#lucius gets a lot of information about himself

[lord-save-me]

Can't help but think about how the women girls of Harry Potter treated whenever I listen to 'because i liked a boy' by Sabrina Carpenter.

I mean of course there's Lavender and the Platil twins, but there's also Ginny & Hermione in the fandom, the mothers being fixed as mothers with nothing more (I don't even need to mention how we don't even know anything about Lily Evans that isn't centred around a boy while Snape and James get CHAPTERS of information)

This barely even mentions fandom and how they're treated

[15minlatewithbatbucks]

It's forty minutes into the latest state of the company press conference and Bruce has had to mute his mic entirely to avoid being turned into a meme AGAIN for sighing too much at his own event. For all that he's spent almost 20 years coaching his own children on not making scenes, he's really not much better. It's hot and he doesn't want to be here. His ribs hurt. He's tired. He's hungry. He's every excuse Dick or Jason have trotted out over the years.

(Tim understands company manners and can almost always be trusted to stick it out as long as he's allowed to vent his frustrations afterwards. He's recently taken to smashing ugly thrifted dishes. Stephanie and Damian have been collecting any ceramic not entirely pulverized and turning them into pavers for Alfred's garden.)

(Bruce gave up after Tim. He really only needs one kid to tag along to social events. If the kid start to outnumber him they start getting IDEAS.)

His distraction is why it takes two very rude repetitions of his name for him to take notice at the young reporter pushing his way to the front. Lucius stands, cutting off the project manager currently presenting and speaks into the mic.

"Please keep hold all questions until the end of the presentation, thank you."

"Mr. Wayne," the reporter tries again and Bruce waves away Lucius's further protests.

"Can I help you?" He asks, smiling with the full force of Brucie Wayne's charm behind it. It's been awhile since his last scandal, but if the press is inventing drama then it's less work for him.

The man holds up a photograph almost accusingly. He reeks of gotcha journalism.

Bruce squints towards him, unable to fully make out the contents of the photo. Dick may have been right when he gently suggested Bruce add glasses to his Brucie Wayne persona but that was a hill Bruce was still willing to die on. It was bad enough he had to have a prescription COWL.

"What do you have to say about the presence of your adopted son, Timothy Drake at the illegal mob in Robinson Park last Saturday?"

"Drake-Wayne," Bruce corrected because Tim hyphenated, damn it. He was the first of his children to let Bruce tag the Wayne name on and it mattered, damn it. "Wait do you mean-"

"How about reports of him kissing a man while there?"

"A blond man?" Bruce asked, finally giving up and crossing to take the photo for himself. "Oh. No, that's his boyfriend."

There was a beat of silence before Bruce realized his mistake. Just as the reporters began to squall, he dropped the blurry photo and began to speed walk off, phone suddenly in hand.

Through the podium's microphone, the gathered reporters heard one thing as Bruce evacuated the immediate vicinity.

"Tim? Don't be mad."

---

Despite Bruce's best efforts, he becomes a meme.

---

Immediately following the bombshell that Timothy Drake-Wayne had a boyfriend, social media blows up, clamoring for more information. They're ravenous for it, desperate. Tim doesn't have a personal social media presence but they stalk his professional accounts religiously. Bruce does have personal social media, but he maintains radio silence.

In the end, a Gotham based "influencer" stumbles across Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne getting donuts at Kosher Donuts and Co. Dick is personable, as always, and stops to speak with the young woman briefly.

"Yeah, Tim wasn't mad," he laughs when asked. "Just disappointed. But man, he knows how to milk it."

"Bruce is in the doghouse, huh?" she asks, full of false sympathy.

"A little bit," Dick says as Damian mumbles, "Titus would never share."

"But," Dick continued. "Tim's spun it so Bruce is on the hook for like, half a million in donations for local LGBT charities. Tim says it would hurt less if he sponsored a new shelter too, so that's something to look forward to."

"That's a lot of money! Where's it all going?"

"Oh you know," Dick says and gestures vaguely. "A lot of different programs."

"Yeah? Anything you personally want to see done with the funding?"

"Drag story time," Damian answers before Dick can. He looks intense. "But not for children. For dogs. In the shelter."

---

A day later, Tim breaks the silence. He goes live on Bruce's Instagram.

"So the problem was that Bruce thought the reporter was saying I was being unfaithful," Tim explains. "He totally forgot I wasn't out to everyone yet. Bruce was just worried because he's already told me if I break up with my boyfriend, he's not uninviting him from any future family events."

"Luckily, I was in fact just kissing my boyfriend at PRIDE. Just because people got shifty with the permits at the last second because of protestors doesn't make it an illegal mob. If you wanna hear about Wayne's and illegal mobs, talk to Dickie about his younger years. Nothing I do can compare."

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

What do you think Divus was like during his student years in NRC?

Personally I think he was a mixture of Ace, Cater, and Vil. A mischievous troublemaker who was also trendy and sociable with a good fashion sense. Since he is the potion and science teacher, I think he was in Pomefiore.

Also I don’t know if this is true or not, but I heard somewhere that Divus mentioned that he was always followed by two lackeys, who I have no doubt are the twisted versions of Jasper and Horace.

We actually already know some things about Crewel's student days from canon (mainly taken from his Unified Exams voice lines and/or from Happy Beans Day):

Trein was a teacher at NRC when Crewel was a student.

Trein says that Beansfest got out of hand during the time Crewel was studying there, which led to there being stricter rules imposed for the current iteration of Beansfest. (It is not known if Crewel himself contributed to that aforementioned chaotic run.)

There was an incident when student!Crewel accidentally overturned a pot of mandrakes. Their screams shattered all the glass in the Alchemy workshop.

Crewel tells us what he wasn’t as rowdy as the kids are nowadays.

He’s still in contact with two of his “henchmen” (ie his juniors) that he met back in school. Crewel implies they aren’t clever, but that he can be himself around them. These two men are most likely twisted versions of Cruella’s hired help, Jasper and Horace.

From what we know of the canon, here are some conclusions I've personally drawn:

Knowing Trein and Crewel's current relationship (they disagree on trivial things like whether cats or dogs are better; it gets Trein riled up), I assume that they've never really gotten along. Perhaps Crewel was a constant sore spot for Trein or was frequently reprimanded for his behavior in spite of having excellent grades.

Crewel has a voice line in which he advises the player to not wholly devote their efforts to studying and keeping their head down, or else they will become inflexible as adults. He also advises them to “go wild once in a while”, but not so wild that professors will scold you. This makes me think that Crewel had a similar attitude when he was a student himself. That is to say, he was a good student, but also had his rebellious streaks and moments of acting out. Maybe he went too far sometimes, which is why he now informs the player to not cause trouble for their teachers in the pursuit of seeking thrills or a break from their studies.

As the sender has mentioned, Crewel has good fashion sense and currently teaches science courses, meaning he must be proficient in the area. These traits make him a suitable ex-Pomefiore student, as that dorm tends to have students that enjoy aesthetics and excel in potion-making. (This is also the popular headcanon within the fandom.

Crewel has what I would call “refined” tastes and interests, such as sports cars. I feel like he also had this discerning eye for quality and trends as a student.

Crewel is strong-headed and asserts himself well. He walks into a room and just commands it. Because of this, I see him easily being kind of a “leader of the pack” kind of guy—a cool, charismatic person that others can’t help but follow or admire, even if they hate his guts or find him pretentious. I don’t know if I would call him friendly (like, I don’t see him as outgoing), but rather he’s just got a magnetic presence that attracts people to him and definitely knew how to navigate a complex social web.

He gives me the impression that lots of his classmates looked up to him or called him “aniki” (as a sign of respect) 😂 (Twisted Jasper and Horace definitely do this www)

Sometimes I feel like Crewel’s leadership capabilities weren’t used for the… best purposes? Like I’m sure he had his spats of immaturity and led his boys to pull off some stupid pranks or whatever. Maybe they put Lucius in a tree so they can all get out of an exam while Trein is looking for his familiar?? But then they all get an earful about it later… That’s just one example off the top of my head!

The student!Crewel I picture is a lot like Vil in many ways, but stands on his own due to his wild side. Someone who is cool, confident, fashionable… with his own set of rules and a slight edge to him that isn’t very Vil-like.

I hope that sufficiently explained my thoughts ^^

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Given all the really excellent and interesting talk about this recently, I wanted to write up a quick list of ways we see Izzy being consistently abusive to Ed in season 1, just so I have a handy post to link to the next time someone asks me "wait, how is Izzy abusive?"

(Again, I genuinely like Izzy. I think he's a great character, but dismissing how he behaves in s1 defangs him as a character, cheapens his s2 arc, and decontextualizes a lot of Ed's behavior.)

Izzy is shown as being emotionally abusive to Ed throughout season 1, because he:

Controls the information Ed has access to. In s1e3, we see Izzy tell Ed his own version of events, twisting them to suit his purposes. He does this so easily and cleanly it's clear he's probably been lying to Ed to manipulate his perception of events for a long time.

Isolates Ed from others. We do not see Ed talk to any crew members before s1e4, and even then, Izzy cuts the conversation short. He also prevents anyone from seeing Ed in s1e10 until Ed makes him ask for Lucius. In s2 Ed tells us that he knew very little about Fang despite having worked with him for 20 years - Izzy seems to make a habit of making Ed unapproachable.

On that note, Izzy insults and demeans Ed to other crew members, creating his own narrative around Ed's actions. He says he "massages" the crew when they're worried about Ed's judgment, but what he actually does is tell them Ed's "half-insane." He is creating a situation where Ed is reliant on Izzy for information and the crew feel like they need Izzy to interpret what he presents as the irrational demands of an insane man, even though we as the audience know Ed's behavior is never as erratic or irrational as Izzy makes it out to be.

