#chauncey & wood

[jwood718]

In October of ‘22, I posted some photos of a view that hadn’t been available for a few decades: across the Wabash Valley from the corner of Wood and Chauncey Street allowing someone to see downtown Lafayette and the Tippecanoe County courthouse.  The courthouse is still visible, for now, but a new high rise apartment building is going up, so that scene will be gone in a few more weeks.

Just a block away, a building that’s been occupied since 2018 (I think it was 2018) is having its facing re-done.  

With traffic re-routed for some time now to allow for boom lifts (boom lifts are popular around here these days), much of the fake brick-facing is being pulled off sheet by sheet, revealing the underlayment.

What prompted the removal I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me if something hadn’t sealed correctly allowing for leaks or the possibility of pieces falling off (but you can’t use my supposition as evidence of anything, just to be clear).

R. Jake Wood, 2023.

[naranjapetrificada]

Just a small thing I noticed while being totally normal about the gay pirates:

I've watched The Kiss™ way too many times a normal number of times and my favorite moment is the series of microexpressions Rhys cycles through while Stede is reacting to "what makes Ed happy is...you" because it's just so lovely and masterfully done. While trying to find a good gif of just that moment (no luck so far!) I noticed something that happens while Ed is pulling Stede in.

Stede, darling honey light of my life, clueless useless "oblivious" gay that he is, tilts his head a bit and leans into the kiss too. Before it's even started. On some level he registers that This Is Happening in time to react in a positive way, even before their lips have touched.

Our boy is a creature of instinct, and when he acts on his emotional instincts without thinking too much he knocks so much shit out of the park. Instinct is part of why "you wear fine things well" hits as hard as it does. Instinct is how he can woo Ed as easily as he does. Instinct is how they were able connect so deeply so quickly, because his instinct is to be open and non-judgemental to this beautiful man waiting beside his sickbed and asking about fine fabrics.

Stede's thoughts are still too clouded by his trauma and self-loathing to be useful for him, and he can end up thinking too much about what he "should" do or what other people do. Thinking is part of the reason he's so quick to believe Chauncey in the woods. Thinking means succumbing to beliefs about his perceived worthlessness, which leads to his biggest mistakes. Thinking tells him to adjust what he says about Blackbeard in that tavern of townies, when his instinct was to say how "absolutely lovely" Ed is.

Obviously man cannot live by instinct alone, like he definitely should have thought for a minute about making a deal with Geraldo to fence the hostage. Stede needs to learn to balance the two and when to listen to either/both of them. But I was just so excited to see him leaning in the way he does because it underlines a feeling I've had for a minute, which is that Stede's instincts are those of someone crushing and then falling in love, and that never wavers.

He lacks the context and vocabulary to identify what's going on without outside intervention, but he also deeply gets it in a way that's extremely queer and that I hope starts showing up more in the fanon. I do a little happy dance every time I see this in people's fics and I just need so many more of them! Give me more eager Stede who is Ready To Go once he's given the right context for his feelings about Ed!

[pan-problemed]

A body on the step and lies all about - i

cooper howard x angel!gn!reader

tags; slow burn, character study, cowboys, angels, religion, gender neutral reader warnings; none

masterlist | cross posted on ao3 inspired by the fallen by @geeks-universe! please check it out summary ; You are an angel, trying to help humanity build what their leaders destroyed. He is a man cursed to painful immortality, trying to survive in the world his leaders destroyed.

He thought he had squashed out all that remained of his humanity, but here you were, all gentle hands and knowing looks, throwing a wrench into the character he had so carefully constructed.

Some of the others questioned why you remained on Earth, even after Father’s creations had burnt it in fire and gamma. They had all given up hope that good may remain and therefore given up on all of them.

You knew not all of them were at fault - a single secretary could do nothing in the face of her government’s greed and hubris. She could not be blamed, could not be declared evil for someone else’s crime. 

Still, grief was something you had become intricately familiar with. Looking at the ashen remains of all Father and humanity had created, you felt nothing but grief in its rawest, most volatile form. 

But you remained. You held onto that hope, because what else were you without it? 

Few of your siblings remained on Earth, equally dedicated to protecting and nudging humanity in the right direction. You remained in contact, despite millennia-long arguments on right and wrong. 

If you asked yourself back in the 20th century whether you’d find yourself allies and almost friends with Lucifer himself, you wouldn’t have believed it. 

But here you were. Constantly tasting the acidic flavour of radiation in the air, watching as humans tore each other apart again and again and tried to undo what they had done each time.

---

Purdue had grown into a careful little town in recent years. Before, they had called it West Lafayette, and before then it was Chauncey. But now it was Purdue, named after the title stamped into cracked signs and burnt textbooks. 

They still used the old street signs - someone had taken time to repaint the little forest green rectangles and white letters. 

