica held Jack accountable and began to roast him for what his true intentions are and his reasons why he betrayed Angelica and feeling unsatisfied about that. Jack tried to excuse her but he finally realized what his true intentions are and his actions have consequences that he faced after he betrayed her and apologies for what he done. Angelica forgave him. Jack ask her what happen to their child, Angelica said she got miscarried.

In fact, Barbossa captained Pearl again from Jack and tying him up on mast. Barbossa need someone to navigate the ship. Suddenly, Carina will volunteer to navigate due to her determination of nautical mentored by Jack. While Carina steering the wheel, using her late-mother’s manuscripts, Barbossa noticed his late lover’s journal that Carina hold. Barbossa thought she was his late-lover hallucinated him. He apologized to her for mistaken Carina as her late mother, Margaret. But they quickly realized, Carina and Barbossa suprised that she’s a long lost daughter of Barbossa. Happily, the two tearfully reunited together. Barbossa went up to Jack and told him about Carina's mom and his late lover, Margaret (aka Peggy). Barbossa discussing about what happened to Peggy, he said few days after Carina came to the world, Peggy died of maternal mortality and leaving Barbossa single to raise Carina. And he said that it's difficult to handle grief and loss to raise his daughter and cause him to left Carina at the orphanage so he had slow recover from grief and wish he can be with her from cruel world since he aged. Barbossa went to his daughter and told her about her late mother and what happened to her. He said that her late mother is still with us and he showed his miniature portrait of his late lover to Carina and how beautiful her mother was and gave it to her.

But then, The Royal Navy caught the Pearl until La Silencia Maria destroyed and attacked the Pearl. Carina went back to the steering wheel and using her late mother's journal and using North Star to guide her to find the island. The two crews battling each other. Barbossa’s arm got cut, Jack got knocked out and his sword flew away, Salazar tried to kill him until Angelica crucify Salazar. Despite Jack and Angelica’s remaining friends, they help to battling with La Selencia Maria crew. Salazar caught Henry and then possesses him. Up until the Pearl lands at Ouranos Island. They got off the ship and went to the seven stands that is supposed to be the open path to the crystal but one stone is missing. Carina pull out the ruby with “p” stands for Polaris and Barbossa said this is for her late mother. She puts the last ruby on the stand and the ocean opens to make a path for the Silver Crystal. Jack and Carina walked up to get the Crystal until Henry was possesses by Salazar strangling Jack and Carina throws the rock at Henry as Salazar got out from him. Carina apologizes to Henry for throwing a rock at him to stop Salazar possessing in him. La Silencia Maria crew attacked the three mortals and Jack is battling off while Henry and Carina quickly get the Silver Crystal. As they get the crystal, the time is running out as the ocean walls began to close. The anchor from the Pearl drops so Jack, Henry, Carina climbs on the until Salazar caught Henry’s ankle and trying to let it go and leaving Salazar’s crew drowned as the anchor raised back to the ship.

Meanwhile at the uprising set, both mortal and cursed seamen build a barricade and battling of Morgana’s minions and they hope they will be free from her.

Back at the Pearl, they finally brought the Silver Crystal for the uprising. Salazar is sad that all of his men are gone until he saw the crystal that Henry holds. Salazar tried to touch it until it sparks on him and his curse was gone. This surprised the Pearl crew. Carina said from her late-mother’s journal said that legendary Silver Crystal can revive from the curse and Henry said that they should bring the crystal to the resistance that Calypso said. Jack thinks it’s cool to defeat Morgana and the Pearl sails of to the rebellion. However, Salazar now human was put in cell of the ship as they sail.

At the ruins of the Witch’s fort, Jack and others arrives, Henry carrying the crystal while the rebellion still ongoing. Until, the minions attacks them. The crew began to fought the, however, Barbossa is going to fight them by himself and told the others to go. Carina wants to help him but Barbossa told her and others to go while fighting of and the crew dragged Carina from her father.

As the crew went to the rebellion where the barricade as at, as the rest of the people still rebelled, the crew saw Morgana battling with the cursed undead men on the sea. Jack calls the witch’s name and the witch teleports at the scene. Morgana was surprised about Jack was here. And then, Jack made a speech about how tyrant Morgana was. He said she shouldn’t silent all the voices of cursed undead men who are dying of being bewitched to charge her powers. Jack told her that her silence is not an answer and he grabbed the Silver Crystal from Henry and show it to Morgana and the crystal cause Morgana hurt and realized it works. Henry is trying to grab Jack's shoulder, the power from the crystal hurt Morgana more. Jack calls everyone come to join Jack together in hold to raise the power more from the Silver Crystal until it finally defeats Morgana.

Moment later, the bewitched seamen are now finally freed from the curse. The freemen and other living pirates began to rejoice of victory against Morgana. Aside, Carina was deep blue that her father was scarified for her and others before. Angelica came to Carina and comforts her and told her that whether her father is alive or not. Carina began to hope. Henry reunites his parents, Elizabeth is happy to see her son was alive. And then, the Turner couple finally reunites Jack after many years. Elizabeth thanked Jack for helping her son to find the crystal and she said that the crystal must be safely stored. Elizabeth's old friend, Norrington finally reunited after long years. Jack said he was tired and need a hiatus from the adventures he’s been through. Later, Jack meet Salazar and freed him from the cell. Salazar is about to arrested him despite Jack’s still on parole, yet, Jack told him that pirates aren’t just sea criminals but rebellious human beings. This shocks Salazar for a moment for confronted by empathetic and compassion and consequences he faced, he decided to drown himself into deep sea.

Barbossa finally met Peggy in a dark place that is supposed to be an afterlife and happily reunited and walks off.

Jack happily having a big break. Angelica and Elizabeth taking care of Carina and teaching her how to be self-aware. Carina feel home with others around her. Then, the dinner party is ready with others, the three ladies went to the Brethren Court to celebrate the victory. Henry and Carina fell in love together.

At least, this not an end, this is the new beginning.

#pirates of the caribbean #potc #dead men tell no tales #dmtnt #DMTNT musical #jack sparrow #captain jack sparrow #captain barbossa #Hector Barbossa #Barbossa #armando salazar #carina smyth #margaret smyth #Henry turner #james norrington #elizabeth swann #will turner

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flyingflosser09 · 1 year

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Cursed / Armando Salazar x OC / Chapter 16

Chapter 15: https://at.tumblr.com/flyingflosser09/cursed-armando-salazar-x-oc-chapter-15/c40kl19rd8c6

Warning: Mild spice coming up. Marked with *** where it begins and ends.

Armando’s thoughts burdened him well into the late hours of day – or was it night? Sometimes, regardless of how long they’ve been here, even he loses track of time. The bottom of the ship is so dark, it might as well be eternal night there.

Lesaro left to join the crew on the deck hours ago, leaving the Capitán to his thinking. If it was three weeks ago, Armando’s thoughts would be filled with every outcome of Jack Sparrow’s death, the several ways he can kill the pirate to end his eternal demise.

But in the Lieutenant’s absence, the Capitán found his head running wild with images of Samira. And in a moment of weakness, he allowed himself to indulge in his fantasies some more.

He thinks of the future outside the Triangle. There is an estate atop a hill overlooking the vast waters of Spain. Samira awaits him at the entrance, dressed in sapphire blue and hair moving in the breeze. She smiles at him and invites him into her arms.

The fantasy escalates and they are on a ship, a version of the Silent Mary before the curse. She commands the wind to fill their sails and the current to steer them towards the horizon. He’s unable to tear his eyes off her. She is in her element, glowing in the mid-morning sun and from the saltwater spray sticking to her cheeks. In a moment of weakness, he has her in his arms and carries her to the great cabin, fully intended to worship her in the privacy of their bedroom.

When he blinks, he is back at their estate, sitting at a desk and writing letters. The door opens and Samira waltzes in. Armando is shocked when two little boys follow her in, chasing each other with wooden swords and using her skirt to hide behind. And when he regards her again, he finds her belly swollen, on the verge of bursting at any given time. He did not know it was possible for her to glow even more, but there she is, outshining the candles and sunlight leaking through the curtains.

Armando is shaken back to reality and frantically looks about, deeply disappointed to find he’s back in the carcass of the Mary, dead, and cursed. If his heart was alive, it’d ache at the absence of the dream and, to be honest, he swears he feels it weighing down in his chest.

No, he decides determinedly, he must not lose hope. He can have everything he desires and more as soon as he rids them all of this curse. He can provide Samira with the life she deserves, a life filled with luxury and safety. She will never run from guards ever again; he’ll make sure of that. She would have everything her heart desires, even the stars if she wished. He will give her everything and more until the end of his days.

Unexpectedly, Armando is struck with the sudden urge to see her. He hasn’t checked in on her yet today, neither yesterday as he was too consumed with his fantasies, he feared he would mistake her for what he sees in his daydreams. But now, he desperately needs to feel whatever effect she has on him.

Deciding what he must do, he begins his trek to the main deck, limping faster than usual. The main deck is mostly deserted as he climbs the steps to the great cabin before entering the room…only to stop in front of the door. The last time he entered without invitation, he saw her ankles. Although not opposed to seeing them again, he instead lifts his hand and deliver four knocks to the wood.

He hardly finished knocking when the door swung open. There stands Samira, hair neatly draped over one shoulder, and hand holding the bodice of her dress to her chest. She looks radiant in the ocean blue that matches her eyes so splendidly.

“Armando,” she greets him with a bashful tint to her cheeks, “I thought it was you.”

“Have I become that predictable?” he quirks a brow, curious about her intuition.

“I heard the thumping of your sword,” she confesses simply and smiles, “And the crew usually knocks thrice, you knocked four times.”

He wants to comment on her observance but doesn’t. “Have I come at a bad time?” She must have been getting dressed, hence her clutching the dress to her chest.

“Your timing is perfect.” Before he knew it, she pulled him into the cabin and closes the door. Samira moves toward the light of the lanterns and turn her back, saying, “Can you please tie me up? I must admit, I’ve grown spoiled with your help, Capitán.”

If only she knew that he wouldn’t have it any other way. Feeling his dead heart spike at the invitation, Armando steps forward and takes the dainty strings between his fingers. He holds his breath in a very un-ghostly manner and gives the first slow and gentle pull.

However, he is displeased to see the first pair of eyelets meet in the middle, concealing a part of her lower back from view. This needs to last longer, he needs to move slower. And that’s exactly what he does.

Armando shamelessly allows his gaze to roam the exposed skin on her back. Such flawless skin, such a delicate arch and, despite not having the luxury of a bath with oils, she smells of the ocean in the early morning hours. Perhaps, he can allow himself a fracture more…

…

I gasp when feeling his cold fingers brushing against the skin of my back. The brief contact sent shivers down my spine but at the same time, I want to lean back so he can do it again.

“Forgive me, senorita,” his voice sounds behind me, “The strings, they are –”

“Oh, no, it’s alright,” I quickly say before he gets the wrong idea. Quick, think of something that will make him do it again… ah, I know! “Perhaps tug a bit slower? I wasn’t aware this corset is so sensitive.”

“…if you insist.”

The next tug is slower and gentler I thought he was capable of. I have no control over my body as my back arch ever so slightly, my skin coming alive when I feel his cool fingers brush against me once more. It takes every ounce, every fracture of self-control not to utter a sigh or to let my head fall back in ardent bliss.

But, to my disappointment, it ends too soon. Armando steps back after tying the strings and I’m forced to accept the absence of his skin on mine.

“Thank you,” I tell him kindly, hoping he doesn’t notice the blush in my cheeks. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visit? Am I in trouble yet again?”

Armando huffs but a ghost of a smile graces his features. Was it my imagination, or was his eyes lingering on my lips a second too long? “The only trouble you are in, senorita, is not forcing Magda to admit defeat. I have never seen him outsmarted in a fight before.”

“I discovered a person’s true intentions are evident in their eyes,” I confess my winning strategy, recalling how I determined Magda’s next move by his gaze. At the mention of that, his eyes lock with mine, and I hope he can read every emotion swimming in my gaze.

To my dismay, he looks down and clears his throat. The black goo is slowly starting to build up at his lips, something I’ve learned happens while in the presence of the living. Although, by now, I can’t be bothered by it anymore.

“I just wanted to see if you’re doing well,” he says, suddenly in a hurry. “I will leave you to it, then –”

“Wait.” Armando stops at my command. Honestly, it was a desperate attempt to keep him here a bit longer.

After learning from Moss that the Capitán enjoyed dancing back in the living days, fixing that music box has become my soul purpose. And only this morning, I won the battle and bested the tiny gears and mechanisms. I fixed a music box. If any man saw it, they would certainly accuse me of being a witch.

Realizing he is waiting for me to speak; I quickly retrieve the music box from the desk to show it to him. “I fixed it this morning. Perhaps this small victory was what fueled my confidence and drove me to beat Magda.”

Opening the lid, the atmosphere instantly lights up as a delicate melody fills the silence. Placing the box on the table, I brace myself for what comes next.

Without asking, I take his hand and place my other one on his shoulder.

Armando takes an abrupt step back. “What are you doing?”

“I happen to fancy a dance, and you, Capitán, happen to be here.”

“No,” he tries retreating again but his feet are rooted to the wooden floor. Instead, he counters with, “It would be no good.”

Following his gaze to his sword acting as a cane, I realize he’s referring to his limp. That damn limp.

But I’m not taking no for an answer.

“I’m not asking you to do a salsa, Armando,” I jest calmly and take a cautious step towards him, “All I want is for you to indulge me any way you can.”

This time, he allows me to take his hand once again. The conflicting temperatures of our skins send a frenzy of shivers through my arm as I place my other hand on his shoulder. It’s like a once dormant instinct coming alive inside him. My heart forgets to beat when his free hand settles on my waist, however, I feel there is still too much space between us.

A final act of boldness drives me to press myself against him, our faces inches apart, so close I can feel his floating hair tickle my cheeks.

Perfect.

I start swaying slowly to the tune coming from the music box and he stiffly follows. Of course, it has been twenty-five years since he danced with anyone, let alone having a woman stand so close to him. It fills me with so many questions – has he been loved before? Was he in love before the curse? Has he ever been…intimate with a woman?

Not that I would know anything about intimacy but given the heavy beathing of my heart and the knot forming in my stomach at the thought of him sharing that with me, I believe my body would know what to do when that time comes. The waves know to crash at the shore just as the ocean knows the tide is high at night.

“Can I ask you a question?” I whisper above the soft music.

Armando nods, “Anything, senorita.”

“Have you been…were you courted before the curse?”

A short silence follows as if he needs to remember before answering, “No, I was not.”

“So, you have never been…” I blush, unable to finish that sentence in fear of how it might sound.

“What is it, Samira?”

My cheeks are ablaze by now, but I gather my courage to say, “Have you ever been with a woman? Before the curse, I mean.”

Instantly, he stops moving and I look up to meet his eyes. He looks at me with emotions I can’t read, although, I believe one of them might be shock.

“I think I should go.” His words fill me with panic, and I grab him before he can pull away. “Whatever it is you are planning, I advise you to forget it. Nothing good can come from any of it.”

“Why?” I challenge him.

“Look at me, Samira. Do you not see what the curse has done? Do you not see the cracks and the filth that leaks from them? Do not tell me you are not repelled by the mere sight of me!”

“I am not.” He tries pulling away again but this time, I grab his hands and guide them to cup my face, holding them there in fear of seeing him walk away. This stuns him enough to pause, giving me less than seconds to convince him of my true feelings. “Armando, I am not repelled by you. I don’t see the cracks or anything you consider revolting; all I see is the curse and what it’s done to you. You are not vile, you are not evil, and you are most certainly not unworthy of love.”

“It’s no good…” he mutters, tracing his thumbs over the apples of my cheeks. “It’s no good…”

Black liquid builds up at his lips and I quickly use the dress’ sleeve to wipe it off. And while my hand is close to his face, my fingers find their way to his jaw, tracing the cracks more gentle than a mother would hold her baby.

He weakens at my touch and leans his head into my hand, “It’s no good…”

I feel a force pulling me closer to him. I’ve never been in such a situation before; but I listen to the instinct and hoist myself up on my toes. With both hands now holding his face, I press my lips to the corner of his, avoiding the black goo as much as possible.

Armando stills like a statue, not daring to move but rather choking on a breath. His hands drop to my waist to hold me there, clutching my hips like he would to his hope to be mortal once more.

After a few seconds, I pull back. However, I’m overwhelmed by emotions and whims urging me to go even further. Like a tidal wave, they build and build until, finally, crashing down on each other and drowning me in wild passion.

Looking up, I meet his eyes, swirling with specs of gold and desire. As I told him before, a person’s true intention is visible in their gaze. And his is enough to set me ablaze with fiery passion. That moment I knew, we both want the same thing.

“To hell with it,” I say before this time, planting my lips fully on his.

The suddenness of the kiss is all he needs to completely fall victim to years of unsatisfied urges resurfacing. The rapier hits the floor with a thud as his hands seize every inch of me they can find, gripping, touching, and holding in fervent desperation. Guiding him to the table without breaking the kiss, I hoist myself up so he can step between my legs. The music box continues its delicate tune, muffled by the ringing in my ears and my labored breaths.

With the last of my self-control lost to the storm within, I reach back to undo the lacing at my back…only for his hand to stop me.

Breaking the kiss, Armando steps back just enough to study my face, thumb lightly tracing my swollen, stained lips before coming to a gentle rest on my cheek.

“We must stop while we still can,” he breathes, hardly as out of breath as I am, being a ghost and all.

“Or we can continue?” I smile and pull him back.

“Dead men can’t act on bodily desires, Samira.”

“You believe that?” My question catches him by surprise, and he stills, hands shaking lightly where they hold my face. He lets go of me gently to observe this new effect, turning his hands over as a frown etch between his dark brows. I know what he’s thinking: does he truly believe himself incapable of desire? Taking that a cautious sign to continue, I say softly, “Now, should I undo my own lacings, or are you going to help me out of this dress, Capitán?”

…

Armando has never been so confused and conflicted in his life – and death. Here she is, an outrageously beautiful woman with perfectly living features and a sharp mind, giving him, a cursed man with skin littered with cracks and scars, permission to act on his desires with her.

And he wants to, he really, really wants to. Since when did he allow himself to feel anything but rage and pain?

Cupping her face once more, his thumbs explore the contours of her skin, brushing over the apples of her cheeks, tracing her lips, and spiraling her hair around his fingers as he wished to do so many times. She doesn’t pull away and holds his gaze, fully accepting of anything he decides upon.

“I am not the man I once were, Samira,” he finally says, desperately trying to suppress the rising heat within him despite wanting it to consume him. “I fear you might not like what you will see.”

If his face is as horrific as it is, he’d rather not behold her expression when she sees what lies underneath his uniform.

Yet, to his bafflement, she says again, “Should I undo my own lacings, or are you going to help me out of this dress?”

The last of Armando’s self-control crumbles and he gives in to his wants. As if reading his decision in his eyes, Samira slides off the table and turn her back on him, looking at him from over her shoulder. There is a slight upturn in her mouth corners, and he slowly pulls the lacing he’s done minutes ago, loose.

The more of her skin he sees, the more it clouds his head, making her the object of his desire. There is no Jack Sparrow, there is no Devil’s Triangle, and there is no curse. There is only her.

Her dress is now fully open at the back, and he allows his fingers to glide down her spine, dipping at her arch, and nearly driving him wild with desire. She is so soft and warm…

She slips the boddice over her shoulders and pull her arms from the sleeves. His once beating heart spikes wildly as she folds down the remaining boddice to reveal the full extent of her back, now bare and open for his eyes to explore.

