#also jim is very much supportive of Mel's asexuality and that's pretty dope | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

khruschevshoe · 5 months

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Jim Jimenez and Mel Spriggs

You should fear what you already know

And hope that you never find out about the things you don't know yet

Just because something burns bright

Doesn't mean it's gonna burn forever

So, all these people around you saying

"You got so much further to go"

"It's gonna get worse before it gets better"

I don't know, I don't know if that's true

'Cause we are all, eventually

Either the victims, or the victims' family

-Cold War Kids, First

"I don't ever want to be the reason Lucius gets hurt," Mel says. "And it seems like lately, that's all I seem to be doing. He's on edge, and he's pretending not to be, and I can't help but think that me being back here is just bringing back bad things into his life."

The problem with Mel is that unlike Blackbeard, whose apologies meant nothing to Jim even when they were sincere because Blackbeard had actively hurt them over and over, on purpose, Mel has made these hurts on accident. In certain ways, they're not even her fault; it's two people with their own bad histories bashing their own responses to stress up against each other in ways guaranteed to leave cracks.

Jim thinks about their friendships with Pete and Izzy, about how steady they feel, about how opening up to Pete about their gender has made them feel connected and sharing under the stars with Izzy has made them feel grounded. Mel is still adrift, dragging her chains behind her.

They take a deep breath. They can do this. They can try to trust an outsider.

For Lucius, Jim thinks. For their friends, they would do anything.

-aletterinthenameofsanity, on the back of a hurricane that started turning (when you were young)

So, I'm a big fan of watching Jim's journey of trust in Season 3, especially as it relates to Mel. To steal a line from this excerpt, Jim and Mel both have trauma reactions that don't always coincide nicely, and it's a real treat to get to see them slowly work things out until things explode with the bounty poster reveal (no spoilers, sorry, y'all will have to read it!), but then eventually Jim and Mel resolve their problems and end up with one of the tighter bonds in the show. I love a good mistrust-of-strangers-due-trauma-evolves-into-found-family-bonds arc, and these two really sell it well.

(Also, the Front Bottoms really fit these two's combined vibe.)

@possumsmushroom @bricksbloggyplace @jaceum @yuenity @polikate

#was just sorting through my folders and found out I somehow missed this one #jim jimenez #mel spriggs #melanie spriggs #ofmd #fanfic #fic rec #ao3 #aletterinthenameofsanity #moodboard #lyrics #plastic flowers #the front bottoms #also jim is very much supportive of Mel's asexuality and that's pretty dope #asexual representation #Asexual Mel Spriggs is my life!

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