Fondy was a bar built in the bottom floor of an apartment building, half of the letters had fallen off with age, the original name lost to time. Some of the apartments now were used as an inn, though not many travellers ended up in Purdue when Lucas Oil and Big State were only a day’s walk south. 

And here you were, sitting at the counter as Buddy Holly’s voice buzzed from the little restored radio on the counter. Lukas Striker had recently set up in Big State, and you had provided a generous donation of songs to the bright-eyed boy. What a King was doing starting a radio show in the remnants of Indiana was beyond you, but you were happy to indulge. 

You had always liked music, after all. 

You were nursing your first drink of the night - whisky, caravanned out of Kentucky. The bitter taste was familiar on your tongue. Nothing compared to the expensive drinks Lucifer would encourage you to indulge in back in the day, alongside corny movies and drunken exchanges of stories. 

He had been on a Western kick in 2076 and some of ‘77, particularly fond of one pretty little actor named Cooper Howard. His dark hair carefully slicked back reminded you of a gang you met back in the day, though it took quite a few more drinks to pull that story out of you. 

You reckoned, if they ever made a movie about them, put some facial hair and cigarettes on Howard and he was practically the spitting image. 

The ice clinked against the stained glass as you thought back to those late nights, drinking and laughing at the humans’ entertainment. 

Before the resources grew too few, and the humans’ greed too powerful. 

The ramshackle wood doors creaked open, announcing a new customer, but you didn’t look up from the spot you were studying on the counter. It had been built out of old signs and car parts, you could see a Toyota logo. 

He sat three stools from you and ordered in a low voice, heavy with a southern accent. Speaking of Westerns, you thought to yourself. 

You cast him a brief glance. He had rough skin, most of it covered with a ragged duster and clothes stained brown. His hat was angled to shield his eyes, despite being inside, and you could see the way his hazel eyes studied the room curiously. 

You recognised his kind - mortals cursed to immortality. Skin ragged and burnt. Some had their brains melt away with the cartilage and hair, but others held onto their sanity despite. 

His gaze met yours - intelligent, calculating, suspicious - and you held it for a moment, sizing each other up. 

There was something familiar about him that tugged at your tongue, but you couldn’t puzzle it out just yet. You would keep an eye on him, then - he had a dangerous look about him. 

The radio buzzed as the music rolled over to Billie Holiday. You didn’t look away, even as his drink was passed to him. 

Finally, he downed the thing in one gulp and slammed the glass on the counter, leaning forward. “Reckon I’ve seen you before.” He mused. 

“I thought the same.” You replied evenly, taking a careful sip from your drink. 

The two of you fell silent again. You wondered what he was thinking, why he wasn’t ignoring you as you had planned to do to him. 

He gestured for another drink, and the bartender hesitated for a moment. The man sighed and retrieved a few coppers, which seemed to appease the bartender for now. 

“What brings you to Purdue?” You decided to ask, growing uncomfortable with the tense silence in the nearly empty bar. 

He hummed, leaning back in his seat and draping one arm on the counter, tilting his head to look at you. 

It clicked, then, who you were looking at. Speak of the devil (haha), the hollowed out ghost of Cooper Howard sat in that torn duster, staring you down with curiosity and bitterness in those chesnut eyes. 

“Work.” He replied simply. “You?” 

You shrugged. “I travel.” 

He paused, tilting his head a little further, and you couldn’t help but compare him to a little labrador puppy studying something new for the first time. 

The conversation largely ended there, though both of you did ocassionally hum along to the music playing from the radio. He was much more quiet than you, but the tapping of his fingers and the soft rumble of his voice didn’t escape your attention. 

You gave him a friendly smile as you left, though he ignored it. 

And you wondered. 

[biceratops7]

The TIMING

of their first time was SO damn heart wrenching. And fucking brilliant. This follows one of, if not THE most terrifying and humiliated circumstances they've been through together. Ed almost having to watch Stede executed is awful, yes, but torture? I mean Izzy was right, at the very least death by firing squad is quick. but it's not just the pain of seeing someone you love hurt and being helpless, it runs SO much deeper than that.

Stede is openly crying when he grabs hold of Ed. He's breaking down with fear and trauma he's been rapidly accumulating and unable to express since the night Chauncey marched him to the woods and said he brought Ed to ruin. And he wants Ed to see, the last thing Stede wants to do is talk about it, but he desperately needs to be vulnerable to Ed, and Ed alone.

This decision to be like "welp, time to bone" was ultimately not really thought out and not the best idea, but that's the point. There's been a huge, crackling, electric ball of desperation, grief, shame, longing, love, relief, joy, EVERYTHING growing inside them. This was a fucking explosion.

[crimson-phantom-designs]

I just had a thought...

