#but ofmd has helped

[suffersinfandom]

Hey.

OFMD fans? Thank you.

Thank you for making art and writing fic. Thank you for typing out meta and analyzing overlooked details and arguing about interpretation and intention. Thank you for making gifs and recoloring stills. Thank you for cosplaying. Thank you for collecting news, memes, and behind-the-scenes from other platforms and bringing them to Tumblr. Thank you for sharing your favorite fanworks so the rest of us can see them.

Thank you for being good to others. Thank you for donating to fundraisers and mutual aid. Thank you for uplifting other voices and creating a safe space ship where even timid people who have never participated in an intense fandom before feel welcome.

Thank you to the folks who are kind to the people who disagree with them. Thank you to people who are truly willing to talk it through, who block instead of engaging negatively, and who ignore opinions that make them mad.

Thank you to everyone who likes and comments and reblogs. Thank you to the lurkers and the cheerleaders. Thank you to creators who are still afraid to share their creations but create anyway.

I love Our Flag Means Death and I love this fandom. I love you, and I hope you'll stick around. No matter how much or little you participate, you're part of the crew; whether we've spoken or not, you're my friend.

Thank you.

[o-wild-west-wind]

ofmd is like not comedy as in sitcom but comedy as in shakespearean where it’s psychological trauma and conflicts of violence but with dick jokes and the promise of marriage in the end

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

looking back on the fic I've written in the last few years and my own sexuality journey has made me realize that there is an argument that poly folk and ace/aro folk process love in a lot of the same ways, like the idea that you can have significant, life-defining relationships with different people and you get something important and sometimes even a similar flavor from each relationship but each one is still fundamentally different and significant in its own way and sometimes you don't want sex but you do want hugs and your partner may be having sex with their other partner but that does not make your relationship any less important because they come back to hug you and having more hearts bound up in your own is never a bad thing, because being loved no matter the form is never a bad thing, you are lovable and you can love so many people and having a heart overflowing with love for other people and things and the universe just means that you're healing and finding the people who fit you in whatever way that comes and there will always be someone cooking in the kitchen filling your heart and stomach no matter what and in this essay i will-

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

No matter how bad things get. At least we always have Ed and Stede kissing on the mouth and calling each other "babe"

[arsenicflame]

i think the reason izzy can be so blasé about his relationship with ed is not because hes taken to blaming a shark instead, but because hes actually already done a lot of the processing in the previous episode.

hes mourned his leg, hes had his drunk crying rants. hes gone through the five stages of grief. and then? the crew reaches out to him, offers him their support. they make him a new leg, they nominate him their new figurehead. when he stands there on the prow of the ship, leg on, letter in hand, thats his acceptance, thats his moving on.

[mjulmjul]

Leave all your love and your longing behind / You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

[larphis]

The fact that the entire crew lied to Stede at some point to take the blame for Ed’s actions because they knew that hearing just how severly he traumatized him would have scared him off (not as in being scared of Ed, but as in being scared that he has hurt Ed so much that he would rather run away once more as to not cause any more suffering than to face him and actually fight for him) and they couldn’t let that happen because everyone who has been near Blackbeard in the last few months knows that the only way to help this man, the only way to temporarily and after some work even permanently fix his deep rooted turmoil is Stede fucking Bonnet.

[lumiilys]

my random hyperspecific headcanon is that Ed has eczema so he has to be careful about which soaps he uses cause some of them can really irritate his skin :(

[khruschevshoe]

Ofmd season 2, episode 1 (colorized)

[youmagnificentbeast]

having seen the post earlier about stede's rings post-coitus i wondered when he took them off and if they're still there when he closes the curtains.

so of course, in my very sane ways, i made a gif!

now, enhance!

looks to me like the ring on his right hand is off already.

considering he wore his rings when he grabs ed...

means stede took his rings off before he closed the curtains!

[madfoxx]

Errr. Excuse me but i feel like we should talk more about the fact that IZZY LOSES HIS MOTHERFUCKING LEG SOMEHOW!!!!?????????

[izzyhandsy]

right so do we think Ed actually said Izzy taught him everything he knows or was that just Stede saying what he knew would make Izzy more agreeable…?

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've gotta admit, the take that Ed and Stede are "running away" from their problems at the end of s2 absolutely baffles me.

The thesis statement of this show, as we know, is "a lot of the things we are taught about being a man are wrong." Harmful ideas of what it means to be a man are at the core of Ed and Stede's issues with themselves: Stede struggle to feel like as much of a man despite loving softer things, Ed's feeling forced into a hyper-masculine caricature of himself. These are the core problems at the heart of these characters, obviously there's more to it but when you boil it down that's what we're working with. This is why Stede's trying to live up the ideal pirate image in s2e7 is important; he's getting a taste of what he thought he wanted so he can choose to leave it behind for what's really important. Ed, too, is still struggling at the end of the season with figuring out who Ed is, once he can break free from the Blackbeard persona.

What would be solved by sailing away, planning to continue as pirates at the end of s2? How would that be addressing their problems or helping them live more authentically? Ed has wanted to leave piracy since we met him, and yes, Stede enjoys piracy, but the idea that piracy is the true and right end-state for him is a very basic reading of the text I think.

Ed and Stede making the decision to try building a life together in their new shack isn't running away from their problems - it's Stede prioritizing Ed over a life of piracy, because piracy isn't what he wanted in the first place. He wanted to be a part of something, he wanted to marry for love, he wanted to be appreciated for who he is. It's Ed finally realizing in the finale that he can use violence as a tool to protect the people he loves, but he's also allowed to step away from it. Will the inn idea work out? Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares? It's not the inn that's important, really, it's that they're both choosing to commit to each other and taking this step towards living more authentically.

