#also. and this is hardly important. but Machia is one of the few people i can ship with Yoichi who would actually be taller than him

[pocketramblr]

machia and yoichi, you say 👀 could you tell us more about this ship, please? i smell a lot of fun here - they both were close to afo, had some emotional attachment to him, experienced extreme violation of their body autonomy because of it, however they had very... well. rough start. but any romantic relationships between them would be based on something more than constant manipulations, lying and lust, i bet

My thoughts are more half-shaped vibes than coherent sentences but I'll do my best. I see two main sets of options for this ship

1- where they do indeed have a very rough start lol. Machia is one of the few trusted with the Vault's location and purpose and brings food when AfO is too busy elsewhere, and sometimes they talk- neither of them think very highly of the other, but I think actual conversation could break out after Yoichi asks where his brother is when it's been longer than usual since he visited, and Machia picks at the concern in his voice, to Yoichi's protests. Yoichi would also ask his name and not get it, but two days later realize Machia never refers to him by name either. "I'm Yoichi, by the way." And Machia never heard his name out of AfO's lips before (never heard AfO's name either, though, surely he doesn't need it, to serve his lord...) but something's gotta shift then, even if it isn't much. Perhaps it is something different, to hold down someone for force feeding when you know their name. (Something different when he shot an angry look at you first, for telling AfO about the hunger strike, even though you aren't the one who got him locked down here and he was skinny enough before-). Also I don't think Yoichi is actively trying to seduce his guard to escape (which is also something fun but anyway less so here) BUT he does have this urge in him. This "I can fix him" urge, or maybe this "I can save him" urge is a better way to put it. Also, Machia had to have seen a lot of quirk exchanges, thefts, and rewards in his time guarding AfO. He's also not that dumb. I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch for him to begin to pick up on the different reaction to someone without a power getting one, someone with a power getting another one that merges, and someone with a power getting another one that overwhelms them. So after Yoichi has a power forced onto him, I think Machia might be one of the ones who realizes what happened first- even if he's in denial, thinks it could be an unusual reaction because Yoichi's body was weaker than expected, surely AfO would know if he has a quirk and they merged together- but after reporting the reaction to AfO, who suddenly can't take it back out of Yoichi, well... clearly AfO isn't perfect. I don't know if it would go fully romantic before Yoichi's rescue from the vault but I think it could be heading that direction. And, Machia would feel guilty enough for Yoichi being taken from the vault even though he was guarding AfO at the time as ordered, more so if Yoichi dies soon after. Guilty and grieving enough to submit to AfO giving him more powers, even as it hurts while they're still merging, he'll survive it, get stronger, never notice how much of his mind AfO clawed back under his control, how little he thinks of Yoichi years later.

2- the second option is that they actually had a rough end. This is one where Machia was Yoichi's friend first, and AfO suffered a bad case of "can't let him have his own toys". Perhaps Yoichi started out as a villain, or closer to it, and recruited Machia in. Perhaps they were friends when younger. Either way, AfO slowly gets in between them, charismatic and manipulative. Maybe seems a more capable villain than Yoichi, who gives Machia powers while Yoichi keeps losing the forest for the trees, trying to ensure each lower member of the group is in the right spot, helped in return, something Machia had appreciated when it benefited him early on, found good, but now finds irritating, as AfO clearly does. Or perhaps Yoichi was always too sweet, and AfO poked and prodded about how he needed more protection, about how only he had the power to do more, speaking of things Yoichi couldn't understand but they, the metas, could. And then it's easy to join, and easy to be betrayed when Yoichi tries to leave. After all, if he'd turn on his own beloved family, who was there before you were, of course he'd turn on you too eventually, and maybe you were more of a project to him than a partner- memories easily rewritten, when pretty green eyes are glaring at your fiercely as if you're the traitor, when you never left, carrying him down to the vault (gently, as ordered, even though you know Yoichi could handle more than his brother's protective instincts want to admit.) And then he doesn't even say anything to you again, never- not in the vault, not after, not when he's dead.

[revolutionary-pirate]

Tell us about the connection between Sons of Liberty and the navy please!

