#navigation chart

[nomitigada]

There are two major different types of Marshall Islands navigation charts: meddo and mattang. Meddo are like island maps, while Mattang are training tools that illustrated ocean movement, wind patterns and wave interactions around the islands. Mattang navigation stick chart is made from the flexible midribs of coconut fronds, with individual islands represented by the lashed junction of the fronds.

Stick charts are an incredible form of cartography that maps the prevailing ocean wave crests and directions. They enabled navigators to find their way across the vast distances between islands. Navigators and their apprentices memorised the charts before a voyage rather than consulting them during the journey. The use of stick charts ended after World War II, when electronic technologies were introduced to the Marshall Islands. Craftspeople make these charts today for display on the walls of homes both in the Marshalls and overseas. They stand as proud statements of their heritage as some of the world’s finest navigators.

It was collected by P.G. Black in 1906 and is one of the Australian Museum’s 200 Treasures, in the Westpac Long Gallery.

[artworksstore]

Please follow the link and check out the great products created from this nautical chart at Fine Art America. If this isn’t the nautical chart you’re looking for, I have additional nautical charts covering the Florida East Coast.

[soft-pine]

when i think about this scene from 15.15 it makes me want to chew glass and tear up the walls in rage.

AMARA: I wanted two things for you, Dean. I wanted you to see that your mother was just a person, that the myth you'd held onto for so long of a better life, a life where she lived, was just that, a myth. I wanted you to see that the real, complicated Mary was better than your childhood dream because she was real. That now is always better than then. That you could finally start to accept your life.

for the record i want to say i am a known amara-hater. don't like the non-con shit. don't like that she's doing what so many beings in spn do and narrativizing dean's life back at him while judging him because she drew the wrong conclusions. but i think fandom does have a tendency to take those claims at face value because that is easier than combing back through to check if it's correct or not. (see for example, rachel saying dean only calls cas when he needs him in 6.18. narrativizing, incorrectly. but i digress)

so let's talk about mary. because, through the seething rage, i think two main things about this claim. 1. dean does not have this mythos around mary and 2. mary has arguably more of that mythos around dean.

first off, we'll tackle the claim that it's a myth that if mary hadn't died, dean wouldn't have a better life. because that is absolute, utter, dogshit. OF COURSE HE'D HAVE A BETTER LIFE. while i will always maintain that clearly mary and john were far from stable before she died, her death was what speared john forward into hunting, into turning his kids into soldiers, into neglect and parentifying, and every other god forsaken thing he did. "a better life, a life where she lived, was just that, a myth" - girl, i DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE DIVINE, SHUT THE FUCK UP.

like please don't come here acting like dean grieving the future he could have had that didn't include him taking care of his younger brother alone in motel rooms for days while maybe actually being left as bait for the Kid-Eater is a character flaw on his part that he needs to learn better from.

next, amara claims dean needs to see the "real, complicated Mary."

but hasn't he? dean goes back in time and meets his mom in 4.03 and 5.13. and both times he treats her both as a competent hunter and a colleague. like to be clear, before that, i dont think he was wrong to be relying on a four-year-old's memory of what his mom was like because that's literally all he had access to. but dean actually did meet and interact with the whole, complex woman who was his mother long before amara decided to teach him a lesson with her as the homework. in both 4.03 and 5.13, dean tries to give mary advice to save her life but he doesn't belittle her experience hunting or her desire to leave and life a normal life. i don't know what more you want from him in terms of interacting with his mom as a whole, real, complex person?

this also applies wholly and completely to his interactions with her when she returns in s12. he apologizes for being nervous for her safety (AFTER SHE WAS JUST RESSURECTED) at first. mary says she wants to hunt, dean gets on board. mary says she needs space, dean asks clarifying questions to best support her request. he gets mad at her not for being who she is or needing what she needs but for lying to him for months and working with people who tortured him and sam.

in fact, s12 is what i would point to to indicate how well dean articulates and navigates the nuance of being hurt by someone's actions while still understanding and empathizing with why they did it and forgiving them. for example, he says this in 12.04

DEAN: This whole mom thing, it's... I mean, we get her back, and then she leaves. I hate it, but I get it. I do. I guess I'm just...still working through some of that crap. I'll try to be less of a dick about it.

