#izzyverse

[arsenicflame]

The thing about Jack's Izzy is that he was never supposed to be Jack's Izzy. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, to teach Ed and Sam a lesson, to escape their constant tugging at him to decide who he was going with. He'd been beginning to feel more like their favourite toy, a pawn in their endless stupid fight, than a person whose opinion they actually cared about. He tells them he hasn't decided, that he doesn't want to decide, but it goes over their heads every time, too focused on "winning" him.

So when it comes to it, after Hornigold's gone, after they've won, and they're asking him again before he's even had chance to clean the blood from his sword, let alone his hands, he just blurts out "Jack"

To say everyone's shocked is an understatement. Sam and Ed's shocked "What's?" are only drowned out by Jack’s own. It's not like he hasn't known the whole time he was never in the running, he hadn't even asked Izzy because he knew he'd just laugh in his face. He loved Izzy just as much as they did, but it was never the same for Izzy. He never had the drive of Sam & Ed, the passion, the potential. He was Calico Jack, too stupid, too immature, too much of a drunk to be a worthy captain. (never mind that Izzy had always seen through that cover, seen the way he used the act to keep himself safe, seen that he was never really as drunk as he acted, seen the way he played people to get what he wanted. It didn't matter. He wasn't Ed or Sam, and that's all that really mattered in the end)

Izzy sits firm in his split second decision, telling them that he's fed up with all this bullshit, and Jack's the only one who listens to him, so he's going with him. Jack's not stupid enough to question Izzy further, so they take one of Hornigold's fleet & a handful of crew who hold no loyalty to the other boys, and set sail before it has a chance to turn into another mutiny.

The thing is, Izzy never really intended to stay. His plan was to leave with Jack for a month or so, fucking around achieving nothing while his boys got their heads out of their asses, then go back once hes actually had space to make a decision, to decide who he wants to be, free of anyone else's expectations. Only, having Izzy there to impress makes Jack pull his act together fast. He's desperate to prove he's worthy of Izzy's time, cutting back on all the dicking around and making a genuine effort to be a worthy Captain for him. He's not perfect by any means, but they're actually doing ok.

And for Izzy, it's like someone's lifted a weight off of his shoulders. He hadn't realised it until he was away, but being with Sam & Ed had felt crushing towards the end, both of them expecting so much from him, wanting him to be someone who wasn't quite him, wanting him to help them build a legend. And maybe he wanted that, maybe he would love it in another life, but it's also nice to not have expectations. Jack never wants him to be anything other than himself, and it's been pretty nice, learning who Izzy Hands is. He thinks he might like the guy.

So it goes from there. A month passes and Izzy makes no mention of meeting up with the others. Then two, then three, and before long he's forgetting that he ever seriously planned to leave. He stays, and they make it work, together. It's not perfect, it was never going to be, but they have something that makes them both happy. And that's enough.

[copperbadge]

WHO WANTS A TRANSFORMATIVE WORK

So, I am trying to be better about linking to/publicizing adaptations of my work, and happy Friday, I finally managed to get all the links in one place!

Here are some podfics of my fic plus an inspired-by:

You Think You Know Someone, fanfic by New_Moon_on_Monday, Good Omens: Crowley has a guilty pleasure on a road trip. Inspired by A Better Idea.

Empty Burrow, podfic by Cailynwrites, Harry Potter: Arthur and Molly adapt to becoming empty nesters.

@cookiemom6067 has done a number of the Izzyverse stories as podfics -- I think actually the entire Izzyverse at this point. Marvel AU in which Clint accidentally acquires a daughter who got his daredevil spirit and his slightly unfortunate nose:

Hawkeye And Anklebiter

The Izzy Shorts

The Adventures of Isobel, Princess of Space

Someday My Prince Will Open A Transdimensional Portal

Dot To Dot and Big Sister, which are crossovers with @scifigrl47's DJverse

Izzyland

ENJOY GUYS

[yaz113]

Thinking of an Izzyverse fic where a dying Izzy gets to see what his life would have been like if he’d pledged his allegiance to

• Benjamin Hornigold

• “Calico” Jack Rackham

• Ned Lowe

• Stede Bonnet

• Prince Ricky

What do you think?