What if Stede returned to Ed, not because he was lost and couldn't find the ship, but because he had a flashback in the dark woods of that night when Chauncey took him...

So he starts to have a panic attack with all those little poisoned words seeping back into his head. Yet instead of running away, he ran back to Ed this time for help.

Yeah I'm gonna go cry now...

[dragon-kazansky]

Spirit of the sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

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

{Masterlist}

{Previous Chapter} - {Next Chapter}

Warnings: Swearing. Izzy likes to swear. Buttons is naked. Also I'm pretty sure Izzy makes heart eyes at you without me actually typing out heart eyes.

Chapter Eight - Captain Hands

♡♡♡

The English came aboard the ship and promptly captured every pirate onboard. They cornered some of the crew and tied them up. A naked Buttons runs past you at one point, everything hanging out. You try to blink the image away.

One of the sailors grabs you from behind and takes your hands behind your back. You're then pushed down to the deck, face against the wood.

Edward and Stede are next to each other, looking at one another.

One by one everyone is taking in for questioning. It's only here you learn that this was about the murder of Badminton. You had totally forgotten about that guy.

This was his twin brother.

You're taken back outside with the rest of the crew and left to sit there. It's only then that you realise who else is here. Someone you thought you wouldnt see again.

"Izzy," you whisper, looking at him.

He's looking right at you.

It feels like all the air has been sucked out if your lungs. You've forgotten how to breathe. You don't even realise a tear has formed until it trails down your cheek. It splashes on the deck below, silent and unnoticed by anyone. Anyone except Izzy.

You turn your eyes away from.

Apparently Stede confessed to killing Nigel Badminton. His punishment was death by firing squad. At least it would be quick, you supposed.

Izzy was watching mostly you as Stede and Blackbeard were being given their sentences. He has missed you.

"In the name of His Majesty King George, this tribunal shall come to order. Edward Teach, or Black Beard."

"It's just Blackbeard. Like, just run it together as one word. 'Blackbeard'. Don't have to put a gap in there." Ed spirals on.

"You face death for general crimes of Piracy against the Crown."

"Yeah." Edward agrees.

"But a friend of the Crown has prevailed upon me to remand you to his custody. You shall be released to Captain Hands in exchange for his service to the King."

You turn slowly to see Izzy give Ed a little wave. Oh, now you get it. Izzy had made a deal with these bastards for Edward's protection.

While the crew of the Revenge boo Izzy, you try and find a way to control your breathing.

"Stede Bonnet. For the wanton murder of Nigel Badminton... your sentence is death by firing squad."

"We'll find a way out of this, OK?" Ed says to him.

"Ed, no. I deserve this. At some point in a man's life, he has to face the music." Stede speaks calmly.

Except, when he's up there with his blindfold on, he's screaming about much he doesn't want to die.

You had been cut free and permitted to stand with Blackbeard. One of Izzy's other demands was that you were safe.

You watch Stede with a sad expression.

"Edward... I know you're upset, but it was the only..." Izzy tried to explain himself, but Ed turns and punches Izzy hard. Izzy falls to the deck harshly. At any other time you would help him up, but not today.

The crew applaud what they just saw.

"Oh... that's fair." Izzy grunts as he stands up and brushes his hair back again. "Remember, though. You said when you made me first mate, 'Above all else is loyalty to your Captain.'"

"Rifles at the ready!" Chauncey orders.

"You're my captain, and I was never gonna stand by and let you destroy yourself for that... twat. And this, this is a humane way of ending it."

"Aim!"

"It's quick. It's clean. Edward you KNOW that." Izzy is basically pleading with him.

"Act of Grace!" Blackbeard calls out.

"No... No."

"Act of Grace!" Edward stands in front of Stede. Izzy looks defeated. "Act of Grace!"

The crew shout for Stede to say it too. "Say it! Act of Grace!"

"What he said!" Stede calls out.

Edward removes the blindfold from Stede.

"Fuck me," Chauncey mutters.

Edward explains the Act of Grace to Stede.

"So, you want to go to war for the King?" Chauncey asks them.

"We'd rather eat our own faces, but, yes." Edward replies to him.

"Two acts of Grace, please." Stede pleads.

"Ah. I'm afraid the offer doesn't extend to you, Bonnet. After, the King was only referring to real pirates. He turns to Edward, "He's from my world, not yours."

"Raise your rifles!"

"June 3rd. An excellent day!" Lucius stands up with Stede's diary in his hands, reading from it. "Raided a commercial vessel after overwhelming the hardy crew. We claimed a prize of lush vegetation in conquest." Lucius turns around to show a drawing of the plant.

Oluwande holds the plant up. "And here's the vegetation in question."

"They'll never forget the Eccentric Pirate Bonnet and his savage, insane, vengeful pirate horde." Lucius closes the book. "See? He's a pirate. a real, proper pirate."

