absolutely delicious flavour of edizzy is where theyre Actually Married but neither of them know it, while also being acutely aware of everything-
they celebrated 25 years of their matelotage. they are having sex on the regular. both of them think the other thinks their contract is purely for financial reasons and the sex is just fun + convenience.
Thinking about how few shits Stede gives about the distress of the crew really makes the bathtub scene hit even fucking harder like Lucius keeled over in front of him and he was just annoyed fuckery rehearsal was interrupted but Ed has a flashback and panics and he breaks open his own fucking door and sinks to his knees beside him and says Ed’s name in the tenderest voice and I am oN fIrE
Oh you’re dying Lucius? Inconvenient and rude. Ed is upset?!?! Fuckery, what fuckery ARE YOU OK EDWARD would you feel better if I tell you that you’re good at maiming people please don’t cry I’ll forgive you for planning to murder me I’ll do anything to stop you looking so desperately sad let me just touch you gently let me make it better
Rewatching season 2 it’s nice to see just how open Stede is about showing his love for Ed. He was constantly talking about him while they were on pirate island, gossiping with the ladies in the towel room, yelling for Ed when they came across The Revenge, desperately trying to tell Ed how much he loves him at dinner.
I know there are some problems with the season (I don’t think Stedes issues with acting out toxic masculinity got wrapped up properly) But the way he’s allowed to be open and honest about how much he loves Ed is something that I’d never be tired of seeing.
oh god okay i understand that maybe not everyone is as indecisive/comfortable with saying "it depends!" as me, but like, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, but i just can't take people who call izzy a villain seriously
This chapter was WELL worth the wait, I was so excited to see you updated!!! I love the imperial stuff-people don't really tend to remember the emperor exists somewhere and that you go into the separation of cultivators and mundane society in a way I've not come across before. Also I'm sure WWX will be happy that ZYX fucks now
i'm sure y'all can imagine the relief i feel seeing readers still give a shit lol (but not lol 😭😭)
esp if it almost dipped into half-life 3 type territory (1. it's never gonna happen 2. hype has passed 3. it'll never live up to expectations)
the hard sell was seguing into the imperial stuff, hitting ppl fast and hard in one chapter. i waffled so long on the implementation of the ch, ngl (the plot outline has existed since the beginning, but the tone of each ch and details of the scenes were not). and hinted at in ch5 why the southern cultivators matter in the first place, imperial entanglements are important and not a throwaway! but! based on the world-building and genre conventions i'm working off of, imperial court had to be remixed to fit. it might be a case of "no one considers this bc if you're writing x genre that concept is irrelevant" so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
it'll come back but as this is a mdzs fanfic + my own plot notes, i'm careful about how much i focus on non-canon world and when i do so
=
how wwx feels about zyx fucking is like how he canonically was very Too Interested in lwj's "crush" on lqy (too interested to be just nosy/hyping up his homie)
zyx: i've never fucked ever
zyx: except once
(also i'll give the new ch another week to marinate before i write up some thoughts about it, re: all the complicated and personal things, including sex/sexuality -> why the love shack debates aren't clear-cut for dbd)
Secrets are a strange thing. They can be like a trap, or a weight, when you have to keep someone else’s... They can grow inside you, making you sick. But sometimes, they can be like a bond. And those times, they can be kinda cool.
Holly Robinson and her girlfriend, Karon, in Catwoman (2002) #6