Before she could turn around, Armando’s hands are running down her sides and around her waist, settling on her stomach and staying there. His entire being is alive with desire by now and a dormant instinct has awakened within him, guiding him to lean down and brush his lips against the crook of her neck.

The soft hitch of her breath stirs something primal in his chest as he drags his lips up her neck to whisper in her ear, “Have you been with a man before, pequeño?” She shakes her head and arch her back against his chest. “Then we do this my way, understand?”

Samira nods, too dazed to speak.

“I will not take your purity today, but I will give you the release you want. But you will have to be quiet. Don’t want one of the crew rushing in while I’m indulging you now, do we?”

To test that, his places a feathered kiss underneath her ear, smirking as her breath hitches but no sound escapes her.

“Good girl.”

***

The breathless whimper she makes at the praise give him to confidence to begin his ministrations. Armando’s hands begin their trek upwards, ever to gently, as he goes back to kissing the crook of her neck. Samira squirms under his touch when he stops just below the curve of her breasts – he yet has to behold their magnificence. A part of him is greedy to look, another part wishes to postpone that pleasure for when he’s mortal and can indulge her properly.

Samira worms in his grip, attempting to get him to take her into his hands. At last, he does.

Armando’s eyes fall close at the feeling of her soft and warm breasts in his cold hands, perked and hard with desire that he brings her. He gives them a gentle roll before lightly running his thumbs over her peaks. Samira’s hands come up to grasp his, arching her back when he gives each a soft tug.

Knowing she has never been with a man and experienced any of this before, makes it all the more rewarding to observe her every reaction. He wonders how fast he can leave her panting and whimpering…

Feeling it’s time to put that thought to the test, his hands let go of her breasts to lift her onto the table. With her back still pressed against him, he takes one of her mounds in his hand while trailing the other down her stomach and underneath her dress.

Samira gasps before biting down her fist, remembering she needs to be quiet. His hand is exploring places hers has never ventured for pleasure.

“Shh, shh,” he whispers against her cheek as her breathing becomes labored and quicken the pace of his fingers, reveling in how ready for him she is. How he wishes he was mortal now.

Samira just about swallows any sound that dares escape her lips by now, clawing at his forearm with her free hand. Realizing she is close to her peak, he curls his fingers at the same time his lips return to the crook of her neck, this time with the intention of leaving a mark...

The Mary jolts as a wave crash against the waterline the moment she finds her release. Samira slumps back against him, chest heaving, skin glistening, and utterly spent and satisfied.

***

At last, she can stop biting down her fist and he gently holds her hand to his face, noticing the slightly bloody teeth marks she left behind. “I take it it was good then?”

Breathlessly, she nods and a smile of fatigue graces her face. “It was perfect.”

His chest swells with pride as he lifts her up and carries her to the bed. Somehow, they settle in a comfortable position with her pressed up against his side, hand resting above his heart.

“I half-hoped you’d allow me to return the favor,” Samira rests her chin on his chest and looks up at him with eyes he wants to drown in. “We could’ve shared this moment together.”

Yes, they could have, but there is a reason why he chose to wait. Slipping a charred, black as coal ring from his finger, he lifts her hand and slide it over her ring finger. Clearly, it’s too big for her, but it’ll do for now.

She stares at the ring wide-eyed until he speaks. “The only time I will indulge all your desires, Samira, is once I’m mortal and have courted you properly – if you’ll have me.”

She looks between him and the ring in stunned surprise.

Feeling worry stir within him, he adds, “I promise I shall buy you a better one once we step foot in Spain, if that is what y—”

She kisses him before he could finish that sentence. Armando welcomes her lips greedily, tangling his fingers in her hair and allowing her to climb atop of him. Her hands on his cracked cheeks leave burning trails in their wake, setting him ablaze with passion and emotions he once thought was dead.

“Yes,” she breathes against his lips and smiles radiantly, “Yes to courtship, yes to the ring, yes to everything.”

Armando can hardly believe her excitement. It has to be another cursed trick the Triangle played on his mind, so he had to make twice certain. “Yes?”

“Yes.”

A curse-free life flashes before him, a life outside the Triangle, an eternity with Samira and whatever they wish to achieve together. It’s enough to make his dead heart beat to life.

“Promise you will wait for me? Promise you will be patient until the curse is broken.”

“I promise.” Unable to contain her happiness any longer, she kisses him once more and somewhere in the distance, even the ocean shares in her content.

Samira makes herself comfortable atop of him and, after a minute, he hears her steady breaths, telling him she fell asleep. Armando silently enjoys watching her peaceful features while playing with her hair, careful not to wake her. Overcome by what can only be love for this woman in his arms, he closes his eyes, relishing in her warmth and everything she makes him feel…

…until he opens them as realization hits.

Not once during their intimacy did he leak black liquid from his mouth.

#armando salazar #armando #salazar #pirates of the caribbean: dead men tell no tales #pirates of the caribbean #potc dmtnt #potc #dmtnt #jack sparrow #henry turner

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tache-noire · 2 years

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ok i infodumped about this on discord earlier but i want it here too so here. unedited, kind of a wall of text about how DMTNT actually would have been better without Jack

i've identified the problem with 4 and 5

jack sparrow didn't actually need to be in either of them

and the fact that he was actually ended up making them worse because it was impossible to work his character into the story without completely fucking up the character

Salazar was the reason they came up with for Jack to get involved. If he wasn't a direct and specific threat to him, he wouldn't need to exist. But Jack absolutely did not need to be part of Salazar and the Silent Mary's whole story.

IN FACT.

it would have been far more interesting if the destruction of the Silent Mary had been caused by Will somehow. Something simple. They're chasing what they believe to be a pirate vessel, but it's the Flying Dutchman, come to retrieve the souls of some no-name pirates the SM crew had just killed. They chase it down, it approaches the mouth of the Devil's Triangle, and then either submerges or vanishes with the Green Flash, leaving the SM sailing full speed with no chance to turn around

Then there could be some drama where Henry finds out about this and has to grapple with "ok my father isn't exactly the saint I believed him to be, do I still want to break his curse?"

and Salazar would still have a reason to be chasing them, because not only is this boy looking for something that will break his curse, he's also the son of the bastard that put it on him in the first place.

Jack's character was so OFF in that movie because he didn't really DO anything. Things happened to him.

He was never the driving force of the plot even though he was STILL presented as the main character

he was tertiary at best

primary: Henry's quest to find the trident and break Will's curse

secondary: Carina's quest to prove that she knows what she's doing, the map is real and the destination is real (and to feel some indirect connection to her father, which ends up being direct in the end)

tertiary: honestly not even JACK'S quest! it's Salazar's! It's HIS quest to kill Jack for revenge!

so i guess the fourth most important is Jack's extremely vague and flimsy motivation of "my life sucks now and i want it to suck less maybe :/"

#potc5 #potc dmtnt #dmtnt #pirates of the caribbean #dead men tell no tales

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imaginepirates · 3 years

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Salazar x Pirate Hunter HCs

Anon, I’m so sorry. You sent this in like.....over a month ago. My inbox just keeps getting blown up. Sorry. Anyway, here are some head canons about Salazar meeting another pirate hunter and working with them.

Salazar first sees you in the Carribean, just after he’s been released from the Triangle. At first, he plans on destroying your ship, using his own to devour it, but then he realizes that you’re lying in wait for someone. Curious, he waits to see what you do.

As it turns out, you’re waiting for a pirate ship, partially hidden by the coastline of a small island. As they sail out into open waters, you begin the chase. You rapidly close in on them, bombarding their ship with gunfire. Salazar watches through a spyglass, only satisfied once the pirate ship sinks under the unforgiving waves. It doesn’t escape his notice that you took no prisoners.

Now he knows you’re not in it for the money. If you were, you would have taken prisoners for formal execution, or at least for proof of annihilation. No, you’re doing this because you want it done, just like Salazar.

He immediately sets a course to intercept you, wanting to know who exactly you are. He was trapped in the Triangle for a long time, and realizes that he no longer recognizes most of the ships in the Caribbean, other than by flag. Given that you aren’t flying any, he assumes you’re a rogue captain of sorts, not belonging to a particular country or company.

As the Silent Mary approaches your ship, he watches the frantic movements of your crew. They are, of course, rightly terrified. You can’t help but to be afraid, either. You’ve never seen a ship like the one in front of you now. It’s no more than a husk, with no solid hull, only a skeletal structure of support beams is left. The sails have holes ripped through them that would make any normal sail ineffective. You try desperately to flee, figuring that this is some cursed pirate ship seeking revenge for your hunting, like all those tales about Barbossa and his crew of the undead.

As the ship gets closer, you notice that it is indeed crewed by the undead. You don’t have time to form an order before the Silent Mary is bearing down on you. You watch in utter horror as the crew as the ship pulls up alongside your own, staring at the crew, who almost floats over the deck. Everything is monochrome; you feel like you’re staring into a whole different world.

You’re most unnerved by Salazar himself. He gives you one of those smiles, something resembling black ink dripping from his mouth. Before you know it, he’s made his way onto your deck, and you shudder looking at him.

It’s only when you notice his naval uniform that your fear begins to melt away. You ask him who he is and where he’s from. You figure that if he hasn’t decided to kill you yet, he won’t.

Salazar explains just what happens to him, and that he’s a pirate hunter, just like you. He asks if you know about Jack Sparrow or his whereabouts. Somehow, this doesn’t surprise you. Jack is the most hated pirate in the Caribbean—probably in the world—just for how often he meddled in the affairs of others. Somehow, he had managed to jilt men from every corner of the globe, and you weren’t surprised that Salazar had bad experiences with him.

You yourself had also had run-ins with Sparrow. You were none too pleased with him, and agreed to help Salazar, knowing where Jack was last seen. The thought of wiping Jack off the map excited you a little. He always managed to slip away at the last second, but seeing the Silent Mary, you knew that even the Pearl couldn’t withstand such a force.

You found that you had little problem with Salazar or his crew. Despite being unsettling, there was nothing about them that you didn’t like. They didn’t need food or drink, which meant there was no need to give them anything from your own stores. The Silent Mary needed no repairs, because even her broken mast didn’t slow the ship down as it dragged in the water. Salazar himself asked nothing of you other than your help, which seemed perfectly fair to you if you wanted to pair up for a joint cause.

The first time the two of you come across a pirate ship together, you prepare your cannons, and wonder what the Silent Mary will do. It hadn’t struck you that the ghost ship had no guns, and you hadn’t seen its fighting style yet.

You could only stand in shock as it devoured the pirate ship. Devoured was the only word for it. Even you felt a rush of cold fear as the Silent Mary arched out of the water, the bottom of her hull opening up to encapsule the unfortunate vessel. You began to be very glad that you had Salazar on your side.

Salazar’s obsession with Jack worries you a little, but you understand exactly why he wants Jack dead. You would, too, if you were under such a curse. It’s one night, in your cabin as you discuss how you’re going to find Jack, that he confesses how much he misses the touch of another person. You were talking about his curse, as you were curious about it, and Salazar told you the many things he couldn’t feel or do anymore. The supernatural side-effects were nothing compared to being wholly human.

You reached up, unthinkingly, to cup his face with a hand. His skin was dry and flaky under your touch, and dark ooze ran between your fingers, making you shiver. He held you hand there with his own. Even though he couldn’t feel it, he appreciated the gesture.

You promised to do it again once Jack was dead, so Salazar could feel your fingers across his skin. Still, you couldn’t help your curiosity in the moment. You ran your fingers through his weightless hair, smiling a little as the strands came apart, each floating in their own direction.

Salazar watches you with interest, trying not to let it show in his dark eyes. Still, he can’t help but be fascinated by the gentleness in your touch and your genuine curiosity. You’re the first person he’s met since his curse that isn’t afraid of him.

He feels…something…for you, though he can’t place what. He no longer has the full spectrum of human emotion, and he hasn’t felt affection for anyone in years. Decades. He barely remembers the feeling, though he understands that he hates you less than everyone else.

It takes months of your working together for him to understand that what he’s feeling is, in fact, a type of love. He doesn’t admit this to you, deciding to wait until he’s free of his curse. He doesn’t want you to be any more disgusted with him than you already are. He thinks that maybe, when he’s a man whole, he may have a chance with you.

You ask him what he’ll do once Jack is dead. He admits that he doesn’t entirely know. He’s torn between returning to Spain and staying in the Caribbean. He knows that nobody will be left if he goes back to Spain; everyone he once knew is long since dead. There’s a good chance that he’s been forgotten, and he doesn’t think people would take kindly to his reappearance. He mentions that he might stay, a rogue pirate hunter like you. Neither of you admit that his staying would be what you both prefer, giving you the chance to see each other again after the curse is lifted.

His affection for you is a secret he takes to his grave, though you had suspected his feelings for you. You only hoped that he knew you felt the same. Someday, you figured, you would see him beyond the veil of death, and you could tell him then. It wasn’t as if he was going anywhere. The Dutchman came for his soul, just like all others. You liked to think that when you next saw him, he would be able to feel your embrace.

(In the end, this was exactly the case, and after long years of seperation, you were reunited in death. You both joked about it, as you realized you’d never actually known Salazar any other way.)

#potc #pirates #pirate #pirates of the caribbean #potc dmtnt #dmtnt #dead men tell no tales #Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales #salazar #armando salazar #salazar x reader #headcanons #hcs #potc hcs

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acciomalfoy · 3 years

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fool’s gold (cedric diggory x reader)

summary: you’ve been best friends forever, and valentines hasn’t meant much until now

a/n: GO FOLLOW @fromashescomephoenixes THIS IS YET ANOTHER COLLAB WITH HER!!!!! FOLLOW NOW AND CHECK OUT HER FICS!!!

“I’m still not happy with you,” I said, and Cedric only laughed. “Stop laughing!” I scowled, and he swung an arm around me.

“The tournament is well and truly over, Y/n, and you never have to go in the Black Lake again.” He grinned at me, and I only scowled.

“You could’ve gotten killed, or worse, lost the tournament!” As a member of Slytherin, winning is absolutely everything. Maybe Ced dying was a tad worse.

“But I won.” His shit-eating grin said it all, and I whacked his shoulder.

“Get off of your high horse.” I shook my head, and he stood up. For some reason he had taken to sitting at the Slytherin table during meals, not that I was about to complain.

“Look’s like Sprout’s about to charge me, I’ll see you in potions?” He asked, and I nodded. Potions was definitely my favourite class, and it had nothing to do with a greasy haired git, but everything to do with the golden boy I sat next to.

“See you then.” Not a second after he left Eleanor Flint clutched my shoulder.

“You’re totally dating! When did he ask you out? Was it right after Chang dumped him, or did he wait a while? Waiting is totally more classy, but I can see Diggory not wanting to wait.” Eleanor babbled, and I stared at her.

“We aren’t dating, and nor does he want to.” I said, but as soon as the words left my mouth I knew I had made a mistake.

“But you want to.” El screeched, and I quickly covered her mouth with my hand.

“No! Cedric still likes Cho, I’m certain of it.” I said, and El pushed away my hand.

“Rumour has it she broke up with Diggory because you were in the lake and not her. If Diggory liked her more than you she would have been in the lake.” El was batshit crazy, I was positive.

“I was in the lake because I’ve been best friends with Ced since first year. I’m not listening to this, El.” I stood up quickly, and before she could continue arguing with me I speed walked my way out of the Great Hall. Good thing too, since I realised that I had left my advanced potions textbook in my dorm.

The dungeons weren’t too far from the Great Hall, and I made it there in what I would consider record-timing. My textbook was on my desk, and it wasn’t until I was leaving did I see the note on my bed.

I gingerly picked up the note, all too aware of how the Weasley twins had it out for the Slytherin house, and froze.

I’m like a crow on a wire, you’re the shining distraction that makes me fly.

I spun around the room, as if the writer of the notes would be standing in front of me, but the room was still, void of life aside Eleanor’s plant that was bordering death anyway.

I shook my head and stuffed the note in one of my robe pockets. I really didn’t have time to contemplate shit like this. With my potions book in my bag, I turned and left the dorm, soon entering the common room and eventually the hallways of the dungeons. I didn’t have to go far, since the potions room was only a couple corridors over. I slid into my seat seconds before Snape swept into the room, and I looked at Cedric who was already staring at me.

“What?” I whispered, and he looked at Snape before replying.

“Where were you?” He asked, and I pulled out my quill, ink pot, and finally some parchment.

My dorm, why?

You left the hall in a rush. Why’d you go to your dorm?

I forgot my potions book. Besides, El was killing me and I had to get out of there.

He nodded thoughtfully, and I decided to listen to Snape for once in my life. Anything to keep my mind occupied.

Later that afternoon, we were sat in the dark, stuffy tower for divination. The scent of lavender and peppermint was already overcoming my senses to cloud my mind and make me feel extremely sleepy. According to Trelawny peppermint was meant to sharpen seeing abilities, however I’m not sure anything can sharpen the non-existent...

Luckily, this was another class with Cedric. Merlin knows why we chose to continue it after OWLs, but I suppose that’s the Slytherin in me again: proving I can do it, and do it best.

Right as I’m preparing to drift into my sleepy daze, Ced nudges me.

“Trelawny. Five o’clock,” he mouths, nodding his head in the direction of my left shoulder.

“Hello dears!” She springs up, slightly like a jack in a box. I entertain the thought of telling her so, but she cuts me off as I open my mouth.

“Have you seen anything in your teacups yet?” She questions, staring at us in a way that is a touch too dramatic for my taste.

“Erm, yes.” I respond, trying to save Cedric’s skin since he just saved mine. Grabbing his emerald green tea cup, I grasp the golden yellow handle, and twist it three times. I’m not sure why... it just seemed right.

I glance at my book, but decide to wing it.

“I see a knight- or er. Perhaps a hero?” Trelawny nods, her eyelids fluttering as she rests them close and furrows her brow.

“No, it’s a knight in shining armour.” I nod, settling on this seeing. Cedric glances up slightly at the word ‘shining’ but shrugs it off quickly. He smirks at me,

“Oh, and what does that symbolise y/n?” His eyes flash slightly with mischief.

“It means you should keep your big mouth shut!” I glare at him, but can’t help cracking into a smile after a moment in his laughing gaze.

“Well dears,” Trelawny chirps at us, grabbing for the cup. “Indeed! I see...”

She gasps as I lazily flick my wand to float the cup off of the ground. I still wish I had remembered this trick when we were working with crystal balls...

“Oh Professor!” I groan miserably, despite the traces of thick sarcasm. “Please don’t say I’m due to die,” I throw myself back in my chair while Cedric tries to hold in a snort.

“I’m afraid you are my dear, in a most unfortunate incident involving a revolving door and a popsicle...”

—

“Charms is the worst.” Cedric groaned from beside me, and I nodded. Charms was fucking boring is what it was.

“Flitwick said it was a practical today.” I remembered, and Cedric brightened up considerably.

“About connecting minds?” He asked, and I nodded.

“I think so, partners?” I answered and asked, but I already knew what Cedric was going to say.

“Howdy.” He tipped an imaginary hat at me, and I sniggered.

“Attention seventh years! I’d like you all to get into pairs, and I will form the mind connecting spell. It will last for just one minute, and there may be minor discomfort as the minute comes to a close. Jordan and Berg, you’re first up.” Flitwick began the charm on the first Hufflepuff and Slytherin duo, and they laughed excitedly as the charm went into effect.

