#And then - obviously - Izzy gets back up and shoots Ed

[candied-cae]

Rewatching Season 1, just closed Episode 7 again, and now I'm thinking about Jim.

Jim, who lost their father right in front of them. Who inherited a legacy of revenge they never wanted. Who was taught over and over again that life is pain and disappointment and burden. Who left home all alone in the world to get their vengeance at their Nana's advice. Who found Oluwande as a way into Spanish Jackie's proximity to get the man who stole their whole life. Who ran away with Oluwande at their heels, the first time they've run with someone running with them. Who had to hide and lie and keep their lips sealed to board The Revenge and did so with only a single ally they could trust. Who had to slowly learn how to talk, not in the literal sense, but metaphorically, to be vulnerable. Who saw their Nana again and let themselves be sent back to a life of settling a tiresome grudge. Who had to decide, for the very first time themselves, that they wanted the good out of life.

About Jim who went back home, to The Revenge.

Who got back just in time to kiss Oluwande and hold him close and bed him in their shared room. Who lost him just as quickly. Who was alone again, but in an entirely new way. Who woke up with a pounding headache pinned under glowering eyes. Who's been pushed to the breaking point of killing and raiding without a cause to believe in.

Who still held so much heart and longing for closeness. Who told Fang stories to help him stop crying and laugh, who even did the little wooden boy voice to make sure it worked. Who started to fall for Archie in the middle of all the hurt and cold loneliness that took a hold of their home, of their Revenge, the only one they've ever really cared for.

And then... just when Ed seemed to be getting better than he had in a while, they were in a storm. Surrounded by screaming weather and getting soaked with rain. And as they find themselves staring down the barrel of death, only hours or minutes from complete destruction and erasure, they are commanded to snuff out their recent string of hope.

And Blackbeard cackles as he tells them all love dies, he was just hastening the process.

And it hit them again, with the same force as Archie's fist hits their jaw... it's the same thing.

"Life is pain." "Life is disappointing." "Life is pointless if you aren't mad and making a statement."

The world was telling them again, that was how it worked.

And they didn't listen. They didn't bend to the universal law they kept having barked into their face. Instead they reached down, and pulled Archie to her feet. And Jim pressed their forehead into hers. Knowing they were going to die soon. It was just a fact, Blackbeard was always going to blow the mast, no matter if they listened.

So Jim was going to stop fighting. Stop scrambling desperate and scrappy to survive. They were just going to hold the little bit of love they had within reach, and wait for the Life that's aways been hard to end.

More OFMD

[nonpracticinghumanbeing]

Izzy IS about community. He’s ALWAYS BEEN about community in his own messed up way. The Canyon was right and the haters were wrong.

He wanted Blackbeard back because that was what kept the crew safe. He was terrible about it and hurt the man he obviously loves in the process, but it WAS for the greater good. It wasn’t a purely selfish act the antis love to frame it as. He wanted to feel safe again and he wanted the crew to be safe as well.

Hell, he was doing his best to help Edward through his post-breakup depression. He didn’t understand what was going on and was clearly distressed by it but he provided what Ed needed. He *knew* he lacked the emotional capacity to help his captain himself so he agreed to bring him Lucius. I really think he would have just gritted his teeth and suffered through it if Ed didn’t say the one thing that could collapse his whole world.

"Why do we even bother being pirates?" That was what freaked Izzy out so much that he pushed Edward to violence. Not because he selfishly wanted Ed to be close at all times but because Blackbeard the legend was the pillar of his community. That legend kept everyone safe and even if Izzy is a horrible asshole, he *does* care about his crew. He knows the world is a horrible hostile place and he focuses on risk mitigation, even if it means hurting the one person he really cares about.

He really tried to provide that to the crew when Edward and Stede took the Act of Grace. It was a terribly misguided attempt at keeping things under control and it was certainly influenced by his submissive tendencies which make him crave structure and feel safe within hierarchies. He *knows* he lacks Ed's charisma and ability to think outside the box and with such huge shoes to fill it's not really surprising he acted out in anger and in result failed miserably. But he was *NEVER* an asshole just for the sake of it.

Now he realizes those days are gone for good. He's already done everything he could to bring Ed back to his senses, including using *Stede fuckin' Bonnet’s* name. It didn’t work. The realization that his one true safeguard is really gone must be terrible, but it also pushes him to take action.

The moment he realizes the crew are in real danger, he takes things into his own hands. He not only goes against the hierarchy he believed to be sacred but also against the man he *LOVES*. He fucking shoots his beloved captain to save the crew. You don’t get much more *community* than that.

He is clearly struggling. He's just tried to fucking kill himself after being maimed AND told he was disposable by a man whom he's apparently served for dacades. He will have to reevaluate his whole life and he *knows* it. But he puts it all to the side and he does what needs to be done. He took all of Edward’s abuse without complaint it seems but the moment the crew are in real danger, he intervenes. You can’t tell me a community (*any* community) doesn’t need people like that.

It all feels very old-time queer to me. The willingness to make terrible sacrifices to protect one's space. The decision (conscious or not) to be effective rather than liked. The choice to stay alive despite terrible heartbreak and go on fighting.

He's absolutely NOT an irredimable villain. He’s an asshole who tries to keep his little world safe. He’s Larry Kramer getting kicked out of GMHC for being too confrontational and politically incorrect to be palatable to the general public.

[portraitofadyke]

I think the reason so many Izzy stans struggle to understand the Izzy callout posts is because in their mind, what we are trying to say is that Izzy is a super obvious abuser and Ed is an innocent little victim.

Their dynamic is obviously way more complicated than that. This show is full of immensely layered characters - something that makes it so unique. Ed and Izzy are complicated, too. It would have been easy to make Izzy a power hungry abuser and Ed the obeying, scared victim.

But it's their power dynamic that makes this so interesting and complicated. Ed is clearly the one in power to most people, and yes, he is Izzy's boss and Captain and he holds power over him, too. But Izzy holds the power right back. I saw the comparison of Izzy being a fame hungry manager of a celebrity, (@57flagsofdeath), somebody who just wrings them dry, ignorant of their suffering, and it stuck with me (pls tag the person if you know them). Ed is Blackbeard, history's greatest pirate, and Izzy's just his First mate, his second-in-command.

And Ed is clearly tired of that persona, Izzy sees that he's at the end of his rope, seeing death as his next adventure, and the moment he steps on the Revenge and sees that Stede does things differently, he is estatic.

Another person here did a very good post how both Izzy and Ed are victims of toxic masculinity, and on board of the Revenge, Ed starts shedding his. We know that Ed's been 'more crazy' for a while and Izzy is fed up with him. For Izzy, there is no Blackbeard and Ed, there is just Blackbeard. Happiness, giddines, being open and excited and soft or God forbid, falling in love for an even softer man is not masculine, and it's not worthy of Blackbeard.

