#frenchie x zheng yi sao

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD (fic) analysis: The Power of Names, Agency, and Creating Yourself

So, this is going to be Part 1 out of who knows how many analyzing different aspects of @aletterinthenameofsanity 's magnum opus OFMD fic series "made a promise when I left for the coast (made a life out of chasing a ghost)." Now, the series is divided into three sections, "Season 2," "Season 3," and "Extras" (which includes missing scenes, AUs, and post-canon "special episodes"). This first essay will be addressing the symbolic/thematic meaning of characters choosing their own names in this series throughout all parts (some of these metas will only tackle one section/season/ or even fic).

It is clear in this series that names take on a particular meaning, due to the multiple times it is emphasized, such as in part 15 of the series (the "pilot" of "Season 3"), when Captain Olu says, "Everyone's entitled to choose their own name on my ship." Names, when taken on a ship, allow someone to both shed their precious life and claim one for their own. I'm going to go through the various ways this is presented in series and how letting characters choose their names on the Revenge allows them to gain agency within their lives and world.

1): Name as Gender: Jim and Pete

Early on in the series, Jim and Pete's friendship is established from Jim's POV, where we discover that before the Blackbeard-Kraken-era, Jim and Pete bonded when Pete revealed that Pete is also trans, which in the series is often referred to as "the power of creation" (there's an essay analyzing the religious implications in the works, I swear). This is a point of connection and pride between them, and is the foundation to a great and enduring friendship and place of trust that often gets both of them through low points.

This friendship is further emphasized in part 13, Pete's internal monologue echoes previous assertions by Jim's internal monologue that "they have things in common that go beneath everything, a connection that threads itself across the sea, through razors and potential top scars and names left buried on land."

2) Name as Family: The Jimenezes and the Spriggs

A) The Jimenez Matelots

During their wedding reception in part 9 of the series, Olu and Archie both make it clear that they are going to take Jim's last name due to the importance of becoming Jim's family. Olu will trade in his last name, and Archie will take on a last name for the first time, as a sign of loyalty, loved, and comfort, because for Olu and Archie, "What price is a last name when it comes to making Jim feel comfortable and loved?"

B) The Spriggs Siblings

The choice of the last name "Spriggs" by Mel and Lucius has almost the opposite backstory of the Jimenez matelots- rather than keeping a last name to honor a family, the Spriggs siblings keep their last name to spite their abusive father. When Mel is asked by Roach in part 18 of the series as to why she keeps her last name when, as a pirate, she could have easily dropped it entirely when starting a new life, she tells him that she kept it because it connected it to her brother. Her internal monologue explains that "She stayed Mel Spriggs, damn the consequences, not because the last name gave her protection, but because it connected her to the one person who, at any point in her life, had protected her." It has nothing to do with "the lily-livered douche" that was her father; it as to do with her connection to Lucius. And as the series progresses, even after Lucius gets married to Izzy and Pete, we see that he keeps his last name while Pete picks up the last name "Hands-Spriggs." As much as his matelots mean to him, shown by the rings they share (objects as symbolism will be another analysis), his relationship with his sister is just as important to him.

3) Name as Intimacy: Frenchie and Zheng Yi Sao | Ching Shih

So, this one is not as startling or connected to character agency as the others, but I really like what this relationship does with language. Zheng Yi Sao literally translates as "wife of Zheng Yi" and is used almost as both name and title, the name of the Pirate Queen and Emperor of China, while Ching Shih is her Cantonese name, within the language she grew up speaking. Historically, Zheng Yi Sao had to learn Mandarin to fit in with upper crust society, and it makes sense that the name she rules the seas with (even in OFMD) is within that more "elevated" language.

But here's the kicker: Frenchie doesn't call her Zheng. He calls her Ching Shih, honoring where she came from, acknowledging that he gets a far more intimate side of her than the rest of the world do. In part 40, in the moment of their engagement (which comes after years of a really fun half friends-with-benefits, half-long-distance-relationship that they have going on), Frenchie accepts Zheng's proposal with the line "I’d love to be yours, Ching Shih, as long as you- not your title, or your power, or whatever, just you - would be mine.”

4) Name as Agency: Mel and Roach

When Mel first joins the crew of the Revenge, Olu calls her "Miss Spriggs" and she asks to be called Mel instead. It is made clear that to her, her first name is a gesture of identity and agency as she begins a new life, a fact that is emphasized in part 39, which covers Mel's life leading up to the moment she murders her parents and leaves home. This part refers to Mel exclusively by the name "Melanie" until the moment she leaves Anguilla and takes her agency back into her own hands, paralleling the death of "Blackbeard" and the freedom of the crew with the line "Melanie Spriggs dies along with her parents; Blackbeard dies along with Izzy’s love for Edward Teach."

In part 18 of the series, we see Roach explain that his choice of name was a similar act of agency, a moment when he chose the name thar embodied his own survival instinct with the lines ""Being a pirate is about creating a life for yourself. A name, a family, a home. I picked Roach because I refuse to let anyone kill me.” He gives her a toothy grin that she can’t help but return. “I’m an invincible little fucker.”"

5) Name as Family (Part 2): Femi Boodhari and the Jimenez Matelots

Finally, we return to the theme of names being used for chosen family. When the Jimenez matelots visit Femi, Olu’s mother, in part 41 of the series, at first Jim is worried that Femi will be disappointed that her son traded away his name for theirs, Femi gives Jim and Archie a way to honor and carry both the Jimenez and Boodhari names and legacies: as a blacksmith, she makes Jim a knife and Archie a new axehead with the Boodhari name in the side so that way the family, their culture, and her own legacy of escaping slavery and starting her own business and family can be honored. Though it's not as straightforward an example of "choosing a name" as the others, I think it is a nice endcap in this series for the theme.

(Also, as a note: these metas/analysises take a lot longer to write than it took me to make moodboards. So they'll probably come out a little less frequently, even if they are just as much fun to do!)

@blue-b-bro @possumsmushroom @yuenity @bricksbloggyplace @cosmicquill @a-pessimistic-swiftie @polikate

[izzyhandsonthosetiddies]

Here's the full video for anyone else who may need it for....reasons and doesn't have it.

[jacobglaser]

I know the odds of this finding you are slim. But so were the odds of us finding each other in the first place.

→ Our Flag Means Death - 2x01 Impossible Birds

[unicornletters]

treat my boy like a fancy little princess - platonic izzy x reader, focus on izzy x frenchie, post s2

You’d hardly know Frenchie is the captain of this vessel, with the way he asks Izzy about nearly any decision he makes and brings him coffee and treats and literally sits at the man’s feet. Foot. It’s endearing as hell, obviously, both to Izzy and to everyone else on board, but it does make the chain of command feel a little…wobbly. 

No one’s quite sure how to navigate it, so the protocol that’s evolved is that you ask Frenchie something first, you get told to ask Izzy, you ask Izzy, and you confirm the answer is in accord with Frenchie’s vision as a captain. Quick decision-making is not an option.

Luckily, on the rare occasion there’s an actual raid instead of some kind of scam or extended fuckery, Izzy is indisputably in charge.

Frenchie can fight, sure, at least kind of. He had to learn during the Kraken’s reign. But his weird sharp claws and feral instincts don’t hold a candle to Izzy’s highly-polished swordplay and insane level of tactical knowledge. So you look to Izzy when you’re in a raid, and to Frenchie, nominally anyway, the rest of the time. It works, more or less.

