#annie hardy saves | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crazy-little-cool-cat · 4 years

Text

Hand in Glove - Chapter 30 | Ben Hardy x OFC

A/N: Wow, y’all! We did it! We’re at the last Hand in Glove chapter! What a ride it’s been, am I right? Enjoy this one. I tried to tie off most of the loose ends, buuuuuuut you know how I am. Expect the unexpected. There might be a sequel after Gold Digger’s done.

Warnings: fluff that’ll rot your teeth and the usual stuff.

Word count: who gives a duck?!

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14 , Chapter 15 , Chapter 16 , Chapter 17 , Chapter 18 , Chapter 19 , Chapter 20 , Chapter 21 , Chapter 22 , Chapter 23 , Chapter 24, Chapter 25 , Chapter 26, Chapter 27 , Chapter 28 , Chapter 29

Annie drove home on auto-pilot. Her mind felt like it’s sinking in quicksand. She's pregnant, again. She didn't plan to be pregnant, again. She needed to figure out how to tell Ben about it, again. This time was different, though. It wasn’t quite as scary as the last one. It wasn’t quite as upsetting. Deep down, it was actually exciting.

When she got home, she walked about in a daze, going from room to room. Trying to locate her partner in crime and his superhuman sperm cells. Passing by the glass doors to the back garden, she found him tossing a ball for Frankie to fetch and having a smoke.

She opened the glass doors and caught his attention. He beamed at her, looking over his shoulder.

"I'm pregnant."

"That's nice," Ben said, almost robotically, tossing the ball and watching Frankie chase after it. "Wait, what?"

"I'm pregnant," Annie repeated, "my eggo is preggo, Ben."

"As in, pregnant? Pregnant?" Ben stared at her. The cigarette fell from between his fingers. “Is it mine?”

"Of course it's yours, you wanker!"

"But you -" Ben started and stopped. " - and the -"

"Yeah, it turns out I'm one of the 0.8% it doesn't work for."

"Is it... it is still up there?"

"No. Dr. McCarthy took it out."

"How far along -"

"8 weeks."

"You're not pulling my leg?" Ben felt dizzy. Weak. "You're not taking a sick piss?"

"I'm pregnant, Ben." Annie started to smile and took his hand. She placed it right under her bellybutton. "Your almighty, ultra-strong, wicked swimmers are unstoppable."

###

"You're wearing jewelry now?" Joe snickered and pointed at Ben's hand. "Did Hollywood affect you that much?"

Ben looked down at his hand and smiled. With Annie at work and Rory at daycare, he told the boys to come over to his house. It was time for him to break the news, now that they were back, well-slept and no longer jet-lagged.

"Oh, this ring has nothing to do with Hollywood," Ben smirked, "could one of you text Rami and see where he is? Anyone fancy a beer?"

Gwilym and Joe exchanged confused looks at Ben's fussiness and nodded. Ben was visibly nervous or excited about something and they could tell. Right from the moment he greeted them at the door.

"Help yourselves, gentlemen," Ben placed two six-packs on the living room coffee table and opened his own beer bottle. He bounced his knee as the three waited for Rami to join them. They busied themselves with idle chit-chat. They tried holding press-tour stories off for when all four will be present. When the doorbell finally rang, Ben sprung to his feet and almost ran for the door.

"Right, so of course I want to hear all about the press tour," Ben started as Rami sat down with his own beer bottle. "I have to break some serious news first."

"Oh... kay..." Rami glanced sideways at Joe as he took a sip from his beer.

"Annie and I got married."

The silence was deafening. You could hear a pin drop. Rami, Gwilym, and Joe stared at Ben, frowning and blinking.

"Did you lace this beer with something?" Gwilym finally asked.

"Nope." Ben tried to keep a serious expression on his face as he raised his hand and wiggled his fingers. He pointed at his ring finger with the other hand. "See? Wedding ring."

"When you say 'Annie and I got married'," Gwil scratched at his bearded chin, "what do you mean, exactly?"

"We're legally married." Ben rephrased his previous statement. "Went through the whole process, jumped through all the hoops. Brian, Roger and Jamie were our witnesses."

"When?" Gwil cocked his head.

"Three weeks ago."

"Was it on a whim?" Joe looked hurt. "Did you just decide to elope, just like that?"

"No. We planned it, very carefully."

"And you told no one because...?" Rami's beer-holding hand hovered halfway to his mouth.

"Annie insisted on it."

"Huh." Gwilym leaned back and rubbed his thighs. "That's..."

"A lot." Rami mused.

"We're also pregnant again." Ben blurted out and busied his mouth with his beer bottle again.

"He totally laced this with something," Joe announced and leaned forward. Anger etched on his features. "What the actual fuck did you just say?!"

"Calm down, Joe." Gwilym said and put a hand on Joe's shoulder.

"We're pregnant. Well, Annie is."

"What do you mean, she's pregnant?" Rami laughed nervously.

"Well, Rami," Ben smirked, "when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much -"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Joe's hands flailed.

###

"And cut! We got it!!!"

Annie slumped her shoulders and stopped weeping, relieved that she didn’t have to run through the whole scene again.

Anne, her character, apprehended and jailed in the Tower of London, listened to the accusations against her. Upon hearing the long list of men who testified against her - one of which was her own brother - she broke down. The scene drained Annie and took 12 takes to get right. She felt dehydrated, puffy and very, very tired.

"You're pregnant?"

The entire set fell silent, all looking from Clara to Annie in utter shock. A lighting fixture creaked as it swung back and forth. An intern dropped a script to the floor. The thud reverberated around the large space.

Annie stared at her best friend, gobsmacked.

"Annie, you're pregnant and you didn't tell me?" Clara stomped over to her, eyes shooting daggers. Her costume rustling as she skipped over carefully camouflaged cords. "The secret wedding - fine, it's whatever. But this?!"

"Clara, this isn't the time nor the place to -" Annie stammered out, feeling her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Fuck that!" Clara snapped. "Annie, what the hell?"

###

"So there will be an actual wedding?" Gwilym verified for the fifth time.

"Yes!" Ben groaned. "God!"

"And baby number two is due in...?"

"30 weeks."

"Wow." Rami fiddled with the label on his beer bottle. "Wow."

"Yeah." Joe huffed. "Big wow."

Ben's cheeks flushed crimson red. He felt like his parents were cross with him for being naughty. He didn't know if this was just shock or actual outrage at that point. He raked his fingers through his blond mop of hair, feeling quite ashamed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner." Ben almost mumbled. "It's been really hard to keep everything secret. I almost spilled the beans three times. I wanted you guys to be in on it but -"

"But the Supreme Leader had other plans." Joe shook his head. "I get it. I'm fucking pissed, man, but I get it."

"We are happy for you, you know." Rami pursed his lips. "Just... overwhelmed with all the news."

"How did your parents take it?" Gwilym wondered.

"We told them the next day." Ben recounted. "They were confused at first, not sure if we're kidding or not. Then, they were angry with me for hiding it and doing it like... that. The pregnancy reconciled them. They're over the moon."

###

"10 weeks?" Clara barked, pacing back and forth in Annie's trailer. "Ten whole bloody weeks?!"

"Yep." Annie pursed her lips and nodded sheepishly. "Ten whole weeks."

"Annie, why?" Clara stopped, planting her hands on her hips. "Why aren't you telling me anything anymore? And let me guess-” Clara’s upper lip curled in a menacing snarl, “ -Jamie knew all along!"

"Actually he didn't," Annie interjected. "You kind of announced it to the world with your little outburst on the set."

"Why would you keep secrets from me?" Clara's voice sounded almost whiney. "We're best friends since... forever!"

"Because these are the things I needed to not jinx, okay?" Annie explained, subconsciously resting a hand on her belly. "I know it's just superstition but ill-wishers are -"

"God, Annie!" Clara groaned. "Fuck the ill-wishers! Fuck you as well!

Pounding on Annie's trailer door interrupted the two. Clara marched over and opened it, quickly pushed aside by Mike and Jamie.

"You've got some explaining to do." Mike pointed at her.

###

Anne Boleyn prepared herself for this - her execution - multiple times. The Hangman of Calais's arrival was pushed back due to weather and travel conditions. She joked with her ladies in waiting, earlier on in the day, talking about her little neck. Keeping up appearances. The show must go on!

She stepped onto the scaffold on the morning of May 19th, 1536. Escorted by Sir William Kingston, her jailer, Anne left the Tower's royal palace for the last time. The same place she slept in right before her coronation. Her crimson outfit trimmed with ermine, she made sure everyone present knew her status. Her reason for dying. She clasped her hands and took a step forward.

“Good Christian people,” Anne started shakily, “I have not come here to preach a sermon. I have come here to die." Anne took a shaky breath and squared her shoulders. "For, according to the law and by the law, I am judged to die," her voice carried as the crowd listened silently."And, therefore, I will speak nothing against it."

The crowd was mute as they solemnly listened to their Queen speaking her final words.

"I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die," Anne looked at the peoples' faces. "But I pray: God save the King and send him long to reign over you!"

A small smile tugging at Anne’s lips as she watched the memories play out in her mind’s eye. "For a gentler, nor a more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign lord." Pausing, she looked up at the sky, for one last time. "And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best." A tear rolled down her cheek, quickly brushed away. "And thus, I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.”

Anne kneeled at the scaffold. Distracting her and making her look away from him and his sword, the executioner beheaded the queen with one stroke.

"And cut! That's a wrap!"

Annie heaved a sigh of relief and felt her hands shaking as she clutched at her little baby bump, almost showing. Her last scene is over. Greensleeves is finally finished.

Ben clapped furiously, hooting and hollering for his wife as she got up off the wooden scaffold. Her speech - Anne’s speech - although he had heard it more than a hundred times at that point had still managed to wring his heart and guts. It never ceased to amaze him how Annie and Anne sort of merged together. One mixing in with the other. Annie’s vows echoed in his ears. ‘I will kill for you and die for you.’

‘Oi, Jones!” Annie snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Earth to Jonesy!”

“You were amazing up there.” Ben smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “Breathtaking.”

“Let’s go celebrate!” Annie beamed up at him. “There’s cake!”

“Shall we, then,” Ben bend his arm and waited for Annie to hook hers with his, “my lady Greensleeves?”

###

Other than the odd work-related trip and appearance, Ben and Annie were honeymooning at home. They watched Annie’s baby bump, Pookie, grow. They watched Rory learn how to walk, talk. Turn into a tiny little human.

Annie laid back on the sofa, her head in Ben’s lap. His fingers idly twirled locks of her hair as they watched whatever was on the telly. Grateful to have the house for themselves. Learning every curve and edge of each other’s body after dropping Rory off at daycare. Nesting and preparing a bedroom for Rory and remodelling the nursery for the new baby.

“D’you think it’s a boy this time?” Annie wondered and looked up at her husband.

“Dunno.” He shrugged. “Do you want it to be?”

“I think so, yeah.” Annie looked down at her little bump. “Pookie, give us a hint.”

“Maybe there’s two -”

“Ben Jones, I will kill you.”

“I’m joking!” He laughed and tugged on her hair gently. “However many there are in there, I’ll love them.”

“What about names?” Annie started to sit up so she could turn around and face Ben. “Thought of any?”

“Well, Henry for a boy.” Ben shrugged.

“Really?” Annie snorted. “Henry?”

“Yes.” Ben nodded proudly. “Name fit for a king!”

“Right.”

“Why, do you have better ideas?” Ben scoffed.

“Richard.” Annie suggested. “Also a king.”

“Meh.”

“John.”

“John?” Ben looked at her as if she went mad. “John Jones?”

“Yes. Our little Jay Jay.” Annie cooed jokingly and nuzzled Ben’s nose with hers.

“Alexander.” Ben offered and rolled his eyes when Annie frowned. “What?!”

“We already have two A’s, Ben!” Annie pouted. “Annie. Aurora.”

“William.” Ben shrugged.

“Sounds to much like Gwilym.” Annie retorted. “What!”

“How?”

“Just - ugh! Not William.”

“Fine. Christopher?”

“Sounds like a Winnie the Pooh character. Christopher Jones.” Annie grimaced. “Peter?”

“No. Not Roger, either. Or Warren!”

“Mark?” Annie suggested.

“Might as well name it Galileo.” Ben scoffed. “Man, this better be a baby girl.”

###

Annie brushed her teeth before bed, happy to know that the baby’s heart is beating and there is only one of those beating hearts in her womb. She just finished rinsing when Ben entered the bathroom. He stood behind her as she bent over for the sink and held onto her hips.

“Seriously?” Annie looked up at him through the mirror, water dripping down her chin.

Ben bit his bottom lip and nodded slowly, cocking his head to the side as he examined her bum. Annie watched his reflection curiously. He gave her bum a light squeeze and rubbed it as if it were a crystal ball. Annie stood up straight and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I don’t know what it is, exactly,” Ben murmured and wrapped his arms around her waist, “but there is something about you that I just... “

“Oh?”

“Mhm.” Ben purred and leaned forward.

###

“Is he out?” Annie sobbed. “Is he okay? Is everything out?”

Whoever said that giving birth to the second baby is easy clearly lied. It all went down so fast. She didn’t have time for an epidural. She didn’t have time to even digest what was going on. One minute her water breaks, then wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, a human baby is introduced to the world.

“He’s out!” Ben beamed at his wife. “He’s out. Everything’s out. You did so well.”

“Ben, he tore me to pieces!” Annie violently wiped her tears away. “I’m hurting. I’m tired. I’m pissed the hell off. Stop smiling like that!”

“Annie, he’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” Ben ignored his wife’s rant and brushed stray locks of hair away from her forehead. “And you are my hero, Annabelle Lee-Jones. You are an absolute rockstar.”

Annie sobbed incoherently in response.

“There he is, mummy!” the nurse said as she brought over the bundle of wailing joy. “Your beautiful baby boy!”

Annie took the bundle in her arms and looked down, tears still pouring down. Ben chuckled and wiped her tears away from the baby’s cheeks.

“What’s your name?” Annie whispered at the baby. “Galileo?”

“Annabelle…” Ben had an impatient edge to his voice.

“Well, what are we naming him, then?” She asked, stroking the baby’s little head gently.

“Oliver?” Ben suggested. Annie mulled it over in her head. “Alfred.”

“Alfred?” Annie looked up at her husband.

“Yes. Alfred.”

“Where did that come from?”

“A great English king.” Ben raised one finger in the air. “Classic name.” Another finger. “He’s clearly an Alfie -”

“Alfie.” Annie repeated, a smile lighting up her face. “Our baby Alfie.”

###

Ben and Annie stepped onto the dance floor, holding hands. Their guests clapped, hooted and hollered - all cheering for them as they made their “official” debut as a married couple. The music started blaring through the speakers as Annie and Ben took their place in the middle of the floor and wrapped their arms around one another.

Me and Mrs. Jones; We got a thing goin'on...

They gazed into each other’s eyes, oblivious to the world around them. Joe held Rory in his lap, pointing at her parents and talking animatedly to keep her awake and happy. Gwilym cradled baby Alfie as he slept, gobsmacked by the baby’s ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

We both know that it's wrong; But it's much too strong To let it go now…

Annie chose to wear the same dress she did on her original wedding day, flower crown in her hair. Ben opted for the tux he wore at the Oscars. He pulled her closer and dipped her back. Annie threw her head back and laughed heartily, gracefully kicking one leg up in the air. He picked her up and kissed her as they swayed to the music.

We meet every day at the same cafe Six-thirty and no one knows she'll be there; Holding hands, making all kinds of plans While the jukebox plays our favorite songs…

Annie looked over to the side and saw Rory and Joe having a very heated discussion. She beckoned them over with her hands, smiling brightly. Joe asked Rory a question, making her eyes light up. They stood up and he put her down on the floor. She held onto one of his fingers as they walked on the dancefloor. He bowed deeply and made Rory burst in a fit of giggles before he picked her up again and swayed alongside her parents as he sang along to the song.

Me and Mrs. Jones We got a thing goin'on; We both know that it's wrong; But it's much too strong To let it go now...

Ben smiled at the rest of the guests and nodded his head, signaling it was okay to join them in their dance. Couples started flooding the dancefloor within minutes, all swaying and rocking to the smooth R’n’B song Annie and Ben chose for their first dance.

We gotta be extra careful That we don't build our hopes up too high; Because she's got her own obligations And so, and so, do I...

