#I mean I do ship stizzy

[ladykatibeth]

I’ve seen the statement Izzy thinks about Stede more than Stede thinks about Izzy a couple times now, like it’s evidence of their like…natural investment and it’s weird to me because it’s really the most natural outcome of the situation they’re in.

In the early episodes Ed is interested in Stede and assigns tasks related to him, ‘go check out that grounded ship’, and asks Izzy questions about it later.

He again asks Izzy to go find Stede, and then asks questions about that encounter as well.

Izzy is beholden to Ed, Ed is interested in Stede, Stede is completely oblivious to this.

Then later Izzy is living on Stedes ship, surrounded by his crew, and his boss, who, while he’s employed is in control of his residence and decides his work goals and future plans is spending a bunch of time with him. Stede is a captain and he’s in the same place he’s always been with a few new people.

Ed tells Izzy he plans to kill Stede, and asks for his help, this is his employer deciding his future course of action, and it’s all based around the end goal of killing him, he’s given a project and that’s what he focuses on.

Then his employer (also close friend) has banished from Stede’s ship and is still spending time with Stede like—of course you’re going to think about the person your friend who you’re worried about is staying with while you’re away I mean—

There’s some heavy emotional investment involved in this, of course, it’s not all circumstance, but like a lot of it is.

It’s a lot harder to say reasonably that one character seeming more fixated on another character is like…a sign of one simmering in a one sided rivalry when the narrative has placed all of that characters focus on them through setting and another characters motivation.

#I mean I do ship stizzy #I’m not saying that these two don’t have weirdly strong #negative reactions #to each other #way too intense #but also #like it’s not that Izzy is thinking that much more for no reason #Izzy hands

[justsalpals]

Instead of dying Izzy gets turned into a vampire

That's it, that's the whole pitch

#our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #izzy hands #blackhands #edizzy #stizzy #gentlehands #steddyhands #ouizzy #rizzy #princehands #I do not know the names of other Izzy ships but this one's for them too

[arsenicflame]

i think the thing for me about edizzy is the potential of it all- we know they have history together, but we don't know what it is, how long it went on for, what it meant for them. there's endless possibilities there to explore, and any of them could be real! or not! but theres so much to explore with them and its so fun to imagine all the what-if's and could-have-beens of their relationship

#like yes!!! i love stizzy and steddyhands and rizzy and ouizzy and ALL the izzy ships! #but it always comes back to edizzy for me simply because of the ties that bind them #we see all the other relationships grow in canon and build off of that #but we KNOW theres more to edizzy that we simply dont know about and imagining all their possible pasts is so interesting to me #how did we get to where we are now? where can we go in the future? what underlies their relationship that we simply dont know? #were they married? unrequited love? mutual pining? never considered it until it was too late? divorced a dozen times over? #have they known each other since they were kids? did they meet on Hornigold's ship? did they meet after ed became blackbeard? #does izzy have a navy past? is that how they met? a brothel? the streets? a prison? a bar? #they could literally be anything! #maybe theyve only known each other two years! maybe its twenty! #we literally do not know and the possibilities are there and it CONSUMES me #i cant settle on one favourite reality for them because i just have so much fun messing around with all the different options #what will they be this week? #nyxtalks #ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #israel hands #edward teach #edizzy #blackhands #and im so sad canon didn't take any opportunities to explore it in s2 #like we got a few hints that they are Something; but not even a passing comment about who they really were to each other #nothing!! #im not a writer so i couldn't tell u how to do it well but. a passing comment! anything! #a moment explaining izzys loyalty to ed after everything; talking to lucius about complicated relationship and moving on; to ed face when #hes confessing or after his leg; to Ned or to Zheng or Ricky or Hornigold or anyone! anything! Ed to Fang in the boat!! #im just surprised that wasnt a path they at least tried to explore; given how much of s2 was focused around them to some degree

[welcometotheanonsclub]

A note on Izzy Hands (and Steddyhands)

I think it would be cool if steddyhands happens in s3. It probably won’t, the whole show is centered around Stede and Ed’s relationship, and I can’t see a world where the main relationship is a gay poly one, especially with the polycule that’s already forming. (A girl can dream, but I realistically just can’t see how it could happen.)

Also I can’t see Ed and Izzy ever getting together, especially now that Izzy has grown so much away from him, has changed so much already, for the better. I don’t think he can ever go back to the person he was when he loved Ed, especially now that he loves himself.