“When are they going to fuck?” Zheng asks you one afternoon, looking at Izzy sitting on the ladder by the captain’s cabin with Frenchie at his feet, rapt at whatever it is Izzy is saying.

“I don’t know if it’s like that,” you say. “Don’t you get a kind of father-son vibe?”

Zheng snorts.

“I get a daddy vibe,” she says, which is kind of impressive because she wasn’t even on board when Izzy embarrassed himself with that one.

“Look,” you say, “just because your boyfriend has a partner who has a girlfriend or whatever doesn’t mean you’re the relationship expert all of the sudden.”

“You’re way behind,” she says. “My boyfriend has a partner and a girlfriend who are my partner and girlfriend.”

“Oh,” you say, “well, congratulations, but still. Frenchie and Izzy are just doing their thing. Their heavily-informed-by-shared-trauma thing. I think we should leave them alone.”

Zheng tosses her head in a way that makes one of her pigtails go out of alignment, and she fixes it with an annoyed look on her face.

“It’s not just me,” she says. “Ask anyone. We’re all waiting.”

You have to go help Roach in the galley, so you just shrug and walk away.

“Hey, friend,” Roach says, cheerful today. “Do you know whether the little man is in love with our captain?”

You groan.

“Not you too,” you say. “Zheng was on this just a minute ago.”

“I keep an eye on my beautiful Frenchie,” Roach says, tapping below one eye. “And on our weird little first mate, too.”

“I don’t even know if they’re like that,” you say, pointlessly.

“They are,” Roach says. “Obviously. I need a way to tell Izzy that if he hurts my Frenchie there’ll be hell to pay, but also that I welcome him to start a relationship with Frenchie and treat him as he should be treated. Like a lady.”

“Probably not a lady,” you say.

“You know what I mean,” Roach says, and you do. “Like a fancy person. Izzy needs to treat him like he’s very, very fancy.”

“Mm,” you say, picking up a knife and potato and getting to chopping. “Very fancy, yeah.”

Roach has exhausted his chattiness for the moment and just mixes spices as you chop vegetables. It’s nice. Very companionable. 

And then you hear Izzy’s gait coming down into the galley, and you sigh, praying for strength. Not him too.

“Uh,” Izzy starts, brilliantly. “Roach, I wondered, uh. If I could talk to you.”

Roach smiles like a shark.

“Izzy! Of course! I’ll just have my helper leave us –”

“No,” Izzy says, “they’re fine.” He smiles slightly at you, clearly grateful you’re here.

“What did you want to talk about?” Roach asks much too brightly.

“You know how me and Frenchie, we, you know, we’re close?” Izzy asks.

“Yeah,” Roach says. As if anyone could have missed that.

“That all right with you?”

“Depends,” Roach says. “You going to treat my boy like a fancy little princess?”

Izzy’s taken off guard by that one.

“Uh,” he says, “if that’s what he wants, then, well, yeah,” he finally says.

Roach nods once, decisively.

“If you hurt him,” he says, smiling the while, “I will butcher you.”

“I’d expect no less,” Izzy says.

“Have you talked to Frenchie about this yet?” you ask, dying of curiosity.

“I haven’t,” Izzy says. “I don’t – I don’t know how.”

Roach’s grin practically gleams.

“And that’s why you’ve come to me.”

[thegr33nc0met]

Our Flag Means Death Masterlist

♥︎Stede Bonnet

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♥︎Edward Teach

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♥︎Izzy Hands

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♥︎Lucius Spiggs

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♥︎Jim Jimenez

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♥︎Oluwande Boodhari

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♥︎Frenchie

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♥︎Roach

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♥︎Archie

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♥︎Zheng Yi Sao

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♥︎All

General Yandere Headcanons (Coming Soon)

Feel free to ask about other characters!

[squidinkedcreative]

i was making some baked butternut squash for a friendsgiving the other day and it had me thinking abt steadyhands/crew of the revenge thanksgiving

do ed and izzy know what the holiday is? do they even care about it? i bet stede loves it even tho mans can barely cook. i bet he wears a ‘kiss the cook’ apron while trying to prepare the feast. i bet izzy would prepare the turkey for stede bc hes the least squeamish out of the three of them, and i bet iz’s turkey is fuckibg delicious. ed’s just doing small lil odd jobs like chopping herbs and veggies for stede and izzy, rolling out pie crust, mixing fillings for said pie/s.

i feel like even if ed and iz dont start off by liking the holiday, after a year or two of doing it together they start enjoying it and branching out a lil with their recipes

olu, jim, archie, and zheng would show up with some homemade cranberry sauce and maybe some sort of dessert roach gave them the recipe for(probably doesnt look the best but deff tastes amazing)

frenchie is just kind of there LMAO hes singing silly songs to the cooks

fang and roach would both bring appetizers, i feel like roach would bring some fancy ass deviled eggs or smth n fang would bring a a classic meat and cheese board

wee john is bringing his mommas homemade apple pie and its the best thing u have ever tasted in ur life

the swede and jackie would probably drop by with some booze

lucius and pete would probably bring some bland ass mashed potatoes lmaooooo two gays who cannot cook hc

they all leave out some leftovers in the yard in case bird buttons stops by

zheng invites her auntie, and auntie takes one bite of the mashed potatoes and straight up tells them it tastes like cardboard but then she takes them into the kitchen and shows them how to make them better(spices, SALT ANS PEPPER LMAO, also ✨good butter✨)

izzy just watching that going down, laughing to himself grateful he isnt the one to be teaching them, also grateful everyone is getting along and enjoying the peace

he probably slips away at one point, enjoying the cool night air(and the quiet) when bird buttons stops by and picks at the leftovers. i bet he and izzy have a silent exchange before he flies off

every year they get together and do it again, sometimes at somebody else’s place but usually at ed and stede’s inn <33

anygays, hope u enjoyed!! drop ur own in the replies or rb’s!! this was made possible by my moot who i bounced these off of a few days ago hehehe they added in and added to it, so its deff a collaborative effort!!!

[marionthegeek]

Stede is in the Gravy Basket, Izzy is Alive

The season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death is odd.  It hits weird. I think I know why. And this is going to sound bananas, but give me a chance to explain.  Maybe you’ll agree.

It has a huge tonal shift. It seems to speedrun Stede and Ed’s romance. It feels like we’ve missed out on something from the end of episode 7.  The fight scenes and pirate plans are nonsensical, even for OFMD. And most egregiously, a prominent character is killed off in a way that feels disingenuous to his story arc, just for starters.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  We need to go back to the beginning of season 2.  The season opens with Stede looking more piratey than ever. Beard, sash, earring… oh he’s his own fantasy of a real proper pirate.  He’s clashing swords with Izzy Hands and demanding to know where Ed is. He’s dreaming. In the dream he kills Izzy. He and Ed run into each other’s arms while screaming each other’s names. They crash into the surf. Ed says “I knew you’d find me, Babe.  I knew you’d find me, Love.” Stede keeps asking if they’re good. Ed dodges the question. Then Ed asked about the smell. Stede wakes up in a crowded room with farting and shushing roommates.

At first I thought the finale was supposed to be just a “satisfying” mirror to Stede’s dream. Stede and Ed call each other’s names and run into each other’s arms in a display that resembles a more grown up version of Stede’s dream fantasy. There’s some wild sword fighting not unlike Stede’s dream duel with Izzy. And Izzy dies.