Gladly, anon!! (Sorry this took so long, some unexpected circumstances came up that occupied my time for a few days and I also had a lot of information and context to cover in order to complete this ask. It’s probably more information than necessary, but I got excited [it’s long so I put it in a read more]. Also, I didn’t source as I went like I usually do and didn’t want to go back through and individually source all of my points so I dumped all my sources at the end. A lot of the information is tangled and it’s kinda a bitch when you have to source each part of the sentence with something different and I just took a final and didn’t want to do it. So anyway, Here you go:  )Congress was very hesitant about creating a Continental Navy, thinking it complete and utter madness to do so. Britain had the greatest Navy in the world and the Colonies had not a ship to call their own because the colonies had been completely reliant on the British Navy until then. John Adams was the loudest supporter of the creation of a navy in Congress, fighting hard to convince them all of how able the colonists were to undergo such a herculean task and how vital any sort of maritime effort would be to the defense of the Colonies, but Congress wasn’t having any of it. They did not think that there was even a slim chance that it would do the colonies any good in any way shape or form and would only serve to deepen a conflict with Britain that they weren’t ready to commit to yet. The people had no such qualms.

The very first, official, naval battle of the American Revolution began on June 11, 1775, almost two months after the first shot had been fired at Lexington and just days before the formation of the Continental Army. Since Lexington, the British had become completely pinned down in Boston with very limited supplies and a heavy reliance on merchants at sea in order to survive the Patriot’s Seige of Boston. As more troops were set to arrive in the city, General Thomas Gage and Vice Admiral Samuel Graves knew that they had to build more barracks for their soldiers and that, in order to do that, they needed lumber. Gage and Graves turned to a Loyalist, Boston merchant by the name of Ichabod Jones and tasked him with sailing to Machias, Massachusettes (now Maine) in order to acquire lumber from them in exchange for flour, pork, salt, and other supplies.Machias was an isolated, frontier settlement that was almost entirely dependent upon trading its lumber and firewood to Boston for supplies necessary to their survival. When the Continental Congress resolved that no one trade their lumber with Boston because it would aid the besieged British Army, Machias was crippled. They were eventually forced to petition the Massachusetts Congress in May for relief when their population was facing potential starvation because they hardly had three week’s supply of food left in storage. Gage and Graves felt that they could take advantage of this situation by sending in Jones.

On June 2, 1775, Jones arrived in Machias with his two ships, the Unity and the Polly. Jones had held frequent business in Machias for the last ten years and even owned a house there because he did dealings there so often. As a result, Jones was well aware that there were Patriots in Machias that would not take kindly to his visit nor to his mission because tensions had been running high ever since Lexington. Concerns about Patriot interference with the mission from all along the Massachusetts coast were great enough that Graves was informed that “some of the inhabitants of the Eastern parts of this Province have threatened to intercept and destroy the Vessels of Mr. Ichabod Jones … ” Graves acknowledged the fear but did not cancel the trip because acquiring the lumber was very important for the British Army. Instead, Graves arranged an escort for Jones in the form of the H.M.S. Margaretta, captained by James Moore. When Jones arrived at Machias with his armed escort, it had only served to fuel tensions amongst the colonists who were suspicious of Jones’ intentions for seeking business with them. 