But on the other hand, Izzy’s so completely entwined with their relationship. He was there when they met. He watched them fall in love. His voice is literally the soundtrack to them having sex for the first time. He is there for Stede after Ed decides to leave on a whim. There’s something so romantic about him being there. Supporting Ed when Stede leaves (albeit going about it the wrong way) and doing the same for Stede. He’s there for both of them, even after all this time

#I’m just so feral about Izzy and how he affects ed and stedes relationship #I would fr love to see steddyhands but I just don’t see it happening #a girl can dream #steddyhands #stizzy #do ed and Izzy have a ship name? #oh yeah #blackhands #ofmd #our flag means death #omfd meta #izzy hands #stede bonnet #ed teach #gentlebeard

[theorderofthetriad]

thinking again about how Ed became interested in Stede from Izzy's account of Stede, and specifically took note that Stede "bested [Izzy] at swordplay" and then specifically wanted to get Izzy to go bring Stede to the ship and wanted Izzy to "make a good impression"

I like to think of myself as one of the first Stizzy shippers, but I think that crown actually goes to Ed.

#Ed hearing about Stede from Iz: it sounds like there's something sexy that could happen here and i want to be right in the middle of it #also during the scene where Ed tells Izzy to do this Ed uh... groans and readjusts as he tells Izzy to invite Stede aboard the ship????? #i should make a sound bit of that #izzy hands #edward teach #ofmd #our flag means death #steddy hands #stizzy #steddyhands #gentlehands #santagno

[laceratedlamiaceae]

Stede/Izzy is yaoi and Ed/Izzy is yuri and only by uniting them into steddyhands can we achieve peace

#i don't ship steddyhands except for the times that i do you know what i mean #our flag means death #ofmd #steddyhands #stizzy #blackhands #stede bonnet #izzy hands #edward teach #shitpost

[krowscrawl]

kissies?

#our flag means death #ofmd #izzy hands #calico jack #jackhands #cjizzy #my art #surprise! it's not stizzy/edizzy/steddyhands #listen somehow ppl have indirectly forced me to like this ship in all its silliness and it is NOT MY FAULT #I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING I DID NOT DO #/j /j /j #i just wanted to draw flowery izzy but if it had been any other ships it would've been #a) disgustingly sappy #or b) real fuckin somber to angsty #and i was just not in the mood :3 #so cjizzy it is #also cj's face is weirdly hard to draw in the beginning?? and it still is tbh #like i had to consult different artists' works depicting him just to #vaguely draw someone that kinda resembles him #:v #oh well practice makes perfect or whatever lol

[something-about-sunflowers]

Can we please stop tagging characters that are unrelated to the post/art/etc? I understand you want to cast a wide tag net to get the most engagement but around these parts we consider that spam and that’s a blockable crime.

I’m really only seeing it in the Izzy Hands tag (Yes, that’s a lovely blackbonnet/gentlebeard piece but Izzy isn’t present or implied so he really shouldn’t be tagged), since that’s where I live, but this applies to the whole fandom.

I don’t know if this is a twitter refugee issue or what but I’d really like to not have to block people for not understanding tag etiquette.

#the dork is being a dork #izzy hands #stede bonnet #edward teach #ofmd #our flag means death #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #stedeward #stedward #stizzy #gentlehands #edizzy #blackhands #i could go on but i don't think its necessary for steddyhands #and i don't think this happens with any of the other characters/ships in the show #this is an example‚ by the way‚ of 'casting a wide tag net' #here its relevant because i'm trying to spread awareness of an issue #but Don't Do That just to get your art seen by more people

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Thoughts on Steddyhands because I’m at full Pepe Silvia levels of conspiracy thinking right now:

I’m more willing to believe in Steddyhands becoming canon than I think I ever have been before because of the comments both Rhys and Con made at various cons PLUS the teaser

HEAR ME OUT

This is a cast with IMO an unusually high awareness of fan theories/shipping (that goes double for Con “my instagram is just fanart” O’Neill), so Stizzy/Steddyhands has to be something they’re aware of.

Moreover, while cons are less edited/monitored than a magazine article or something, there is still usually a certain amount of prep that goes into them. And while Con is willing to spread shipping chaos, I don’t get the sense that Rhys is.

So for both Con AND Rhys to make Stizzy-bait comments (“he looked good at the end of my sword”/“hunky”) HAS to have had, obviously not scripting, but forethought attached to it. Like, Rhys could have very easily said “Stede only has eyes for Ed” or similar and it would be perfectly fine. That he DIDN’T makes me SUSPICIOUS, especially in light of the teaser.

Then comes the Vanity Fair first look, which IS going to be edited in a way that a con isn’t. And let’s look at what it says:

Izzy “goes on a remarkable journey” this season, says O’Neill. “He understands what love is and whom he’s in love with.’’