When they discussed their first dance song options, they got into such a fight that they almost called the whole thing off. Annie wanted Best of My Love, Ben wanted Love of My Life. It was actually Rami who suggested the most appropriate song for them -

Me and Mrs. Jones We got a thing goin'on We both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong To let it go now…

His logic behind it was flawless. The song practically described Annie and Ben’s journey through the relationship. How they tried to hide it at first, insisting there’s nothing serious happening. How they came to terms with their relationship status and were so very careful at first. How Rory had happened when caution was thrown to the wind.

Well, it's time for us to be leaving It hurts so much, it hurts so much inside Now she'll go her way and I'll go mine Tomorrow we'll meet The same place, the same time...

How heart wrenching their time apart from one another was. How hopeful they were. Counting down the days until Ben comes back to visit. How, even at their busiest, they always made time for themselves.

Me and Mrs. Jones We got a thing goin'on We both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong To let it go now...

###

“Mummy!” Rory ran over to the sofa with her favorite stuffed animal, followed by a yapping Frankie. “Mummy, Frankie did bad!”

Hand in glove The sun shines out of our behinds; No, it's not like any other love This one is different, because it's us...

Annie groaned internally and closed her eyes. Alfie was attached to her breast while she fed him, the house was a total chaotic mess, Ben was away at some Cognac launch and all she wanted to do was just scream and run away. She played her favorite album to keep herself happy and sane. There was something about The Smiths that made her feel… normal.

Hand in glove We can go wherever we please; And everything depends upon How near you stand to me...

“Rors, baby, Alfie’s -”

“Frankie did baaaad!” Rory’s voice rose in volume and octave.

“What did she bloody do?!” Annie asked, her patience all but lost.

“Took my Pupper!”

“You’re holding your Pupper and he looks fine.” Annie raised an eyebrow.

“Frankie bad!”

And if the people stare Then the people stare; Oh, I really don't know and I really don't care; Kiss my shades...

“No, Frankie good.” Annie patted the empty cushion next to her, inviting Rory in for a cuddle. “Rory, are you jealous of Alfie and mummy?”

“No.” Rory skulked.

“Rors…”

“Mummy…”

Hand in glove The good people laugh; Yes, we may be hidden by rags But we've something they'll never have...

“Tell you what.” Annie whispered. “When daddy gets home, we’ll have a whole day, just for ourselves. No boys allowed.”

“No boys?”

“None.”

Hand in glove The sun shines out of our behinds; Yes, we may be hidden by rags But we've something they'll never have...

The front door opened, making Rory stand up on the sofa expectantly.

“Uncle Joey?” Rory looked at Annie with sparkling eyes. “Uncle Gwilly?”

“Annie?” Ben’s voice boomed from the hall.

And if the people stare Then the people stare; Oh, I really don't know and I really don't care; Kiss my shades...

“Daddy!” Rory shrieked and scrambled off the sofa, doing a bee line for the hallway. “Daddy! Daddy!”

“There’s my girl!” Ben crouched down and let Rory crash into him. He picked her up and tossed her in the air, eliciting overjoyed squeals and shrieks. Her soft blonde curls bounced as she flew up in the hair and landed safely back in his arms. “Where’s Mum?”

So, hand in glove I stake my claim I'll fight to the last breath; If they dare touch a hair on your head I'll fight to the last breath; For the good life is out there somewhere, So stay on my arm, you little charmer...

“In here!” Annie called and winced when Alfie dug his nails into her boob. “Alfie’s eating!”

Ben stood at the doorway to the living room and blinked, gobsmacked. It looked like a tornado had run through, destroying and overturning everything in its’ path.

“Are you okay, Annie?” He asked.

“What? Yes, I’m fine.” Annie frowned. “Why?”

“Because it seems like we had a burglary going on while I was off.” Ben smirked.

“Oh, shove it!” Annie stuck her tongue out at him. “You try taking care of these two little ducks and see how far it gets you with housekeeping.”

“I know.” Ben put Rory down and sauntered over to the sofa, plopping down next to his wife. “I ducking love you. I don’t care about the mess.”

“Mess?” Rory chimed in. “I clean!”

“Oh, now you’ll clean?” Annie scoffed.

“I clean for daddy.” Rory huffed and went about tidying up and putting all her toys away.

“Don’t you never, ever leave me home alone again.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

But I know my luck too well; Yes, I know my luck too well; And I'll probably never see you again; I'll probably never see you again...

##########

TAGLIST: @ramibaby @xgoingdownx @qweenly @violetpond @sweeterthancheese @drummerqueenrmt @westansstuff @justgivemethekeys @blondecarfucker @cheeseedreams47 @deacy-dearest @pinkmarvel @onceuponadetectivedemigod

40 notes · View notes

idreamofhazeleyes · 4 years

Text

Ties in Blood -- Chapter 34

Notes: Yeah, I’m taking longer than usual in getting the chapters/drabbles up.

@mrswhozeewhatsis @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @squirrelnotsam @impala-dreamer @optimisticpeacecollector5 @bamby0304 @kittenofdoomage @idreamofplaid

Chapter 34

“There’s no way there’s angels,” Aaliyah argued.

“Then what else could it be?” Sam countered.

Aaliyah had been pacing Bobby’s living room where he sat at his desk, Sam sat in a chair with Dean standing not far from.

“All I know is that I wasn’t groped by an angel,” Dean tossed into the conversation.

“Okay, Dean. But what would this Castiel have to lie to you about it?” Sam asked.

“Maybe he’s some kind of demon. They lie.”

“A demon that’s immune to salt rounds, devil’s traps, and Ruby’s knife,” Aaliyah said, her pacing coming to a stop. “Lilith’s afraid of that thing.”

“Don’t you think at one point a hunter … you know … woulda seen one?” Dean asked them both.

“You did,” Aaliyah pointed out.

“I’m trying to figure out a theory here; work with me,” Dean pled. “One with less fairy dust.”

“Okay, look.” Sam leaned forward in the chair. “I’m not saying we know for sure. I’m just saying that we …”

“That’s the point, we don’t know for sure. So I’m not gonna believe that this … thing’s an angel of the Lord just because it says it is.”

“You three chuckleheads gonna argue religion, or come look at this?” Bobby called over to them.

Aaliyah looked over at the older hunter and walked over to look at what was laid out.

“I got stacks of lore,” he started. “Biblical, pre-Biblical. Hell, some of it’s in cuneiform. It all says that an angel can snatch a soul from the Pit.”

“What else?” Dean prodded. “What else can it do?”

“Air lift your ass outta hell? Nothing.”

“This is good news,” Sam said.

“How’s this good news?” Aaliyah asked.

“For once this isn’t demon crap. He was saved by the good guys.”

“Say it is true,” Dean jumped in. “Then what? There’s a God?”

“At this point, Vegas’ money’s on yeah,” Bobby said.

“I don’t know, guys.” Dean took a few steps away from the desk.

“I know you’re not all choir boy about this,” Sam said. “But it’s becoming less about belief and more about proof.”

“Proof?” Aaliyah questioned; her eyes narrowed. “What proof?” She heard Dean join them back at the desk.

“That there’s a God out there …”

“And he gives a crap about me personally?” Dean cut Sam off. “I’m not buying it.”

Aaliyah nodded. Why would God, or any deity, give a crap about someone who was in Hell? Or a misfit family of hunters?

“Why not?” Sam asked.

“Because why me? If there is a God, why would he give a crap about me?” Dean asked. “I mean, I’ve saved some people, okay. I figured that makes up for the stealing and ditching chicks. But why do I get to be saved? I’m just a regular guy.”

“Apparently you’re a regular guy that’s important to the man upstairs,” Sam argued.

“That creeps me out,” Dean said. “I don’t like being singled out at birthday parties, much less … God.”

“What do we know about angels?” Aaliyah cut in. She watched Bobby lift up a pile of books and dropped them on the desk.

“Start reading,” the older hunter instructed.

Aaliyah took a book from the pile while Dean told Sam he was getting pie. She flomped down onto the couch and got comfortable. After a while, her attention drifted away from the book. Her head started nodding as sleep crept up on her. The sound of her phone ringing caught her from answering sleep’s call.

“Mm’lo,” she muttered.

“Is this Aaliyah Fisher?” the caller asked.

“Depends on why you’re calling?” Aaliyah adjusted herself on the couch into a sitting position.

“I’m calling on the behalf of one Casey Fisher. My name’s Georgetta Hayes, Mr. Fisher’s lawyer. I need to get ahold of any one of Mr. Fisher’s children.”

“What about?” Aaliyah dug.

“It is something I feel better discussed in person with my retainer’s children,” Georgetta told her. “Can you pass on the message to them?”

“Only if you can provide an address for them?” Aaliyah countered, searching for a scrap piece of paper and pen. She jotted the address down as the lawyer provided it. “Thank you.” She ended the call as she pushed herself off the couch.

“Guys, something’s come up,” she called out, gathering her things.

“And you’re taking off?” Dean asked. “What’s so important…”

“Family issues, apparently. I know finding out what brought you out of hell, but maybe dealing with this…” Aaliyah held up the address. “Will finally stop my father coming out of the past.”

“Your fault for digging him up in the first place,” Dean told her.

“Yeah, I know.” Aaliyah made sure she had her things packed and headed for the door, stopping long enough to give Dean a kiss on his head. “I’ll keep in touch. Promise. Call me if anything major happens.”

She stepped out the back door and down the steps to her cycle. With her things secured in the saddle bags, Aaliyah mounted the cycle and started it up. Her stomach knotted a little from guilt in leaving the three hunters, but the lawyer refused to discuss matters over the phone. No matter, she would just call Leo and Nissa when she stopped on the way back to her hometown.

***

Aaliyah dumped her bag on the motel bed and fumbled through it for clean clothes. Having pushed through the night, the only things she was looking forward to was a hot shower and a quick nap. Her cell started ringing as she started up the shower.

“I hope you’re not planning on yelling,” she spoke. “After all your family drama I was dragged through…”

“It’s your family drama too,” Leo cut in. “Just so you know. Where are you?”

“In town, just got a room. Why?”

“Feel like lunch with me and Nissa? Think Xander’s looking forward to seeing you.”

Aaliyah stopped in middle of stripping off her shirt at the mention of her brother’s name. Guilt crept in before she shoved it off to a side. “The rehab place let him out?”

“After our work with the Djinn, they were a bit … eager to get him out,” Leo said. “You’d know that if you kept in touch more often.”

“I’m bad enough trying to keep myself in check,” Aaliyah countered. “We can play catch up in, say about an hour at Annie’s Kitchen.”

“Sure, sounds good.”

She waited for Leo to end the call before putting her phone on the sink counter. Making the shower quick and putting on the clean clothes, Aaliyah made sure she had her things before grabbing her helmet and heading out.

***

“Liyra,” Nissa greeted as she pushed herself to her feet for a hug.

Aaliyah accepted the hug, returning it. “Hey, Nissa.”

“What’s up with the biker get up?” Xander asked.

Aaliyah pulled from Nissa and looked at her older brother. “I was taken in by a biker gang a few months back; adopted more or less.” She shed the leather jacket and draped it over the back of a chair. “It’s been quite a while since Christmas last year.”

“Anything to drink, love?” the waitress asked as Aaliyah sat.

“Coffee, or coke. Anything caffeinated.”

The waitress nodded and headed off.

“So, what’s happened with you and the Hardy Boys?” Leo asked. “How much trouble did you guys get into?”

Aaliyah sat there as memories flashed through her mind between Christmas the year before and then. Her body shuttered when her mind froze on the images of Dean bloody on the ground after being torn to shreds by the hellhounds.

“Aaliyah, what is it?” Xander’s voice cut into her memory.

“It’s … um … Dean had made a cross roads deal to bring Sam back from the dead a little more than a year ago,” she started. “But unlike the usual ten years, he got one. All of last year, even during Christmas, I with the boys tried to find a way to break the deal. We weren’t that lucky.” She took a breath, trying to steady herself. “A hellhound ripped Dean to shreds when his time was up. I had checked out mentally for a week at Bobby’s after that. I took off from his place, getting his words all twisted up, and went off on my own before the bikers took me in.”

She looked around at her siblings just as the waitress came back with the drink for Aaliyah. “Do you all need a minute or two to decide?”

They nodded, sending the waitress off.

“That’s rough,” Leo said. “Remind me not to make any deals like that.”

“You should know not to do that period,” Xander told him. “So, you got involved with a biker group?”

“The Dragons. They know all about Hunters, the supernatural, and all things that go bump in the night,” Aaliyah kept her voice low. “Through no fault of my own.” She grabbed a menu and glanced over the options. “I actually kept out of active hunting until I heard on the news about all the windows being blown out by something.”

“Sub sonic boom,” Leo tossed out. “I’m sure a fighter jet broke the sound barrier that caused it.”

Aaliyah shook her head. “Wasn’t a jet. It was whatever brought Dean back from hell.”

Leo and Nissa half choked on their drinks.

“Wait, he’s back? How?” Nissa asked.

Aaliyah half shrugged. “According to Sam, it was an angel. Dean doesn’t believe it; and I’m …” She shrugged again. “I’m not fully buying it. Being used to dealing with demons and things that wanna kill me, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that there are legit actual angels out there willing to help one lone hunter.”

“You’re joking, right?” Leo asked. “Demons, I get. But even they won’t let someone escape from hell. Why would any angel help any of us?”

“Why would a demon let any of us out of hell?” Nissa countered.

“They wouldn’t.”

Aaliyah looked up from the menu when the waitress returned. She waited for her siblings to order before placing hers. “So, am I to naturally assume we’ve all been called by father’s lawyer?” She watched each of them nod. “Something she couldn’t discuss over the phone?”

“And trying to reach any one of us,” Xander added. “And reaching all of us, it seems.”

“But what’s this business?” Leo asked. “And why in person?”

“Maybe he finally died,” Aaliyah suggested. “The world’s better off with one less of him.”

“If that’s the case, the lawyer might be trying to execute whatever will Father had,” Nissa said.

“If he died, why didn’t mom call us?” Leo asked his sister.

“Maybe she wasn’t listened as one who was to receive anything,” Nissa guessed. “Or the lawyer already told her what she was getting.”

“Or she already got it,” Xander added.

“Does she even know about us?” Aaliyah asked, gesturing between her and Xander. “I saw no pictures of us at the house a few years ago.”

“Wait, you were at our house?” Nissa asked, putting her drink down.

Aaliyah shot a semi guilty look over to Xander, who shrugged. “It was a few years ago when I was trying to figure out what happened to Xander and dad. Before I got caught up with the Winchesters full time.”

“Whatever the lawyer wants, we’ll find out after breakfast,” Leo said.

***

Aaliyah shifted in her chair as the receptionist went about their work and ignoring the four young adults. They had arrived soon after breakfast nearly an hour ago. The woman that had arrived well after them emerged from the lawyer’s office while Georgetta and the woman exchanged farewells. The woman walked out while Georgetta walked back into her office.

“Forget this,” Aaliyah muttered to her siblings as she got to her feet.

Behind her, the receptionist called after her; which Aaliyah ignored. She threw open the door just as Georgetta sat down at the desk.

“You can’t keep us sitting out there all day, Ms. Hayes,” Aaliyah snapped at the lawyer. “You called all four of Casey Fisher’s children, and all four showed up. Now, we’re going to handle this business in person just like you asked of us.”

“I cannot unless…” Georgetta trailed off when the other three siblings walked into the office.

Aaliyah heard the door close behind her while the other two took a seat in the offered two chairs. “Now, you have all four of us here. What is this business to be done in person?”

She watched Georgetta shift in her chair before turning around to dig through some folders. The lawyer returned with one folder.

“I never liked giving bad news like this to relatives,” Georgetta started. “Your father had died about month ago in a freak accident.”

“What sort of accident?” Xander asked.

“All I was told was his body was found out in the woods torn to shreds and his heart missing.”

Aaliyah swore she heard her siblings share a look while she focused on Georgetta. Sounded like the classic werewolf case to her. “What happened to the rest of him?”

“His wife, a Helen Fisher, had him cremated due to his final wishes. And she currently still resides in their house,” Georgetta replied. “Which is acceptable. Which leaves you four. Which of you is Xander?” She nodded when he raised his hand. “You are granted the deed for the land of your childhood home. If you so wish to have it.”

Aaliyah glanced back at her brother, who shook his head. “He doesn’t want it; how does he go about selling it and getting the money from the sale?” She crossed her arms.

“Don’t worry about the details,” Georgetta assured her. “I take it that you’re Aaliyah. He’s given you the keys and title to his truck. Saying how it will work for those jobs when you need to move a dead body. And for Nissa and Leo…” She scanned the paper. “Your father’s other truck. It seems your father had a well off roofing company and the two trucks had been there since the beginning.”