“Diggory and L/n, let’s get to it. Face one another and stare into each other’s eyes.” Flitwick instructed, and Ced beamed at me as we stared at each other.

“Now hold each other’s hands, please.” I felt myself growing sweaty at the thought, but Cedric took my hands with ease, and without breaking eye contact.

His grey eyes were more startling than ever, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell the pretty boy was thinking.

“Ut copulare,” Flitwick began murmuring until out of the corner of my eye I watched a flying wand hit the professor. “Oh!” Flitwick let out a startled cry, and Cedric and I nodded simultaneously as we broke eye contact to stare at him.

“Uh oh.” He tittered nervously, and I swallowed. The last time I heard a professor say uh oh was when Slughorn brewed a de-aging potion and it exploded on one of my classmates, rendering them to infancy for a good three weeks. Rumour had it she still used the pacifier from time to time.

“Do you feel okay?” Flitwick asked, and I nodded.

“I feel fine, Professor. In fact, I’ve never felt better.” This was a lie. I had woken up with a knot the size of a rats nest in my hair this morning, as well as having forgotten to do the potions homework last night. However, my teacher looked relieved, so I smiled at him.

“Same here.” Cedric added, and Flitwick sighed.

“Just in case the spell worked, I won’t be able to perform another one on you until at least a week from now.” Flitwick said, and with that he moved to another pair.

“Well I’d say that went well.” Cedric said, and I snickered.

“About as well as your date with Cho.” I was talking about his final date with Cho, which ended in her pouring a milkshake on his head.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and I stuck my tongue out.

—

“Salazar, what’s the reasoning for all these decorations?” I asked as we left charms. Pink and red decorations hung from ceiling to floor, and it was then that I realised it was Valentines next week.

“Every year the house elves go overboard. We should talk to them about it sometime.” Cedric wrinkled his nose, and I nodded. This was just too much.

“What’s going on over there?” I pointed to a circle that had formed, and it looked like two people were in the centre of it.

“Only one way to find out.” Cedric said, and we slowly approached it. Adrian, a fellow Slytherin, nodded at me.

“What’s going on?” I asked him, and he gestured to the pair inside the circle.

“They’re trapped until they kiss, because a rose fell from the ceiling right in front of them. It’s magically binding, so we could be here a while.” Adrian explained, and I tugged on Cedric’s arm.

“Did you hear that? It’s like mistletoe, they can’t leave til they kiss. It only happens when two people are in love.” I repeated, and Cedric nodded as we walked away from the circle.

“I barely survived the mistletoe.” Cedric said with a shiver, and I laughed as I remembered the girls that had chased Cedric down while waving mistletoe. It had been a sight for sore eyes.

“It’s okay, Ceddie. Time for lunch!”

—

“Could we maybe eat by the lake?” He asked, already having dodged three eager third years. The Great Hall was as busy as ever, and I noticed I myself was subject to several glares.

“I suppose.” I dramatically consented, grabbing two pumpkin pasties and some carrots with hummus from the nearest table. “Let’s go,” I led the charge.

A particularly determined looking Goyle stood directly in my path, stationed by a suspicious rose. I debated how best to get around, when I felt my feet lift off of the floor altogether.

“Cedric!” I shouted as I was levitated a good ten feet across the hall towards the door. I could only hear Cedric’s laughter as he ran below me, and I ducked as I saw the doorway coming straight for my head.

“Mr. Diggory!” McGonagall was heard shouting across the hall, however we were already halfway to the lake.

Dissolving in a fit of laughter, we sank onto the bank of the lake.

“Ah, back where it all began.” Cedric grinned towards me. I could think of a great deal of memories surrounding this lake, but I wasn’t entirely sure of any that had marked the beginning of something.

“What began?” I nudged him with my elbow and took a rather ‘unladylike’ bite of my pumpkin pasty.

Cerdric shrugged, and responded by taking a large mouthful of his own. He then grinned with a pumpkin paste covering his teeth.

“Ugh, you’re disgusting!” I threw a pebble at him gently. He simply transformed it into a golden finch. And so, another calm, sunny day was passed by the lake.

••••

After lunch, I took a quick trip to the dorms while Cedric was in quidditch practise. I needed to finish this potions essay, and only one person could save me.

“Come on, Y/n! You’re so slow.” Pansy teased as she speed-walked to the dorm, and I only huffed.

“These legs weren’t made for walking!” I shouted as she entered the portrait, and the only response was the faint echo of her laughter.

By the time I stepped through the portrait, the common-room was empty aside a few stray kids from the years below. I walked through the short hallway to our dorm, and Pansy was staring directly at me as I came in, a note in her hand.

“I’m the first to admit that I’m reckless, I get lost in your beauty and I can’t see two feet in front of me.” Pansy read it aloud, and I froze.

“What the fuck is this?” She asked, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. I got another one yesterday, I kinda forgot about it.” I explained, and Pansy raised an eyebrow.

“That’s sus, but whatever. Come on, let’s get to the library!”

—

“Holy Hippogriff!” I jumped as I felt a hard impact in my lower back.

“You okay y/n?” Pansy frowned as I rubbed my back. I frowned back, puzzled by this unexplained pain.

“I think so? Something just hit me in the back,” I explained, glancing around for the remnants of a prank of some sort. None appeared. Pansy shrugged and returned to her potions work. I gathered my stuff, and debated where to head next.

It was the end of the day, and I had completed all of my homework. So I was blessed with some nice free time. In a last second decision I veered towards the Quidditch pitch to meet Cedric after his practice.

“Hey y/n!” A sweet voice called out as I was about to duck out of the entrance hall.

“Hello Holly!” I spun on my heel. Holly was always quite nice to me, even though most of the Gryffindors avoided me. “How are you?”

“Swell thanks,” she nodded. “Just wanted to say congrats to you and Diggory! You two are so cute together!” I blushed all the way up to my ears.

“No I-“ she was already speeding down the hall back towards the tower. I sighed and continued towards the pitch.

••••

“Y/n!” Cedric waved across the field towards me. I noticed him limping slightly, but didn’t think anything of it.

“How was practice Ced?” I asked, and he only shrugged.

“Managed to take a bludger to the back, but it wasn’t too bad.” He said as he approached me.

“Doesn’t look good if you’re limping. Want to go to Pomfrey’s?” I gestured towards the various windowsills side by side that was the infirmary, and Cedric shook his head.

“I’m fine, Hooch said it would be worn off by tomorrow. Did you get all your homework done?” He asked, and I saw his face flinch.

“That’s it. We’re going to the infirmary. Give me your arm. Besides, my back has been aching since the library. Maybe I can get it checked out.” He held his arm out curiously, and I wrapped it around my shoulder so I could help him put less pressure on his leg.

“Thanks, Y/n.” He said sheepishly, and I smiled at him.

“I got all my homework done, by the way. Pansy even helped me with the last part of the potions essay that we struggled to do, so I’ll explain it tonight or tomorrow.” I said, and Cedric nodded.

“Sounds good, let’s go.”

—

“For some reason you’ve both bruised the exact same area in your lower back. Do you two have anything you’d like to share with me?” Pomfrey stared at us, and Cedric laughed.

“It's a complete coincidence!” He said, and I nodded, but I was mentally frowning.

There’s no such thing as coincidences.

—

“One day you’re going to spill the boiling water all over yourself.” I said as I watched Cedric in a feeble attempt to pour the water from 15 inches above into his teacup.

“I’m not the quidditch captain for nothing-ow!” Cedric yelped at the same time I hissed, and I quickly inspected my wrist.

“Some of it just landed on me!” I glared at him, and he stared blankly back.

“It landed on me, Y/n. You’re across the table it couldn’t have splashed you.” Cedric said slowly, and I realised my wrist was bone-dry.

“I swear to Godric I felt it hit me.” I said earnestly, and Cedric nodded.

“I don’t doubt it. Shall we go back to Pomfrey?” Cedric asked, and I shook my head.

“It’s probably nothing. Lighten up, Ced, we’re fine. We’ve got the lovely class of charms next, followed by Sprout’s endless herbology lectures.” I nudged Cedric with my elbow, but he still seemed upset.

“Hey, what’s up?” I leaned closer and murmured, and he leant his head on mine.

“What if it’s not nothing? What if we’ve been cursed somehow?” I wished I could erase the worry from his face.

“I highly doubt that. Hogwarts is one of the safest places ever, and if someone was going around cursing people we would definitely know about it.” I tried my best to reassure him, and he sighed.

“Okay, dipshit. I guess I trust you.”

—

“Odds on you asking Sprout what the word sex means?” I asked, and Cedric laughed.

“Ten.” I looked at him in surprise.

“You sure? That’s pretty low.” He nodded.

“Why wouldn’t I be sure?” He asked, and I snickered.

“No reason. Three, two, one!”

“Eight!” We both shouted, and I screeched with laughter. Ced was done for.

“No! Rematch!” He said desperately, and I tried to control my laughter.

“Nope! Go ask!” I put my hand over my mouth in an attempt to control my laughter again, and Cedric reluctantly raised his hand.

“Professor? I have a question.” Cedric called out, and Sprout turned around to face us.

“Yes dear?” She smiled at him, and I nudged Cedric’s leg.

“What’s sex?” The entirety of the Hufflepuff-Slytherin class erupted into screams, and Sprout gasped.

“Mr Diggory!” She exclaimed, and I genuinely thought I was going to piss myself.

“Well, as my head of house, I thought you would be the best teacher to ask.” He said, and I noticed his cheeks were bright red. He shot a glare at me before smiling innocently at Sprout.

“If you stay after class I might be able to explain, however, we are currently in a herbology lesson!” She looked like she was about to cry, and I slapped Cedric’s arm as I laughed.

“You’re insane!” I said, and the smile he gave me made my breath get caught in my throat.

The next day I ran into Cedric just before potions. He was about to trip right over his own two feet, when I caught his hand.

"Morning, clumsy!" I smirked slightly as he brushed off the imaginary dust he had acquired during his slip.

"Morning, y/n," he mumbled, lacking his regular enthusiasm. After chatting for a minute or two he started to back away slowly.

"Hey, I just have to run to the bathroom. I'll be back in time for class though!" He yelled over his shoulder now. He started to run down the stony corridor, however I realised after a moment that he was heading the wrong way.

"Wait! Ced, you're heading towards the common rooms!" I tried to yell after him, but figured he'd learn it in a moment anyway. It's not like he hadn't learned this before either. He came to the Slytherin common room almost as much as I went to the Hufflepuff one.

I followed his footsteps, figuring I would be able to talk to him on his way back. What I didn't expect was to see a single slip of parchment fluttering to the floor, and Cedric nowhere in sight.

I bent down quickly to pick it up, crinkling the hard corners with my anxious movements.

I’m like a boat on the water, you’re the raise on the waves that calm my mind.

It was in the same, scrawling writing as the other notes I had received, and the paper was exactly the same to all of the other's I had received.

Was it Cedric? I flipped the paper over and looked at the blank back. He couldn't possibly love me. Could he?

I smiled at the message, remembering when we met up over break once. We had taken his father’s boat sailing, and had somehow managed to capsize on three different occasions. I heard footsteps coming down the corridor, and I shoved the message in my pocket.

"Hey!" Cedric called out as he came near.

“Hi, Ced. Or should I say boat on the water?” I twirled the piece of paper around my fingers as he approached, and I watched as his face fell.

“That’s not mine.” He said quickly, and I raised my eyebrows.

“Hmm. If that’s true, then I better go search for my secret admirer.” I grinned as he took the bait and grabbed my hand, tugging me closer to him.

“How long have you known?” Ced asked, and I shrugged.

“I had my suspicions on Finch-Fletchley, but you proved me wrong with this note,” I laughed at Cedric’s reaction. “I’m joking of course, Ceddie. I had no idea who it was, but I’m glad it’s you.”

“Wait, really?” He seriously was the cutest. The way he was looking at me right now made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world; then again, I just might be.

“Of course I am. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been trying to drop hints for four years.” Cedric laughed at my confession, and I elbowed him.

“Oi! I was only laughing because I’ve been dropping hints for five. I figured in our last year at school I may as well confess that I’m in love with you.” My breath caught in my throat, and he raised his hand to my face only to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes.

“You’re in love with me?” I asked, and he nodded.

“It’s practically impossible not to be. Now that you know it’s me, I was wondering if you wanted to be my valentine?” Cedric asked, and a rustling from above made us look up.

A red rose had just bloomed.

It was valentine's day. Of course, just about everywhere was packed with starry eyed couples. We had opted to stay at Hogwarts, and have a sweet picnic together. Cedric had taken care of the setting, and I had found all of the food.

It wasn't a bad effort. In my opinion he went slightly overboard with the pink, but I did appreciate the various hints of green he had added with the plates and napkins. Plus, I had brought plenty of food from the kitchens (which Cedric had shown me in my fourth year)

We settled down on the edge of the lake, and I took a moment to appreciate the sunny day, and the time I could finally spend with Cedric not just as friends, but as a couple. I laid down, and gently rested my head of Cedric's lap.

"We should have done this a lot sooner," I joked, but I meant it as well. Knowing I could have been dating Cedric for months before now was a little bittersweet. I tried to remember that at least we were here now together.

I wasn't exactly sure if I believed in soulmates, but I knew that if I had a soulmate, it would be Cedric.

"Thank goodness you found the note I was going to hide the other day," Cedric smiled.

"That's true, you're no Gryffindor," I teased. "Thank goodness!" I stuck my tongue out in mock disgust.

And that's when things took a turn. I watched as Cho came up to us, with a nasty frown on her face. Her frown darkened our picnic almost instantly.

“Fuck.” I breathed under my voice. What in Merlin’s name could she possibly want with me and Cedric? Obviously we were about to find out.

“Ceddie, honey!” She sang sweetly as she came closer to us. Cedric shot me a look and quickly set a reassuring, soft kiss on my lips before getting up.

“Cho. What are you doing here?” He asked, sounding incredibly confused. He rubbed his hand through his hair, anxious about her mission

“I came to rescue you!” She grinned innocently. As she reached for her hand I couldn’t help myself.

“Hey! Back off!” She shot me a burning glare, and sent a stinging spell at my wrist.

“Shit,” Cedric and I spoke in unison as we both grabbed our wrists. I muttered a healing spell or two as I glared towards Cho.

“Look, Cho, go away. Okay?” Cedric tried to kindly shoo her away. “I’m perfectly happy with y/n!” I smiled softly, glad to here Cedric say that.

“It’s okay Ceddie! I realised exactly why it was her in that lake and not me!” Cho chirrped. She sounded quite proud of herself, and I was curious what on earth she had come up with.

“Yeah, it’s because I love her!” Cedric explained. Cho let out a shrill laugh, and patted his arm.

“No silly!” She smiled sweetly, as if explaining to a young child. “You THINK you love her!” She shot another laser like look towards me.

“I’m pretty sure I know who I love Cho!” Cedric’s face began to harden as he realised this wasn’t going to be easy to brush off.

“She used a love potion on you!” Cho screeched, grabbing hold of Cedric.

“I said let go of him!” I got up off the blanket and walked over.

“She’s best in our potions class, she’s loved you since we were 13, and she’s a fucking Slytherin!” Cho explained desperately! She had small, glistening tears in her eyes now. I almost felt pity for her, but I couldn’t.

I walked over slowly, deciding exactly what I should say.

“Being a Slytherin doesn’t make me evil Cho, just like you being a Ravenclaw doesn’t make you smart!” I frowned. I hated how much the stereotypes of our houses defined us. “People aren’t able to be perfectly categorised between four groups!” Cho glared and jabbed her wand at me.

Before I realised what was happening, Cedric jumped between me and the flash of white light, but it couldn't stop the spell for some reason. I doubled over in excruciating pain that hit right around my belly button. It was as if my stomach had turned inside out and began to burn the surrounding flesh. I glanced over, and Cedric was in obvious pain as well.

I couldn’t contain the whimper that escaped from my mouth, and Cedric met my eyes.

“How the hell did you hit Y/n with that?” He spat out, while Cho only stared at us in shock and what looked like panic. After Cedric let out what sounded like a painful groan, Cho waved her wand and relief flooded me.

“Tell me! How did you do it?” Now that he was able to stand up without pain, Cedric got incredibly close to her, towering over her.

“I-I don’t know! You jumped in front, she must have been faking it!” I watched as Cedric lowered the manicured finger she had pointed at me, and whispered something in her ear. The effect in had on her was instantaneous; she slowly stepped away before turning tail and bolting away.

“We need to go to Pomfrey.” Cedric spoke without looking at me, though when I clasped his hand he squeezed mine tightly.

“I don’t know what to tell the pair of you. Have you been hit by an unknown spell in the past month or so?” Pomfrey looked tired, I noticed.

I wondered how often she slept.

“Not that I can think of.” Cedric said, and I nodded.

“Unless someone’s hit us without us noticing, then no.” I added, and Pomfrey sighed.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with the two of you. I’ve only heard of cases like these, never seen one myself. I think there’s only been four or five documented.” She explained, causing Ced and I to exchange glances.

“Well, what happened to those people?” I asked the obvious question, since my lovely boyfriend clearly wasn’t going to. Pomfrey shifted slightly.

“One person in each pair died before a full analysis and case study could be completed.” I almost laughed at the look on Cedric’s face until I realised that one of us was totally going to die soon.

“Well, my darling, it was lovely knowing you.” I patted him on the back, and he wrapped his arms around me, encasing me with love.

“What can we do?” Cedric asked, and Pomfrey shook her head.

“Not a whole lot. Try and remember if the pair of you have been struck by a spell in the past though.”

It took fourteen seconds after we left the infirmary to Cedric to slap his forehead.

“I think we’re stupid.” He said, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Speak for yourself. Personally, I’m the smartest person I know.” He snickered, and I frowned. Where was the joke?

“Flitwick hit us with that spell, remember? And the spell was interrupted halfway through, which created a new spell entirely.” Cedric explained, and I sighed.

“I think we’re stupid too.”

We'd spent another lovely 10 years being stupid together. Sure we'd had our ups and downs, but we always knew that we were soulmates.

Since we had found out about the spell, we've helped Flitwick research whatever charm had put us in the situation of feeling each others pain. It was actually quite strange when I was pregnant with our son, Cedric had noticed the contractions first.

After spending a couple of years with Flitwick researching the spell, we'd moved to Scotland and gotten married. Life had been quite pleasant. We owned a small farm where we raised cows and hippogriffs alike. Our son was now 6 years old, and had already decided that he wanted to be in Slytherin 'Just like mummy!'

Currently we were sitting in our favorite wizarding restaurant. I gazed over towards Cedric's kind face as he helped our son go through the maze on the children's menu. I grinned over at my two lovely boys, and nudged Cedric with my foot under the table.

"Hm?" He looked up, and our son copied him. I smiled towards them both, and silently thanked Merlin that I had these two lovely boys in my life.

"What do you want to eat?" I held up the menu, and raised my eyebrows. Cedric and our son looked at each other and then looked back towards be in sync.

"PIZZA!" They said together. I giggled and they quickly joined in.

Just as we share pain, Cedric and I share the multitude of joys that have bloomed in our lives. And that made the joy all the better.

#cedric diggory #cedric diggory x reader

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tanstar · 4 years

Text

Rambling about RE2R and RE3R’s cut content part 2

Read part 1 here.