"That man is a fearsome pirate if e'er I seen one." Buttons joins in.

The rest of the crew begin to agree. Stede looks proudly at them.

"Well, rule-of-law-wise, I'd say that settle it." One of the Navy officers says.

"A plant and a drawing?" Chauncey asks. "Settles nothing."

"It's enough for us. Blackbeard renounces piracy to serve the Crown? We'll be dining with Ol' King George himself."

"Why?" Chauncey asks the crew. "Why do you all show such loyalty to this... this... nothing?"

"I'd attribute quite a lot of it to a people-positive management style," Stede says.

Chauncey draws his sword. "Shut up!"

"Stand down, Admiral." He is warned. "Or will be forced to use measures."

"Measures? Against me?! He's the criminal!" Chauncey says, waving his sword about at Stede. "He's the murderer!"

"All right! Calm down, Mr Wavy Blade." Says Stede. "Chauncey! Sometimes, when we get a bit angry, do you know what we like to do? We talk it through."

"As a crew!" The others join in.

You smile from where you stand. Izzy notices.

"Oh, I know. I know what's happened. Yeah, we've somehow drifted south of the equator, and ended up in Backwardsland!"

Chauncey is promptly restrained.

You laugh softly. Izzy can't seem to keep his eyes off of you.

♡♡♡

Edward and Stede are taken into the captain's quarter to sign the contract for the Act of Grace. Izzy is in there with them.

You're sat on deck looking out at the sea.

It isn't long until the Navy retreat, taking Stede and Edward with them. You watch them go. Edward looks at you before leaving the ship.

That's how you know Izzy is standing behind you. You refuse to look at him.

Stede and Edward have gone.

Izzy opens his mouth to speak, but you're already pushing past him to walk away. He calls your name but you don't stop. He sighs as he watches you go.

♡♡♡

While Izzy sets things his way on the Revenge, by getting the crew in order and showing his leadership, you sulk down in his old cabin.

Since he's captain now, he won't want this old room back. You curl up on his bed and hide your face in the crook of your arms. It has been a long day.

You're not sure how much time has passed, but eventually your solitude is interrupted.

"Thought I might find you here."

You don't look up. You don't move an inch.

"You not gonna look at me?"

You remain still.

You hear Izzy sigh and he walks across the small cabin toward the desk. You hear him put something down, the item hiding gently against the wood. You can tell from the light rustling sound that he stands there for a moment before leaving again.

You look up once you're sure he's gone. Your eyes are drawn to the desk. Sitting there, just as you remembered it, was the wooden sparrow you whittled for Izzy.

Another tear escapes your eye.

♡♡♡

Izzy works the crew hard, all while not lifting a finger for himself. He throws round orders and makes sure every man onboard does his job. He states he's tough, but he's also fair

The crew still hate him.

They don't hate you, however.

Lucius finds you sulking away. He was sent to grab something for Izzy, but he decided today least check in on you.

"Dizzy Izzy confining you?" He asks, half joking.

You look up at him and sigh through your nose.

"What's he doing?" You ask.

"Ordering is around."

"Course he is."

Lucius frowns as he looks at you. "Thought you might be glad he was back, despite literally everything else."

"Would be had he not sold us out to the Navy and pushed Ed enough to go serve the King."

"He sucks, for the record."

"Yeah. He's a dick."

Lucius and you share a smile. The moment is only broken by the yell of "SPRIGGS." Lucius bolts out of the cabin to reach Izzy before he gets mad.

You return to sulking.

♡♡♡

As evening draws in and the crew go about their business, you come up to deck for some air. You hold the wooden sparrow in your hand as you rest against the railing of the ship. The breeze is a bit chilly tonight, but you don't mind it much.

You've become aware of when he's nearby. It's like you have a sixth sense for Izzy Hands.

"You'll catch a chill up here."

You do nothing but hum quietly in response, turning the sparrow around in your hand carefully.

"At least talk to me."

You keep twirling the sparrow.

Izzy shifts his weight to one leg as he stares at you. You can't see the pleading look in his eyes, at how desperate he is get you to look at him.

"I did this for us, you know. Edward was never supposed to do what he did. He wasn't even supposed to be on the ship... Jack was meant to take you and Edward with him."

"You sent Calico fucking Jack to get us?" You ask, hissing the question out. You still refuse to look at him.

Happy that you're at least talking to him, Izzy goes on.

"I wanted you safe. Safe with me. We could have had Blackbeard back. We could have been a crew again. No more Bonnet. No more ghosts. Just us and the sea."

You inhale sharply. Izzy realises in that moment that you're upset. He wants so desperately to reach out and hold you.

"Safe? No one is ever safe, Izzy."

You drop the sparrow and it falls down into the waves below. You grip the railing of the ship, knuckles turning white as you lean against it.