By the end of season one many fans speculated that Izzy was driven by something at the intersection of love and obsession. This season, according to O’Neill, Izzy gets even deeper into that dynamic. “Physically it’s been quite demanding, and also emotionally it’s been quite demanding to be playing a man enraged by unrequited love, who’s basically a hopeless romantic, and to be able to play all that and also remember that this is fundamentally a comedy.’’

“What I love about this show is it does allow itself to swing between the two,” O’Neill says. “We’re almost operatic in our darkness at times, and then we swing back to the sweetness of the simplicity of the love of our two guys. It’s been challenging just to get the tone right.”

“We’ve gone further this season than we did last season with those tones,” he continues. “So sometimes it’s quite interesting to remind yourself that you have to take your foot out of the tragedy—literally, your foot—and put it back into the comedy.”

on set there’s been “a lot more spontaneity and script revisions based on what’s happening day-to-day,” says Douaihy. “The cast are so comfortable with one another and their characters, that they move through it naturally.’’

In the trailer, we see:

Stede getting in a fight with someone not Izzy, then getting excited and telling Izzy he threw a punch (which to me only makes sense if Izzy taught him to do it)

Stede just hanging out while Izzy practices swordplay shirtless COME ON

Now, let’s play some matchup.

Both Rhys and Con have an awareness of their characters that lets them just get spontaneous while still in character

Both Rhys and Con have, while speaking from what their characters would say/think, said they both thought the other was hot

Con does not specify “whom [Izzy’s] in love with” even though Vanity Fair literally makes a comment about Izzy’s love for Ed, so it’s not like he’s hiding anything important by not specifying Ed if he means Ed

Izzy’s a “hopeless romantic” “enraged by unrequited love” this season

SO, connecting the dots (I’M CONNECTING THEM), here’s my prediction:

Izzy is going to find Stede and try to get him to Ed. This is the “journey” Con is referencing.

During this time he’s going to be training Stede in stuff like throwing a punch. I think this is actually the emotional journey, not simply him hanging out on Ed’s ship and realizing he loves Ed: he leaves Ed and finds Stede and emotionally grows while spending time with him. (I think this also means Izzy is going to spend more time with Stede, plot-wise, than with Ed, because he’s not going to grow there)

“I just need to find the love of his life and it’ll fix him” is a very hopeless romantic thing to think JSYK

Izzy is standing on one foot in the candles scene, which to me means that “taking your literal foot out of the tragedy and into the comedy” is referencing his toe and sword fighting while disabled… which Stede is present for. So Stede has to know what Ed did to Izzy and almost certainly is going to have feelings about it.

All of that is great fodder for improv while in character.

I can think of nothing more emotionally swinging, more romantic, more enraging, and more funny than Izzy training his rival to be a pirate in pursuit of Ed’s love and then falling for Stede himself in the process, knowing that if they get together he has neither of them.

I will note that this doesn’t mean Steddyhands has to be endgame in a canonical sense (even though I want it with all my soul). I do think that Steddyhands will be referenced/built on in an emotional sense, even if it’s only through Stede and Izzy’s bitch4bitch interactions. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

#ofmd meta #i connected the dots i connected them #personal #our flag means death #stizzy #gentlehands #steddyhands

[kityana]

#i was actually surprised at how quickly they dropped their weird version of blackhands #like for over a year now they've been writing blackhands as this abusive relationship with ed as an uncontrollably violent toddler #which. you know. incredibly racist on its own #but then they claim they actually got it in canon and it's too much so they drop the brown guy and ship the white guys exclusively? #very very weird

^^its not actually weird at all!! it’s very simple: the brand of blackhands these shippers loved is when they could portray the relationship as constantly imbalanced in izzy’s favor bc ed needed to do so much work to Atone and izzy was a poor helpless victim to ed’s violence. and when i say they wanted that relationship constantly imbalanced i mean CONSTANTLY constantly, like they needed ed groveling they needed izzy being doted on they needed the entire dynamic of their relationship to be centered around how izzy is finally getting the love he “deserves” for putting up with ed and being ed’s victim for so long.

and now they got the first half of the dynamic they wanted which is ed being a domestic abuser and izzy being the target of ed’s abuse (i mean, they didn’t actually get it, but they THINK they did) but they had a part two to the dynamic that they didn’t end up getting which is “ed is permanently put in the doghouse” and to them, ed saying “sorry bout your leg” was not NEARLY enough groveling.

and!! ed even got to be happy in the season despite not fixing his relationship w izzy!! bc these fans only think abt any aspect in the show when they’re thinking abt “how can i make this about izzy” so like to them the most important part of any narrative analysis of ed revolves around his relationship with izzy (this is why ed leaving in 1x07 is abt missing izzy and not abt him being unsure of his relationship w stede, why they’ve written metas abt how the chain and run from me are edizzy songs, why there were headcanons that thankfully got squashed pretty quickly they DID exist for a minute abt how ed grew out his hair bc izzy had long hair when they were younger and ed thought it was cool) and they expected the show to write ed this way, too.