Izzy knows Ed is happy with Stede, he admits so in his inner monologue in s6. That's what makes him want to kill Stede even more.

This episode is honestly, along with The Innkeeper, is the only proof I need to prove that the show intends to compare Izzy to Ed's father and Hornigold. Izzy is in clear parallel with Ed's father hurting his mom while Ed just hopelessly watches, just like when Izzy attempts to murder Stede despite Ed calling him off. And what does Ed do to his father? Murders him. That's once again parallel to Ed shooting Izzy in the leg in s2.

Izzy is manipulative and he plays into Ed's Blackbeard persona. He diminishes Ed's needs and happiness to wank off over Blackbeard and his competence and masculinity. I am not saying here that Ed never does anything wrong, or that he never hurts anyone. this relationship, this dynamic is bad for the both of them. But Ed clearly projects his daddy issues on this older pirate who probably showed him the ropes of what it means to be a pirate and then decided to manage his persona and control what's good for Blackbeard, not for Ed. If Ed weren't terrified of Izzy, or his disapproval, at least a little bit, why would he just watch as Izzy fights Stede, despite the tender moment in the bathtub? because Izzy reminds him of his own dad in so many ways he feels hopeless sometimes.

But the time in Stede's presence changed Ed. It showed him things can be done differenly, despite what Izzy and Hornigold and his dad showed him. He can be tender, and soft, and vulnerable and he can be loved for being Ed. When Stede leaves him on the dock, despite being heartbroken, Ed doesn't get violent. Quite the opposite, he sulks in a pillow fort, writes sad songs and sings. Worse, he shows his vulnerable side to the crew. He tells them to call him Ed. Izzy doesn't care for Ed. Ed can die, for all he cares.

Izzy knows how to push his buttons. Yes, Ed is Blackbeard, and all his planning and maiming and violence and smoke and mirrors, but Izzy is always there to whisper in his ear, to remind him that Ed means nothing to people unless he plays Blackbeard.

My point is, Izzy is clearly shown to be abusive, not in the way most people imagine. he doesn't beat Ed, instead he constantly undermines him, threatens him, does anything he can to deny him happiness. He's emotionally abusing Ed, making him feel like he's nothing without Blackbeard, going as far as killing his significant other and selling him out to the Navy.

I think where people get confused is they think Izzy genuinely cares for Ed in S1. He doesn't. It's not until s2, when Ed is at his lowest, so far retracted into the Blackbeard persona the only thing he can do is destroy himself that he realizes what he's done. Izzy has something of a clarity moment. He knows he fucked up. We all have different opinions about Izzy's small redemption, but even the goddamned character you all try to defend knows he fucked up. Izzy knows he's done Ed wrong for years. Izzy knows the power he holds over Ed.

Izzy and Ed are not your typical form of abuse, and Ed is not the perfect victim, and people serioulsy struggle with that to the point of coming up with fairy tales where Izzy is the only Good Guy in the show who didn't deserve to get shot, Ed is bound to be domestically violent and Stede should just die, really. And that's. That's the exact opposite of what the show is telling us, quite clearly. You don't even have to read in between the lines. S2 has been kind to Izzy, made him come to terms with his mistakes, and even grow a bit (even though it was a bit rushed, but again, budget cuts), the least you can do is be happy with his ending where he got to die surrounded by people who will all shed a tear for him and send him off, something s1 Izzy, who was about to be thrown overboard tied to an anchor, would never get. Maybe actually watch the show?

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I saw a take recently that Izzy "got shot while standing up to Ed to protect the crew," and I've been living in perpetual bafflement ever since.

The idea that Izzy was somehow "protecting" the crew from Ed during the Kraken thing, I think, was already deeply flawed. The crew do not need protecting from him; he's not some randomly violent animal, and until he decides he's ready to push a mutiny to commit suicide, the crew are never in danger. Izzy is the only one who Ed hurts, and it's very transparently because Izzy pushed him into this state in the first place. He said he wanted Blackbeard; he's getting Blackbeard, and given how triggering violence is for Ed, Ed is very clearly the victim here. There's not a point where fighting back against abuse means you somehow flip around to being the instigator, but at least I can kinda see where, if you were already determined to read Izzy as the victim here, you could find the protection read.

But during the scene where Ed shoots Izzy? Like, yeah, pointing a gun at the crew was deeply shitty and Ed shouldn't have done it, but this is the scene where his suicidal behavior goes from passive to active. He's just had Izzy call back Stede's mantra, which we know Izzy was trying to actually use to encourage a conversation, but the last time Ed talked about his feelings, Izzy threatened him. He has to feel like he's slipping and being mocked, and then he takes it in front of everyone and points a gun under his own chin. He is so obviously trying to work up the nerve to shoot himself and it's very upsetting!

Izzy shouting at him and continuing to blame Ed's feelings for the situation are not what you'd see from someone trying to protect the crew. I genuinely do not think Izzy cares much about the crew at this point - that's important character development that comes later after they help him despite his history of dickishness. It's much easier to read this scene as Izzy, once again, trying to control Ed's behavior and failing to see him as a person with feelings, and when he blames "Ed's feelings for Stede Bonnet," Ed shoots him.

I think the protection idea takes away so much of Izzy's character development. He doesn't care about what happens to the crew at this point, just like he didn't last season, and pretending that he does takes away from how he grows throughout the season.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

back when i was on twitter for a month for the renewal campaign stuff i saw a take that was like “why are we still acting like ed was getting better in 1.10 before izzy intervened when 2.02 showed us what it means when ed is suddenly cleaning things up and acting cheerful.” and i guess the interpretation here is that izzy recognized ed’s actions as signs of an impending suicidal attempt and the “namby pamby/edward better watch his fucking step” stuff was izzy’s poorly executed but well-meaning attempt to stop ed from going down that path. the last sentence is too much for me to even engage with tho so i’m just gonna leave that there for y’all to boggle at with me

but anyway back to the take that obviously ed’s about to kill himself in 1.10 bc cheering up and tidying his space are things ed does when he’s planning to die

cannot believe this needs to be said but there's a pretty big difference between crying in a blanket fort and eating marmalade straight from the jar for like, a fucking day, and then hanging out with friends and making plans to all do something fun together which puts you in better spirits and motivates you to start cleaning up ur room and getting ur life back together after a brief detour into heartbreak

versus fucking. months of isolating from everyone but your one long-time employee who is mean to you and who reminds you of your dad (who you killed when u were a kid btw) and constant substance abuse and throwing yourself entirely into overworking at your job that you hate and not giving yourself any breaks or days off, all of this eventually culminating in you shooting the employee who reminds you of your dad in front of all your other employees and then leaving the rest of your employees to finish him off. and then waking up the next morning suddenly in an inexplicable and unexpected good mood and deciding to clean up your room like youre getting your affairs in order.