It does mirror, but I didn’t find it satisfying. All of the characters except Stede feel flattened. Stede gets to make the heroic plan (that we never even hear) while there’s at least five pirates with better skill sets for it in the room. Ed, as Blackbeard, was described last season as “History’s greatest tactician”; Zheng Yi Sao conquered China; Jackie just took out a room full of British soldiers. Izzy and Auntie are right there. You could make arguments that Jim or Frenchie, or pretty much anyone could make a better plan. Then Stede says “It’s only suicide if we die,” which is horrible considering the plan gets Izzy killed.

Stede’s really the only person in that room who thinks Stede should be making the plans.  So I got to thinking, what if it's not just mirroring the dream? What if it is a dream? Last shot of episode 7 is an incoming cannonball. Maybe he’s unconscious.

Huge shout out to @Arty_Sunflowers on twitter (I’m not calling it X, fuck Musk) for pointing out that that isn’t the only episode that ends with a cannonball. Episode 2 ends with Jim swinging a cannonball down at Ed’s head.  Stede’s not just dreaming, he’s in the Gravy Basket!!!! (Stede even screams “Oh my God!” at the end of episode 7 in the same tone he screams “Oh my God, I don’t want to die.” in s1e9.

Stede’s hopes, dreams, and insecurities shape everything in the finale. And it helps explain the absurdities in the episode when you remember that Stede is living out pulp adventure and romance novels in his head. (He even looks like someone on the cover of one in his episode 1 dream.) But Stede can’t be dead, you say. He’s literally the main character. Well, Ed was dead for a whole episode. Let’s take a closer look.

I could and probably will do another essay on Lucius as a POV character and Ed’s mental health and how the threads they seemed to have dropped aren’t as dropped as they appear. But all of that hinges on me proving the Stede is in the Gravy Basket theory. So for this essay I’m focusing on that.

So for starters we’ve got the cannonball scenes. They’re eerily similar even if the method of cannonball propulsion is different. We don’t know Ed is dead and in the Gravy Basket for about half of episode 3. Neither does he. It makes logical sense you can be there without realizing it for a while. Buttons even said Ed didn’t know whether he was in the Gravy Basket or not in episode 4. It definitely messes with your reality.

One of Ed’s issues is self hate. He manifests Hornigold as his companion. Stede is desperate to be a good pirate and have people be proud of him. And he lives in his fantasies a lot.  So his dream shapes his experience. There’s a whole bit about Zheng needing “soft” and Auntie saying she’s proud of her. That isn’t their issue. It’s discordant with the show previously. But it is Stede’s issue. He’s manifesting.

When we first see Stede and Zheng in episode 8, they’re in a familiar spot for Stede, the bridge from episode 1. But why are they alone? When we last see Stede and Zheng in episode 7, several characters are within 5 to 10 feet of them. Did none of them decide to escape with Stede? Izzy, Lucius,  and Jim are closest. But we know Pete was there begging Stede to stay down during his fight with Zheng. Archie was definitely in the bar. That's why Jim entered the fight. So why is it only Stede and Zheng at the bridge? Because, going back to rescue others fits into Stede's hero fantasies. 

Zheng and Stede also argue about who pulled who to safety and how they got there. Stede waxes poetic about being a failure his whole life, but things always seem to work out for him. He’s such a main character mediocre white guy in this scene. He saves Zheng from two random soldiers, then she has to save him from them. Then they fight a bunch more soldiers on the beach until Blackbeard manifests in full leather from the ocean.  It looks cool. But it's absurd, even for OFMD.

Speaking of Ed, he begins the episode waxing poetic about nature and calling fishermen simple.  Those things are more Stede than Ed. Pop pop tells Ed, “You have no skills” which is something Izzy said to Stede in episode 5.  He also tells Ed, “If you were ever good at something, go do that, you bum.” If Stede’s insecurities could be distilled into one sentence, it would probably be that. (He also talks about being like a wave. I’m not 100% sure it's a The Good Place joke, but it would be thematically appropriate.)

Pop pop also tells Ed he “ruined dinner.”  Back in season 1, in Stede’s flashbacks to life with Mary and the kids, Stede thinks he’s ruined dinner. But remember, we also see another version of the scene where Stede is laughing with Mary and the kids.  Stede isn’t exactly a reliable narrator. Even in his own head.

Despite it being beyond unlikely, Ed finds soldiers reading one of Stede’s letters. I know physics in this show is sketchy, but this seems like a good time to point out no one found the red silk. Stede wants Ed to read a letter and for it to fix everything between them. The letter, plus Stede being in danger, make Ed swim out, find his leathers, and emerge from the sea with them on, while the music is the Swede’s solo from Stede’s fuckery in s1e6. Stede wants to be rescued by his handsome pirate in leather, again, just like a pulp adventure romance novel. Little chance of Ed swimming out and finding his kit.  Even less of him getting leather pants on under the water.

Back to the beach… for some reason two squads of soldiers are wandering around out on an empty beach. A visually incredible fight scene occurs. It honestly reminds me of Pete’s story in s1e2, including flips. Ed and Stede yell each other’s names exactly as in the dream. Like I’m pretty sure they used the same audio track. The same song (I Love My Baby, Nina Simone) starts playing. Ed says “I love you.” Stede says “I know.” (We’ll come back to the Han Solo joke in a minute.) They have a bit more absurd fighting then Ed, Stede, and Zheng sit on the beach complimenting each other. And Ed calls Stede “babe”.  He’s never done that outside of Stede’s dream and this moment. He’s called him mate a couple of times.  Babe is exclusively in Stede’s head.

Back in the Republic of Pirates, the crew are locked in a cell that is actually the “vista suite” at Spanish Jackie’s.  Izzy gets a heroic entrance. It’s as cool as Stede thinks Izzy is. And he gives a speech that sounds like what he probably told Stede to get him to relinquish the suit in episode 5. Piracy is about belonging to something. You can’t ignore the wishes of the crew.  Izzy also knows details about Captain Kidd and Pinocchio. Not impossible, but not exactly Izzy’s wheelhouse. It is Stede’s though. He’s obsessed with pirate tales and he read Pinocchio to the crew.

Stede, Ed, and Zheng show up just as Jackie has poisoned a bunch of soldiers. Stede makes a plan, despite everyone else being more qualified. Everyone disguises themselves as soldiers. Now we’ve seen the crew of the Revenge wear disguises. They never do the weird free styling they do here. Only Stede actually looks like a British officer. Zheng at least wears the disguise properly. Suddenly Ed has a multi gun bandolier like Blackbeard in the books. Pete ripped the arms off. Izzy is still wearing his vest. Doesn’t make sense if we’re going for stealth. Neither does not checking hostage Ricky for weapons or putting Izzy and his wooden leg at the front of the group.

If I'm right, Stede wouldn't know Ricky was behind the explosions. However,  Ricky is basically evil Stede. He's Stede's perfect foil. All of this is reflecting Stede's psyche. So, of course, it's Ricky.