“So, that’s all it was? Handing out property?” Leo asked with a scoff.

“And monies willed to Aaliyah and Xander from their mother’s will. I understand she passed a couple decades ago. It took me this long to hunt you four down for your father.”

“So, they get money and a truck while we get just a truck?” Leo started.

“Not now,” Aaliyah cut him off, barely turning to look at him. “Is there anything we have to do?”

Georgetta flipped through the paperwork. “I’ll sign over the trucks over to you and your young siblings, and start the paperwork for the funds to be transferred into Ms. Aaliyah and Mr. Xander’s accounts. IF there’s any other questions…”

“How’d our father pass away?” Nissa asked.

“The corner’s report says wolf attack with the heart missing.”

Aaliyah uncrossed her arms and actually turned to look at her siblings.

“Well, that’s … unfortunate,” Xander said. “Thanks for telling us. Guys, I think our business here is done.”

Aaliyah heard the warning in her brother’s voice and turned back to Georgetta. “If there’s anything to be mailed…” she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her walled; dropping a card on the desk. “Send it there.” She turned for the door, opening it for Xander to roll through. “And I and one of my siblings over there will be by later for our trucks.”

She was the last one out, closing the door behind them.

“What now?” Leo asked, leaving the building. “Dad’s dead, finally. And we get little from it.”

“You still got a house and a mother to go back to,” Aaliyah snapped. “We don’t. So, go back to your middle class life and leave us alone. And stay out of hunting. I shouldn’t have to remind you what happens if things go bad in a hunt.”

She helped Xander into his vehicle and started off down the road.

***

Aaliyah killed the bike as she came up to Bobby’s. With a call from Dean on the way back from dealing with the lawyer as a warning, she had arrived at the house ready for a fight. She hadn’t seen the Impala, but expected it to pull up at any second. No time to wait for the men to arrive, Aaliyah checked her handgun and eased her way to the door. Just as the rumble of the Impala’s engine echoed through the salvage yard.

One of the brothers had called out to her as she slipped into the house. She ignored them. The call she had with Bobby hadn’t gone well when she told him that the lawyer was going to send paperwork there. The fire poker was laying on the floor in the living room.

“Bobby,” she called out, gun ready.

She heard a door creak open and turned toward. Behind her were the footsteps of someone being quiet in their walking. A hand went up and gestured toward the door.

“Come out, come out, whoever you are,” Aaliyah called.

#supernatural family drama meg bobby ofc Dean Sam

7 notes · View notes

moviereviewstation · 4 years

Text

The Movie List

Hi all,

As promised, here’s the list. Once a movie has been reviewed, I’ll turn the movie into a link to the review on this list. Any movie we can’t find will be marked with a cross through. There were double ups in the categories, movies being listed twice, so I’ve only let them be in the first category they show up in (Hence why there isn’t 100 movies in the fourth category). The list is below:

1. GENRE

Action-Aventure

The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920)

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, 1938)

The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

Top Gun (Tony Scott, 1986)

Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner, 1987)

Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)

Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996)

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)

Animation

Steamboat Willie (Ub Iwerks, 1928)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand and William Cottrell, 1937)

Pinocchio (Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, 1940)

Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968)

Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)

Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)

Spirited Away (Hayat Miyazaki, 2001)

Belleville Rendez-vous (Sylvain Chomet, 2003)

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Steve Box and Nick Park, 2005)

Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, 2009)

How To Train Your Dragon (Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, 2010)

Avante-Garde

L’Inhumaine (Marcel L’Herbier, 1924)

Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel, 1929)

L’Age d’Or (Luis Bunuel, 1930)

Biopic

Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939)

Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982)

A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard, 2001)

The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004)

Ray (Taylor Hackford, 2004)

The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald, 2006)

Milk (Gus Van Sant, 2008)

Comedy

The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1927)

Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)

The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955)

The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, 1963)

Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)

Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, 1980)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994)

The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997)

Meet the Parents (Jay Roach, 2000)

Bridget Jone’s Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001)

The Devil Wears Prada (David Frankel, 2006)

Costume Drama

Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938)

Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carne, 1945)

Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954)

Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)

Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988)

Howards End (James Ivory, 1992)

Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995)

Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009)

Cult

Plan 9 from Outer Space (Edward D. Wood, 1958)

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Russ Meyer, 1965)

Pink Flamingos (John Waters, 1972)

The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975)

Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)

Fight Club (David Finch, 1999)

Disaster

Airport (George Seaton, 1970)

The Poseidon Adventure (Ronald Neame, 1972)

The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974)

Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996)

Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)

Documentary

Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955)

Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967)

The Sorrow and the Pity (Marcel Ophuls, 1969)

Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)

Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003)

The Story of the Weeping Camel (Byambasuren, Dava and Luigi Falorini, 2003)

March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005)

An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim, 2006)

Epic

The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915)

Alexander Nevsky (Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev, 1938)

The Robe (Henry Koster, 1953)

The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956)

Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)

Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)

Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)

Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)

Kingdom of Heaven (Ridley Scott, 2005)

Film Noir

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945)

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)

Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)

Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)

L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)

Sin City (Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, 2005)

Gangster

Little Caesar (Mervyn Leroy, 1931)

Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931)

Angels with Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz, 1938)

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)

Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)

Horror

Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)

Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

The Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)

Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998)

The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999)

Martial Arts

Fists of Fury (Wei Lo, 1971)

The Chinese Connection (Wei Lo, 1972)

Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)

The Karate Kid (John G. Avildsen, 1984)

Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui Hark, 1991)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)

Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

Melodrama

Imitation of Life (John M. Stahl, 1934)

Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937)

Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942)

Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945)

Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)

The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)

Musical

Le Million (Rene Clair, 1931)

42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon, 1933)

The Merry Widow (Ernst Lubitsch, 1934)

Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935)

Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)

Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952)

Gigi (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)

West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)

Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)

Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978)

Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolina, 1987)

Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)

Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007)

Propaganda

The Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935)

The Plow that Broke the Plains (Pare Lorentz, 1936)

Der Fuehrer’s Face (Jack Kinney, 1943)

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)

The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)

The Time Machine (George Pal, 1960)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)

Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)

The Matrix (Larry and Andy Wachowski, 1999)

Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

Serial

The Perils of Pauline (Louis Gasnier, 1914)

Flash Gordon (Frederick Stephani, 1936)

The Lone Ranger (John English and William Witney, 1938)

Series

Charlie Chan (Various, 1931-49)

Don Camillo (Various, 1951-65)

Zatoichi (Various, 1962-2003)

The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001-03)

Harry Potter (Various, 2001-11)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Various, 2005-)

Teens

Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955)

American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)

The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985)

Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004)

Thriller

The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)

The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles, 2005)

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Daniel Alfredson, 2009)

Underground

Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)

Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)

Flesh (Paul Morrissey, 1968)

War

J’Accuse (Abel Gance, 1919)

Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)

Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)

Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson, 1981)

Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)

No Man’s Land (Danis Tanovic, 2001)

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)

Western

Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)

The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann, 1955)

The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)

The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960)

The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)

The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)

Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)

Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)

True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2010)

2. WORLD FILM

Africa

The Money Order (Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 1968)

The Night of Counting the Years (Shadi Abdelsalam, Egypt, 1969)

Xala (Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 1975)

Chronicle of the Burning Years (Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algeria, 1975)

Alexandria… Why? (Youssef Chahine, Egypt, 1978)

Man of Ashes (Nouri Bouzid, Tunisia, 1986)

Yeelen (Souleymane Cisse, Mali, 1987)

The Silences of the Palace (Moufida Tlatli, Tunisia, 1994)

Waiting for Happiness (Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania, 2002)

The Middle East

Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, Palestine, 2002)

The Syrian Bride (Eran Riklis, Palestine, 2004)

Thirst (Tawfik Abu Wael, Palestine, 2004)

Paradise Now (Hand Abu-Assad, Palestine, 2005)

Iran

The Cow (Dariush Mehrjui, 1968)

The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995)

Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

The Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi, 1997)

Blackboards (Samira Makmalbaf, 2000)

The Day I Became a Woman (Marzieh Meshkini, 2000)

Secret Ballot (Babek Payami, 2001)

Kandahar (Mohsen Makmalbaf, 2001)

Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi, 2004)

Eastern Europe

Knife in the Water (Roman Polanski, Poland, 1962)

The Shop on the High Street (Jan Kadar, Czechoslovakia, 1965)

The Round-Up (Miklos Jansco, Hungary, 1965)

Loves of a Blonde (Milos Foreman, Czechoslovakia, 1965)

Daisies (Vera Chytilova, Czechoslovakia, 1966)

Closely Observed Trains (Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia, 1966)

Man of Marble (Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 1976)

The Three Colours trilogy (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1993-94)

Divided We Fall (Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic, 2000)

The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr, Hungary, 2011)

The Balkans

A Matter of Dignity (Michael Cacoyannis, Greece, 1957)

I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Aleksandar Petrovic, Yugoslavia, 1967)

The Goat Horn (Metodi Andonov, Bulgaria, 1972)

Yol (Yilmaz Güney and Serif Goren, Turkey, 1982)

Underground (Emir Kusturica, Yugoslavia, 1995)

Eternity and a Day (Theo Angelopoulos, Greece, 1998)

Uzak (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2002)

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu, Romania, 2005)

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007)

Russia

The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)

Storm Over Asia (Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1928)

Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930)

Ivan the Terrible Parts I and II (Sergei Eisenstein, 1944/58)

The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

Ballad of a Soldier (Grigori Chukhrai, 1959)

The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)

Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002)

The Nordic Countries

The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjostrom, Sweden, 1921)

Day of Wrath (Carl Dreyer, Denmark, 1943)

Persona (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1966)

Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, Denmark, 1987)

Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark, 1998)

Songs from the Second Floor (Roy Andersson, Sweden, 2000)

O’Horten (Bent Hamer, Norway, 2007)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, Sweden/Denmark/Germany/Norway, 2009)

Germany

The Last Laugh (F.W. Murnau, 1924)

Pandora’s Box (G.W. Pabst, 1929)

The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)

M (Fritz Lang, 1931)

The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki, 1959)

Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders, 1976)

The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978)

The Tin Drum (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979)

Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998)

France

Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927)

L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)

La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)

Le Jour se Leve (Marcel Carne, 1939)

Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)

Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)

Jules et Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1962)

Weekend (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

The Taste of Other (Agnes Jaoui, 2000)

The Class (Laurent Cantet, 2008)

A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois, 2010)

Italy

The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)

Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)

La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)

The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)

Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)

1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976)

Cinema Pardiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)

Il Postino (Michael Radford, 1994)

The Best of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana, 2003)

Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, 2008)

Vincere (Marco Bellocchio, 2009)

United Kingdom

The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938)

Odd Man Out (Carol Reed, 1947)

Black Narcissus (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947)

Whiskey Galore (Alexander Mackendrick, 1949)

The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963)

If… (Lindsay Anderson, 1968)

Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 1983)

Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000)

Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003)

The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010)

Spain

Welcome Mr. Marshall! (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1953)

Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)

Viridiana (Luis Bunuel, 1961)

The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)

Cria Cuervos (Carlos Saura, 1976)

Tierra (Julio Medem, 1996)

Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar, 2002)

The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenabar, 2004)

Portugal

Hard Times (Joao Botelho, 19880

Abraham’s Valley (Manoel de Oliveira, 1993)

God’s comedy (Joao Cesar Monteiro, 1995)

River of Gold (Paulo Rocha, 1998)

O Delfim (Fernando Lopes, 2002)

Canada

My Uncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)

The True Nature of Bernadette (Gilles Carles, 1972)

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)

The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1986)

I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (Patricia Rozema, 1987)

Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand, 1989)

Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)

The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997)

The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand, 2003)

Twist (Jacob Tierney, 2003)

Central America

Maria Candelaria (Emilio Fernandez, Mexico, 1944)

La Perla (Emilio Fernandez, Mexico, 1947)

Los Olvidados (Luis Bunuel, Mexico, 1950)

I am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov, Soviet Union/Cuba, 1964)

Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomas Gutierrez Area, Cuba, 1968)

Lucia (Humberto Solas, Cuba, 1968)

Like Water for Chocolate (Alfonso Area, Mexico, 1992)

Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Mexico, 2000)

Y Tu Mama También (Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico, 2001)

Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, Mexico, 2006)

South America

The Hand in the Trap (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina, 1961)

Barren Lives (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazil, 1963)

Antonio das Mortes (Glauber Rocha, Brazil, 1969)

The Hour of the Furnaces (Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, Argentina, 1970)

The Battle of Chile (Patricio Guzman, Chile, 1975/79)

The Official Story (Luis Puenzo, Argentina, 1985)

Central Station (Walter Salles, Brazil, 1998)

City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Brazil, 2002)

The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina, 2010)

China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Two Stage Sisters (Xie Jin, China, 1965)

A Touch of Zen (King Hu, Taiwan, 1969)

The Way of the Dragon (Bruce Lee, Hong Kong, 1972)

Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige, China, 1984)

City of Sadness (Hsiou-Hsein Hou, Taiwan, 1989)

Ju Dou (Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, Japan/China, 1990)

Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, China, 1991)

Yi Yi (Edward Yang, Taiwan, 2000)

Still Life (Jia Zhang Ke, China, 2006)

Korea

The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (Hong Sang-Soo, 1996)

Shiri (Kang Je-Gyu, 1999)

Chihwaseon (Im Kwon-Taek, 2002)

The Way Home (Lee Jong-Hyang, 2002)

Oasis (Lee Chang-dong, 2002)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (Kim Ki-Duk, 2003)

Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-Dong, 2007)

Japan

Equinox Flower (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958)

An Actor’s Revenge (Kon Ichikawa, 1963)

Boy (Nagisa Oshima, 1969)

Vengeance is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)

Hana-Bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997)

After Life (Hirokazu Koreeda, 1998)

Still Walking (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2008)

Catepillar (Koji Wakamatsu, 2010)

India

Devdas (Bimal Roy, 1955)

Rather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)

Mother India (Mehboob Khan, 1957)

Charulata (Satyajit Ray, 1964)

Bhuvan Shome (Mrinal Sen, 1969)

Sholay (Ramesh Sippy, 1975)

Nayagan (Mani Ratnam, 1987)

Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair, 1988)

Bandit Queen (Shekhar Kapur, 1994)

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra, 1995)

Kannathil Muthamittal (Mani Ratnam, 2002)

Shwaas (Sandeep Sawant, 2004)

Harishchandrachi Factory (Paresh Mokashi, 2009)

People Live (Anusha Rizvi, 2010)

Australia and New Zealand

Picnic at the Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, Australia, 1975)

The Getting of Wisdom (Bruce Beresford, Australia, 1977)

Newsfront (Phillip Noyce, Australia, 1978)

My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, Australia, 1979)

Mad Max (George Millar, Australia, 1979)

Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman, Australia, 1986)

An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion, New Zealand, 1990)

Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, New Zealand, 1994)

Happy Feet (George Millar, Australia, 2006)

Australia (Bax Luhrmann, Australia, 2008)

3. DIRECTORS

Woody Allen

Sleeper (1973)

Love and Death (1976)

Manhattan (1979)

Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Husbands and Wives (1992)

Match Point (2005)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Pedro Almodovar

What Have I Done to Deserve This (1984)

Law of Desire (1987)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

High Heels (1991)

All About My Mother (1999)

Bad Education (2004)

Volver (2006)

Robert Altman

M*A*S*H* (1970)

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

Nashville (1975)

The Player (1992)

Short Cuts (1993)

Gosford Park (2001)

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Theo Angelopoulos

The Traveling Players (1975)

Landscape in the Mist (1988)

The Weeping Meadow (2004)

Michelangelo Antonioni

L’Avventua (1960)

L’Eclisse (1962)

Il Deserto Rosso (1964)

Blow-Up (1966)

The Passenger (1975)

Ingmar Bergman

Summer Interlude (1951)

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Wild Strawberries (1957)

The Face (1958)

Cries and Whispers (1972)

Autumn Sonata (1978)

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Bernardo Bertolucci

Before the Revolution (1964)

The Conformist (1970)

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

The Last Emporero (1987)

The Dreamers (2003)

Luc Besson

The Big Blue (1988)

Nikita (1990)

Leon (1995)

The Fifth Element (1997)

Robert Bresson

Ladies of the Park (1945)

A Man Escaped (1956)

Balthazar (1966)

L’Argent (1983)

Tod Browning

The Unholy Three (1925)

The Blackbird (1926)

The Unknown (1927)

West of Zanzibar (1928)

Dracula (1931)

Freaks (1932)

The Devil-Doll (1936)

Luis Bunuel

An Andalusian Dog (1929)

Age of Gold (1930)

The Young and the Damned (1950)

Nazarin (1958)

The Exterminating Angel (1962)

Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)

Belle de Jour (1967)

