So I saw this post by @ipomoea-batatas about Stede Bonnet becoming "a competent pirate by fully understanding and harnessing his own particular brand of lunacy" -- and I went a bit feral.
Because I think we've already seen the start of it.
Okay. Izzy Hands, right? And his very first meeting with Stede.
All anybody knows about this Bonnet guy is that (1) he and his crew have run aground, and it evidently wasn't on purpose because (2) instead of doing repair work or cleaning the hull while beached, the crew are just running around blowing shit up and loudly listing fish--
AND YET (3) these same people, lead by the unknown, untested Captain Bonnet, have managed to capture English officers.
You know who else Izzy knows who can pull off that kind of bullshit? Who looks mad as a hatter and half distracted by whether the clouds look more or less like lunch foods, and is nonetheless "legendary" and the "most brilliant sailor" he has ever met?
Yeah.
But there's only one Blackbeard out there, so whatever this Captain Bonnet's deal is, it's probably accidental, or they're just not getting the whole story, or whatever. It doesn't matter much. Izzy and his landing party don't even bother to engage beyond asking Buttons for some info-- they just buy the officers out from under Bonnet and head back to the ship, and that should've been the end of it until they all ran into each other at the Republic or, failing that, the gallows.
And then.
This fuckin' dude.
Who is wearing half of an incredibly expensive tailored outfit in the middle of the fucking jungle. Who's clearly got no fucking clue what to do with a blade, since he's got his knife brandished off to the side, leaving his center completely unguarded, and also it's a fucking knife. Against three professionals with swords and fucking guns.
This guy. Has just jumped pigeon-toed into Izzy's path and essentially proclaimed himself to be the elusive Bonnet.
(There are bows on this dick's unscratched high-heeled shoes, Izzy thinks. And he's just said the word "trifle" five fucking times.)
So yeah, Izzy figures he can cross "secretly clever" off his list of possibilities and chalk up all of Bonnet's successes so far to blind luck and a rich man's fancy. And that being the case, Izzy has the time and inclination to have a bit of fun and give this idiot a warning while he's at it. He spends a happy minute seeing if he can make the fop scream, faint, or blush his way back into the bush with a bit of swordplay and a lot of bared skin.
The man does, in fact, gasp. But he doesn't run. And instead of screaming or covering himself up-- or, fuck, even relying on some gentrified insult that would give Izzy the excuse to just kill the guy-- this absolute asshole raises his eyebows and fucking compliments him.
And Izzy's mouth is running on automatic, already going with the tee'd up line he'd had ready for this fuckwit when he inevitably said something classist about peasants or whatever-- except that's not what Bonnet had said, was it? and-- the fuck was that noise?
"Do you hear that?" says Bonnet, cocking his head and looking wide-eyed in the opposite fuckin' direction of the sound and just, like, electing to ignore the sword pointing at his chest. "I didn't know this isle was haunted."
It's clearly a diversionary tactic, just as it's clearly one of Bonnet's crew out in the forest. Izzy knows how this shit goes, he's seen Edward do it often enough.
(A strange thought slouches indistinctly into view behind Izzy's other, more pressing concerns.)
But for all that it's definitely a crewmember out there, Izzy can't deny that Bonnet's-- weird. Compliments. Sticking his ground. Those fucking shoes.
It's distracting.
(The thought is starting to make its way to the forefront of Izzy's mind, but its trenchcoat and enormous polyester wig are preventing him from identifying what his hindbrain has figured out well before his conscious brain has.)
Out in the real world, Izzy's sword doesn't drop, but his eyes do turn away for a moment, even though he knows he fuckin' oughtn't. He course-corrects-- goes with his gut, and decides to call Bonnet's bluff.
"It's obviously one of your men," Izzy says. If Bonnet had enough people for it, he wouldn't have stuck himself as bait. Fuck, he probably wouldn't have bothered with a fuckery at all, just surrounded the landing party and been done with it. The only logical scenario is that Bonnet doesn't have the resources to actually overpower Izzy's party--
But then--
Then why try at all?--
(The strange thought has started to use its elbows to ruthlessly shove its way to the front. The wig is lost in the shuffle.)
Captain Bonnet raises his brows again, eyes now tight on Izzy's. "But is it?" he says.
(Away goes the trenchcoat. There's leather underneath.)
"Yes it is," says Izzy.
Bonnet, despite Izzy's sword still pointed at his fucking chest, actually leans forward.
(Closer now, the thought says, "Izzy, Izzy, Izzy.")
Bonnet's eyes are wide, unblinking as he says, "But is it?"
("You know me," says the thought, and it sounds amused, and bored, and it's walking right past him and moving until it's looking out of this new captain's eyes, and--)
Izzy breaks. And after a bit more theatre, Bonnet wins.
Which could be fine, maybe, if Izzy'd been bested by another Blackbeard... but he wasn't. Stede fucking Bonnet is nothing like Blackbeard. Never mind the fuckery-- that was amateur theatricals, that's all. And certainly never mind the madness-- just a pampered rich boy who managed to make Izzy Hands blink.
Reason enough to hate Bonnet right there. Because if Izzy Hands has to confront the idea that someone silly and stupid with more money than sense can do exactly what Blackbeard does, but backwards and in heels with bows on them, then he'll have to confront some grim fucking truths about how exactly Edward has become a "legend" and what it means that Izzy was fooled by it for so very, very long.
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