[fuckyeahizzyhands]

COLLIDER: I'm so glad that we finally got the chance to touch base about the show.

CON O’NEILL: Yeah. It's been really uncomfortable not being able to talk about it.

COLLIDER: Izzy, as a character, really goes on a beautiful, poignant journey this season. In the beginning, Ed is Blackbeard and back to the old lifestyle of raiding and pillaging ships, but it feels like something's off. Izzy has what he wanted back, but at what cost? What was your take on that — reverting to the way that things used to be, but, obviously, there's been a shift, and things aren't quite the same?

O’NEILL: It goes back to how it used to be, but Ed’s broken, and that's the difference. Before Stede appeared, Izzy and Blackbeard worked as a unit really, really well because they were both on the same page. When Stede breaks Blackbeard's heart, Izzy and Blackbeard aren't on the same page. Basically, Izzy’s looking at a man that he loves falling apart, and all the joy is gone — not just from Blackbeard, but from piracy. He can see Ed's decline, he can see the decline in his crew, which is fundamentally really, really the most important thing to him. He can feel his own heart breaking, because he's seeing the devastating impact of his actions. So, it's a pretty bleak start to a season, but we do have fabulous make-up.

COLLIDER: It does feel bleak, especially for Izzy at times, who goes through the amputation and has to adjust to a new normal of not being able to get around the way that he used to. But it's also an opportunity to see the changing dynamic with the crew. I was really touched by the moment when they built [Izzy] a new leg. It's moving on an emotional level, but it's also proof of how far this group has come. Was it nicer to be able to play those moments of camaraderie instead of being at odds all the time?

O’NEILL: What's interesting, though, is the love for Izzy to his crew and the crew to Izzy, it's always been there. It's just not being presented in this way. The giving of the leg, I believe, is the first time in his life where he's actually had an emotional connection that he wasn't able to control. That act of kindness overwhelms it. But he's still a pirate, and the leg ultimately allows him to be a pirate again. He does change his attitude towards his crew after the new leg and after the unicorn statement, but it's also about how to navigate the new crew as the first mate. And that's the beauty of what David's written. It's not suddenly he's this new guy. He's still a bit of a dick, but he's their dick, as Vico says.

It's a beautiful human version of the story that could have been really sentimental, and I don't think we go there. He doesn't suddenly become everyone's mate. That was never going to happen. That would have been dishonest. But he just has a need for them more because he's not as physically able as he used to be, and with that comes an understanding of them. The way he deals with Lucius is very specific in that he can't give Lucius love and understanding without calling him a twat — because that's who Izzy is, but he does give him love and understanding — and that's down to David and David's choices. Remember, this is a comedy. He's done all this in a comedy. That's really profound that we're going on these routes of human stories in what is essentially a comedy.

COLLIDER: One that really stuck out to me was Izzy singing in the “Calypso's Birthday” episode, especially because it plays as a backdrop to some pretty significant moments. I wanted to ask you about the preparation process behind performing that song. Did you have to record it and also do it live on-set?

O’NEILL: I got an email from David a third of the way through the shoot asking me if I knew “La vie en rose,” which, of course, I knew, but only as I'd heard it. I was actually in Wellington filming a different show because I did a different show for a week, and I just got this message. We were just gonna sing the English version because we didn't have the rights to the French version, and I don't speak any French at all. Nothing. Zilch. And then I got the phone call. Would I be able to learn it in French? So I did. I called a lot of people, and a lot of people who say they speak French don't. But my partner does, and I have a friend who just played Piaf. So, between the two of them, they gave me an understanding of the French.

We recorded both versions, and I lip-synced to the English version first before the scene with Ned. I thought we were just gonna do a little bit of the French version for the end of the episode. I had no understanding that it was gonna play out the episode. I’m thrilled that it does, but it was terrifying. Every minute of that, from the recording of it to the lip-syncing it to the filming it, was terrifying. I haven't sung in public for 20 years. But it felt right, and it felt like the absolute right choice of song. It felt like the absolute right choice of language. I didn't want him to be too French, I just wanted him to be able to because Izzy speaks bits of every language, as most pirates would. I thought it was audacious. I thought it was moving. I thought, again, it shied away from sentimental. And I’m just in awe of how David's brain works. If you would have asked me prior to doing it which song Izzy would sing, I'd never have thought “La vie en rose,” and now I can't think of a song that's more appropriate for Izzy.

COLLIDER: I talked to David, as well, about the scene of Izzy talking about piracy in the finale, and he said it's kind of like Izzy giving his own eulogy, in a way, before what happens next. That scene where Taika is holding you feels significant for the show — not just in terms of the weight and impact, but because so much of the cast is there, and it really feels like a moment of family getting to be together. Even if it's mostly an exchange between Izzy and Ed, everyone's there to send him off. I would love to hear about the experience of filming that on the day.

O’NEILL: David sent me the scene a few weeks prior, and the date was set to film it, which was gonna be in the last week of filming. It was early on in the last week, and then it was in the middle of the last week, and then it was scheduled for the morning of the last day. Then, suddenly, it became the last thing we were gonna ever film in Season 2.

Those things aren't easy. They're quite difficult because no matter how you think about it in your head, it's not gonna play that way. We were on a set, we were on the ship, there were hundreds of crew, there was the whole cast, they were setting up the shot. It was busy. David, bless him, played a playlist to help us all get in the mood, but it's just a cacophony of noise and busyness, and we’re getting towards the end of the day.

Suddenly, it was just me and Taika. Suddenly, all the noise disappeared, and suddenly, all the process of filming a scene disappeared, and it was just me and him. And Taika is a wonderful actor. Everyone talks about his writing and his directing, and this and that. Taika is a beautiful actor to play opposite. And in that moment, we just got to say goodbye to a character that we both loved. You never get a death scene that's going to get all those boxes, but for me, it was never about what Izzy said. It was about Izzy being vulnerable enough and brave enough to say, “Sit with me.” It was about Izzy being allowed to be held in the last moments of his life. That's all I remember about the day. I’m very proud of it.

COLLIDER: I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me about the show. It's been great to finally get to reconnect with the cast and to really get to talk about Season 2.

O’NEILL: Oh, it’s my pleasure. It’s my pleasure.

COLLIDER: I’ve enjoyed your performance so much these last two seasons, and who knows? Maybe we'll see Izzy's ghost pop up in Season 3.

O’NEILL: Who knows?

COLLIDER: You can't predict anything with this show.