[you're not a dick, dean, ilu]

in fact, dean's much maligned "how 'bout for once, you just try to be a mom?" isn't even about dean wanting anything particularly maternal from mary. it's about him not wanting her to ditch them to hunt alone and/or with the aforementioned torturers.

so circling back to amara's speech about expectations and myths. cause while her words do not apply to dean. amara's speech does remind me of something that happens upon mary's return in s12. these lines from 12.03:

DEAN: Mom, it's okay. All right? You're home now. MARY: No. I'm not. I miss John. I miss my boys. SAM: We're right here, mom. MARY: I know. In my head. But I'm still mourning them as I knew them. My baby Sam. My little boy Dean. Just feels like yesterday, we were together in heaven, and now...I'm her, and John is gone, and they're gone. And every moment I spend with you reminds me every moment I lost with them.

of course she has every right to grieve the time she lost with her kids. but someone in this room is having trouble really looking at the people in front of them because of their idealized memory of who they were compared to are and It Is Not Dean.

and i just think about dean's speech in 12.22. cause it wasn't dean that needed to see the real mary. it was mary, tucked away in her dream world where sam is a baby and dean is a little elementary schooler who likes pie and has never held a gun, who needed to see the real dean.

[rabiosantologia]

⸻ 𖤓 | VEDIC ASTROLOGY MASTERLIST (Vol. 4)

→ Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3

••• | WHAT DO THE PLANETS REPRESENT IN A CHART?

POWER AND CONTROL: ASHWINI, MAGHA AND MULA

KETU DOMINANT THEMES

HASTA: THE DEMONISED SEDUCTRESS

UTTARA PHALGUNI OBSERVATIONS

ARUDHA LAGNA

VARNA, GUNA, PURUSHARTH, NATURE, GANA & YONI IN VEDIC ASTROLOGY

RABBIT HOLE OF THE ANURADHA NAKSHAKTRA

BILLIE HOLIDAY: VEDIC ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS

SYNASTRY: INTERACTION BETWEEN PLANETS AND HOUSES

ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS PT 2: KETU NAKSHATRA

♊︎ ORION CONSTELLATION: MRIGASHIRA, ARDRA AND PUNARVASU 🏹

MARS DOMINANT THEMES — NAKSHATRA OBSERVATION

THE GENIUS, MISANTHROPIC INVENTOR

THE HIDDEN ASTROLOGY BEHIND NEPO BABIES (ASTROLOGICAL RESEARCH SURVEY)

"CORPSE BRIDE" BEAUTY: MAGHA NAKSHATRA

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: BUNNY ANURADHA 🐰

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: PUG-PRETTY ROHINI 🐶

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: "BRATZ DOLL" REVATI

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: 👄 BOMBSHELL ENERGY DHANISHTA

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: 🦌 "DEER-PRETTY" MRIGASHIRA

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: PUSHYA 🪷 | BLENDING SOFTNESS & STRUCTURE

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: LAMB-PRETTY KRITTIKA 🐑

NAKSHATRA FEATURE FOCUS: EAGLE-BEAUTY JYESHTHA 🦅

⭕ WALKING THROUGH THE LABYRINTHS OF SHATABHISHA

VEDIC ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS AND NOTES

YOUR BIG 6 IN VEDIC ASTROLOGY

NODAL DOMINANT THEMES

VAMPS AND KRITTIKA

KRITTIKA AND HER SHADOW

MICHAEL JACKSON: BIRTH CHART OBSERVATIONS

MARS NAKSHATRAS AND QUEEN-BEES

SATURN: VEDIC ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS

JUPITER: VEDIC ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AND ANIMAL YONI

PUNARVASU NAKSHATRA EXPLORATION

MARS x KETU x SUN

KETU THEMES IN THE MEDIA

WHY CERTAIN PEOPLE CAPTURE THE SPOTLIGHT?