Izzy gets shot and says quite a lot of nonsense in his death scene. “They love you, Ed.” Um, 3 of them were going to leave like five minutes ago. Ed has made some progress with the crew, but we’re not at “they love you Ed”.  The only person who thinks the crew loves Ed is Stede. Stede who weeps for Izzy while most of the crew aren’t showing much emotion. Stede can barely deal with his own big feelings. His fantasy doesn’t give the crew room to have them. Also, given the rest of the season, having Jim just let Ed be the person cradling Izzy doesn’t fit. The crew is also pretty stony at Izzy’s funeral.

I feel like it should be noted the last shot of Izzy in episode 7, he’s got one are around Jim and a hand on Lucius’s shoulder. He sat in Wee John’s lap in episode 6. Reactions to his death don’t make sense.

Also, Izzy’s terrible grave marker is very … Stede. He’d think it was a brilliant idea.

I didn't understand at first why Izzy had to die, even in Stede's dream world. Stede clearly likes him a lot better now. Why kill him? Well, it's because we're supposed to think Buttons is there to go to the Gravy Basket for Izzy. When actually he's already arrived in the Gravy Basket and he's there for Stede. Also, mentors die in pulp adventure novels. Stede sees Izzy as a mentor.

They go aboard the Revenge for Lucius and Pete’s wedding. It’s cute that the crew performs the ceremony, but I’d venture a guess that’s because Stede doesn’t know a captain should do it if it's legally binding. Stede does love the romance of it all.  The sudden uptick in monogamy is also very Stede. He barely understands monogamous relationships. Polyamory is beyond him.

Then Stede and Ed, who earlier told Zheng they’d help hunt Ricky, go back to the island where Izzy is buried to start an inn in a run down shack.  Stede knows Ed wants to do this because Ed told the (Taika’s) kids that they ran an inn.  We hear Ed ask “Jesus, what is that smell?” Now, at first, I thought Izzy, because Ed “knows the smell of my rotting first mate”. But what was the last thing to happen in Stede’s dream? A fart joke.

Last scene is Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave. To retrieve Izzy from the Gravy Basket? No, Izzy’s not dead. He’s with Jim and Lucius, probably watching over Stede’s corpse. Buttons is there to retrieve Stede.

This theory fixes the plot holes and dropped threads problem. We’re coming back to them next season. Ed's amends making should be far from over. And we see several moments during the season where he acknowledged that. And yet here on the island they've set up a horror movie and called it a happy ending.  Well, Stede is the type of boss who thinks things are fixed with a pizza (Calypso) party. In Stede's mind, this is a happy ending.  But really Ed is still off finding himself,  Stede is (temporarily) dead, and Izzy (who is not dead!) is probably guarding Stede's corpse.

They haven't resolved the domestic violence thread, but they haven't dropped it, either. Izzy is alive. Stede and Ed aren't together (yet). There's still time.

This also explains some of the freewheeling nonsense David Jenkins has been spouting in articles. Ed doesn’t see Izzy as a father figure and mentor, Stede does.  Stede almost turned to mush when Izzy approved of him. And David is writing a three volume adventure novel. Han Solo (Stede) is in carbonate (the Gravy Basket). The perfect end to the second act. See, I told you we’d get back to the Han Solo joke.

I still have problems with the season.  I really think they need a sensitivity reader. Even just implying a newly disabled character was fridged is certainly a choice. Especially given the amount of time devoted to how the character handled the disability. The DV scenes were brutal, as well as the suicide attempt, and the Human Puppet joke. I think they need someone trauma informed and disabled in the writer's room. (David Jenkins hit me up!)

Overall, I liked season 2. Especially once I realized Izzy wasn't dead. I'm looking forward to season 3, the conclusion of the Gentle Beard arc, and hopefully 6 seasons and a movie of Izzy (to be clear, he's not captain) and the kids sailing up and down the coast being gay and doing crimes, occasionally checking in with Stede and Ed.

Seriously, David, call me.

Historical Note: IRL Blackbeard died on November 22, 1718, killed in a naval battle off Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. IRL Stede Bonnet died December 10, 1718, hanged in Charles Town, South Carolina for piracy.  IRL Israel “Izzy” Hands survives piracy, death date unknown. I know this show doesn’t actually care about historical accuracy, but this lends a little support for my Ed died, then Stede died, and Izzy isn’t dead theory.

[bowieandqueen11]

Love For You / Izzy Hands Imagine

Request: I just found your ao3 account a few days ago and your writing style is excellent! Legitimately some of the most visual and evocative writing I've seen on that website, and I've been devouring your izzy hands fics since I caught up on season two! Can I request another izzy x reader post-amputation and just the reader caring for him while he's pining hard? Maybe the reader has some medical experience so they've been able to help him a little better than the rest of the crew, making sure he's taking time to heal in a difficult moment (physically as well as emotionally, god knows he needs that.) Letting him know he's loved and him realizing he hasn't...heard someone say that to him or treat him this gently in a long time

Thank you so much that's so kind of you to say, it's so lovely people finding me from AO3!! Honestly one of the best feelings, and goodness knows Izzy needs this :)

Okay so I haven't been able to watch the new season so all my knowledge is coming from Tumblr gifs and posts, so I really hope this isn't too ooc my lovely!! Anyway let's get this man some comfort!

I spent all day writing this, so all comments are much appreciated! Thank you! :)

Warning: mentions of blood/injury, mentions of physical abuse, mention of smoking, kissing and some strong language!

(I do not own OFMD or its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @goodsirs.)

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°

Something monstrous seemed to be creeping up the shuddering walls.

No, it wasn't the stifling silence that had seemed to envelop those of Blackbeard's crew still left, hiding their heads between their legs and closing their eyes as they felt the quicksand drain out through the fingers. Nor was it the creaking organ snore of Wee John thrumming up the timber; the rest of your usually upbeat crew grew despondent as they wracked their brains together and came up with a way to save you all from imminent demise, having flopped onto their sides and fallen into fitful sleeps just before sunset. Sadly it wasn't even the feel of Lucius' finger stroking yours through the cold grates of your jail, his smile lost and forlorn as he thumped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes as well, feeling even more entrapped in himself than you did.

It was, in fact, the hard glare Izzy Hands was shooting into the side of your face. He hadn't spoken a word since Stede had left, choosing instead to let out the odd sniffle from his corner bucket and busy himself by watching you like a man possessed: like something wild, something smothering itself in the shadows to stop its howling heart from devouring the light around itself. From tearing his dagger out of his scabbard and devouring his heart himself with clawed hooks. He looked ghastly, and he looked gargantuan as the life seemed to convulse within him, leeching out and darting its tongue around the creaking wood until it filled up the room and began to fill your heart up with a hope you thought had been lost weeks ago.

He looked beautiful and proud and defeated and assured in spite of it all, and you were finally beginning to understand why Zheng Yi Sao had locked him away in this cage.

And in a way, it terrified you that this cataclysmic, lucent shadow was creeping its merry way straight for you.

The tenebrosity was quickly broken by Izzy's shining eyes gliding across the bridge of your nose to land instead on your top lip. He wasn't entirely sure why exactly he was feeling so timid. It wasn't as if Frenchie was still awake, as he was too busy hugging his free arm around the remaining muscle of Izzy's thigh and burying his head into the muscle with a soft murmur of contentment. Yet the idea of being caught leering at you like a dopey boy was enough to make him judder with embarrassment, and enough to send Frenchie's head keeling sideways so his lips were rammed up against his trousers.

