Fane says the actors quizzed the writers on their characters’ back stories, who in turn suggested they invent their own theories on the past lives of this rag-tag bunch of buccaneers.
“My favourite idea was that Fang was a failed boiled lolly man. He used to sell boiled lollies.
But with trade and everything coming over and chocolate becoming more accessible, it threw him out of business.
He had exquisite flavours like sardine boiled sweets but they never really took off.
So I put that to them and they just looked at me and went, ‘Wow, that’s really deep’.”
you know how there’s this whole thing in golden age romcom 1999 hit the runaway bride about how the julia roberts character likes her eggs? when she’s with one guy, she likes them over-easy, same as him. when she’s with the next guy, she likes them scrambled, same as him. with the next guy, in an omelette, same as him. and in the end, she can’t marry richard gere because she still doesn’t knowhowshe likes her eggs. it’s not until she’s gone off on her own for a bit and built her own life and discovered how she likes her eggs without anybody else’s influence that she can finally allow richard gere back into her life with hope for a real future.
what i’m saying is this. calico jack takes his eggs scrambled. izzy takes his eggs hard-boiled. stede takes his eggs over-easy.
not canonically of course, what i mean is, each of these men in ed’s life have different views and expectations of who ed is, and ed is so desperate for love and acceptance that he is willing to turn himself inside out to meet this expectations. calico jack wants a party; ed will party. izzy wants fearsome; ed will cut off his toes. stede wants a softie who will talk it through with the crew; ed will talk it through with the crew.
ed leaves with jack because he knows jack does this to him, and he knows jack went too far, and he knows he allowed jack to have enough power and control over him that he allowed jack to go too far. ed concocts terrible plans with izzy in order to try and control the power izzy wields over ed - by keeping up with him, instead of letting him take control. ed allows izzy to duel with stede even though, under command, izzy should have stood down. stede is a gentleman and a silly adventurer, and ed tries to become a gentleman and a silly adventurer.
these are all different theses about who Edward Teach can be. all suggestions. even stede, who we often speak about as being really good for ed and allowing him to be who he wants - it’s impossible to ignore that on some level ed is also trying to form himself around what stede wants him to be. this is imo most obvious in ep 10 where ed virtually hangs himself in front of his own crew by erasing the fear they have and thereby abdicating any power. izzy’s threat is the most upfront demonstration of this, but right after that we hear the crew on deck shouting for eddie to come give them another song. ed has no control. he has no respect. izzy’s a dick throughout, but his threats before were always to leave – now he’s threatening ed himself. ed has put himself in danger trying to be what he thought stede wanted.
so, okay. those are the theses. then we get ep10 dark ed. this is the antithesis. this isn’t who anybody wants. he’s not a fun time. he’s not a fearsome pirate. he’s not soft. he’s not weak, and he will cut any weakness out. he is the kraken.
what we need from the narrative now is the synthesis. the discovery, for ed, of what ed really wants. how does he take his eggs.
ed can’t do this as dark ed. he has to come out of dark ed in order to remember the taste of eggs. he can’t do this as any of the standard theses either, because then he just ends up mirroring whoever has the most power of him at any moment, including stede. he can’t do this as the boy who wanted red silk or who killed his own father. he can’t do this as a king’s privateer. he can’t do this as anybody but himself.
what i’m saying is: i am so fuckin ready for ed to have the pirate version of his eat pray love self-discovery journey off alone with no one who knows him so he can decide for himself how he likes his eggs, and then when he and stede meet again–he’ll be ready.
in conversation about this with the excellent good beans @kai-art and @leilakalomi about how ed really does seem to be the most himself with stede, and i am here to add:
when ed is with stede, stede asks. SO many questions. do you fancy a fine fabric? have you ever considered retirement? everything all right? i couldn’t help but notice. May I?
he doesn’t ask all the time. but he spends a lot of time sort of sussing ed out, trying to put into words what he observes about ed and asking for a confirmation, that sort of thing. and ed is responsive for a lot of it! he has room with stede to be himself - he will threaten, for example, the french officers with no problem, he will be kind of a dick about the treasure hunting and protecting his reputation, he will tell ghost stories, he will let stede see him vulnerable in the bathtub scene.
it’s only after stede leaves that ed really veers hard into the thesis of what he thinks stede wants. it’s only after stede leaves that ed completely abandons his leathers for stede’s clothes and stede’s marmalade and stede’s comfy cushions and blankets. he does his little performance, he asks to be called edward.
stede never rejects blackbeard. blackbeard is, for stede, always a part of ed.
but in the absence of stede, and in the wake of stede’s apparent rejection, ed leans in hard and dramatic to what he believes is stede’s ideal. worth noting that even stede doesn’t live up to stede’s ideals - he never talks it through as a crew! he’s not all soft all the time (in fact stede is kind of an ass lmao) and when stede and ed are together, he doesn’t ask ed to be.
so when i talk about stede’s thesis of what ed can be, there is a divide also between how stede actually treats ed in the show and what ed thinks stede wants in the show, and i think that divide is where stede’s thesis, this ep 10 softie, lives. given the cyclical nature of things, i also think that divide is probably where ed’s final synthesis lives, but without the pressure and expectation of what ed believes stede wants him to be.
in the end i think it comes down to: stede needs to want ed to be ed, just himself, and i don’t think stede is 100% of the way there yet given stede’s upset in ep 9 over his perceived ruin of ed (that’s another post). and ed needs to realize he can’t be anybody other than who he actually is.
and in all that, there has to be synthesis. they’re setting ed up to take bits of everyone he is and everything he can be and to finally decide for himself, instead of for anybody else.