Part 2: RE3R

So I’m gonna be honest, I really like RE3R. It’s narrative and characters are 10/10 for me, something I haven’t been able to say about RE in a long time (honestly my biggest gripes with re5 and 6 are the complete wasted potential of their narratives and characters). I’ll go more in depth about it later but yeah I’ve got no complaints about the story or characters. My problems with RE3R come down to it’s length, level design and the utilization of Nemesis. So let’s get started.

spoilers ahead

Cut/altered/new content:

Live select options were cut in favour of a cohesive narrative and characterization (which have been expanded upon greatly), Jill’s apartment is now explorable, Nemesis ambushes Jill at her apartment and her escape is now playable, the graveyard is gone (though there is a nod to the graveyard at the start of the rpd section), the clock tower interior and its puzzles are gone (it’s exterior is used for the boss fight against Nemesis form 2 like the original), no water puzzle, the gravedigger has been merged with hunter gamma as a common enemy type, Uptown is now a linear setpiece that cannot be revisited, there are fewer Nemesis encounters, Nemesis item drops aren’t as worthwhile as the original, there’s a new boss fight with Nemesis as he wields a flamethrower, tram has been changed to a subway train, fetchquest for the tram has been cut, Mikhail is now fully conscious for his entire appearance, new character Dr Bard included with new vaccine subplot, fetchquest for the gems has been made optional instead of mandatory, Mayor Warren’s statue is no longer fetchquest related and can be found before crossing the bridge to the clock tower, battery fetchquest for the construction site elevator has been changed to fuses for the underground storage facility elevator, Nemesis destroying the helicopter has been moved to the beginning of the game, Brad is still bitten at Bar Jack but heroically sacrifices himself rather than act like a huge coward, Brad is not killed by Nemesis, Brad infects Marvin (which ties in well with both og re2 and RE2R surprisingly), Racoon city in general has been redesigned to look like an american city instead of a japanese one, Stagla still explodes but cannot be entered, the zombie horde at Stagla has been moved to the hospital in a tower defence sequence, Drain Deimos and Brainsuckers have been merged, no leeches, no spiders or crows, new enemies the pale heads and parasite zombies, construction site and power station have been merged, once Jill has been infected Carlos takes her to the hospital instead of the chapel iside the clock tower, likewise Carlos doesn’t wait for 2 days before deciding to find a cure instead it takes him around 12 hours to find Jill and he immediately looks for the vaccine, hospital has been expanded, underground storage facility replaces the park, dead factory is merged with a new lab area, Tyrell is now an actual character and dies to Nemesis intead of an explosion, final boss is now reliant on Jill operating the rail gun herself rather than coercing Nemesis in front of it, iconic STARS line has been moved from the final boss fight to a chase sequence, the confrontation with Nicholai has been moved to the climax of the game, Nicholai is implied to be working with Wesker instead of Umbrella and of course the alternate ending with Barry was cut.

So RE3R does cut or alter the content of the original but in most cases it does try to replace whatever was cut. Also regardless of cuts, re3′s narrative has been expanded upon with character arcs and lore tying it to the rest of the series, that alone justifies this game’s existence for me. As much as I love the original, its bare bones plot and narrative structure (a result of being a sort of choose your adventure game) as well as the fact that it started as a spinoff game and the fact that its last three levels were added last minute (hence the vaccine plotline coming out of nowhere) really don’t do it any favours. I still enjoy the original story and characters but I think the remake did a better job at both these things.

So I had some major problems with the writing for RE2R in both terms of the overall narrative (there is no cohesive overlapping narrative between our two leads) and the portrayal of certain characters (Leon and Ada), so what did I think of RE3R? It’s good. It’s really good actually, the acting is probably the best in the series tbh. Jill’s ptsd from the mansion incident and how it has made her distrustful but also self sacrificing is so interesting. This is perfectly displayed when she agrees to help the UBCS, she knows she shouldn’t help them, that Umbrella is out to get her but with civilian lives on the line she decides to fulfil her duty as a STARS officer and help out. But she isn’t just abrasive or snarky, she shows she is still a very caring person too, this can be seen in her interactions with Brad, Kendo and even Dario, she wants to genuinely save all three of them but things just don’t work out that way. Carlos is great, way better than his original incarnation and I say that as someone who likes that version too. He’s a great support character for Jill and also acts somewhat as a foil for her character and his arc about learning of Umbrella’s wrongdoings is handled well. I think everyone can aggree that Carlos and Jill’s dynamic is fantastic, the growth of their relationship feels very organic and genuine. I never expected to care about Brad so much, in the original he’s just a huge coward who exists to be killed by Nemesis but now he actually feels like a person and someone who Jill valued. Also holy shit that scene where he bites Marvin is so much more narratively fulfilling than his death by Nemesis. Mikhail’s expanded role as captain is great, as is his death. Tyrell actually gets to be a character this time around and I actually hoped he’d somehow survive. Dr Bard is a total scumbag and his inclusion finally explains the vaccine’s creation as well as adding to the overall corruption of RC via Umbrella. Nicholai’s a total ham and a dickhead, I mean this in a good way I would describe all my favourite RE villians this way (the Weskers, the Ashfords, Salazar, Carla Radames, Jack Baker). And form 1 Nemesis has some fun dramatic flair that I enjoyed. Also I will defend the choice to remove Barry from the ending, I really like Barry but it was the right decision not to involve him as it would really work against the game’s narrative and Jill’s character arc.

Now onto RE3R’s level design and structure and in my opinion it should have borrowed more from the og re3′s level design way more. What we have isn’t bad but it could’ve been much more. The streets being redesigned was inevitable to me, I really enjoy the aesthetic of the original but it looks very Japanese and RC is supposed to be a US city, so this change doesn’t bother me. The linearity does. The streets should have been more open and you should have been able to return to Uptown to explore (adding back in a fetchquest would justify this), this would give way more opportunities for Nemesis to stalk the player. What’s strange is there is a mod that opens up Downtown to be almost completely explorable and Nemesis’s AI can actually track you throughout it’s entirety, why bother programming him that way if the intention was to make the area more linear? When Nemesis does show up in the remake he’s great but he should have been present way more, he’s like the opposite of Mr X in RE2R. Mr X follows the player semi randomly around the RPD for a while but he is pretty toothless as a threat (seriously, you can out walk him), Nemesis on the other hand is a genuine threat but is only semi random for an incredibly short portion of the game. Expanding the streets would fix this issue. The park could’ve been an explorable area before the RPD, I personally don’t mind the park being cut but i know a lot of people do. They should have implemented more puzzles. I also think the clock tower should have been explorable and if I’m being honest I think it was supposed to be, it’s referenced in the subway and then we get the pamphlet before crossing the bridge, I think it was cut for time. I think a lot was cut for time and I don’t think it’s M2′s fault, i think Capcom is the problem here and all you need to do is look at RE2R and all of its cut content for proof.

Honestly if this game had just reintegrated some more of the original games levels and structure I think it would have been a 10/10, I still enjoy what we got I just want more! I hope we get DLC in the future and there’s certainly ample opportunity, we could have a ghost survivors scenario with Brad escaping Nemesis, we could play as Nicholai as he collects data on the outbreak before the main game, a dream sequence of Jill exploring the clock tower, Tyrell could cut through the park as he makes his way to the hospital and of course I hope we get Mercenaries mode. I guess time will tell.

#resident evil #resident evil 3 remake #resident evil 3 #re3 #rant

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dragongirl642 · 5 years

Text

Armando Salazar x reader (soulmate AU)

Author note:

(y/n) = your name

(l/n) = your surname

(f/n) = father’s name

(s/c) = sister’s name

(h/c) = hair colour

(h/l) = hair length

(e/c) = eye colour

(She/he) (her/him) (hers/his) = choose your preferred pronoun

-------------------------------------------begin---------------------------------

The ghostly crew of the Silent Mary drifted absentmindedly along its deck. Numbly performing tasks they had when alive; or else standing lost to the monotony of their thoughts. No wind stirred the oily surface of the water in which the Silent Mary had come to rest. Nothing stirred within the confines of The Devil’s Triangle. Silence reigned above all else.

Stuck in this purgatory, many of the crew had retreated within themselves, or become consumed by their rage and fought constantly. Tensions were always high as patience constantly frayed. They had grown numb to the constant pain of the wounds that killed them; constantly burning, forever drowning, ultimately numb.

However, there were few among their number who helped to relieve the boredom and raise the spirits of the crew. The officer’s Lesaro, Santos and Moss providing much needed moral and emotional support.

They stepped up out of necessity, to play the role of emotional role model usually held by the captain, for he was the one most in need of their help.

Yet he shunned it.

Teetering on the brink of insanity. Consumed by rage and a lust for revenge on the man who had trapped them all those years ago.

Captain Armando Salazar. Once a proud member of the Spanish navy. Now a twisted husk of his former self. (Being dead not included).

For years on end he had stood by the ship’s wheel. Dreaming of freedom, trapped within his thoughts as the triangle’s influence sunk deeper into his bones. His mind drifted. Images of the compass, the Silent Mary’s last battle and his hated enemy Jack Sparrow floating in his consciousness.

He was lost in a swirling sea of emotion. A violent storm where the waves flashed red. His past and damned present, clashing in an ever escalating struggle for control of his mind.

Something changed.

A ship was approaching. Unlike any other time a ship had approached the triangle, the triangle reacted violently. To the rest of the crew, nothing changed except for the air growing slightly heavier and their Capitan suddenly tightening his lazy grip on the ship’s wheel, but to Armando, his senses awoke from the numb cold they had been submerged in for too long; and flooded with pain. Writhing red lights shone behind his eyelids and his neck burned. The words stamped onto his skin, which for so long had been of no consequence, cracked and fading into darkness, reformed. In his minds eye, he saw a faint golden light battling the red mist of the triangle. The vision ended as swiftly as it began.

He opened his eyes, the battle still raging within.

Armando straightened as ripples travelled along the surface of the water.

A ship was coming and the triangle feared its cargo.

-------------------------------------3 hours earlier------------------------------------

(Y/n) stood on the Plucky Traveller’s deck. Casually leaning against the rigging as (she/he) faced the water. They wore leather ankle boots over tight wool trousers under thick breeches stained green from too long spent lying on freshly cut grass, a similarly stained woollen shirt under a leather jerkin completed the look. They absentmindedly reached up with their free hand to scratch at the side of their neck, pushing their collar out the way to do so; revealing the tip of the dark script of their soulmark. (H/l) (h/c) hair swirling in the breeze as they surreptitiously watched the crew. Their hand returned to its previous position resting on the hilt of the rapier tied to their hip. A large leather satchel rested against their other hip, pressed between them and the rails to prevent any wondering hands relieving them of their money and possessions.

The ship’s friendly name and look hid hearts of coal and the colours of pirates. The crew bounded about on deck, either actually working or lounging about, drunk and pretending to be at work.

(Y/n) would never have considered setting foot on a pirate ship, or even going to sea, if their younger sister, (by two years), had not been getting married…and didn’t live in the Caribbean on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean! Many unfortunate coincidences, setbacks and plain bad luck had led to their presence on this ship. ‘It’s like the world just wanted to watch me fret about a pirate ship.’

The (l/n) family were not considered among the wealthiest noble families, but they were considerably wealthy in their own right. They owned an estate consisting of extensive farmland in the south of France. (F/n) (l/n) was generous and fair with his employees and much loved by the local community.

As the eldest living heir, (being in their early twenties), (y/n) was set to inherit that estate upon their return. Being fluent in French, English, Dutch and Spanish worked wonders on trade agreements. This was a looked forward to opportunity by the (man/woman); who loved the land and sun. As evidenced by their clothes, much time had been spent outdoors working the land or enjoying all nature has to offer.

(Y/n)’s down to earth personality and solid, cheerful demeanour, coupled with their ruthless determination and stubborn streak had earned them their own favourable reputation back home.

Even if they were unmarried.

They had never shown interest in anyone. Playing the role of (diligent wife/husband) to anyone but their soulmate, had just not felt right. Either way, they would rather throw themselves into work than pursue a romance that, in their mind, would never work out. And what if their soulmate turned up just before or even after marriage took place. In (y/n)’s mind, there were too many complications which could so easily be avoided if they never married; and (s/c)’s children or one of their younger brothers could take over the estate when they died.

Returning their attention to the crew, (y/n) continued their vigil. Movement flickered in the corner of their eye. The ignored the horizon, their own safety their top priority.

‘Just two more weeks and I can get off this ship’, (y/n) thought.

Not twenty minutes had passed before the shape on the horizon grew into that of a Spanish merchant brig. (Y/n) would have paid it no mind, except for the excited chatter of the crew and the noticeable turning of the ship.

Swiftly turning, they strode up the deck and climbed the stairs to the quarterdeck. Making sure to keep a vice-like grip on both their satchel and sword.

“Captain!” Their voice rang out clear over the din, “why are we changing course?”

Their query was met with harsh laughter from all around.

“Well an hones’-pirate’s gotta work don’he…see me crew and I are in need of work since your payments slow coming.”

The captain grinned down at (y/n) as his crew watched, bristling and ready for any command.

“You’ll get the rest of your payment when I arrive, unharmed, at Port.” (Y/n)’s tone was even but cold as they held eye-contact with the captain. Years working the land had given (y/n) a strength most don’t find; a strength that runs deep in their veins like the roots of a tree in the ground. Their gaze was even with the captain as they stood their ground. The captain had a commanding presence yes, but it faltered under their steady gaze. (Y/n)’s own aura was so intensely there that the nearest crew members even found themselves stepping back to give (her/him) space.

“Fine! But you won’mind if we make a quick detour….you’ll get ta port on time don’worry.”

The captain had conceded. The crew’s attention turned towards their new prey. The shape of the brig grew as they sailed closer.

“Hoist the colours!”

The command was followed and the familiar skull-an-crossbones flag flew up the mast.

The brig answered by turning to sail in the opposite direction. The Plucky Traveller gave chase.

(Y/n) made to return to their position by the railing before they spotted dark clouds on the horizon. The merchant brig was heading into a storm…and the Plucky Traveller was following. Feeling sick at the very sight of those clouds, (y/n) turned and instead made their way below.

Heading to the cabin they had been given, (had to pay extra for). (Y/n) locked the door and sat down on their bunk. Closing their eyes and hoping they wouldn’t get hit by another random bout of seasickness during the storm. They’d been through one already and really didn’t want to have to go through another.

----------------------------Time skip to present--------------------------------

The merchant brig had been lost to a reef. The pirates had quickly given up their ideas of pursuit and plunder in the face of the vicious storm. They had only narrowly escaped the jaws of the reef themselves.

The Plucky Traveller listed slightly to the side as it steadily floated towards the cavernous mouth in the mountain of rock before it. Water leaking from the various holes peppering the upper side of the hull.

It slowed slightly as the current pushed against it, as if the triangle did not want them to enter.

The crew of the Silent Mary watched in anticipation as the tip of the bowsprit entered their cage.

Under their Capitan, they had learned to forget mercy only when it was a pirate who begged for it. During their long confinement, they had learned to ignore it altogether. Taking their enjoyment from the excitement and relief from their boredom that a battle provided.

The ship slowly inched its way inside. The wind of fate overpowering the stalling current of the triangle.

Salazar left his spot at the ship’s wheel and moved to the rails. Watching the ship’s entrance intently.

Spotting the tattered flag still limply clinging to the mast he growled, “Pirates…they will find no mercy here,” before turning and signalling to the crew. Heeding his command, they leapt off of the Silent Mary and began to creep along the top of the water towards the ship.

On board, the crew of the Plucky Traveller were mostly alive and unharmed. Sat on deck with their closest friend, lighting the lamps, tending to their wounds or watching the walls of the cavern with suspicion. To the living crewman, the cave was filled with oppressive darkness. Swallowing all light and laying heavy upon them; like a muffling blanket on the senses. Ominous whispers floated in the shadows and they strained to see further than the small halo of light the lamps offered.

Figures moved in the shadows and the crewman, who could, leapt to their feet brandishing their swords threateningly. A cold wind blew harshly around the ship, extinguishing most of the lamps. They stood immobilised by the sudden darkness, listening and waiting for their eyes to adjust. Each man inching closer to the few remaining halo’s of light.

When their sight had been regained enough to see the movement in the shadows; there were many who wished it hadn’t.

Below deck, (y/n) awoke from their brief spat of unconsciousness. They groaned and reached out a hand, trying and failing to grab a hook to pull themselves up and instead fell off the bunk.

“Oof!”

They lay there debating on whether to move or not when someone screamed above deck. The screams were soon joined by others and the sound of fighting could be heard above them.

Alarm flashing through (y/n) and they shot to their feet. Instantly regretting it as they swayed, a bout of nausea overcoming them. They curled in on themselves, right hand gripping their left wrist; a trick they had been taught by their worldly grandmother. The nausea soon faded and they picked up their rapier from its fallen spot. The (male/female) finished buckling their belt in place before placing an ear close to the join of the door they listened; hearing lots of fighting abovedeck but nothing right outside their door, they cautiously unlocked the door and slipped out into the alcove beyond.

(Y/n)’s pov:

I peered around the frame of the alcove into the hold. The barrels and crates that were usually tied to the walls or each other had come loose. Providing an interesting obstacle course for me to get through.

I scanned the room. ‘No one here.’

I through a frantic glance upwards as the sound of the pirates got more desperate. ‘They’re losing!’

I turned my attention to the hold. ‘I have to get out of here.’

Climbing over the crates was easy enough…but climbing over the barrels proved to be a challenge. I tiptoed and rolled the barrels as quietly a possible. The sounds from above were getting marginally quieter with, what I assumed to be, each person killed.

I reached the other end of the hold and paused, looking up the stairs to the next level.

No immediate sounds reached me and I rapidly crawled the stairs. Reaching the top, I peeked around the frame. The corridor was empty save for one poor soul crouched under the stairs up to the deck and another hiding behind an open door opposite me.

The one under the stairs had his hands over his ears as he tried to block out the sounds of the fight. His eyes met mine and I raised a finger to my lips.

“Shhh.”

He nodded and closed his eyes, curling in on himself in fear.

I then turned my attention to the other pirate. He had his sword gripped tightly in his hands, his knuckles had turned white, crouched behind the open door to the crew’s quarters. He looked at me, scowling but otherwise nodded at my shh’ing gesture.

“I’m going to have a look.” My whisper was accompanied by a finger pointing upwards. He nodded and I stood and left my hiding spot.

A body flew down the stairs and the pirate under them yelped.

‘Welp…there goes that plan.’

I ducked back into the stairway, watching the floor as a shadow grew. Dual thumps accompanied laboured footsteps. I looked around frantically for somewhere to hide; while the shadow on the floor was joined by many others.

I perked up, ‘I know just the place.’

The man behind the door was now looking at me fearfully. I threw him a thumbs up and motioned down into the hold. He shook his head but I nodded furiously. Trying to convey my plan with my eyes alone.

A rasping voice began. Addressing the pirate under the stairs, who whimpered in fear. The sound of a blade meeting bone and his dying gurgles spurning me to action. “Now!” I whisper yelled and bolted down the stairs.

His footsteps followed, but so did others. I didn’t dare look back.

Turning a corner into the main part of the hold, I used a crate as a springboard and grasped the beams on the ceiling of the hold, swinging my body up and over one. I quickly lay flat.

I watched as the pirate ran underneath, I reached down and grabbed his collar. His own momentum swinging him up on my arm to grab the beam beside me. I almost toppled off the beam but just held on.

‘Thank God for all that time I spent climbing trees and fixing roofs.’