Thankfully, it was exactly Frenchie's floppy head that gave away the fact that he was fast asleep, and allowed you to steal Izzy away for yourself. With a gentle lift, you were quick to replace your friend's cheek with your own hand, giving the side of Izzy's thigh a reassuring squeeze.

'You look like you're bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders', you sighed as you took in Izzy's harrowing form. It wasn't his paleness that worried you, or the redness that cracked and splintered around his irises. It was the way he was watching you, eyes trained steadily on your face for the last hour and a half, as if he were doing his best to memorise everything he could before he ran out of time. As if he would never have the chance to look at you again.

The edges of his lips curled up, and he thumped his head back against the wall. 'Me? I'm feeling fucking fantastic. Never been better. Why do you ask?'

'Well', you began as softly as you could, straining to reach the vials in your hip knapsack to retrieve some salve for the scarring that had begun to pucker around his skin. 'We are about to be executed. I guess I just wanted you to know this is a safe space to let it all out before we are. A confessional of sorts, if a little makeshift.'

He wet his bottom lip as his eyes darted down to you, confused.

You pointedly looked him in the eyes, before unscrewing the vial and dipping your pointer finger in. Making sure he didn't seem too uncomfortable, you leant forwards as innocuously as you could, trying not to startle him anymore than he already had been. With a swipe, you began to rub the herb mixture around the sore looking welts left around his cut leg, making a point to run your fingertips soothingly over the goose-bumps that began to rise at the feel of you against him.

'I wanted you to know- to know that you're always safe around your crew.' You did your best not to let your voice tremble, no matter how much your throat tried to choke you. You turned your head back down to his leg, trying to hide the fact that your mouth was crumpling in on itself.

He winced as your hand brushed against a tender point, and you ran the back of your knuckles over his skin in apology. He felt like he was burning alive: a fire blazing so furiously in the pit of his stomach he was sure it was gushing out, swinging around the room and warning everyone of his impending falter as he fell upon the crags of your fingers below. He had no idea how, in all the seas, you couldn't possibly see how ecstatically devastated he was to be sitting here with you.

He didn't mind dying. He wasn't scared of it. As long as you were there to enhalo his misty light in the end. As long as you were there to love him until his last breath. As long as, no matter what form he took, you were still enclosed around his heart.

'Who says I have anything to confess?', he glanced at you with heavy eyelashes, eyes bleary but sharp as he started straight into your soul. I don't have to confess it, he thought, it's so fucking painfully obvious.

How could he confess something so inexplicable? Something that wrapped around all of his bones, that wormed its way into parts of himself he thought long numb: long lost. How could someone ever articulate the feeling of life itself? It was insurmountable, far too transcendent, too impetuous for mortals to to unsnarl into words.

'Oh Izzy', you said, mouth falling into a frown at the way his hips reflexively bucked up at the feel of a new cream being slathered around his leg to try and numb the pain. He moaned, trying to mask the sound by clenching his fist into his mouth and biting desperately into his knuckles. One more touch, and he was about to fall apart. 'Your eyes are drowning in so many regrets I can barely see the stars in them anymore.'

He huffed out a laugh, looking at you with incredulous, wild eyes. He willed his hand to stop shaking as he let it rest, still clenched, by his quivering chin. 'Not in my eyes. You never could. That's not possible. Not me.'

'I could.' You were quick to reply. 'I always could. You're our guiding light, Israel Hands.'

Oh boy, if he wasn't devastated before he sure was now. His face fell immediately, and for a moment you felt your heart ache with a sore regret at the silvery tears that began to cloud in the crinkles of his eyes. But then he does something that surprised even you.

The way he opened his legs up was almost miniscule: too small for anyone who didn't know this man's quirks and intricacies and giveaways to notice, but a well aimed shot that sent a rush of heat prickling up your cheeks. Before he changed his mind and retreated into himself again, you were quick to scoot your backside over and come to rest far too intimately between the tightening leather of his inner thighs.

'You can't be surprised that we care about you', he started after a moment of comfortable silence, leaning the side of your head to rest gingerly on his intact leg. 'That the whole crew has always cared about you. Look, someone even got you a mop-', you gestured to his side, trying to make him laugh before the sun rises, and thankfully you succeeded.

He shook his head out as if trying to refocus himself as his chuckle died out in his chest. He didn't want to laugh right now. He wanted to focus on the weight on his leg: on the feel of your nose brushing on the length of seam running up to his groin. He blinked back heavy tears that spread along his lashes, sniffling coarsely. He probably should laugh, he thought. He should be fucking howling, spitting, going rabid at the irony that the one thing he had been yearning his whole life was lying right there on his lap, and he only had a few hours left in his pathetic life to savour it.

'How are you doing, by the way? Seriously', you jolt your head up to watch him quizzically. He did his best not to meet your eye, choosing instead to stare at the black grains above Jim's slumped head. 'After, you know, everything that happened with Ed-'

'You don't need to worry about me', he sniffed, but his hand twitched as he lifted it up to rest on his thigh, just above the top of your head. 'It's my job to worry about all of you. Not the other way round.'

'When are you going to get it through your thick skull that we want to worry about you. This isn't some kind of weird mandate or self-preservation tactic on our part Izzy. You may be a fucking idiot, but you're our fucking idiot. Let us take care of you too, like you've been looking out for us.'

He squeezed his eyes shut, his head beginning to shake furiously enough to send his stray silver locks clambering over his eyes. He was glad for their cover, so he wouldn't have to see the way you had lurched forward: the way you were pleading with him with your eyes, as you rose onto your knees and pressed your hands firmly around his waist, just where the joint of his legs met the soft squish of his tummy.

'Don't you shake your head at me. We all know you've been trying to direct Blackbeard's anger your way. We do!' You cocked your head, trying to follow his face as he squirmed in your grasp. Losing your patience, you gripped his jaw with your thumb and pointer finger, directing Izzy's widening eyes back your way. 'We do, Izzy. We know what you've been doing for us. What you've been sacrificing. And I'm sorry - I'm sorry that none of this is fair. I'm sorry that any of this happened at all.'

One. Two. You tapped your finger a third time, your fingernail swirling over the fine nuances of the holster running over his sawed leg.

It had always been your little secret: a shared confidence, between you and Izzy. One tap. Two. Three on each other's arms after battles, three taps there on your shoulder before you went down to your bunk, three fleeting touches burning at the back of his spine to let him know that you were alright: to let him know that he was alright.

You only stopped when you heard a brisk inhale: a sharp whistle that broke through your indulgent repose and made Roach roll over. Thankfully, a moment later, the cook's arm was splayed out across the floor again, and his leg kicked out backwards with a swift jolt up poor Button's behind. Izzy, though. Izzy, despite the surprising tenderness of the moment, was almost smouldering. The muscle by the side of his femur began to writhe underneath just the point of your fingertip, the feeling of just your warmth making him feel too feeble. Too needy to even control the rest of his body; he desperately tried to reach out a hand to shove your shoulder back and push you away, but his mind was too busy swimming with the concentration of trying to remember how to inhale.

The sharp breaths he dragged in painfully were starting to worry you, as were the wracks of his spine as he seemed to writhe backwards and forwards, back arching off the wall before collapsing back down on itself painfully again.

He felt your hand clench around his back, guiding him to sit still again. You were close, far too close - your noses almost touching, as you took a risk and used your free hand to slowly.... god, so fucking slowly he felt like he was going to split in half. He looked like a wounded animal: something terrified of being hurt as his eyes stayed trained on your approaching fingers, face wary until your fingertips touched his hair and tucked it behind his ear.

