#anyways hot stede making a return

[hansoeii]

the steard is making a return!

[soupbitch-moneybitch]

blackbonnet drabble i pulled out of my hyperfixated ass. major s2 spoilers:

if i never see your eyes again

The first thing about Edward Teach that Stede Bonnet noticed were his eyes.

They were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Choked more than half to death, bleeding from the gut, lying in the midst of black smoke and hot flame, Stede saw two beacons of light emerge from the darkness surrounding him. A pair of soft, glinting doe-eyes that contradicted the rest of his person, all wild mane and tight leather. His eyes were the calm in the storm, and instantly Stede, all bloody and afraid, had been awash with a sense of serenity. These eyes—and the man they belonged to, whomever he was—they would make it all right again.

Despite everything, despite the carnage and screams and blood, he had smiled. He couldn't not smile at eyes like that.

And now, he will never see them again.

The worst thing about Ed's lifeless body, Stede thinks, as he rips away the cloth covering his still face, color drained from his usually vibrant skin, is the fact that his eyes are closed. Because it means that Stede will never again see the way the sunlight catches on Ed's irises like the rays sparkling on the endless ocean. He will never again see them crinkle in the corners with crows-feet when Stede makes him laugh. He will never again see him bat his long lashes, or widen them comically large when hit with a scheme or an idea for a fuckery. 

He will never again see the way his pupils blow wide when he's been properly kissed.

Every night since they've been apart, Stede has dreamt of Ed's eyes, looking back at him with as much love as Stede feels in his heart, and now those dreams will remain a thing of fantasy. There will be no gentle gaze on a sandy beach as the waves lap up onto the shore around them. 

Stede will never see Ed's eyes again, and it's a tragedy so monumental that he can't even feel the full breadth of it all. His chest is a pitch-black, bottomless cavern. Ed had once told him that all the important bits were on the right, but the shattering of Stede's heart solidly on his left side suggests he forgot about something vital. 

How is he meant to survive this? Ed's eyes are closed, goddamnit, and he's just meant to keep on breathing? 

He presses his forehead to his clasped hands and says, "I'm sorry." It's not enough, but it's not like there's a combination of words in the English language to convey the depth of his grief anyway. Of his regret. So he settles with "I'm sorry," and says it again for good measure, because the "I love you" that he wants to say is stuck as a suffocating lump in his throat.

The room is silent. Even the sea seems still. No room that Ed Teach occupied has ever been this quiet. He's too big a personality; the air vibrates in his mere presence. Or it used to. Now, with nothing but his body there lying slack on his deathbed, Stede realizes that Ed's soul took the sound with it when it left the room.

Except, suddenly, the silence breaks. A soft thudding sound pulls Stede out of his reverie of misery. He turns toward it and sees, with a lightning strike to his disassembled heart, the twitching of his beloved's hand.

And he begins to plead, aloud to Ed, and internally to whatever God that may be listening, that there may be life inside him yet. That Stede may see his eyes again.

"Come back to me," he begs, because now that he has it, he knows that having this hope dashed would surely put him in the ground right beside Ed. 

Ed's hand is still twitching, but his eyes are still closed.

If this chance is a fuckery, and I never see your eyes again, Stede thinks, then I never want to see anything ever again. Make me blind, because the world will no longer have anything worth viewing if your eyes aren't in it.

The air is vibrating again. Stede swears he can feel Ed's soul returning. He holds his hands so tightly that his own fingers ache from the clench. He prays. He prays and begs and prays some more, that somehow, he managed not to be too late.

Ed's eyes fly open.

They're the most beautiful thing Stede Bonnet has ever seen. 

[dracothelizard]

Still not sure whether WIP Wednesday is a thing on Tumblr but I'm doing.

Anyway ever since that whole "Izzy is hunky" comment I've decided to attempt Izzy/Stede/Ed in which Izzy and Ed used to be in a boyband that split up and then reunited (GEE I WONDER WHO I AM USING AS BOYBANDSPIRATION. SUCH MYSTERY) while Stede was a repressed super fan who is now meeting them!

Stede nods, then shrugs. “I went to two of your concerts back then with my then-girlfriend.” He grimaces. “We probably should’ve realised sooner that we weren’t compatible…”

Ed bursts out laughing while Izzy raises his eyebrows. “Did she drag you or…” Izzy trails off.

“No!” Stede exclaims. “I dragged her. She preferred Westlife.”

Ed scoffs. “Seriously?”

“I let her drag me to their concerts in return. Fun enough, but…” Stede glances at Izzy again. “I definitely preferred The Rangers.”

“Who was your favourite?” Ed asks, tilting his head.