O’NEILL: No, none of us can, and none of us know. Literally, we are all in the dark, all of us, David included. None of us knows what's gonna happen. David always wanted three seasons, and I think this story should be allowed to run its course. I would say that because I'm involved, but even if Izzy isn't involved in Season 3, I would be heartbroken for the show if it didn’t get to conclude, because it's an important show.

[eph-em-era]

OFMD intimacy breakdown eps 6-7

Oh hey, it's me! Back again with an intimacy breakdown for episodes 6-7. prefacing this, once again, that I'm not a certified intimacy coordinator, I'm an IC in training, choreographer and director. I'm also not affiliated with the show, just have interest in the subject.

Check out episodes 1-5 here.

Massive spoilers so it's under the cut.

(I do note that there's not an IC credited in these episodes - I know there's one attached to the project so perhaps they weren't utilised in these ones, or were uncredited. Who can say!)

Let's start with - I don't know why these two episodes were so deliriously fucking fast. Potentially scheduling issues with Taika? Alternatively I heard that they lost some budget, which would have cut things a bit.

HBO Max I am in your walls.

regardless, not a fan! I think the acceleration of the relationship worked, just because of what we know about their characters, but the wider plot was too fast for my liking. Hoping in the event of a season three they take that to heart.

Anyways, onto the intimacy!

Calypso's Birthday

On a whole, I found this episode deeply charming. I love a bit of whimsy, and the ep felt like a tribute to their queer audience. Felt very seen!

It's quite challenging interpreting intimacy in these scenes as an interloper, cause I don't know how much is purposeful, vs how much is staging. Regardless, we will forge on.

One -

I would have loved a little more closeness during Izzy's first singing scene! There's what feels like a metre of space between them; something as simple as arms brushing or leaning against each other helps build that intimacy. I am guessing the gap is for shooting space - you need to see what's going on behind them - but it really loses something. It's not bad intimacy, I just would have liked more.

An alternative character interpretation is that Ed & Stede are still trying to fumble their way through things and public displays of intimacy are too much for them - which could also be the intended effect.

But as we all know - a hand touch can ignite a thousand feelings, and I would have liked a little more.

Two -

Lucius and Black Pete emerging after their day-long fuckfest. I've said it in the past and will happily say it now - I think Matthew Maher and Nathan Foad have the best chemistry out of this entire cast. It's so sweet, and so honest in a way that's very grounded compared to the rest of the cast - which is surprising considering who their characters are!

Lovely positioning! Very simple staging but effective, it makes the moment feel so, so private and intimate. It's really lovely.

Three -

Ed and Stede finally get it together and have sex. Okay, so this is obviously intercut with Izzy singing, so I'll lay it out in stages.

First, the jacket grab.

What does this say about Stede? He's been buoyed by his weird night and he wants to do something about it. What does this say about Ed? He's willing to go along with it, but it is not necessarily his first reaction. He's clearly feeling qualms about something - whether that's his relationship, or being a pirate - and he's not the one to initiate. This comes back later.

Regarding the staging, more technically - this is pretty common. A grab using the lapels or jacket is a very easy way to show intensity and passion. Does Ed respond with the same passion? Not quite.

Oh hey, an up against the wall kiss! Very fanservicey, consider me impressed. I think this is a fun bit of staging, I suspect they were given very strict hand placement, cause nothing moves that much, it doesn't look particularly improvised.

Rhys Darby does something very specific with his hands when kissing that I've noticed now and I will never not notice, which is deeply annoying.

It's a very nice moment, but honestly, I would have loved a pause? There's something very sexy and very charming in a scene like this where one character makes the other character wait for it. A little holding back, breathing together, finding the moment. More of a seduction than this brute force omg we need to do this now thing.

I saw someone on Twitter say "Ed and Stede fucked but haven't made love" and that's the vibe I'm getting off the scene. Both of these characters have had a weird day, they're probably tipsy, there's been a lot of emotions and this is a desperate spilling over I need to feel your skin against mine now thing, from two people who don't really know where they both are yet. There isn't seduction cause it's not the place for seduction, cause no-one here properly knows how to communicate yet! They're saying everything but saying nothing.

I hope, in the event of further scenes like this, they have the moment to breathe.

And finally, the third piece - the closing of the curtains.

What does this say about the characters? Hey this is a private moment, you're not allowed to witness this. It's the same as Ed/Stede other moments of intimacy. Everything is private, it's hidden, it's on a remote beach on an island or unobserved under the moonlight.

These dudes might talk about each other constantly and are unashamed to say they like each other, but they sure as shit can't show it publicly. There's also clear reticence within Ed - which echoes him saying he wants to take things slow, as well as his hesitance in the next episode.

This reticence is also shown in their costuming. This isn't a we spent care and time taking each other's clothes off energy, this reads more like Stede Bonnet is emboldened for one of the first times in his life and got naked way too fast. Hey, he's the one taking charge. He's the one closing the curtains.

Man On Fire

Not a whole lot of intimacy in this one. I'm not going to spend long on it, because it's not particularly meaty, but I think the Olu/Zheng hand grab over the table is adorable and a perfect way to show two people on the same page after going through it. It's balanced and sweet.

Now, the other thing:

This staging is suuuuuuch a missed opportunity, but I also think it works considering the later context of the scene.

Y'know how you'd usually show a morning after? Snuggling up together, shoulder to shoulder, legs intertwined. Hazy and precious and lovely.

It's a bit harder with this particular set piece - you can't shoot them from the reverse, cause of the window, so everything needs to be pointed out towards the camera, making snuggling side by side harder to shoot. In theatre you'd just angle the prop differently, but you can't do that on film in a room that has established locations.

Initially when I watched this, I was like "okay rookie move, they've missed the obvious".

But.

It makes sense with the characterisation of this episode. Stede's killed a guy. He's had probably the first bit of pleasurable intimacy in his entire life. Man's ego's the size of the room. He's got his chest out cause he feels good.

Ed, however. He's fully clothed. He's doing the good thing, doing the right thing, getting breakfast in bed but it's still not quite right in the way "it should be" (the twine), and he's buttoned up to the neck. No swagger, no body showing. What does that scream? Avoidance. Weirdness. Maybe even a bit of discomfort.

Keep in mind that in the last 12 hours he's seen Stede, who he fell in love with because of his whimsy and difference from other pirates kill a guy. He's seen him threaten other peoples' lives. He expressed the desire to take things slow and instead, in a feat of piqued emotion, they hooked up, and they probably shouldn't have.

They're not cuddling because it's weird. The whole moment is weird. It's almost a walk of shame but they're on the same damn ship together. They might have hooked up, but the pair of them clearly still aren't on the same page.

I doubt we'll see it next week, but I hope these two can find their peace. This is a genre comedy, not just a romance, so I doubt it'll be anything explicit, but I would love to see a scene that's deeply passionate, building the intimacy without building the pace. Take us in closer, let us feel what the characters feel without immediately cutting away.