Tristana (1970)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Frank Capra

Platinum Blonde (1931)

The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

Lady for a Day (1933)

It Happened One Night (1934)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Marcel Carne

Bizarre Bizarre (1937)

Port of Shadows (1938)

The Devil’s Envoys (1942)

John Cassavetes

Shadows (1959)

Faces (1968)

Minnie and Maskowitz (1971)

Gloria (1980)

Claude Chabrol

The Cousins (1959)

The Good Time Girls (1960)

The Unfaithful Wife (1969)

The Hatter’s Ghost (1982)

The Ceremony (1995)

Nightcap (2000)

Charlie Chaplin

The Kid (1921)

A Woman of Paris (1923)

The Gold Rush (1925)

The Circus (1928)

City Lights (1931)

Modern Times (1936)

The Great Dictator (1940)

Rene Clair

The Italian Straw Hat (1928)

Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)

The Million (1931)

Freedom for Us (1931)

The Last Billionaire (1934)

The Ghost Goes West (1935)

It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

Night Beauties (1952)

Summer Manoeuvres (1955)

Henri-Geoges Clouzot

The Raven (1943)

Quay of the Goldsmiths (1947)

The Wages of Fear (1953)

Diabolique (1955)

The Picasso Mystery (1956)

Jean Cocteau

The Blood of a Poet (1930)

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Orpheus (1950)

The Testament of Orpheus (1960)

Joel and Ethan Coen

Blood Simple (1984)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Barton Fink (1991)

Fargo (1996)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

A Serious Man (2009)

Francis Ford Coppola

The Conversation

The Outsiders

Tucker: The Man and His Dreams

George Cukor

Dinner at Eight (1933)

Little Women (1933)

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

David Copperfield (1935)

Camille (1936)

Holiday (1938)

The Women (1939)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Adam’s Rib (1949)

A Star is Born (1954)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Michael Curtiz

Kid Galahad (19370

Casablanca (1942)

Cecil B. DeMille

The Cheat (1915)

The Ten Commandments (1923)

Cleopatra (1934)

The Plainsman (1936)

Union Pacific (1939)

Reap with Wild Wind (1942)

Unconquered (1947)

Samson and Delilah (1949)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Vittorio De Sica

Shoeshine (1946)

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Miracle in Milan (1951)

Two Women (1960)

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)

Carl Dreyer

Master of the House (1925)

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

The Vampire (1932)

The Word (1955)

Gertrud (1964)

Clint Eastwood

Play Misty for Me

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Bird (1988)

Mystic River (2003)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)

Invictus (2009)

Sergei Eisenstein

Strike (1924)

October (1927)

The General Line (1928)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

Fear Eats the Soul (19740

Effi Briest (1974)

Fox (1975)

Mother Kusters’ Trip to Heaven (1975)

In aYear of 13 Moons (1978)

Lola (1981)

Veronika Voss (1982)

Federico Fellini

I Vitelloni (1953)

La Strada (1954)

La Dolce Vita (1960)

8 1/2 (1963)

Juiletta of the Spirits (1945)

Roma (1972)

Fellini’s Casanova (1976)

Robert J. Flaherty

Nanook of the North (1922)

Moana (1926)

Man of Aran (1934)

Louisianna Story (1948)

John Ford

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Fort Apache (1948)

Milos Forman

The Firemen’s Ball (1967)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Amadeus (1984)

Man on the Moon (1999)

Abel Gance

The Tenth Symphony (1918)

The Wheel (1923)

The Life and Loves of Beethoven (1936)

Jean-Luc Godard

Breathless (1960)

My Life to Live (1962)

Contempt (1963)

Band of Outsiders (1964)

Alphaville (1965)

Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)

New Wave (1990)

In Praise of Love (2001)

Our Music (2004)

D.W. Griffith

Intolerance (1916)

True Heart Susie (1919)

Broken Blossoms (1919)

Way Down East (1920)

Orphans of the Storm (1921)

Howard Hanks

Scarface (1932)

Twentieth Century (1934)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

To Have and Have Not (1944)

Red River (1948)

Rio Bravo (1959)

Werner Herzog

Signs of Life (1967)

Fata Morgana (1971)

Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)

Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974)

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

My Best Friend (1999)

Grizzly Man (2005)

Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

Alfred Hitchcock

The 39 Steps (1935)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Rear Window (1954)

Vertigo (1958)

North by Northwest (1959)

The Birds (1963)

Marnie (1964)

John Huston

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Key Largo (1948)

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

The African Queen (1951)

Beat the Devil (1953)

The Misfits (1961)

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

Fat City (1972)

The Dead (1987)

Miklos Jancso

My Way Home (1965)

The Red and the White (1968)

The Confrontation (1969)

Agnus Dei (1971)

Red Psalm (1972)

Beloved Electra (1974)

Elia Kazan

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

On the Waterfront (1954)

East of Eden (1955)

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

Wild River (1960)

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Abbas Kiarostami

Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987)

And Life Goes On… (1992)

Through the Olive Trees (1994)

The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

Ten (2002)

Krzysztof Kieslowski

- Blind Chance (1981)

- A Short Film About Killing (1988)

- A Short Film About Love (1988)

- The Double Life of Veronique (1991)

Stanley Kubrick

Lolita (1962)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

To Live (1952)

Throne of Blood (1957)

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

The Bodyguard (1961)

Sanjuro (1962)

Dersu Uzala (1975)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Fritz Lang

Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922)

Fury (1936)

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Scarlet Street (1945)

Clash by Night (1952)

The Big Heat (1953)

Human Desire (1954)

David Lean

In Which We Serve (1942)

Great Expectations (1946)

Oliver Twist (1948)

Hobson’s Choice (1954)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

A Passage to India (1984)

Spike Lee

She’s Gotta Have It (1986)

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Jungle Fever (1991)

Malcolm X (1992)

Crooklyn (1994)

Clockers (1995)

Ernst Lubitsch

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Design for Living (1933)

Desire (1936)

Angel (1937)

Ninotchka (1939)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

David Lynch

Eraserhead (1977)

The Elephant Man (1980)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Twin Peaks (1992)

The Straight Story (1999)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Louis Malle

The Lovers (1958)

Murmur of the Heart (1971)

Lacombe Lucien (1974)

Pretty Baby (1978)

Atlantic City (1980)

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

All About Eve (1950)

5 Fingers (1952)

Julius Caesar (1953)

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Guys and Dolls (1955)

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Leo McCarey

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

The Awful Truth (1937)

Love Affair (1939)

Going My Way (1944)

The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

An Affair to Remember (1957)

Jean-Pierre Melville

The Strange Ones (1950)

Bob the Gambler (1956)

Doulos: The Finger Man (1962)

Magnet of Doom (1963)

Second Breath (1966)

The Samurai (1967)

Army of Shadows (1969)

Vincente Minnelli

The Pirate (1948)

An American in Paris (1951)

The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)

The Band Wagon (1953)

Lust for Life (1956)

Some Came Running (1959)

Kenji Mizoguchi

Osaka Elegy (1936)

Sister of the Gion (1936)

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)

Utamaro and his Five Women (1946)

Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)

Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

Street of Shame (1956)

F.W. Murnau

Faust (1926)

Sunrise (1927)

Tabu (1931)

Manoel de Oliveira

Aniki Bobo (1942)

Doomed Love (1979)

Francisca (1981)

The Cannibals (1988)

The Convent (1995)

I’m Going Home (2001)

A Talking Picture (2003)

O Estranho Caso de Angelica (2010)

Max Ophuls

Leiberlei (1933)

Mayerling to Sarajevo (1940)

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

La Ronde (1950)

House of Pleasure (1952)

Madame de… (1953)

Lola Montes (1955)

Nagisa Oshima

The Sun’s Burial (1960)

Death by Hanging (1968)

Diary of Shinjuku Thief (1969)

The Ceremony (1971)

In the Realm of the Sense (1976)

Empire of Passion (1978)

Taboo (1999)

Yasujiro Ozu

Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)

Late Spring (1949)

Early Summer (1951)

Tokyo Story (1953)

Early Spring (1956)

Good Morning (1959)

Late Autumn (1960)

The End of Summer (1961)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927)

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

The Threepenny Opera (1931)

Comradeship (1931)

Sergei Parajanov

The Stone Flower (1962)

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)

Ashik Kerib (1988)

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Accatone (1961)

Oedipus Rex (1967)

Theorem (1968)

The Decameron (1971)

The Canterbury Tales (1972)

The Arabian Nights (1974)

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Sam Peckinpah

Ride the High Country (1962)

Major Dundee (1965)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Roman Polanski

Repulsion (1965)

Cul-de-Sac (1965)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Tenant (1976)

The Pianist (2002)

The Ghost Writer (2010)

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

I Know Where I’m Going (1945)

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Small Back Room (1948)

The Tales of Hoffman (1951)

Otto Preminger

Laura (1944)

Daisy Kenyon (1947)

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Exodus (1960)

Advise and Consent (1962)

Vsevolod Pudovkin

Mother (1926)

The End of St. Petersburg (1927)

Nicholas Ray

They Live By Night (1949)

In a Lonely Place (1950)

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Bigger Than Life (1956)

Wind Across the Everglades (1958)

Satyajit Ray

Pather Panchali (1955)

The Unvanquished (1956)

The Music Room (1959)

The World of Apu (1959)

The Big City (1964)

The Lonely Wife (1964)

Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)

Distant Thunder (1973)

The Middleman (1976)

The Chess Players (1977)

Jean Renoir

Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)

Grand Illusion (1937)

The Human Beast (1938)

The Rulers of the Game (1939)

The Southerner (1945)

The Golden Coach (1952)

French Can-Can (1954)

Elena and Her Men (1956)

Alain Resnais

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

Muriel (1963)

The War is Over (1966)

Stavisky (1974)

Providence (1977)

Same Old Song (1997)

Les Herbes Folles (2009)

Jacques Rivette

Paris Belongs to Us (1961)

The Nun (1966)

Mad Love (1969)

Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)

La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les Batailles (1994)

Va Savior (2001)

The Duchess of Langeais (2007)

Eric Rohmer

My Night at Maud’s (1969)

Claire’s Knee (1970)

The Aviator’s Wife (1981)

Pauline at the Beach (1983)

The Green Ray (1986)

A Tale of Springtime (1990)

A Tale of Winter (1992)

A Summer’s Tale (1996)

An Autumn Tale (1998)

Les Amours d’astres et de Celadon (2007)

Roberto Rossellini

Rome, Open City (1945)

Paisan (1946)

Germany Year Zero (1948)

Stromboli (1950)

The Greatest Love (1952)

Voyage to Italy (1953)

General della Rovere (1959)

The Rise of Louis XIV (1966)

Martin Scorsese

Mean Streets (1973)

Taxi Driver (1976)

New York, New York (1977)

Raging Bull (1980)

After Hours (1985)

The Colour of Money (1986)

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The Age of Innocence (1993)

The Departed (2006)

Shutter Island (2010)

Ousmane Sembene

God of Thunder (1971)

The Camp of Thiaroye (1989)

Moolaade (2004)

Douglas Sirk

Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)

Take Me to Town (1953)

All I Desire (1953)

Magnificent Obsession (1954)

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Written on the Wind (1956)

The Tarnished Angels (1957)

Imitation of Life (1959)

Steven Spielberg

Jaws (1975)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Munich (2005)

Indiana Jones (2008)

Josef von Sternberg

Morocco (1930)

Dishonored (1931)

Shanghai Express (1932)

Blonde Venus (1932)

The Scarlet Express (1934)

The Devil is a Woman (1935)

The Saga of Anatahan (1953)

Erich von Sternheim

Blind Husbands (1919)

Foolish Wives (1922)

Greed (1924)

The Merry Widow (1925)

The Wedding March (1928)

Queen Kelly (1929)

Preston Sturges

The Lady Eve (1941)

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)

Andrei Tarkovsky

Ivan’s Childhood (1962)

Andrei Rublev (1966)

The Mirror (1975)

Stalker (1979)

The Sacrifice (1986)

Jacques Tati

Jour de fete (1949)

Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)

Mon Oncle (1958)

Playtime (1967)

Lars von Trier

Epidemic (1987)

Europa (1991)

Breaking the Waves (1996)

The Idiots (1998)

Dancer in the Dark (2000)

Dogville (2003)

Antichrist (2009)

François Truffaut

The 400 Blows (1959)

Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

The Bride Wore Black (1968)

The Wild Child (1970)

Bed & Board (1970)

Day for Night (1973)

The Green Room (1978)

Agnes Varda

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Happiness (1965)

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1977)

Vagabond (1985)

Jacquot da Nantes (1991)

The Gleaners & I (2000)

Les plagues d’Agnes (2008)

King Vidor

The Big Parade (1925)

The Crowd (1928)

Hallelujah! (1929)

The Champ (1931)

Our Daily Bread (1934)

Duel in the Sun (1946)

The Fountainhead (1949)

War and Peace (1956)

Jean Vigo

A Propos de Nice (1930)

Zero for Conduct (1933)

Luchino Visconti

Ossessione (1942)

La Terra Trema (1948)

Rocco and his Brothers (1960)

Death in Venice (1971)

Andrzej Wajda

A Generation (1954)

Canal (1957)

Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Innocent Sorcerers (1960)

Siberian Lady Macbeth (1961)

Landscape After Battle (1970)

Man of Iron (1981)

Danton (1983)

Katyn (2007)

Tatarak (2009)

Orson Welles

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Magnificent Ambesons (1942)

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Macbeth (1948)

Othello (1952)

Confidential Report (1955)

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

William Wellman

Wings (1927)

Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

The Call of the Wind (1935)

Nothing Sacred (1937)

Beau Geste (1939)

Roxie Hart (1942)

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

The High and the Mighty (1954)

Wim Wenders

Alice in the Cities (1973)

The American Friend (1977)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

Don’t Come Knocking (2005)

James Whale

Frankenstein (1931)

The Old Dark Horse (1932)

The Invisible Man (1933)

Show Boat (1936)

Billy Wilder

The Major and the Minor

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Stalag 17 (1953)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

The Apartment (1960)

One, Two, Three (1961)

Wong Kar Wai

Ashes of Time (1994)

Chungking Express (1994)

Fallen Angels (1995)

Happy Together (1997)

In the Mood for Love (2000)

2046 (2004)

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

William Wyler

The Little Foxes (1941)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Roman Holiday (1953)

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

The Big Country (1958)

Funny Girl (1968)

4. TOP 100 MOVIES

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)

All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930)

King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)

A Star is Born (William A. Wellman, 1937)

Olympia (Lena Reifenstahl, 1938)

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)

Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949)

Panther Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)

The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960)

Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)

The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)

The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

The Chelsea Girls (Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, 1966)

Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)

The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)

Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

Heimat (Edgar Reitz, 1984/1992/2004)

Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)

A Room with a View (James Ivory, 1985)

Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)

Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

#movie #movie list #review #film #actor #director #writer

6 notes · View notes

mrneighbourlove · 5 years

Text

Queen of the Red Sea: Beyond the Sea and Oceans

Gulper Bay was one of the biggest hotspots for pirate activity. A true wonderland for pirates, with trade able to be achieved in safety. Well, for the most part.

A bar fight broke out in good fun, a man flying across the floor. Landing at a Gerudo’s feet, he only saw a foot smack him in the face. The young woman laughed, and the bar gained a hardy laugh with her.

Captain Adda was the chieftain of the greatest band of Gerudo Pirates, hailing from the Great Bay of Termina. She was here today to let her crew enjoy a fun night after finding a huge cache of ancient jewels by fluke. Her real objective was a much greater treasure found in this sea. “Drinks for the man who can kick THAT guy’s ass!”

The poor large man got tackled by a bunch of other drunk men. Adda loved causing chaos here and there. Gerudo Pirates were getting drunk, trying to find suitable mates for the night. Wasn’t hard, as Gerudo were known to be exotic and rare, and the hormones of a man could easily be swayed. Adda kept away from any drink, at least for the moment. She wanted to be sober when she found her Voe.

Her first mate, a woman in big iron knuckle armour groaned in annoyance. “I hate this place. It stinks like piss.”

“Could be your attitude towards having fun. I’m ordering you to relax.”

“It’s my job to keep you safe Captain.”

“No Scarlet. Your job is one of three things. Find a guy to put a baby into you, find a buyer for all the loot we acquired, or three, get out of that heavy suit and get wasted on all the liquor here. Now go. You’re a buzzkill around me.”

Her bodyguard sighed and left her Captain to her own devices.