This is just a plot bunny but it won’t leave me alone lmao

[sunspeckfreckle]

I'm not sure who exactly came up with the Izzyverse idea over on Twitter, but I was struck by the concept of Mary's Izzy, who definitely killed his universe's Stede for her

[cananpoilot]

mary’s izzy is a cook. stede’s izzy is a baker. ed’s izzy uses withholding food from himself to give to ed as a love language. does this make sense

[tasteofdeathao3]

Hi friend! I hope 2023 is treating you well so far, since we’re now one month in already (aaa!) ☺️ I was wondering if you have any Baz headcanons or situations you’d like to share since we are both so fond of that skrunkly little guy

Also- I can’t help but read him as permaregressed but I’m not sure if that was the original author’s intention, what do you think?

thank you friend! i hope you're doing well as well, i can't believe we're already done with january! (and yes, baz is 100% our little skrunkly)

you'll have to forgive my formatting because I'm on mobile

• I've seen Baz sleeping both alone with Izzy in his cabin and in the captain's bed, but I'd also like to think that he has a trundle bed that he can pull out from beneath the captain's bed (sort of like a drawer bed?) where he can cuddle up close just him and bunny, but if he needs he can reach up and grab a hand to hold during the night <3

• I think food would be a challenge for him, not so much eating a healthy amount (though that probably would take some practice getting used to) but just having so many options to choose from and having so many different flavours and textures.

It can be a bit overwhelming, especially when he has to try something that looks weird or yucky or has to make the choice for himself over what he will eat, but it's good for him to practice telling other people what he wants and needs, even if it feels scary sometimes.

• I don't think Baz ever would have learned to swim. Hornigold's attack dog probably wouldn't have much purpose aside from protecting him on one ship and being carted to another to help in raids.

At some point the Revenge Stops over by a lagoon and Stede gives the crew some vacation time. Baz, of course, has never been on vacation. He's never ever had a break before the revenge, and no idea of the concept at all.

When the crew and captains find out that Baz hasn't ever swam before, they're appalled! and thus a beach day is decided, and Baz gets taught how to swim (or really, how to kick his legs and swing his arms enough to float), rotating between hanging onto Ed and Izzy's backs.

• Baz has a tattoo - only one, a spade beneath his eye that he'd begged of Izzy (credit to jaybirbbbb for that i believe) - but he's never given one. He firmly believe's that he is Izzy's, no matter how many times Izzy tries to say that they don't own each other, that Izzy is his too.

Baz doesn't like the look of the needles at all. It was fine when someone was doing it to him, but the idea of sticking someone with a needle over and over makes him a tiny bit queasy.

Instead, he and bunny draw lots and lots of little drawings and helps him find the perfect one for each willing crew mate. Soon everyone has an original tattoo from Baz and bunny.

• one day while onshore with Izzy, Baz spots a real bunny. It was bound to happen eventually, seeing as they frequent a lot of ports near farmland.

They're in the middle of a market when all of a sudden Baz spots it. A tiny white rabbit in a wide enclosed across the square.

Instantly he tugs on Izzy's sleeve, yanking so hard that the ties around his upper arm almost come undone. Izzy turns around once he's finished dealing with the store vendor, looking to Baz expectantly.

Baz is practically jumping up and down on his tippy toes, hands shaking hard enough that Izzy can barely tell what he's trying to sign. 'Bunny.' He signs, his fore and second fingers bent in half at either side of his head. 'Bunny bunny bunny bunny bunny.'

"What's wrong with Bunny?" Izzy asks, point at the little toy squashed in Baz's elbow. "Has your bunny got a tear?"

Baz shakes his head as fast as he can. "Bunny. Look. Bunny. Look. Izzy. Bunny." He points across the square with a shaking hand the very second he's finished signing.

"Yes, that's a bunny." Izzy says.

Baz holds bunny up close to Izzy's face and pints back at the little cages rabbit across the way. "Same."

Izzy nods. "Yes, they're both white."

"Family."

"I don't think they're related, lot's of rabbits look the same." Izzy says, taking Baz's hand. "We have to go, Baz, it's time for dinner."

Baz usually likes doing what Izzy tells him - it's makes him feel good, safe, because he knows he's doing the right thing - but he tugs his hand out of Izzy's grasp. "Bunny." He signs again. "Take."

"We can't take the rabbit." Izzy sighs. "Where would we keep him?"

"Boat."