KRITTIKA NAKSHATRA (26°40' ARIES - 10°00' TAURUS)

KRITTIKA THE WILD WOMAN

WOLVES IN HUMAN DISGUISE: KETU-RAHU

27 NAKSHATRAS THROUGH MANY FACES

27 NAKSHATRAS THROUGH MANY FACES (MALE VERSION)

ASTROLOGICAL CONNECTIONS IN CREATIVE COLLABORATION

JUPITER WOMAN x KETU MAN

THE GODDESS LALITA AND THE LOLITA ARCHETYPE

VENUSIANS: THE CULT OF EXCLUSIVITY

VENUS NAKSHATRAS AND THEIR PARTNERS

THE SHADOW OF ANURADHA & THE BLACK WIDOW

MLECCHA NAKSHATRAS - WORLD WIDE WILD

HOW WOMEN INFLUENCED BY DIFFERENT PLANETS ACT IN ONE-ON-ONE RELATIONSHIPS

SATURN/SOLAR WOMAN AND KETU/JUPITER MAN DYNAMIC

SUN DARAKARAKA: THE POWERFUL SPOUSE

ASTROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS: 5H PLACEMENTS

MURDERS AND KETU NAKSHATRAS WOMEN

THE PAIR OF TWINS: ASHWINIS

ASHWINI OBSERVATIONS

DITA VON TEESE’S NATAL CHART 

YONI ANIMAL OBSERVATIONS

ASTROLOGICAL ANALYSIS: SIMILARITIES BETWEEN IAN SOMERHALDER AND MEGAN FOX

SIDEREAL INDICATORS OF BEING ALLURING, MAGNETIC, & SEDUCTIVE

THE ASTROLOGY BEHIND: MISS UNIVERSE 2024

ROHINI & ASHLESHA: THE SIREN ARCHETYPE

NAKSHATRA ANALYSIS: ROHINI |

★ THE BEAUTY OF: ROHINI | DHANISHTA |

BEAUTY PLACEMENTS

(THE SUBSTANCE): BHARANI THEMES

KETU IN THE HOUSES

MAGHA’S THRONE & ANCESTOR CONNECTION

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN WHO BUILT A MAN

MERCURY ATMAKARAKA: SOULS IN SEARCH OF DIALOGUE AND WISDOM

A MINI EXPLORATION OF MULA LAGNA NATIVES

ROHINI AND CURIOSITY

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT KRITTIKA NAKSHATRA

THE KETU WOMAN DICHOTOMY

NOT FEELING UNDERSTOOD BY OTHERS: ROHINI NAKSHATRA

THE SUBSTANCE (2024): PURVA BHADRAPADA AND VISHAKHA THEMES

VENUS DOMINANT THEMES — NAKSHATRA OBSERVATION SERIES

VENUS IS ALSO NOT AS SOFT & GENTLE AS PEOPLE THINK

PLANTS - SUGAR/GLUCOSE - VAG FLORA IS RULED BY VENUS

FEMININITY AND VENUS THROUGH THE LENS OF VEDIC ASTROLOGY

MOVIES WITH PROMINENT TRINE NAKSHATRA INFLUENCES

SUN DOMINANT THEMES | OBSERVATIONS

SUN NAKSHATRAS AND LIMITS WITH YOUR ENERGY

THE SCARCITY MINDSET & REPELLENCE OF MARS INFLUENCED INDIVIDUALS

📊 | SHADBALA SCORING

[trans-axolotl]

okay am i just going insane or does anyone else think that endocrine disorder is not like inherently a synonym for intersex. (in reference to this post and the discourse surrounding it). like at least when it comes to ICD coding, there's a million different endocrine disorder codes, and the code that specific doctor was most likely using was E34.9, which is for "endocrine disorder, unspecified" and doesn't automatically imply intersex variation and instead is so vague that it could mean any range of endocrine diagnoses from like thyroid disorders to diabetes to intersex variations. in the medical billing world i just do not think it is an automatic synonym for intersex variations and i don't think it's automatically treated that way by doctors!

because like as an intersex trans person who has been denied access to HRT because i'm intersex, yes, of course, i agree that it's a ridiculous idea to try to get intersex diagnoses added to your chart, and i'm pissed off by some of the posts I've seen denying the realities of intersex medical abuse and the current legal landscape for intersex people trying to access HRT. it would not help and it's honestly insulting + painful to see a few people suggesting that it would be beneficial to have an intersex diagnosis added to your chart--it shows me how some perisex people don't bother to listen to intersex people about what it's actually like to navigate this shit for us.