Captain Corsaire was in Gulper Bay to sell most of the loot he robbed from one of Danjur's cargo ships. After selling what he could, the pirate captain would then take the money and give it to his crew's family members and others in the kingdom who needed it more than he did. True, he did keep some for ship repairs and ammo, basic necessities as well, but most of the time, he kept very little for himself. His crew all knew his mission and were perfectly fine with being on the giving end instead of the receiving. After all, he had pulled all of them out of horrible situations and saw Corsaire as family. Tonight, he was treating his men to delicious tavern food, a game of darts, and a pint or two of the best beer of the seas.

"Cap'n," Rat approached Corsaire with some money earned by gambling on darts. Mojo and Juju never lost a game at darts, and to this day, still held their record. "You think we could use this to buy Seer some new boots? The ones he has are looking a little worn."

"Anyone else need anything?" Corsaire asked his quartermaster. "I think we've already stocked the kitchen."

"Acrobat's crutches have seen better days."

"All right, get him some new ones."

"We still have plenty leftover. Could buy your sisters something nice?"

"Nah, save it for the orphanage down the road." Corsaire took a sip of his drink. "Annie and Bonnie would rather have new seeds for their garden, I know how they are."

Adda noticed the freak with four arms first. That got her attention of the crew, lead by a scruffy looking rogue. Perhaps she’d test him out. Walking over she sat beside them with a devilish smile. “Hello boys. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here.”

"I don't reckon I've a-seen you either, miss." Rat was the utmost gentleman to women, even if that particular woman was a pirate. "Enjoying the bar?"

Pockets caught Adda staring and promptly blushed, turning his attention to Acrobat and insisting on a game of pool. The rigger saw his friend's problem, and entertained the notion of playing pool. Acrobat was painfully shy with women, considering he had four arms instead of the usual two. That, and he was a giant of a man, not many were bigger than him.

Corsaire, however, was not interested in Adda's playful nature and continued to write down the divisions of the loot in his small notebook.

“Thank you.” Adda didn’t like that Corsaire ignored her, so she decided to be a little playful. Turning her attention to Rat she tipped her hat. “You the Captain here? Look like a Captain. Tall, muscular, getting the deck scrubber to write out your notes.”

"No, Corsaire is the captain, I's the quartermaster."

"I don't need any of my brothers to write for me, especially considering that Seer cannot see." Corsaire did not even look up from his notebook. He nibbled at the end of his pen, thinking for a moment. If half the proceeds went to the orphanage, then he could take the other half and divide it between his men and their families with enough leftover for everything needed on the ship.

"The captain is a-little busy right now." Rat tried to turn Adda's attention somewhere else, knowing he hated to be bothered while running the numbers.

“What was your latest score?” Adda said, her gaze back on Corsaire.

"None of your business." Corsaire still ignored her. "Please leave, you're annoying me."

"Ah! Cap'n just wants to finish his a-work," Rat knew when his captain was starting to get in a bad mood. "You can talk to him a-later, hear the story of the kraken, and have drinks all a-round."

"Pretty lady no bother de captain when doing the numbers," Mojo told Adda as he tossed another dart into the bullseye. "He needs to think."

"And cal-cu-late." Juju had a thick accent just like his brother.

Adda raised an eyebrow at the brothers. Their accents were annoying. She looked back at Corsaire, her amusement starting to waver.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have come to a bar if you wanted to behave like a nerd and get your homework done. You have problems with doing numbers? Need the other kids to settle down so you can be a good boy? And a Kraken? You think killing some calamari is impressive to a lady?”

"I have problems doing numbers when a bitch with a mouth won't leave me alone when I'm clearly not interested in the booty she's so desperately trying to get me to fuck." Corsaire had lost his cool and shoved his notebook in his pocket. Standing from the table, he headed for the exit. "I'll be on the ship when you boys are done having a good time. Make sure you help Seer back to the docks."

"Oh sweet goddess of the seas," Rat took in a deep inhale. "Miss, I'll show you a-good time in the captain's absence, let me take you to the bar and buy you-a drink."

Adda glared at Corsaire now, more aware of the pistols at her side. She didn’t often let people insult her to her face sober. “I see you have a black spot on you. You lose any of your brothers in taking down a Kraken? Hear any of their bones crack and give a nice loud pop? That why you in a bad mood? Or you just a naturally born pussy with a splintered peg up your ugly ass.” She gave a chuckle, but it lacked any real humor in it. “And is sex the only thing you can naturally conclude? You’d be honoured to have sex with me, bitch. I suppose I’d have to find someone else to assist me in securing a legendary treasure.” Adda looked at Acrobat, giving a teasing smirk. “I think Mr. Goro here has a bigger brain than you on how to be smart around a lady who can carve and staple your face to a mast.”

The rest of the crew heard her mouth and instantly frowned. No one liked it when Corsaire was mocked about the kraken incident. Mojo and Juju stopped their game of darts as Acrobat and Pockets halted the shooting of pool. Seer, who was being seen to by Bomba, both looked up from their food. Rat, who had tried to be a gentleman before, was now angry. It was clearly seen on his face.

"Cap'n is a good man."

"More than you will evah be."

"Saved us, we his brothers!"

"And I-I-I'm not a G-G-Goro."

"Yeah, lady, don't call him names, it's bad enough you're staring."

"Cap'n only fucks a proper lady," Bomba zipped by Adda with a look up and down, and then turned his nose up. "Not one that smells of ass."

"Can we get out of here before someone gets killed?" Seer was dragged along beside Bomba, the blind man able to get around on his own, but it was difficult in small spaces with people.

Adda was surprised, a rarity for her. She looked over the crew that boldly spoke up to her. Akin to a shark, her eyes were still, like a doll’s eyes, the devil’s eyes. Her mind contemplated if this was an insult she would punish, or a joke that she could find enjoyable.

Looking these misfits over, and hearing Mojo’s accent again, she laughed. Her laugh echoed a young cockiness found only in Gerudo, and a dash of dark insanity, not unlike Ganondorf. Like a joke only she found was funny. “You are all an interesting bunch. Here.” She put a sack of extra jewels on the table and started to walk away. “Sorry for intruding on you and your merry men. Enjoy the entertainment around here. You’ve peeked my interest. I’ll be keeping a close eye on you. Or maybe I’ll just kill you.”

"Damn, Cap'n, she's a crazy bitch." Bomba whispered to Corsaire. "Why didn't ya just knock her lights out with dat arm of yours?"

"Because a whore like that isn't worth it." Corsaire gestured for his men to follow him out of the bar, leaving a generous tip for the barmaid. "She wanted to start something and I wasn't going to let her get the best of me."

"What should we a-do with the jewels?" Rat asked.

"Give them to the barmaid. She has three mouths to feed and her husband ran out on her." Corsaire instructed his quartermaster. "She could use it."

"Shall we get the sails ready, cap'n?" Acrobat inquired as he hobbled along with his crutches. "Go tonight?"

"No, we still have business tomorrow. Let's get some rest and I'll take first watch."

"As you say, cap'n."

Adda sat down, getting her first drink of the night. “What a mother fucker...”

Scarlet walked towards her, eyeing the crew as they left. “You want me to take care of them?”

“What? No, no.”

“But they insulted you!”

“People insult me all the time. I’m the Queen bitch of the seven seas....” She took a solemn drink at that.

Scarlet felt enraged. “I’m gonna knock his fucking teeth out.”

Adda shook her head. “Don’t. A crew of misfits isn’t worth the trouble. I think I’ll just forget about them. Need to focus on finding a dummy crew to help us with our main objective. We didn’t travel across the world to pick random fights with some losers.”

Scarlet ignored her, stomping over in her huge armour right up to Corsaire’s face. “Hey, you!”

"Cap'n doesn't want to be bothered right a-now, thank you." Rat stood in the armored woman's way. "Leave him alone, and go back to your leader, miss."

"She sounds really heavy." Seer noticed the clanking of metal. "What in the seven seas is she wearing?"

"It's a b-b-big suit of ar-armor." Pockets told the man. "Like someth-thing you'd see at a c-castle."

"She gave you her time you assholes. She's the Chieftain of the last great Gerudo tribe left. Show some respect to her. She deserved her spot at the top, fought for it fairly. AND she smells wonderful, unlike you, you tiny bandana wearing, ugly tanned grease ball." Stabbing her words carefully, she turned and gave a low growl like a panther towards Bomba on that last comment. Adda rolled her eyes and continued her drink. Scarlet liked to be her hype-woman, whether she wanted it or not. "So, when my Captain gives you a proposition for business, sex, or whatever the hell else she wants, you can at least give her your time to listen."

Adda touched her own Bandana under her hat. Scarlet wasn't the most observant, or smartest. She turned her attention to the bar fight she instigated, still raging on.

"Cap'n Corsaire doesn't have to give anyone his time." Bomba huffed, puffing up his chest like a turkey. The teenager wasn't the brightest of the bunch and was pulled back by Rat. "I'll have you know, you metal lunk, that no one gets respect just because of some damn title and a nice pair of titties!"

"She does have big boobies." Mojo muttered to his brother.

"Aye, dat she does." Juju nodded.

Rat tossed Bomba over his shoulder before the kid got his head knocked off his shoulders.

"Listen, lassie, we don't want any trouble." Rat was trying to be the peacemaker, but it was proving to be a difficult task. "Kindly go back to ye boss, and leave us be. I'm saying this politely, because you a-know nothing of the cap'n."

Using his crutches, Acrobat nudged at her leg and pushed aside.

"Come on guys, the women have ruined the buzz at this bar." He hobbled down the steps with Pockets following after him. "Some ruin it for the rest of us, I swear."

"You were doing... doing g-g-g-ood at pool this t-time!" Pockets agreed as he helped his friend with the stairs. "Some p-p-people like her and the other... other lady are just... m-mean!"

"If your boss wants a man, there's a brothel that way." Seer pointed down the wrong street.

"Other way, Seer."

"That direction, excuse me."

All the while, Corsaire was groaning internally, just wanting to be left alone.

If Scarlet wasn’t pissed before, the blind man did it for her now. No one, no one, made a comment about their crew and a brothel under any circumstance. The Iron Knuckle gave the blind man a sucker punch to the face. “You calling us prostitutes?! You’re fucking dead!”

Adda looked over, watching her first mate grab Bomba up high over her head to throw at Rat. “Oh fucking hell…”

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, HE'S BLIND!!!" Corsaire jumped into action as Rat caught Bomba and set the teenager on his feet. Seer was out cold from the punch, his nose spurting blood. Pockets grabbed the downed cook and kept Acrobat behind him. Mojo and Juju drew their pistols and were ready to shoot. Before Scarlet could throw a punch at Rat for being distracted with Bomba, Corsaire caught one of the Iron Knuckles' fists with his metal arm, the clang echoing through the bar. "I don't know what your problem is, or your damn boss', but you do not hit Seer!!! You can hit me as much as you like, but you don't attack my brother who cannot see!" With that, he swung with his free hand, catching her in the jaw. "I'll fucking kill you if you touch him again. You won't hurt him, no one will ever hurt him again, he's suffered enough!"

"He wasn't insinuating anything, you stupid bitch!" Bomba hollered. "He was just giving directions, all women go to find male prostitutes around here!"

"Cap'n, calm down!" Seer exclaimed as he groaned, holding his nose. Pockets managed to shake him awake. "I'm okay!"

"We're leaving. Now." Corsaire ordered his men. "Let's find Seer a doctor."

"Cap'n, I'm okay---"

"Doctor. No bickering."

"... fine."

With that, the crew headed into town in search of a healer.

Scarlet grabbed Rat by the shirt, throwing him to the side. With a growl she put her helmet on. “I gave you a handicap. My mistake. You insulted my sister again and again. I’m going to collect a cup of blood from you for every insult you threw.” She measured a litre with her hands. The ironed giant threw a heavy swing at the old gladiator.

"Damn it, woman, what is your problem?!" Rat caught the swing and stopped Scarlet's movements. "Leave us alone!"

Mojo and Juju had had enough of this ignorance. While Rat caught the swing, Mojo let off one bullet, nicking Scarlet's head to get her attention, the helmet ringing like crazy, while Juju scraped her hand with a bullet. "Look, they miss... on purpose, lady. The next one will be in your head."

"I'll ask only once more or I'll give my men permission to take you down." Corsaire glared at Scarlet as he held Seer around the shoulders. "Leave us alone."

“Go to fucking-“ A shot rang out from Adda’s gun, ricocheting off Scarlets armour, the bullet going past Corsaire’s nose. Adda clicked the second shot ready to go in a instant. “Scarlet! What did I say!”

“But, Captain, they-“ A second shot ran off, into the one exposed part of her armour around her thigh. Scarlet cried out as she dropped down. “I don’t want to hear another goddamn ‘but’ out of you. I told you to leave them alone. You disobeyed an order and got into a fight, where you most likely would have gotten killed. But worse, you damaged my authority by disobeying me. You showed others that you don’t respect my leadership.”

Scarlet was crying now from all the pain, as well as disappointing Adda. “N-no Captain. I’m sorry. I just wanted to make them understand.”

“Understand what? That our crew goes around beating the shit out of cute blind men? What’s next, deaf elderly?”

“T-they insulted you.”

Adda shakes her head. “And it’s my call if I want to tear all four arms off the stuttering man or make a skin carpet out of the albino. You do not act out of term. Now I have to deal with the ‘code’, on why a gun fight broke out on ‘neutral ground’. Maybe even get exiled from this particular port. And that’s on you.”

“A-are you going to kill me?”

Adda tapped her gun. It was just her, Scarlet, and Corsaire’s crew watching. “No. Not today. But don’t you ever disobey me again. Now pick yourself up, apologize, stop sobbing, go find yourself a medic, and go back to the ship.”

Scarlet nodded, saying sorry over and over to each crew member. As she hobbled off, Adda twirled her gun back into her holster. “Apologies for your blind Voe’s injury. We can talk about his medical bill in the morning. See you around....”

As the two woman left, Adda sighed. “What the hell were you thinking girl?”

“I’m sorry Captain…”

“It’s ok. Let’s get you patched up…”

The crew felt their adrenaline drop as the Gerudo walked off. Bomba expressed the feeling in the air perfectly.

“What the HELL just happened here?”

It was an eventful night to say the least. After taking Seer to the doctor, where it was confirmed that he had a broken nose, the crew returned to the ship. After seeing Seer to bed to rest and recover, the rest of the men agreed to get some sleep while the captain took first watch. It was the first night in port in weeks, and the crew were more than ready to rest. As the men retired to their beds, Corsaire sat on the ledge while playing his harmonica. It was a quiet night and the stars were absolutely stunning. He blew a note or two and then leaned back against the rigging. Sighing, the captain traced the constellations with his fingers as he hummed.

"Dark and dangerous, deep and low,

Whispers of a treasure trove,

The sea witch and her serpent show,

To drag you to hell below.

Krakens, maelstroms, the witch's sea,

Hear my cry, hear my plea,

Water spirit of my dreams,

Take me home, on the blue wave's gleam."

Adda felt an odd sense of guilt. She should of approached finding help more directly. But pirates, let alone her, don’t ask for help outright. They need to be smart, manipulative. But in doing so she might have caused more trouble than she wanted. After calming Scarlet down from her wounds and knowing the rest of her crew were settled for the night, she asked around and took some bottles with her as she walked down the docks. The stars were indeed beautiful, and she needed some fresh air. Hearing the harmonica as she approached, she chuckled. Of course, the gruff rogue was a musician. She started to swagger up to the draw bridge to Corsaire’s deck.

"Oh fucking hell, no." Corsaire saw Adda trying to walk up the draw bridge and promptly jumped off the rigging onto the wobbly plank. The board bounced from his added weight and he had his hand on his pistol. He was ready for a fight if there was going to be one. "There ain't no way in the water spirit's good name that I'm letting the likes of you on me ship!" He glared at Adda. "Seer already has a broken nose, I ain't letting anyone else of me mates get hurt because someone doesn't like to be ignored." The captain always had his crew's interest at heart. "What do you want? I have half a mind to give you a broken nose, but I don't start fights with ladies unless I have to."

Adda steadied herself on the board, a little wobbly from a head start of drinking. She was a heavy weight, but if she wasn’t careful, she could fall into the water. “I came here to offer you a drink. I asked around and was told you’re a man of fine rum. Until I was told you’d rather enjoy whisky. So I brought both. As my way of saying sorry for the unnecessary trouble I brought. Think of this as wanting to restart a first impression.” She took out two thick bottles, a rum and whisky in each hand.

