#muse; james 'mcgraw' flint

[vocesincaput]

ABOUT: James Flint

BIRTH NAME James McGraw

TAKEN NAME James Flint.

AGE 50 approx.

PLACE OF BIRTH London, England.

GENDER Male.

PRONOUNS He / Him.

SEXUAL PREFERENCE Gay.

RANK Captain, Lieutenant.

AFFILIATION(S) British Royal Navy (formerly), Thomas Hamilton, Miranda Barlow (Hamilton), John Silver, crew of The Walrus, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Anne Bonny, Billy Bones, Eleanor Guthrie.

FORMERLY @nolongermcgraw

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT 1.765mm / 5’11”.

HAIR Ginger.

EYES Green.

James was raised by his grandfather after his father, a carpenter, abandoned him following his mothers early death.

He has a tattoo of a crescent moon on his right arm.

James revealed that the reason he chose "Flint" as his alias when becoming a pirate was for a story his grandfather told him: when he was a boy on a ship, his grandfather saw a man climbing on the vessel, asking for food and water. James' ancestor gave them to him and asked for his name, being answered "Flint" before the mysterious man disappeared as fast as he came.

VERSES

OFMD

This is Jame's default verse here & will not be tagged as a verse. All of his story is the same except for things involving characters that are in both series (such as Blackbeard).

before sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place before the events of Black Sails, adapted to OFMD.

This includes James’ time in the British Navy, before that and when he first becomes a pirate.

during sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place during the timeline of Black Sails, adapted to OFMD.

It can follow canon events or start at a point in canon and go off into an alternative version of events.

after sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place following on from the events of Black Sails, adapted to OFMD.

modern verse

James McGraw was a member of the British Royal Navy until he was given a Dishonourable Discharge due to his relationship with another man (and other reasons, depending on individual verses/interactions).

Having lost everything, James had to find a way to start over. Taking on the name ‘James Flint’, he began to quickly learn the ways of being a conman. Taking on jobs that grew bigger and he subsequently gained a reputation of being good at what he did and ruthless when he needed.

[vocesincaput-arc]

James Flint

BIRTH NAME James McGraw TAKEN NAME James Flint. AGE 50 approx. PLACE OF BIRTH London, England. GENDER Male. PRONOUNS He / Him. SEXUAL PREFERENCE Homosexual. RANK Captain, Lieutenant. AFFILIATION(S) British Royal Navy (formerly), Thomas Hamilton, Miranda Barlow (Hamilton), John Silver, crew of The Walrus, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Anne Bonny, Billy Bones, Eleanor Guthrie.

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT 1.765mm / 5’11”.

HAIR Ginger.

EYES Green.

James was raised by his grandfather after his father, a carpenter, abandoned him following his mothers early death.

He has a tattoo of a crescent moon on his right arm.

James revealed that the reason he chose "Flint" as his alias when becoming a pirate was for a story his grandfather told him: when he was a boy on a ship, his grandfather saw a man climbing on the vessel, asking for food and water. James' ancestor gave them to him and asked for his name, being answered "Flint" before the mysterious man disappeared as fast as he came.

PERSONALITY

Flint is known throughout the West Indies as one of the most feared of all the Nassau pirates. He's arguably one of the strongest fighters in the series, skilled with sword, pistol and even fists; he was defeated in a duel with Blackbeard only after weeks of starvation. Even Vane acknowledges him as the best naval strategist in Nassau.

Flint is very charismatic, a cunning manipulator, shrewd and ruthless. He uses fear to lead others, and is fearless himself. As captain, he distances himself from the crew, while justifying it as due to resentment of his classical education. In truth, he can be distrustful of them, and believes himself the only person intelligent enough to understand his “noble” goal - revenge against the whole of England.

His charisma masks a deep, simmering rage, and a propensity toward breathtaking violence. Nothing will stand in the way of his plan; not Billy, not Gates. His sanity grows steadily more unstable over the first two seasons, up to the point of killing his friend Gates for doubting his plan. Then after Miranda’s death, he snaps, having a massive freak out, until Silver gets him in check again.