but i just don't think that's what people are talking about here, and i think it's honestly such a bad faith reading to assume that other trans people are instantly jumping to lying about being intersex. and i saw a lot of transphobic bullshit in the replies of that post from other intersex people. and i think i also just feel more suspicious about the motives of some people involved given like. the widespread transmisogyny + associated harassment campaigns in a lot of tumblr intersex spaces. like. i think it is completely reasonable for trans people to strategize about different ways to access HRT and i don't think we should be calling them intersexist if they haven't actually said any intersexist shit.

i don't know!!! i just think that it's always okay to lie to doctors and that it's valuable for us to discuss this shit and figure out strategies to try and what's going to be the most pragmatic! i also need people to educate themselves about what intersex healthcare actually looks like and intersex medical abuse and the way that gender affirming care bans also prevent a lot of intersex people from accessing hormones, because otherwise you get ridiculous shit where people were defending the hypothetical idea that doctors are helpful and support intersex people's bodily autonomy when it comes to our healthcare lmfao

like am i the only one feeling this way here like what is going onnnnnnnnn

sometimes being both trans and intersex online feels exhausting i have to say!!!

[victusinveritas]

[ltwilliammowett]

A so-called meddo (a map showing the location of certain islands and the sea areas between them). Replica of a sailing map of the Mariana Islands, made 1945

These so-called "stick chart" consist of thin strips of coconut fruit and midribs or pandanus roots that were bound together with coconut fibres in straight or curved lines to form a frame-like structure. At various points in the frame, small shells were tied together using two or more sticks. The shells and the joints represent the location of the islands, while the sticks represent the currents and swells in the sea. Stick maps are basically rough maps of the ocean, but they were not used by everyone. Only initiates were generally allowed to use them and knowledge was passed down from father to son. When exactly such maps came into use is not known, but the islands were settled around 2000 BC and it is assumed that such charts already existed then.

[ssshiversss]

DISCO ELYSIUM FAN BLOG Dedicated to fanart I make & fan content I like Find me on AO3 and Bluesky (18+) ----- About - 34 y/o • he/him/they • mlm + demiace - FanArtist & FicWriter - Pro-Kink • Smut Pro • Unrepentant Multishipper

I am eternally at the whims of my muse and at the behest of the voices in my head! Consistency? I don't know her.

-----

Blog Tags:

#my art - self explanatory #my writing - also self explanatory #disco gallery - art that inspires me #disco after dark - suggestive or nsft art #de animation - amazing fan animations #de comics - amazing fan comics #de dialogue - both screenshots & audio #de fic recs - fics I or others recommend #de lore - both canon and fanon #de meta - discussions of the game itself #de resources - resources for art and writing #de sceenshots - in-game screenshots #genderqueer hdb - what it says on the tin #the homosexual underground - gay gay gay -----

Hello! You can call me Shivers (or Topsy). This pinned post is as much for my own benefit (blog navigation) as it is an introduction post. - I'm a hobby artist and hobby writer - I typically don't take commissions or like to monetize my art because it sucks the joy out of it for me. This is just what I do for fun. - I block anyone whose vibe I don't like. I especially block people who make hating Jean Vicquemare their entire goddamn personality. - I'm here for a good time! I like chatting, I like art trades, I like being a part of a community. - Please no minors. I don't care if you follow me, just don't reach out or try to befriend me. As much as I'd love to be able to converse with the teens and be a normal fucking decent person, online culture has (historically) made that impossible. Sorry it has to be that way. - I have OSDD and the only reason that'll ever be relevant is because sometimes I blog about plurality in relation to Harry Du Bois. (This is also why my tone might vary wildly from post to post). Do not message me about DID unless you're also a system/plural.

If you read all that, THANKS FOR READING! Enjoy my blog.