"...?" Corsaire was a little taken aback. He was not expecting this brash woman to come with drinks, much less offer an apology of sorts. Maybe someone knocked her silly or she was drunk. He was not sure what to think. "While I appreciate the offer of alcohol, I won't drink when I'm on watch. My brothers count on me." The captain declined the drink and then said, "However, that doesn't mean I cannot enjoy it later. If it doesn't offend your senses, I'll keep my whisky for a more appropriate time."

“Is the password ‘please’ for me to come aboard?” She said as she wiggled both bottles.

"Me ship's a jealous mistress, lass." Corsaire then gestured to the docks. "She's not called the Sea Witch for nothing. You think I want to risk her wrath?"

“Awwww, she can’t fit in another woman? Never know, she might like it~” Adda toned it down a little. “I’m not gonna hurt any of your brothers. Both them and my girls should be able to rest easy tonight. Now can I come aboard?”

"No." Corsaire was not buying into her attempt at flirting. When she asked again to come aboard, this time more serious, he crossed his arms, debating for a moment. Finally, he relented, begrudgingly, simply because she brought a peace offering. Snatching the whisky, he said, "On deck only."

“Got it. Want to pull up the bridge? Can help you relax more.” Adda walked up around the deck, feeling the wood below her. “Any story behind this Sea Witch? It see a dreaded battle? Acquired from a deal with an actual sea witch?”

"Nay, I leave it in case we need to exit in a hurry. Can't jump overboard with Seer, he cannot see where to swim, and Acrobat can't swim due to his legs." Corsaire did not have any chairs on deck so he simply pulled up a barrel for Adda to sit upon for the time being. "I built this ship with my quartermaster after my run-in with“...I’m sorry about making that crack at you. I was pissed that I hadn’t gained your attention. I know my own grievances about sea monsters....” Adda sat down and popped open the rum for the two of them. the kraken. Named her after the dreaded sea witch that took down me mentors."

“I’m sorry about making that crack at you. I was pissed that I hadn’t gained your attention. I know my own grievances about sea monsters.” Adda sat down and popped open the rum for the two of them.

"Some believe the story and others don't. It's not up to me whether the landlubbers think the Kraken is real or not." Corsaire took a spot on the opposite barrel. "I know it's real and I know better now than to ever mess with one of its kind again."

“I’d believe your tale if you’d believe mine. Why’d you fight a Kraken anyways? Was there a woman, a treasure, glory...or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

"Treasure and greed, lassie." Corsaire was honest, he saw no reason to lie. "Took me first crew to its lair, thought the story was a bunch of hogwash. Rat was the only sensible one to stay away. Took one of the lifeboats off the ship and stayed outside the cave." He chuckled halfheartedly. "That's the only time he ever disobeyed me. I lost me crew, lost me arm, but I blew that son of a bitch to kingdom come."

“So you actually killed your monster. Admirable. You feed the squidy some firepower?” Adda had a laugh, pouring them two drinks.

"Nah, it actually was devouring the first ship I stole." Corsaire shook his head at the drink, knowing he was on duty. "Several boxes of gunpowder fell into its mouth. I shot the box before it could eat me."

“Good thinking. Shame about your crew. They die quickly though?”

"Some drowned, some were crushed, and others were eaten." Corsaire shuddered to think about it. "Didn't really know the men, just said they could have whatever they could carry if we succeeded in finding the treasure. Rat rowed me back to land before I died and bargained for me this arm." He pulled off his glove, showing his metal fingers and wriggled them. "Some islander magic”, he said. “Lor-Lee-Li something... found it in a market and bought it for me."

“That’s the arm you threatened to punch me with hon?” Adda examined it, trailing her fingers down his mechanical bicep. “Nice craftsmanship.”

"It's not for sale, if that's what you're going to ask next." Corsaire snorted as she touched the metal, not able to sense her touch with the fake limb. "All I know is Rat said it was elemental magic from some island. Won't melt, won't break, just needs a good cleaning here and there." He put his glove back on his hand. "Banthorarium I think it was called."

“Don’t want to buy it. Now, my brave little Captain, it’s my turn to tell a story.” Adda stood up, taking another drink. “You ever hear of the infamous narrow trench?”

"Aye, I have. Sirens be there." Corsaire nodded.

“To us Gerudo, the charms of a siren are lost on us. But that is not the danger that concerned me was there. In this trench, in order to pass through, you must negotiate a narrow strait. Let me ask you a question Captain. Given the option, would you take a route that would chance either complete survival or complete destruction of you, your ship and crew, or take a choice to willingly sacrifice a member of your crew, but guarantee the rest of you and the surviving crew safe passage?”

"My crew, me mates, are my brothers." Corsaire told Adda as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the other barrels. "They'd lay down their lives for me and I'd do the same for them. I'd never willingly sacrifice one. We'd take the risk; all together alive or die together."

“HA! So you’d take the choice I didn’t make.” Adda looked back at the stars. “When I first became Captain, I took my crew on a large expedition, stealing from some rich snobs. They sent a navy after us, so I decided to take a quick shortcut to avoid capture. I was previously told of the story of Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla was a six headed sea monster who would eat members of ships that passed by. Charybdis was an even fiercer entity, who used hurricanes and whirlpools to swallow whole ships. On the left side of the ship we saw the storms. On the right, calmer waters. I took the crew through the right path. Like hell was I going to take us through the storm. Yes, I had a chance for all of us to survive, but we might have all died as well. Besides...” Adda took her sword out and made fancy sword play. “We were badass Gerudo warriors! The deadliest female crew of pirates to ever live! We could take down a monster of the physical flesh.” She stabbed her sword into her sheath, shrugging her shoulders. “Oh how wrong I was. Scylla shot forth from the water’s depths. It had this terrifying appearance. I could make out what was once human, I think. It was so uncanny. It shot forward, eating two crew members immediately. It just kept chewing them, slowly. The screams....god those screams.” Adda took another swig of her rum. “We fired enough cannon fire at the other heads and used our might to stay alive, but they just wouldn’t die. That was when the monster started attacking my ship, pushing it towards the left part of the straight towards Charybdis. It wouldn’t be denied it’s meal. So.... I made a choice. I shot four of my members in the feet and back. Scylla accepted the offering and ate them. With all six of her heads fed, she let us through. I had to make a sacrifice, right on the spot at such a young age.” Adda relaxed onto the barrel again. “Now, whenever I have to go through there again, I make sure I have the right sacrifices. I don’t want to sacrifice my sisters ever again.”

"Captains make mistakes and we pay for it then or later. It will always haunt us." Corsaire knew that at the time, Adda did what she felt she had to do to ensure the survival of the majority of her crew. "Once, I might have made the choice you did if I ended up like my mentors. They started out on a good path... but by the end were lying, kidnapping, murdering rapists." He recalled the faces of the captain brothers, Azir and Hizir. "My own brother fell under their impression and he, too, lost his life by the sea witch along with our mentors. Perhaps if I had simply dragged my brother off their ship, he'd still be with me... or not. I'll never know for sure." He shrugged slightly, and then added, "But what I do know is no captain is perfect. I've made plenty of mistakes, mistakes that cost me and my crew. Yet, through the maelstroms of it all, they've stuck with me. I couldn't ask for a better band of brothers."

“You think you’re a good man? Above your mentors? Me? Or any other pirate?” Adda asked in a good tongue and cheek, philosophical way.

"No." Corsaire answered honestly as he fixed his tilted hat. "But I try to be the good man my crew thinks I am."

“That’s cute. You’re cute.” Adda sat her drink down. “I saw that you gave the jewels I presented to you to that single barmaid. That’s very....charitable. Why do you do it? And please don’t tell me it was out of the good of your heart. Everyone has an ulterior motive....you like her?”

"Dahlia has three kids, young ones with mouths to feed." Corsaire told Adda, having seen the little ones in the bar before when the babysitter dropped them off for the barmaid. "I know what it is like to be hungry, and no, Dahlia doesn't interest me in that way. Her focus is her children, the way it should be." He explained to Adda. "True, I could have used the jewels for my ship's necessities, or I could have spent it for Seer's nose. Yet, the money had needs elsewhere and I have the ability to pickpocket, raid, or steal whenever I please. Miss Dahlia does not."

“Ha. Never said if you like her you devil.” Adda took her hat off, followed by taking Corsaire’s off with a quick snag. Her long beautiful red hair flowed in the wind. Taking a breath of the sea she smiled at the Voe. “The sea is calming, isn’t it. I got another peace offering for your crew, if you’re interested.”

"I admire her, but romantic interest? No." Corsaire knew the woman would not shut up until he answered. "If it's more alcohol, I'm sure they'll oblige."

“I’m not flirting myself when I say this, but when’s the last time you or your men have had sex?”

"That... is something I actually do not keep track of with my men." Corsaire snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. "As for myself, it's usually the last time we're in port."

“This would be to make up for the fighting and have you not make any report against me. But I could persuade my crew to mingle with your crew. Nice environment, safety, few drinks here and there. Some of my own crew has been blue balled, even tonight.” She gave a chuckle. “Go really easy on the shy guys in your crew. Give them a night they wouldn’t forget. Hell, they could even pick out who they’d like. Just don’t make any comments about whores, prostitution or brothels, and it could be a fun time for all. How’s that sound?”

"Pfffffttt..." Corsaire had to hold back a laugh at her phrasing, knowing it was rough to have a declination of intercourse. "Pockets and Seer are the two most shy men on ship, but Pockets is the shiest man on the planet, I swear, he turns red if a lady holds his hand!"

“How much you bet he’d faint in one of my girls’ arms as they carried him off to bed~” Adda stifled a loud laugh she wanted to get out of her system.

"Oh, there's no need to bet, he fainted when a lady kissed his cheek for carrying her groceries!" Corsaire tried to keep his snickers to a minimum. "He's got a pure heart, that's for sure."

“Then you won’t object to the offer.” Adda put on his hat. Turned out to be a very good fit.

"Object to..." Corsaire paused his words as the lady adjusted his hat. Why did the women always go for his hat? Was it a secret kink among the girls or something? He cleared his throat, deciding to play dumb. "What offer?"

Adda walked around him, trailing a finger under his chin. “The type where after we undress you of your clothing and have our fun, we get to keep a trinket or cloth to remember you by.” She gave a hardy grin, feeling the rim of his hat and ready to move if he grabbed for it. “Think I’d keep your hat. Add a peacock feather to it!”

"You have a very descriptive definition of fun." Corsaire chuckled as she tried to tempt him and then stood. "And I'd sooner let you keep me treasure," He placed his hands on her hips, one running up her back, getting closer, lips almost touching. "then keep me hat." With a quick tip of his fingers, he flipped the hat off her head onto his.

Adda allowed him to lay his hands on her. They were firm. "I could settle for that too. I like this look...." One hand held him by the belt, the other firmly holding his back.

"Though... my crew, they get a touch lonely too, you know." Corsaire nearly jolted when she squeezed his ass. "We could always arrange for somewhere more so... suited for nightly activities."

"I know a proper quiet hotel on this island. I can get us all some nice quarters. Or just settle for staying on my ship~" She grinned as his face crumbled for a moment at her squeeze. She reached down and squeezed the front of his pants too. "You know, usually I challenge men to a sword fight, cut their pants down and make them submit. All I had to do was walk onto your ship and you were mine!"

Corsaire was not exactly a fan of submitting to a woman he did not know. For all he knew, this could be a trick to slit his throat after the deed was done. He had heard of some women seducing men, then killing the poor sap, and taking off with all the money. He was about to nicely decline the offer of meeting on a turf she knew when he heard footsteps coming up from the cabins.

"Captain?" It was Seer. What was he doing up this late? "I sense someone else on the boat."

Adda was like a cat when it came to having sex with men. When she was hungry, she'd consume as many as she could. If they were especially tasty looking they were hers. The Captain liked to play with them before digging in as well. People were consumables to her. Be it for money, sex, or just an able body to use. And seeing the blind man come up, she gave a smile, wrapping an arm around Corsiare's shoulder, standing side by side with him. "Hello there dear. Seer was it? Glad to see you up and about after that little scuffle earlier evening."

"...? Wait... you're the lady from earlier this evening. The one that smells like brimstone and metal." Seer wondered why Corsaire allowed her on the ship. “What was going on? ... I'd prefer not to be punched again."

"No, no, the lady is just here for an apology." Corsaire quickly told Seer, taking this chance to turn from Adda and check on his crew member. "You should be resting."

"I was... until I sensed her."

"I'm here for your whole crew my man. By next week I won't even be in this particular ocean. Felt wrong not to give you and the rest of your brothers a.... proper apology." She slowly trailed a finger down his open upper chest. "Corsaire, why don't you wake the crew. It's not even midnight yet."

"Um... whole crew?" Seer repeated her words, not understanding what she meant until that finger traced down his chest. His white skin turned bright red in the cheeks. Usually women were not so forward with him unless she had a kink of some kind. "M'am, you know, that's mighty kind of you, but I'm sure a nice lady like yourself has a more suitable bed... partner..."

"Seer, are you seriously being shy when the lady is interested in you?" Corsaire knew the man was a touch shy, but then again, he always was very tipsy when he ended up in bed with another lady. "Just say hello before you go straight for the boobs, okay?"

"I did not---!!!"

"You were tipsy that one time and told a lady she had a fantastic pair of tits. I thought you were going to get slapped but she actually liked that."

"Depends on the woman." Adda trailed a finger down the side of Seer's cheek. "You were right Corsaire, he is a shy one. Give me a moment with him while you get the rest of your boys?"

"I think they'll definitely take you up on your offer." Corsaire laughed the way Seer kept turning so red. "Now, be nice to Seer. He's not normally one to flirt with ladies until he's had a few."

"Captain!!!" Seer protested. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm helping you get laid, I'll be back in a second... or minutes..."

Watching Corsaire go below deck, Adda gave a chuckle. "You seem like a nice kid. How old are you?" The poor man felt himself be pulled waist to waist with the tall Gerudo Captain. She wasn't a massive giant like some of her tribe, but at just over six feet, she was peak to most average men. Luckily, Seer matched her in height.

"Um... I really don't know?" Seer answered honestly with a sheepish grin as she pulled him close. "I think I'm around maybe twenty-two... or twenty-three. Maybe older, maybe younger, I'm not sure."

"Twenty-Five myself. I think you're cute. Sorry my best friend punched you in the face. I heard the blind have the rest of their senses heightened." Her hands held his sides for support as she leaned in to give him a deep kiss. Her lips were like strawberries, her breathe fresh and savoury.

Seer was nearly at full attention from that deep kiss. Other senses being heightened, Adda was definitely right about that. Perhaps he was a little too eager when turned on, simply picking Adda up underneath her ass and feeling that glorious backside.

Adda had the booty and the rack to bring heaven to any man. She lathered her tongue with him, pulling away for the tease. "So tell me, how did THAT feel~"

"I'm not sure I have the proper words for it, but I think I'm going to settle with amazing for right now." Seer said breathlessly. "I'd like for it to happen again."

"Alright. You want to wait for your brothers to wake up or do you want to get out of here now~?" Adda tugged at his belt, a Cheshire grin on her face.

"You know I can't see, right?" Seer liked to use a little jest here and there. "You'll definitely have to 'lead' the way."

"Then let's go~" Adda held his hand down to the docks and whistled for her ride. A gerudo on a mechanical skid boat steered in. It was made of Termina technology. Simple for quick on the shore transport, and easily attachable to the main ship. "Easy steps honey."

Once in the boat Adda sat him down, taking her own seat beside him. "Hold onto me tight, ok~"

"Oh sweet Water Spirit..." Seer nearly cursed under his breath as the boat moved so suddenly. The noise was rattling in his ears and he felt a little uneasy by all the metal. He was used to Corsaire's ship. The cook gripped Adda a little tightly.

Adda saw Corsaire getting up onto the deck again, waving him goodbye. “Too slow~ Meet you at my ship! You can’t miss it!”

Giving a laugh she held the nervous cook back.

Once the boat slowed, Seer felt like he could breathe much easier. His senses were not being rattled. Corsaire and the rest of the crew would be along soon enough. Though he was not exactly sure what this captain saw in him.

The small speedboat pulled up to its destination. Her ship was unlike many in this ocean. It was large, made of metal, yet floated with grace. It was painted to look like black charcoal wood, and the sails had a magical shimmer to them. Her flag was an old Gerudo symbol, forgotten to even her. To Adda, it looked cool and held significance that marked it as her own. As the small speed boat was pulled up to the side of the ship, Adda stepped onto the large open deck, and her crew cheered.

“Captain! You did it!”

“Others coming?”

“Ooooo, he looks cute~”

“That the guy Scarlet punched? Poor lad.”

“Can we share him?”