Izzy already knows the answer. Stede’s flustered just from saying ‘hi’. The answer is obviously going to be Ed, and Izzy can’t blame him. Ed was hot back then, and he’s aged like fine wine. Either that, or Stede will admit he preferred Charlie, who looked cute and angelic back then. “I won’t be offended it’s not me,” Izzy adds, to help Stede along.

Stede bites his lip, his cheeks reddening further. “Ah, um, it was more of a… shared first place situation,” he says.

That figures. Ed and Charlie were his favourites. Makes sense.

“Between the two of you,” Stede clarifies.

“What?” Izzy splutters. Him? He’s the shared favourite? With Ed?

“C’mon, Iz.” Ed nudges him. “Don’t be surprised. You were a pint-sized cutie.”

“Hunk,” Stede says, nodding firmly. “Pint-sized hunk.” He goes scarlet, closing his mouth tightly.

Izzy huffs, crossing his arms. “Fuck off. I’m only short compared to him.” He elbows Ed sharply.

Ed grunts, shoving Izzy aside. “And compared to most other adult men.”

[iamnot-theboynextdoor]

ofmd hanahaki au in which hanahaki has nothing to do with soulmates, but manifests when someone feels unloved, or unlovable

so stede as a little boy loves to pick flowers. he gets bullied for it, but doesn't stop. there's always little blooms in his buttonholes and daisy chains in his pockets and tiny bouquets everywhere. the servants are constantly throwing them out, his father is always telling him off for it, but he doesn't stop.

it's the best way he can think of to hide all the ones he coughs up. he mixes them in with wildflowers, makes a habit of leaving petals everywhere; while he is admonished for it, he isn't suspected of having the disease.

it would seem ungrateful if anyone found out, wouldn't it? they'd only see a spoiled little rich boy, so selfish and greedy that he's histronically inflicted a curse upon himself even though he has everything.

his father yells at him for being soft and the other boys tie him up and throw rocks at him and he lies awake at night and chokes up so many flowers he nearly suffocates.

his marriage to mary does not make anything better. sometimes, he wonders if she coughs up flowers too.

the illness is still there on the revenge, but it's less frequent. there are no wildflowers for stede to conceal his own among, but he can just sprinkle them overboard, or hide bags of dried petals around his room - he can tell anyone who asks that they're one of his perfumed luxuries.

and then he meets ed, and he doesn't even notice at first that the flowers have stopped. when he does, he chalks it up to making a friend for the first time. (which *is* a completely viable cure in this universe.)

ed suffers from it, too, but he's gone to great lengths to conceal his - blackbeard's reputation is at stake. not even izzy knows. izzy used to have it (secretly), but very unhealthily forced it to stop by being extremely repressed. ed's gets less *violent* after he meets stede, but it still happens - it does take on more of a "pining" variety rather than the deep, angry depression he had.

and then stede doesn't show up to the dock and ed's comes back with a *vengeance*, he's throwing up vines and thorns and he's hoping it'll suffocate him this time.

stede's returns too, back home, the same as it was before - until he has that conversation with mary and is filled with hope.

when he rescues his crew, he stops hiding it. he couldn't hide it if he wanted, anyway, there's no privacy in their tiny new ship. but it doesn't matter, because most of the crew are also afflicted (were they affected the whole time?) and it's sad, but it's a shared sadness, and talking about it (as a crew!) makes it easier for all of them to deal with.

so stede makes it back the the revenge, maybe fancying himself a bit of a romantic hero, and is confronted with ed in full kraken mode. and ed *tries* to be all "fuck you I hate you i'm going to murder you" but it turns into somewhat of a comedy of errors as he's trying to swing his sword at stede, who is running away as yakety sax blasts, and ed's also full-on throwing up flowers, and everyone's tripping over them, and it's ridiculous.

they end up in a pile of petals and they are both crying and ed is half-heartedly still pathetically fumbling with a dagger. stede gently takes it out of his hands. there's more crying. more flowers, from both of them. it's a hot mess. stede's trying to stop ed from choking by kissing him on the forehead and then apologising because he knows ed hates him now, and ed doesn't hate him, and now they're hugging, and the curse is retreating, and izzy is DISGUSTED.

things get better. they talk it through (just them two). they clean things up. they start healing.

there are days when the sadness still hits one of them, and the flowers return, but the other is always there to reassure them.

[thetragicallynerdy]

Okie dokie, I ran out of spoons Friday after making this thread on twitter BUT finally have the time to copy it over, here are a bunch of my recs!! I've got an older list of OFMD recs over here (most of which are Jim-centric in some way, several of which are also on this list), but it needs to be updated, so here's some of my favourite TealOranges and Garlic Soup recs!!