[loth-creatures]

Theoretically I love learning new skills and there are many MANY skills I want to learn. Unfortunately trying to learn a new skill or far worse, being taught a skill, is so incredibly exhausting and draining to my brain. To the point that I've developed straight up aversions to things people have tried to teach me. It sucks bc I want to have these skills but my brain just shuts down and its like physically painful to attempt practicing the skill. I blame the autism for this one -_-

[deanpinterester]

i goddamn wish youtube studio didn't take you directly to the analytics page. usually i use studio just to edit something abt a video and i don't want to do it with youtube shoving a chart in my face being like DID YOU KNOW YOUR MOST RECENT VIDEO IS CRINGE FAIL 📈📈📈

[rabiosantologia]

⸻ 𖤓 | VEDIC ASTROLOGY MASTERLIST (Vol. 2)

→ Volume 1

KARAKAS OF PLANETS AND THEIR HOUSES

THE PLANETS AND THEIR EXTENT OF RULERSHIP

THE 4TH HOUSE EXPERIENCE: PART 1 •

THE 8TH HOUSE EXPERIENCE: PART 1 •

THE 9TH HOUSE EXPERIENCE: PART 1 •

NAKSHATRA'S AND BIRDS THROUGH MYTHOLOGY AND INTERPRETATION

AMATYAKARKA AND PROFESSIONS

KEYWORDS • THE ASTROLOGICAL HOUSES: PART 1 || PART 2

✺ ASPECTS OF EACH PLANET

ᘛ RAHU DOMINANT THEMES: PART 1 | PART 2 |

MOON-RAHU-KETU: TRUE VAMPIRISM

KETU DOMINANT

D1 & MOON CHART

KETU PLACEMENT AND YOUR MOST CORE SELF

WHAT NAKSHATRA REPRESENTS YOU!?

JYESTHA NAKSHATRA: INTENSE BEAUTY (PROFILE)

THE PRINCESS DIARIES - COMING INTO YOUR POWER

JYESHTA: THE BATTLE, THE LONELINESS AND THE COST OF VICTORY

THE DARK SIDE OF JYESHTA - ALL AGAINST ONE, ONE FOR THEMSELVES

ASHLESHA: THE VILLAIN ERA NAKSHATRA

THE SPECTRUM OF FEMININITY & CANCER RASHI: A STUDY

★ THE ASTROLOGY OF APPEARANCE: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 |

| RAHU IS YOUR MATRIX, KETU IS YOUR OUT FROM THAT MATRIX

SHRAVANA NAKSHATRA: CELEBRITY CONSERVATORSHIPS & ABUSE BY THE ONES WHO SHOULD CARE MOST

THE "BOND GIRL" NAKSHATRA

🐯 CHITRA AND VISHAKHA WOMEN: STRIKING ENERGY (TIGRESS BEAUTY)

MAGHA NAKSHATRA: PITRI SECRETS

MAGHA NAKSHATRA OBSERVATIONS

[brief introduction] DOMINANT PEOPLE... → KETU | SUN | MOON | RAHU | JUPITER | VENUS | MARS | MERCURY |

▦ NAKSHATRA APPRECIATION: REVATI | DHANISHTA | UTTARA ASHADHA | JYESTHA | ROHINI | CHITRA | ASHLESHA |

♀ BEAUTY & THE BEAST: THE PATH OF VENUS

DECODING VENUS ⋆ A JOURNEY THROUGH THE NAKSHATRAS: BHARANI, PURVA PHALGUNI, PURVA ASHADA

THE ABSORBENT NATURE OF VENUS: AN ASTROLOGICAL EXPLORATION

THE UGLINESS OF VENUS

★ 🐍 | ASHLESHA OBSERVATIONS

WHY JYESTHA, ASHLESHA, AND REVATI PEOPLE USE SNAKES IN A LOT OF THEIR WORK

• SYMBOL: PURVA BHADRAPADA · SHATABHISHA ·

LEARN SIDEREAL ASPECTS

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE & SHATABISHA NAKSHATRA

⬤ VEDIC ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS: PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8 | PART 9 | PART 10 | PART 11 | PART 12 |

☰ VEDIC ASTROLOGY SYMBOLISM & RECURRING MOTIFS: PART 1 • PART 2 • PART 3 • PART 4 • PART 5 • PART 6 •

SWATI NAKSHATRA: THE SELF-GOING STAR

BEYONCÉ & CHITRA NAKSHATRA

EXPRESSION OF ENERGY: RAHU | KETU

ALL ABOUT SWATI | ALL ABOUT SATURN | ALL ABOUT KETU | ALL ABOUT RAHU | ALL ABOUT MARS | ALL ABOUT MERCURY | ALL ABOUT THE SUN | ALL ABOUT ARDRA | CHITRA OF THE SEA | ALL ABOUT THE MOON |

4H PLACEMENTS | 8H PLACEMENTS | 12H PLACEMENTS | ALL ABOUT THE 6H ·

CELEBRITY EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT PLANETS IN THE ASCENDANT (SIDEREAL ASTROLOGY)

NAKSHATRA CONVERTOR

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS: THE ESOTERIC MIND OF THE MOON

COLORS AND PLANETS

⬤ | ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS

[cultivating-wildflowers]

.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

hey does anyone wanna see my updated and terrible to look at life series relationship chart

[spaceorganizermouse]

Heyyy mousey, how's it goin'?