and then the worst part (and also the part i've seen izzy stans analyze the LEAST which is in no way a coincidence) is that in izzy's dying words he admits to Fueling Ed's Darkness for his own personal gain. he apologizes for being cruel to ed. and outside of their buzzword phrases about how this was a portrayal of "an abuse victim apologizing to their abuser" i haven't seen anyone from the izzy stan crowd dig into what it actually MEANS and what kind of harm izzy caused by feeding ed's darkness and pushing ed to be blackbeard, like they're acting as if izzy’s literal actual last words have no narrative significance whatsoever. but you’ll notice there are MANY posts from izzy stans abt how horrific the violence ed did to izzy was and how tragic it all is for poor izzy :(

so yeah. the three-hit combo of 1. not enough focus on ed atoning for harming izzy, 2. ed being allowed happiness despite not having properly atoned for harming izzy, and 3. the finale directly saying “izzy did bad things in this relationship, too” are why they fully fucking hate ed now and have abandoned ship to start writing stizzy now. like, we have a few stede and izzy interactions in s2, but for the most part their relationship is a blank enough slate that they can create a whole fully-fleshed out (and, lbr, probably very generic and overused) fanon dynamic out of scraps. but ed was given too much attention from the story outside of just being a vehicle to project izzy’s desires onto and also the source of izzy’s trauma and they can’t reconcile their version of edizzy with what happens in canon. thinking abt edizzy means thinking abt how canon didn’t punish ed enough and how ed got a happy ending when izzy didn’t, even tho in their minds ed is the reason for the majority of izzy’s misery.

sorry lol “it’s actually very simple” i say before depositing five hefty paragraphs into ur inbox

(this is in reference to my tags on this post)

yeah that is a pretty good summation of everything.

tho thinking about it, i do think there's a secret 4th component as to why they're now dropping ed completely and shipping stizzy, which is how stede became more masc this season. i think the show makes it pretty clear the reason for it is that stede thinks he has to become more masculine and violent to get ed back and keep him, but that doesn't really matter to them. the fact remains that stede is now dressing in muted colors and leather, and pulls out his sword on a dime. so now they're more comfortable enjoying him.

#Our Flag Means Death #Stede Bonnet #The Gentleman Pirate #Edward Teach #Blackbeard #Izzy Hands #fanfiction

[lionpointe]

I have a legitimate question for everyone that's still hanging on. If you're still interested in shipping them, how do you view edizzy as a pair post s2? This extends to stizzy and steddyhands too.

I only really started paying attention to this fandom/the pairs in s2 so I'm really late and before I could really get into things the show did... that...I'm really curious about how people view these pairs now. Cause to me, their reaction to things post-that happening kinda made it seem like they barely even cared about Izzy. (Don't get me wrong Ed crying over Izzy's body was emotional so I mean everything after that moment.)

#The steddyhands movement looked huge till all of that happened... #Legitimately wondering how people that liked these ships are taking it #edizzy #stizzy #steddyhands #ofmd

[paleode-ology]

as always I’m thinking about the Stede/Izzy/Ed dynamic and trying to figure out how they can still win. I started going through this in the notes of a post and realized I just wanted to talk about it lmao so here we are

I’m Okay. So here’s the thing. I am so pro steddyhands. Like frankly it’s a dynamic that I love and want to see more of and like. As more mentally healthy individuals I think they would be soooo unstoppable like actually peak romance and chaos. BUT they are. Not. Mentally healthy individuals like they are all so incredibly fucked up. And that is maybe a post for another time. Anyway so I have two ideas about the ideal plotlines for these three, which I call the realistic plotline, and the one that won’t happen but would be sooooooo gay plotline.

This post ended up being kind of long bc I talk a lot lmao so here’s a cut.

Even though I want in my heart a steddyhands endgame, Jenkins has said that the third season would (if greenlit) be the last, and that’s just not enough time to work out a well-written and satisfying romantic end for the three of them. Also, I just honestly don’t think steddyhands was ever in the cards for this show; it would just be way too messy idk. Realistically, I think we can definitely get an Izzy and Ed reconciliation, and we’re DEFINITELY getting stizzy bonding this season, so at the very least they’ll all be friendly going into the third. But this season is obviously about Stede and Ed learning to trust each other again and get to know each other better before they go back into romance. They have shit to work out and they’re clearly gonna be starting to do that in the next few eps.