On June 3rd, Jones, in an effort to curb tensions and ensure the carrying out of the trade deal, distributed a petition amongst the citizens asking for their support in “carrying Lumber to Boston, & to protect him and his property, at all events” in exchange for the town’s much-needed provisions he’d brought aboard the Unity to trade. Jones did not, however, receive a satisfactory amount of signatures to content him, so he called upon his nephew, Stephen Jones, who was an influential resident of Machias, to arrange a meeting with the citizens of the town on June 6th in order to vote on the matter. At this meeting, Jones claimed that the only way that he could get Vice Admiral Graves to permit him to leave Boston with provisions for Machias was if he’d promised him that he’d return with a cargo full of lumber and that Graves had sent the Margaretta with him in order to ensure that he fulfilled his part of the bargain. Much of the citizens, with little reason to doubt him, voted in favor of the proposition because they were in dire need of those supplies, because they were nervous about the fact that the Margaretta was within firing range of the town and might attack them if they said no, and because it was only conjectured that the lumber requested was for supplying the British Army. The townspeople had no way of knowing at the time if it was true or not, but a minority group of citizens wasn’t buying “Jones’s Scheme” and voted no.After the vote, Jones brought his two sloops, the Unity and the Polly, to the wharf and began unloading and distributing the supplies to the citizens. Jones, however, made a grave mistake when he refused to grant supplies to everyone who had voted in opposition to him because among them were Benjamin Foster, leader of the Local Militia, and Jeremiah O’Brien, one of the village leaders, both of whom were also leading members of the local chapter of the Sons of Liberty. Jones wanted to avoid conflict, but, instead, his pride had been a spark. Another spark came at the expense of Captain Moore of the Margaretta. There was a liberty pole, or, rather, liberty tree in this case, that had been erected by O’Brien and his brothers after a unanimous vote from the townspeople to do so immediately after learning of what had transpired at Lexington and Concord back in April. The liberty tree was Machias’ pledge and declaration to the world that they were dedicated to resisting the British Empire’s tyranny and that they would sacrifice their lives in defense of their colony. Machias’ liberty tree was made from the trunk of the tallest tree that the O’Brien family could find and it stood in one of the highest points of the town, overlooking the river, and was one of the most conspicuous sights in the village. Moore, anchored in that river, was incredibly irritated by the sight of it. In The Liberty Pole, a Tale of Machias, it was written that:

Observing the Liberty Pole, Captain Moore landed, and demanded of a group who had collected around the landing-place, who had erected it. “That pole, sir,” Answered John O’Brien [one of Jeremiah’s brothers], “was erected by the unanimous approval of the people of Machias.”

“Well, sir,” rejoined the officer, “with or without their approval, it is my duty to declare it must come down.”“Must come down!” repeated O’Brien, with some warmth; “those words are very easily spoken, my friend. You will find, I apprehend, that it is easier to make than it will be to enforce a demand of this kind.”“What! Am I to understand that resistance will be made? Will the people of Machias dare to disregard an order, not originating with me, gentlemen, but with the government whose officer I am?”“The People of Machias,” replied O’Brien, “will dare do anything in maintenance of their principles and rights.”“It is useless to bandy words,” rejoined the officer, a little nettled at the determined spirit manifested around him; “My orders are peremptory and must be obeyed. That Liberty Pole must be taken down, or it will be my painful duty to fire upon the town.”