Loathed as I am to link some of these clips because of their nonsense dialogue, here's some moments in other mlm media that do well at building that intimacy.

This Bill/Sam clip from True Blood that doesn't even have a kiss but holds the tension really well. Another nonsense dream sequence scene from True Blood that still has nice staging. Agron and Nasir from Spartacus have incredible chemistry with a variety of clips to choose from. There are so many options and I would love love love to see them explored in the final episode of S2 or in S3. Very excited to see them both on the same page - ENTHUSIASTIC CONSENT FOR THE WIN.

Thanks for reading! Reblog if you liked. If there's anything juicy in ep 8 I'll cover it as well.

[whatcantheharvesthopefor]

Nope, i'm not finished ranting about it yet, sorry!!! Izzy says the crew 'loves' Ed..........um, unless i'm missing something, Ed has LITERALLY not had a single conversation with ANY of the crew except Fang (excluding Stede & Izzy), since he came back?!?!?! Sure there may have been stuff happening behind the scenes, but his awkwardness leading up to & during the Calypso party seems like he's still not super sure or comfortable with his relationship with the crew as a group. So how does that turn into 'the crew loves you'!?!?!?!!?!

THEY MADE IZZY HIS NEW LEG!!!! HE WAS THEIR NEW UNICORN!! It was EXPLICITLY shown in multiple episodes & in many different ways that the crew came to care about Izzy!!! THEY LOVED IZZY!!! He protected Jim & Frenchie the best he could. Frenchie HELD HIS HAND during their intervention with him! He pulled himself out of that deathbed to shoot Ed to save them. He whittled Lucius the shark! He let Wee John help him explore his drag persona & sang a love song to the crew!!!!!! FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!! If Zheng is the new Captain of the Revenge, then he could have worked with Auntie to become the Ultimate First Mate duo in history! But no.

How can you just discard all of that in moments & make fucking ED be the only one who gets to be with him at the end or have no one even be emotional at his funeral?!?? Fuck you OFMD!!!

I know, I KNOW its stupid to expect ANYTHING from a tv show but i really thought that David Jenkins got it & was better than this bullshit. For all his fucking interviews about understanding the damage queer-baiting does, obviously no one ever told him about how shit it is to kill off characters for NO REASON AT ALL. This is why we can't have nice things. This is why you should never trust that the showrunners or writers are for the fans.....they are not & never will be.

[venusdebotticelli]

I just wrote a monster of a reply on this post by @girlbossblackbeard, but I wanted to post this part on its own as well, because this epiphany just completely obliterated all my theories about the possible first reunion between Ed and Stede! (I do think they're gonna have tons of reunions throughout the season, as Stede keeps chasing after Ed and Ed keeps avoiding him and telling him to get lost.)

In their op, they pointed this out:

"the BTS production still of ed with his "trust no one" tattoo also features what i believe is the treasure chest we see jim carrying off the ship in the shot where fang is smashing two dudes' heads together!"

And in response, I noticed many many more things about that particular ship's crew, and what it says about who might be present:

I agree that the chest in Ed's quarters looks like the one they're carrying off that ship, but if I may add even more details...

The guy Stede successfully punches is dressed like the crew from that same ship where Ed is dressed like the Vampire Clown Blackbeard version, still with the Kraken makeup on, and shooting at something¿? (I don't think whatever he's shooting at is actually Stede, because you can see Frenchie and Jim's heads on the bottom left of that shot, and they don't seem all that interested in whatever Blackbeard is currently doing, they're just focused on their loot/corpses/whatever. And idk how I feel about the theory that Izzy loses his leg because Ed shoots it, rather than just gangrene, but if we were to go with that one: what if Izzy and Stede have been collaborating in secret, and this raid is when Ed finds out? I don't want or particularly expect that prediction to actually be right, but just putting it out there *shrug emoji* It could then also lead to Ed's "very rough night" and recruiting Frenchie to help with cleaning up his act the next morning?)

Also, when Stede does his swirly bit with the coat he's very much aboard the Revenge, because that's what the internal doors look like on the ship:

But I have no idea how that fits in the timeline. I think there may be a gap between when he first finds the coat, until the moment he gets to actually put on the whole suit with the matching pants¿? Or maybe not¿? Maybe all of that is happening in eps 1-2, which is an insane amount of information¿?¿??¿¿? 🔥🙌🔥

Also, I just realised this after I wrote all of that, I think this might be Jim going in behind Stede into the "I did a punch!" room¿? What's going on?¿?¿¿?¿?¿?¿? 😭

Tl;dr, I am losing my whole mind trying to piece a timeline with this scene 🔥🙌🔥 The Reunion™ could be as soon as ep1 going by this?¿?¿¿? While Ed is still in Kraken mode?¿¿?¿??

Edit: I also have no idea how Izzy/Jim's makeup or lack thereoff fits in with this timeline. Maybe they raid the same ship twice, at two separate points in time? Or it's a fleet with a strict uniform code, maybe a different navy, other than the English?

The Spanish Navy grunts from s1 dressed like this:

which is actually a very similar look, so maybe it really is just two different ships from the Spanish navy. It also explains all the catholic imagery and paraphernalia in the room where Stede finds the red & gold suit (the same colours as the ones the Spanish officers have).

So nvm, I've just convinced myself they're two separate instances, and I'm back to thinking the first reunion might be the headbutt 😅

Still interesting to point out, I think :D

(Also wondering about the significance of red neckties this season, which the Spanish grunts were missing in s1 but now all have, and Spanish Jackie's, and obviously, Stede's... 😁)

[three-taikas-in-a-trenchcoat]

OFMD Season Timeline

(Obvi season 2 spoilers)

TL; DR: there’s like a month in between episode 5 and 6.

This ended up being a little longer than I planned but there’s pics you can stare at longingly, so that helps, right?

I’ve seen a lot of people assuming that each episode of the show is like the next day and so Stede and Ed having sex would have happened like a day after they agreed to go slow.

But I think it had to have been at least a a couple of weeks and here’s why:

Remember how Ed had to wear the bag (and collar) of shame until people felt comfortable around him?

In episode 6 Ed is back in his regular clothes and everyone seems much more comfortable around him. When Jim and Frenchie approach him and Stede about the party, they even greet them as “captains” (plural), which I sincerely doubt they would have done if they still hated him.

Additionally when Ed and Stede walk into the party, everyone greets them both with drinks and happiness. The animosity, jumpiness, and fear seem to have been resolved or put aside.

This wouldn’t have happened in a short period after everything the crew went through. I know Olu, Jim and Archie were more chill about his return later in episode 5, but it wasn’t the friendliness and camaraderie we see here.