Disclaimer: this is by no means all of the TealOranges & Garlic Soup fics I adore, it is merely the ones that I a) already had on a twitter list, b) had in my bookmarks, c) remembered because my memory is terrible. Anyway, here are some fics I love!!

1) Two by the wonderful @nevershootamockingbird!!

Suck the Rot Right Out Of My Bloodstream - Jim/Olu. Post S1, this fic is about Jim on the Kraken's ship. It's beautiful and sad and I fucking adore this fic, it is one of my all-time faves. Jim+Frenchie+Lucius friendship!! Super sad and yet hopeful!!

there's orange juice in the kitchen - this is the sweetest Jim/Olu sick fic, I have read it so many times and will read it many again, it's just lovely and so perfectly Jim/Olu

2) Some Say Its A Blessing by @swallowtailed

Jim/Olu. This is another Post s1/Kraken era fic. Jim and Olu are soulmates who feel each other's pain. The fic explores them meeting, on Stede's ship, post-s1, and reunion. Gorgeous hurt/comfort, lovely imagery, the fic that I like to say made me lay down on my couch because I was Having A Moment.

3) I have two for you by @yerbamansa, all of their fics are amazing but I especially adore their Jim/Olu stuff!!

The Revenge Ranch series - a lovely character-based series where Jim and Olu go out west to work on Stede's farm. Trauma and healing and tenderness.

The Way Things Are Going - God. This fic y'all. It's one of the rare long TealOranges fics, and it's also SO GOOD. Post-apocalyptic, Jim and Oluwande on a roadtrip to save the world (kinda, in a low key way), full of hope and finding new ways of living and lovely Jim/Olu (with hints of Garlic Soup polycule along the way).

4) Another author with two I'm going to rec - @oluwandesorange!! Camp has a ton of amazing tealoranges and garlic soup fics, so here are two of my faves!

All Things Grow, a t4t Jim/Olu 'The Bear' AU. Hot smut and GREAT gender vibes and did you know 'Yes Chef' is a gender-neutral phrase??

Wherever We're Together, That's My Home - a lovely sapphic tealoranges fic. Roommates Jim and Olu, falling together in the best of ways.

5) Yet another author with multiple fics!! @alfalfairy is one of my all-time fav Jim-centric authors, please go scroll through her Ao3 if you haven't before. Three of my faves are:

Drink Of the Feeling Of Quiet Again - this is a post-canon (S1 specifically) fic where Jim returns to St. Augustine to care for aging Nana. Trauma, healing, and gorgeous Jim/Olu. This is one of my favourite OFMD fics.

Till Human Voices Wake Us, And We Drown - this is a series in which Jim is a merperson, but like, the scary kind XD It's SUCH a fucking good series, the installments are all easy reads, highly recommend giving it a try!!!

Bitter Like Whiskey, Sweet Like Wine - A long pre-series fic that follows through into Season 1. Ahhh, I just love this exploration of JIm and Oluwande meeting and falling together. It's not finished, but still well worth the read.

6) Tenderness, Above All by @jackuntiljune

Fuck, this fic is SO GOOD. It's a long plotty hurt/comfort fic that switches between Ed/Stede and Jim/Olu. Hornigold, now a pirate hunter, captures the crew. If you're a whump fan, this is the fic for you!!

7) Make Your Peace With Weariness and Let It Be by @anirondack

@anirondack - this is a stunning Jim character study, starts at their childhood to post-s1. Absolutely gorgeous writing, weaves in catholicism beautifully. Imo, a Jim/Olu must-read. https://archiveofourown.org/works/38584641

8) @anabsolutetwat is another of my fav Jim/Olu writers - go check out C's Ao3 if you haven't!! Two faves are:

How To Get Away With Murder Before Summer Vacation - this is a long modern au where Jim is a highschool teacher who is trying to kill Alfeo de la Vaca. Lovely Jim/Olu relationship.

It Has To Occur Organically - a silly and cute little Jim/Olu in which Jim tries very hard to get Olu to hold a knife between his teeth, like he did in the raid, organically. I love this one, it's peak dumbass Jim Jimenez

9) Be Gay, Do Crime by @ophelia5wims

A heist fic!!! Oceans 8 style, but gayer. This one has a really solid Jim/Olu b-plot, and features amazing badass Jim and sweetheart Olu. I really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun.

10) Another fav Jim/Olu series is Mintpepper's Oluwande/Jim Collection - 5 fics, has one of my fav Jim smuts of all time, lovely h/c and character studies.

11) orange & teal by @owlinaminor

this is another series! It's an early one in the fandom, and fuck, this series is so so good. Both Jim and Olu POV, I adore how Jim and Olu are written in this series SO much. Canon time period, explores backstory and more.

