Potential 02x06 spoiler? Slightly suggestive content too

I know this season has ✨issues✨ but I still had a great time.

Had to get the Gentlebeard wormies out of my system before getting back to work 😭 I'm so soft

(Ed gets the twink treatment, sorry I don't make the rules)

so. anyone else think this moment was gonna lead to rebound sex? just me???

The look on Stede's face, though, when Ed says that he thinks last night was a mistake. He was in less pain when he got gut-stabbed.

And he lets out a very quick breath, like he just got the wind knocked out of him.

The Missing Inn Scene

I’ve been thinking about the missing scene where Ed and Stede decide to open an inn together. Of course I wish we had that scene! But I’m going to argue that it would be extraneous and completely unnecessary. Perhaps I’m just trying to convince myself. But hear me out. 

I had a great acting and directing teacher who emphasized that the most pivotal moment in a play, the moment that must be highlighted, is when the main character makes the most important decision they’ll make. It’s a useful lens of analysis. In the first season, this moment is, “His name is Ed.” Stede realizes he is in love, and decides that he is willing to take the scary unknown road to fight for this love. 

In season two, don’t we need to see Stede make this decision to give up pirating and open up an inn with Ed? No! Because of course, Stede is not really the main character in season 2. As Pirate Daddy Jenkins has discussed in interviews, Season 2 is much more about Ed’s journey. And Ed’s journey is a bit less straightforward than Stede’s. I thought for a moment that Ed’s pivotal decision was to retrieve his leathers. But no, that was a decision made in anger and resignation. This whole Ed thing isn’t working out. Better bring back Blackbeard, he gets shit done. It is an important moment, because he does realize that he can’t truly rid himself of Blackbeard. Blackbeard is a part of him, a useful part of him. When the shit hits the fan and he needs to fuck some people up and find Stede, he needs Blackbeard. 

But. Of course. The pivotal moment is not retrieving the leathers. It is, “YOU WROTE ME A LOVELY LETTER!” This is the moment where Ed fully allows his walls to come down, believe truly that he is loved by Stede as Ed and Blackbeard, that he was always loved by Stede, that this love is real. Even though Stede has tried to show him that he will always be there, that he won’t leave again, that Ed is safe with him, Ed still felt unstable in his shifting world, thinking he needed to change more to be loved for real. The letter revealed what Ed wanted to believe, but was too wounded to internalize. Stede’s love was there, was always there, unwavering. 

Both Stede and Ed need to remove themselves from the fast-moving intensity of their relationship to understand what they have in each other. They needed to see that their vision of a safe, comfortable life-back with Mary and the kids, or working as a fisherman-was never real. It was a place to hide when the uncertainty of trusting another person with all your vulnerabilities and hopes and dreams became too scary.

So back to the missing scene of the decision to open the inn. Where’s the dramatic tension in this scene? We all know that Stede would move heaven and earth to be with Ed. And now Ed knows it too. Perhaps for a moment in episode 7, Stede gets a bit carried away by the fame and admiration. But he learns quickly that this is all fleeting. There was never a question of whether Stede would follow Ed to the place Ed needed to be. We don’t need the scene. (But of course I still want it.)

i know theres no overlap between the ofmd and the metal gear fandoms bc the izzyhaters would all kill themselves if they caught a glimpse of the revolver ocelot fanbase. i promise you izzy is not nearly the evillest old queen getting scrunklified and babygirled despite crimes against therapyspeak twitter out here. literally my last war criminal boyfriend hypnotised my other war criminal boyfriend into commiting rpf identity fraud of his own, separate war criminal boyfriend. Among Other Things.

Familiar Places

Crowley/Edward Teach | 17,000 words | Rated E

After watching Aziraphale leave him, Crowley decides to try to sleep off the grief. A terrible nightmare makes his powers go haywire and he accidentally travels back in time to 1717 where he finds himself in a bar in Tortuga. He shares a drink with a man named Ed who he seems to have a lot in common with. A lot in common with. The easiest way to comfort each other and distract themselves is to spend the night together.

“Why are you miserable?” Ed asks sharply.

“Now that’s not fair,” Crowley points at him over his glass. “I asked you first.”

Ed blinks at him.

“Why would I talk to you about it?”

“Because I’m here,” Crowley shrugs, “and no one else is.”

keep reading on AO3

No but hear me out. Because good omens and ofmd are fulfilling basically everything that they need to, I’m LOVING aus.

I’ve never liked alternative universe or headcanons that were too far out of the canon compliant because i needed the basics to be fully accomplished first. I needed fiction to fix and complete what canon didn’t so I read mostly canon compliant, but that need was never getting filled because canon still wasn’t fixed, no matter what.