Stephen Jones, Ichabod Jones’ nephew, intervened and convinced Moore not to follow through with his threat and said that if he could arrange another town vote they might vote in favor of taking it down. A meeting was called, and it was voted that the pole remain. Captain Moore, fearful that he might lose the respect of his crew should his threat go unexecuted, decided to pick a day upon which they would fire at the town. Jeremiah O’Brien, Foster, and others began to secretly formulate a plan of defense in the event that an attack actually comes and sent word to the surrounding villages and areas calling for aid. Stephen stepped in again and said that the townspeople hadn’t all come to the meeting and that a second meeting should take place so that all of the citizens would have the opportunity to express their vote. It was voted almost unanimously by the whole town that the pole remain where it had been erected until it rotted. Moore retaliated with another threat to burn the village to the ground for their insolence in one hour if that pole still remained and had to be, once again, restrained from carrying it out when Stephen called to have a third meeting take place on June 12th while also reminding Moore that Vice Admiral Graves had told the Captain not to provoke the townspeople, but it was far too late for that.According to The Life of Captain Jeremiah O’Brien, Benjamin Foster and a group of his militiamen met two miles south of town on the Saturday afternoon of June 10th to concoct a two-pronged plan to seize both Ichabod, Stephen, Moore, and the other officer of the Margaretta while they were attending church the next afternoon and to then seize the British ships in the bay. They sent a few men to the home of the O’Briens to get their thoughts on the plan. The father, Morris O’Brien, tried to dissuade Foster and his party from carrying out their plan because Machias relied completely on the sea for survival, they were very far away from any sort of help, and carrying out their plan would no doubt bring about the immediate destruction of their village. Foster would not be dissuaded and Jeremiah O’Brien with his five younger brothers (Gideon, John, William, Dennis, and Joseph), despite their father’s concern, all decided to join forces with Foster, Jeremiah taking charge of the plan alongside him.At around 10 o’clock the next morning, a group of men gathered together once more for a secret meeting where they discussed the agreement by the surrounding villages to provide aid and the full plan in detail with everyone: seize the officers of the Margaretta and Jones while they were at church then capture the British Vessels, hopefully avoiding any and all bloodshed in the process. Opinions of the plan were divided, many not sure that the plan was feasible and what attacking the British might mean in the grand scheme of things. Foster reminded them all that they were already at war with Britain, that blood had already been shed at Lexington and Concord, and that the sooner they joined in the war efforts the better. This convinced many of them, but some voices were still a little hesitant about a plan that sounded so dangerous. Foster then boldly stepped forward, crossed the brook by which they were meeting, and said “Let all who are willing to strike for Freedom, follow me. Those who are in favor of British tyranny, and think it right to send lumber to Boston wherewith to build barracks for our oppressors, may stay where they are.” Jeremiah was right on Foster’s heels and was followed quickly by his brothers, then soon the entire party was crossing after them in unanimous support of the plan. They had just made their own Declaration of War, deciding to fight the British on their own terms.They split into two groups, one would attend the church service and, at the signal of a whistle, seize the targets. Another party would surround the meeting house and, in the event that any of their targets escape the building, be there to prevent their further escape and capture them outside. As the plan was moving into action and everyone was taking their positions outside, the pastor’s slave glanced out the window and spotted a small group of men crossing the river on log rafts with muskets in hand and thought they might be British soldiers. He cried out and then leaped out a window, booking it for the forest, and throwing the congregation into turmoil in the process. Moore and Jones both quickly realized what was happening and escaped from the meeting house before the people in position within the congregation could catch them, Moore leaping through a window and gunning for his ship while followed by his officer and Jones sprinting for the woods into which he’d vanish for a couple days. Moore and his man reached the landing and the two of them clamored into a boat sent from the Margaretta and began rowing back to the ship, followed to the shore closely by several pursuers. Jones’ nephew, Stephen, was not so lucky and was successfully captured by the villagers and held prisoner.Moore, upon returning to the Margaretta, weighed anchor and fired a few shots over the town as a threat to anyone considering pursuit and then moved down river a short way. The people, more determined than before, followed in all manner of small boats and canoes, firing upon the retreating ship with their muskets for several minutes. Moore dropped anchor again and sent word to the citizens that if Ichabod Jones or either of the sloops, the Unity or the Polly, were harmed, then he would burn the village to the ground. The message only served to further rally the citizens of Machias and it’s leaders against him. The whole town decided then and there that Jones was not going to be returning to Boston with the lumber and the Margaretta was going to be theirs. A group of Foster and O’Brien’s men, armed with muskets, were dispatched to where the Margaretta had anchored itself and began to open fire upon her from their