"I should have stayed dead. Maybe none of this would have happened," you say softly.

"Don't say that. Don't ever fucking say that." Izzy takes a step forward.

"You left me, Izzy!" You turn sharply and glare at him. "You bastard! You left me behind over some stupid fucking duel and then sold us out!"

You lunge forward and smack Izzy across the chest. He tries to block your attacks, but not with much effort. Izzy wants you to let your anger out on him.

"You bastard! You fucking idiot! Why? Why do any of it? Why did you leave me?" You cry out.

"What choice did I have?" He asks, still blocking your attacks.

"You could have stayed! We could worked something out! Anything. We could have done anything! At least we would have done it together."

"I offered you to come with me," he says softly.

"No!" You yell. You stop hitting him and glare at him. "We belong out at sea. That's our home. We made a promise once, do you remember? A promise to stick together and explore the world. Well, fuck that promise I guess!"

He says your name softly.

"No, Izzy. You betrayed me twice. You left me and then sold us out. How can I ever forgive you?"

He falls silent as he looks at you.

You push past him and walk away again. Izzy is left standing there, looking at the sea.

♡♡♡

Izzy wasn't ready to give up on you. Not now. Not ever.

He waited an hour or so before coming down to the cabin. His old cabin. It warmed his heart to discover you had taken it as your own. He knew you missed him just as much as he missed you.

"Leave me alone," you mumble.

"No."

You sigh as you sit up on the bed. "What do you want from me? Want me to scrub the deck? Shine your boots? Worship you?"

Izzy frowns. "No. None of that."

"Then what?"

"I want... I want us to talk it through."

You look at him silently, and then start to chuckle softly. "Talk it through? Now you want to talk it through. What? Like a crew?"

"Like friends."

"Oh, so we're still friends are we?" You scoff.

"Never stopped, at least on my end."

"Well it did on mine."

Izzy stands there staring at you. His eyes are soft and there is something about this posture that feels wrong. Not in a sense that he would do something to you, but like something that doesn't belong there. He's standing wrong.

"What is it, Izzy?"

"I fucking missed you, ya know."

"Did you?" You ask flatly.

"Yeah, I did."

You take a deep breath and calm your mind. You let most of your anger put on him up on deck, so the least you can do is be civil. Your choices were limited.

"I'm sorry about the sparrow. I, uh, I appreciate that you took it with you."

Izzy almost smiles. "Couldn't leave it behind."

"I'll have to make you a new one."

"Only if you forgive me."

"Maybe not then," you sigh.

"Do you hate me?" He asks.

There's a few moments of silence that pass that make him believe that the answer is probably yes. You have every reason to, he supposes. He left. Then Edward, for a moment.

You have every right to be upset.

"No."

Izzy finds his whole body relaxing from that word alone. Relief floods his heart and his lips actually do curl into a gentle smile for once.

"Good. Pretty sure the crew do, but I can live with that. I can't live with you hating me, though."

You meets his eyes and suddenly feel lighter. You never thought a simple gaze could take away so much heartache and pain.

"Pretty sure they're planning a mutiny. They tried once with Stede."

"Fuck."

"You are a bit of a dick, though, Izzy."

He looks at you with a faux sense of betrayal in his eyes. You chuckle softly, but know that the crew would most likely throw him off the ship.

"I'll see what I can do."

Izzy smiles gratefully before leaving. He has said his peace and for now that's enough. He bids you goodnight as he goes.

"Goodnight, Izzy."

♡♡♡

Yeah, the next morning the crew planned a mutiny. Izzy was promptly tied up.

"You said you'd see what you could do." Izzy looks at you, fire beginning to burn in his eyes. He kind of felt betrayed.

"Yeah, I tried. I talked to them for hours. They are adamant on throwing you off this ship." You tell him, looking at him firmly.

"You're just going to let them?"

You keep your eyes on him. "Yeah."

"If this is about leaving you-"

"Izzy, no, no. It's not like that." You raise your hands. Izzy furrows his brows. There's rope around your wrists.

"What?" He asks softly.

"I said, if they wanted to throw you overboard, they would have to throw me too. Or I'd kill them all in their sleep."

Izzy states at you.

You give a smile

"You...? You told them to banish you too?"

"Yeah. Either you stay, or we both go together."

Izzy is at a loss for words.

The crew come over and picked him up. He pleads with them to change their minds. He will listen and make changes. He will do what they wanted him to.

He wanted to stay on this ship with you. You shouldn't banish yourself for him. He had no idea you would go so far.

Did this mean you had forgiven him?

He looks at you, head bent as far back as it could go to look at you. You stand there and smile at him. God, why are you smiling? You can't be this happy to be mutinied with him.

"One!" The crew start to count.

"No! No! No!" Izzy pleads.

"Two!"