Insults and demeans Ed to his face. Izzy is not shy about calling Ed insane and unpleasant to his face, and Ed doesn't seem surprised to hear it. I don't think it's a coincidence that Ed admits while he's in the gravy basket in s2 that he's scared he's insane - that's one of Izzy's favorite insults to apply to him and he's clearly internalized it.

Ignores Ed's feelings and wants when he's not acting the way Izzy believes is appropriate. We see Ed constantly reaching out to Izzy in s1e4 to share his thoughts and excitement, and Izzy shuts him down every time. Izzy's created a situation where Ed can only really talk to Izzy, and Ed is clearly desperate for human connection.

Pushes Ed to harm someone Ed loves, even when Izzy knows that Ed "adores" Stede and Stede makes him genuinely happy. Izzy is very insistant about getting Ed to kill Stede, even once it's obvious Ed has already deeply bonded with Stede.

Literally "buys" Ed in return for selling Stede out. This is just gross and unacceptable, not to mention wildly racist. Frankly I think Ed showed remarkable restraint for only punching him once.

Tries to get Stede killed in front of Ed, multiple times.

Obviously, threatens and mocks Ed when Ed isn't behaving "appropriately." When Ed is starting to feel better in s1e10, and is reaching out to the crew and connecting with them, and is painting his nails and singing and generally behaving in a much more feminine and emotionally available way than Izzy would prefer, Izzy threatens him to force him back into the hyper-masculine Blackbeard persona he knows Ed hates and Ed has said he wants to move past.

Goads Ed into violent behavior and is delighted when Ed is visibly upset. When Ed chokes Izzy, Izzy is laughing and grinning and generally having a very nice time while Ed's standing there with tears in his eyes and visibly terrified. He's very happy to have gotten the reaction he was trying to provoke and doesn't care about Ed's feelings.

So, take it all together, and we can see that Izzy has created an atmosphere where he has put himself in control of Ed and has further manipulated the crew so they look to Izzy as a filter for Ed's behavior so Izzy can completely control the narrative. When he thinks he's losing control of Ed, that's when Izzy tries to get Stede killed, without regard for Ed's emotions. Izzy consistently insults Ed, ignores his desires and feelings, and prioritizes his control over Ed's feelings.

Have I missed anything?

[bones4thecats]

NRC teachers as parents to teen!mc

A/N: I made this more the NRC teachers as parents, but I did mention a few teen-related things inside of them, hope that's okay! Apologies for not getting this out any sooner, Anon! I do hope this is up to your standards though. Since I haven't really written these guys before, I hope this isn't too OOC! Enjoy!

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🪶 He never really did care for younger teens, despite how 'generous' and 'kind' he swayed himself to act and seem like, they just differed with him too much.

🪶 It takes a fairly long while before this crow is able to trust another being with any information, unless that being was something of usage to him, like you were.

🪶 At first, Crowley just wanted you to help him out with 'a few' things, but after each and every trial he handed you, you just got back up and took on even more responsibilities.

🪶 When he eventually trusts you, he adores it when you call him 'father' or anything relating to that.

🪶 If you could somehow use any kind of magic, he would teach you specific spells, if not, then he would just help you in certain subjects that he is quite knowledge in, like history of magic, practical magic, etc.

🪶 Crowley is a decent father figure, and a, equally decent real father, he can just get caught up in so much, so it's best to reel him in at certain points

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🐾 Crewel is... how do I say this without sounding fairly rude?

🐾 He's the kind of dad that would be super protective and would definitely attempt in separating you from those he deems as 'bad influences to his puppy'

🐾 He's a difficult person to work with at times, and he'd be the second to admit it (being Trein of course)

🐾 Divus would obviously get you the most elegant coats and clothes he can find, from boots to the most gorgeous looking fur coats you'll ever see in Twisted Wonderland!

🐾 Normally, Crewel wouldn't bring his dogs (I hc him with having two) to the college, as they don't get along with Trein's cat, Lucius, very well, but when they did come by one day and he saw you interact with the two pups, he just smiled and chuckled at the antics you three were getting into

🐾 He may not be the best dad when it comes to emotions, but he definitely is good when it comes to listening, and asking him to get you things that may seem embarrassing to other fathers (like pads if you're a female)

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🏆 This guy is the typical 'sports dad' that is seen in a lot, and I mean a lot of media

🏆 If you were to ever do any kind of sports, he would fully support you and would definitely be the kind of dad to have you skip your own practices, and have you do them with him

🏆 Vargas is a hot-blooded person by heart, so if you are his biological child, you would obviously inherit that from him, which would be a nightmare for the rest of his fellow staff members whenever you visited him

🏆 For some reason, I can see him doing the same as his Disney counterpart by eating a ton of eggs and such, and because he cares about physical fitness, he'd have you do it (as long as you weren't like allergic or something, he isn't that bad of a person)

🏆 If you were to be adopted by this coach, you'd be in-I'd say the 4th best hands on this list, which I'll get into more at the bottom!

🏆 He obviously cares about you, but his emotional range is fairly small, so bear with him whenever he seems upset when you make a mistake. It's his 'resting face'

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🐈‍⬛ Trein is the best hands you can be in when it comes to being the 'child of' in any of these scenarios

🐈‍⬛ Because he already has experiences with anything child-related from raising his two daughters, this cat-lover would be able to handle any challenge you handed him

🐈‍⬛ (for the fems!) If you were to have anything related to periods and such, he'd be right by your side helping you all the way through your pain, and don't forget his two daughters!

🐈‍⬛ They'd by right by your side as well, helping you very amazingly, as they learned what to do from their father's example

🐈‍⬛ If he cannot be there to comfort you or anything like that, he'd normally allow Lucius to be there to watch over you, like a sports game? Lucius! Play? Lucius! Really anything

🐈‍⬛ Because of how close you are to this imposing teacher, Lucius would be right by your side a lot, which if you're the MC/Yuu, would get a few cat fights to be initiated from their shared possessiveness of you

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(I do know that Same technically isn't an NRC teacher, but I like adding him in, so :p)

🃏 Sam is the literal definition of the 'best dad on earth'

🃏 He is quite a fun guy at times, and if you are related through blood, you share the go-lucky and charismatic personality

🃏 This man would get you into his 'spiritual connections' faster than any kid falling back asleep after turning off their alarm clock

🃏 Yes, he's that good of a salesperson

🃏 You're the only one, and I mean the only one, who is safe from being called a 'little imp', instead though, he'd call you his 'little clover', even if you hated it, he wouldn't stop calling you it

🃏 Handling teenager things is quite hard for him, as he was kind off socially distanced because of his interests, but seeing you either in emotional pain or physical pain hurts him and makes him want to just wrap around you in a bear hug and never let go

🃏 He had be quite protective of you, especially when around the other spirits he knows. Like Eliza for example, during the wedding event, he made sure she didn't choose you, as you were A; to young for it (in his eyes lol) and B; he wanted you to marry on your own will

🃏 You're definitely close to the spirits he contacts, which scares the other students when a shadow randomly chases another down the hallway

❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅

My rankings for best to worst father ; NRC teachers

Mozus Trein

Sam

Divus Crewel

Ashton Vargas

Dire Crowley

❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Hi! I’m sorry if this is dumb but I’m not understanding why the Ed hate is racist? From what I’ve seen it has nothing to do with his race, just his actions? What is racist about it? I’m asking this very genuinely because I want to understand and learn more from this so please don’t take this as being annoying or patronizing or something!

ok so not all Ed hate falls under the racism catagory some people just have genuinely bad taste. The thing that is racist is insisting that he's an abuser. I've explained several times why he's not abusive, as have many many others. But, here's the quick recap: Izzy was abusing him, Ed has a history of lashing out towards his abusers with physical violence and Izzy established that he had been doing this sort of thing to Ed for years so you know, he's going the way of Ed's father and nobody would argue that Ed was abusing his father. Ed wasn't abusive towards the crew. Like he did some shitty things while suicidal. He hurt his friends I'm not saying he didn't. However: 1. This show is full of very very over the top violence and no one is getting up Button's ass about Lucius's finger. 2. It would be an incredibly strange move for a rom com to make one of it's leads a domestic abuser, It's not such a weird move to give a character in a rom com a suicidal arc where they push all their friends away. The first choice would yeild a completely unwatchable show the second is what happened in ofmd. 3. David Jenkins himself has talked about this and he said "What Blackbeard did was by the standards of the pirate world a bit much" I don't know if I even agree with this considering everything we've heard about Hornigold but I certainly agree with the sentiment that Ed did some shitty things but nothing that was significantly more horrific than other characters in the show who nobody treats the way they treat Ed.

So with all of that in mind: Why is it racist to call him an abuser. Like sure, all of this adds up to the abuse truthers being wrong and stupid but what does it have to do with Ed's skin color? This ties into the history that the Maori people share with a lot of indigenous groups who were colonized by europeans. I would encourage you to do more research on your own but I'll point you in the generally right direction. Indigenous men are portrayed as hyper violent in order to justify their subjugation (see head hunters stereotypes or how often people assume indigenous cultures were doing human sacrifice). A lot of the Ed hate exaggerates how violent he is in comparison to other characters. Indigenous men are portrayed as dirty and barbaric and in need of being civilized by a benevolent white savior. A lot of fic and meta positions either Stede or Izzy as needing to save Ed from himself, or as needing to babysit him or teach him to read or bathe, ect. That's why people are so up in arms about the soap eating joke.