I thinkkk the plan is for them to heal this season and actually figure out their feelings for each other bc let’s be so real, they were so fucking repressed in season one and had just BARELY realized they were in love before things went to shit. The third season will probably just be them becoming proper husbands and co-captaining and like fighting the British yippee. Cannot wait.

As for Izzy. Oh my god Izzy. Okay. So he’s sticking around for now. He’s been the only one looking out for his crew this whole time (and honestly I think he and Stede might bond over that. Stede kind of gives very few fucks about his crew but he values their lives and doesn’t WANT to leave them behind. Tbh breaking them out while also dealing with Ed’s death was just so insane of him and like. He’s gonna be such a good captain.) and anyway, we know he’s going to be teaching Stede pirate things. Not to mention that everyone loves Con so Izzy’s undoubtedly going to be hanging with the crew and keeping them organized while Stede and Ed fuck off on their bonding excursions.

My running theory for Izzy in season three is that he’s going to be captaining the Adventure. (For those who don’t know, the real life Blackbeard had the real Israel Hands captain that ship for a hot minute.) Izzy’s wanted to captain a ship for a long time, and I mean, he’s the Revenge’s captain in all but name at this point. So once he’s sure Ed and Stede and the crew aren’t going to set the Revenge on fire and accidentally kill themselves, he’ll go off to captain the Adventure and have his own healing journey during the third season. Hell get to figure out what it’s like to be out from under the shadow of Blackbeard, and like honestly it’ll be way less stressful and he’ll have a good time. Season three can cut between his adventures and the Revenges adventures, and the overarching plot will have all of them reunite in the latter third of the season (deus ex machina Izzy PLEASE). They’ll work together, have a final reconciliation where they all end on good terms, and either Izzy will go his own way as his own pirate captain, or he’ll decide that he’s grown and healed but he still likes working with New Ed and he stays on with the Revenge or they form a fleet with the Revenge and the Adventure and maybe another ship that shows up at some point in the third (I just feel like a fleet of two ships sounds stupid sorry). Maybe they’ll give Izzy a boyfriend in season three also. Like maybe it’s just me but I feel like getting laid would fix him.

I’m really, really excited for Stede and Izzy to get closer this season. Their little enemies to romantic rivals to still romantic rivals but they have bigger things to worry about to besties is just so real. And I think that them being closer is going to just bring this new balance and dynamic that we haven’t seen before.

So that’s the realistic plotline. Everyone ends up happy, we have pirate husbands, and no one dies except for the British. Onto my insane pipedream plotline also known as the outline for the fic I will probably never write.

Basically, it starts off quite similar to the above prediction for the rest of the show. The only caveat is, the show extends past three seasons. I don’t know that Jenkins will keep writing after the third, even if the response is huge, just because he seems really dedicated to telling the story properly, and unless he decides now that he wants to keep it going, a fourth or more season would mess up the pacing of the show, especially since the season three finale is supposed to the The Show Finale. But for the sake of this fic outline, let’s pretend we get as many seasons as we want.

I still think Izzy should captain the Adventure. Like I really firmly believe that his and Ed’s relationship cannot fully heal unless they part ways for a bit, and as an Izzy diehard I just want him to have fun without worrying about Ed 24/7. I want it to be light, though. Like mostly just him working out his shit with Ed and what he wants from his life going forward.

Meanwhile, Ed and Stede get to have their honeymoon phase on the Revenge. They’ll have a mostly functioning crew for once, and I also like the idea of them escaping the law or fucking up nobles. Like just really have a fuck the rich moment. Once again, it’s light. BUT I also want them to acknowledge that they miss Izzy. Like Ed will tell stories about the years he worked with Hornigold and how he fell in love with pirating and probably compare this new beginning with him and Stede to when he set out on his own captaining journey and as he reminisces and starts to get over the trauma he never really dealt with, he’ll realize just how much Izzy was always there for him, and he’ll regret how he treated him when Izzy was the person closest to him for so long. Also, generally seems to be leaning away from being a full pirate rn. Like he’s definitely starting to realize that there’s more that he wants out of life, which he’s going to have to balance with pirating being the more that STEDE wanted out of his life.

Meanwhile, Stede will have his pirating tricks that Izzy taught him, and while Ed has his own style and certainly lots of pirating experience, he’s already taught Stede a lot, and, quite frankly, he’s a terrible teacher. Like. We saw how the sword fighting lessons went. Izzy is going to be more effective, and I think he and Stede are going to have a lot of fun once Izzy realizes that Stede actually respects his advice and genuinely wants to improve. Like that’s going to be really good for them. But then Izzy leaves, and Stede’s left with not very many people to go to with advice or ideas. People that will critique him (mostly) fairly. Once again, Ed loves Stede, but he mostly just wants Stede to be happy, and he’s good just being on the sidelines watching his husband slay the pirate life. So Stede misses Izzy too.