12) Made A Promise When I Left For The Coast by @aletterinthenameofsanity - this is a very long (40+fics) alt S2/post-s2 Jim/Olu/Archie & Lucius/Izzy/Pete series. I've only read a couple, but what I have read was fantastic. If you're looking for a really meaty series, this is it.

13) Here Be Monsters by @clairegregoryau

This is a really long Ed/Stede centric fic, but it has a fantastic (and substantial) Jim/Olu b-plot. Long and plotty, involving treasure hunting and the siete gallos. Action hero Jim!! Jimenez family secrets!! I listened to the podfic (by kninjaknitter) which was A++

14) La Jayaera by ladymixerlot

Jim/Olu, A Fast and Furious AU, Olu is a private detective and former street car racer hired to investigate Jim's gang. Wonderfully plotty but also character-centric, slow burn galore. I loved this one.

15) Both of Them by @halfeatenmoon

A Jim/Archie smut one!! Jim/Archie fucking after cutting off Izzy's leg. Very hot, very bloody, captures both of them so well.

16) Leda House and the Kraken 'Verse by @dragonmuse

Jim/Olu, the Drag Queen AU. I fucking love this series. It's primarily Stede/Ed and Lucius/Izzy/Pete focused, but gorgeous exploration of other characters. Bring Me A Higher Love, the Jim/Olu backstory one, is my fav.

17) Like Pearls In A Pod by squidcats

Garlic Soup Polycule. Archie and Jim go on a mission to 1) find Zheng a gift 2) stop whoever is making hot topic shirts of Jim's face. It's hilarious and very sweet!

18) Daybreak by QueerCanonCo

A fucking gorgeous Jim/Olu poem, it's a quick read but will linger with you for a long time. Folks who've read my latest fic know I'm a sucker for Oluwande as the sun metaphors, and this poem leans into that BEAUTIFULLY

--

ALRIGHT that's the end of this first round of recs!! Please expect more recs from me in the future, I am going to be trying to rec at least one new fic that's NOT on this list during the entirety of Garlic Soup Week!!

Other folks, please feel free to add on or self rec, I love learning about new fics I might not've found on ao3 or might have forgotten about!! Aand if you're on this list and I didn't tag you, please let me know and I can do so, it means I couldn't find you XD

It's Fic Rec Friday!! With TealOranges & Garlic Soup Week just around the corner, what are some of your favourite TealOranges and Garlic Soup fics? Let's spread some love for older fics!!

[xoxoemynn]

I want there to be an objectively hot pirate randomly appear on board the Revenge in S2 and he’s great at swordplay and loves a good fuckery and has a genius mind.

And his name is Steve.

And then Stede returns and sees Steve who is just the PERFECT male specimen and would be perfect for Ed and just LOOK at his hair and how he wields a sword and it’s not FAIR, and the ONLY advantage Stede has over him is that Steve is a fucking stupid name.

(Although the rest of the crew thinks pirates with great hair who can do a stabby stabby fuckery are a dubloon a dozen but they ARE impressed with his name because it is 1717 and how many Steves are there on pirate ships? So they find it very sexy and mysterious, which pisses Stede off because it is DUMB and STUPID.)

So then Ed and Stede are doing this awkward “ugh I still love you but there’s too much shit between us and it feels weird,” and Steve is getting quite comfortable on the ship and is blatantly flirting with Ed who is generally clueless but STEDE notices!! But he doesn’t notice that Ed doesn’t care because of course he doesn’t, he’s a bit of an idiot in that regard.

But anyway, Ed and Stede continue with this awkward sexy tango and Steve keeps trying to cut in and then finally Stede just throws caution to the wind and shoves Ed against a wall and smooches him silly and Ed kisses him back and it’s amazing and wonderful and everything they could have dreamed of.

And then when they part Stede goes “oh thank god, I’m so relieved, I was so afraid you were into Steve!” Ed is properly confused because he has ZERO interest in Steve, and his brain short circuits so much (I mean also some blood loss happening right now in a manner of speaking iykyk) that all he can bring himself to say is “Steve?! But he has such a fucking stupid name!”

And Stede goes “that’s what I was saying!!! It IS a fucking stupid name!!”

And then they just go off and make out for an entire episode and Steve just disappears and nobody ever mentions him again because he's served his purpose, which was to look pretty and cause chaos.

The End.

[im-the-punk-who]

The Real People of Black Sails!

Here’s a quick(I promise....I promise this is as short as I could make it without leaving out some really choice shit) rundown of all the real historical figures peppered throughout Black Sails! I think I caught them all but if you know of others please mention them and I’ll add them on! Under a readmore because this is....so long y’all.