And finally the abuse thing. Positioning indigenous men as abusers has been used historically as a shoddy justification for family separation. This stereotype pairs incredibly well with the violent stereotype. So IF Ed was abusing poor defenseless little white Izzy it would actually be a racist decision for the writers to make. Like there's a way to portray characters of color doing abuse, because being nonwhite doesn't make you incapable of doing shitty things, but that would not be it. Thankfully that is catagorically not what's happening, we've been told that the Kraken is an abuse responce, Izzy provokes the Kraken, we've seen Izzy be paralelled with Ed's two other abusers (Hornigold and Ed's dad), we've been shown Izzy controlling the flow of information between Ed and his crew, we've been showing Izzy manipulating Ed, we've been shown him lying to turn the crew against Ed, we've been shown Izzy attempting to murder someone Ed cares about specifically because Ed cares about them, we've seen Izzy threaten Ed's life for acting wrong, we've heard Izzy confess to doing all of that shit FOR YEARS on his death bed (a time which it would completely undercut the emotional impact of the scene if he was lying). So like... people ignoring all of that shit in order to portray Ed as shooting off his leg for no fucking reason and say he's the abuser is very... "You forgot the racism don't worry we'll add it back in for you" and continuing to insist on that and be shitty to people who won't cop to your dumbass shit is actively making the fandom a more racist space.

[brigdh]

I was thinking more about how Stede doesn't really have an arc this season (see my previous criticism here), and I've decided that what I would have loved to see was Stede actively attempting to court Ed.

Now, we did get a little of this in the first few episodes: Stede's letters in 2x01 are great, I love his attempting to track Ed down via a crime-map in 2x02, and of course the "I'll never leave you. I'll never leave again" speech at the end of 2x03 is fantastic. But once Stede and Ed are both in the same location and conscious, there's really nothing. Stede just hangs around, waiting for Ed to figure himself out, or take the lead, or something, I don't know, but Stede's certainly doesn't take any action to progress their relationship himself. He's such a static character in the second half of S2.

But! Imagine instead the arc where Stede is actively trying to romance Ed! I don't need him to be good at it; it's probably a better character arc if he isn't, in fact. Maybe he comes on way too strong at first and this is why Ed asks him to slow down, until Ed can figure out what he's doing about his own guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues (maybe Ed can actually figure out something about his guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues). Maybe Stede's entire conception of romance comes from poetry and novels and it hits a hard skid when he tries it out in reality. Maybe there are cultural clashes between how pirates approach one another and how the landed upper class does it. The exact way Stede fails doesn't really matter, because the point is that Stede is trying something, and fucking it up, and trying again, and growing as he does so, learning more about what the relationship between him and Ed needs and who they are as people.

This also could have been a really interesting arc for Stede internally. Throw in a couple of flashbacks to Stede courting Mary, to make a parallel between how he acted then and how he's acting now with Ed. If it's beyond the budget to fly Claudia O'Doherty to New Zealand or she's busy or something, give Stede a random other lady or two he approached as a young man – ones who obviously refused to accept his hand. Excellent! Now there's even more weight to him getting it right this time with Ed, when he's never managed to get someone to like him before! Or give young Stede an intense friendship with another young man that went wrong, and back then he didn't understand, but now he can look back and be like, 'oh I guess that wasn't as platonic as I thought'. (Personally, this would be my favorite option, but I know Jenkins & co said they didn't want to write a coming-out story, so maybe they'd have been less interested in this one. Fine, but I want it! 🥳 ) I think you could do this without taking up a lot of screentime – I doubt all the scenes we got of Ed's childhood add up to five minutes in total, but we got plenty of information from those three glimpses.

It would also make sense for Stede to discuss the issue with the crew, which gives the show a chance to flesh out their role a little more, another thing the season could have used. If he asks Lucius, what Lucius responds and how he reacts could help to develop the Lucius/Pete relationship. Similarly, if Stede turned to Olu or Jim, we could have heard more about Jim/Archie or Olu/Zheng or any combination of the four. Or any of the crew! What kind of relationship advice does Frenchie give? Roach? This also could have intersected with Ed's redemption arc nicely: which are the crew are willing to put aside their anger at Ed to help Stede (and them doing so would give more credence to Izzy's speech about them being family and loving Ed at the end)? Who isn't willing, and tries to deliberately sabotage their relationship for revenge, and how do Stede and/or Ed react to that?

Overall, I think such an arc could have fit the show's themes of masculinity and toxicity really well. There's so much about dating and pick-up lines and romance that reflects on gender – there are expectations of who should be aggressive vs receptive, flowery vs crude, prudish vs too fast, gifts as a sign of love vs gifts as obligation... it's endless. Obviously the season wouldn't have time to explore all these angles, but I list them as a sign of how many directions they could have taken this topic in. Ultimately it all comes down to: Who does Stede want to be as a partner? And who does Ed want him to be? And that would be so strong as a direction to go in, even if we didn't get final answers to the questions! At least they would be asking them.

But instead we got a vision of a mermaid and never explored who Stede is in reality. :(

[dragon-kazansky]

Spirit of the sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

You were a member of Blackbeard's crew long ago. Then you became a ghost story. Izzy Hands only sees you in his dreams these days, until he sees you for real when investigating Stede Bonnet. This sets him on a rollercoaster of emotions between you and what his captain is doing.

{Masterlist}

{Previous Chapter} - {Next Chapter}

Warnings: Swearing. Heavy plot from episode 3, but you're in it a lot more.

Chapter Two - Delusional

♡♡♡

"What's up with you?"

Izzy was shaken from his thoughts by the voice of his captain. He had come here to explain that he didn't think this Stede Bonnet was really worth his time. Izzy had left out the part where they tried to scare him with a ghost tale.

"Nothin'."

Blackbeard turns slightly in his chair to look at his first mate from the corner of his eye. Izzy was all stiff and quiet. Something was clearly on his mind.

"Just thinkin' of the past, is all."

Blackbeard hummed in thought. Something was bothering his first mate. That wasn't like him.

♡♡♡

Stede returns to his ship with his one prisoner. Lucius just wanted to get out his bloodstained clothes. He had been traumatised enough for one day.

"Tie him back up and I'll go check on our other prisoner."

Stede marched onward below deck.

A week earlier Stede had caught himself a prisoner. They had been trying to steal from him and in an embarrassing scenario that involved being scared, a lot of screaming, and a decent whack to the head, Stede had managed to imprison them. He was just glad to have knocked someone out without accidentally killing them in the process.

Stede looks through the bars to see the prisoner sitting the floor, head bowed down, one arm resting on their knee.

"What?" They ask.

"Uh, nothing. Just checking in on you."

"I see the ship is sailing again."

"Yes, we had some help."

At last you look up at him. Stede was unlike any pirate you had ever heard of. Polite, clean, generous.

"So, what's the plan?" You ask him.

"The plan?"

"Yeah. I've been locked up in about a week. You gotta have a plan, right? Can't just keep me in here forever."

"Right, a plan..."

"You don't have one?"

"Of course I have a plan!" Stede argues. "I'm just not telling you."

"Right..."

"Captain!" The voice of Buttons calls out.

"I have to go. Don't go anywhere," Stede warns in the softest way possible.

"Not that I can if I wanted to," you sigh and watch him walk away.

♡♡♡

The Republic of Pirates. Not as fearsome as it once was, but still the place to be for information and goods. Stede was fascinated by the place. In fact, he seemed to be having a good time.

"Man for sale!"

Lucius, who had been having less of a good time, was keeping an eye on everyone who passed them. He seemed stressed.

"You look like you're having a hard time," you say to the boy.

"A little bit. Not that it matters. I just want to get away from this god awful place."

You chuckles softly.

"Hey, are you going to sell me too? I'd rather you didn't. You could just let me go and I won't try and steal from you again!" You say, turning to Stede.

"Absolutely not. I'm not stupid enough to fall for that. I'm sure I can do something with you." Stede nods at himself proudly.

"No one is gonna want to buy me. Not even my old crew would pay for me."

"You old crew?" Stede looks at you curiously.

"Yeah. I'm a pirate, pirates usually have a crew."

"Where are they now?"

"I don't know. I've been separated from them for a good few years. But I hear rumours they're thriving."

Stede is curious about this information, but before he can ask any more, a pirate turns around and sizes him up.

"One piece of silver's my bid," the man safe in a gruff voice. "So, so I get all three of he's, or...?"

"No, only one us is for sale," Stede clarifies with a friendly attitude.

"Mm, so the other two watch, or...?"

Lucius leans into Stede and says, "He thinks you're a prostitute."

"I'm not a prostitute, mate!" Stede declares, flabbergasted at the thought.

"Oh, we could've made magic." The man walks away.

"Unbelievable. Do we look like prostitutes to you?"

You chuckle. "Not terribly successful ones."

Stede frowns and marches on, pulling you with him.

Coming across Spanish Jackie's bar gave you a slither of hope. Coming to this sile was your best bet of finding someone you recognize. You would give them all the coin you have to have them free you from Stede Bonnet.

You had to find your old crew. You had to.

With Jim already disappearing inside, Stede followed suit. You didn't bother questioning why Olu was so tense about Jim going into the bar. Your only focus was escape.

"OK, like we rehearsed," Stede tells Lucius.

You roll your eyes. What was with this guy?

"Hear ye, hear ye!" Lucius begins.

Everyone turns to look at him. "Oh fuck," he mutters softly. "Please join me in welcoming for his regional debut... The Brigand of Barbados... the Cream of the Caribbean... The Gentleman Pirate."