He hauled himself up and awkwardly remained perched half on mine half on his as our pursuers ran underneath. I watched in shock, eyes wide, as an undead crew passed beneath. Their skin pale and cracked, dark liquid seeping from their wounds; some were even missing whole chunks of their body, the bone and muscle visible.

The stopped beneath us and one of their numbers strode through them as they parted. He looked around, his hair floating above his head as if underwater. Just barely hiding the crushed mess at the back of his head.

I fought the urge to gag.

He seemed to be their captain, for he barked out an order in Spanish and they dispersed. I mentally translated the order as “find them.”

‘Yeah, that was pretty obvious (y/n).’

We watched as he limped away. Towards what used to be my cabin. I waited till the last one had gone before carefully slipping off the beam. I hung suspended for a second before lightly dropping onto my toes. Rolling my foot for a soundless touchdown. I rubbed my side where the hilt of my rapier had been digging into the skin; the pirate followed suit and we cautiously crept back around the corner and up the stairs.

Sparing no more than a pitying glance at the dead man under the stairs, we crept up to the main deck.

The deck was empty save for the corpses strewn about. I swallowed thickly. ‘Ignore them, getting out alive is top priority…don't think about the dead bodies you’re stepping over.’

Looking around, I spotted the longboat and poked my companion's arm, pointing. He saw it and nodded, we both did one last check before going for it. Tiptoe running is harder than it looks. Especially when the blade of a sword comes singing towards your head. I ducked and rolled, drawing my own rapier in the process. We circled each other, growing closer to the boat each second.

“Why did you do that?” I whispered angrily.

He smirked, “Pirate.”

I bared my teeth, whilst scanning the deck. ‘They must have heard us.’

“We can both escape.”

He ignored my plea and growled as he swung his sword.

“We’d never make it together, there’s only enough room for one.”

I skipped to the side, carefully to slide my blade along his as silently as possible. He advanced, trying to push me away from the boat.

Throwing caution to the wind I snarled and lunged, feinting a thrust to the neck he raised his sword to parry when I spun and kicked him instead. He flew with the force of my ferocity and stumbled into the rails.

I prepared to strike again when we both froze.

Pounding footsteps were echoing in the ship.

Time seemed to slow as I looked around, eyes flicking rapidly side to side. ‘Time to go…not enough time to get in the boat!’ I spotted salvation. ‘Hopefully.’

I sprinted forward and grabbed a rope, a loose part of the running rigging. I gripped it with one hand and slashed at it with the other.

It broke and I flew upwards as a weight dropped on the other end of the rope. The muscles in my shoulder screamed as I hung on with all my might. I landed on the yard of the mainmast, holding the rope in one hand and flailing with the other as I tried to get my balance.

The deck below me filled with the ghost crew who, thankfully, didn’t notice my dilemma. They were focused intently on my former companion. I wobbled forward and hugged the mast. Awkwardly turning to sheath my rapier as I did so. Looking down past my arm, I quickly let go of the rope and ducked around the mast when one of the crewmen, he had an eye patch, looked up. I held my breath and counted to ten, before peeking back around the mast.

My arms were beginning to ache as I hung off the mast and I slowly pulled myself round to stand on the yard again.

They’re talking below.

The words of the ghost crew’s captain floating up to me in the silence.

“I always leave one man alive to tell the tale.”

I baulked. ‘Leave one alive…and if that traitor is the one to live then that means I’m spare collateral…as good as dead if I can’t sneak away.’

I came to a decision. ‘He betrayed me so it’s as good as my right anyway.’

I looked around and spotted another rope about a foot in front of me.

‘Please, please work.’

I let go of the mast and jumped. My fingers enclosed the rope but I slipped. Falling a few yards before getting a stronger grip on the rope. I slid down it with a yelp. Landing in a newly cleared space among the ghost crew.

Buzzing with adrenaline, I got my footing and yelled at their captain.

“Je vais raconter votre histoire!” He paused, regarding me blankly.

‘Shoot…slipped into French there.’

I cleared my throat and tried to appear confident, “Um, I mean…I’ll tell your tale.”

He continued to stare. Then moved as if to approach…but he stopped. My eyes flicked nervously around as the air seemed to grow heavy.

‘Did his eyes just flare red?!’

The man who had previously been about to escape alive glared at me.

“You can’t!” He raised a pistol he fished from his belt, “only one of us is leaving here alive.”

Once again the world seemed to slow. My neck burned as I watched helplessly as his finger tensed on the trigger. Then the captain moved so fast I barely registered it.

He gracefully lifted his rapier, twirled and placed it in the man’s chest. Placed it there. There were no words to describe it. One minute he had been whole, the next, the blade of the rapier thrust calmly into his chest with murderous intent.

He doubled over as the captain withdrew his sword, dropping his pistol and clutching his chest.

I watched the captain’s hair as it floated in a halo above him. Trying desperately to ignore the spluttering gasps the dying man was taking. To ignore the groans that shook his body as blood dribbled from his mouth.

The captain turned to face me, his attention leaving the dying man. My eyes, however, remained fixed on his coughing form. Meeting his eyes when he raised his head. Drowning in the fear I saw swirling in their depths.

I stood frozen by the sight.

The dead captain seemed to notice my dilemma and he stamped his foot, tapping his sword against the deck as he did so.

One of the crew swiftly stepped forward and silenced his cries.

I jumped. Jolting in surprise at the calm way they went about such a brutal act. My eyes finally left the corpse and met the captain’s eyes.

They narrowed at me. ‘The red is back again and is that…gold.’

He finally moved closer to me. Face stopping just inches from mine.

I swallowed, my throat dry with fear. He spoke.

“You will tell our tale…yes?”

I nodded. But it was his next words which had me freezing in place; even as I watched that strange black goo drip down his chin.

“Will you…remember me?” They were barely above a whisper as he stared intently into my eyes; a battle swirling within.

My lips parted as I let out the breath I had been holding. I mentally checked my neck, reading his words in full. Not of my own volition were my eyes drawn from his own and to his neck. Where my own hastily shouted claim stood stark against his pale skin. ‘He’s my…!’

The air grew heavy while I fought the urge to trace them. Instead looking for some distraction. I flicked my glance to the side briefly and, to my shock, found the deck empty save for the two of us. ‘They left us alone?’

I looked questioningly back into his eyes and froze. The swirling forces within them battled more intensely. His fist had clenched around the hilt of his rapier and lifted it, it seemed without any control of his own, so that the tip hovered just before my chest.

Grip tightening as the swirling red began to appear more prominent in his pupil.

My soul mark burned again. Gripped with clarity, I raised my hand, fighting against the weight in the air, and placed my palm against the matching mark on his neck. It burned hot under my hand, a cool contrast to the frigid skin surrounding it. He tensed under my touch, but something akin to a smile graced his eyes. As the red receded and a touch of gold replaced it, before it too faded from sight.

Salazar’s pov:

The (man/woman) raised their hand, placing it over my soulmark.

The gold swelled in my mind, driving out the rage, the echoing howls of the spirits of the triangle fading. For the first time since I was cursed. My mind was quiet. An ocean of calm.

Slowly, I began to grow warm. I looked into my soulmate's eyes; drowning in their (e/c) depths. A weight settled in my chest. Heat and light.

Feel.

Alive.

(Y/n)’s Pov:

The eyes of a dead man stared into mine and I held their gaze; they never seemed so alive. For a second it was as though he was alive; a vision of health and pride glowed in my vision before it faded to reveal his dead corpse once more.

His hair floated gently into his eyes and he tsk’ed, jolting his head slightly.

The little light from the remaining lamps flickered, highlighting the lines of his face with mesmerising devotion.

‘I have to admit he’s good looking.’

“What’s your name?” The question tumbled from my lips before I could think anything else. My breath catching in my throat.

He gently inclined his head. “Armando Salazar…sa-la-zar.”

I exhaled in amusement. ‘I can pronounce Salazar.’

I didn’t voice my thoughts however, instead opting to tell him mine.

“(l/n)…(y/n) (l/n).”

His sword lowered to the deck and I hesitantly let go; stepping back as I did so. Actually missing the touch.

‘Now is probably time for me to leave…the living cannot remain among the dead.’

I opened my mouth to say something before shutting it. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

I grew cold, the realisation dawning on me that my soulmate was dead.

‘…and yet, not dead.’

I struggled for words.

“How did you…how did you end up here?”

His face fell and he half turned away. “Through deceit and tricks…” He seemed to take a deep breath, “You should leave, live your life…tell the tale.” His words trailed off into a whisper and I nodded jaw set. ‘I will not cry, I will not cry.’

“Capitan!”

I jumped again when the eye patch crewman appeared at Salazar’s side; who stepped aside gesturing him to go ahead. He was holding a bag of some sort. ‘Wait I recognise that…my Satchel!!’

Seeing the recognition in my eyes, eye patch ghost smiled and passed it to me. I swiftly slung the strap around my shoulder and thanked him; as soon as I took it he just drifted into the floor. I stared at the spot where he had disappeared.

“Uhhhhhhhh…”

Chuckling snapped me out of my confusion. I looked up to see more of that black goo dripping from Salazar’s lips as he found slight amusement in my shock. I dragged my eyes away and shook my head.

I opened the satchel and looked inside. Breathing a sigh of relief as I saw my money still in place and a small gasp of surprise upon finding that most of my clothing was gone, instead replaced with rations which had been wrapped and stuffed into any space they could find. I rummaged around, cataloguing how much water and food I had, before fishing out the protection charm my grandmother gave to me before I left; a remnant from her travels in her youth. I smiled as my thumb traced the intricate lines before I looked up at Salazar.

He looked at the charm in my hand with puzzled amusement. I closed my satchel and held it in my palm.

Eyes tracing the interwoven lines for the last time. I closed it in my fist and held it to my chest, over my heart.

“This was given to my grandmother supposedly by a witch when she helped her escape an unjust death. It symbolises protection from evil and she gave it to me to protect me on my own travels”, I took in a deep breath, “I want you to have it.”

I held it out to him.

He looked taken aback, so I reached forward and took his hand. Prying his rapier out of his hand, I lifted it and wrapped the string of the charm around the hilt, tying it so it wouldn’t fall, before placing it back under his hand. A question lurked in his eyes and I grinned in a lopsided smile.

“So you can remember me…as I will remember you.”

He solemnly tilted his head the other way.

“A precious gift.”

Drawing himself away from me, he gestured towards the longboat.

“Go…the living do not belong here.”

I nodded, my smile falling. Hitching the satchel higher on my shoulder, I turned and strode towards the longboat. Throwing my satchel into it and haphazardly climbing in myself, gratefully taking the proffered hand before I even registered it. Half in the longboat I turned and studied the hand holding mine. Cold yes, but it fit mine perfectly. Regretfully, I pulled my hand away and finished climbing into the longboat. Stowing my satchel under on bench and making sure the oars were in place.

I looked up as with a jolt, as the boat began to descend. The ghostly crew once more on the deck, two of them working to safely lower the boat.

The longboat was deposited into the water and I reached over to untie it. When I turned to untie the other rope I saw it already loose. Two other crewmen flanked Salazar, who was stood on the water beside it.

I blinked rapidly, allowing myself a brief moment of surprise for the fact they could walk on water before I shrugged it off.

They pushed the boat and it began to drift towards the opening of the cave. Where sunlight waited.

Guiding the boat around the rocks with one hand, Salazar walked so he was level with me. I watched him sadly.

Just before we could reach where the light began, he finally stepped to the side. The two crewmen gave the boat one final push and it drifted into the sunlight.

I did nothing but sit and watch my destined soulmate get further away. I shuddered at the feeling of passing through an invisible barrier. My head buzzed and I watched dumb-struck as images flashed in my vision. A proud captain of a magnificent ship laid low by a young pirate; the fire gleamed in my mind as a solitary tear tracked its way down my face.

I searched for his face in the gloom.

“Au revoir mon âme.”

The words I whispered under my breath must have reached him, for he gently inclined his head in a nod, the ghost of a smile on his lips. Then I drifted fully into the sunlight beyond the mouth of the triangle and could see no more, unable to see anything in the wall of darkness the cave had become.

I sighed and breathed deep. Turning away from the triangle and unhooking the oars. Placing them on the sides and beginning to slowly row away from the cursed place.

One other image from my visions haunted me. A compass. The needle spinning endlessly.

‘It’s the key to freeing him, I know it.’

About twenty contemplative minutes passed before I came to another terrifying realisation.

‘How the heck am I supposed to find land.’

Third person pov:

Salazar returned to the Maria Silenciosa along with his crew.

Stood once more at the wheel, he waved off Lieutenant Lesaro’s attempts at consolation after reassuring him that he was fine.

In some ways he was. For the first time in his imprisonment, the battle within was calm; there was no red storm raging inside. His rage was his and his alone. No longer would he be completely consumed by the forces of the triangle. The spirits hold had been loosened…when the time came, they would not be escaping the triangle with the crew.

His thumb drew lazy circles around the smooth disc hanging on the pendant (y/n) had given him. The small metal disc still slightly emanating the warmth from (her/his) palm.

“(Y/n).” He allowed the name to roll off his tongue as he tested it out.

He had found his soulmate. Something he had always believed he would never find; too consumed with hunting pirates and sailing the seas.

His thoughts whirled. ‘A precious gift indeed.’

Yet this gift came with a price. A cold and numb hole inside; forged by the absence of his newly discovered, and lost soulmate.

In their presence, he had almost felt alive. The sudden flood of emotion and feeling had almost left him speechless. When they left, it went with them.

For a moment he had been freed of the triangle’s raging darkness. Only to be left with nothing at all.

His thoughts were cold. ‘Anything would be better than this emptiness inside.’

He contemplated the charm again. Closing his eyes and reaching out. He could feel the influence of the triangle. The spirits of the triangle could no longer fully control him, only reanimate him and his crew; waiting for him to willingly re-enter their dark embrace.

To speak in metaphor; he held them at arm's length as he looked for what he sought, the way to see beyond the confines of their prison. The same way he had gleaned the existence of the compass.

His grip on the charm tightened as he focused. Their face slowly coming into focus. He watched, as through a veil of water, as his soulmate rowed on an empty ocean. The image began to shift. His soulmate reading a book whilst perched in a tree, talking with, (who he assumed), was their family, working in a field, riding a horse… As time passed the images came faster and faster. Interspersed with images of his enemy and future goals as his attention began to divide. His rage returning…but not burning as strong as to wipe his mind of all cohesive thought.

Time passed…and the resolve of one man slowly weakens in his confinement. The spirits begin to claw their way back into his mind. Only the golden light of fate and his soulmark acting as a barrier to burn them; preventing their control of his very soul.

He saw both (Y/n) and Sparrow in equal amounts.

His revenge and his fate intertwining as he sought a way to escape.

---------------6 year time skip-------------------

Then the fated day arrived.

The crew wandered the deck in morose melancholy. Until a sound brought them back to their senses. The very triangle itself seemed to howl in pain as the rocky walls of their prison began to crumble. Though its power lingered on in the crew of the Silent Mary, the spirits of the triangle themselves were dragged to the depths along with their home. All but one. A weak wisp clung to the captain. Overlooked. Unseen. Waiting.

Salazar limped to the rail, the echoes of elation and rage filling him in equal amounts.

He answered astonished question with a simple answer. “Sunlight!”

As its bright rays filled the deck, the crew began to cheer.

Finally, freedom was theirs once more.

Salazar smiled as he threw his head back. Arms outspread to catch as much light as possible, his cold form soaking in the warmth easily.

After a moment he composed himself and focused on his next goal.

Now that he was free, he had two people he was going to pay a visit to.

“It’s time to hunt a pirate!”

(Y/n)’s pov:

After I met my soulmate all those years ago and almost died at sea. I’d found life back home both tedious and boring.

My sister was happily married and my father was looking to me to take over the estate.

I’d explained what happened to my family. My parents were less than happy to hear my story, they believed I’d been set adrift when our shipwrecked and hallucinated the whole thing. My father had even tried to forbid me from going to sea again.

For four years, I had been content to stay at home, playing the part of the heir and learning the trade of my father. But Armando Salazar had haunted my dreams and consumed my mind. Sometimes I would have to stop whatever I was doing as my soulmark began to burn as it had when we’d met. I would almost feel as if he were here, just out of sight. It was…strange, but comforting. Like he was looking out for me.

My grandmother believed my tale. So she’d helped me sneak out of the house two years ago and set to sea. I travelled to stay with my sister and her husband. Telling them that I was going to travel the world like grandma before I settled down to handle the estate.

I always made sure to write letters to my parents every month. Letting them know I was alive and well without giving away my location was tricky enough.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I love home and I know I’ll run it well but…my soulmate is cursed…cursed…and I won’t leave him there. I’m going to find out everything I can about Armando Salazar and maybe…find a way to free him and his crew.’

When I heard about the Spaniard Capitan Armando Salazar, I’d immediately set out. Eventually tracking down his brother. It took a lot of convincing and every diplomatic skill at my disposal to convince him to let me see a portrait of Salazar. When I’d laid eyes on it, his brother had been more than a bit distressed to see my eyes fill with tears as I saw my soulmate; trapped. Thankfully, my self-restraint had also come in handy; I’d merely grit my teeth and asked for his last known location.

‘Back to the Caribbean, it was then.’

Tortuga had been an interesting experience, to say the least. I’d fled there after a friend of my father turned up at my sister’s house to fetch me home.

I’d refused and jumped out a window. ‘All very dramatic I know.’

Making the acquaintance of some dubious characters proved a risky but rewarding manoeuvre. The pirate population in the Caribbean have a lot of stories on my soulmate.

They call him ‘El matador del Mar’, ‘butcher of the seas’; every pirate fears him.

‘Who can blame them though?’

I’d heard about a pirate, Jack Sparrow, who was supposedly the one who trapped him in the devil’s triangle.

This Sparrow figure was my only clue as to how Armando had been cursed in the first place…and how to break it. Following every rumour and thread of information had finally led me to Saint Martin.

The town wasn’t that interesting in itself.

But the attempted executions were.

***

I stared in disbelief as my main hope for freeing Armando was about to be beheaded. Until a cannon went off.

In the confusion, I saw my chance. Grabbing a sword off a nearby soldier and knocking down another who attacked the pirate. In the confusion, I slipped away. Following Sparrow and his companions at a safe distance.

Eventually, we reached a boat on the sand.

I climbed up and hung off the side of the boat, listening.

‘Something about a trident and…wait, it can break every curse on the sea!’

I swiftly leap over the side, only to be met with a sword pointing at my neck.

“Woah!”

I held up my hand in surrender before whipping the blade away with mine.

“I want to help you find the trident!”

They looked at me suspiciously. The young boy and girl tied to the mast especially.

Sparrow looked at me, cocking his head like a bird.

‘Now I know why he gets the name.’

He swaggered forward.

“Now why would you be wantin that eh?”

I grimaced. “My soulmate is under a curse and I seek a way to free him...if that means helping you then so be it.”

He pondered that for a moment, one hand subconsciously scratching his collarbone as he did so. He looked like he was about to agree before he sent a quick look at his crew and the boy at the mast. “I’d love to help luv…too many add-ons as it is.”

I rolled my eyes and drew out a drawstring purse, jingling it to catch the pirate’s attention. “I can pay.”

His eyes widened, the crew began nodding their heads and he gleefully took the purse, examining its gleaming contents before grinning broadly. “Well, that’s a different story.”

He set about directing the crew to set off and, after a brief look around at the ragtag state of the Dying Gull, I joined in.

‘Hey…you don’t spend as much time at sea as I have and not know how to handle a ship.’