And then he felt that warmth. That warmth against the shell of his ear. He bit down hard enough on his lip to draw blood, and for once, he was glad for the taste. It was comforting. Familiar. Deserved. He wasn't one for the fucking heartache of tenderness. And god, how his heart ached.

'Come on,' you nestled yourself between his legs again and perched your elbow up on his left leg. 'People must have cared about you before. Might as well get it all out in the open. Be honest with each other now.'

He paused, before the stubbornness wormed its way in again. 'No, they haven't-'

'Well, what about your parents? Your parents must have been kind. Besides, the crew obviously cares about you. I obviously care about you. Stop being so pig-headed.''

He startled you with a laugh: he seemed to choke on it, his teeth baring as he barked it out, yet he still couldn't seem to look at you quite yet. That's alright. You had an eternity left in these few hours.

Kindness?

He couldn't remember a time before joining Stede's crew that he had ever felt such a thing, let alone let it fester in the crevices of his ribcage until he felt the dreaded thing was going to claw its way out. Perhaps, if he let himself fester in the silence for a moment, an image of his mother would squirm its way out of his long repressed memories. Clawing and scratching and digging her pointed nails to dig her way out. No, his mother had never offered him a jot of comfort. She could stay buried in that coffin he had stuffed her down into, instead of rotting inside of him. He had enough barnacles to scrape off his body as it was.

It wasn't as if he had any surprisingly sweet memories of his life before. His mother had never been one for grace: her words always bit at his brain like a frenzied tempest, his actions never good enough. Once, when he was six years old, he had tottered up before the sun rose and followed his older brother down to the docks, trying to please his mother. Even so young, he had spent most of his years yearning to be seen as anything but the 'nuisance' or 'pest' his mother used to spit at his feet, and yearned to return with a line full of fish to please her. To help her with the chores that she always yammered his father had left her to rot with. Had left him. That he rotted away her youth. When he came slinking into the doorway, a nervous smile twitching at his ruddy cheeks, his mother had taken one look at the muddy, damp fringes of his trousers and had slapped him clean across the face for his troubles.

Another part of him remembered her warmth. The same that radiated off your palm as you spread your fingers across his knee; the way she would sometimes scutter into his bed at night, and he could smell the harsh sting of alcohol on her breath as she curled up and hugged him close against her chest. Of the way she would sometimes let him sit on her knee once the three of them had returned home after service, and she would brush back his growing hair and he would curl himself up to chase the stray ray of sunlight that glowed against her neck.

It had left him a Gordian mess of a man. Simultaneously spending his life seeking any kind of validation, any kind of affection, while his stubborn self-preservation did its best to push everyone away.And yet here you came, watching him with those sweet, sad eyes. Swinging the sword to undo him.

'I don't remember much about them', he replied curtly, but not unkindly. 'My father left us when I was young. I was... mainly left to my own devices.'

You nod slowly, letting his words thinking in. Letting the misery drenching every seething heave of his tongue wash over your head. 'Well', you began to rub your thumb in circles against his trousers, 'at least you have us here now. One good thing to add to the pile.'

There we go. The knot's slowly being undone.

You tried to smile, but the intensity of his gaze falling on you again unsettled you.

'You're right.' His voice was far too earnest for his own good. 'I have had one good thing in my life. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me.'

You nearly jolted when you felt his hand smack down on top of yours. He had closed his eyes to try and hide himself from his discomfort, but his gloved fingers still slid between yours and squeezed despite himself. Once he was assured they were firmly intertwined: his own grasping tight enough to bust the leather at the stitching, he dared himself to finish his train of thought before he lost his nerve.

'I do... I do care about the crew. None of this was their fault, and they shouldn't have been fucking blamed for it. But I- I, I care about someone else far more than all of this twatty lot put together.'

It's a whisper into the darkness. A despairing yell of defiance against the solitude. A smothered light, long lingering and far longer forgotten. A spark of hope against the threat of ruination. It was a silver tear, glinting like starlight against his iris and falling with a content plop onto the back of your hand.

'I-I-', he stuttered out, clenching his teeth as he wills himself not to cry. 'I-'

The words refused to unlatch from his throat. Luckily, you were adept enough to notice the longing that drew a sad ache across his face.

'Izzy, I-'

'Let me finish', he stumbled out, his whole face now contorting as he struggled with the weight of it all. His bottom lip began to wobble against his will, face falling in on itself.

'I have-I have... love. For you. 'What I'm trying to say is'-, he shakes his head, chiding himself.

'Izzy, I know, it's alright. I know. I understand.' You grabbed tighter onto the back of your hand, enveloping it with your free one until his stopped shaking, begging him to realise you could see him.

'No-. No. If I don't say it now, I'm worried I never will.'

'Take your time, take your time. We have all the time in the world'. A sob finally gasped out from Izzy, chest heaving as he felt you draw his hands up towards your mouth. Still safe. Still warm. Still firmly cupped between your own, but the feel of your lips brushing against his knuckles was enough to send him reeling. The gentle peck that followed, though, was enough to finally let him break free.

A tentative finger reached out, checking for any signs of repulsion before landing awkwardly to point into the blade of your shoulder. He seemed to freeze: immobile marble frozen in fear as he seemed unaware as to what to next. After a few wary blinks, he clumsily spent a few seconds trying to manoeuvre the rest of his arm to cross across your back, before tugging your torso to lean closer towards him.

For a moment, it finally seems as if the world has skittered upright on his axis again. It felt normal. It felt right, feeling him grow comfortable with affection again as he melted, for the second time that week, into your hug. For his sake, as he burrowed his head into the pulse point of your neck until his stubble began to tickle your collar bone, you pretended not to hear the maimed whimpers that struggled past his closed lips.

The only time he moved was to raise his head up towards your nose, bumping it playfully against the tip of your own. Then another graze. A rub, and then another one, his eyes the whole time languidly drawn down to stare at your cupid's bow, until he slowly brought himself down to breathe unsteadily against your mouth. After a final moment of contemplation, he blinked placidly before closing his eyes and tilting his head to close the miniscule distance between the two of you.

His jaw was tense as you ran your finger down it, so busy trying to commit to his memory the pressure of your lips against his bottom one that he was forgetting to breath. But he didn't pull away. In fact, his hand clamped around your neck, digging almost painfully into your back as he stumblingly latched onto you, forcing himself further against your opening mouth. His hand found solace by cupping the back of your skull, chest squeezed against your breasts as he opened his lips and almost devoured you whole.

A loud 'awww!' erupted from your side, making the two of you jolt apart. The only problem was, Izzy's bottom lip had been rather firmly attached to yours. This meant that as you drew back, Izzy, in his stubborn unwillingness to let you go, let his bottom lip drag down along your inner mouth until a line of saliva connected your bottom lips, which only made the person the other side of the brig giggle even louder.

'You guys are cute', Black Pete yawned with a wakening stretch.

'Yes!', Roach chimed in as he teddy bear rolled his lanky legs round in front of him. 'I swear!', he continues, ostentatiously wiping his finger underneath his eye, 'I must be crying! I'm two seconds away from going up there and commencing our escape myself.'

With a tilt of your head that hit Izzy's chin, you looked at the cook incredulously. Izzy only gazed down at you past the crook of his nose, wonderstruck as the he let the words wash over his head.