So does the crew. Ed tends to view himself as quite separate from the crew, and while that’s subject to change, I don’t think he actually knows how to be a good captain? Like. Izzy has been doing his job for him for forever. Meanwhile, Stede cares about the crew’s well-being, but he really isn’t that close with any of them. He very much sees himself as their leader, and lets them do whatever the fuck they want as long as the ship isn’t sinking and they all get to do some good old fashioned raiding.

Izzy, on the other hand, spent a long time in the space between captain and crew. While he sees himself as part of the crew, he has a huge responsibility that inherently comes with being first mate and is further burdened by the weight of dealing with post-breakup Ed. He earns the respect of the crew when they see how much he takes on for them. “He’s our dick.” While Ed’s prestige intimidates crews into following him, and Stede initially bought a crew, Izzy earned the respect of his crew, and he proved to them that he cared about their lives and their well-being. So yeah, going back to the Ed/Stede co-captaining chaos means that the crew is going to miss Izzy.

Note here that I think the Adventure would already have a crew. I don’t know under what circumstance they’d need a new captain, but let’s imagine that that’s what’s happening here. I want Izzy to be fully out on his own, without any of the crew he’d had before. Our season one crew stays with the husbands. In my mind, Izzy meets a guy from the Adventure, they become besties, and then that guy invites Izzy to come be their captain bc the old one like died or whatever. New guy is Izzy’s first mate, and helps him work through some of the Issues.

And Izzy LOVES being captain. He likes the responsibility, he likes looking out for his crew, and he enjoys looting and fucking over other pirates and colonizers and it’s just a whole vibe for him. He’ll earn the respect of this crew as well. He prioritizes their lives over his own, and they genuinely enjoy working for him.

Here’s the thing, though. Being captain is lonely. He has his own quarters, which are pretty fucking sparse. He has a new crew, and while making his own name is good for his ego, no one on his new ship knows him the way his old crewmates did. And let’s be honest, while his crew enjoys working for him, he runs a tight ship. He’s abrasive. He’s brutally honest. He can be cruel. He’s fucking insane with a sword. Let’s not forget that this is a man who, unlike Ed and Stede (for now) very willingly murders. Izzy can be SCARY when he’s not running himself ragged trying to please and take care of and save the man he loved without getting the rest of his crew killed.

So. He’s not really bonding with the crew. They aren’t friends. They’re just a team of pirates who trust their very scary leader. He’s close with his first mate, at least, since that’s the buddy who brought him onto the Adventure. For the most part, the isolation isn’t bad. He’s allowed to reflect and grow and become more confident in himself. He realizes he’s his own person and not just Blackbeard’s guard dog.

Still, he finds that there are things he misses about the Revenge, so when Ed and Stede find themselves in a tight spot (with the British? I do think it would be so fucking funny if we had ANOTHER Badminton), Izzy doesn’t hesitate to come to their rescue. He saves the day, gets to talk a bit with the husbands, and they decide that while being separate was good, maybe traveling together is something they can do again. The Adventure joins the Revenge, and we end season three.

THEN in season four we get to see the three of them together again. Their time apart has helped ease tensions, but there’s still work to be done before we enter poly territory. So Ed and Stede are fully in a relationship, with Izzy on the outskirts. Izzy’s gotten over his blind devotion to Ed and has grown closer to Stede, and it’s comfortable, but sometimes still a bit weird.

Izzy’s (and by extension, Ed’s) past is coming back to haunt him in this season. People he thought he’d left behind show up, enemies he’s made are coming back for revenge, and he can’t deal with it all on his own. Ed and Stede have to help him through it, and they have his back the way he had theirs at the end of season three. Ed begins to realize that he didn’t know Izzy as well as he thought he had back when they were shipmates, and so they get to talk and properly discuss what went wrong between them (namely Ed’s dismissive attitude towards Izzy and Izzy’s inability to accept Ed as anything other than the Dread Pirate Blackbeard).

Stede and Izzy get to be Violent together while Ed stays behind and organizes the auxiliary wardrobe, and now that Stede has improved on his swordsmanship even more, they get to have a lot of fun. Bonding via murder, my beloved. They learn how to work as a team, which would just be SUCH a dynamic like gentlemen pirate plus rabid chihuahua? Nothing better.

Eventually, I think the Adventure would make its departure. Izzy’s first mate would become captain, and they’d part amicably. Izzy stays with the Revenge. With Ed and Stede. The three of them take meals together. Izzy is a co-captain in all but name, preferring to remain first mate as long as he gets a say in what they do and where they go. He loves working more with the crew again, and they’re more responsive to him than they’ve ever been.