I take episode 6 to have happened at least 1-2 weeks, if not longer after 5. Personally I don’t think I’d get over someone trying to kill me that quickly, but hey, I’m not a pirate.

Additionally, let’s talk about our favorite unicorn for a second:

This is Izzy’s scar in episodes 5 and then 7 (taking place the day after 6)

Waaaaaaay too healed for just a day or even 2. I’ve had numerous surgeries. My scars from surgery 3 weeks ago haven’t even shown that level of improvement. I get Unicorns are magical, but he isn’t Buttons.

Additionally, the way Izzy is so relaxed around Ed… no way has it only been a day. He just got his leg amputated, what like a week before 5? He shouldn’t even be walking on his unicorn leg at that point (but we will ignore that because he and the leg are beautiful). The scene with Izzy and Ed is calm and bitchy in the way you are with siblings and old friends when you get over a small fight. I feel like it might take a little longer to forgive or even be in the presence of the person who tortured you and your crew and took your leg (among other things).

He also tells Stede that he sees how good he and Ed are for each other. That it took a long time to realize it but he does. When did he realize this? In the middle of a storm they thought would kill them? While he was passed out during an amputation? During his bender in episode 4?

That’s all me projecting, I know. Let’s be honest that’s what meta posts like these are a lot of the time (but god I love them).

The only episodes that seem to be exactly a day apart are 3, 4, and 5. And obviously 6 and 7.

So TL; DR: there’s like a month in between episode 5 and 6.

Any additional timeline things you have for season 1 or 2 are great!

Edit: someone pointed out Pete and Lucius’ 24 hour sex spree after getting engaged and this shoots my theory, but maybe they’ve done multiple sprees?

Idk the relationships between all of them are so much more comfortable now and too quickly if it really has been only a day. It kind of feels like we’re missing an episode in between 5 & 6 that would have transitioned everything more smoothly. I still blame this entirely on HBO cutting 2 episodes and not on the writers who were trying to work with what they had.

[oatm3al-c00kies]

currently thinking about the crew as a family and the "they love you ed" line???? like yes they do but it would be a lie to say that they didn’t love izzy as much or even more than they love ed.

(this ended up being extremely long so the rest is under the cut <3)

in season one, most of them were on stede's crew while ed became like the cool stepdad they all adopted. he was a beloved member of the crew but was never quite as close to them as stede was, considering stede was their captain first. at the end of season 1, he forced them to work for him, left some of them abandoned on an island to die, and !!! "killed" lucius, traumatizing him with that experience and with all of the things he had to go through in the time following that.

in season 2, he continued to force the crew into terrifying and traumatizing situations they didn't want to be in simply for his own gain and to deal with his grief. he forced jim and archie to fight to the death for his amusement, shot izzy for standing up to him and just generally created a horrible atmosphere on the ship. because of all he put them through, they killed him (or at least tried to). the crew then had terrible trust issues, were extremely paranoid even when surrounded by (former) friends, and expected the worst from every situation. once ed was back, he gave a half-assed apology (which I dont believe he ever actually remedied?), had a one-on-one conversation with fang, and then just like.. went about his business. i think they cared for him to some extent, but (at this point) did they trust him as much as they used to? was there really much love left there?

izzy on the other hand... izzy they loved. in season one he was, lets be honest, a bit of a shit. but in season 2?? everything changed. he continually put himself in between the crew and ed when he was at his worst, taking the brunt of ed's anger and allowing himself to take the punishments for their wrongdoings, all the while not saying a word (or at least trying not to). when ed was so far gone he was unreachable, izzy was the one in charge of the crew, trying to lead them through it all.

the crew cared enough about izzy to talk to him about his relationship with blackbeard, explaining why it was toxic and unhealthy, and that he shouldn't have to deal with it.

he confronted ed when no one else could, bringing up the concerns of the crew because they were too scared to say anything, putting himself on the front lines yet again.

fang was unable to stop crying after ed shot izzy, and frenchie risked ed's anger to try and get medical supplies for him. they all cared enough to spare his life when they were ordered to kill him, hiding him away and not letting him die even when he yelled at them to kill him. jim defended izzy when archie mentioned that he was kind of a dick because yeah, he was, sure, but he was their dick.

he shot ed when he was about to shoot off the cannon and doom them all, forced himself to get above deck — bleeding and weak with one leg and a head injury, having just tried to end his life — because he knew the crew needed him.

when his wooden leg broke and he was obviously struggling, the crew found a solution and gave him the leg of the unicorn from the front of the ship, making sure it would hold his weight, writing the note to him saying that he was their new unicorn, and showing him that he was one of them, a part of the family, and the thing that led them forward.

he carved the wooden shark for lucius and helped him move on from his trauma with ed. he worked with stede to make him a better pirate captain and validated the crew's fear about the cursed clothes.

izzy shot sarcastic quips at ned low's crew when they were being tortured, trying to lighten the mood and direct some of the anger on himself rather than the crew. he did the same thing when they were all stuck in the jail cell, correcting banes on a technicality and calling him a twat, making a fool of the man holding their lives in the balance to try and make things seem a little less dire.

when he came out in drag to sing at calypso's birthday, the crew danced along, listening to his performance with smiles on their faces, happy to see izzy so free. they made him feel comfortable and allowed him to heal and discover who he was on his own and become the great izzy hands again.

and sure they care about ed and yes he's a part of the crew, but izzy hands was more their family than ed ever was.

[izzyspussy]

okay scene.

they run into hornigold or vane or who the fuck ever, and unlike jack they have their entire crew there and no ulterior motive that means they have to buddy up.

it's exactly like when badminton #1 shows up and everyone has to pretend to be frilly rich guys and have tea, but the opposite way. everyone has to put on, basically, an izzysona.

anyway it doesn't quite work out. nobody really likes being izzy, not even izzy aksfjks. and ed especially has fallen enough out of the habit of being a Big Scary Leatherman Pirate that he doesn't play the role as well as he could.

so anyway, of course this leads to an unexpected battle with a crew that even if they had been at their absolute best and were fully prepared to fight they wouldn't have a clear chance at beating. bit dire. it ends up more violent even than the raids the revenge crew shadowed the anne crew on in the beginning. merchants vs pirates is one thing, even navy vs pirates is one thing. pirates vs pirates is on a whole other level.

anyway so izzy by himself kills like a dozen guys in as many minutes. fang and ivan kill about two thirds as many guys between them in the same time. ed is maiming at a rate just behind izzy, and stede is pretty far behind him but mostly keeping up. jim is maiming sometimes, killing sometimes, not really paying attention to which, just putting their knives everywhere their knives can go. everyone else is just barely holding their own, but they are holding it.