Flint's partnership with Silver works better than any of the others, as Flint respects him, trusts him, and even considers him a friend. However, the partner-turned-friendship is truly tested over Madi. Ultimately, the history of people being irresponsibly consumed by Flint's crusade - Gates, Eleanor, Miranda, countless crewmates - and the prospect that the woman he loves will be next, is too much for Silver. He betrays him and sabotages his war against civilisation.

VERSES

before sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place before the events of the series.

This includes James’ time in the British Navy, before that and when he first becomes a pirate.

during sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place during the timeline of the series.

It can follow canon events or start at a point in canon and go off into an alternative version of events.

after sails

This verse covers anything and everything that takes place following on from the events of the series.

modern verse

James McGraw was a member of the British Royal Navy until he was given a Dishonourable Discharge due to his relationship with another man (and other reasons, depending on individual verses/interactions).

Having lost everything, James had to find a way to start over. Taking on the name ‘James Flint’, he began to quickly learn the ways of being a conman. Taking on jobs that grew bigger and he subsequently gained a reputation of being good at what he did and ruthless when he needed.

[seafavoured]

𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐔𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐃'𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄, but this was a night to be lost within his own mind. his own thoughts left room for little else. and thus, he simply nodded his thanks at the man's apology for flint's loss. for the death of miranda, a woman with whom ned had always quarreled. but he had learned well of late that those who hold hatred for one another may still band together for a cause.

❛ mm. all the fresh faces to join the account these past weeks, all fools riding the coattails of real mens' success. we forged the way for them, cultivated the land where they reap harvest. ❜ tone little but a low growl from his throat. A SIGH escaped parted lips, head dipped to rest in a free hand which massaged at his temple a moment. ❛ but doesn't a fair king wish to provide for his subjects? ❜ god, his head felt so fucking full. his body so exhausted it felt as though it would crumple beneath him if he stood. but he wouldn't let it.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED.

some of the weight seemed to lift from his shoulders at the warm touch of ned's hand. fingers intertwined. the only one of his lovers left standing at the end of it all. the only one who truly knew james flint ; knew him, and EMBRACED him wholly as he was. when his gaze angled back up to meet with the other's, it was resigned. resolute. ❛ everyone who knew james mcgraw is dead. ❜ his conversation with miranda rang loud in his head : was he ready to let captain flint go? a conversation had in another time, another world. his jaw set. ❛ perhaps it's time to let him go at last. return him to the sea. ❜

Ned had heard rumors, here and there, and he'd been uncertain of their validity, but one look at James and he could tell from the state of him that at least some of the rumors were true. He had resigned himself to Miranda Hamilton's existence a long time ago, had known that she was one of those very few things he could not touch unless he wanted to lose James forever, most likely via losing his own life. But now she was gone.

Still, there was something genuine in Ned's voice when he reached a hand out, laid it over the other man's, and said, "I am sorry, James." Ned was being sincere - he was truly sorry that he didn't get to kill her, this last little thread of James to his past, who always tried to make him good, who never really saw the beauty in his violence, in his madness. A shame that someone had taken the opportunity from him to end her life himself.

Yet, what was it they said? When one door closed, another opened.

Ned simply eyed James for a long moment as he spoke - he wanted to take that twitching lip between his teeth and pull - this was a venture to take carefully. The flames of violence were there already, but a bit of fanning would not go amiss. A disapproving tut, curling his fingers up with James' own, tangling them together, intertwining them, connecting them, "They see every last one of us as monsters, regardless of our actions, regardless of who actually deserves the title." Offensive, it was, that the lowliest of powder monkey on some greenhorn's ship could be painted with the same brush as Ned Low, but that was the way of the law of England. A bit of a chide, for it'd be far too off putting if Ned didn't try to bait him, "You're right. I did warn you. Perhaps you'd be wise to listen to me more in the future."