We already know exactly what "running away from their problems" would look like, and it's the plan Ed proposed in s1e9. He wanted to run away to China so their old lives could be "gone, dead, never were." Ed just wanted to forget about his past, and Stede was riddled with guilt - wherever they go, there they are. The difference between that plan at the end of s1 and Ed and Stede's new plan at the end of the s2 is, first of all, they're both all in and they know it, and, secondly, they're both getting a lot better at meeting themselves where they're at.

[ofmdee]

🖤🤍

[veeagainsttheday]

I'm really really excited (so excited I am actually making a tumblr post about it) to share that I'm writing Ed's POV for season 2: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56550571/chapters/143723284

Shoutout forever to all the writers of meta about this season, you have given me so many amazing thoughts to chew on while writing this.

[tielmamon]

Burn, Bonnet Burn (TWN x OFMD AU)

At a tavern near the sea, Jaskier drops his tired self onto a bar stool after finishing his last set. His voice still hurts from belting his heart and anger out when a drunk group of maidens requested he sing 'Burn, Butcher Burn'.

He hoped and prayed he was too far from the main land that the wretched song hadn't found itsway to Skelligan shores. Apparently not far enough.

"Ale and the dinner I was promised, please. Thanks." A second later, he was given a tankard of ale and a bowl of...he's not entirely sure but he assumes it's food

"Good song." Jaskier suppresses a flinch. All he wanted was a nice quiet dinner after that particularly heartwrenching performance. In the middle of his set, he had spotted a burly man, hair so blonde you'd mistake it for white pass by the stage. He knew it wasn't him. He was probably on the other side of the continent, as far away from Jaskier as he could get. Still, his heart never calmed as he finished the rest of his set. No one had a problem with how he was practically sobbing minus the tears by the end of the song. Instead, they relished in it, ate it up like they were watching a pig be slautered for a feast. The applause was louder than usual, his coin purse significantly heavier. It was his best performance yet.

He never wanted to play like that ever again.

"Thank you" He forces a smile and turns to face the stranger, and normally Jaskier isnt one to judge a person's character at first glance, but lets just say the stranger was, infact rather strange.

An older man with wild grey hair to his shoulders, decked in full leather and buckles and, most curious of all...black messy soot around his chin, mouth and eyes. Eyes that stare back at him with a deep sadness he knew all too well. The black and broody nature of it all was too...familiar, too close to home. He could only nod and turn back to his ale, resisting the urge to touch the ache in his chest.

"You seem to know your way around heartbreak well. Someone ripped your heart our recently?" The stranger suprisingly placed a hand on his back as Jaskier promptly inhaled half of his ale into his nose. Despite the embarrassing display, the stranger did not laugh at his expense. Only a stoic, concerned expresssion on his face that just pissed Jaskier off even more.

"And who the fuck are you exactly, my good sir?" He grits through his teeth, wondering just who the fuck posseses the audacity to-

"Blackbeard. Pleased to meet you." -to b-be...the deadliest and most wanted pirate of the seven seas. Oh fuck. He promptly chokes once again, this time on his own spit.

"He-Hello, hi. Gods, really?" The stranger- the infamous Blackbeard offers a small smile and helps him through another coughing fit.

"Easy. Eat your, whatever the fuck that is. I just... wanted to talk." He takes a bite, awkardly. The stew was still a mystery, but thankfully pleasant enough to choke down. An almost shy tension forms between them, which baffled Jaskier. Blackbeard is sitting next to him, very much lacking a beard, covered in soot and looking like he's about to cry into his tankard. And he waits to talk. To...Jaskier?

"What- um, what did you want to talk about?" The older man looks down at his hands. A strange sight, seeing someone so feared look so scared. Then again, Jaskier knew first hand how big hulking figures with bigger reputations have something to hide.

"Your song..." Blackbeard looks at him with determination and a horrifying thought forms in his head. Has the pirate come for Jaskier for information on Geralt and Ciri too? Will he be tied to a chair and beaten once more? Will he be drowned instead of burned this time around?

"What about it?"

"You...why do you write songs like that?" Ed watches the bard blink slowly, practically see the sentences forming in the man's head before he speaks with a sigh.

"Well, when someone as dramatic as myself gets their heart stomped on and ripped to pieces, one tends to seek an outlet for all that frustration and sadness. Writing a heated song about them and burning helps."

"Helps...Does the pain go away? After you sing it?" The pirate fiddles with the handle of his tankard, brows furrowed. Jaskier has the strangest urge to hold the man's hand to sooth him.

"In a way. It turns the sadness into something else for a bit, something more...approachable? Something to hold, to throw, to punch..."

"To burn?" The two share a look before Jaskier chuckles into his mead, nodding.

"Yes. That too." His eyes watch the crowd of strangers in the tavern and spots the blond haired man from before. His features too soft, height too tall. Its not him but it makes his blood boil and heart ache all the same.

"The pain doesn't go away. It just gives you an opportunity to hit back, in a way." Jaskier watches the gears turn in the pirates brain, slowly digesting his words. Silence follows, or atleast the suggestion of it as they sit in a crowded tavern next to an angry ocean. A few more minutes pass and just when Jaskier rises to leave-

"Could you help me write one too?" Ed turns to the bard and pleads. Blackbeard the Pirate wouldn't be caught dead in such a state. Edward Teach, however was desperate. Edward was tired of the pain, the confusion. He needed relief from it, even just for a second. Killing didn't help. Stealing only reminded him more of Bonnet. He was out of options. The only semblace of ease he had felt was when he attempted to write about it, strangely enough.

"You want me...to help you write a song? About heartbreak?" Blackbeard nods solemly, completely fucking serious. Jaskeir being a sucker for a good story and, admitted a chance to help and feel needed replies.

"Fuck it, why not?" Let it be known that Jaskier had a type.