ed himself of course ends up facing the other crew's captain. he's got the exact disadvantage that izzy was always worried about, just a touch of softness, and the fear of himself that being the kraken didn't give him but did certain exacerbate, he's out of practice. and if it's hornigold there's another disadvantage there, the history of being this man's victim, the echoes of paternalistic violence from before him. add on to that ed's penchant to - when not in a rage - fight mostly fair, and. well. it doesn't go great.

after a somewhat extended and pretty dirty swordfight, hornigold/vane disarms ed, flings his sword off to who knows where. ed's got his full leather on though, so he doesn't get cut up right off and he's still fighting, until hornigold/vane manages to knock him down, and then he can play it really dirty and stomp on his bad knee. he cries out, and both stede and izzy are instantly eagle-eyed in to his situation.

hornigold/vane is standing imposingly over ed on the deck below him, about to stab him dead or shoot him or whatever.

stede runs him completely through from one side. izzy runs him completely through from the other side. their swords cross inside him.

when they withdraw, before hornigold/vane crumples onto the deck dead, ed is showered in his blood like it's rain.

seeing ed stand up, covered head to toe in their brutal captain's blood, stede pushing his dripping hair back from his face and licking the red from his mouth to kiss him, izzy kicking hornigold/vane's body over and spitting on it, none of the rest of the revenge crew so much as taking note of any of this, the other crew is like. aight that's our bad we was wrong you guys are obviously crazy so sorry for the misunderstanding we're headed out again so sorry our mistake.

stede gives them a gay little wave as they go.

(and then stede and izzy rinse all the blood off of ed together. they both covered him in it after all. it's only right.)

[actual-changeling]

Hi, I saw your offer for a more specific trigger list for OFMD season two. I’ve been looking for more info because suicide can be triggering for me but I really want to watch, so if you’re able to give more detail that would be really awesome. Thanks regardless

Of course! I will put the details under a cut. This pretty much (so far) only applies to the first three episodes, it gets less heavy after that.

Warnings for discussions of suicidality, attempted suicide, and general violence. Oh, and obviously heavy spoiler warnings for ofmd2. I will try to only spoiler anything related to suicide and not say anything about the rest of the plot.

During the first three episodes, Ed is an incredibly bad mental place, engaging in substance abuse, mentally torturing the crew, and being in a super unhealthy, borderline abusive relationship with Izzy.

It gets to the point where Ed puts a gun to his head and threatens to kill himself (but doesn't), then shoots Izzy in the leg for mentioning Stede; the crew initially hides him but Ed finds him regardless. Then we get a very triggering scene in which Ed tells Izzy that he had a dream in which Izzy kills him, presses the gun into his hand, and then stands with his back to Izzy, expecting him to kill him.

Izzy refuses to ("too much of a coward to do it yourself" or smth along the lines) and Ed then leaves him. We hear a gun shot and the message is very clear - Izzy shot himself instead. Not much later, however, we find out that he tried to kill himself, but he was weak, his hand slipped, and he just has a cut on his forehead instead.

Ed then tries to commit murder-suicide by sailing into a storm and forcing the crew to either kill him or have him shoot the mast and kill them all. Izzy shows up, shoots him to stop him, and then the message is that the crew kills Ed, which is what Ed wants.

Ed is not dead (although we DO see what we think to be his corpse), but stuck in a sort of purgatory in which we have some frank discussions about what makes life worth living. In the end, Ed chooses to live and wakes up.

I hope that was comprehensive and not too triggering to read, it's definitely very intense and they do not censor or scoot around any of the topics at all. It never felt ableist or belittling or anything, though. I actually felt rather seen and understood, even though it was hard to watch without knowing what exactly was going to happen.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!!

[adickaboutspoons]

What's interesting to me is that in the cases like the French Captain, the "choose your next words, wisely, dog" scene, & the Hornigold scene is we're seeing real emotional intelligence & restraint from Ed where he recognizes he's getting angry & gives clear warning he's reaching his limits. Beyond those limits, his self-control snaps & he lashes out violently. To throw another example into the mix look at when Ed shoots Izzy. Ed transformed himself, at Izzy's insistence, into the epitome of toxic masculinity, & has made abundantly clear what he expects of Izzy in exchange; total loyalty - the kind Izzy CLAIMED he had when justifying all the rank shit he did to push Ed to this point - demonstrated by carrying out Ed's orders unquestioningly. Like a dog with a bone, Izzy can't stop questioning. "What am I to you?" "Maybe we can talk it through?" That's Ed's threshold - Izzy insisted on Ed performing this monstrosity & then has the temerity to invoke the ethos he demanded Ed abandon? Fine. Ed will show him what the Izzy version of "talking it through" looks like. Maybe once he sees what a shit show it is he'll back down & toe the line (forgive the pun). But Izzy keeps pushing & tries to lay the blame for Ed's behavior at Stede's feet instead of actually accepting his role. So Ed lashes out & shoots him. It's a really sympathetic portrayal of reactive violence - showing Ed takes an enormous amount of care to hold himself back when someone is working is very last nerve & tries to give them a chance to back off before the dam breaks. Because in the hyper-violent world in which he exists, the consequences of losing face really are life-&-death, so he WILL do what's necessary to command the respect he's not being afforded. Obviously, it's pirates & fiction, so it's hyperbolic, but whomst among us hasn't gotten to our wits end & reacted in ways that we otherwise would normally restrain ourselves from doing? For this reason, I'm not sure smashing the chair is this kind of reaction. Ed pauses to make sure he clearly understands what Annie means when she says Stede left his wife "again", delicately wipes his mouth with his napkin, excuses himself & THEN smashes the chair. That's not a "I've reached my limits" reaction to me - it reads a lot more like a non-verbal "don't push me." I think maybe this is why Ed is such a dirty fighter when it comes to his arguments with Stede, where Stede keeps trying to get him to talk when he is not in a place where he can do that without losing his cool, & he lashes out not with physical violence, but with things that are EMOTIONALLY hurtful & that he doesn't necessarily mean, like "I'm glad it hurt. That's the point of headbutts." The deliberative violence we see with Ed's father & the toe scene are, coming at it from a different angle; rather than reacting in the heat of anger, we're seeing Ed's tactician mind. Ed's father is an abuser & if allowed to keep on, he's going to kill Ed's mom. Izzy is a dog that needs to be brought to heel. Swift, proportional violence, meted out when the target's defenses are down, is the means by which these goals can be accomplished. I think that if we look at the other example of (attempted) murder, it gives insight into what that process looks like. Just like when Ed has to Kraken up to take Izzy's toe, we also see him trying to psyche himself up to kill Stede - withdrawing from comfort & company & playing 5-finger-fillet while mumbing to himself about how he's a killer. It looks like Ed is trying to push himself to the emotional threshold where he can enact the violence he needs to do, but is reflexively disinclined to do. One can easily imagine Baby Ed having to work himself up to the point where he can take on his dad, too. And that's where I think the horror of force-feeding someone a crab for stealing food comes from (the body-horror of witnessing that aside). Because Hornigold doesn't NEED to work himself up to it the way Ed does. He just does it, and he's not sorry. Because Hornigold actually IS a monster. Ed just plays one on tv.