[least-among-hamiltons]

v: stranger than you dreamt it

conceit: what does it look like when the escape from the plantation doesn't yield an army of friends or allies that provide Thomas and James security in their post-canon return to Nassau? what if life is just as precarious post-canon as it always was? what happens when Thomas's answer isn't to tell James to put Flint away, damn the consequences, but that the story is more necessary than ever, that without it they have no chance to survive? what happens when Thomas loves Flint just as much as McGraw, when to him there is no difference? what if the worst of all worlds is that Thomas is too similar to Flint to save him?

includes: politics, violence, whump, separation anxiety, death of past selves, nostalgia for past selves, grief, canon-typical acts of manipulation to acquire power (though not of each other), worldbuilding

focus (at least on my end) will largely be on how Thomas becomes an active political player in Nassau. since, in essence, i am currently RPing alone, should any of my RP partners return as i have, consider this backstory for the 'verse. other muses may wander in as they please.

[fatedtragedie]

Storm colored eyes scanned the horizon in the distance. It wouldn’t be long now, soon all of this plotting and planning would come to an end. They would soon have the Urca gold in their hands and his promise to make his crew princes of the new world will come to fruition. Closing his spyglass, his face doesn’t betray a different emotion other than the same look he has worn for years now. Most men don’t come to him for anything, because they all fear him and perhaps they were right to. They believed different whispers about him and he doesn’t dispute that, that was Gates’s job. No one would dare come and question him, except for one man. This man was allowed to do so because Flint held him up in such high regard. It wasn’t often you found someone with a great knowledge in medicine.

He tilts his head slightly when he feels the presence beside him. “How are the men, Mr. Wesker?” He’s curious as to what they were feeling now that they were getting closer to their destination.

[intolerablexsacrifice]

kdfjnsdkjfn honestly one of my favourite things across all of my blogs here is just the many varied relationships my muses have with everyone’s BEAUTIFUL LADY OCS AND CANONS

[vocesincaput-arc]

James had felt close to Thomas since he had begun to work alongside him but he had always put it down to something more akin to friendship. Having never even contemplated something like what had transpired with someone of the same gender before.

But it had happened. They had kissed. Not just that either. They had kissed before Thomas's wife, his friend. Once Miranda had excused herself from the room, the full impact of what had transpired between himself and the other man hit him like a ton of bricks. He quietly followed Thomas into his study and sat down upon one of the chairs within.

James didn't answer him when he spoke, too lost in his thoughts.

He had kissed Thomas. His friend. A man...

James's hands shook slightly as his mind struggled to comprehend it all.

for @vocesincaput

It had been an interesting evening to say the very least.

After the disastrous dinner with his father, James not only defending Thomas but going as far to throw his father out of his own house? Thomas had to top the night off and kiss James, and it wasn't just a kiss, he knew that and James he felt knew that as well. Not only had they kissed, they had done it in front of Miranda as well. Not that Thomas nor Miranda hadn't shared lovers before, this, this was different. Thomas within that kiss felt like he had changed their course forever, whether for good or bad was left to be seen.

Miranda had excused herself for the evening, knowing that he and James had a lot to talk about. Thomas took James back into his study and was in the process of pouring them both a drink, looking at him from the corner of his eye, Thomas asked him gently.

"Are you alright, James?" Thomas asked him, using his Christ-given name instead of his title, knowing this was a conversation that needed to forego formalities.

[fornassau]

Rules and Characters Post!

Mun’s name is Castor, but I will answer to Tori as well. I am transmasc and my pronouns are he/they. I’m pushing 40 and have written for well over 25 years.

This is an independent multi-muse blog for several characters from the show Black Sails and the novel Treasure Island. Muses will be listed at the bottom. You can hit up my inbox anytime with RP memes or otherwise, I love plotting but I like spontaneous writing as well! Feel free to hit up my private messages and I’ll get back to you as soon as I am able.

Since this is based off rather violent characters, there will be NSFW on this blog. I will not write any NSFW content with anyone that is not of the appropriate age. Some things can get very dark and if you have certain triggers, please warn me ahead of time before writing. Also please remember that the opinions of the muses on this blog are their opinions. I don’t necessarily agree with everything that they do.

I like to write semi-para or multi-para, but sometimes I’ll answer asks with shorter responses. I like when others have the same sort of style but I realize that it’s not for everyone. You don’t have to match my post length.