[Daph looks tired, very tired. But they do their best to wear a smile. They're also glad to see mousey :) ]

-💫

Oh, hey Daph. Uh, currently not great. Just found out the boss had his breakdown way faster than I thought.

*They flash a half-smile in return, tone a little more practiced polite than they want it to be. It's fine. They just need to breathe. Maybe Daph coming out here is helpful!*

I was planning to come ask if you noticed how he's been but...here we are. Guess not if no one else has, right?

But that aside....what happened with you? Why do you look so miserable?

[daisychainsandbowties]

thinking a normal amount about a treasure planet au. Beatrice on her solar kiteboard, doing the daredevil flip sequence framed against the setting sun and then getting hauled kicking and screaming back to her parents’ house in manacles with a defiant expression on her perpetually dirt-smudged face.

climbing out the window at the first opportunity to go down to the dockside inn, making nebulous plans to steal her kiteboard back but ending up down at the edge of the dock staring past her boots and into the mists. gripping tight to the wood beneath her as she looks up at the sky and dreams of anywhere but here, of stealing a skiff to get off this planet. a reluctant twinge at the thought of going alone.

Bea with all her star maps and her intricate knowledge of spaceships and their solar sails and how to navigate out there where the artigrav net is all that stands between you and floating through nothing, forever.

startling when she hears the familiar sound of someone booking it down the pier on wooden crutches. night has already started to speckle the sky above, and as she listens to the thunk of the crutches on the pier, Bea thinks of the complicated metallic lattice she has on her desk at home, partly disassembled because she’s still trying to work out parts of the engineering. Ava’s birthday is in a month.

she has to stay that long, and then she’ll leave. she will.

turning to watch as Ava races towards her with soup stains on her shirt and messy hair jammed flat beneath a ‘pirate’ hat she bought off of a traveling salesman last year. the tricorn wobbles precariously on her head as she moves. Beatrice just waits, a slight smile on her face.

there are bruises high on each of her arms, from the pincer-like grip of the police bots, manhandling her away from her kiteboard to snap manacles around each wrist.

she rubs at the skin there, but ignores the bruises.

when Ava arrives, a little out of breath, Beatrice holds up a hand so she can help herself down onto the pier. there’s no water beneath them, only a few hundred meters of empty air and curling mist.

Ava keeps one hand on Bea’s and the other on her shoulder, letting the crutches clatter down between them as she sits.

“Mom says you got arrested again,” Ava says cheerfully. “She says they’re threatening to send you to prison.”

Beatrice shrugs, “I wouldn’t mind it, so long as my parents did not visit.”

Ava’s fingers are covered in bright red band-aids, from chopping vegetables all day with her poor hand dexterity. Beatrice watches the colours blur as Ava punches her in the arm, right on the bruises. “Liar, I know you’d miss me.”

her arm throbs painfully, but Beatrice’s expression is carefully neutral as she responds. 

“I might.”

she stays with Ava that night, both of them reading her old book with its floating images of ships and canons and pirates leaping from vessel to vessel. Captain Flint, materialising out of empty space to steal away gems and gold, “the loot of a thousand worlds.” Ava traces the projected lines of the solar sails with her fingers as they flicker into being. 

Beatrice has repaired the book over and over, making the colours brighter and sharper. the tiny shapes of pirates all made up of light. Ava has the book open on Bea’s chest as she lies next to her, legs all entangled in the sheets they’ve kicked off because the night is so warm.

she seems oblivious to how Beatrice’s breath hitches at almost every touch.

they’re almost asleep when they hear the explosion, a ship crashing into the cliff-side, tumbling over and over before they hear the pop and hiss of heated metal. a bloom of smoke outside the window.