With that, Stede steps out with you in tow. Never before have you ever wanted the ground to just swallow you whole.

"Hi, all. Nice to be here. I may be land of gentry, but I'm thrilled to be granted entry."

No one in the tavern says a thing.

"Well, the drinks are on us." Stede declares.

With that, someone throws their drink at Lucius and he gets frustrated again.

"The drinks be on ye now!" The tavern erupts into laughter.

You are promptly locked up by the entrance of the bar with the navy man. You sigh as you watch Stede walk toward the bar.

"I know you, don't I?" The Englishman says, looking at you. He has definitely seen better days.

"Maybe. If you know your pirates."

He takes a step away from you. You chuckle. So he does know you.

"Spirit of the sea," he mutters, almost scoffing at the thought.

"Ya know, to be a spirit, you have to die," you say to him.

"Well, yes. I know that..." You chuckle at how nervous he sounds.

"You afraid of me?"

"No..." He shakes his vigorously, his wig falling further back off his head.

"Relax, my guy. Blackbeard thinks I'm dead after what happened. I'm just a ghost now, well, to them."

"No one is looking for you?"

You guy him a silent flat look. He seems to get the message and backs down. Clearly you're not in the mood to talk about this.

Having been busy talking to the guy, you had failed to see who had entered the bar. He had also not noticed you.

♡♡♡

Izzy's orders were to follow Stede. He didn't have a fucking clue why. Orders were orders and he would do anything for Blackbeard. Upon entering the Republic of Pirates, Izzy swore under his breath.

He had lost sight of Stede Bonnet, but he would find him easily.

That's how he ended up at Jackie's. He hated this place, but he was right to go in. Stede fucking Bonnet was in there in all his flimsy glory.

Izzy casually slides up to the bar as Stede tries to order wine. Instead he choose a glass of the liquid in front of him, upon finding out it was blood that was covering Lucius' clothes.

Both of them drink the liquid and Izzy has to hold back from laughing.

"Mm, it's nutty. What do you call this?" Stede asks the bartender.

"It's juice from the nose jar." Both Stede and Lucius react to that. "Jackie's been collecting them for years. You misbehave... you end up in here."

Both of them gag.

"I've a few colleagues in there."

"You again!" Stede looks less than impressed to see him.

"Mr Hands, welcome," Geraldo greets. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, because I hate this fucking place. But for some inexplicable reason, my boss would like a word with you, Bonnet."

"Yes, well, everyone wants a piece of the Gentleman Pirate." Stede holds his head up high for that. "Get in line. I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, Iggy..."

"Izzy! " He growls.

"Whatever. I don't care... but we're busy at the moment, fencing our remaining hostages."

It didn't click to Izzy that Stede had more than one hostage still after their last meeting. He honestly couldn't care about this prick and what he was doing.

"So I'll tell my captain that you're declining, then, yeah?" Izzy confirms.

"Or tell him he's got terrible taste in flunkies and he can go suck eggs in hell."

Izzy leans in and speaks softly. "Gladly."

♡♡♡

You turn back to face the bar, leaning against the bars that trap you from the rest of the pirates. A sigh escapes your lips.

"May I ask?" The man behind you speaks up again. "Where have you been all this time if everyone thinks you're dead?"

He obviously has questions despite you making a point you didn't want to talk about it.

"Just around. Blackbeard spends most of his time at sea. Finding him on my own isn't easy. God, it's been like 6 years since then..."

"Yes, I remember hearing about it. He set a ship alight."

"I was still onboard. He didn't know that. The ship went down, I managed to leap off, but it was dark, foggy, and a storm was rolling in. I had no chance of ever swimming back to The Queen Anne. I don't blame them for thinking I was dead... I just wish there was a way to tell them I'm still alive."

The man looks at you from where he leans on the wall.

"Why the fuck am I telling you my life story all of a sudden?" You scoff. "I'm going soft... spent too long on Bonnet's ship."

"I'll be damned."

"You kind of are," you say to him.

"Israel Hands."

You have never looked up so fast. A name you hadn't heard in years. The Englishman was right. Leaving the tavern right in front of your eyes was Izzy. Your Izzy!

"Izzy? Izzy! Hey Izzy, it's me!" You call out.

He doesn't hear you.

Or so you think.

Izzy freezes just out of sight, at the top of the stairs. He could have sworn he heard your voice, but that's impossible. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, marching on. He has a job to do, be can't be distracted by ghosts.

You're dead, and there is nothing he can do about it.

It's getting worse if he hears your voice now...

♡♡♡

"SHIT. I have to get out of here!" You shake the bars urgently.

You don't care that a bar fight is breaking out. You just saw Izzy Hands after years of being away from him and you're trapped! Life couldn't get any more cruel. If only he had heard you.

"Fuck this!" You kick the bars, but regret it as pain shoots up your leg. Jackie really made these bars for no escape.

When Jackie holds a knife up to Stede, you catch wind of their conversation.

Blackbeard wants to talk to Stede!

You are filled with hope. This was your shot. Your shot to return to your family at sea. Your shot to make it up to Izzy for being gone so long.

You and the Englishman are let out as Stede and Lucius flee the bar.

"Stede!" You call out to him. "Listen you have to meet with Blackbeard. Take me too!"

Stede doesn't listen to you.

Before reaching the port, Gelrado appears saving Stede from one of the many creepy people on this island. Apparently he has a proposition for Stede. A deal that needs to be made, but only by a man of Stede's position.

You try one more time. "Please, just let me go and you never have to see me again. It's so important I go now!"

Stede doesn't pay you any mind as he takes Gelrado up on his offer.

It's almost enough to make you cry in frustration.

Izzy... God, you missed that bastard.

He has no idea you were right there. It's killing you from the inside.

♡♡♡

@grippleback-galaxy - @askmarinaandothers - @godlikegallagher - @for-fuck-sake-im-alive - @whiskeyswriting -

[thetorturedpoetsintern]

It's that time of the year again when you don't know whether to read the course materials or stalk your new professors online to see what they're like before you meet them in person so here's what I think we'd find if we stalked the Hogwarts teachers (of course, in an alternate modern reality where they had social media and internet that worked near magic). More under the cut:

Albus Dumbledore - the classic profile of a headmaster; lots of bragging about his school's results, not much about him personally; his Facebook profile picture is him with a Facebook Banner that says "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus"

Minerva Mcgonagall - her profile picture is a cat but just a few know that it's actually her in her animagus form; she mostly shares cozy posts and quotes that make her feel inspired that day

Filius Flitwick - he doesn't have a profile pic; in fact he doesn't post or shares anything, his social media profiles are strictly for communication purposes

Severus Snape - this man is a ghost, on purpose; at the first glance he's just another boomer with no concept of social media whatsoever but what you don't know is that he's lurking on other platforms using his favourite username @/thehalfbloodprince; if you knew where to look for him, you'd find him on reddit where he keeps himself informed and where he gets to vent by commenting on morronic outtakes; otherwise his only "official" platform he's on is LinkedIn but with no profile pic, obviously

Rubeus Hagrid - his profile pic is him and Buckbeak; lots of content about magical creatures; he doesn't actually post about it, he just shares those posts

Pomona Sprout - her profiles are filled with the plants she grows; even her profile pic is one depicting a screaming mandrake; she thought it looked cute

And that's on the regular Hogwarts professors. Now a special mention to Lucius Malfoy who has an Instagram profile aesthetically pleasing and color coordinated. This man dresses for the camera so there are lots of pictures with him and other people; his posts are also like travel journal logs, pay attention to them and you'll be able to figure out his next event.

Also Narcissa keeps a pretty minimalist but cute Instagram profile, also color coordinated like her husband's (she actually taught him that). She's really proud of Draco so there are mostly pictures with the two of them or faceless pictures of things that she found aesthetically pleasing.

[carrymelikeimcute]

Thinking about 1x04 and the way it absolutely goes to TOWN on what being a captain is, and how Ed, Izzy and Stede all struggle with it, and each other.

This is a great episode for watching Izzy spiral - he tries to force Ed to stop mucking about and do some captaining (failing to realise that Ed has a plan, he just isn't explaining it to him).

After this lack of input, Izzy is apparently desperate enough to ask STEDE - demanding information about the ship from him (which Stede obviously doesn't have) and to come up with his own 'plan' which is 'everyone either fights or they die' - which is as blunt and simplistic as it gets. But it's also the polar opposite of Stede's 'we talk to them' - neither plan is going to work, but for wildly different reasons.

BUT then, when Ed appears and Lucius is giving the countdown, Izzy seems to be learning just as much as Stede is, what it MEANS to be a captain. To have this pressure on you, this responsibility. Izzy is crumbling under only a sliver of it already, as is Stede.

When Ed says the line 'The crew's going to die, you're gonna lose all your men and it's all gonna be your fault - all the men who trusted you...' The shot is of Izzy looking at Ed.

Earlier in the episode, we see Ed brush off Izzy notifying him of the losses they took in the skirmish with the Spanish. I see this moment as Izzy realising that Ed does care, but he cannot allow himself to stop, even for a moment, to let that emotion in - because he needs to be their captain, all the time.

When Black Pete arrives to say that Blackbeard is a genius - Izzy is confused. Then, when the secret 'fog' plan appears to come to fruition, Izzy is annoyed - seemingly with himself, for his own lack of faith, for not listening and for making rash decisions, like threatening to resign. It's clear (in my view) that he WANTS the plan to work though - he doesn't want to die and he wants his captain to be RIGHT.