I reserve the right to drop threads. It just happens sometimes, I think all of us writers go through it. I love asks, but I’ll respond to the ones I can and really feel. Also, I’m not a stickler about replies and I’ll never harass you for one so please don’t do that to me! However mun is very nice and ND, and likes to check in on his lovely writing partners. Sometimes this has been misconstrued and I’ve been treated like shit. Really, I’m a friendly person. ^^<3 I like getting to know those I write with.

I ship chemistry. And I like to write far more than just ships. I love drama, anguish, pain and suffering. If you do have an incling on wanting to ship some of my boys, we can always discuss it.

I can’t follow back from this blog as it is a side blog, but I’ll be following you back from my main blog which is @bxnnxrxd . Feel free to follow that main blog and feel free to follow my Our Flag Means Death blog, @izzyeffinhands .

Crossovers and OCs are welcome to engage with any of my pirate folks. I love Our Flag Means Death as well as Pirates of the Caribbean, and anything age of sail, so feel more than welcome to bring your characters here.

The following is a list of muses I write for Black Sails. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. Flint is the favored muse of this blog.

Billy Bones.

Captain Flint, aka James McGraw.

Calico Jack Rackham.

Captain Charles Vane.

Lord Thomas Hamilton.

[sonofhistory]

My favorite thing about Black Sails is that straight men latched onto James Flint because he's badass and they "related to him" but then the show flipped them all upside down with the reveal that Flint is gay.

[asterofthevoid]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Black Sails Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Billy Bones & John Silver, Muldoon & John Silver (Black Sails), Muldoon/John Silver (Black Sails), Captain Flint | James McGraw/John Silver Characters: John Silver (Treasure Island), Billy Bones, Muldoon (Black Sails), Captain Flint | James McGraw Additional Tags: Hazing, Hand Jobs, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Jealousy, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Dildos, Chair Bondage, SilverMuldoon, background Silverflint - Freeform, Billy is ace, why is my muse like this, Male Bonding, Brotherhood, sometimes that shit is homoerotic af, and sometimes it's just homo, Homoeroticism, the pirates are gay, we already knew that, everyone is bi, i'm ignoring the timeline a bit because i want billy in this, mid season 2, this came to me in a dream Summary:

"This is hazing, isn't it?"

"This is hazing."

[hiddeninflame]

🧸

headcanon memes inspired by things i like, part 1.

[ 🧸 ] does your muse have any guilty pleasures or hobbies that make them embarrassed?

That depends on which part of his life you're referring to because while James McGraw is more reserved and generally a shyer person, the expectations for Flint are different. People expect the fearsome pirate Captain to be all brawn and hold to hypermasculine activities. So that dictates what he'd consider a guilty pleasure.

However, James most likes to fill his downtime where he's not at sea with homely tasks. He loves to cook, read and mend his own clothes. He's not open with any of those, besides his love for reading.

He also likes gardening with Miranda, when he can. But he's so rarely home nowadays that he can't often. And that's definitely something he doesn't just tell people.

[vocesincaput-arc]

I'm a happy mun. Just found my James Flint icons :D

[bisexuallittlefreaks]

No Archive Warnings Apply

Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton Miranda Barlow/Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton Miranda Barlow/Captain Flint | James McGraw Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton/John Silver Captain Flint | James McGraw/John Silver

Captain Flint | James McGraw Thomas Hamilton Miranda Barlow John Silver Charles Vane

Burn Notice AU

Summary

My name's James Flint. I used to be a spy until... "We've got a burn notice on you. You're blacklisted."

When you're burned, you've got nothing: no cash, no credit, no job history. You're stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in. "Where am I?" "Miami."

You do whatever work comes your way. You rely on anyone who's still talking to you. Bottom line, as long as you're burned, you're not going anywhere.

In which, James is a burned spy, Thomas is a behind-the-desk spy who he's secretly dating, John is an ex-IRA agent, Charles is an old friend who's informing on James to the FBI, and things with Miranda are complicated.

This is just snippets from this AU, not a full blown story. I hope to incorporate more characters as we go along.

Look, I know I should be writing gentlepersons of fortune, but my muse is being a bitch so have this instead.

[lurkerdelima]

oh god, if you did something with that, it would be amazing. :D seriously, HOW does he know? Flint needs to know. For reasons.