------------------timeskip-------------------

After finally finding Sparrow, knowing all the tales about how he trapped my soulmate in the triangle, I had honestly contemplated killing him. That was very strange for me. I was usually so calm and steady, only using violence as a last resort.

‘Guess this soulmate thing changes you.’

But only so much. Managing to bury all murderous thoughts, I had forced myself to get to know this Sparrow and his companions. Henry was far too kind for this world, Carina was suspicious, but I found her drive admirable and Sparrow…I didn’t quite know what to make of him; he seemed to be a good man just…with some very fuzzy morals.

‘I have the feeling he’s been betrayed one too many times. He is the reason Salazar was trapped in that accursed triangle…but I can’t seem to find it in me to hate him.’

The wind ruffled my hair as I raised an eyebrow at the undressing Carina. Chuckling at Henry’s vehement protests. She jumped overboard and I sighed. Looking back over my shoulder at the ships behinds us. The Dying Gull fled, carrying its mutinous crew with it. To the right, the ghost ship captained by my soulmate advanced.

‘He’s free…but still cursed.’

I stood and got ready to swim, ignoring Jack’s arguing behind me.

‘Why am I fleeing again?’

I considered turning before remembering.

‘Oh yeah, Carina’s the map…follow the map to the trident.’

My plan was cut off as I spotted a shape under the water. Grabbing Henry’s shoulder and jerking him away from the jaws of the shark…’uh, dead shark.’

I grabbed an oar, Henry grabbing the other as we fended off the sharks. Dragging Sparrow back so he was in the middle with me. Henry at my back.

‘And now the boats sinking.’

I smacked a shark on the nose as it leapt for Sparrow who ducked down to bail out the water. The sharks retreated slightly and Henry threw his jacket, waiting for the sharks to attack it before jumping overboard himself.

Catching on to his plan, I made to follow before a faint yelling caught my attention; getting louder every second. I turned, my heart skipping a beat at the running figures approaching.

I was about to call out to Armando when I noticed Jack fumbling with a hook.

I grabbed onto the rowboat. One hand gripping Jack’s coat as he caught it in the mouth of a shark and began rapidly tying it to the stern. He dropped beside me as the boat shot forward. Salazar’s blade narrowly missing his head as Salazar’s arm jerked when he stalled in surprise at my sudden entry to the game.

‘That’s your ticket to freedom don’t kill him!’

He grabbed Henry as we sped towards the shore.

“Look out!”

My exclamation did nothing as the boat curved and struck the sand. Our own momentum sending us flying onto the beach.

The world spun as we flew. Taking in a mouthful of seawater and sand; Jack’s foot struck my head as we rolled.

‘Too close.’

Finally coming to a stop, I retched and spluttered; ignoring the dialogue behind me. Only raising a hand in a faint ‘come back’ plea at Carina and Henry’s retreating forms.

Wiping my mouth on my sleeve I rose to my knees. Head whipping around at the sight of one of Salazar’s crewman literally disintegrating. I stared wide-eyed. ‘That means…he’ll die if he steps on land.’

I looked at Jack beside me. The tension in his shoulders revealing his fear.

“I’ll be waiting.”

The words freezing me in place.

‘That voice...just as I remember.’

Jack scrambled to his feet and ran past me towards the trees. Whispering out a quick “come on” at my frozen form.

I took a deep breath and turned, locking eyes with Armando. His name leaving my lips in a breathy whisper. He looked at me with shock, before scrutinising my appearance.

I watched him take note of the rip in my shirt and sand in my hair. Shakily standing as he did so. I rubbed my head, where it had been struck, and surveyed him as he did me.

My neck grew uncomfortably warm at his glare.

“(Y/n)?”

I gulped.

“Why are you with the Sparrow?”

He sounded so betrayed and broken…and angry.

He made as if to take a step forward, I reacted; hand out as I leapt forward to push him back.

“No!”

I froze ankle deep in the surf, hand on his chest, practically nose-to-nose with him. His eyes widened and I swear I saw them flick to my lips. Before he could react, I pushed back and stumbled onto the sand. Adrenaline coursing through my body I shakily raised a hand and pointed at the floor.

“Do not step on land.”

A scream behind me drawing my attention.

‘Carina, Henry, Jack…the map!’

I looked at Armando. He stood frozen in place. A sad smile gracing his face.

“I’m going to free you…don’t worry I’ll come back.”

He grimaced and reached for me; anger filling his features. I stared at the charm, hanging from his rapier. Fighting the intense urge to stay with my soulmate, I turned and ran. My stomach coiling into an anxious knot as my soulmark burned once more.

Crossing the sand in seconds, I sprinted through the trees in the direction of the scream.

‘Where are they?’

------------------------Timeskip--------------------

I walked behind Captain Barbossa as he followed Carina over this bejewelled island. I was still drenched from the battle, everyone else had more or less dried off. ‘Honestly, why did I choose to wear wool?’

I forget all complaints when Carina replaced the ruby and the island lit up, a column of light parting the sea like Moses did in the Bible.

“Mon Dieu! Incroyable!” (Oh my! Amazing!)

My astonished exclamation mixing with the myriad others of my companions.

I looked at the Silent Mary in the distance, “If the trident is down there Henry, I promise we’ll free your father.” Henry and I had developed a tentative friendship, due to both of us having someone we needed to free. His capture saddened me but I hoped Armando wouldn’t kill him. My whispered promise affirming my resolve.

Carina eagerly slid down the incline to the sea floor. I grinned at Jack, shrugged and leapt down after her. Once we were all at the bottom, we took off after Carina. Staring in awed wonder at the myriad sea creatures swimming beside us. After a good two minutes run she slowed.

Calling back to us; the words echoed in this strange watery cavern.

“The Trident.”

We took in the appearance of the fabled relic.

Barbossa looked like he was about to cry. The others moved to take the trident and I made to help before stopping. Movement in the corner of my eye warning me. I turned to see the cursed crew in the water.

I gasped, turning to warn the others of the danger, only to see Jack fighting…Henry? No his voice is wrong…Salazar?!

Carina freed the trident, both Jack and Henry/Salazar diving for it.

I could do nothing but watch. Too in shock to move and unable to see an opening through which to help anyway. Instead, I regained motion and raced to Carina’s side; dragging her away from the fierce battle to the death. Salazar claimed the trident and began tossing Jack around.

I racked my brains.

‘What was that rhyme about the trident….da da da inside…something about….oh my God…we have to break the trident.’

Henry and Carina had reunited and seemed to be about to have the same revelation as me.

‘What about the crew?!’

I turned and raced to the water wall. Eye-patch ghost recognising me and moving slightly closer to the edge.

His eye widened as I reached my hands into the water, grabbed his shoulder and pulled his top half out of the water; other hand bracing him so his feet didn’t touch land. My mouth moving rapidly as I spoke as quickly as I could.

“Listen, if we break the trident your curse will be broken and you’ll be at the bottom of the ocean.”

He stopped trying to pull away and froze in realisation.

“Get back to the Mary and get ready to help your captain…follow the pearl.”

I pushed him back in and he staggered before turning to the others, his mouth moving rapidly.

Before my eyes, almost all the crew just vanished. I turned to find out whether Carina figured out the poem when I saw Henry’s blade descended on the trident. Shattering it into gleaming shards.

I watched in worry as Armando staggered. Jerking back in surprise as eye-patch burst out of the water beside me, gasping for air alongside the two other crewmates who stayed behind. He recovered quickly and we ran to my now rejoicing soulmate.

Completely ignoring Jack and Henry’s cry of “come on (y/n)”.

The walls of water shivered as the magic holding them began to break.

I ducked and rolled, narrowly missing decapitation as the Black Pearl’s anchor flew overhead. Something sharp stuck in my side and pain flashed through me. I ignored it.

A look of cold, calculated rage entered Armando’s eyes as he watched the fleeing Jack Sparrow. I did the first thing I could think of and tackled him. My whole body slamming into his legs, the breath leaving me as his weight fell on top of me. Angrily yelling in Spanish, he hauled me to my feet. I winced but kept a vice grip on his hand. Becoming a dead weight when he tried to catch Sparrow. His crew stepped back, hands up as they refused to help him, instead watching behind us as another anchor began to descend.

‘They figured it out.’

I was wrestled from my thoughts when the sharp tip of a blade sung near my head. Instinctively letting go and ducking to avoid it. Armando took off at a run and I stared in disbelief at his retreating back. Eye-patch at my side, disappointment on his face.

‘He just swung at me?…he’s gonna get himself killed.’

I took off running, vaulting a large boulder; my feet pounded into the coral as I struggled to catch up.

The other crewmates had begun climbing the Silent Mary’s anchor. Eye-patch soon turning to run back and climb himself.

I pushed forward. My heartbeat loud in my ears as I pushed my body to the limit. Finally catching up to Armando, I carried on. Slamming into his back just as he jumped for the Pearl’s anchor. We tumbled.

I winced as a thwack came from before me. Quickly struggling to my feet I pulled him up to sit. Worriedly checking his head for breaks.

A line of crimson blood snaked its way from beneath his hair. His hand moving to wave me away as sudden clarity returned to his eyes; a red haze shattering in his eyes as he was finally, truly, free.

“(Y/n) I…”

I cut him off. Yanking on his arm.

“No time, to the Mary NOW!”

He pulled himself to his feet and I grabbed his hand as we ran for the anchor. Leaping on, we began to climb.

Armando followed me up the chain. The other crew were almost at the top. I placed hand over shaking hand. ‘A quarter of the way…now a half.’

The anchor was rising swiftly, helping in our escape.

A rushing roar had begun as the last threads of the power of the trident's began to tear.

I looked down to see Armando frozen on the chain. Swaying, eyes closed. The blood had run over one eye and down his cheek now.

‘No!’

I let go with my feet and slid down the chain. Stopping myself on the other side to Armando.

“Armando…open your eyes, you have to climb.”

He blearily opened one eye. Squinting through the red veil of blood. He gritted his teeth and nodded slightly before beginning to climb slowly. I climbed in tandem to him. Constantly ready to grab him should he fall.

The roar reached a crescendo and a quick glance to the side had my eyes widening and my hand cclutchinghis coat. I took a breath.

Water rushed over us. The harsh current threatening to tear us from the chain. My eyes stung but I couldn’t close them. My side burned as I held on, despite the breath being knocked from me. The light flickered as we rose.

Armando’s hand found my shirt and held it fast.

My lungs began screaming and on reflex ,I took a breath.

I shut my eyes and mouth, trying desperately to hold my breath. The water in my lungs a dead weight to match my grip on my soulmate.

Suddenly, we burst into brilliant sunshine. Coughing. The water streamed past my lips as I tried to take air into my aching lungs. Though it itched…I could breath.

We began to rise out of the water and I looked to Armando. His eyes meeting mine, glittering in the sunshine.

Something flopped into my vision.

‘!!!’

A rope fell between us and I reflexedly grabbed it, letting go of the chain as I did. Armando followed me in swimming away from the chain and towards the side of the Silent Mary; the rope pulling us along as his crew worked to bring their captain on board.

The climb was arduous; I was constantly on high alert for any signs of faltering from my injured soulmate. On deck ,he was greeted by eye-patch who began to berate him for almost getting himself killed. Another crewmember ran up and began to check over his head. Calling in rapid Spanish for bandages, which were given, and deftly wrapping his head. I stood by the rail. Sparing a glance to admire the restored glory of the Silent Mary before returing my attention to Armando. Arms crossed. Watching.

‘Too right you should be told off…we almost died because you couldn’t hold off on your revenge quest for 20 minutes. ’

His eyes flickered to my own stern orbs. He sighed before turning to eye-patch and apologised to him. Eye-patch, ‘err…Lesaro’, seemed stunned.

Armando then turned to address the crew.

In rapid but stuttering Spanish he ordered them to follow the pearl but not to engage until he gave the order. He looked about to take the wheel before the crewman who had tended to his head ordered him to rest. Pulling his rank and doctor over the captain. With a sigh ,Armando complied.

He then through me an odd look before striding off, slightly off-balance, to what I assumed were the Captain’s qarter’s.

I watched him go from the rail. The crew giving me a wide-berth.

“They mean no disresepect, they just do not know what to make of you.”

I looked at Lesaro who had joined me at the rail.

“The Captain is…” he paused, obviously struggling for the right words, “…unique in his determination.”

I scoffed. “I think I realised that by now…but don’t we all have something we strive for.” I straightened, pointing to the pearl; Lesaro followed my gaze.

“I for example shall strive to protect the friends I have made…so I am going to have a talk with your captain.”

Lesaro jolted, his voice falling to a whisper, “For him…there is no mercy for pirates.”

I pushed off from the rail, giving Lesaro a ruthful smile, “good thing I’m known for my diplomatic skills then.”

I began to follow the path Armando took earlier. Grinning as I heard Lesaro mutter behind me, “no me extraña que sean almas gemelas.” (no wonder they’re soul mates)

Opening the door to the captain’s quarters, I closed the door behind me before crossing over to walk round the central desk to face Salazar who was seated with his head in his hands.

“Armando?”

He didn’t move. I smiled as I spotted the charm wrapped around his finger.

Steeling myself, I reached out and gently moved his hands away from his face.

He looked up into my eyes, sorrow and guilt filling the crystalline orbs.

He opened his mouth to speak.

“I tried to kill you.”

I cocked my head.

“Yes ,you did.”

He looked stunned.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you were still possessed by something from that awfull curse and we are soulmates.”

I smiled.

“So I’m willing to start over if you are.”

He grimaced before standing and walking round to my side of the desk. He held out a hand for mine and I gave it. Once again marvelling at how perfectly our hands fit eachothers.

“I cannot forgive myself. After I met you, I thought of you throughout my imprisonment. You gave me hope.” He pressed the charm into my hand. “I do not deserve you nor would it be suitable. I have pirates to hunt and I will not see you hurt again.”

I leant forward and hugged him. Revelling in the warmth and feeling of comfort the simple gesture brought. I tightened my grip, trying to convey a sense of peace and forgiveness through touch alone. He visibly relaxed. Head resting on top of mine.

‘He’s a lot taller when he’s not limping.’

I pushed my observation to the back of my mind as he pulled away.

“And do you really believe it would be easier for me to see you hurt. I never forgot you and I spent years searching for ways to free you. I forgive you, I would not if you didn’t deserve it.”

He smiled softly and chuckled.

“How are you so kind?”

I shrugged, thumb tracing his palm, “the world can be cruel but I find if you’re kind, it comes back to you, eventually.”

He rested his forehead against mine. I watched his eyelids flutter as his warm breath brushed my cheek. Sudden laughter outside the cabin broke the silence.

Back straightening, Armando pulled away and settled into the commanding demeanour of a captain.

“We will send you home. Once the sea is safe, I will return to you.”

I smirked. “You’re not getting away that easy.” I looked at our still joined hands before raising an eyebrow at his amused/affronted expression.

“Those pirates you speak off, are my friends…and are incidently the whole reason you are now free of that dreadful curse. I will not see their kindness repaid with death.”

Armando glared.

“They are an infection on the…”

“They are people.”

He let go of my hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, sighing in exasperation.

I grounded myself. Widening my stance and breathing deeply.

‘I’m not known as the stubborn root for nothing.”

I watched as he formulated his arguments. I could practically see his mind whirling in a fierce storm.

When Armando once again looked at me. He saw land. A rock, steady and unyeilding. The roots of a great oak, holding strong against the fiercest storm.

“You will return to your home.”

“Not without you.”

He moved closer, leaning very close to my face.

I stared into his eyes, neither of us blinking. The silent contest between land and sea. Neither willing to back down. Seeing that nothing was going to give a sudden idea flashed through my mind.

As the urge gripped me, I raised my hand. Pressing it to his soulmark. Mimicking our stance from when we first met.

“Let’s discuss our options.”

His eyes clouded slightly and I drew closer, closing the distance between us.

(You imagine the rest)

#potc #pirates of the caribbean #armando salazar #fanfiction

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ninjacat1515 · 5 years

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The pirates and witches play rock paper scissors to see who gets stuck with looking after amnesiac Mando for the day, and it's Scrum. He throws up his hands and growls. "Can we try again??" Salazar is staring with happy eyes at the annoyed pirate. All the others quickly depart and rush to their cars, leaving Scrum there. He glares at the menace that consistently dragged their days down. "Gonna make meself clear, Sally. You're on your own now. I refuse to help you. Horrible, nasty, vile monster who doesn't deserve one lick of kindness from anyone!" He grabs an apple and hurls it at Mando's face. It hits the vampire in the nose and causes him to yelp and back away. "No one wants you! See how the rest of us couldn't wait to get away from you?? We all loathe you! I don't know why we can't reopen those asylums...dump you there and throw away the key. Or better yet, kill you!" Salazar whines and backs away more, Scrum spitting at him. "The lot of you all deserve to rot in hell...you in the deepest circle. Since I can't send you there meself, I'll just have to figure something else out." He throws a rock at Mando this time. "Get the bloody hell out of here!! God...just GET!" Scrum pulls out a silver dagger and charges at Salazar, who turns around and sprints off into the woods. The pirate chases him off the property, making certain to throw the heaviest rocks he could hold. "You come back here, I see you anywhere again, I'll kill you!!!" Satisfied at the pace Mando was fleeing, Scrum ran back to Jack's house, locking all doors and windows. His savage triumph was drowned in sudden panic. The others would question him a lot, and he forced his brain into forming a story: a few slayers took Salazar, and he wasn't able to do anything. And if Mando came back, well Scrum could say he must be good at escaping.... Off in the woods, Salazar still ran and hid, terrified and making sure he put as much distance as possible between him and that pirate. Curling up under a dead tree, Mando huddled in the leaf litter, wanting no human contact. Jack eyed Scrum as they returned later that same night. "So...Slayers or someone came to take Salamander? You didn't call us or anyone-" "Good bloody riddance as far as I'm concerned! Should happen to them all." "Scrum!" Carina stared at him, appalled. Both gang's of witches and pirates watched carefully. "Where did they go?" "Who cares? They didn't try to hurt me, they just took the thorn in our collective sides out of the equation." They shared a look. "We are well aware Sally has caused us a fair amount of trouble in the past, but he DOESN'T anymore! He doesn't stalk us, he doesn't try to harm any of us! Not even you! Neither do any of his men! Hasn't done anything for a few years!" Scrum growled, slamming his beer can down in the table. "What does it matter? He's gone now." Hector squinted at Scrum as he entered the room. "Funny, I just spoke with Miss Gelson and she says she saw you chasing Salamander into the woods with your dagger. One of me own group, me own crew....lying right through his teeth to my face....to say I'm disappointed would be an understatement, Scrum." They spent several hours searching, electing to have Henry coax out Salazar. It was almost morning when they found him, and he hugged Henry tight, purring frantically. Hector, Jack, Will and Carina gave him a hug as well. "It's ok mate, Scrum will be apologizing to you once we get home." Jack patted Mando on the shoulder as they wound their way through the woods back to his house.

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mitigatedchaos · 6 years

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Pirates Tell No Tales

Netflix has Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales up. I want to note that I haven't seen the movie before it.

First: was it worth watching? For me, as a learning exercise, perhaps. For you? It might not be. Audiences rated it more highly than critics, but I’m not the kind of person to watch a lot of movies these days. It did well internationally, but not in North America, where it was the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise.

I suspect that were Dead Men Tell No Tales the first movie, it would have failed to establish the franchise.

Now, as you may know, I tend to believe that people know things that they don't know they know.