'You. You really think you can take on all those very competent pirates up there.'

'Of course!'

'You cried for twenty minutes earlier about soup!'

Roach waved his hand unconvincingly in front of his face. 'Broth, it was broth! But I'm great with knives, remember! I have one hidden in my underwear right now!'

'Why... why is it in your underwear?', Oluwande piped in as he rested his head on the side of a barrel.

'Yeah, you weren't captured', Archie added, shuffling her own head off Jim's shoulder to look out past the bars. 'Why isn't it, I don't know, in your pocket or something.'

Even though Roach has opened his mouth to answer, his train of thought is broken by the tired grumble of another one of your friends. 'I hate to admit it, but that was actually very sweet', Lucius chimed in, twisting his lips into a shit-eating grin as he eyed the both of you up, another cigarette now firmly tucked in and freshly lit between his fingers as he took a drag.

'Is everyone on this fucking boat awake?!', Izzy cried, wrapping a hand protectively around your shoulder joint.

You snorted, burying your head protectively against the soft skin of his bellybutton. The sound of the crew beginning to argue with an increasingly impatient Izzy was like music to your ears; the monster was beginning to retreat.

No longer did it hang and shake and pierce the walls with its talons until it bled umbras. It retreated: chased away by the comely love of your crew. Of your family. Of the man who held you protectively against him, blinding you with his tender love.

[lgbtqasacrew]

Fanfic requests

Hi guys, i’m now taking fanfic requests for ofmd and good omens. I’m happy to write fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, sickfics, nsfw. See more info below

Our flag means death

Izzy x reader

Stede x reader

Ed x reader

Steddyhands x reader

Frenchie x reader

(reader will be gender neutral unless otherwise specified)

I’ll also write for these ships:

Stede x Ed

Stede x Izzy

Ed x Izzy

Steddyhands

Frenchie x Izzy

Lucius x Pete

Variations of Jim/Archie/Olu/Zheng Yi Sao

Good omens

Crowley x reader

Aziraphale x reader

Crowley x reader x Aziraphale

(Please specify if you have a preference of whether the reader is angel/demon/human)

I’ll also write Crowley x Aziraphale

If there’s a pairing not listed that you would like to see, please feel free to still send in your request and I’ll see what I can do. For ofmd, can be canon period or modern, and for good omens it will be current time unless otherwise specified in the request.

Main account

Ao3 account

[tortellini-tankini-art]

1717. The Golden Age of Piracy. Wealthy UnderRealm Grifter William (Montague) Widemouth set out to find adventure and renown on the high seas. Things did not go as planned... Our Flag Means Pasta: An OFMD x Pastamonsters/Creepypasta Crossover AU

v Characters and Lore Below v

Or, check out everything I have stored on this AU in the Miro Board I've created for it! I update it with time as I create more artwork, characters, and add to the storyline, and even make episode timelines!

Characters in this AU:

The 'Retribution' Crew

Mr. Widemouth (William Montague Widemouth) as Stede Bonnet / Ben Drowned (Benjamin Lawman) as Lucius Spriggs / Jeff the Killer (Jeffrey Sepulveda-Ramirez) as Black Pete / Homicidal Liu (Liu Sepulveda-Ramirez) as Jim Jimenez / Eyeless Jack as Oluwande Boodhari / Ticci Toby (Tobias 'Toby' Eren Rogers) as Frenchie / Seedeater (Eedie) as Wee John / Kagekao as the Swede / Dr. Smiley as Roach / The Rake as Buttons

The 'Queen Lucia' Crew

Grinny (Oscar Delgado-Reyes)* as Edward Teach / Shadowlurker as Izzy Hands / Masky** as Fang / Hoodie* as Ivan

*Grinny is an OC of @oakmovies , however, for this AU, he is essentially a nearly different character, as his lore and background are vastly different.

**Masky and Hoodie in this AU are NOT the same people as their versions in Marble Hornets, and are instead entirely different people with different backstories.

Other Characters

Smile Dog (Smilin' Sam Dogham) as Calico Jack / Nurse Ann as Spanish Jackie / Splendorman as Nigel Badminton / Slenderman as Chauncey Badminton / Ms. (Priscilla) Pencilneck (another OC of @oakmovies) as Mary Allamby / Nina the Killer (Nina Rodriguez-Hopkins) as Archie / Jane the Killer as Mary Read (Jane Tod Richardson) / Clockwork (Natalie Ouellette) as Anne Bonney / Pinkamena (Bi Qi/碧琪) as Zheng Yi Sao

Character Backgrounds:

In this AU, and in this given time frame, the UnderRealm aristocracy is made up entirely of either monsters or spirits who were born and raised in the UnderRealm. Anyone who comes to the UnderRealm from the Surface world (killers, cursed, undead, etc.) is considered other, an outsider, and of lesser status, and this gap created upholds the aristocratic monster class. People who are born half-human are also considered lesser, and unless they were born to a monster of already aristocratic standing, they have very limited options in life in the UR.

UnderRealm: Widemouth, Ben (see also Spirit), Seedeater, The Rake, Shadowlurker, Slenderman, Splendorman

Spirits: Ben (Human from UK, died, then UR as corporeal spirit), Kagekao (Demon; Japan)

Half-Human:

Grinny (Mother - Mixed Taino/Spanish / Father - (Lower-class) Monster)

Smile (Father - UK / Mother - Cave Hound)

Ms. P (Father - UK / Mother - (Upper-class) Monster)

'Killer' Humans: Jeff, Liu, Toby, Dr. Smiley, Masky, Hoodie, Nina, Jane, Clockwork

Cursed/Possessed/Undead/Cannibal 'Humans': EJ (possessed/cursed/cannibal), Nurse Ann (Undead), Pinkamena (Cursed/Cannibal)

Lore (What's Different from PM/OFMD?)

Grinny/Oscar - The child of a feline-monster from the UnderRealm, and a half Taino woman from Puerto Rico. His mother was dragged to the UnderRealm by his father when she was a young lady, and lived in an abusive situation with him, until Oscar kills his father when he's 12. He runs away from home after this, and joins the crew of Captain Doyle (Hornigold for this AU - I have yet to draw another version of him for this AU, so here's @oakmovies rendition of him on IG). There, he meets Sam and Shadowlurker, and after they mutiny Doyle, he goes on to make a reputation for himself as the feared monster pirate Captain Grinny.

Jeff and Liu - Since Black Pete and Jim Jimenez in OFMD are not at all blood siblings the way Jeff and Liu are, but I was already set on them being these characters, I've created this backstory for them:

Jeff and Liu grow up with their family on a blood orange farm in St. Augustine, when one Christmas night, a gang known as the Siete Búhos attacks and kills their entire family. Instead of killing the siblings as well, they mutilate them, and set Jeff, and the rest of the farm, on fire.The two siblings manage to run away from the burning farm, and are taken in by a Satanic Nun.

The Nun raises them to master the art of killing, but only for the purpose of revenge. Jeff, however, has a different idea, and uses his new skills to rob and kill people for money. The nun acts to kick Jeff out of the convent, but Liu refuses to be separated from their brother, and leaves with him. Eventually, they meet Eyeless Jack, who gets them a job with Spanish Ann.