WONDER NO MORE! Here it is. :D Roughly 1900 words on how exactly Silver knows Flint’s first name. 

Very mildly NSFW toward the end. I could mention the pairing but honestly I want it to be a surprise (I will put it in the tags though). I hope you and everyone else who needed this question answered enjoys this answer! 💕

“My name is John Silver. His name is James Flint. We came here to steal the gold from the treasure galleon,” Silver says, and he can practically hear the wheels in Flint's mind turning. He knows what Flint must be wondering - how on earth does Silver know his given name?

It's a long story.

---

“Will! William! Come and meet someone.”

Silver - although of course he was not calling himself John Silver then - could hear Thomas Hamilton’s voice ringing out clear across the room. He followed the sound obediently and stood near his sponsor, silently appraising the man at Thomas’s side.

“Will, this is Lieutenant James McGraw, the liaison from the admiralty I was telling you about yesterday. Lieutenant, may I introduce my protege, the artist William Shepherd,” Thomas said grandly, making Silver sound much more important than he knew himself to be. “He’s the one who painted that lovely portrait of Miranda and me that you so admired.”

“Mr. Shepherd,” Lieutenant McGraw said, holding out his hand expectantly.

“Lieutenant McGraw,” Silver replied, shaking his hand firmly and risking a glance into his eyes. They were ridiculously, intensely green, as he’d feared on first look. The lieutenant was tall, though not quite so tall as Thomas, and clean-shaven. He had excellent posture and long auburn hair, and such abundant freckles that Silver fleetingly wondered if he had them all over his body. In a word, he was handsome. Devastatingly so.

Silver felt like a bit of a rake next to him. His curls were cropped close to his head (he’d cut them himself a few weeks prior in a fit of artistic pique), and he’d only recently managed to grow a decent mustache for the first time in his young adult life. He felt small and almost immature next to these two powerful older men. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

“Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant,” he said regardless, forcing a genial smile.

“The pleasure is mine,” the lieutenant said seriously. A devilish part of Silver whispered in his ear that it would be simply marvelous to see a man like that lose his calculated composure, see him give himself over to his baser instincts. That devilish part sounded remarkably like Thomas. It usually did.

“Shall we retire to the parlor, gentlemen?” Thomas himself asked, smiling at them both hopefully. Such a good and friendly host, was his lord. Silver could tell, though, by the gleam in his eye that he wasn’t solely imagining being friends with the lieutenant.

“By your leave, my lord,” Silver demurred, staring down at the floor and wishing silently for it to open and swallow him.

Soon enough he found himself sitting awkwardly on a sofa next to the lieutenant, with Thomas sprawled, loose-limbed, in an armchair opposite them. They had a small glass of brandy each, and Silver had somehow already downed half of his while the lieutenant had hardly so much as taken a dainty sip. Probably keeping his wits about him on purpose, Silver thought.

“It is a serious problem, I concur. The question is, how do we solve it?” Thomas was saying as Silver forced himself to pay attention to the conversation happening in front of him. It wasn’t that he was uninterested in the pirate problem in the Bahama islands - he was just feeling a tad bit flushed from the brandy, and also distracted by how Thomas kept smiling at him.

And at the lieutenant. Damn.

The night wore interminably on. Lieutenant McGraw proved himself to be a more than capable conversationalist - he was smart and well-spoken, and once in awhile Silver saw in him a flash of fiery temper that grudgingly intrigued him. The hour eventually grew late, and Silver began to feel itchy and impatient, like it was past time Lieutenant McGraw made his exit.

He decided to hasten things along with a bit of harmless play-acting.

“Lord Hamilton,” he interrupted them as they spoke animatedly, doing his best to sound woozy and tired. They both paused and turned to stare at him wonderingly. “I do believe the brandy has gone straight to my head. I am terribly embarrassed. Could I perhaps stay in one of your guest rooms tonight? I’m clearly in no shape to get home alone,” Silver said, fluttering his eyelashes and slumping down on the couch, trying to appear much more inebriated than he actually was. It wasn’t his most clever gambit, but he knew it would work, anyway.  

“Of course,” Thomas said a bit stiffly. If Silver was reading him right, he was not falling for this bit of theater at all. But he couldn’t just refuse Silver outright and look like a poor host in front of his important new friend. Silver knew Thomas well enough to predict his behavior that way.