elevated position, demanding that the British “Strike to the Sons of Liberty!” The British ship was unable to fire back at them because the guns of the ship could not be angled high enough to reach them. The citizens once more commanded that Moore “Strike to the Sons of Liberty or Die” to which Moore replied that he was “not yet ready” and gunfire resumed. This went on for about fifteen minutes before Moore was forced to retreat from the shore, the main boom snapping in the harsh winds and crippling the ship’s maneuverability in the process. Moore sailed his ship out of range and the gunfire petered out, the townspeople dispersing as night began to fall. That night, a group of men set out in canoes and small boats, attempting to board the Margaretta but were ultimately repelled.The next morning, on the 12th, Moore began to plan his escape to the sea, an eye on the shore to monitor the town’s movements. Jeremiah O’Brien, all his brothers, and around thirty men armed with muskets, knives, pistols, axes, pitchforks or whatever sharp weapons they could get their hands on, commandeered the Unity, which had been brought to the wharf by his second youngest Brother, Dennis, and three other young men. They then built a breastwork upon the deck with the lumber that had been loaded on the ship so far and then loaded it up with supplies to prepare it for battle before setting a course for the Margaretta. Seeing all of this through his spyglass, Moore cut the Margaretta from a ship in the harbour he had latched onto and plundered for supplies and then weighed anchor, starting down the river and towards the bay where he’d take another ship in order to replace his broken main boom and to seize the captain of the ship to act as a pilot for his. Foster, in the meantime, unable to take the Polly because it had been stripped of its sails and rigging, commandeered a sloop from a nearby village of Falmouth called the Falmouth Packet with twenty men and sailed to meet O’Brien and the Unity. Unfortunately, however, The Falmouth Packet ran aground in the morning’s low tide and they were unable to dislodge the ship, meaning they were stuck until the mid-day tide rolled back in. He sent a messenger ahead to O’Brien to inform him of what had happened and when the news reached the Unity, the men on board determined that they would seize the Margaretta without them and set a determined course for the British schooner once more. The Unity was the fastest of the three ships that had come into the Machias harbor with Jones and was quickly gaining water on the fleeing Margaretta. It was at this time that the citizens suddenly realized they didn’t have a captain. They had set out to sea on an impulse to take on a Britsh Warship and hadn’t even considered how they were going to go about it. By unanimous vote, they elected Jeremiah O’Brien to be their captain. The first thing O’Brien did as captain was to offer the chance to any person on board having second thoughts to go back ashore. Three men took him up on that and were given a small boat in which they could row back to the village. Captain O’Brien then turned back to the rest of the men and reportedly said: “Now, my brave fellows, having got rid of those white livered cowards, our first business will be to get along side of the schooner yonder; and the first man who boards her shall be entitled to the palm of honor.” Captain Moore, seeing the Unity gaining on him, cut all of the small boats trailing from their stern loose into the bay, but the Unity was still gaining on him fast despite Moore’s hour-long headstart. Captain Moore, now convinced that he was going to be overtaken, shouted back to the Unity “Sloop ahoy! keep off or I’ll fire!” Captain O’Brien, not at all deterred, called back, “In America’s name I demand your surrender!” Moore threatened again to fire upon the Unity and one of the other men onboard the sloop shouted back “Fire away and be damned!” And so Moore opened fire on the Unity with his canons.In the first volley, one of the men on board the Unity was killed and another wounded. Another man stepped up in the dead man’s place and took aim, killing the Margaretta’s helmsmen with a bullet through the skull. This shot drove everyone on board the Margaretta off the quarterdeck and into hiding as a volley of musket fire from the Unity rained down upon them. Without a helmsman to steer the Margaretta, the ship shifted in its course and the two ships collided. The bowsprit of the Unity tore the mainsail of the Margaretta and tangled the two ships together momentarily. In that moment Jeremiah’s brother, John, leaped from the bowsprit of the Unity and onto the Margaretta before the two ships parted, leaving him alone on the deck of the enemy ship. John was fired upon by seven British sailors but was unharmed, then the British charged at him with their bayonets and he dived overboard amid another volley of musket fire and swam back to the Unity where he was promptly helped back aboard to face Jeremiah, who shook his brother’s hand and told him that he won the palm of honor as promised but that he should get back in position and be ready to properly board the enemy ship, damn it.With his brother back on board, Captain O’Brien ordered that the Unity be brought alongside the Margaretta and the two ships lashed together with grappling hooks. Twenty armed men from the Unity were appointed to board the Margaretta and the two opposing crews began to engage in hand to hand combat at the railings, struggling to gain the upper hand one way or the other. Moore climbed onto the railing of his quarterdeck and brandished his sword, encouraging his men, but the fight was not going in his favor. Moore ordered that the hand grenades be brought up and he immediately began to lob them at the Unity. Upon recognizing that Captain O’Brien was undoubtedly their leader, he decided that killing him would probably demoralize the Americans and started lobbing several