And slowly but surely, they all realize their complicated feelings for one another. Secretly and without telling each other, obviously. Ed and Stede are both confused with themselves because they’re HAPPY they have and love each other, but they also both value their time with Izzy so, so much, and of course they can’t say anything to the other because then Ed will think Stede doesn’t want him anymore, or vice versa, and that’s not what’s happening.

Izzy is just so fucking confused bc he can tell that how he felt about Blackbeard hasn’t gone away, exactly, but something’s different. And when he and Stede are fighting together or preparing the next ambush or discussing plans for their next stop, it’s so fun. Fighting with Stede is like breathing in a way that fighting with Ed never was. So. What the fuck? But it doesn’t matter how he feels anyway because Ed and Stede are together and why would either of them ever want to replace the other with Israel (Basilica) Hands?

So while they’re each having an existential fucking crisis, the entire crew knows what’s going on, or they at least have realized that there’s something weird happening with Izzy and the captains, but it’s not bad the way it had been before. So there’s betting pools going on who’s fucking who and whether or not Ed and Stede will leave the other for Izzy or if they’ll all just end up being together.

And just as things are reaching a breaking point between the three of them (Izzy retreats from them both, snapping at them and refusing to open up the way he had been previously and yelling at the crew more than usual, Ed stops talking to anyone at all, preferring instead to do target practice with Jim, and Stede is throwing himself into one raid or project after another, staying up through the night until he can’t stay awake any longer), our main conflict comes into play. We’ve been dealing with someone from Izzy’s past all season, and things finally come to a head. Tables are turned, and now Ed and Stede have to work together to save Izzy from whatever the fuck is happening. During this time, they realize that Izzy is equally important to the both of them and vital for the co-captain dynamic and they’re like. Fuck. Now we REALLY have to save Izzy.

And god, Izzy’s been saving their asses this entire time, hasn’t he? He’s always been there, and now they need to be there for him.

So uhhhh they rescue him and everyone kisses yippee that’s the ens of season four. Season five gets to be the True Poly Season, where they get to fuck around and be the baddest bitches of all time and it’s beautiful.

And that’s my rough outline for. What the show could be? A fic I want to write but probably won’t? Uhhhh yeah 👍

#ofmd #our flag means death #steddyhands #Izzy hands #ed teach #Blackbeard #Stede bonnet #gentlebeard #edizzy #stizzy #this is so long I’m gonna have to run it through a word counter bc I’m quite curious #but uh yeah #can you tell Izzy’s become my favorite character bc OUGH

[goayda]

Not My Place to Say - Part 1

First part of a Stizzy fic (it was getting too long to post in one go). As previously mentioned in one of my posts, Izzy meets Lestat on shore leave (I'm ignoring IWTV canon because I don't remember much of it, lets just say that Lestat traveled a lot and he happened to be there).

(As usual, set some time after 2x07, Ed is happy being a fisherman somewhere and there was no Zheng fight and no Prince Ricky attack. As usual too, no warnings needed.)

-------------

Izzy had noticed the man the moment he had walked into the tavern, but so had the rest of the people there. The man had been tall, blonde and handsome and his clothes had been colorful, expensive and more surprisingly, impeccably clean, which had made him stand out like a sore thumb.

He had also looked like the perfect victim in a place full of half-drunk pirates so it hadn’t taken long before one of them had pulled a knife on him to steal the noticeable bag of coins the man had been carrying. Big mistake.

The blonde man had known how to fight. In the blink of an eye the pirate had been knocked out on the ground and the stranger had simply straightened his outfit with a slightly annoyed look on his face, not a hair out of place.

The man had looked around the whole room with a cocky smile on his face as if daring any of them to try again, but before things could escalate, the owner of the place, a tough, short woman with more scars than many of the sailors in her business, had banged her fist on a table and had put a stop to it.

“Quarrels on the street!” she had yelled. “This is a serious warning!”

“Of course, ma’am,” the blonde man had said with a charming smile and a noticeable French accent. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, allow me to invite these gentlemen to a drink and put this unfortunate incident behind us. The next round is on me!” he had added loudly for the whole tavern to hear.

Everybody had cheered loudly and then they had gone back to their conversations and card games, ignoring the newcomer as long as they could get free rum. Izzy, who had been sitting alone in a corner while keeping an eye on his crew, had been ready to do the same, but suddenly the blonde man had appeared by his side and had offered him a drink.

Izzy had simply accepted it and god knew why, he hadn’t complained when the man had sat beside him, uninvited. Izzy had caught a glimpse of Bonnet’s frowning face and Lucius’ mischievous smirk then, but he had purposely ignored them as the man had introduced himself as Lestat de Lioncourt and had asked his name in that thick French accent of his, apparently unabashed by Izzy’s glare.