“The hour has grown rather late. I do apologize for lingering so, I ought to be going,” Lieutenant McGraw said, rubbing his palms on his thighs self-consciously and rising from the couch. “Reporting early in the morning,” he added with a rueful half-smile. He looked keenly at Silver, unflinching, like he could see right through his charade, too. Silver looked away from the weight of that verdant stare, chagrined. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Shepherd. Excellent as always to see you as well, Lord Hamilton. Please give Lady Hamilton my regards,” he said, then was gone.

The rest of the guests had already left, since it was past midnight. Thomas helped Silver up from the couch once they were alone, then adjourned to an auxiliary bedroom with his arm around Silver’s waist, helpfully supporting his poor, ‘drunk’ protege. Once they’d locked the door behind themselves, Silver stood up straight, dropping the act completely without either of them saying a word. They began stripping each other of their finery, Silver making a very conscious effort to hold his tongue on the subject of one Lieutenant James McGraw.

Of course, he had always been the talkative sort, and the brandy did have the effect of lowering what little inhibitions he still had, even though he wasn’t as drunk as he’d made himself out to be.

“You have your eye on that fellow, don’t you?” he asked while he slowly unbuttoned Thomas’s shirt for him, watching his own fingers instead of his lord’s face.

Thomas chuckled lowly, taking Silver’s hand in his own, staying it so he’d be forced to look up into Thomas’s eyes instead of focusing on his task.

“My puckish Will, my sweet fae prince,” he rumbled, pulling Silver gently into his chest. “I do, yes. I trust you deeply, and so I can readily admit to that, here alone with you.” He took a breath and nuzzled Silver’s short, haphazard curls. “But, but. Please remember this: my wanting him doesn’t mean I want you any less. Just as my loving you doesn’t mean I love my wife any less.”

“Are you going to seduce him, do you think?” Silver asked, nuzzling Thomas’s half-bared chest, inhaling the warm, familiar scent of him. He could feel his heart hammering in his own chest - he’d never felt threatened by another lover (or potential lover) of Thomas’s before, but something already seemed different about Lieutenant McGraw. He didn’t like how thinking about him and Thomas together made him feel. It felt somehow inevitable, unavoidable. Like fate - a fate in which he had no part.

Thomas hummed softly, consideringly. “He seems rather shy to me. I’m not sure he’s ever so much as thought of a man that way before. Not like you, my naughty imp,” he teased, and Silver smiled a secret, pleased smile to himself, yelping when he felt Thomas’s long fingers pinching his bottom. “I must proceed with caution, I suppose. Move slowly. Bide my time and wait for him to show me that he wants me, too. I cannot risk him reacting poorly to an advance and telling anyone who will listen that I tried to...have my way with him.”

“I want you to have your way with me,” Silver purred insistently, leaning up on his toes to kiss Thomas.

Thomas moaned into the kiss and eased his tongue into Silver’s mouth, one hand rising to warmly cup his jaw. It was almost enough to make Silver take leave of his senses. Gently, affectionately, Thomas tugged on one of his curls.

“I’ve been thinking of growing out my hair,” Silver said when he pulled back, panting a little and tasting alcohol strong and fiery in his mouth from Thomas’s tongue. “Longer than before, maybe even to my shoulders.”

“And cover up those beautiful tiny ears? Whatever for?” Thomas asked lowly, backing him steadily toward the large, welcoming expanse of the bed.

“I don’t know,” Silver mused as he let himself topple back onto the mattress, squirming eagerly out of his trousers and hissing with pleasure when Thomas’s warm, soft hand closed around him. He was glad for the distraction, relieved to have Thomas’s attention solely on him again. “I just— ahh, think it might suit me.”

He left Thomas a few weeks later. It had very little to do with Thomas as a person or with the unexpected introduction of Lieutenant McGraw, he told himself - it was simply past time for him to cease being the artist William Shepherd and evolve into someone else. It was nothing personal, it was just how he chose to live his life.