Pirates & Maroons

Anne Bonny (possibly 1697 – unknown; possibly April 1782) Started life crossdressing at her dad’s behest to avoid his wife(who wasn’t Bonny’s mom), married a guy her dad didn’t like, moved to Nassau. There her husband became a spy for Rogers and Anne was like ‘Not cool bro’. She met Jack, they started fucking, and Anne discovered she was really good at stabbing things. Resumed dressing as a man and started trying to seduce Mary Read who was also dressed as a man. They did indeed fall victim to one of the classic queer blunders. Anyway, Anne’s like ‘it’s not gay I’m a chick!’ And Mary is like ‘really?? Then it’s a little gayer than you realize because I’m a chick too!’ They (probably) start banging. Rackham’s like ‘hang on! I’m the only dick in Anne’s life’ and Mary and Anne are like ‘you sure are’ and Mary shows him her boobs and then they have some sort of complicated and probably not totally consensual threeway. Then they get captured because, Jack is That Guy Who Was Too Drunk To Realize His Ship Was Under Attack and Mary and Anne had to defend the ship against like, a whole other crew. Jack is hung(not a dick joke), but both Anne and Mary plead stays of execution due to pregnancy. Anne disappears but possibly is maybe referred to later. No one knows. Neat!

Edit: According to sources from this post there is a genealogical record that refers to Anne and it records her death as 1782. Very neat!

Israel Hands (c.1701-death unknown) Israel Hands was a real pirate and Blackbeard’s first mate. Not much else is known about where he came from or his life, other than that Blackbeard shot him in the knee at one point while supposedly aiming for another man. ‘Oops my bad this pistol is from like, the 18th century or something.’ While recuperating in Bath he was arrested after Teach’s death but took a pardon in exchange for ratting out the colonial officials who had been bribed by Teach. It’s unknown what happened to him after that although That Book About Pyrites says he died a beggar in London.

Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) Horny4gold was one of the most well known and influential pirates of the Golden Age. Most other pirates sailed under him or with him at one point, and he was one of the founders of the Pirate Republic of Nassau. He never attacked british ships during his time as captain so that he could be like ‘but brooooo I was acting in Britain’s Interests!!! Bro!!!!!’ But his co-pirates didn’t like that and eventually voted to replace him with Sam Bellamy. He accepted the king's pardon in 1718 and became a pirate hunter instead. Bummer. He was reportedly killed in a shipwreck.

Okay listen Horingold in any universe is a fucking JOKE I have to share this passage with y’all:

“Hornigold is recorded as having attacked a sloop off the coast of Honduras, but as one of the passengers of the captured vessel recounted, "they did us no further injury than the taking most of our hats from us, having got drunk the night before, as they told us, and toss'd theirs overboard"” WHAT A JOKE.

Dr. Howell - (birth/death unknown) John Howell was a pirate surgeon forced into service by Hornigold sometime in early 1717. He sailed with various pirate crews until October before returning into the service of Governor Rogers.

Ned Low (1690–1724) N’EDWARD. Okay I’m serious again. Born in London, Lowe grew up a thief in a thief family before moving to Boston. His wife died in childbirth in 1719, so he decided ‘fuck it I’ll become a Pirate Captain’ and did just that. He was known for torturing the people on board the ships he captured before murdering them and burning the ship. Interestingly though, Lowe was known to have a huge amount of regret over abandoning his daughter when he turned pirate, and wouldn’t force married men into his service. He also reportedly would allow women to return to port safely. Because of his numerous captures and cruelties, he was one of the most well known pirates in his day. There are differing reports about Low’s death - some say his crew mutinied and marooned him and he was subsequently hung, others say his ship sunk in a storm, and some say he just straight up disappeared. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jack Rackham - (December 26, 1682 – November 18, 1720) Really a pirate, really named himself after a housecat pattern. (No, okay, he didn’t, it was because of his threads. But wouldn’t the cat thing fit too?) Sailed with Vane, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read. Was mostly known for being That Guy Who Was Too Drunk To Realize His Ship Was Under Attack and being Anne and Mary’s captain. He was captured and sentenced to hang after the aforementioned Drunk Blunder in 1720.

Mary/Mark Read - (1685 – 28 April 1721) Much like Anne Bonny, Mary dressed as a boy for much of her youth so a parent could swindle someone out of money. From her teenage years on she continued dressing as a man to find work in the military and as a sailor. She did marry but her husband died young and so she decided to become a pirate. Like ya do. She accepted the king’s pardon in 1718, then mutinied on the privateer she was aboard, once again becoming a pirate. Because pirates are sexy. In 1720 she joined Jack Rackham’s crew and sailed with him and Bonny. Cue the whole ‘Hey you’re hot, also I’m a woman.’ ‘Oh, hey, same hat!’ with Anne. In November of 1720, Rackham’s ship was captured. Mary died of a fever in prison(likely due to her pregnancy) in 1721.