Izzy looks back at you again.

"Three!" "Hold it!" Pete stops them.

Everyone turns to find Blackbeard unexpectedly climbing onboard the ship. You stare at him confused.

"Izzy... I'll take tea in my room." Ed says, walking past everyone.

Everyone just stares.

Izzy is put down.

"What happened to his beard?" Roach asks.

You turn back around to Izzy and bring his attention to you as you work on undoing his restaints. He stares at you as you do so. You look at him and then back at his hands. Once his hands are free he reaches out and gently holds yours.

"You were really gonna do it?" He asks.

"Yeah," you say softly. "I was gonna do it."

Izzy really wanted to kiss you.

"Why?"

"For the same reason Edward protected Stede."

Izzy looks confused.

"Forget it."

All Izzy Hands can do is look at you. He untied your wrists and Olu sees to it both of your feet are intied too.

Izzy's heart was racing.

He wondered, did you mean what he thought you meant?

♡♡♡

@grippleback-galaxy - @askmarinaandothers - @godlikegallagher - @for-fuck-sake-im-alive - @whiskeyswriting - @lxsm2 - @bloody-bunni666 - @the-chocoholic-writer - @bugbugboy - @callmemana -

[nidmightcookies]

I'm Not Okay, Okay?

Thinking about Stede and the petrified orange treasure he's so proud of finding.

Thinking about Stede being awakened by Chauncey and marched into the woods, in only his nightshirt (it must have a pocket).

Thinking about Stede even having the orange to show off to his family later.

Conclusion: Stede Bonnet sleeps with the orange. The orange is his woobie. He takes it everywhere. Sometimes he takes it out to look at it. Sometimes he just reaches into his pocket to pet the orange. Every time, I die a little.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[adickaboutspoons]

Ah, Cuddling for Warmth, my beloved! And yet, I've never written it. So it goes a little something like this:

So did you know that Historical Blackbeard used to frequent the Chesapeake Bay? And that in fall of 1717 he was operating there with Stede Bonnet? Well, your girl is from Maryland, & has come home many a trick-or-treat barely able to feel her fingers.AU where Ed investigated why Stede didn't meet him, & stumbled across the scene with Chauncey. Stede is in shock, non-verbal, white-faced, practically immobile. Ed's survival instincts take over - he gets Stede to the dingy, rowing them away, keeping a running monologue about how everything's going to be ok; they'll be in China before he knows it. Stede eventually comes to himself enough to say "I have to go back." Ed is like, yeah, we can't do that right now. Stede is in full meltdown mode, barely able to choke out disconnected nonsense about "ruin" & "my family" & "I'm a monster." Ed is doing his best to calm him down, but he's only seen Stede like this right before the reveal of his plan to evade the Spanish, & Stede is the one that has it all figured out - is cool & calm & in charge when Ed is freaking out. He has no idea how to be that for Stede. He just keeps talking about China & how nice everything will be & they'll be safe. Eventually Stede snaps "I can't go to China with you! I have to go home! I have to save my family!"

Ed feels it like a slap. It would be one thing if Stede just didn't want to go to China. He'd go anywhere Stede wanted him to. But Stede doesn't want to go anywhere with him. Stede wants to go back to Mary.

"Yeah. Alright. We'll get you back to your family," he says, his voice leaden. "But we can't go now. Two infamous pirates ran out on their Grace & a dead admiral in the woods? There won't be a cove they don't scour trying to find us. Caribbean's gonna be too hot for awhile. We gotta go somewhere until things die down a little."

"Not China."

"Yeah. Not China," Ed agrees, stepping down hard on the urge to sob. Think. You can feel later, but right now you have to think. "I know a place," he says eventually. "Up north. No one will think to look for us there."

Stede doesn't say anything. He's huddled at the other end of the dinghy rocking & staring off into nothing, but he nods his head a little, so Ed takes that as good enough. The rest of the trip back to the Revenge is silent.

A tall ship can travel at up to 10 knots, but usually more around 3-4 (don't look at me like that, I already looked this up for a different fic), & it's ~1800 nautical miles from Bridgetown to Annapolis (go ahead & look at me like that; I DID look that up just now, but I have a nifty little nautical distance calculator bookmarked from the previously mentioned fic), so that's about 24 days journey, which puts them in Maryland around October 28th.

Ed was born in Bristol; though he's spent most of his adult life in the Caribbean, he's got his fair share of chilly, drizzly autumns under his belt.

Stede was Barbados born-&-bred. He's never been so cold & miserable in his life. He's consumed with what Chauncey said, out-of-his-mind with worry for his family (he thought they'd be better off without him. Oh, God! What has happened to them?), & if all that wasn't bad enough, Ed has been so distant since they got back to the ship. Probably it's finally dawned on him just how ruinous his association with Stede really is. Probably he's withdrawing to insulate himself from further contamination.