Some time after he’d left, news reached him that Thomas had been sent to an institution and ultimately perished there. He drowned his sorrows in wine and opium for a week’s time, sobbing piteously into his pillow alone at night until he had no tears left. Then he picked himself up, shook the despair out of his clothes, and became yet another new man. Like a phoenix from the ashes.

Years later, when the ship he’d been stowing away on was boarded, when he raised his hands in surrender and took the name John Silver, he faced down the dread Captain Flint. And he recognized those green eyes instantly.

He’d know them anywhere.

—

“How exactly do you know my given name? I’d remember if I told you myself,” Flint asks some time later, once they’re both relatively safe and mostly sound again.

Silver studies him for a long moment, remembering it. All of it, down to the last painful, beautiful detail.

“Just a lucky guess, I suppose. James is, after all, a very common name,” he says, and mentally congratulates himself for how nonchalant he sounds. He’s given nothing away, which was his intent. He doesn’t want to ever remind Flint that they’ve met before, if he can help it - he didn’t mean to even use his first name. It slipped out before he could stop it, and he’s incredibly glad it only made Flint a little suspicious.

Besides all that, he truly doesn’t blame Flint for not recognizing him. They haven’t seen each other in years. Flint had been an important figure in the Navy then, and Silver imagines he’d met quite a lot of anonymous young men whose names and faces he’d long since forgot. It was a lifetime ago, they were both entirely different men, and James had only met William Shepherd the once and didn’t really know him at all.

Of course, neither did he really know John Silver.

[squid-inspiration]

1, 14, and 18 for the fanfic end of year asks!

sorry to take so long to reply!

1. favorite fic you wrote this year

EVIL QUESTION. ummm. prob stimulus? that was a true labour of love and accompanied me for 8 months. 

runner-up is thomas hamilton: a life bc i think we don’t talk nearly enough abt thomas the man, rather than thomas the boyfriend. it’s one of my biggest pet peeves when ppl call him “mellow” or “bland” bc have we been watching the same show??? this man is friendless bc he’s just way too fucking intense for 99% of ppl. you can’t tell me he didn’t leave a string of alienated lovers in his wake.

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

hmmm. stimulus seems obvious, bc i didn’t think i’d be writing abt middle-aged men dealing with erectile dysfunction. 

but also whalebone, rigged to stem the floods. that went v much into different sorts of oppression faced by different marginalized groups, and muses on how james as a man has a certain power that miranda doesn’t have as a woman, while she has some as a wealthy, presumably straight person he doesn’t as a working-class queer man. just. a lot more analysis than expected packed into 2.5 of corset porn written for a tumblr prompt lol.

18. current number of wips

UMMMMM. SO MANY? lemme see, i’ll just list what’s in various states of Being Written rn, which ranges from 150 to 20k words.

1. james/thomas/flint - best described by @brightbluedot as a “surreal psychodrama made flesh”2. thomas hamilton: a life - all the rest lol3. mcgraw’s mahogany cock emporium - our business motto: “fuck the empire, one hand-crafted artisan sex toy at a time”4. an introspective lil look at james mcgraw & the seasons of his life5. pt 2 of wooden tides to run - FIREPLACE SEX!6. companion piece to stimulus - a winter scene7. catullus 16 - in which james & thomas read some filthy roman poetry and subsequently Have Thoughts About Sodomy (and ofc do some research of their own!)

so i suppose that’s 7 for now!

[amidnightmoon]

A very big snipped of my unfinished, yet already 7k words, fix it, post TI. I know, can't believe it either.

Madi and John are almost at their destination.

“I think I surpassed Flint.” Silver was musing, a distant look in his eye. He was spawn out along the bed, occupying most of the space. His peg leg lay disregarded in the far corner of the room. Madi was seated in the chair by the window, a book opened in her lap. The room was small, but decent, providing a bed big enough for the two of them, a small table with two chairs, and a few shelves upon the wall opposed the bed with a dozen books on it. The window looked out over the harbour of the city. The rain silently lapsed against the windowpane, a sound Madi found most calming. John, apparently, thought so as well – he did his best musing under the cover of rain.

Madi raised an eyebrow inquiringly. “Is that so? And in what regard?” she asked him, humouring him in his thinking. John lightly scoffed.