Edward Teach - (c. 1680 – 22 November 1718) He started piracy sailing under Hornigold, and built the fleet alongside him and Stede Bonnet until Hornigold retired. COOL fact about Blackbeard is he was a MASTER showman who liked to light slow burning fuses under his hat to scare his enemies, and he relied more heavily on creating an image his prizes feared than violence. He did a lot of cool shit including ransoming the entire town of Charles Town and annoying the shit out of Woodes Rogers before settling in Bath and later dying of like, a shit ton of wounds while battling Lieutenant Maynard. The battle on Roger’s ship is pretty much what happened minues the keelhauling. Afterwards he was beheaded, his head hung from the bow of Maynard’s ship, and his body was thrown in the bay in Bath, where it’s said his ghost still haunts! Funky!

Charles Vane - (1680 – 29 March 1721)  Really a pirate captain! Known for being Not A Nice Dude. Sailed with Henry Jennings, Edward England and Jackie Rackhammie. He led the pirates in resisting Rogers in Nassau, and yeah he really did light a ship on fire and 18th centuryeet it into Rogers’ line in order to escape. There’s a note that he returned to Nassau to get married but I couldn’t find any info on who he married so he’s gay now. That’s a rule I just made up. Anyway so at one point his ship got into a fight with another ship and Vane ordered a retreat and the crew was like ‘this is BOOshit’ and voted him out in favor of Jack Rackham. Ouch. Vane and some of the crew that supported him left aboard the Katherine(I believe) but then they got caught in a storm that said ‘fuck you specifically to Charles Vane,’ and he was marooned on an island. He survived! Just long enough for a British ship to stop at the island for him to attempt to board, get caught, and then hung. Deus ex piratica.

(Honorary mentions)

John Silver + Captain Flint (sort of but I’m not kidding!) Okay so of course there are a bunch of suspected origins of the characters of Captain Flint and Long John Silver, but the one I like the most is of two brothers - one of whom had a peg leg! - who captured an enormous Spanish treasure and buried it near Ocracoke island. Their names were John and Owen Lloyd. (And yes, John was the one-legged brother.) In 1750 a Spanish treasure fleet named the Flotas de Indias attempted to sail from Havana to Spain in late August, and three ships were wrecked during a hurricane. By a stroke of luck, the Lloyd brothers had been blown to the same inlet as the wrecked ships Guadalupe and Soledad , and managed to convince the Captain to hire them to transport the treasure to Norfolk. 

But of course because they thought the Spanish SUCKED they said ‘psyche’ and just fucked off with it while the Captain was fighting Bureaucratic red tape in North Carolina. Iconique. Owen Lloyd reportedly buried the treasure on Norman Island and  the pair became folk heroes in the area, particularly in St. Kitts.  (P.s., the Stevenson family ran a sugar production business on St. Kitts, and R.L. Stevenson’s great grandfather worked there as early as 1773 - just 25 years after the epic heist. COOL STORY BRO.)

Captain Throckmorton (Okay not really but I just love this guy’s name) Okay so this guy wasn’t really a pirate captain but he was a Steamboat captain in the 1830s and his name is just too ridiculous for someone to make up. Toot toot, motherfucker.

---------

Queen Nanny(Maroon Queen/Madi) (c. 1686 – c. 1755) The spiritual, cultural, and military leader of the Windward Maroons (who the Black Sails Maroons are based on.) She led them alongside her ‘brother’ Quao although the relationship between them isn’t known. Exact information about her origins are not known but best guess is that she was of royal lineage from present-day Ghana, born sometime in the 1680’s. She did have a husband named Adou(who may have been the same person as Quao? I’ve read conflicting stuff), but they had no children. Many of the guerilla warfare tactics we now think of as common practice were developed by Queen Nanny and the other Maroons in their fight against British incursions. (The trap that Flint lays, covering themselves with paint and leaves, and the pits the Maroons lay in the forest are tactics known to have been used by the Windward Maroons.)

Nanny was a fucking legend okay a LEGENDS ONLY legend. She was one of the most instrumental people in preserving African culture among freed slaves and Maroons, and in encouraging the resistance to slavery in the Bahamas and surrounding areas. She was one of three leaders of the First Maroon War (which the war in Black Sails is based on). She initially refused to sign the treaty offered to Cudjoe because she knew the British were losing and was like ‘Why????? Would I surrender???? In a war??? I’m winning?????’