"The ship isn't safe for a rabbit, he could get hurt very easily."

Baz whines. He knows he shouldn't, he knows he should be doing what Izzy says and following him back to the boat, but he needs to get that bunny. It's in a big scary cage, and it's all scared and too big for the tiny cage and it doesn't want to be there! He knows it.

"Save." He frowns at Izzy, hugging bunny tight to his chest. "Cage."

Izzy sighs. Baz knows that Izzy spent some time with his old master in this world, even if he got away he knows a bit of what it was like for Baz. Baz watched as Izzy's resolve cracks.

"Fine." He snaps, and even though Izzy snapping usually makes Baz feel so scared and worried, he can't help but smile; Izzy is going to save the bunny from it's scary little cage.

Izzy makes him hide around the corner just in case a brawl starts, but Baz sticks his and bunny's heads around the corner anyway. He wants to watch the bunny rabbit get free.

Izzy talks to the vendor, a big scary man with an ever bigger and even scarier sword in his hand, and when that doesn't go the way he wants he ends up taking matters into his own hands. (If he were alone, he would've just kicked the cage over and ran as fast as he could, hoping that the rabbit managed to wriggle out. But he knows Baz is watching him, and more importantly, watching the rabbit, so he doesn't do that.)

Baz watches as Izzy scoops up the cage with the little white rabbit inside and begins to walk off. He holds Bunny as tight to his chest as he can get him.

The man tries to stop Izzy, but he's already undone the latch on the cage and sent the bunny rabbit running off down between the tall thin buildings, and before he even knows it the man his behind Izzy with his sword raised and Izzy is cutting big red lines in the air and Baz has to squeeze his eyes shut tightly so that the sight of it doesn't take him back to somewhere he doesn't want to be.

Soon enough Izzy comes to get him, pale red streaks where he hasn't quite managed to wipe off all the blood on his face. "The rabbit is gone." He says. "It's safe now."

Baz squeals, hopping up and down. "Thank you." He signs. "Thank you. Happy."

"I'm glad." Izzy says, giving Baz one of his rare smiles. "Let's go home, okay?"

(Eventually Baz does get to meet a really bunny. that one will also be white, just like Bunny, and he will he to give him a few soft pets and introduce it to his Bunny teddy before it hops away. Stede says it probably has to go home to it's family, just like Baz will always come back to the revenge.)

• and my love to answer your question! honestly yeah, i kinda read him that way too. Age regression is a legitimate coping strategy as well as a trauma response so it's believable that he would find a lot of comfort in a more relaxed childlike state, and seeing the age that Baz would've been when he met Hornigold, he probably wouldn't have had much time as a proper grown up. I'm not entirely sure if that's what the original author intended, but I've seen a few fics here and there that sort of focus more on the childlike aspect of Baz's behaviour.

I think it would be easier for him to learn all these new things, like making choices and feeling happy and sad and getting comfort and having his needs met like that, where he has a comfort item and so much love going around.

I also think it would just be more enjoyable. There's no need for Baz to be grown up. He spent so much of his life dealing with such raw and intense treatment that would've brought more stress and anxiety than typical adulthood, I don't think he has any use for it. I think he deserves to relive whatever of his past is comforting and to receive that comfort as often as possible.

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

One of my partners, discussing the (NOT Destiel, tyvm) angel/human erotica they’re writing: I think I stole this location from Neil Gaiman

Me, not even knowing what location they’re referring to yet: Listen, I think he’d approve, honestly

[laceratedlamiaceae]

If I was in charge of ofmd season 2 would be an anthology exploring all the different Izzy ships. Episode one has Frenchie finding out that Izzy is secretly as musical as he is (and then they fall in love). Episode two has Roach taking care of Izzy's foot (and then they fall in love). Episode three has Calico Jack returning from the dead to find Izzy (and then they fall in love). The season finale is a crossover where all the timelines merge together and Izzy winds up in more loving relationships than he can count, as he deserves.

[our-flag-means-death-ao3feed]

Dresses

by jaybirbbbb

My take on Hornigold’s Izzy from the Izzy multiverse and his new life on the Revenge.

Baz gets some fun clothes to try on!