However, they find out that one of her husbands is the leader of the Siete Búhos, so one night, they get him drunk enough to restrain, torture, and kill him. After Ann finds out about this, she puts a price on Liu's head, and Jack has to escape with the two siblings, where they then join Widemouth's crew among The Retribution.

[khruschevshoe]

Frenchie

We can do the tango, just for two

I can serenade and gently play on your heart strings

Be your Valentino, just for you

Come on and sit on my hot seat of love

And tell me how do you feel, right after all

I'd like for you and I to go romancing

Say the word, your wish is my command

-Queen, Good Ol' Fashioned Lover Boy

Then Frenchie begins to sing, and Zheng's jaw drops, because that's not a Caribbean melody. That's not a French love song or an English ballad or a Spanish drinking tune.

It’s very clear that Frenchie doesn’t fluently speak Mandarin. His accent is atrocious and his grasp of where to put the emphasis on some syllables is far from correct. But somehow, he found a way to track down and memorize a love song in Zheng’s home language for her.

Zheng Yi Sao is the Pirate Queen of the Caribbean and the Huāng-di of all of China. She isn’t meant to be soft. She isn’t meant to cry. She is meant to be respected, revered, made divine by those that cannot dream of reaching her throne.

But her eyes are glimmering anyway.

As the song ends, Zheng pulls Frenchie down into a kiss, and for the first time in her life she's smiling too wide for it to properly connect.

-aletterinthenameofsanity, my two legs are broken, but look at me dance (where I am going is right where I am)

Ah, Frenchie. Boy, do I adore him and his music and his friendships with everyone and his scheming. I was so happy to see him be able to get up to some scheming in this series, find a love interest who respects and appreciates him, and develop some really strong bonds with Izzy, Wee John, and others. He's a complete delight, just like in canon, and I'm so proud of him for finally being recognized for his true worth by not just Zheng, but also his Captain Oluwande.

I'd like to thank @polikate for the song suggestion! I couldn't think of a better song for Frenchie in this 'verse!

@possumsmushroom @angxlwiings @bricksbloggyplace

[piratesmyass]

Hi~ This blog is a mess, but I try to make sense of it via tags

Watch the second season here

All characters appearing in a post get tagged, but not when the entire/most of the crew's there (too much work lol im lazy). I use the tag #traumabond crew for the Blackbeard crew from eps 1 - 3 along with Izzy.

Tags for characters are usually their full name or first name + ofmd:

#edward teach, #stede bonnet, #izzy hands, #frenchie ofmd, #jim jimenez, #lucius spriggs, #oluwande boodhari, #the swede, #archie ofmd, #fang ofmd, #black pete, #wee john feeney, #roach ofmd, #nathaniel buttons #zheng yi sao #ivan ofmd #prince ricky #auntie ofmd #ned low

(did i forget anyone important...? God I hope not) I am very pro most every character. I do not hate a single one of them, they're all my babies and little friends. I love Izzy the most, currently hyperfixated on him.

Just a reminder that the block button is right there. Do not add your anti character views under my pro character posts. It's mean, ruins people's day and achieves nothing positive. Just block me and move on. Thank you.

Ship names i use:

Stede x Edward = #blackbonnet

Edward x Izzy = #blackhands

Izzy x Stede = #gentlehands

Izzy x Stede x Edward = #steddyhands

Lusius x Black Pete = #lupete

The rest is usually all over the place, sorry

Tags for special content in a post:

Memes or just smth funny: #lols

Gifs or gifsets are also tagged: #gifset

Fanart gets the tag #fanart

Speculation on the 3rd season is #ofmd speculation

Tag for ideas on improvement of the 2nd series is #fixing ofmd

Anything with David Jenkins in it, either interviews or posts talkingabout him are tagged #david jenkins

Posts criticising the show are tagged #ofmd critical. This is not a negative tag. Most times the criticism is well deserved

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[khruschevshoe]

Zheng Yi Sao | Ching Shih

Got raven hair, it's dark as night

Icy eyes, outta sight, outta sight

Her heart, in spite, is warm and bright

Her smile awakes the Northern Light

She, queen of the kings, runnin' so fast, beatin' the wind

Nothin' in this world can stop the spread of her wings

She, queen of the kings, broken her cage, threw out the keys

She will be the warrior of the North and Southern Seas

-Alessandra, Queen of the Kings

Some- those who survived Blackbeard’s hell ship- thought they would be forced to their knees if they weren’t chucked off the ship to begin with. Knives and axes slipped into hands that still bore the scars of far too many raids or months stuck in a trunk in the lowest hold. Even Izzy Hands himself swallowed dry as the ship approached.

Then the Queen herself comes across the rope bridge between their two ships and her expression is clear of smeared kohl, tears, or fire. She has a sword, yes, but a posture that speaks to a confidence that seems natural, not arrogant. She seems impressive, but, at least from a glance, doesn’t seem to be too dangerous.

But there’s that lingering fear, that level of threat that those who killed Blackbeard cannot forget. It digs into their brains, seeding itself in the fertile soil of well-honed paranoia.

Zheng Yi Sao is the fucking Pirate Queen. She is a goddess among pirates, the greatest pirate captain in the world. Compared to her, Blackbeard was an ant, and yet he was their god for so long, able to destroy and ruin them all so thoroughly that they're all still trying to sort things out, months later.

But Zheng Yi Sao has a smile that is bright, almost warm, if rather quick. 

-aletterinthenameofsanity, swear this time around I'm gonna stay (love me if you choose to)

I absolutely love the depiction of Zheng Yi Sao/Ching Shih in this series so much! She's a fantastic ruler established to have the sort of confidence and power you'd need to take over China and the Caribbean sea, but is allowed to be sassy and romantic and drop dead funny at the same time WITHOUT losing her fleet (my number one complaint with her storyline in the show- why bring in the most badass and most powerful pirate to ever exist and then strip her of all of her power). Her romantic dynamic with Frenchie is fun and hot and a well-developed relationship of equals.

@polikate @possumsmushroom @bricksbloggyplace @yuenity

[khruschevshoe]

Frenchie and Ching Shih

She is something to behold

Elegant and bold

She is electricity

Running to my soul

And I could easily lose my mind

The way you kiss me will work each time

-Vance Joy, Georgia

After Frenchie's opening song for the matelots, he has spent the rest of his night with Zheng. He is having the time of his life. He's gone from a role in service, a role squished under Blackbeard’s boot, to making love and offering advice to the greatest pirate in the Eastern Hemisphere (and probably the world, too). She has given him greater gifts than the crew of the Revenge have ever stolen in a raid: not just silken vests and jewelry and lines of priceless thread, but praise for his cleverness and his voice.

Previous Captains stole his voice from him; Zheng wants to hear him scheme and moan and sing for her. Frenchie can't picture anything better.

-aletterinthenameofsanity, let's take a chance, baby, we can't lose (it's the one thing you can choose)

I was not expecting to ever get onboard a crackship like this, especially an M/F one (my standards tend to be pretty high for those), but god if this one didn't just come out of nowhere and slap me in the face. Their dynamic of planning schemes to fuck with the English and Spanish, open physical affection, and the fact that Zheng appreciates Frenchie as no one else ever has had me head over heels for this ship.

@possumsmushroom @polikate @angxlwiings @bricksbloggyplace

[khruschevshoe]

The moment when a fanfic author converts you to a crackship but are literally the only one writing it so you have to pray on bended knee that they'll post more because you are starving in the desert and need more content