But, while everyone else is happy and relieved, Izzy looks if anything, hurt - because he's been left in the dark. He's first mate and he has been excluded from the plan - and I'm not sure if this is because he didn't go along with the 'sausage clouds' thing earlier, or if Ed was always going to keep it from him, but either way it shows that they aren't communicating well, as a unit.

And when Ed's plan is shown to have the fatal flaw of it being a leap year, Izzy looks crestfallen, because not only is he now probably going to die, he's also seeing Blackbeard - THE Blackbeard - stumble. (And in a stumble he could have avoided earlier if they'd been listening to each other). It's sort of embarrassed and broken, that look, like he's seeing this human failing for the first time.

Interestingly, Stede asks if leap years 'change things much' highlighting a key difference between him and Izzy - Stede has little nautical experience, Izzy has a lot - but Stede has the imagination to come up with a plan like the lighthouse, and Izzy, even with his knowledge, doesn't have the creativity to use it effectively. But, as with the fog plan - creativity also needs pragmatism.

During the exchange between Lucius/Frenchie, Izzy is centred between them, looking down/into nothing, clearly aware that 1. he is going to die and 2. Ed is just waiting to die. And While Stede is going after Ed, Izzy it appears, cannot. He either doesn't know what to do to get Ed through this, or can't bring himself to try.

The lighthouse fuckery works - showing Stede and Ed think along similar lines. Izzy is noteably absent from the entire thing. Where he is/what he's doing remains a mystery. (From what we see of him in S2, I theorise he's probably sitting somewhere dark and staring at a wall, having it out with himself, but that's just me).

Finally, we get the last scene with Ed/Izzy. And as soon as Ed approaches, Izzy apologises - which again, I consider to be due to introspection during the fuckery but w/e - Izzy actively refutes what he said by saying he doesn't think it, but it's not clear if he thought it when he said it, and has changed his mind, or never thought it to begin with. Ed even sort of meets him halfway by saying he was 'right' - about what we have no idea. Possibly just that they needed a plan, and he needed to share that plan sooner.

Ed offers Izzy the captaincy, despite the previous day showing that he is absolutely NOT captain material - which feels to me like a way to get Izzy to stay. To buy some time and keep things as they are. Ed is trying to keep all his plates spinning while he works out wtf he wants to do.

Lastly, Izzy calls after him to reassure Ed that he's 'still got it' but it feels...conciliatory. Much like the offer of a captaincy, it's a bit of flattery, a balm for a wound - I think he wants to mean it, but he's still not 100% sure. And Ed gives him a confident smile and turns away before letting it drop - which is when we see Izzy's answering smile, like he's now convinced that Ed is still Blackbeard, he's still got what it takes - but Ed's the one doubting himself now, more than ever, but he looks...slightly resigned to me? Like he's at least at this point, trying to convince himself that he really means it when he lays out his plan.

This episode man, it's just...the relationships between Stede, Ed and their respective 'marriages' is...a lot to pack into this one ep.

[lostdrarryfics]

THE BIG FIND 2023: Day 10

The Big Find is a 10-day long Drarry fic-finding marathon to celebrate the blog’s anniversary. Below is the Day 10 compilation of lost fics, both old and new, that we’ve been unable to find. Our aim is to get as much attention to these lost fics as possible, to help people finally find their missing fics! Anyone can participate by reblogging, reading through each list, providing additional fic details, and informing us the title, author, or link of a fic, and their respective number in the comment section. Happy finding!

10.1 Draco is good and a spy for the light side, I’m not sure if it’s established relationship but he does date harry and one day he found out how lucius basically shame and insult (kinda slutshame) him in the paper, and he kinda has a panic attack and if I’m not mistaken the Weasleys really take care of him. In the end he is pregnant, I’m not sure but I think the title is something like 0.0005 in millions but I can find it.

10.2 The only thing I remember is that Harry is meeting Seamus and Dean with Draco at a diner maybe? Seamus tries to steal food from Harry’s plate and Draco tells him not to do it. Because Harry almost freaked out back in school when Patil tried to do it also. I think it was Lavender who picked some food and Harry’s magic reacted by freezing?/lowered the temp of the Great Hall.

10.3 ao3, chaptered, maybe 8th year but in hogwarts as students. draco stopping himself from completely falling for harry or something, they once went to a club and harry danced (i think it was a lap dance?) in front of draco and their friends. I remember draco taking harry back to his dorm and him leaving a sobering potion for harry to take the next morning because harry was completely drunk that night. I also remember harry regretting what he did the next day. I vaguely remember them both outside a club or pub, draco telling harry to stop what he was asking for because harry has an idea that draco wanted him too and ron saw them both, i don’t know if they kissed or something but harry was drunk. I also remember harry and ginny being close friends and ginny putting on some eyeliner on harry. I also remember ginny dressing up harry and trying things on him or something. and i think at the first scene harry wore these jeans that made his arse looks so good.

10.4 It was before sixth year and before sirius died - maybe end of fourth year or fifth year hols? - and the trio were at grimmauld when narcissa and draco arrive there. apparently narcissa fled from lucius because of voldy and sought refuge at the Black home, not knowing it was the Order’s hq. Eventually the Order lets them stay there, and neither draco nor narcissa go back as a spy.

10.5 looking for a fic that was a one shot. It takes place during sixth year and Draco is having a rough time trying to rebuild the cabinet, but Harry comes up to him because he looks stressed and offers to sleep with him, saying something like “you’d be less of a git if you got laid” (smut ensues but I can’t remember if it was rated M or E). They go to the room of requirement but I know at the end they have a conversation where Harry offers Draco to switch sides.

10.6 completed fic where Harry and Draco work for the ministry (Aurors, I think). Draco is team leader or something like that and pushes the aurors to look for Greyback. Harry thinks he is paranoid to still search for him. But they end up hunting Greyback because Draco’s hunch was right. Draco and Harry always bicker and fight publicly with each other with a lot of inuendo involved. Once they fight in front of the ministry elevators about hunting for Greyback and Harry accuses him of having a relationship with Greyback or something like that. Because of these fights Rita Skeeter that snuck into the ministry as a beetle publishes an article that says the two of them are a couple in secret. So Kingsley (I think) hires another very young reporter (I think Luna’s cousin) to shadow the investigation team to prove otherwise (it doesn’t go as planned). Harry and Draco end up in a lot of compromising situations. Talking about chaining one another or falling and landing on each other when the reporter just enters the room. I think Ron is Harry’s auror partner and there are at least two other members of the team - I think both are OCs. And there was at least one at least in one interrogation with Veritaserum. Unfortunately I don’t know anymore when or where I read the fanfic

10.7 looking for a fic that I read on ao3 but I can only remember a small detail, so no worries if it’s too vague to find it. What I remember is that draco sends molly a gift basket for killing bellatrix and ginny accepts his relationship with Harry because she really liked some of the gifts in the basket.

10.8 Draco is trying to build up a career post war and Harry and he become some sort of reluctant acquaintances. I don’t remember much but there might be some lines which go somewhat like this - “he is my house. I will have to burn everything he touches”. The story is from Draco’s POV

10.9 one of them or both are Aurors and Draco is pretty posh and rich. Somehow Harry has to go after him to Italy or some other beautiful country and he tries to court Draco. I don’t remember if a Auror case is a major point or not.

10.10 looking for a fic that was young Harry and he ran away from the Dursleys early. He does go to Hogwarts but after forwarding his letters to other people like the royal family and hiding from Snape. Gets sorted into Slytherin, good at stealing, even stole McGonagall when she was a cat before she could change back.

10.11 Fred and George send Harry an early birthday present, which is a truth or dare game, which is still in beta testing. The Gryffindors decide to play it. People are in the common room, and slowly they start joining the game. Dean teases Harry that his “type” is tall, blonde, and sarcastic. This happens before Draco joins the game. Eventually the Slytherins also join (they’re the last to join lol) and in this, I guess the game decides to give truth or dare based on your magic or sth, and if you don’t do it, you’re eliminated or sth. And Harry gets some dare to do with Draco obviously ( I think he has to kiss him?) and he does, and the end. Eighth year, hogwarts common room, one shot. Not more than 10k words.

10.12 draco is sentenced as probation to muggle world and works in a bakery then turned into deterioration. Bill helps him and then he returns to hogwarts as professor for potions

10.13 i only remember a specific moment. it’s mpreg and narcissa and harry are with draco while hes in labor and draco asks narcissa if he hurt her coming out, and narcissa said yes and he wasn’t helpful like harry was. and narcissa asks to keep the baby placenta

10.14 i cant remember if it was on ao3 or wattpad. it was titled “home” and the first sentence was something like: “the first time the stranger appeared at the top of the street, thunder rolled and lightning crashed.” the plot: harry disappeared after the final battle, and draco finds him in a muggle village. draco updates harry on the magical world, and romione. harry’s been in love with draco so he sends a letter and draco comes and kisses harry.

[knowlesian]

i was asked about my second favorite joke and i have finally decided: it’s the exchange about the the orange, because holy shit is that a textbook example of a slyer, more character-informing sort of joke construction than the set-up/escalation of the crystals.