Beatrice gives Ava a piggyback ride down the stairs just before Ava’s ‘mom’, Suzanne, emerges with her pulse-rifle primed, hair loose around her shoulders.

they stumble into the yard and discover a pirate, a robot, still bleeding from a wound in his abdomen, crawling from the wreck of his ship. Beatrice heaves a shard of twisted metal away from him and finds the surface slippery with blood.

behind her, Ava sways a little, shivers in the cold air, but she’s still standing when Beatrice turns back to her.

the dying pirate tells them almost nothing useful. he’s half-mad, cluching at Beatrice’s shirt until the seams tear at the collar, then turning to Ava. he fetches out a lockbox from his ship, blood spilling onto the ground at the movement. unlocks it and takes odd sphere from inside.

it drops into Ava’s palm as he rasps, “Whatever you do, don’t let them find it.”

then he wheezes, shudders, stills.

they stare at him, Ava’s free hand finding Bea’s, holding tight.

“Is he… dead?” Ava’s voice in the silence and the dark.

“I think so.”

then, in a burst of light and sound, in a shockwave of displaced air, a ship plummets down out of the clouds, pulling up an instant from the ground.

this second ship looms down out of the sky, pirates dropping from it and suddenly Suzanne is screaming at them to “GET INSIDE” from an upstairs window as she takes potshots at the misshapen shapes swarming down lines of hempen rope.

the air lights up with orange and yellow as explosions ripple down towards the crashed ship, towards the inn. Bea flings one of Ava’s arms around her neck and sprints for the door, Ava holding the sphere (or map?) tightly against her chest.

she sets Ava down gently onto one of the bar stools, runs back to barricade the door. her face is flushed, streaked somehow with engine grease and robot blood, which is black and slightly acidic. 

they exchange a wide-eyed look, too much meaning in it to parse as explosions rock the floor. Ava has both hands clutched around the sphere. 

they both almost scream as Suzanne runs down the stairs in a blur of dressing gown and gun. she has Ava’s crutches in one hand and her rifle in the other. she kisses Ava quickly on the forehead, “Thank the tides you’re safe.” leaves her with the crutches and then goes to fetch an ancient-looking blaster pistol out from behind the bar, presses it into Beatrice’s hands. “You know how to use this?”

“No!”

“Aim it away from your own face.”

and then there are pirates all around the house, glass breaking and fire crackling. Beatrice takes up the rear, pistol pointed at the front door as it bulges under the pressure of pirates flinging their bulk into it again and again. 

they climb out of a window, Suzanne producing a kitchen knife and jamming it into the neck of a pirate loitering uncertainly outside the bolted shutters. there, covered by a tarp, is Suzanne’s old motorcycle with a sidecar attached. lantern-bugs scatter out from under it as Suzanne throws the old tarp away, gestures for Beatrice and Ava to climb in as she covers them with her rifle.

there’s a roar from somewhere in the dark and Suzanne fires a shot, hops onto the motorcycle and revs the engine. then they’re moving, pirates parting before them like the ocean neither of them have ever seen, the vast bodies of water that don’t even exist on this planet.

they seek refuge with Jillian, an archaeologist who frequents the old inn, claiming that she can’t make her coffee taste of anything but soap. she examines the orb, reluctantly passed into her hands by Ava, her and Bea wrapped in an old blanket, sitting by the fire in Jillian’s immense study.

Jillian fiddles with it for an age before sighing, looking almost angry with herself.

“I can’t… seem to make this work.”  

Ava holds out her hand, silent. “let me try,” and Beatrice makes a face at Jillian when she hesitates.

the pirate gave the sphere to Ava; it’s hers. 

it seems much larger in Ava’s small grip. she looks down at it for a while before her fingers start to move, slow but gathering momentum as she presses the little grooves and switches and indents on the sphere. 

until it lights up, showing a map of the known universe, and parts of it that are unknown.

“Is that-” Beatrice feels her words drop away, like the ground beneath the pier where she has passed so many hours sitting with Ava’s hand in hers.

Ava turns to Beatrice, eyes bright as a pair of stars, “It’s treasure planet.”

[boatcats]

Item: compass rose tattoo with FOR INSTRUCTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION written next to it.