In the end Izzy had told the stranger his name and they had talked for a while and when a bit later the man had offered to share a room in the nearby inn, Izzy had looked at his silken shirt, his colorful jacket and the blonde hair framing the stupidly handsome face and he had said yes.

Still no idea why, Izzy thought as he walked back to the ship in the morning. He had been lonely, maybe. It had been too long since the last time he had allowed himself this, probably. So why the hell not? Right?

They had simply had a good time. The sex had been great and Izzy had enjoyed kissing that smug smile off his face and making him moan. The blonde man had been mindful of his stump, but hadn’t made a fuss over it and when they had parted ways he had not made it awkward or made cheap promises, he had simply smiled and wished Izzy safe travels before walking away.

So the thing was, why was Izzy feeling uneasy now, as he got closer to the Revenge? The image of Bonnet frowning at him kept coming back to his mind, but it was not as if the man, captain or not, could object to what Izzy did on shore leave. He did not have to, and he would not explain who he decided to spend the night with.

But still the image of Bonnet’s annoyed look persisted. Had he hated not being the centre of attention for once? Had he wanted the blonde stranger for himself? Well, it didn’t matter. He didn’t care. Or so Izzy kept repeating to himself as he reached the ship.

#izzy hands #stede bonnet #ofmd #stizzy #gentlehands #ok pre-stizzy in this part yet #but we will get there #ofmd season 2 spoilers #fanfic #lestat de lioncourt #because I thought about these two together and it seemed like a great bad idea #ofmd fic

[blakbonnet]

1 and 4 for the salty asks 😀

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Lucius/Izzy, like I kid you not I can get behind blackhands and stizzy for certain situations but Lucius x Izzy makes no damn sense to me??? Even as a hatefuck thing? I'm the last person to call people out on shipping what brings them joy and genuinely, please don't feel bad if this is something you like, I don't mean to offend at all. It just makes no sense to me? Lucius is the antithesis of Izzy in every way imaginable and not in a cute way, their arcs and stories are chalk and cheese, and I don't get it 😔

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

CJ and Stede would fall under notp for me, purely cause I see no hilarity or even hotness in that ship. I do genuinely hate CJ and he was awful to Stede, I skip fics that have them even if I like the overall plot 🥲 I'm just not evolved enough to read that I'm sorry lmao (also calicohands forever and ever peace and love)

Send me salty asks

#asks #ask games #wesrfinethingsalltoowell

[spookyfbi]

I ship Stizzy the way I ship Mulder/Krycek. Most of the time I’m here for Ed/Stede (Mulder/Scully), but when I’m watching Curse of the Seafaring Life (Terma & Tunguska) and Stede is homoerotically hanging out with Izzy instead of Ed (Mulder is homoerotically hanging out with Krycek instead of Scully), for those scenes in those episodes my heart belongs to Stizzy (Mulder/Krycek). I mean what am I supposed to do, Izzy slapped Stede’s arse (Krycek kissed Mulder’s cheek).

#stizzy #our flag means death #Mulder/Krycek #the x files #yes I know the kids happened in the red and the black and lot terma or Tunguska #that’s not the point #it still happened #argh kiss autocorrected to kids and I can’t edit the tag

[dizzy-izzy-in-a-tizzy]

okay, it's the night before finale and I'm making my last mid-season assessment of the big three ships

some thoughts have changed, some haven't, im gonna be brief

ed x stede: they still make each other worse and they're kinda boring by themselves, but the most likely canon outcome. yawn.

edizzy: still profoundly unhealthy. perfect for fic, whether it's "hot unhealthy sex" or "ed has more than 8 episodes to get better." will never be canon, and hail satan for that.

stizzy: top tier bitch4bitch, both of them leaving ed and becoming a pirate power couple who hatefuck and shit talk their ex... chef's kiss. Stede needs someone who will give as good as he gets, both in learning how to be a pirate and in bed. It'll never be canon, and I weep for the lost potential, but the story is about finding your way back and that means Ed has to find his way back, too.

steddyhands: I don't know what they're doing with Ed and Izzy but something is up, they're way too casual about Ed and Stede's relationship. Izzy and Stede also got closer fast. Don't think this is likely, unless Ed has a come to jesus moment about Izzy and the depth of the feelings between them. Izzy also needs to stop pretending he's okay and fuckin' explode already.

Honestly? I want Ed to leave at the end of season two. He needs time to figure out who he is before he dives into a relationship. Have him come back with a short timeskip at the beginning of season three, when Stede has developed a sense of who he is as a pirate, and Izzy has developed a sense of who he is without Ed.

But that'll never happen 😪

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #stede bonnet #izzy hands #edward teach