(no shade to the crystals, which i wrote about here: it is my favorite for a reason. it is maybe The Perfect Joke.)

that said, tiiiiiiiiime to over-analyze.

shoutout to the leadup, which lampshades lucius pulling absolutely acres of emotional weight for the people around him (and then makes it even better by stede just jumping in to do it himself and lucius not actually having to lift a finger, wooden or not) and the deadpan chorus of ‘it’s a rock’ in response to stede’s delusional glee.

secondary shoutout to how ed starts to clean off the orange despite verbally letting down stede easy— if stede’s superpower is being oblivious to reality and sometimes that makes him do things like run the fuck off without fully explaining himself, it’s also what makes him beautiful and so fucking ready to evolve.

stede is A Lot, but he’s family. his ability to look at the world and say ‘actually, i think it would be more fun if we did it this way and as such: i will be dragging those around me into my delusions that life and the world can be better than it currently is’ is fucking... i mean. what a gem, you know?

so ed says: it’s a rock, it’s a piece of shit, and he still rinses it off carefully anyway to answer this irrepressible ‘but what IF’ because just being around stede seems to allow people to assume these emotional risks, either through proximity to his privilege or his open-bedroom door management style (in a way stede can’t quite seem do for himself until he goes back to fix things with mary the writing on this SHOW my god) and then ed makes the best face when he realizes that once again, stede’s delusional belief in his ability to make things work has panned out: the rock is an orange.

like jim says: the old tree still had some fruit to give after all.

(sustenance frozen in time? a family legacy? jesus fuck if i start asking myself what is the orange, really, in specific relation to the tree itself i will not GET TO THE JOKE JESUS FUCK I HAVE NOT EVEN GOTTEN TO THE FUCKING THING YET. okay: the orange. like nana and stede and everybody else on this show, it’s a lot, but also it means a lot and i love it.

i cannot speak of the tree. the tree is this whole other insane post in the making. everything on this show means like six things at once on TOP of the actual plot and i’m mad at it. all the time, mad at it.)

finally: the actual joke.

I suppose you should have it. It’s your land.

It’s cool. Finders keepers.

Oh thank god! I didn’t want to give it to you. I think this is my new favorite thing!

jesus christ they do so much heavy fucking lifting with so few words on this show. all the time forever, they pack a whole essay into the words they use and how they use them.

okay: i’ll start on the surface, where it’s not even about words. stede is dressed for a cartoon safari. that outfit is calling up some very purposeful imagery, and it’s about one pit stop shy of him having on a literal pith helmet for no reason. 

so just visually, we have stede looking like he’s ready to go discover someplace people have lived for centuries, literally digging shit up on jim’s ancestral land, and wanting to take it home with him.

stede: the new face of the british museum!!!! 

(don’t @ me, i know i know be accurately mad. ‘the new face of the new zealand museum’ just didn’t have the right ring.)

because they’re really good at this shit they take that obvious visual gag and use it to show stede’s grown as a person since the party; he immediately sighs and tosses the orange off to jim. he knows the right thing to do here.

then we get jim getting to solidify/close a character arc chapter with tossing it back: they’re all good. they’ve got olu, they’ve got nana, and family isn’t something they need concrete evidence can exist for them anymore.

(plus: it’s very obvious stede wants it.)

this last part is where it gets very, very cool: stede’s response.

one of the rules for writing comedy (if you want to maximize storytelling alongside the jokes) is that your jokes need to inform character. ofmd is a fucking masterclass on that.

level one: stede is saying the quiet part loud. someone telling the truth in a socially inappropriate way is a staple in comedy: always has been, always will be. it’s just funny that he’s brightly like oh good!!!! i never wanted to share at all!!!! fuck you guys i want this orange, come to orange papa!!!!! 

comedy math is comedy math.

it’s reminding us that stede is evolving, but he’s still stede: he pulled back the impulse to go full main character syndrome and ignore the part of his miraculous orange discovery where the orange didn’t belong to him just because he dug it up while jim asked him what the fuck he was doing, but he really goddamn wanted that orange!!!!

which takes me down to the next level: stede doesn’t just love nice things, he defines himself by his love for/ownership of them. the first part’s fine and good with the narrative, while it seems pretty solidly against the second. 

sidenote: ed chucking stede’s generational wealth overboard is also ed giving them a space free of stede’s old life where they can figure their shit out together under the gaze of mary’s lighthouse, one day. i’m mad at the writers. VERY MAD.

if i had to guess where the show is going with this stede still loving/one day re-obtaining fancy pants and having plans to match won’t be an issue, so long as he knows who the fuck he is without those pants.

(...i did not intend that to be a sex thing but i stand by it now that i have made it so, your honor. tits AND ass, your honor: we want them both.)

stupid sex jokes aside, here’s where it gets really cool: this fucking miracle of a metaphor of an orange is now stede’s favorite thing.

not his riches; not his fancy pants. not something he bought with money he lucked into and inherited from his shitty father, not a symbol of wealth or class or status.

a humble orange. (consider: the humble lighthouse orange. fuuuuuck this show.)

a humble orange he obtained through honest means: jim gave it to him because stede’s a lot, but he’s family, and because stede’s fuckup with the oranges gave jim their family back in the form of nana knowing who they really are and accepting them in, cake and all, but also in the form of olu basically professing eternal love in the most wonderful way possible.

if stede wasn’t a dumbass with a fancy ship who picked jim up and didn’t know why oranges were crucial and wasn’t desperate to impress ed and the treasure map didn’t burn up because lucius was busy watching his dads fall in love right in front of his snake, does jim ever get this closure (or stede this orange)?

probably not. they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the shore party, they did NOT think they’d find a welcome here.

and then: they did. nana had cake waiting, nana is more concerned about murder stats than pronouns, and nana absolutely loves olu. without this day trip, jim might have spent the rest of their life wondering if family was unconditional, or if family ends where honesty begins.

that orange is a gift; that orange is a thank you.

and now thanks to all those dominoes stede has this orange, granted to him because of the two sides of his habit of forgetting reality exists, not in spite of one of them, and because a lot of the time stede forgets the rules the world tells him he should care about are actually supposed to matter to him.

stede defines himself by things: he is entering the next part of this story with the orange that means family and love that embraces nuance instead of wanting to hide or smooth it over as his favorite thing.

i mean. i M E A N.

[adzeisval]

Overlooked, part one

Izzy managed to pull himself back on the Revenge and felt a wave of relief wash over him. They’d made it. After five days of imprisonment and torture Izzy, Pete, Jim and Fang had made it back to the Revenge. Hurting, but alive. 

There was a chorus of voices and cries and the crew of the Revenge rushed forward. Olu and Jim embraced and fell to their knees. Lucius somehow managed to wrap and arm around both Pete and Fang. The crew was happy and cheering around them. 

Roach was already trying to pry the tortured crew away to treat them and ask if they were alright. 

No one came to check in on Izzy. No one was cheering now that he was back. He tried to ignore the feeling of hurt.

“Izzy!” Edward called and Izzy brightened a little. There, at least someone was happy to see him. But as Izzy came forward he could tell the look on Edward’s face was no joy at seeing Izzy alright, it was anger that any of his crew had been hurt. He had a look of determination that meant he was going to go after the men who had tortured them. 

“Tell me as much as you can,” Edward said, taking Izzy into the Captain’s Cabin. Izzy spent the next half hour going into detail about who had been hurting him and the crew for the past few days. 

“We’ll be able to take them,” Edward said. 

“Easily I would think, they’re not going to expect us,” Stede said. 

Izzy shifted in his chair and winced. His back had been flayed open on the first night and it was still healing. His throat was sore from being nearly hung on the second day. His ribs were bruised from the third day. He had a horrible sunburn on his back and was still thirsty from the fourth day. He’d nearly drowned just that morning before they escaped. It was a lot. 

“Are you going to be alright for a fight Izzy?” Edward asked. 

“Of course,” Izzy said, but he kept the rest of his thoughts to himself.. He’d been fucking tortured for days and was exhausted and in pain. He needed water, he needed to sleep for a couple days, and he really needed a hug. He’d spend days fearing he and members of the crew he cared for would die. Days spent hoping and longing for home. Days spent trying to get their tormentors to go after him and not the others.

Edward looked at him closely then sighed, “Why don’t you go take a nap I’ll wake you when we’re there.” 

“Yes Captain,” Izzy said. Izzy got up to leave and tried not to wince in pain as he did. 

“Oh and Izzy?” 

“Yes?” 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get them,” Edward said. Izzy nodded. He believed they would. Edward could still be quite terrifying when he wanted to be. He had no doubt the men that tortured him would pay with their lives.

Izzy saw Roach on deck tending to Pete’s wounds while Fang waited. Izzy knew his wounds weren’t going to be fatal and probably had gone too long to be stitched. He would recover without help. Izzy heard Jim and Olu talking in their room as he passed. Izzy shut the door to his room and eased himself carefully into bed. 

Izzy tried not to cry and failed. He hurt both physically and mentally and no one had even reacted like they were glad he was back. Oh Edward was glad for the information and he would be glad of the help but glad that Izzy was back? Maybe not. No one was. The whole new thing of taking it through and showing affection. Apparently it wasn’t for Izzy. 

Part of it was Izzy’s fault; he had no idea how to ask for affection, he had no idea how to approach the subject of the fact that he would like a hug or some comfort now and then. He’d spent far too long pushing that down and ignoring the need. But shouldn’t they know? Shouldn’t they realize that Izzy was human and needed care now and then? Or was it that they just didn’t have it in them to care for him. 

Izzy cried until the exhaustion overcame him and he fell asleep. 

(Part Two coming out tomorrow!)

[natsusliljay04]

🐍Blame it on me💚

A Draco Malfoy x YN Potter story 💚🐍

CW: Angst, Mentions of suicide, death

You and Your Twin Brother Harry have finally got the opportunity to leave the dursleys behind after you got the invitation letters to hogwarts the school for Wizards Like you, and Hagrid came to pickyou up. While Harry hesitated a bit to answer you instantly said "I'll go with you!" To Hagrid.

when you arrived in hogwarts

A young boy caught your eye and you were looking at him with a slight smile "Who are you looking at?" He said. You encountered him with a confident "You silly. I am Y/N Potter by the way! Do you want to be friends?" The boy started laughing "Why should I Draco Malfoy be friends with a Potter?" Your smile faded away as he said those words "Oh... I- Sorry.." You turned away as you looked at your brother who was listening to Proffesor McGonagall as she explained the rules in hogwarts.