Anyway Queen Nanny was a fucking badass please read every piece of literature you can find on her. (You should absolutely read her full bio because she was fucking badass.)

Cudjoe (not exactly, but Julius is very close) (c. 1690s – 1764) Likely a freeborn son of one of the original escaped slaves turned Maroons, Cudjoe is hailed as one of the greatest Maroon leaders(after Queen Nanny). Much like in Black Sails, these original Maroons were slaves who escaped or overran their masters, forming free communities in the Mountains of Jamaica. The treaty in Black Sails is based on the one Cudjoe negotiated with the British, wanting an ‘honorable peace’ with the enemy, rather than the continued war and better terms that Queen Nanny and Quao wanted. (sound familiarrrrrr?) I do want to note that by the end of his life he became completely disillusioned with the idea that the British should be reasoned with and basically started fights with every British superior he could.

The English, Spanish, and Scottish!

The Guthries So while there wasn’t ever a female head of the Guthrie clan in Nassau, the Guthries were a Scottish merchant clan who emigrated to Boston around 1652 due to religious and racial persecution. While most of the family stayed around Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, John Guthrie moved to Virginia and his brother James Guthrie moved to Bermuda sometime after 1683.

(James Guthrie of Suffolk County, Massachusetts was listed in the will of John Richardson, dated 7 May 1683, in which Richardson says, “I give and bequeath unto James Guthrie all I have in the world except twenty shillings to buy John Harris a ring and ten shillings to buy John Kyte a ring.” This was witnessed by John Raynsford and John Ramsey.) Fellas is it gay.

Anyway, between Virginia and Boston and James’ ties in the Bermuda islands, the family made a shit ton fencing pirated goods during the Golden Age of Piracy, particularly from the Pirate Republic of Nassau.

A John Guthrie(likely a son of James’) was also a Colonel who was part of the peace talks with Cudjoe and the Maroons. Neat!

James Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) Okay listen Oglethorpe was COOL AS FUCK. He is the founder of the colony of Georgia and is imo who Thomas Hamilton is probably based on. Oglethorpe was a HUGE humanitarian and even before he decided to form an entire colony around people not owning slaves. He advocated for better conditions for sailors, and prison reform. In 1732 he read a letter by a slave in Maryland named Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and on the spot decided slavery was terrible, divested himself of his stock in the African Trading Company, and resolved to include a law banning slavery in Georgia to the colony’s charter. Radical, man.

Speaking of Georgia, and specifically his plantation near Savannah, Oglethorpe actively spoke with the native Yamacraw who populated the land to ask permission and trade for the land he sought to build Georgia on. His plantation was meant to help debtors in London, released without any support, from falling back into debt and offering them a way forward to landownership through indentured servitude. I highly recommend anyone interested in early attempts at an equality based colonial system read up on the original charter of Georgia. (Of course there were still problems, but Oglethorpe was one of the most prominent proponents of a non hierarchical society - including limits to the acreage any person could own based on how helpful that land was to the people who worked it, and communal resources.) Oglethorpe was also a lifelong friend with Tomochichi, the chief of the Yamacraw, and worked very closely with him on colonial-indigenous relations.

Vincente de Raja (birth/death unknown) He was the real Governor and military Captain of Cuba from 1716-1717. He was a devoted pirate hunter and encouraged Spanish privateering against the pirates. Due to an attempt by Spain to increase tobacco profits at the expense of the farmers, there was a large revolt which resulted in many of the Cuban officials, including Raja, being replaced. 

William Rhett (4 September 1666 – 12 January 1723) He was a merchant captain and plantation owner in Carolina who served in the colonial militia and hunted pirates. He captured Stede Bonnet and was probably just as much of an asshole as he is in the show.

Woodes Rogers - (c. 1679 – 15 July 1732) The Governor of Nassau who was largely responsible for ending piracy in the Bahamas. He really did offer a universal pardon, which a large number of the pirates took. Fun fact: before he was Governor, he rescued Alexander Selkirk, who is believed to be the guy Robinson Crusoe is based off of! Neat! He really did have a brother who really did die during his privateering exploits which also really did leave him ‘disfigured’. He got sued by his crew, went bankrupt, wrote a book, got famous for writing the book, and he really did have a wife named Sarah whom he divorced shortly after all this happened. He then became Governor of Nassau for the first time. This first term did end in him being imprisoned for debts incurred defending the island from Vane and Teach and the Spanish, but he was released, helped write that most famous A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, and became governor again in 1728. He died in 1732 of just plain exhaustion from dealing with the bureaucracy. Alexa play tiny violin.