@the-sinking-ship is the best. she’s a fantastic cheerleader- she’s been reblogging and commenting on these MM posts like the goddess she is. she alphaed my very first drarry fic back in july and totally made me feel at home in the fandom. later, she was my beta for my Herbtamer fic and was so patient and supportive throughout. i can’t thank her enough for everything she’s done for me! I’ve been listening to some of her fic soundtracks while putting together the last of the MM posts this weekend and they’re so satisfying and creative!
because she’s awesome, sly participated in @fandomtrumpshate this year, raising an exceptional amount of money, but not only that - she’s doing so in exchange for a longfic. she’s an incredible writer- I’ve reccomended fics of hers before, so it was really fun to read a bunch of new works of hers to put this list together. you’re sure to find something you like!!
random superlatives and recs:
contrary Draco tries SO HARD not to admit his feelings: Stupid Love// E // 16K // Drarry // I absolutely adored this fic. it’s clever, full of confident Harry and prim Draco who absolutely hates everything about Harry. until he doesn’t. what’s better is that sly gifted usherselfartworkby@bluebutter-art as a fanniversary present and my goodness I could look at it forever. added a new fic to my favorites list with this one!!
further proof that sly is the queen of longfic: Criminal// E // 83K // Drarry // 83K and not a single word wasted. sly does many things well, but her Draco is exceptional. he’s snarky and unashamedly posh and horny and - he’s just the whole package. and the way that harry is able to cut through all of that, get to the soft, squishy center of him. ugh, it’s too good. also ft. artworkby@3lvendorkand by@fictional.
let me be the first (probably not but let me have this) to proclaim this a perfect piece of fiction: Finely Drawn Lines // E // // Drarry // thanks, sly, for finishing this up just in time for this rec list, you’re the best! what’s the opposite of slow burn? flash flood? whatever it is, this is that. it’s hot from the get-go, but filled with sly’s amazing and particularly lovely brand of pining and idiots in love. I tore through this and know you will, too.
I would do anything for these two, for the record: Things We Do // E // 16K // Drarry // I just want to keyboard smash because this was sweet and perfect and hot and captured that essence of having a crush and then having it come together and then the panic that it might not work out and then the elation that you’re going to try and and and and…
sly, you’re just such a gem and I feel very lucky to be in your orbit. I hope you’re having a great day!
for more info on mutuals march and/or to figure out why the hell I just wrote an ode to you, check out this post.
Harry and Draco offer comfort and entertainment to their neighborhood under lockdown by performing a traditional wizards’ evening ballad on their balcony.
Got that mandomera brainrot. (Din & Omera x Atlantis the lost empire)
Yes I am aware Din has seen lots of pretty ladies in his time but I’m sure we can all agree it’s different when the person you’re interested in is looking stunning.
Y E S
Oh this is *gorgeous*! Plus also hilarious as fuck. That is *exactly* how Din would react to his crush asking him a question!
Jaskier nods with abandon, guilt still written all over his face. Geralt almost doesn’t have the heart to find it amusing that his bard feels this bad for forgetting his birthday.
Apparently, it was yesterday - they decided that ten years ago. Well, Jaskier decided. Not having a day to celebrate your existence is a crime, the poet said while the first snow of that winter drifted from the sky.
First snow, every year, is Geralt’s birthday.
He doesn’t know how Jaskier prepares for it - food, wine, a new song, written just for him and sung to him alone. Only that for ten years, Geralt held Jaskier’s hand and watched snow fall on his eyelashes, and leaned in and kissed it away.
Although, forgetting about it is a first for Jaskier. Teaching at Oxenfurt must be more intense than he lets on.
“Anything you ask for, my dear,” Jaskier says, crestfallen. “The day has passed and I only hope to make it up to you. Urgh, I don’t know what came over me yesterday. The snow started and all I could think about was how more students now had an excuse to be late! And I was so busy fuming at them that I missed the most important day of the year!”
“Thought that was the annual bardic competition?” Geralt can’t help chuckling before pulling Jaskier into his lap.
“And you mock me.” Jaskier is now pouting. “For committing the worst crime to my wonderful, wonderful witcher, who didn’t even complain when we went to bed like it was just another day.”
“It was.”
As if just another day with Jaskier isn’t the world.
Geralt sighs, linking their fingers together. The ink stains seem to stay on Jaskier’s hands most of these days. He rubs at it a little.
“You were tired,” Geralt adds. “Besides, you remember now.”
“Yes, and you haven’t named your price yet. Anything you want. I know wanting things isn’t easy for you, darling, but… please?”
Jaskier’s smile dances timidly on his lips, and all Geralt can see are the faint bruises under cornflower blue eyes.
“I want…my sleeping shirt back.”
Geralt means to tease but the softness on Jaskier’s face freezes, and he pulls away a little.
“Oh, okay -”
“Wait, no,” Geralt winces. Asking for the only thing Jaskier can fall asleep in on some nights is too cruel, even as a joke. The poet is taking this a lot more seriously than him, so of course not. “Not that. Um…”
Jaskier waits, resting his forehead against Geralt’s temple, now relaxed a bit.
“A kiss,” Geralt decides on, “from you.”
Jaskier blinks, and something in him seems to melt. With a hand over his heart, Jaskier presses his lips to Geralt’s.
The simple kiss ends with both of them smiling.
“Happy birthday,” Jaskier says.
Geralt loops an arm around Jaskier’s back, his stomach warming pleasantly. “Also, I want us to sleep in.” He places another kiss on the tip of Jaskier’s nose. “Just us. No papers. No composing. No students. It’s for me, after all.”
Jaskier lets out a small happy sound and buries his face in Geralt’s neck.
I almost did not get this done in time BUT here is a sleepy krejjh for tscosi week :] (image id underneath the read more!! also click 4 better quality, tumblr put this through a garbage disposal for some reason????)