During the sorting ceremony you were a bit nervous hoping to become a Gryffindor just like your brother and as your name was called out you walked up and sit down. The sorting head started to think as it was put onto your ahead "hmm You have high potential, plenty of carriage as well i see.." It mumbled "She's a Potter just like you so she'll probably be Gryffindor." Harry's new found friend Ron said. "Hopefully.." Harry said looking at You sitting on the chair "How about.. Slytherin!" The hat said and then was taken off your head "What? A Potter here in Slytherin?" Draco didn't know anything else to do then just laugh at You "Stop it Malfoy." You said sitting down at the Slytherin table. "This can't be possible. You are a Gryffindor as well Harry!" Fred, one of

the Wesley twins, said "Well the hat wanted to put me into Slytherin as well but it didn't as I told it not to.." Ron looked at Harry a bit confused but did not know what to say.

As the Year went by you tried to become friends with Draco but he kept ignoring you and pushing you away. Still giving up was not an option. As the second Year Started you saw draco at the diagon alley as you were getting your books at Flourish and Blotts he was secretly sneaking glances at you to make sure your okay while you were reading books in the crowd. He walked down the stairs as you were about to leave. "Oh hello draco! How was your summer break?" You asked the Blond with a smile on your face. "It was great because i didn't have to see you all day." He answered in a way that hurted you a lot. "Now now Draco be nice to her." Lucius, Draco father said in a polite tone. "What ever father.." said Draco and rolled his eyes. One day during class you caught Draco looking at you and waved him in which he just looked back at the teacher "Weird.." you thought. Later Draco randomly came up to you and jokingly said "hey Y/N how are your Parents?" You looked at him silently "Ohh wait I forgot. They're dead." He laughed "Maybe you should pay them a little Visit.." If only he knew what he'd done now. You weren't seen for the rest of the Year and draco got concerned something happened. "Potter. Where is Your sister." Draco said as he walked up to Harry. "I don't know where she went she's in Your house so wait untill later maybe you'll see her in the common room." But that didn't happane. Teachers and Students have been searching for you for a while and Years went by untill 2 Years later in Year 4 the truth came out.

"Dear Students i am very sorry to say this but We have been informed that Y/N Potter has taken her life due to some for us unknown reasons." Dumbledore said a lot of students were shocked, especially draco. He got up from his table and left the great hall hurriedly running to the bathroom. "this is all my fault.. Why did I have to say this to her..." he said to himself and looked into the Mirror. "I'm an idiot.. why didn't I just confess my feelings to her..?!" He noticed Harry standing behind him in the reflection of the mirror "what did you say to her?" Draco looked down at the Sink "Potter.. I was making fun about Your parents and told her she should visit them... I-I didn't know what was riding me and If i would be able to undo it i would do it just to confess my feelings!" Harry stared at the Blond. He was outrageous and just wanted to punch then Slytherin. And thats exactly what happened, Harry, full of hatred and anger punched Draco who just wanted to.. apologies. "Why would you do Such a thing?!" Harry said before he grabbed dracos shirt and pulled him closer. "Why did you have to even take the last Family member I had away from me.." he was about to punch the Blond again but luckily for Draco, Dumbledore pulled Harry away. "I know this might be hard for you Harry but Draco will get his punishmen." Dumbledore said.

Years have passed and Draco still could not get over the death of you. He was not able to really love again cause his heart still remained to you. Every day if he had time he would go to your grave and sometimes leave some flowers there "Blame it on me i was the one who ruined it.." he said standing in front of your grave..

Hope you liked the story and as aleays i'm open for requests!

[dragonmuse]

youve mentioned in a previous ficlet that lucius is an ass eating pro so id love to see him using those skills on izzy for the first time

(excuse you,  I love this prompt, thank you. )

Sex with Lucius was a revelation. Not so much in the ‘oh how interesting, that’s novel’ way, but a a ‘angel of god with thirty eyes, a fiery sword and words of prophecy’ kind of way. Izzy was aware that that could mostly be chalked up to his own dearth of experience, but he’d like to think it was also just Lucius. 

They had only had a handful of nights together and Izzy was already sure that if Lucius walked out tomorrow and didn’t come back, he would never find his equal again. Not that he was going to tell the man that any time soon.

The worst part of all of it, was he was fairly sure Lucius knew that he felt that way anyway. 

“Look at you,” Lucius smoothed a finger over Izzy’s bottom lip. “Gorgeous thing.” 

Izzy had just spent a delirious string of minutes proving that he had already learned a lesson or two in how Lucius liked to be worshiped. His tongue ached a little, and his jaw was reporting in a few error messages, but Izzy had already shunted that aside. He would have happily continued on with the task if he’d been allowed. 

Instead Lucius’ hand was in his hair, holding him bare inches away from his still hard cock. His tongue darted out to chase Lucius’  thumb and he was rewarded by it slipping between his lips. 

“I’m really in the mood to be on top tonight,” Lucius informed him. “We haven’t done that yet, but you said it was green. That still true?” 

Izzy relinquished the digit to say, “Yes.” 

He’d already learned that Lucius had some strong, often mildly irritating, ideas about enthusiastic consent. They were, Izzy had to admit, probably for the best, but it did bring a disconcerting abruptness to things that had been easy seconds before. 

“Do you like it really rough?” 

“Yes.” 

“Shocking,” Lucius grinned. “Too bad for you tonight though. We haven’t played that way yet, so we’re going to take our time and I’m going to make sure it doesn’t hurt.” 

Izzy did not whine. It was a very close thing. 

“If you could kill with your eyes.” Lucius shook his head. “But you can’t and I’m in charge, right?  

“Yes,” Izzy conceded. 

“One day I’ll give you no warning and no prep if that’s what you want, but we need to know each other a lot better for that.” 

Know him better? Lucius had already cracked open his rib cage and rustled around inside. How much better, how much closer did he want to get? There wasn’t much of Izzy left, really. Lucius could have it if he wanted it, but it was only scraps, broken glass and duct tape in there. 

“Do you want to see me while I prep you or be on your stomach?” 

Choices? Fuck. Izzy had to scrape himself together back enough to engage in some higher brain function or at least do his best impersonation of it. He closed his eyes and tried to see his way through both versions. 

The thought of Lucius at his back wasn’t bad. He’d done it before. But...fuck. Yeah. This would be different. He hadn’t exactly ignored himself in the ensuing years. He’d used his own hands and scattered images. Sometimes he’d tried to draw on memory, but that had inevitably shut things down rather than drawn them out.  

Someone else handling his body that way would be...

“See you,” Izzy said quietly. 

“Very good,” Lucius cupped his cheek, leaned down and kissed him. “Excellent job. Next time we try something new, we’ll talk it out ahead of time. Sorry. But thank you for coming back for me to do it now. You’re all done with choices, promise. Get up here and lay down.” 

Izzy gratefully got up and laid himself out. He watched as Lucius finished undressed, sloughing off his clothes until he was gloriously naked. Izzy feasted on the vision of him. The bedside light was on, casting Lucius in it’s soft glow. He looked like art, marble that was still unbearably human. The wispy trail of dark hair from navel to the base of his cock made Izzy long to touch. To be touched.  

The drawer in the table was opened, Lucius setting up a few things within easy reach. He paused to take a sip of water from his glass, then climbed back on to the bed, kneeling beside Izzy’s hip. 

“I don’t even know where I want to start.” Fingers danced up Izzy’s leg from ankle to knee, trailing slowly over his thigh. “No. That’s a lie. I know exactly what I want to do. I wonder if you’ll like it?” 

If? Izzy tried to imagine something Lucius would do right now that he wouldn’t like. It had to be something green. So far Lucius hadn’t even suggested a yellow, let alone pushed against red. Izzy was beginning to believe that he never would. Maybe those boundaries would be allowed to stay, instead of existing only to be knocked over. 

“You must’ve at least tried it once before,” Lucius decided. “To marked it as all right. So we’ll see. And it will hold you in a very difficult position. I know you like that.” 

“Yes,” Izzy said, then winced. He hadn’t been asked a question. 

“Your enthusiasm is appreciated,” Lucius pinched the thigh he was caressing. Izzy’s breath caught. “But I need you to behave. I’d hate to interrupt my fun to remind you of how to keep quiet.” 

Izzy wanted to apologize, wanted to ask about consequences, but then Lucius was moving to straddle him and that was very distracting. 

“Spread ‘em,” Lucius slapped at one leg, then reached up and grabbed a pillow. 

For a brief, possibly hysterical, possibly hopeful, moment, Izzy wondered if he was about to be smothered. Instead, Lucius slid a hand under Izzy’s ass, urging him up and then put it under his hips. 

“It’s an angle thing,” Lucius explained without looking at him. “God, your thighs are fucking incredible. I keep thinking I’m going to chip a tooth when I bite them.”

That did not stop him from doing just that, a searing pointed kiss that had Izzy arching up off the carefully placed pillow immediately.  His whole world narrowed to that sucking point for several glorious seconds. 

“Oh look, something else is rock hard now,” Lucius determined as he drew away. “Let’s see if we can’t keep that going. Legs on my shoulders.” 