Words: 181, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 13 of Hornigold's dog, now Baz

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Israel Hands, Hornigold!Izzy, Baz

Additional Tags: Izzyverse, Izzy multiverse, Fluff, Trans Israel Hands

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/44567641

[arsenicflame]

Hornigold's Izzy was the worst, of course. A version of himself that never escaped that terrible place, who lived his life as little more than an object. He still has nightmares about all the things Baz told them, about all the things he didn't.

It doesn't really surprise him, after the first ones, not at its root. To be Izzy Hands is to be someone's after all, though seeing his own face on someone so fundamentally different to him never gets less weird. The people who these other Izzys attached themselves too often left him with more questions than answers. Jack's Izzy, he can understand, from a certain view, though the man himself felt like a fever dream. The less said about Stede's Izzy the better, he's never going to forgive him for the ideas he put in his Stede's head.

Then there was Sam's Izzy.

The first thing anyone noticed about him was that he was happy. He smiled and laughed without thought, and went through life with an ease Izzy didn't think he had ever felt. The crew took to him immediately, accepting him in a way they never did the other Izzys, and certainly not their own. They prodded him and asked him endless questions, and he took every touch without a flinch and answered every question without a hint of a grumble. This Izzy was free. He was open, unburdened, trusting. He was happy.

Sam's Izzy was the one that hurt the most to see. He could accept the worst that Hornigold could've offered, that he would have suffered and been broken. It was infinitely harder to see that he had a chance to be this happy. That it slipped through his fingers.

He's never looked back before, but now? Seeing what might've been? He can't stop himself from considering the possibility that maybe he made the wrong choice back then, going with Ed.

[copperbadge]

I was watching an old videotape of my mom's and discovered the existence of The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, and all I could think of was Izzyverse and a row of Avengers with fingers on their noses saying "Not it!"

SHHH. SHHHHHHH. Clint has successfully concealed the existence of The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars from his daughter for years. 

It’s the best kept secret in Avengers Tower. JARVIS even has a note in his databanks to prevent any google results that might inform her of its existence. 

Clint believes in being open and honest with Izzy about nearly everything, but The Brave Little Toaster calls for desperate measures. 

[yaz113]

Into the Izzyverse

So remember like two weeks ago when I made a random post about an Izzyverse fic featuring Izzys belonging to: Benjamin Hornigold, Ned Lowe, Calico Jack, Ricky Banes, and Stede Bonnet?

Well...

It's now complete!

Summary:

Izzy Hands dies and gets a glimpse of what his life could have been like if things were different.

Excerpt:

"Buttons, men like me don't get second chances. You know that." He wants to snap at the man, scold him for wasting his time, humbly request to see his mother just once before he's condemned for eternity, but the words don't come.

"Ack." Buttons says in response, but he looks like a man with a secret. Izzy wants to grab him by the front of his shirt and shake him, demand he tell him the truth, but he's rooted to the spot, his hands curled into fists at his sides. "But what if ye did, Mr. Hands?" Izzy stares. Buttons blinks back. "What if ye had one last chance to change things?"

Check it out!

[sunspeckfreckle]

What is the Izzyverse??? I need to know!!!

Thanks in advance <3

It's a series of AUs that sort of organically formed over on Twitter, basically reframing the way Izzy's dedicated his life to Edward, and what it might look like if Izzy had had cause to devote himself to someone other than Ed. The most common ones I've seen are Hornigold's Izzy, Mary's Izzy, Stede's Izzy and Jack's Izzy, but there's been lots of fun variations (believe someone did Evelyn's Izzy, and there was a lovely one of an Izzy who belonged to the sea). There's also a throughline of someone sort of handwavey interdimensional travel stuff, so that either all these different Izzys keep popping up on the Revenge and have to get sent back to their proper timeline, or the Revenge itself is dimension-hopping and visiting these other timelines.

[cananpoilot]

can i write izzyverse fics or……

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

No context bc honestly I'm just posting this here for posterity so I don't lose it XD.

[arsenicflame]

the way i play with Izzyverse is with every Izzy forming from a branching timeline- that they were all the same at some point, only one thing sent them off on the path to be "someones". some are obvious; Sam, Ed, Jack & Hornigold branch from the mutiny- a split second decision on who to go with, a miss timed hit leaving him in Hornigolds grasp- but the others are less so. how would he become Jackie's, or Ned's, or Anne and Mary's? what happens to make an Izzy Stede's? how do they even meet?