Good for him.

Since I'm a The Metaphors are Barely Surface Level bitch, it's all about cold as a metaphor for emotional distance & freezing one another out. It all comes to a head on All Hallow's Eve, when temps dip so everything is rimed with frost & Some Contrivance leads Ed to the captain's quarters where he finds Stede, hollow-eyed, feeding his precious library to the fireplace because he's just so damn cold & nothing matters anyway. And then there is bed sharing & cuddling for warmth (& maybe a little Ed having to hold Stede down to keep him there. For me. As a treat). Stede resists because he KNOWS Ed doesn't want to be with him anymore, & he's shouldn't force himself to stay. Ed is all "What the fuck are you talking about, you're the one who wants to leave me." They have a good, healthy row where everything comes out & they realize the idiotic assumptions they've been making & Stede gets to have his Bathtub Moment while Ed holds him. After there are gentle words & kisses, & IDK maybe make-up sex.

The next day they start sailing south again & something, something they'll figure out how to save Stede's family together.

And then I figure out what happens with the actual plot? Or maybe I leave it there, because, LBR, the "plot" was only ever a contrivance to get to the yummy tropes & emotional stuff.

[effervescentluminescence]

Thinking about Stede, and how I've always thought of him as a character who deals a lot with self-loathing, and now I'm not so sure, because if Stede really hated himself, like if that were a core part of his character/personality, we wouldn't have this show.

Because throwing your entire life away for a shot at happiness isn't self-loathing behavior. There's another post going around about Stede thinking about himself as a child when Nigel says "and you cried all the time and liked to pick flowers" and Stede just looks a bit rueful and says "yeah, little bit." You can tell Stede loves that little boy, and really, what is buying a pirate ship and filling it with fancy clothes and chandeliers and odd characters if not trying to give that kid a life where he might have had a chance to fit in, a life he might have liked?

So Stede hates his life, not himself. He loves pageantry but not the people who would shun you for using the wrong spoon. He loves fine fabric, and knows anyone can appreciate them if given the opportunity. He knows there's a life for him out there, if he can just find the right people in the right place at the right time.

...but then, at the academy, while he is the midst of self-recrimination and guilt, finally having realized that he might have caused his family some real problems by leaving without a word in the night, and knowing that Blackbeard would still be the fiercest pirate in the Caribbean if he had never met Stede (debatable, since Ed was looking for an out anyway), Chauncey takes him into the woods, tells him that Stede Bonnet is not human, that he is a plague, that he defiles beautiful things.

And after 40-odd years of thinking 'I know I don't fit here, but that doesn't mean i can't fit somewhere,' Stede says, "I think you're right. In fact, I completely agree." Stede is the problem. He is wrong and the world is right. He could fit in if he weren't deficient. He could do all the things he is supposed to do if he weren't broken.

So he goes back to the life he hated, because it's what he deserves.

[edandstede]

some more s2 predictions/wishes:

- stede cups ed’s face at some point and ed, tired of fighting it, leans into it with a sigh and closes his eyes

- they have tea together again. stede probably makes it but i’d love to see ed have a go where he fucks it up and stede drinks that whole cup anyway and says it’s lovely

- ed overhears stede talking to one of the crew, possibly lucius or olu, about ed. maybe stede reveals something about his absence that he hasn’t had a chance to tell ed yet, but mostly he just laments over how much he loves ed and wants to fix this gulf between them and we see ed visibly softening over it

- stede keeps the cake toppers

- ed gifts stede with something, a book or a trinket or something specific to them both and it’s one of the first times ed reaches out to him instead of the other way around. stede is a bit speechless and holds it to his chest lovingly even if ed tries to downplay it

- stede finds ed asleep or passed out and covers him - not with a blanket, but with the fuchsia robe

- there is a moment where ed or stede are facing someone down, or having some kind of tense moment, and the other steps beside them and takes their hand

- ed tells stede he’s sorry for what happened to him in the woods with chauncey. i just want stede to be very clearly reassured that he didn’t deserve it and chauncey was absolutely wrong - none of it was true

- stede kisses ed’s hand, ed kisses stede’s cheek

- ed gets to have a big cathartic cry while stede holds him

- at some point stede gets to put on the kraken makeup that the crew have been wearing

- they rest their foreheads together

- one of them gives the other a ring

[jwood718]

Above: looking across the Wabash Valley toward downtown Lafayette.

A view long lost, soon to be gone again: rebuilding near Purdue Campus continues.

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the areas around campus have been, over the last 4+ years, been undergoing a steady regime of re-construction.  Where there were low-rise apartments, or where there was nothing much at all, mid-rise or high-rise residences have been built -- or will be in the near future.