When Ed kills his dad, it seems to be a fairly deliberate action. He doesn’t say, jump up when his dad is throwing plates and hitting his mom and attack in order to defend her, it’s not an in the moment reaction. Rather he waits until later when his dad is drunk by the docks and sneaks up behind him to strangle him with a rope. This seems to be a choice that he made with some degree of planning involved. (Which is not to say that’s worse or meant as a point against Ed’s character; sometimes murder is your only option, in which case yeah, be smart about it, catch that abusive fucker unaware.)

By contrast, on most of the other occasions where we see Ed use violence — discounting what he does as part of his job of being a pirate and that one failed attempt at flirting with Stede — it is that heat of the moment emotional reaction, usually out of anger. In 1x5 when that racist captain calls him a donkey and Ed orders him skinned alive, in 1x10 when Izzy repeatedly goads and threatens Ed until Ed snaps and chokes him, in 2x3 where Hornigold is repeatedly a dick to Ed and attacks his vulnerable spots until Ed attacks him, etc. Granted, there are some nuances across all the various examples, but broadly speaking violence is an immediate emotional reaction, not a deliberate choice.

Which makes me wonder if that might not possibly be another rule Ed had for himself, akin to the not killing anyone directly rule. He presumably had to find a way to be okay with reacting with violence if someone pushed him too far if he ever wanted to survive as a pirate (and also had to be willing to accept the “friendly” violence like Jack engaged in), but he would not do any deliberate violence like that again. It’s okay to snap and throw a chair against the wall when you find out your boyfriend ghosted you to go back to his wife and it’s okay to whip someone in the balls for a laugh, but it’s not okay to feed the cabin boy a live crab when you find out he’s been stealing rations. You get me?

And, if true, that does imply some deliciously angsty things about the one other time we do see him engage in very deliberate violence. At the end of s1 when he resigns himself that he is a monster, he is the Kraken, and he makes the deliberate choice to sneak into Izzy’s room and cut off his toe and feed it to him.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but given not only that Ed is operating within an extremely violent culture in which losing a body part is seen as not too big a deal (look at how Lucius' finger was handled) and that I, personally, consider it perfectly within my rights to start chopping limbs off when someone tells me to stop fagging up the place, I think the fact that Ed only cut off Izzy's toe at first is indicative of remarkable restraint on his part.

Even shooting Izzy in the leg, while shocking in the context of who we know Ed to be as a person and how he is horrified by his own capacity for violence, is so mild in comparison to the other things we see in this show and the culture of violence in which our characters operate that genuinely the overall impression is that Izzy got off pretty easy. I mean, this is the show where other characters are threatening to skin each other all the time - look at how Ed remembers Hornigold telling him he was going to "flay [Ed's] skin and feed it back to him!" Similar situation but quite a bit more fucked up. If anything it tells us that Ed really isn't as good at hurting people as he thinks he is.

It's very clear that where some people draw the line for abuse is physical violence, and Izzy's textual abusive behavior to Ed gets a pass because he just "said some mean things." Izzy is intentionally and obviously compared to Ed's abusive father - I mean, look at the framing of the shots where young Ed strangles his dad with the lighthouse in the background and where Ed pins Izzy against the wall, choking him with the lighthouse painting in frame. In s1, Izzy constantly puts Ed down and tries to control him, and then goes on a homophobic rant that makes him feel threatened - but that's not abuse, apparently, because even though this is a show where physical violence is commonplace and emotional impact takes center stage, it's only abuse if it's physical harm.

[thic-cryptid]

Homebound 81

Jack was cheating at the game but Izzy couldn’t call him on it.

“Are you okay, Izzy?” Stede asked as he dropped the dreidel for the third time that evening. “I think maybe you’ve had too much rum cocoa.”

“I’m fine, Bonnet,” he gritted out, managing to properly spin it before Jack could mess him up again. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Jack replied. The same stupid joke he made every time someone landed on it.

“Not bad,” Stede said, obviously still unaware of what letters were good or bad.

“It’s not as bad as shin,” Ed added. “Which is what you just rolled, Stede.”

Izzy flinched as the toy inside him started buzzing faster. It was too much, too fast and Izzy was so, so close. He quivered, and just like all the other times he’d been about to come, the speed went right back down.

“Shoot,” Stede said with frustration, passing the dreidel to Ed. Neither of them noticed how Izzy was white knuckling the edge of the table.

“Shit,” Ed cursed. “Iz, you might actually win this round.”

Iz nodded curtly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ed asked, genuine concern in his eyes. Izzy was almost grateful, or would have been if Jack hadn’t cranked the speed all the way up under the table.

It was too soon and everyone was looking at him. Izzy was going to come and they would know. They would figure it out and then Ed would never speak to him ever again.

He put his hands up to his mouth, holding it shut and making the worst fake cough until Jack relented, right before he could come with everyone’s eyes on him.

“Sorry,“ he managed, “Choked on my dri-iink.”

“I didn’t even see you take a drink.” Stede sniffed.

“He was sneaking it so you wouldn’t say anything,” Jack lied easily, clapping a hand onto the back of Izzy’s neck and squeezing hard enough to bruise. Izzy managed to hold back his whimper only because of how much he’d already been managing to hold back. “Sorry, babe, caught fair and square.”

Izzy grabbed his hand, dragging it to his shoulder and holding tight so that Jack couldn’t keep playing with the phone.

“After the next round, maybe we should get going?” He asked, smiling up at Jack innocently. “I bet Ed and Stede are getting tired.”

Jack fumbled, dropping his phone as soon as he’d grabbed it with his non-dominant hand. Izzy let him go as he scooped it off the floor and instantly stopped the toy.

“Sorry. I was afraid I cracked the screen.” Jack explained. Nobody seemed to think him diving for his phone was all that strange, expect for Izzy… Who realized too late that he had accidentally safe-worded.

Fuck.

Fuck!

“It’s okay, really,” he said. “We all do that when we drop our phones. Luckily, it’s fine.”

“Yeah, not a scratch.”

“Yeah, but, it’s really, really fine.” Izzy gave him a look.

“Iz, dude, lay off the sauce.” Ed teased, leaning over to pluck the mug of rum cocoa from his side of the table. “Did we spoke yours too much? I wasn’t measuring or anything.”

“I’m okay.” Izzy insisted, “I’m not a baby.”

“You’re stubborn,” Stede told him, his cheek dropping into his palm. “It’s kinda cute.”

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