[our-flag-means-death-ao3feed]

A Lid for Every Pot

by peachplumbpear

Izzy's getting over a cold that he gave Stede and Ed, and is now charged with returning the caretaking. They're all bored and miserable so they decide to fuck. I tried to make it sweet, tender, funny, hot, and very Steddyhands.

This follows the events of Quarantine but I wanted to change up the tone and also establish that Izzy, Stede, and Ed are already fucking. There are some plot threads from that fic in here, but not so much that you absolutely have to read it.

Side note: Much more of a sneezefic than a sickfic, but if you like sickfics I think you’ll like it. Perhaps educational if you want to understand the difference? Anyways you've been warned.

Words: 2895, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Oluwande Boodhari, Roach (Our Flag Means Death), (last two only very briefly)

Relationships: Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet/Israel Hands

Additional Tags: steddyhands, Sickfic, sneezefic, Common Cold, 18th century vicks vaporub, Hurt/Comfort, the psychic depths of sneeze fetishes, Anal Sex, top izzy, Bottom Blackbeard, Extremely involved spectator Stede, period-atypical knowledge of germ theory

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/40057929

[dovesndecay]

[op i'm so sorry for this novel in your notes I agree so so so much with everything you said]

As much as I am a fan of a good grief-beard, there's currently no reason for Stede to grow his facial hair beyond not having access to the tools to shave as of when we saw him. Part of his character arc -- something we see him figure out in the last episode -- is realizing how he hurts other people without noticing, and seeing the way that people learn to cope in his wake.

His abandonment of his family hurt Mary and his kids, and they had to create an entirely new way of living afterward, only to have all of that threatened when he returns. It was incredibly lucky that Mary was able to continue living comfortably with her children on the estate and begin making some form of a career for herself via her paintings. (Having access to the Bonnet wealth certainly didn't hurt, though.)

Now, as of the last moments we see Stede, he's hopeful and maybe a little nervous, but he has no idea the damage his abandonment did to Ed. And with the type of person Stede is, I think we can all agree that he won't believe it until he sees it, and perhaps even then, he will likely still fight acknowledging it tooth and nail until Ed does something directly in front of or to him.

One of Stede's most defining character traits is genuinely believing the best of people until or unless they do something to tarnish that where he can see them. It isn't until Calico Jack hurts someone on his crew that he finally draws the line and kicks him off the ship. If Jack had continued aiming all of his assholery at Stede and only Stede, our boy would absolutely have continued to trying his best to get along with his love's ex/best friend.

The only narrative reason there would be for Stede to grow a beard would be if he discovered the person Ed has reverted to, tried to save him, failed, and fell into a mirror of the grief that Ed was going through. And frankly, I don't believe David Jenkins or the other writers would do that to us. I don't want Season 2 to end with the script flipped and Stede being the one depressed and struggling while Ed is off playing the villain.

This is a romantic comedy -- romance ultimately, generally, follows a rather predictable but reliable narrative of Meet - Catch Feelings - Angst - Reconciliation - Wrap Up.

Everyone involved with this show has been very clear that this is, first and foremost, a romance. Everything they've done so far has been incredibly deliberate, and the foreshadowing is absolutely flawless. Personally, I don't think it would be narratively satisfying for them to reverse it and have Ed hurt Stede to the point that Stede falls into the same grief and depression that we are seeing Ed go through right now. And I don't think it would be in character for Stede to handle those feelings the same way that Ed does -- if anything, it would be more in character for him to cling to the things he knows, such as fashion and hygiene, likely becoming increasingly distressed when anything is even the slightest bit untidy.

(I will add a disclaimer that I'm not ruling anything entirely because the writers are going to do whatever they're going to do, and I trust David Jenkins to deliver an amazing season. Maybe they will do this, and maybe it'll be amazing and devastating, but who knows?)

Anyway, y'all can't even pretend giving him a grief beard makes narrative sense; just acknowledge that you're all cowards that don't appreciate that Rhys Darby is smoking hot exactly the way he is.

a lot, if not most of the bearded stede fanwork is a pretty transparent attempt at covering up the fact that people can't admit to themselves that rhys is attractive and stede is a desirable romantic hero unless they imagine him performing masculinity in a way they're more comfortable with

almost all of this bearded stede thing goes hand in hand in hand with giving him sharper angles, bigger muscles, a younger face, more facial hair than rhys has ever had, all in all changing him beyond recognition until he's finally hot enough by their standard and they can finally see him as someone capable of sweeping ed off his feet. noone even tries to pretend they're imagining a solid, narrative reason, it's literally just "he'd be so much hotter this way" but they wouldn't even go half as hard for him if it really just WAS rhys with his actual real-life beard.