From the corner of Chauncey and Wood street (seen above) until late summer was the site of a cluster of low-rise apartment buildings; the two high-rise complexes taking up so much of the center of the image have been occupied for about two years now.  The loss of the older buildings (and the trees that were near them, of course) did open up a view that hasn’t been available for decades:

which (of course it is) is better seen from an automobile than on foot, but one can look across the valley and see the taller buildings not-quite a mile away in Lafayette, the Tippecanoe County courthouse building the most obvious:

that’s it there framed by clusters of leaves, right of center.

Meanwhile, behind the construction fencing, the preparation for something else has begun.  The construction fencing features one of my favorite things: the ironic “sidewalk closed” sign:

‘cause it should say “sidewalk gone”

since there ain’t no sidewalk there no more.  

As has also happened repeatedly over these last several years, the new construction is overlapping where other new infrastructure was only fairly recently introduced, like the new traffic control posts and lights seen here.

R. Jake Wood, 2022

Across the street: how long are these going to last?

Other images of reconstructed stuff can be seen here and here.

[feriowind]

ah man thinking more merman stede au and i think him turning back into a merman during his confrontation with chauncey in the woods (though maybe this time it’s closer to the beach...) would be v good....

chauncey discovers his true identity or at least just convinced he’s not human and somehow has a spell to break stede’s transformation and tries to capture him...? and stede does end up killing him in self defense/panic....

and then stede has to crawl back to the ocean before someone can find him/capture him (and he dries out on land) and it takes far too long and by then ed is long gone back to the revenge

stede does track down the revenge again but he’s too scared to reveal his true identity to everyone so he just tails far behind for several days while he tries to figure out what to do, but then he sees lucius get tossed over the edge of the ship (who he finally saves after observing for several seconds because he can’t tell if lucius just decided to take a midnight swim) and he can’t hide anymore, especially because lucius is screaming very loud that a monster has got him, which is weird and alarming enough that ed feels compelled to go back out to look at what’s going on because he definitely just tossed lucius over to make him disappear, not feed to a monster in the ocean.

and he sees stede struggling to keep lucius afloat which immediately shocks him out of his shift into kraken mode because theyre miles from the shore, where did he come from, and oh hey there’s a giant fish tail thrashing in the water and its connected to stede

also i think in this AU, izzy hates stede at least a little less lol.... despite stede’s clumsiness, he’s still more experienced on the ocean, he’s a rich merchant instead of an aristocrat which is slightly better in izzy’s books, and something about stede sometimes just scares him. he hasn’t figured out why other than when he fought stede, there was a moment when he genuinely felt like he was prey about to be devoured by a predator and the feeling was enough to instill a sliver of respect/fear for stede (he still hates the blossoming soft romance between him and ed but is a lil nicer telling ed and stede his feelings about it lmao)

[tetherfans]

Uh random schizopost but here are my stanley parable characters favorite will wood songs -.-

Chauncey (Narrator ) : Tomcat disposables and Euthanasia

Carol ( Curator ): Red Moon, When somebody needs you

Kris ( 432 ): Cotards Solution Anatta Duhkka Anicca, Hand me my Shovel I'm going in

Stanley: The main character, Love me normally

Mariella: Cover this song ( Just a little bit mine ), Front Street

[lightbluetown]

i'm not gonna lie, with the whole s2 confrontation against the british and all i was expecting the soldiers to be like "hey these two pirate captains actually signed the act of grace! yeah we sent them to privateering school! and then they both disappeared on the same night in which admiral chauncey badminton was killed in the woods!! Suspicious!!"

[enteringdullsville]

The Lime Drewman, Lyman

Statistics

Aesthetic: Mysterious

Age: 27 (Season One)

Alignment: Inhibitor

Badge: Eye

Color Type: Green

Debut: You and What Army?

Effects: Aura Vision (Lyman uses his psychic powers defensively); Psoul Bomb (Lyman takes from his aura reserves and projects it); Psignal Wave (Lyman sends a loud, disruptive noise via telepathy); Psmokescreen (Lyman conjures toxic gas from between his hands that can serve as an attack, concealment, or media to project his visions)

Family: Unnamed parents; Chauncey Keeze (Grandfather)

Rank: A- (Main Character)

Standout Features: Shaggy hair, lidded eyes, beard, jacket.

Character Bases

Development

Lyman’s prototype, Olly, was partially recycled into two other characters: Lucy, who was raised in the wild, and Cedric, who spends all his time in the woods and talks to animals. Rough Sketch reigned him back in and made him more of a hippie character, but the talking to animals remained before mutating into outright aura vision.

From then on he became an archetypal stoner character despite never touching the stuff. His personality subsequently changed as ICT proper went on, going from zen and passive to far more alert and eccentric between his first and second appearances. As a side effect, he’s also a lot weirder than he used to be.

Be Odd