directly at him. O’Brien, probably by sheer luck, was unharmed by any of these attempts. Two bullets were buried into Moore’s chest by a sharpshooting moose-hunter on the Unity and Moore fell to the deck, mortally wounded. O’Brien, seeing this, called out to his men “To your feet, lads! The schooner is ours! Follow me! Board!” and everyone mobilized, following their captain over the railings and onto the Margaretta where they began to engage the British in direct hand-to-hand combat. The second in command of the Margaretta fled below deck as the Americans poured onto their ship and the British, realizing they no longer had anyone to lead them and that the Americans were winning the fight, surrendered. The whole battle had lasted for an hour and Captain Jeremiah O’Brien gained the honor of securing the first American victory of the Revolutionary War as the British flag and the captain’s sword were both surrendered to him. All in all, four British sailors, including Moore who died from his wounds within the next two days, and three Machias citizens were killed in the fighting as well as the Captain that Moore and forced to serve him that day. Some eight or nine citizens were wounded in all. The Americans took the British sailors captive and then repaired their ships before returning to Machias that afternoon to great celebrations on all sides for their victory. Ichabod Jones would emerge from the woods two days after the fighting and would be captured as well. The people of Machias then had to ask themselves “What now?” because they hadn’t thought that far ahead yet and had no idea what to do with their prisoners and the looming threat of British retaliation upon their small town. They began to fortify their town, outfitted a number of ships for a new career in authorized Privateering, and received supplies from the Massachusettes Congress. On June 26th, 1775 the Massachusetts Congress resolved that O’Brien and Foster be allowed to keep the three ships and all of their cargo that they had taken and that they be authorized to improve the ships and use them as they see appropriate for the defense of their colony.The Unity was outfitted with the arms of the Margaretta and was renamed the Machias Liberty and remained under O’Brien’s command. It became the first armed cruiser employed in the American Revolution. Following the Battle of Machias, increasingly more and more local ships and shipowners throughout the colonies began to take on the role of a quasi-navy. All of this began to support John Adams’ argument to Congress that the colonists would and could take on the Royal Navy themselves under the right circumstances and succeed because of how ferociously the colonists believed in the cause of their war.O’Brien and Foster captured two more British ships sent to punish O’Brien for taking the Margaretta and added them to their growing fleet exactly one month later on July 12th, 1775. On July 18th, the Continental Congress finally resolved that each colony should be allowed to be responsible for protecting its own coast. Both Foster and O’Brien were then sent to address the Massachusets Congress and met George Washington, who had just recently assumed command of the army, along the way and were invited to dine with him before moving on. The Massachusetts Congress greeted them both warmly upon their arrival and celebrated the news of their latest prizes. O’Brien was then appointed Captain of the Marine of the Massachusetts Colony and charged with defending the Massachusettes Coast and intercepting supply vessels coming in to support the British Army.Rhode Island became the first state to establish an actual Navy in August 1775, and began to petition Congress about the formation of a Continental Navy in October, but did not convince the Continental Congress to do so. George Washington also began to form his own makeshift Navy in August-September, tasking his aide-de-camp, Joseph Reed, with organizing efforts to snag unescorted British Merchant ships alongside shipowner/soldier, John Glover, and Shipping Businessman/future Aide, Stephen Moylan. The three of them outfitted several ships and created what’s known today as “Washington’s Navy” that successfully privateered along the coast.The final push to creating a Continental Navy would come soon after with a letter from John Barry, who would later become the first commissioned officer of the Continental Navy, that stated two English Brigs were sailing towards Quebec with Ammunition for the Canadian forces. A committee consisting of John Adams, Silas Deane, and John Langdon was formed to come up with a solution. They quickly proposed the formation of a group of ships to intercept them. Congress was not thrilled. They still did not think it entirely doable and was convinced that forming a navy would corrupt the morals of their sailors. Adams assured them that the benefits outweighed their concerns and on October 13, 1775, the Continental Navy, consisting of ten ships, was ordered to be formed. While waiting for the warships to be built, Washington’s Navy would succeed in taking one of the two unarmed Brigs mentioned by Barry that were sailing for Canada, acquiring enough arms and ammunition to supply 2,000 men.And to think, it all began when a small village so far north it was practically in Canada and had only heard rumors that war had begun, looked at the British and decided “Not today” then proceeded to successfully capture three Royal Navy ships out on the water and began to convince everyone that, you know what? Maybe we can do this.Sources: 1. Life of Captain Jeremiah O’Brien by Andrew M. Sherman2. The Liberty Pole, a Tale of Machias3. Rebels Under Sail by William Fowler Jr.4. The Struggle for Sea Power by Sam Willis5. John Adams by David McCullough6. The Village of Machias Confronts The Royal Navy by Michael Cecere7. The First Naval Battle of The American Revolution 8. George Washington’s Indispensable Men by Arthur C. Lefkowitz