He obeyed, but it was very vulnerable all at once, exposed to Lucius’ hungry gaze. Izzy fought down the urge to curl back up. A hand flattened out onto his stomach, holding him in place. He breathed through it. 

“Yes, there you go,” Lucius grinned then he was moving. Izzy hadn’t seen him grab the lube which seemed at odds with what he’d said earlier. Maybe he’d missed it somewhere in the haze. 

Maybe Lucius had misdirected what he was going to do. That’d be a first though. Seemed unlikely- 

What the fucking fuck? 

Lucius was spreading him open, so close that he must’ve been getting a very odd eyeful. The squirming feeling was back, and then...fuck. Then it was banished entirely as the delicate tip of Lucius’ tongue flickered over his hole. 

Izzy had to bring his own wrist to his mouth so he wouldn’t blurt out. He didn’t even know what he’d say. He knew people did this. He’d seen it in porn (where it had seemed dreamily impossible in the same way so many things did there) and tried to imagine how it might feel (slimy maybe?).  

But the immediacy of it was nothing he could’ve prepared for. The way Lucius held him ruthlessly open, heedless of the barrier he was crossing. It was uncomfortable. It was bizarre. 

And then Lucius pressed his tongue flat and lapped at him and all sense and reason crumbled to dust. Izzy started sightlessly at the ceiling, a coil of lust unraveling in him as quick as a snake. Within a minute of such attention he was shaking, within two, ungodly sounds were clawing their way out of his throat. 

It was too much. It wasn’t enough. It was disgusting. It was bliss. 

Lucius pulled away to suck in a breath and Izzy caught sight of him, pupils blown, lips chaffed pink with a satisfied smirk smeared on them. 

“You like that,” Lucius determined, but he reached for the lube and Izzy was profoundly grateful. 

He wasn’t sure he liked it. He was sure that he wanted it again though. He wasn’t sure how both could be true, but that’s what he was left with as Lucius shifted again. A finger prodded where Izzy was still damp, then slid inside. 

It wasn’t the same as doing it himself, but he knew that already. Lucius liked to finger him during a blowjob, and seemed to think one went with the other as a matter of course. Though with the previous...attention, it all went a lot easier. 

“Yes, just like that,” Lucius murmured, barely seeming to be directing the words at Izzy, eyes locked on his hand.  

There was more, Izzy lost track of it as Lucius idly started playing with his cock too. Nothing satisfying, just odd strokes here and there, keeping him at attention. 

“Mm, I think you’re ready. At least, I know I am,” Lucius decided. He picked up a tissue from the nightstand and carefully wiped off his fingers before griping Izzy’s thigh. 

And...that was such a small thing, wasn’t it? It hardly mattered if Izzy got lube and whatever else on him. Lucius was already rendering him down to component parts and a shower was very much in his near future. Who cared? 

Lucius apparently, who was also now placing a kiss on the inside of Izzy’s knee. No bite at all. But then his hands were hard on Izzy’s hips, dragging him forward and back into the right head space. 

“I’m going to fuck you now,” Lucius grinned down at him. “You have permission to make whatever noise you like. Talk even. In fact, just for tonight, I encourage it.” 

Izzy shook his head mutely, not willing to relinquish the silence that offered some amount of protection from all of this. 

“We’ll see about that,” Lucius shrugged, lined himself up and then pushed in slowly. His eyebrows knit together, a small ‘v’ of concentration forming.  It was oddly adorable, discordant with his cool command. 

He was young, Izzy remembered with a sudden vicious tenderness that took his breath away faster than the slow division of his flesh. Maybe this was vulnerable for Lucius too. Something he did less frequently, something he had slightly less faith in himself to do. It was just for a moment, a hanging breath of uncertainty. Then the ‘v’ smoothed away and Lucius was pulling him closer. 

“Fuck,” Izzy said very very quietly, the fullness of sensation springing back to the forefront. And it just kept going, getting larger and more present. 

Then they were flush, his ass cradled into the crevice of Lucius’ thighs and stomach. 

“Yeah,” Lucius turned and kissed Izzy’s knee, casual as anything as if that was perfectly normal. “You’re tight as a vice. Going to stay here until you’ve relaxed a little.” 

A hand came down to his stomach and rubbed slowly circles. Izzy wanted to bark at him to just touch his cock. To just move. To take what he wanted and leave him be. But the hand felt good too, hypnotic in its way. And Lucius kept pressing his lips to Izzy’s leg, no bite, just those soft rubbed red lips. 

“There we go,” Lucius smiled down at him. “I knew you could do it.” 

Izzy had no idea what he’d done, but he would’ve faked it a million times to get that. 

“Gonna move now.” 

The world fell apart for a while, but what use did Izzy have for the world anyway? He could lie here while it washed away, rocked by Lucius, held together by his hands. 

Somewhere in there, he became aware that he was making noise, moaning wantonly like someone who did that. 

“That’s my clever one,” Lucius praised, “making all those lovely sounds for me. Stroke your cock now, I’m busy and I want to watch you come while I do this.” 

Izzy grasped himself firmly, stripping himself. Despite what he’d said, Lucius’ fingers wrapped around his own, slowing him down before departing again. It synched him to Lucius’ hips and that was something else altogether. It all felt like one motion, a fathomless loop. 

Until it didn’t. Until he broke on the shore with a deep groan, Lucius’ careful thrusts going ragged and staccato, then stilled entirely with a very small ‘oh’ cresting from his lips. 

They both stopped, catching their breath, looking at each other across the vast ocean of space between them. Lucius gently let down Izzy’s legs, rubbing idly at his thighs after. 

“You okay?” 

“Yes,” Izzy nodded to try to get it all across. Okay? Insufficient. Unacceptable. 

He had nothing else.  Lucius lay down beside him, pulled him in. 

Izzy went without complaint. 

“How long since the last time you did that?” Lucius asked him in a hush. 

“A long time.” 

It would be many months before Lucius would learn exactly how long. Maybe even start to figure out how many things were firsts. By then, they would be miles ahead of that and it would be difficult to remember the fragility of those first shaky steps out onto the plank that stretched between them. 

“Thanks then,” Lucius pressed a kiss to his forehead. “For letting me.” 

“Thanks for doing it,” Izzy said to Lucius’ collarbone. He rested his forehead there after. He wasn’t quite ready to part. 

Maybe he would never be, he thought, and that was a pit opening beneath his feet he wasn’t ready for either. He shoved the thought away. There was only now. There was only this. Tomorrow for the rest of it. Or never.

[smokedanced]

I rewatched the first three episodes (while I wait to watch the new ones with @lovepurposed when we manage to find a time because timezones) and while I don't have the spoons to write full on posts (I feel kinda bad about... I don't know, I just don't have the spoons to fully be a fandom member these days, due to being disabled; like, I have profound love for this show and these muses and I have so many thoughts but arranging them into proper verbalised form is just hard, and I put my writing spoons into replies over headcanon posts usually when feeling like this, but it does feel like I'm missing out on a lot by not being the most active when episodes are on air and all, like I'm missing on the hype), I figured why not do some bullet points anyway, about some stuff that relates to my muses:

I'm not going to shy away from Ed's violence when writing his kraken era. Not that I was before, but canon went to a really dark direction with it, and I'm fine with portraying that. Includes both his abuse towards his crew, and his suicidal ideation. I'm sure he will come out of it (probably with Stede's help in canon? but can be anything in roleplay prose, like obviously I'm unopposed to having it be thanks to Izzy or whoever, depending on whatever we play with), but between seasons & first three episodes of second season era Ed is violent, abusive, self-destructive, erratic and extra unstable. And I love him.

Ed tells coma-hallucination!Hornigold he's never told about killing his abusive dad to anyone except Stede. At first I figured Izzy would also know about it (especially since I headcanon the two have been together for a lot longer than Blackbeard era; Izzy having been on Hornigold's crew and such, before), but actually, no, he's never told Izzy; Izzy doesn't know. I do believe Izzy and Ed know each other better than anyone else, including Stede, but that piece of information - Izzy doesn't know it. Ed's never told him. That's not the kind of vulnerability either of them have ever had with each other. (I ship Izzy/Ed and Stede/Ed and Izzy/Stede, but Izzy/Ed/Stede throuple is superior to all of the above, and I think the three complete each other with all individuals bringing something valuable to the mix and all three having potential for becoming more wholesome with each other than with just one of them/alone.)

Lucius is traumatised as fuck, as obviously narrated in canon. I don't??? Have many thoughts on him, as of now.

"I have... love for you" Izzy admitting this and the way he says it... Jesus fucking Izzy, his self-hatred is as strong as Ed's, but manifesting in different ways. He's so fucking ashamed of loving Ed, not because he thinks there's anything wrong with it, but because he believes he's inherently disgusting and that being the subject of his love would be therefore awful for Ed. It has nothing to do with internalised homophobia and everything to do with Izzy seeing himself as inherently repulsive. "I have love for you", not "I love you". It's painful for him to admit because it's full of shame. He never, ever expects his affection, love, whatever, towards anybody to be reciprocated.

And he actively keeps falling back to trying to make people hate him, even as he's obviously redeemed himself with the crew between seasons. Claiming he slashed up the painting when Stede asks has nothing to do with covering for Ed or protecting Stede's feelings and everything to do with Izzy wanting to be hated because being hated is safer and more familiar than wanting to be loved and liked but being rejected. Sorry, mate, I see through your bullshit. <3

Uhhh. I feel like I had more thoughts about the three, but I can't remember. Most of my other thoughts are about characters I don't write so while there are so many things I fucking adore, I don't have, like I said, the spoons to really talk about them. Jim is hot as fuck. That's what you're getting from me rn lol.