Adda waved both her hands downwards to silence them. “Ey! The other boys should be on their way. This handsome fellow is mine though. So is their Captain if he has the balls to challenge me. Come on Mr. Cook. I’ll walk you up to my quarters.”

There were so many women, too many women. Seer gulped down his nervousness as the women pawed at him, feeling their touchy feely hands. He nearly jumped out of his skin as one groped his backside. What fresh hell had Adda brought him into now? Thankfully, the captain told the rest of the women to back off as she led him to her quarters.

“You don’t get off on drugs do you?”

"No! No drugs!" Seer reacted negatively to the mention of any substance. He shook his head insistently. "No drugs, or I go."

Adda squeezed his hand. “Good. Means that I don’t have to worry about some junkie not wanting to focus on me or trying anything stupid.” Adda opened the door to her quarters for Seer. First room was an office, with trophies all over the walls. Second room was her bedroom. The bed was a King Sized mattress with the softest sheets and blankets Seer had ever felt when she sat him down. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

"8 steps... from the door to this room and... 10 steps to the bed." Seer counted as a habit. He knew every inch of Corsaire's ship, and this was foreign territory. Once Seer felt the sheets, his hands carefully smoothed the material before sitting on the mattress. "You know, I'm not usually the pick of the litter, if you know what I mean." His head turned in her direction.

“You mentioned that. You got self-esteem issues?”

"Not really, I don't mind being blind." Seer admitted. "I'm just curious as to why."

“I can tell when a man doesn’t want it. Your Captain was chivalrous, but it seemed he wasn’t into me. His loss....and your gain.”

"All the men have their particular tastes." Seer told Adda. "You, however, I think will be all right because... you smell nice."

A knock came at her door, Scarlet’s nervous voice calling out. “Captain. The rest of the men arrived.”

“Ey! Seer. Wait right here. Just want to settle your brothers in.”

Adda walked to the quarter deck, a lot of the Gerudo woman eyeing Corsaire and his men. “Hello boys. Welcome aboard!”

Once the men were on the ship, Corsaire had to admit it was a nice setup.

Hard drinks, fine wines, and other fruity beverages had been set up. Adda shook Corsaire’s hand. “Your lad’s waiting on me, so let’s make this quick. No one does anything stupid, like kleptomania. Besides, you don’t want to steal from a band of thieves. Two, play nice, and we’ll treat you nice~”

"Pirates stealing from other pirates sounds like a bad story." Corsaire told Adda with a small smirk. "We'll keep this civil."

“Good.” She gave his side a tap, and spun around to address the crews of both crew. “Alright ladies! You wanna have fun!?”

“YEAH!!!” The cry echoed the night. Adda dramatically spun to the men, snapping her fingers with a pose. She had a flare for the dramatic. “What about you Gentlemen!?”

They gave a hell yes right back. This was certainly going to be an interesting night. All the men seemed eager to get to know and romance the ladies before finding a potential bedmate.

Adda pointed to Rat, giving Scarlet a big smack on the ass. Her first mate yelped, blushing red in the face. “What about you two? Maybe take some time making up for earlier tonight?”

“C-captain? You don’t need to-“

“Phhhhhh I insist. It will be good for you Scarlet.”

Scarlet was dumbstruck, slowly turning to Rat. “H-hi....sorry for picking a fight.”

"...? Me?" Rat pointed to himself when Adda suggested he hook up with Scarlet. "I'm very a-flattered, but tis the ladies' job to chose her partner."

"Pfffttt," Corsaire tried to keep from laughing at Rat's surprised face. "Just go with it for once, Rat."

Adda pushed Scarlet towards Rat, and the two of them started to slowly talk. Adda winked to Corsaire. “I’d offer a room, but I get the feeling you’re not into Queens when you see one~”

"All men have certain preferences, Adda, you can't fault me for that." Corsaire chuckled half-heartedly. "I think your girls and my crew will have a good time."

“Well, one day you’re gonna kick yourself in the ass for not being with a beautiful Gerudo when you find one. And with how the population is, you might never get the chance again. Have fun regardless. There’s an empty room you can stay in. That is unless you change your mind~”

Adda pulled him close for a quick teasing peck on the lips, walking back to her bedroom.

Her crew was having the time of their lives with Corsaire’s crew. The men were so charming, some even funny. With poor timid Pockets, a group took their time coaxing him into a good time. But now it was Adda’s turn to enjoy her chosen prey. Taking off her clothes, she smiled down at Seer. It was a damn shame he couldn’t see anything. Took the fun out of an exotic and slow strip tease, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped. “I hope I didn’t tease you too long with the wait.”

"No," Seer was feeling the embroidery on the sheets. He had never learned to read or write, but could recognize certain letters from his years with Corsaire. Brail books were rare, and the few that he had on the ship were the courtesy of his captain trying to teach him how to read. This language, however, he did not know. "What does it say?"

“It means Power. For the Gerudo, Power became synonymous with the Gerudo King of Hyrule, Ganondorf. The tribes of Termina have luckily never met him, because I imagine if we did, we’d be challenged, and either wiped out, or forced to obey him. Being Captain means I am the Chieftain of the Terminia Gerudo Pirate Clan. So as far as I am concerned, I am the Queen to my people just as he was King. I am Power itself.”

She gripped his shirt, and with a solid pull, tore it in two with a loud rip of the fabric. Men usually loved this move or were terrified by it. Regardless, it got Adda off. What held Adda’s interest, was that she was intrigued by Seer being invested in her culture, as little as he could be though.

"Whoa!" Seer was certainly surprised by her simply ripping open his shirt. That was not a move he expected. Though she was a pushy woman and got what she wanted from the sound of it. He was not as buff as some of the other men like Rat or Pockets, but still possessed a good amount of lean muscle.

“Scarlet’s punches are like kitten swipes compared to me. It’s all about how you apply yourself. Now, let’s get the rest so you can match me~” With a purr, Adda took down his pants. Eyeing him over now, he was a very pretty sight. His white skin, coupled with a slimmer body and beautiful dark hair made him an ideal candidate for the pirate. “You want me to describe myself to you? I promise it’s all truth~”

"I'll take your word for it, but I wouldn't want to test it to find out." Seer jested in good humor at Adda's statement. He had been punched once today and that was plenty enough in his book. "Why describe when I can just feel?" His hands carefully found her warm skin. Though his fingers did not go down to her backside, rather up to her face. His calloused fingers gently traced over her jawbone and around her features, feeling the area around her nose and her soft lips. One finger twirled around a lock of her hair, feeling the silky texture. "Warm... and soft."

Adda was expecting him to get touchy as she leaned closer, but she was taken aback by him slowly exploring her face and hair. “Why are you feeling up there?”

"I want to 'see' how you look." Seer explained to the captain. "A female's anatomy is pretty much the same with just a variance in size... but the face, that's the true treasure." The blind man's fingers then slowly left her face. "I can picture what you look like in my mind with my hands. I can sense what you're like by how you smell, the sound of your walk, how words flow from your mouth, the grin with your laugh... it's not too hard to know you're beautiful despite not being able to see."

Adda’s bravado and spunk was gone for a moment in time. In her place was a young woman completely moved by Seer’s words. Her faced softened, and her eyes grew with wonder. How long had it been since someone had spoken to her that way? Too long, too long indeed. Coming back to reality, she held him close. “Trust me when I say this. I think I really like you Seer.” With a deep kiss, the Gerudo woman straddled him, followed by the most passionate night of the man’s life.

The night had been glorious for all the men onboard. Gerudo woman came in a variety of charms, and excelled at their beauty. Sleeping with Rat, Scarlet was happy being cozy in the giant mans arms, having never been with someone so big before, and in more ways than one.

The man who had the most fulfilling night though was undeniably Seer. He experienced sober love making like never before. Adda was fiery, tight, and gave him everything a man could want in a passionate night. They had to have kept going even as everyone else went to bed. Filthy with sweat and other nightly coatings, Adda was the first to wake.

Seer had proven quite capable in bed and, in the privacy of her own quarters, she allowed herself to stew on his kindness. It was rare, and something she forgot existed. In this kill or be killed world, it would no doubt get him killed, but she thought it was sweet nonetheless. Her naked body felt so sensitive, even now as she brushed against him. “You beautiful Voe... maybe I can talk to your Captain about you staying on my ship....”

Adda was shocked by herself at muttering such words. He was good, in so many ways, but she wasn’t going to so easily give up her heart for any Voe.

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness," Seer was laying there with his eyes closed, still not wanting to move from the bed. He was comfortable, warm, and these sheets were a slice of heaven. Not to mention, he was not quite ready to leave the company of the beautiful captain. "Though I cannot leave Captain Corsaire, not after all he's done for me. I think you are very lovely, Adda, yet I am not ready to leave just yet. I hope you understand."

Adda was glad he couldn’t see her flare up in embarrassment. “You... weren’t supposed to hear that.”

"I'm blind, Adda, not deaf. Or have you forgotten from having your mind blown last night?" Seer grinned, only teasing in good humor. "... I think I can even hear your face turning red from all the blood rushing to your cheeks."

“Oh shut up.” She crawled on top, giving him a deep kiss. For an extra tease she rubbed her body against him. “I was the best damn experience you ever had~”

His white skin was stained red from multiple love bites, and his hips bruised from the more physical aspects of the night. Adda was incredibly proud of the canvas she painted.

"Love making, yes. Wrestling? I think Rat might have you beat on that." Seer snickered as Adda's warm body pressed against his own. "There is something to be said about all those nips you gave me. I think you definitely hold the record for that, my lady."

“Good.” Her hand trailed his shaft when she heard a knock at her door. With a grin, she held his hand to get one more touch of her perfect breasts. “Mmmm, stay here.”

Getting up, she quickly put on the bare clothing she needed with some baggy pants, a bra, and her hat. Opening the door, she smiled at Corsaire. She hoped he would be jealous. “Ey Cap. Here to check in on your lad?”

"I'm alive, Captain." Seer said from the bed with a chuckle. "She didn't kill me."

"Well, I'm glad you're all fine and dandy, my boy, but we need to head out." Corsaire leaned against the door frame. "We have a Danjuran cargo ship heading along our route."

"I understand, Captain."

Adda quirked an eyebrow. Maybe now she could get what she wanted when they first met. “What if I can offer something better?”

"I'm not into a threesome with another man if that's what you're suggesting." Corsaire teased lightly.

The Gerudo captain chuckled, a more serious tone flexing from her voice. Games were over now for her. “How’d you like treasure more valuable than gold or jewels.”

"I'm listening."

Adda went to get fully changed, teasing Covarog with her naked body as she got herself into fresh clothing. “You see my sails there Corsaire?”

"I see the carpet matches the drapes."

"Captain, please!" Seer was feeling around trying to find his own clothes and accidently picked up one of Adda's bras. Clearing his throat, he folded the underwear neatly before placing it on her bed and continuing to search. "Be serious for once."

“You can keep it if you’d like~”

Adda gave him one of her shirts as well and patted Seer, fuelling his shy embarrassment.

Now clothed, the Captain walked onto the main deck. “Up above you are one of fives magical sets known as the Swift Sail. You can’t burn or tear it, and it will sail perfectly in any direction, no matter the air resistance. In my travels I’ve discovered two other sets. Both of which I’ve promptly locked up and dropped into the sea. Rather not have anyone else have the advantage I have.” She turned to Corsaire with another dramatic spin. “However, a ship I’ve been tracking for a while has the fourth set. You help me raid this ship, and along with splitting the rest of the jewels in half, I will allow you to keep the Swift Sail for yourself.”

"Hrm... sounds a little too good to be true.” Corsaire crossed his arms. "How do I know you'll not betray me? I'm not known to work with other pirates because I've been double crossed before."

“Because on this ship that we’ll attack, there’s a much bigger prize that I desire. I can’t achieve my goal without another crew to help me pincer in my target.”

Adda took her gun, firing a bullet to not only wake her crew, but demonstrate that the sail could not be torn. “It’s like the saying goes. There’s honour amongst thieves. I can guarantee they hold the full set. I can guarantee the rest of the treasure they hold can make your crew very happy men. So trust me.”

"Hrm... what do you think, Seer?"

"Me, Captain?"

"You're the one that spent the night with her, what do you think?" Corsaire asked the cook. He knew about Seer's ability to 'read' people, to sense their thoughts, whether it was honest intentions or not. "Should I trust her?"

"Well... she was kind to me, Captain. Her words are sincere, from what I sense." Seer spoke as he finished putting on his clothes, but was having trouble with the shirt. Button up shirts were his worst enemy. He was off by one button. "If she was going to betray you, I would detect more malice. I do not sense any."

"... very well." Corsaire trusted his crewmate. "If Seer thinks you're good... then I suppose you are."

“Good. Very good.”

Adda was so close to achieving her dominance of the sea.

It took a day’s travel, both crews working with each other in sequence. Their target was an imperial ship of some rich nation. The ship was small, but very fast. Adda was right when she said her ship couldn’t catch it on its own, but with Corsaire’s help, the two ships trapped their quarry at the mouth of a river. That was when the bloodbath commenced. Adda was ruthless, her cannon fire crippling the lower decks of the ship, forcing it to beach itself. She used mortar fire to take care of any who dared flee onto the land. Her boarding party swept aboard and Adda showed off her terrifying power with a blade. With great laughter and snark, she duelled her way forward. Corsaire witnessed her exchange blows with the enemy captain, the man cursing the pirates to his dying breath. It was obvious that Adda was toying with him. When she was finally bored, she pulled out her revolver in the middle of the sword duel and shot her opponent in the knee cap. As the man screamed she took his suffering in with a deep breath, and silenced him with another shot to the head. Soon enough a number of men had surrendered, being round up on the main deck. Adda took extreme satisfaction from her work as a pirate. After finishing her afterglow of the victory, she signalled Corsaire to come aboard.

Adda was ruthless, that was for sure. If at all possible, he tried to avoid killing, but it seemed Adda and her crew rather enjoyed it. Once on board, Corsaire made sure that he took only a few men, leaving the rest on his ship. Rat and Pockets were beside of him, while the rest stayed on board the Sea Witch. Once Adda had her treasure, then he would go his separate way.

"You find it?"

“Give me a moment.” Adda eyed the men that were still alive. “Hmm. You’re cute. Ladies take him, and five others. You know what to do with the rest.”

They gave their Captain a nod, and put six men onto the Gerudo ship. The other were dragged over to the edge of their ship, having their necks slit and thrown into the river. Crocodiles tore into the corpses as they fell in.

Kicking down the treasury door, Adda pointed out the treasure she wanted Scarlet to divide. The first mate started counting the treasure boxes, finding a large massive rolled up sail. With a smile, she handed it to Rat. To tell the truth, she was forming a crush. “Here you go Mousa.”

"Thank you, lassie." Rat took the sail as Pockets started to load the divided treasure onto the Sea Witch. "And I's a ratty... not a mousa." He winked at her. "Not meek like a mousa either. Then again, you know that."

"Is it necessary to kill everyone?" Corsaire felt his hairs stand up on his neck when the women so casually killed the men and fed them to crocodiles. "Or is this not to leave any loose ends?"

“Lack of loose ends. Those six will make a good distraction for Scylla when we return to home waters. You aren’t worried, are you?” Adda cracked a smile, sneaking malice in it to purposely make Corsaire feel a little fear to her. Discovering a silver box, it held the engraving of ancient text, and three golden triangles. Creaking it open, Adda took hold of a very light silver baton. With a single light swing, the wind blew softly. “It actually exists....”

"You know, you could always sail around Scylla." Corsaire mentioned and tried to keep a straight face. He was not malicious at heart unless the situation called for it. What Adda did was her business. "I have no reason to worry as long as you uphold your end of the bargain. You have what you want, and I have one of the sails. Give me the rest and we'll be even."

"Captain!" Seer called from the Sea Witch. "You and Lady Adda better hurry. We have a Danjuran navy ship on our tails!"

“You only need the current sail for its magic to work. God knows what power could happen if you got all five. And by the sound of it, we don’t have the time.” Adda power walked to her ship. “Scarlet, do we have the inscription for whirlpools?”

“Yes Captain!”

“Excellent. I can buy us some time for goodbyes and an escape Corsaire.”

"The legend says I need all of them." Corsaire knew how pirates were, so he had to be sneaky. As Seer called about the Danjuran ship, he knew the navy would be close soon enough. After all, he used to be an officer for the royal Danjuran navy. He knew all the ins and outs of their routes, how the ships worked, and the weaponry. Hopping back on his ship, the captain signaled for the men to ready the sails. Grinning, the captain removed the board connecting the Sea Witch to the one he and Adda chased. With the wind in their favor, the sails unfurled and lurched it forward. "Though it won't be too hard to find where you've hid them."