“Did you know, when I first joined Flint’s crew, he got mutinied on twice?” Madi did not know this. John and she talked little about his days on the account, and the name ‘Flint’ had not been muttered for nearly twenty years, until he had hunted for the treasure. And now they were here, almost at their destination, and he finally spoke of him to her again. Not only in requiring his whereabouts, but really discussing him, finally allowing her into his thoughts and into his past. She’d known, of course, both Flint and Silver from their days at the island and later during the war, but he’d never told her about his journey with Flint that had led to her island in the first place. She’d known about his fears, regarding the captain and his darkness, his desire to burn and burn and burn, but he never did disclose where these fears came from. After the war had ended he had, of course, told her everything regarding James McGraw and his relationship with the Hamiltons, but it had been painstakingly clear that John had regarded McGraw and Flint as two whole different people. Madi had disagreed, trying to explain to him that a man, while having two different personas, still could be one person and that said personas would often intertwine. John had not grasped this notion and spoke of it no more.

Madi hooked her index finger in the book and let it fall close, so that she could return to her page later. She drew her other hand underneath her chin, allowing her head to rest while looking at John. John had folded his hands beneath his head so that he could look a little easier at her. A small smile had formed on his lips.

“Well, it’s true,” he said. “The first mutiny happened very shortly after I came aboard the Walrus. One of the men, Singleton I believe the fucker was called, was challenging Flint in front of the crew and wanted to depose him. Flint used the page I stole, the page necessary for securing the Urca Gold, to challenge him and bash his head in with a cannonball.”

They had been here for the last three days now, in a small hotel room in Philadelphia. It was early October, but an autumn storm, meaning lots and lots of rain, accompanied with a lot of wind and ever dropping temperatures, had been raging for almost a week now. John and Madi had meant to travel through it, but upon reaching the city, tired and worn and cold, they had decided to seek refuge in the nearest tavern. It was that night that John’s leg had gotten inflamed, presumably a consequence of traveling through such foul weather. Madi had then insisted he’d rest before they would leave civilization behind and move into the mountains.

While John rested that first day, Madi had been into town, asking after James McGraw. The people here seemed to know him, as he, on rare occasions, would visit the city to provide his estate with enough supplies to last the winter, or to trade/sell his own crops or animal skins on the market. It was obvious he hunted to provide himself and his companion of fresh meat, and his skins were often well-kept. The merchants spoke highly of its quality, as there were often little to no damages owing to his hunting.  

Some people even knew the way to his estate. It was almost a week of traveling through the woods. There would be some small villages along the way, they said, but these would become scarce as well – the estate of McGraw lay two days of travel from the last little settlement they would encounter. That’s also where the main road, if you could call it that, would end. From there on, there would be some tracks they could follow that were human-made, and their direction would be north-west. The estate lay at the foot of the mountain and would be impossible to reach once winter set in, but the men had ensured her they could not miss it. But, if they wished to reach the estate before snowfall, they would have to leave no later than a fortnight from now.  Madi had returned to the tavern, excited to tell John about her discoveries, when she’d found him fast asleep, slightly snoring and his left leg bare and taken care of – she could smell the bear grease he’d used to coat his stump in. While it smelled terrible, it was a good salve to cool the skin and fight the fever. She smiled fondly at the sight, crossed the room to the other side of the bed and had laid beside him, slightly dozing while her husband slept. He was still stubborn on a lot of things, but in the last decade he’d learn to take good care of his left leg, so that he himself remained healthy. It started to look better now, the leg returning to its normal colour. Some scars still stood out where his leg stopped, but most of them had faded with age and good care. John’s mood had improved as well, hence the musing.

Madi quirked an eyebrow. “That’s awfully violent, dear. Surely that’s not what happened?”

Silver glared at her. “Madi, you’ve seen him fight. Please don’t tell me you don’t think he had it in him to do just that. Anyway, that’s not the point. I was telling you how I surpassed my Captain…”

“Yes, and then you started to talk about the times Flint was mutinied on,” Madi interrupted. “Hold on… John?”

“Yes dear?”

“Your crew mutinied?”

John had the nerve to smile broadly at her. “I knew you’d catch on!”