I believe that they also notice things that they don't realize they notice. That's how good design works. The average Joe can't tell you about a good visual composition, and doesn't have the words or concepts to describe it, but he can tell a good composition when he sees it because it *feels right*.

I think it's the same way with writing, and particularly with writing for movies. Various movies are made with enormous budgets that rival government expenditures, and then they flop. Why? Well, aside from mismanagement causing the movies to cost more than they should in the first place, and issues with advertising, the answer is probably that they don't *feel right*.

And the root of it is probably the writing. Now, "good writing" doesn't mean "pretentious writing" or "writing for the Literary-Genre Literature Fandom." Nor does it always mean "popular writing," as something can be well-written but not *for* everyone. It doesn't even mean "original writing" - a well-executed "standard" movie can do well.

(Note: Reasonably-good writing doesn't guarantee box office success. The Robocop reboot was, in my opinion, reasonably well-done. But it came out in the wrong time. You get more points for originality by being in the past, and it's hard to recapture the 'magic' of being within the right time context. In this sense the "correct film" to make is actually Netflix's Altered Carbon series. Sometimes you have to throw out the whole premise or radically rework it. On the other hand, having worse writing isn't going to *help* unless you have a budget so low you can afford for your movie to be primarily enjoyed ironically.)

Given that a script should be relatively cheap, it seems better to improve the script before the first frame is shot to avoid costly flops.

With that in mind, here are some thoughts about *Dead Men Tell No Tales*.

Keep in mind that my tastes and sense of aesthetics may differ from others’.

[ SPOILERS FOLLOW ]

Witchery

The first issue is the handling of Carina being considered a witch.

The problem is that it isn't funny. We have a female character that's being called a witch by establishment authority figures because she knows mathematics and astronomy. It works when the pirates do it, because we have a running joke that most of them are uneducated - and the one pirate that does seem to know academic knowledge isn't in this movie.

The established authority figures shouldn't be that stupid / uneducated, which means there should be some motive beyond just "they hate women" for why they want to get rid of her. That could be some spooky-looking fake magic on her part (which would show her as clever), a personal grudge by the governor, a social attack by a clique of other women, someone wanting to steal her research, etc. If necessary, we could do this with one or two lines by one of the officials during the chase that shows hints enough at his real underhanded reason, though a scene would be preferable. If it isn't funny, then we should make it dramatic.

And if the concept isn't dramatic, then we should make it funny. Play up the absurdity of mathematics being considered witchcraft. The scene with the telescope doesn't work well for this. It's just "he's an effeminate man and hates and envies women so he calls her a witch." It's a status-play. If you want to show the dichotomy between treatment of men and women, have her disguised as a man and have him nodding along until he realizes she's a woman, then shout "witch!"

But as it stands, it isn't working well for either drama or humor. She's the cool smart protagonist girl, therefore they call her a witch because they don't like her. This honestly makes her harder, rather than easier, to relate to.

Ironically, this could work for an RPG character, because then the players would be in on the joke. You'd have the (probable) woman playing the female character take the flaw that people think the character is a witch, then stick an item in the character's backstory to justify it or wallow in the absurdity and apply a Witch Penalty to charisma rolls at opportune times for hilarity.

However, people like to mock weak men, so let's imagine that we keep the weak man and the witch accusation. How can we reconcile this? Simple enough - have the woman humiliate Mr. Telescope earlier in the movie by showing him up intellectually in front of someone who doesn't know enough to realize she's the better one. Then, have Mr. Telescope concoct an accusation of witchcraft, which gets her put in jail. Now, for the humor element - this starts a rumor which spreads among the townsfolk, getting more ridiculous and elaborate each time as the townsfolk attempt to outdo each other. (You still get to have the townsfolk be misogynistic!) One important element of comedy is timing, and I think that the appropriate timing, aside from a short piece to establish why there is popular support for jailing her, is for this to come up as a recurring gag throughout the early part of the movie, until it hits a point where someone claims that she "couldn't possibly be the real witch" because the rumor has diverged so far from reality.

Want to work this in elsewhere? Have the rumor end up hurting the actual witch that shows up later, falling into the custody of the British Empire because she does resemble the wildly-exaggerated rumors.

Captain Salad Bar

The main villain is introduced too early. While that helps establish that there is a real threat against Jack Sparrow and Henry Turner, the problem is that it makes him NOT SPOOKY ENOUGH.

The problem here is the previous movies. The protagonists in the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies have overcome supernatural captains and supernatural foes before. So the guy is a ghost? That doesn't establish that he's more of a threat than any of the other defeated antagonists that were bested before. (He’s certainly not as cool as Davy Jones.) Unfortunately, this basically means they've spent the value of his Ghost Points and not gotten much intimidation for it.

So how do we get more intimidation for it? Well, consider their boat, the Silent Mary. It does this empty ribcage / jaw thing where it rises up and crashes down on a ship like it's going to eat it. Now, it gets style points for running around floating without a complete hull. But you know what would be cool?

Captain Salazar is a ghost. A phantom. Ethereal. The echo of a time when pirates were nearly destroyed.

What if, every time his ship attacks another ship, it gets either bigger or more complete, and every time he kills a pirate, he gets more powerful? As the movie goes, he - and the threat he represents - are becoming more and more physical, more and more real. The era of mass pirate death is returning from the dead by the will of one extremely vengeful spirit.

This keeps him mysterious, and thus preserves his supernatural aura, for longer. It also builds tension, since if he gains power from killing pirates, what's to prevent him from becoming unstoppable?

This is *different* from what would necessarily make sense in a book. But since it's a movie, we have the luxury of visual presentation to play with.

The British

Now, once we've done that, we have another problem to overcome with the script. One that's already there.

Pirates of the Caribbean has done non-supernatural villains working for the Empire that are credibly-threatening as villains and personally relatable. You can watch Dead Man's Chest if you like for comparison. Commodore Norrington is made a chewtoy by the movie, but he has some touch of dignity and a relatable goal. He's also actually dangerous as per the plot. As for Cutler Beckett of the East India Company, he is ruthless, not stupid, and his motivations are understandable enough and come with a thematic backdrop of the emergence of order tied to capital.

The Brits in Dead Men Tell No Tales are incompetent, unlikeable, and unmemorable. They're just bumbling assholes overshadowed by the main villain.

However, that bank heist? That's a good scene, conceptually. It's actually funny! It takes advantage of both movies as a visual medium and the special effects budget.

So we need them to bumble, only we've created a hole in the first part of the movie where we need a credible antagonist to threaten Jack Sparrow & Company.

The solution is simple - put a metaphorical shark in charge of bumbling oafs. That can even be humorous! Lampshade it, even. A smart man in charge of idiots can still be threatening. Let's go back to the start, where we want Carina the Science Girl to be considered a witch. The existing character is so forgettable that I can't even remember his name, so we'll call our replacement Captain British.

Captain British will be in a foul mood because he has been assigned to this backwater port in the middle of nowhere, with a company of men he believes are incompetent (which is relatable, because they actually are incompetent), because of some earlier screw-up that wasn't entirely his fault. He doesn't understand the obscure technical detail being argued between Mr. Telescope and Carina, but this is because he's not educated in the field, not because he's stupid. But remember how Carina has that stubborn streak? We simply imply that she's been a troublemaker for him prior to the start of the movie (this we don't have to show directly like the humiliation of Mr. Telescope), so he takes the witch accusation as an opportunity to get rid of her with plausible public backing of the townsfolk.

He also understands the value of commerce. And prior to his assignment, the town was raided or robbed by pirates. So he's pleased to have secured the bank vault opening in town. Suck it, pirates! Which gives us more investment - and potentially makes it funnier - when the bank is stolen.

He finds out about the Trident of Poseidon in his pursuit of Jack Sparrow - for stealing the vault - and of Carina for siding with him. While he's mistaken that the two were cooperating at first, he develops a clearer understanding of the situation later. Seeking the Trident would thus not only put him back in good-standing (if he even returns to Britain after obtaining it), but help him to spite Sparrow.

All of this makes it more powerful when he's ultimately defeated by Salazar and overtaken as the villain in the second half of the movie.

Jack the Sparrow

Jack lacks his normal charisma for some reason, and I don't think it was entirely planned. Something about the dialogue. He seems to get a bit of a boost when he's back on a boat, but it still doesn't seem quite right.

Maybe bad luck was a curse from before? Let's start with that. Sparrow's bad luck should either be a literal curse or not be a literal curse. If it's a curse, then we have the terms of the curse make others less likely to believe that it's a curse. If it's *not* a curse, then either everyone else thinks Jack's cursed and wants to leave him, *or* Jack maintains that it's just a curse while everyone else says he's become too incompetent to be a captain. There's a balance to pick here, since thinking it's a curse when it isn't carries that "pirates are kinda stupid" joke that's been a running theme in the movies and which contributed to some of the more amusing bits of the movie as it exists. And, on the other side, it being an actual curse provides more potential motivation for Jack. And if it's *not* a curse, but Jack thinks it's a curse, then there's some way we could reveal this at the end when curses are broken for humor value.

As for Salazar? Jack needs a nightmare, earlier in the movie. But it's not really a nightmare, it's a premonition. He's sleep-deprived and is using alcohol to get drunk enough that he can actually sleep by being too drunk to get /remember the nightmare, which is why he's less lucid. However, because of this, he (and thus the audience) doesn't see enough of the premonition to realize what's going on until shortly before Salazar overtakes Captain British as the main villain.

#miti does media

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wazafam · 3 years

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The Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) doesn't exist in real life but in the world of FOX hit series 24, it's is the reason why America still stands still. The Los Angeles branch of the agency—which is under the Department of Homeland Security—has been responsible for stopping numerous terrorist attacks on US soil.

RELATED: Kiefer Sutherland's 10 Best Roles, According To IMDb

Even though ever-running, ever-yelling federal agent Jack Bauer deserves praise for doing all the heavy lifting, CTU has had a number of key agents who have been instrumental in its activities. Some of the agents are worthy of countless honors for their good job while some would be rotting away in jail if they weren't dead already.

10 Jack Bauer

Terrorists dread his name and there is a good reason for that. Jack has saved America more times than he can remember. Unlike other CTU agents, he might not be good with technology but on the field, he is a dab hand. His level of endurance is remarkable too. No injury sets him back. Not to forget that he can manage to go without eating, taking a nap, or using the bathroom for 24 hours.

Jack's line of work has made him lose plenty of loved ones, including just about every woman he has ever dated. But despite the challenges, nothing stops him from doing the right thing.

9 Chloe O'Brian

Jack might yell "Damnit Chloe!" about 5 times per episode but she is the only person he truly trusts. There is nothing Chloe wouldn't do for Jack and thanks to her total trust in the man, she has managed to prevent more attacks than any other desk agent.

Chloe constantly risks her job several times and disobeys orders in order to do what she believes is the right thing. After the events of Day 8, she gets dismissed for disobeying orders but still goes on to help Jack after she joins the hacker organization Open Cell. When she gets captured by the Russians, Jack trades his freedom for hers.

8 Bill Buchannan

On Day 7, Bill makes a major sacrifice when Sangala dictator Benjamin Juma takes over the White House. He creates an explosion meant to wipe out most of Juma's men, knowing that he might die too. He thus dies a heroic death.

RELATED: 10 Best TV Shows Of The Decade For Each Year Of 2000s (According To IMDb)

Apart from that incident, Bill is generally one of the most likable characters of the show. He is the most understanding CTU director as he trusts his agents instead of constantly bossing them around. At various points of the series, Bill also serves as a Division agent and as the Acting White House Secret Service director.

7 Edgar Stiles

Edgar is perhaps the nicest character to ever appear in the series. He initially struggles at work but thanks to Chloe's guidance, he becomes one of the most competent agents.

It's been said many times that bad things always happen to good people and that's what happens to Edgar. The shy agent stops a nuclear plant crisis only to learn that his mother was a victim. He also stops the mole Marianne from slowing down operations. He eventually meets his demise when there is a terrorist nerve gas attack at the CTU offices.

6 Chase Edmunds

On Day 3, Chase finds out just how difficult it is to be Jack's partner. The two go on a wild ride together as they tackle the Salazar drug family. Chase ends up developing feelings for Jack's daughter Kim, something the protagonist doesn't mind since he is a lot like him.

By the end of it all, Chase not only loses an arm but he loses Kim too. It's reported that he was later killed by the leader of a biker gang. The field agent might have not been around for long but he gets credit for being one of the few people that Jack could trust with his life. He made Kim happy too.

5 Curtis Manning

Curtis is a very efficient field agent, having served in the military where he was part of Operation Desert Storm. He was also a member of Boston PD's SWAT unit. However, his major weakness is his failure to see the bigger picture.

RELATED: 15 Best Action TV Series To Stream On Netflix

Curtis dates Marianne who later turns out to be a mole. She has been using him without his knowledge. His penchant for attempting to undermine Jack all the time makes him rub fans the wrong way. Jack is forced to kill him when he vows to kill former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad who is now cooperating with the US government.

4 George Mason

George is initially portrayed as the nightmare boss everyone wishes not to have. The CTU director keeps scolding Jack and every other agent who he spots, for no good reason.

He eventually becomes nice after realizing he only has a few days to live. This reality dawns on him when gets exposed to extreme amounts of plutonium while searching Mamud Faheen's warehouse for a bomb. Knowing he's going to die anyway, George sacrifices his life by flying a plane containing a bomb to the Mojave desert.

3 Ryan Chappelle

Like George, Chappelle is also a hated boss, thanks to his dictatorial style of management. He believes he is smarter than everyone in the building, including Jack, hence he never hesitates to micromanage.

His belief that is better than everyone else makes him go on a dangerous pursuit of the terrorist Stephen Saunders. Since Saunders still has plenty of leverage against the government, he demands that Chappelle be executed or else he'll release a bioweapon. President Palmer is left with no choice but to order Jack to kill Chappelle.

2 Tony Almeida

Tony isn't necessarily a bad guy but he doesn't qualify as heroic because everything he does is extreme and for his own interest. He complies with the villain Stephen Saunders in order to save Michelle's life. After Michelle gets killed by a car bomb, Tony loses it.

RELATED: 10 Action Heroes That Don’t Have Superpowers

For a while, he is presumed to have been killed by Christopher Henderson but he resurfaces on Day 7 as a mercenary. He works with CTU agent Chloe and Bill but his real intention is to meet Wilson, the man who ordered the death of Michelle. Unfortunately for him, he gets captured and sent to prison.

1 Nina Myers

Nina is the mother of moles in the series. At the end of Day 1, the second-in-command agent is revealed to be an intelligence broker. She is also responsible for the saddest character death in the series when she kills Jack's wife Teri Bauer while trying to escape. Never mind that she dates Jack too.

She somehow manages to convince two presidents to pardon her, including the likable David Palmer. She always proves to be too smart for everyone, even tricking Jack into activating a hidden virus in CTU's computer systems. Jack finally corners her and executes her as revenge for murdering his wife.

NEXT: 24: 10 Best Jack Bauer Kills, Ranked

24: CTU Agents Ranked From Heroic To Most Villainous | ScreenRant from https://ift.tt/3rWINJh

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inkycrowwrites · 7 years

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Imagine being the fianceé of Captain Salazar (Part three)

Pairing: Armando Salazar x reader

A/N: I’M SO SORRY TO LEAVE YOU ALL HANGING LIKE THIS! As an apology part three is way longer than the other ones. Where i’ve been? Some heavy personal stuff came up, but i’ve felt a little better now, getting through it with a lot of support! Shout out to Mod Demon for helping me with grammar once again! Thank you sis! & @salmicka1!!! i’m so sorry for worrying you dear :(. Once again if you notice any errors i encourage you to notify me via message at my personal blog @regipumpkin. (f/n) = first name, (l/n) = last name. Thank you so much for your patience! Again, sorry. ~ Mod Pumpkin.

Warnings: Angsts and violence.

Your crew was awoken by the thud of the last bag of provisions hitting the floor of the boat. They turned to look at you as you panted, all of the boats were ready to go.

“Miss (l/n)? what are you doing?” a sailor asked as he stood up. You looked back “oh! sorry to wake you up, but the sun is already rising so I guess it does not matter”.

They approached the boats “you loaded all of this by yourself, miss?”

“Well, I honestly couldn’t sleep and i wish to leave this island as soon as possible”

Angelica stared at you “so you didn’t sleep at all?”

“Probably just a couple of hours, but i assure you it was enough” the bags under your eyes showed that you were clearly lying.

Angelica placed a hand in your back “listen (f/n), as soon as we board the ship i want you to head straight to your chambers and rest, you did great”

“Alright” you smiled.

She turned to the crew “What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here! To the ship!”. Everyone either retrieved the blankets they were resting on or pushed the boats out of shore, you and Angelica hoped in one and allowed yourselves to be transported back.

You offered on helping them carry the provisions back on board or at least set the course but Angelica insisted that you needed to rest. As you walked away you looked back, she had a funny look in her face, staring at the sword that never left your side.

The door of your chambers was violently open and a man was casted down the stairs. You jumped out of bed and rushed to aid him only to discover it was the captain.

“Are you alright? what happened?”

A set of steps descended towards you. It was Angelica followed by two of your crew members. She was wearing the captain’s hat and a grin on her face, “did you sleep well, princess?”. You realized what was going on, a mutiny just as she predicted, the only thing you didn’t count on was that she would be the one leading it.

You tried to reach the sword resting against the wall next to the bed, but the click of a gun stopped you in your tracks. You turned around carefully, she was pointing the gun at the captain still on the floor. You walked back to him slowly and helped him stand. He rose his hands up surrendering, you had no option but to mimic his gesture.

“Now you’re getting it!” Angelica exclaimed, “follow me” she guided you to the center of the ship and tied you to the mast.

The sailors looked down at you, relieved that they were finally getting rid of you. You stared back with a hard look on your eyes, making sure to remember each one of their faces for later.

“Angelica!” you spoke with a stern voice, “Angelica we saved you! If it weren’t for me you could still be dying on that island!”

“I know princess and i’m very thankful for that, which is why I won’t let these men kill you. They think you’re a walking curse. Instead we’ll set you free on an island, let’s see if your beloved captain comes back for you after all”

Tears formed in the corners of your eyes “And what if he does come back? You think he’ll spare any of you?! Remember when we encountered his ship! If it weren’t for me each and everyone of you would be dead!” Some of them backed away with concerned looks on their faces.

“Miss (l/n), please be quiet” the humiliated captain spoke behind you. You ignored him and continued to rant, “after Captain Salazar is done hunting that disgusting Sparrow pirate, he will unleash hell upon you!”.

Something changed in Angelica’s eyes “A Sparrow pirate?”. A crew member lost his temper and stepped forward waving a gun at your face “shut up! Shut up witch!” Angelica stepped in front of you “put that down before you hurt yourself, sailor!” he obeyed reluctantly.

She kneeled in front of you “you mentioned a Sparrow pirate, what did you mean by that?”

“...The man he’s chasing, they told me that’s what they called him”

“What’s the name of that man?”

“J-Jack Sparrow” she stood up and chuckled at your words “oh Jack, what did you do now?” She turned over to the crew and ordered them to untie you, the same sailor from a moment ago replied to her command “but we can’t trust her! she-”

“She’ll do as i say, believe me”.

They released your wrists, you contemplated the red marks that the rope had left on them. Angelica was quick to point a sword at your chest, just like you did back there at the beach “let me offer you a deal. I take you to your prince charming, we forget that all of this happened and he helps me catch him, are you interested?”