“You can have my sails when you find the fifth set!” Adda ran to her ship, her crew setting out. Taking the scroll Scarlet unrolled for her, Adda followed the directions carefully. It was time to see if this Wind Waker worked. She made a flurry of flics left to right, once up, twice down, finishing by pointing at the navy ship. Storm clouds poured over the target, and the sea itself swirled. A massive whirlpool started to rock the boat, anchoring it in a circle as it spun around. Adda gave out a triumphant laugh. “It worked? IT WORKED!!! I have the greatest weapon a pirate could ever dream of!!! HahaHAHAHA!!! YES!!!”

The two ships momentarily sailed together as they left the navy behind. Adda walked to the edge of her ship with a swagger. “Well, boys, I suppose this is goodbye!”

"Just wait until I come for your sail." Corsaire said in good humor as he signaled for his men to head in the direction of Gulper Bay. "See you soon, captain of the Gerudos!"

Seer was at the end of the ship and although he could not see Adda, he waved goodbye with a soft smile.

“I guess you’ll have to visit. Give a year or two after I’ve finished making myself Queen of the Sea. Gerudo woman are the best damn pirates you’ll ever meet!”

Scarlet took her helmet off and waved to Rat. “I’ll think of baby names just in case!”

Adda turned to her with a look of confusion. “What?”

Scarlet whispered to herself in embarrassment. “I didn’t buy any pills or condoms. Something might happen...”

“Christ girl....”

Shaking her head at her first mate, Adda turned her attention and winked at Corsaire. “Normally I’d consider you a ‘loose end’.... but that cook of yours is too damn adorable to disappoint~ Don’t tell any Gerudo men about us, and you can visit anytime!”

Seer normally did not think about ever having contact with a woman with such bravado as Adda, but perhaps, one day soon... he'd see her again.

With that, both ships sailed in different directions, new adventures and danger awaiting them. (Christmas gift to the beautiful Lorraine of @figmentforms. Captain Adda is technically a creation of Lor that we made together in our spare time. I’m proud to play and bring Adda to life in this crossover with @ridersoftheapocalypse in her first introduction to the extended universe. Art is done by the fabulous @s-kinnaly. Reblogs and comments appreciated! Happy Christmas Eve! See you tomorrow for one more gift!)

#Crossover #Christmas Gift #ridersoftheapocalypse #s-kinnaly #figmentforms #Captain Adda #Corsaire #Seer #Rat

364 notes · View notes

burniture · 3 years

Photo

✞ Beautiful Truth Telling Earth Angel Lady Annie Hardy as The Penitent Mary Magdalene By JC✞ Based on “The Penitent Mary Magdalene By Carlo Dolci” ✞

#Annie Hardy #Beautiful Earth Angel Lady #Jesus Saves #Annie Hardy Saves #✞#Mary Magdalene #JC✞#Carlo Dolci #Penitent #Jesus Protect Annie Hardy #Based on the Most High

4 notes · View notes

launderground · 4 years

Link

youtube

#annie hardy #freedom #saves ep

0 notes

theinquisitivej · 5 years

Text

SteamHeart Episode 20 Reactions

Chapter Twenty: Off-Road Warriors

You can listen to the full episode here.

Well damn, that was an intense dose of adrenaline via audio, wasn’t it?

Raven immediately sets the foreboding tone, a notable change from the sweet tranquillity of the previous chapter’s closing moments. His grave description of the convoy of Mad Max-looking scary-crazy-bastards (and yes, this is about to be a Steampunk Fury Road episode, and you should have no objections to that) coming over the horizon sells the real danger that these men represent. The language paints a captivating yet frightening picture of demented vehicles, using harsh consonants to convey the sturdiness of these reinforced crafts, and hissing adjectives to emphasise the sharp, hostile shapes of these clawed, pointed carriages. Best line of the section is certainly “nothing was uniform save for the manifestly apparent expulsion of normality”. It instantly cements the chaotic, violent mindset of the men approaching the mine.

These men call themselves the Southern Cross. Among their number is a man who’s fashioned himself into a bear (the talons fixed to his limbs make me think of a twisted, older and more cruel version of Miguel and his mongoose claw), and, as the band blows their own war trumpets in an act that is as aggressive as it is indicative of their own inflated self-importance over others, the ensuing danger becomes intensified, and chillingly unavoidable. We get the first glimpse of their leader, who wears a horse’s skull and appears to fancy himself a pale rider of death with the white, bone-like motif of his carriage and horses (I’m picturing Overwatch’s Reaper in both appearance and edgy lack of self-awareness). A lieutenant riding ahead of the pack addresses Raven. While Raven is the one who embodies the more dignified aspects of the bird with whom he shares his name, this lieutenant is the one who resembles a squawking, shrill parrot, wearing a beaked plague doctor’s mask and shrieking demands at Raven. He claims that “the Lord of Brimstone” has arrived. Oh this is going to go well.

Raven dashes inside, hurriedly relaying the situation to the others. Within minutes, the few remaining mine workers and the team have brought Tabitha, who, lest we forget, is still going through labour (but still exhibiting her leadership skills even now by issuing orders, reinforcing that whole theme I talked about last time about motherhood / pregnancy not getting in the way of authoritative women being damn good at their jobs), inside SteamHeart. They don’t have enough soldiers to defend this post, and help isn’t coming, so things are looking grim. Even so, Annie assures us that “we’re not dying here like rats in a trap. Hell, that’s like, my one rule.”, and Laureta Sela’s delivery of that second part alleviates some of the tension by getting a chuckle out of me with that great line. As the group approach the gates, however, the pressure of the situation is once again felt as Harry informs the team that, even with SteamHeart’s technological superiority, it will take some serious damage if it charges headfirst into the enemy through the gate, and likely won’t be able to break free of them if it does so.

Annie starts a dialogue with them through the loudspeaker. Abigail wanted to try, demonstrating her continuing desire to work on being a better figure of authority after giving the speech to the theatre a few chapters back, but Annie bluntly shoots that down as she knows they’ll have a better chance if she takes charge of this. Even so, it goes about as well as you’d expect – they don’t heed Annie’s firm warnings, and spout off rhetoric that, in addition to being violently psychotic, is grossly suggestive. Both the birdman and horse leader demand they “open wiiiide, each and every one of you; we are coming in!” Eeurggh… fuck these guys.

The team devise a plan of escape after Jae-Hyun proposes he opens the gate to give the rest of them a chance, acknowledging the certainty that this will result in his own death. His brushing of Tabitha’s cheek indicates the loyalty and love he has for his leader who he will lay down his own life for. He steps out of SteamHeart to meet his fate, adjusting his hat as he does so; if clothes maketh the man, then this act highlights the dignity of this man in the face of these monstrously dressed, hollow creatures who call themselves men. The Southern Cross enter the mine after Hyun opens the gates, and the plague doctor spouts more inane speeches about surrender being the sensible choice in the face of such a rapturous occasion (resembling a combination of Loki in the first Avengers saying “isn’t this so much easier?!”, and a Jim Sterling character). In an instant, Harry springs SteamHeart into action, shooting forward and knocking horses and riders aside as it does so. The episode has been building anticipation to this moment – things are going to kick off hard.

Jae-Hyun pulls the squawking doctor off his horse, and the response of arrows shot in his direction kills both men, though only the doctor meets his death with a scream. I’m torn on Jae-Hyun’s death, as it feels as if we were barely just starting to get to know this coolly tempered character, and the stern composure with which he met his death makes him someone I wish we got to spend more time with. However, I also think a character like this really helps heighten the stakes of the ensuing sequence, as well as hammers home the point that the victory of our heroes doesn’t come without sacrifice. The resilience Jae-Hyun showed as he met his death in order to save the lives of others, while still demonstrating a fighting spirit that showed he was a man who wouldn’t let monsters like these do what they wanted without retribution, makes the most of the small amount of time we spend with him. If we were to have a character with such a journey within SteamHeart, and I think that both the sequence and the story as a whole are stronger for it, I’m also glad that a specific effort is made to make this character not just a generic white guy. Instead, it’s a character of Asian descent who clearly has a defined look, style, and personality outside of what we see of him here in this book. It gives the world and the people in it a little more dimension, and reminds us that the way forward toward a more heroic and noble world is through unity and collaboration between all of us. That’s how we get to see the best of humanity. But for the worst of humanity, like the racist, murderous Southern Cross, it’s pretty satisfying to see someone of a different ethnicity literally pull them off their horse and, when it comes down to it, show that they are the better man when they each meet their deaths.

Anyway, back to the action – I’ll do my best to make my writing engaging and analytical, but to be frank, it’s so easy to lose myself in the flow of this sequence. It’s tense as hell, compelling, features detailed description of well-choreographed action, the voice actors are all delivering their lines with pitch-perfect urgency and intensity, and all of this is packaged together (in this audio version of the book) with some truly immersive editing and sound effect choices. It’s the best action sequence of New Century to date.

As SteamHeart breaks away, the Southern Cross give chase, abandoning their initial goal of the mine as they now want the technology of their craft, as well as to take out their frothing anger on the crew. The grassland beneath them is uneven, which isn’t good for Tabitha during all of this, so James urges Harry to seek the smoothest route. Individual horse riders catch up and start flinging projectiles at SteamHeart’s glowing cables, which you have to imagine is a weak point of the craft (kind of like those glowing spots on a videogame boss). Annie and Butler take position in SteamHeart’s sniping openings. Abigail and Jeremy are handing out ammo and hammering out any projectiles which pierce the hull of the craft, showing that this thing isn’t impervious to damage, and will fall if it takes too much. Harry is doing a mixture of evasive and ramming manoeuvres, resulting in some awesome displays of destruction as enemy carriages splinter, flip, and crash. God, this is good stuff to listen to.

James takes over narration from Raven (incidentally, Raven was a good choice for this first part, as his journalistic ability to report the specifics of events puts you right in the action of this sequence). He recruits Jeremy, instructing him to sterilise some linens using steam from the craft’s internal pipes. Tabitha grips James’ hands as she fights the pain, and the two “breathe together”, something Harry and Tabitha did at the end of the last episode – there’s a lot of power in matching and sharing the breathing of someone else as they go through something hard that pushes them to the edge. James hides nothing from Tabitha when she asks him if he’s delivered many babies before; he’s assisted on several occasions, but this is the first time he’s delivered one himself. But even as weapons hammer the hull next to them, James assures with compassionate determination that they’re going to do this right, and that there will be another “little person in the world” in a short while, which is how they’re going to survive. It’s an exchange of nervous fear as everything happens around them, mixed with hopeful resilience.

We switch to Annie. An approaching enemy vehicle has attached lassos to SteamHeart. Abigail, Harry, and Annie take this in, realise how they need to counter this, and brace themselves; SteamHeart builds energy in a roaring moment of anticipation before Harry jams the wheel and hammers the breaks, making the back of SteamHeart swing like an almighty pendulum, smashing the enemy vehicle in a spectacular moment of destruction.

Now the Bear (whose cries make him sound like Tom Hardy’s Bane) and his vehicle are coming down on them. One of the Southern Cross leaps onto the windshield and embeds his tomahawk in the window and narrowly misses Harry. The proud mechanic indignantly cries out that these fuckers are “tearing my baby apart!”, and Abigail steps out the hatch to punish the window assailant by shooting him point blank in the elbow. If I recall correctly, her weapon of choice right now is a sawn-off shotgun, making the impact of this even meatier and wince-inducing [Editor’s Correction: I’ve been informed that Abigail’s weapon is a shotgun, but not a sawn-off. It’s a lever-action, short-barrel, short-stock shotgun, made for her by Harry, John Browning and William Winchester. Think Arnie during the truck chase scene in Terminator 2]. Annie asks her what the hell she thinks she’s doing, before Abby swings across to the Bear’s carriage using one of the lassos. Annie’s concern is understandable; Abigail is her charge, a possessor of the Endowment (and one who very recently demonstrated can actually put it to good use by closing these portals), and this chaotic and dangerous situation might force Annie to do what Arlington asked of her and shoot Abigail before the Endowment can be lost, which is the last thing she wants to do. We see these frantic thoughts race through her mind as she trains her rifle over the Bear and Abigail’s fight. The Bear seems to be enjoying the duel, demanding his comrades leave her alone and that he be the one to take her down. Abigail catches herself on his armour, but she spits blood in his eye, dodges his club, and, with one guided megaton hit of a punch that slows the world down to a crawl, destroys his balls.

Brutal. Awesome.

As he reels, Abigail ropes the Bear and kicks the driver, snaring him and launching the Bear into the air as Annie tags in with a shot that severs the rope and sends him flying and crashing. A feathered carriage comes in from the side, putting Abigail in danger. Annie calls out for a bottle of bourbon, and Raven assists by giving her his whisky, though he lets her know that she owes him a drink. This, and a lot of other little asides and exchanges during this sequence is what communicates the character of the people engaged in this fight, which makes it all the more exciting and thrilling. It’s people we know and care about who are participating in this and fighting for their lives, not just nameless faces. For that same reason, it’s also what makes it tense and frightening; I really don’t want to lose anyone in this group. But, for the time being, Raven tears a piece of fabric from his shirt and jams it into the bottle, showing he understands exactly what Annie had in mind. He lights it with his cigarette (another indication of his personality – it’s amusing to see that even in this life-or-death situation, Raven prioritises having a lit cigarette in his mouth), and Annie passes the Molotov to Abigail after she realised what the two were planning and came up to them. The synthesis of this teamwork and co-operation between multiple members of the party is really satisfying to watch. Annie lays down covering fire at the feathered carriage to distract them as Abigail slings the bottle, and Annie, like John Marston activating Dead Eye, focuses her attention as time slows down and hits the bottle with one last bullet. Wild fire ignites the carriage. Annie lets out a guttural and sorely earned “YYYYESSS!”

The last carriage is the Lord of Brimstone with his skeleton crew and his bone-white ride. They have dynamite – oh dear. Abigail extends a hand out to Annie, emphasising her support and belief in her that she can make this shot. She pulls Annie onto the roof, and as Annie is pulled into the open air before she lands next to Abby, she sees everything clearly, and identifies her target. She takes her shot immediately, and it lands, hitting the guy behind Brimstone, who was holding a stick of dynamite, which he drops inside the carriage – right next to all the other dynamite. The explosion destroys the carriage, and the leader is shot out like a comical firework, engulfed in fire, ash, and bone. Hey, he was the one who called himself “Brimstone” and obsessed over his boney white aesthetic – I’d say he got exactly what he always wanted.

With a crash, the world goes quiet. We hear a heartbeat slow down, providing a fantastic transition that takes us from the adrenaline of this sequence back down to a place where we can catch our breath. But we’re soon reminded that, while all of this is going on, Tabitha is still facing her own fight as she’s in the middle of giving birth to her baby. As James guides the baby out, provides support to Tabitha, and things escalate to their peak, the explosion echoes out behind them as Tabitha experiences her own release as the baby boy comes out, safe. The music instantly adapts to the sweet innocence of the moment. The crew re-centre themselves, Harry slows down SteamHeart, and now that everything is okay and everyone is safe… Annie punches Abigail in the side, in an act of frustration that ends up hurting her more than Abigail (Annie is after all not quite as used to throwing punches as Abigail is, as we remember from that brawl in Secret Rooms which Abby and James adapted to but which took Annie by surprise and disorientated her). Abigail responds that, while she may have taken a risky move, they all survived and made it through this. The tone is quietly triumphant, intimate, and optimistic. Our heroes have made it through this.

James shares Abby’s gratitude for the moment, and as Butler tells him he’s done a good thing here as Tabitha holds her child close to her, he experiences a sense of tranquil acceptance. James has been experiencing doubts about himself and his usefulness ever since he acquired the Endowment. At the end of Secret Rooms, he even wondered if he would be any good as a doctor after effectively losing one half of his eyes. But by helping another, by bringing this new life into the world, James has realised he can make enough of a difference to be at peace with himself, if only for now. It’s a revelation that endears me to James, as I’ve often found that, at times where I doubt my own self-worth, the best thing I can do is to seek out ways I can help other people, whether it’s in big ways or little ways. If I can make someone else’s day a little easier, then that alone makes me feel like I’m doing alright. And that’s a sentiment I love to see in fiction like this.

So yeah, this episode was a fantastic ride, and a complete triumph.

#The Inquisitive J #fiction #new century #new century multiverse #the new century multiverse #steampunk #alternate history #alternate universe #alternate history fiction #audio drama #fictional podcast #steamheart #the inquisitive j reviews

3 notes · View notes