Now? Oh baby I’m having the time of my life. For the first time in my life I get what you all saw in flower/coffee shop au long ago. IT’S EXHILARATING. I feel like this is too much power, I’m never gonna stop.

there is a sadness that permeates ofmd s2. it feels post apocalyptic in an uncomfortably real way. there are a lot of beautiful, painful moments. it reminds me of my early 20s and the friends i had, who eventually moved or drifted away.

like, there was a golden time when things are simple and you were there but you missed it. you didnt stop and appreciate it. or maybe it was never that simple, and it's just the nostalgia making you feel that way. but youre different now or maybe youre the same but everyone else is different, and youve all been through so much, youve lost people and youve hurt each other in ways that were casual and careless but caused ripples that shifted things in a frustratingly, achingly imperceptible way you dont even know how to fix. and now you have new people, and maybe some of the same people, and you keep trying but you cant recapture those golden moments of the past because it was lightening in a bottle. so you just have to keep going and in five years you'll look back at this moment right now and think, man. those were the good times. and everything is different now.

Been thinking a lot recently about a post I saw that talked about how Stede has never really been vulnerable around Ed and has spent most of his time ensuring that those around him feel safe and comfortable. Its not like he's afraid to cry. Stede, always gentle, always radiant, doesn't seem like someone hiding his vulnerability, but when you think about each moment he shares with Ed - Ed is open and vulnerable with Stede (in a way he isn't with anyone else). Stede on the other hand never truly shares his feelings with Ed. At least not those darker ones that haunt him. Those about his family, about his childhood, about his self-doubt & self-hatred. I'm thinking about how that post mentioned that, in the end, what led Stede to leave was the fact that his own trauma and insecurity was so powerful and unaddressed that it led him to run. And now I'm thinking about how the most vulnerable Stede ever was with Ed (consciously, because he was vulnerable in his fever dream state) was when he looks to Ed for reassurance on the beach when he says "all I have are stupid ideas"

And how Ed, not very adept at reading the more subtle social cues, assumes this is just Stede being hyperbolic and casually says "shut up" in response. Because the truth is, he has no reason at this point to think that Stede truly thinks of himself that way, because up until now he's seen the kind, caring, and often outwardly overconfident mask that Stede wears around others.

And when he's told to shut up, Stede does. He's used to being shut down, not allowed to show vulnerability, and while this is far from being the dismissive, even mocking rejection that he's used to, he still takes this as a sign that he shouldn't talk about what's going on in his head, and following that he allows Ed to take the lead on the conversation, allows him to guide where they go next - asks Ed questions about himself.

In an extremely subtle, very timid way, this scene is Stede gently reaching out to Ed for support. Asking ever so quietly for comfort. Ed, understandably, doesn't see this. Again, why would he? He has no reason to believe that this is what's going on in Stedes head. And so he moves past it. And Stede, instead of clarifying that this was an invitation, shrinks back - hides away his vulnerability again - and allows this to be a conversation about what Ed wants. Its not like he doesn't want it to be about Ed, either. Thats why he draws back so quickly. The moment he senses some sort of need in Ed he jumps on it, ready to protect again. It doesn't even really feel like a rejection. He does get comfort from the conversation they have. He feels comforted by Ed's presence, the warmth of their plans, the love in that moment. Why would he risk losing that to be vulnerable?

And so he pulls that mask back on.

But it makes me wonder what it would look like, either in that moment, or in another moment in season 2, for Stede to truly be vulnerable for Ed. To extend that invitation and for Ed to see it for what it is - to see that this is Stede saying "let me bear myself out for you. I won't do it without your permission, but if you'll let me, I'd love to be honest with you."

And I want to see Ed reach back. To take that invitation and say "I want to see you. You don't have to ask, but because you did I need you to know you have my permission to be open. To be vulnerable. To be weak. To be you"

Honestly it's insane to me how little I see Edward's little good cop / bad cop ploy from 1x04 brought up when talking about him. Like it's subtle, but I thought it was in a "Holy shit he's playing these people so well" and "How often does he do this?" kind of way, not a "I totally missed that happened" way.

Anyway, if you are for some reason under the impression that Edward does not actively support and utilize Izzy's aggressive and threat-focused management style to maintain order on his own ship, then please read this post and go watch the start of 1x04 again. It may be enlightening.

oh my god i've had such a shitty weekend that in order to cheer me up, my dad fixed my computer and now i've been distracting myself with baldurs gate 3 to feel better

BUT NOW THAT I ACTUALLY CHECK SOCIAL MEDIA YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT OFMD S2 TEASER IS DROPPING TOMORROW?????????? HUH???????????? WHAT NOW?????????????? OH MY GOD???????????????????

i need someone to make me a cut of the second half of ofmd s2 but only with the bits i want to rewatch so i can simply pretend the other sections do not exist and that i enjoy the show again

stebe :p also . season two starts filming on monday, said my brain worms

Yall I continue to have such complicated feelings about the start of season two

Mainly that it was well articulated, funny, beautiful television that provided a grounded and realistic perspective on life and heartbreak and also that was REALLY INTENSE and I would have liked a WARNING Jesus CHRIST

Struck with the sudden urge to make gifs for the first time in MONTHS but I have no idea what I want to do.