“It’s not like I had any other option”

“Your other option is to receive a bullet to the head and spill your pretty brains”

You stood up never breaking eye contact “I’ll take your first deal, miss Teach”

“Wise choice”.

It took three days, three tense days of not knowing if your food would be poisoned or at least spit on, three days of not being able to even close your eyes at night, or having water denied until you begged for it, but the moment you spotted the Silent Mary all of the suffering disappeared and was replaced with hope.

“Are you sure that’s his, princess?” asked Angelica as she inspected the ship with a spyglass.

“Every time he left i would stay at the docks and watch his ship until it got lost in the horizon, I could recognize the Silent Mary anywhere”

Angelica grinned “you’re so dramatic!”, her grin fell almost as fast as it came “I don’t see anyone”

“W-what do you mean?” Angelica handed the spyglass over to you “the ship is empty”. It was true, there was no soul around, at least in your sights.

“I-I don’t understand”

“Maybe they kidnapped them”

“No, that’s impossible. Armando would never let himself get captured by pirates, he would rather... Angelica, we must search the ship!”

“It’s too dangerous, it could be a trap”

“We had a deal, you were supposed to take me to him, remember?”

Angelica sighed “prepare a longboat, i need five men to come with us” she turned to you “if this is some kind of ambush you planned since the beginning your miserable first mate dies”

“I assure you i’m as clueless as you are”.

You were the first to board the ship. It was as beautiful and awing as you remembered, but just as you feared there was no one on deck except for the seven of you. It couldn’t be! You ran across the deck shouting names of loyal soldiers you remembered, begging for an answer from anyone. Finally the creak of wood caught your attention as a man emerged from the cabin “miss (l/n)?”. You ran over to him without hesitation “where’s the crew?” you questioned him immediately “where’s your captain?”. Behind him were four men, each as weak and malnourished as the others.

“They followed after that pirate, we stayed behind to guard the ship. That was four days ago”

“And what else?! Please, there must be something else you know”.

They looked over at each other, not being able to talk, almost as if it physically hurt. “We found some of their corpses floating” one of them finally broke the silence.

And just like the last time, they ripped him away from you. After all you had been through in the end it was worthless. Your knees gave up, you cupped your face in your hands and let out a shriek. As you crumbled down something caught the eye of Angelica, she picked it up from the floor and went over to you. She gently patted your shoulder as you looked over to her, trying to collect yourself. Angelica placed the object in your hand. It was an old medal your father, the venerated war hero, gave to your fiancé the day he asked for your hand in marriage.

The way it shined in the sunlight got you lost in a trance and slowly calmed your sobs. Was this truly the end? Were you willing to return to Spain empty handed and with a shattered heart? Madness took over you, this wasn’t over, you couldn’t just let his memory die like this, that pirate couldn’t just walk away like that! You fiercely stood up, Angelica backed away a little “We had a deal, didn’t we, miss Teach? you would take me here and he would help you catch him. But I’ll do it for him, we shall hunt this pirate together even if I die trying!” Angelica huffed and shook her head “you lost your mind, but i guess it’ll come in handy. The deal is on”.

The other ship arrived next to the Silent Mary, you climbed the ratline to catch their attention “Listen up sailors!” Angelica stared at you slightly concerned “get down from there”, you ignored her, “The crew of Captain Salazar is gone, you may feel relieved as your memories of them were those of demons out of hell, but you forget that they were once men just like you, some of us even knew them. They were our soldiers, our friends, part of our families! We shall avenge them. Those brave enough step into the Silent Mary, the rest can leave without any consequences. I sincerely wish you luck on your way back to Spain”. For a moment nobody seemed to follow, until four men boarded your ship, ready with provisions and weapons.

“Welcome” you smiled at them as you climbed down: Your loyal first mate handed you the sword you had lost and saluted you.

“Gabriel?” he turned around to the voice that called at him “¿father?” he ran towards one of the last survivors of Salazar’s crew and hugged him “Gabriel! My boy!”. You couldn’t help but smile at the scene, at least someone had a happy ending.

The man approached you and handed you something “miss (l/n), we found it in the great cabin” It was Armando’s Jacket, or at least one of them. You thanked him and retrieved to the tween deck as you felt more tears coming. You glanced at the departing ship one last time before it left, none of the men dared to look into your face.

You lovingly pinned the old medal that Angelica gave you back to its rightful place and kept staring at it, quick steps caught your attention but as you turned around someone pushed you against the wall behind you. It was Angelica, clearly angered “we lost two thirds of the crew!”

“You’re right” you answered emotionless “the provisions are going to last for weeks”

“This ship is massive! It needs at least thirty men to operate it! There’s only eleven of us, what do you think we’re going to do?!”

“I can’t survive another mutiny, Angelica. We shall all do our best until we reach-”

“A crew? You need a crew, miss?” a voice with a heavy scottish accent spoke from the darkest point of the chamber, startling you both. Angelica rose her pistol at the same time you unsheathed your sword.

“Worry not misses” the voice was getting closer “I assure you I only came here with benign intentions”

“Step into the light then, show yourself” you commanded, the intruder cackled but followed. The man could only be described as a monster, with a crab claw instead of a left arm, twisting tentacles as a beard and the right leg of a crab resembling a pegleg. The sight obviously disturbed you but you weren’t as shaken as your ally.

“Davy Jones” Angelica whispered, she lowered down her pistol alongside your sword, she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to fight him.

“Wise choice”

“Why are you here?” you interrogated him “I heard you’re hunting down Sparrow”

“We are” you replied proud.

“Is your accent Spanish? huh, it’s funny since i’ve recently fished a certain spaniard captain’s soul from the bottom of the sea” Your eyes widened and your breathing grew heavier “Only now i caught your attention?” he chuckled and continued “When you finally trap Sparrow, what do you plan to do to that pest?”

“Collect vengeance”

“Perfect!” he grinned “would you ladies be interested in a transaction?” Angelica and you stared at each other, then back at Davy Jones “I’ll provide you with a crew, 25 strong and loyal men deprived from their free will a long time ago. You catch the sparrow and do as you want with him, but leave his soul to me. Once you hand him over I’ll let your captain go”

“We’ll do it” answered your partner before you could, almost as if she was reading your mind.

“Until next time, ladies” and just like that he banished back into the shadows. You just sealed a deal with the devil alongside a pirate, something not even in your wildest dreams you thought you could accomplish.

A bunch of heavy foot steps broke you out of your thoughts as the voices of the crew went silent with fear, Jones had just carried out the first part of his deal

“That was fast!” spoke Angelica, “there’s your crew” you exhaled, still trying to process what just happened. The two of you climbed the stairs to meet with the new staff.

Angelica stared as you walked at her side “what’s that?” she pointed at your hand “oh! it’s Armando’s jacket, they found it and gave it to me”

“Why don’t you wear it?”

“I shouldn’t, i’m not a soldier”

“Use it as a symbol then” she took it and helped you put it on, the jacket was way longer than what you needed, it suited you more like a coat.

“There! Now you look like a captain”.

#captain salazar #captain salazar x reader #captain salazar imagine #armando salazar #armando salazar x reader #Javier Bardem #pirates of the caribbean #pirates of the caribbean fanfic #pirates of the caribbean imagine #pirates of the caribbean x reader #dead men tell no tales #salazar's revenge #PotC #potc5 #angelica teach #davy jones

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veronica-rich · 7 years

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POTC5 thoughts, spoilers

GIANT MASSIVE MOVIE-RUINING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.

I've only seen the movie once, but I wanted to put a night of sleep between me and it before I tried to convey my thoughts on it. I see my job as a fan here to tell you generally what happens and my thoughts on it, as well as whether you should spend your time going to see it. All only opinions of course. (I'll refer to the movies in numerals - 1 for the first, 5 for this, and then of course the in-betweens. Mainly because I don't want to try to remember the abbreviations OST and DMTNT. See how annoying? LOL)

Here we go ...

Except for where the regulars have ended up and the state of the Black Pearl in movie 5, you really don't need to have seen 4 to understand this one. You don't strictly HAVE to have seen the first three movies, either - this movie can stand on its own as an entertaining single viewing. If you've never seen a POTC movie and you come in with this one, you will probably laugh at most of the jokes (if you have that kind of sense of humor) and like some of the characters.

Since I doubt anyone who hasn't seen at least the first movie is going to read through this, I'll assume you all are familiar with the original characters from 1-3 as I go forth.

THE SPOILERS The movie opens with young Henry Turner tying rocks to his foot to drown himself in the bay just off the land where he lives; he's anywhere from 11-14 years old. His father is Death's Ferryman of the ocean, you see, so the fastest way to raise Will Turner is to get himself killed or nearly killed. He lands on the deck of the Dutchman, it surfaces, and Will emerges to talk with his son. Henry tells him he may have found a way to break the curse that ties Will to the ship, but he needs to find Jack Sparrow to help. Will commands him to not go anywhere near Jack and to go back home and leave him to his fate. Will is barnacled in Davy Jones-lite fashion; just enough to see the sea is winning against his resolve not to succumb to the hopelessness of the job. Unlike Davy Jones, he is not bitter or angry, but resigned and almost tired. We also get a hint that he is not exactly in command of his crew anymore, by how quickly he ushers Henry away and sinks the Dutchman to put distance between them and the boy. (This may also explain why you don't see Will again until the end of the movie, despite all the water-based shenanigans and near-death experiences throughout ... like he's not really in charge of the Dutchman anymore.)

Nine years later, Henry, now anywhere from 20-23 ish, is a low-ranking sailor on a Navy ship. We find out he's searching for Jack and the Pearl. He sees the ship is headed for the cursed Devil's Triangle and tries to warn the captain, telling the man he's read all the lore of the sea and this place is Bad News. The captain not only scolds and mocks him, but strips him of his lowly rank as a traitor and jails him. Of course the ship goes in; of course the cursed Captain Salazar and his undead crew overrun the ship and kill everyone on board - save Henry, whom Salazar tells to relay a message to Jack when he finds him. (We'll find out later Salazar used to be a pirate-hunter and perished in a fire in the Devil's Triangle while chasing newly-captained Jack Sparrow, while Jack escaped. So, he's hunting Jack. Trouble is, he can't leave the Triangle unless something happens - which it will, later.)

Through a series of events, Henry ends up at the same Caribbean English outpost as Jack and a young woman roughly Henry's age, Caryna Smith (Smyth?). Caryna keeps landing in Navy custody and escaping it - she's a scientist, and female in the 18th century, which is enough to get her convicted as a witch. Caryna is an orphan who is amazingly well-educated for having no resources other than a mysterious diary left to her by her father, a man of science who was searching for the Trident of Poseiden - which can break any curse laid at sea. The island shenanigans are pretty entertaining; suffice to say they all end up stealing the same ship with Gibbs, Marty, and the rest of Jack's paltry, pissed-off (at Jack) crew. Also, Jack trades his magic compass away for a bottle of rum (more on this later) and, in willingly giving it up, breaks Salazar's imprisonment miles away, allowing him to sail out on the open waters in his ship-eating ship (you read that right).

More shenanigans happen, McGuffins are pursued (chiefly the Trident, which everybody wants for different reasons), innuendos are made, young romance is set up (of course), we run into Barbossa and his crew, which includes Murtogg and Mullroy (but no Pintel and Ragetti!), Salazar's in the mix, and we find out his crew can't set foot on land any more than the Dutchman's crew or captain (they vanish in a puff of black smoke if they get out of the water). Shenanigans, shenanigans, it turns out Caryna is totally NOT the daughter of Jack Sparrow as most of us suspected (mainly because making Jack and Will co-parents-in-law would have been too delicious) - but the reality is possibly more entertaining, since it turns out Barbossa is her father.

(I really did want the after-credits scene to be Will and Elizabeth finding out their daughter-in-law-probably-to-be is a Barbossa, then the camera pans back to a general shot of the island, a la "Home Alone 2" while in the far distance you can still hear the two of them screaming "NOOOOOOOOOO!" with birds flying off in every direction.)

So - they find the Trident, break the curse on Salazar's ship (and we'll find out later, on Will Turner, too, elsewhere in the ocean) turning them all back human, and the good guys manage to escape back to the Pearl while Salazar falls to his death. Well ... not actually. Caryna briefly finds out that Barbossa is her father, after which he sacrifices himself to drown with Salazar to ensure her ability to escape his clutches unharmed. Once they're all safe, Caryna decides to change her last name to Barbossa from Smith. Cut to the cliffs outside Henry's childhood home, where he and Caryna are engaging in their form of verbal foreplay and smooching, when the Dutchman shows up in the distance, uncursed and gleaming brown and beige sails. Will climbs the hill to hug his son, confused as to how he's come to be uncursed and human again ... but just as Henry's going to take old man to the pub for a grog and a tale, Elizabeth appears in the distance hiking her skirts. She and Will run to each other and embrace, then kiss, while Henry and Caryna look on from a distance ... and from an even further distance on the Pearl, Jack watches through his spyglass, revolted by the whole picture of domesticity porn. And then he and his crew sail off.

The after-credits scene is Will and Elizabeth sleeping in their seaside bedroom - they are both dressed in clean white linen sleep-gowns, and they've had baths, and all I could think was This is the cleanest I've ever seen these two. Something menacing is coming up the steps and creaking open their door and looming toward the bed, and we catch a glimpse of some barnacled sea creature reaching for them when Will jerks awake from his bad dream. He looks around, turns over, hugs Elizabeth, and goes back to sleep ... and the camera pans down to the floor to close on a puddle of water and corals snapped off in it.

WHAT I WAS 'MEH' ABOUT OR DISLIKED: For me, it's easier to start with what I don't care for about a movie, if I'm ambivalent. And I sure was about 5.

Plot holes - SO many. I won't list them all, but there is not adequate explanation for many things. Of course, 1-3 also had fantastical elements, but they were explained and largely made sense in-universe. People do things that don't always make sense; magical objects aren't always explained. There's a lot of suspending of disbelief you have to do for this one.

Characterization - The nuance of the first three movies is lacking in a lot of characters here. Everyone who's Navy is efficient, duty-driven, and arrogant or head-down-following-orders. There's no Norrington-type in this movie (BTW, Norrington is not mentioned - which I think will actually make a lot of his fans happy, especially after movies 2 and 3). Nobody in authority seems to be a benevolent person - they're not all Trump, but neither are there any Bernies. The pirates are kind of dumb, more than they need to be. Which brings us to ...

Jack Sparrow - Oh, man. I gotta limit myself on this one. I don't know if Depp had much input into Jack's characterization in this one, but if he did, it honestly looks like his IRL troubles were leaking in to the point of almost drowning the character. In movies 1-3 Jack is a buffoon only insofar as it serves his purpose to make people think he's not as smart as he really is, so he can sneak under the radar with his cleverness and charm a lot of people he needs to do things for him. Conversely, if you only saw this movie and not the earlier ones, you would think Jack is a fall-down dissolute drunk and whoremonger who isn't very bright and whose fortunes come almost entirely on luck and other people's allowances for him. There are only a handful of flashes of the old brilliance and character, and I really miss That Guy. Whereas young Will Turner was trying to second-guess what Jack was really up to in 1, young Henry Turner seems most of the time like he's Jack's guardian trying to keep him propped upright and marching forward like you would that uncle you always heard used to be ripping brilliant but now is "ehhhh."

The lack of callbacks - I wanted more callbacks in this movie. I wanted Henry to talk more about his mom and dad and stories he'd grown up hearing, and what his mom was doing, and some line from Barbossa or Gibbs about something they remembered of his parents, bad or good. There are a couple of little moments, but it's not enough. Which brings me to ...

The retconning - I won't wade too deep into this, except to say it's very clear these are different screenwriters than worked on the first three movies. I won't say Jack's entire backstory is retconned, but you have to be a somewhat skillful fanfic writer to take what they give us and work it in with what we've learned in movies 2 and 3, particularly. Also, I'm not wild about what they did to Will Turner's personality as captain of the Dutchman, but we can discuss that later - at least it *might* have a basis in logical explanation.

Green-screening - I shouldn't say this was "bad" so much as there were moments it was too obvious some actor was hanging from something or standing on something to look like they were hanging on something, and the camera was too close and it just looked a little fake-y. Still, I understand FX isn't an easy thing (and where were a lot of FX shots that were really good in this one, so maybe this isn't a "MEH" so much as "A FEW SHOTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED BETTER").

Too little Will and Elizabeth - There should have been more of both in the movie. If you're going to pay your actors as much as they likely got (as much as I HOPE they were paid to be in it), use them. I'm just saying. I wanted some more of them.

THINGS I LIKED: Henry and Caryna - As separate characters, that is. I have nothing against their romance; they're cute, and their style of banter is something I could see them keeping up into old age. But I prefer a character to stand on their own, and they're all right. The actor who plays Henry is not quite the treasure young Tom "Spider-Man" Holland is turning out to be, but he's got talent and he does a pretty good job of getting across an amalgamation of the personalities of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. My favorite thing about Henry is that he seems to be only an OK swordsman; he's not his father - but what he lacks there he makes up for in what seems to be a preternatural affinity for hand-to-hand combat. He hits, he kicks, he kneels to trip people over him, he even grabs a couple and bodyslams them like The Undertaker. (I am sincerely hoping Elizabeth taught him these moves.) And Caryna - she's not like Elizabeth. She doesn't fight or confront the same way, but she's direct and unafraid, and good at getting herself out of jail and other tight spots. Plus, she's book-smart and scientifically literate. I swear to Christ if their kid inherit both their traits, they're going to be either Sherlock Holmes or Lara Croft.

Will Turner - Shut up. Of course I like him. I'm not entirely wild what the writers did with him or the fact he's in this so little, but I enjoy the fact he's middle-aged and looks like it with facial lines and sadness in his eyes at the right time (and some humor), and it was nice to see him and Elizabeth happy again. Of course, I can still pair him just as easily with Jack in fanfic, which brings us to ...

Jack/Will potential - Yes, it's still there. If you're an industrious fanfic writer or reader, you can make it happen. They're both older and a little more defeated, and Will definitely wouldn't be putting up with any of Jack's bullshit at this point, but you can slash them. What I really liked is how Jack didn't really show any favoritism or fondness for Henry 94 percent of the time, but there were 3-4 instances he did something to save the kid, because why not. He does ask after Elizabeth at one point and if she said his name in her sleep (LOL), and Henry is "no ... no." (I saw someone online comment that this is patently untrue, since how else would Henry know about Jack in the first place, and that the more likely explanation is that Elizabeth probably shit-talked Jack through most of the kid's childhood, sprinkled with some fond allowances for the fact Jack wasn't always a selfish prick or one or both of Henry's parents would be dead, okay?) Granted, I think most of the slash at this point in their lives would be less about Jack and Will having sex everywhere and more about Will overlooking the fact Jack cheats at cards and drawing a sword on anyone who tries to shoot him for it at the pub. But, you know. You can have the nookie too. (And yeah, there's OT3 fic to be had too, probably in Elizabeth being the one every so often who pulls the gun on Jack and Will lets her. Or she bodyslams Jack.)

ANYWAY ... I won't say it's a bad movie and I won't say it's a really good movie. It's entertaining. Had this been the first POTC movie, I don't believe there would be any sequels. There are things I could've done better if they'd hired me to write it, easily; there are things a lot of us in the old fandom could've done better if they'd only hired US instead. But it has enough holes in it that if you like the fanfic thing, you can spend lots of time patching up missing scenes and what-not.

#potc spoilers #potc5

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