happy on my ledge

she/her. queer af. 30s. back on my tumblr bs for ofmd after a decade away, ready for chaos. will eventually migrate some of my posts from the early ofmdtwt days. mostly metas, memes and headcanons. love to boost and cheerlead fanart - will always reblog your ed/stede pieces. usually into star trek, community, lost, the good place, avenue 5, queer period romance, scifi, podcasts, dogs... but let’s be real, it’s all gay pirates all the time these days.

[lukelemon-art]

They were about to dance… ❤️🧡💛💜 Ned Lowe's timing in S2E6 couldn't be worse.

[asneakyfox]

i love it when people refer to izzy as the most queer-coded character in ofmd because that is technically absolutely true, in that he is pretty much the only character who is JUST coded instead of explicitly unambiguously textually queer

[usersukuna]

insp.

[amuseoffyre]

Ed taking comfort in doing little domestic and caretaking things.

[givefangapuppy]

Maybe he WILL be good at running an inn.

[bebx]

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

[rowenablade]

It’s Ed doing everything he can to drive people away, to make people hate him, so that his depression can have its way with him, and the people in his life choosing to love him anyway.

It’s Stede trying on new identities, new passions, new ways of expressing himself, at an age where conventional wisdom says you’re supposed to have put all that behind you.

It’s Izzy realizing he didn’t know Ed, or the crew, or himself, as well as he thought he did. It’s him becoming new at the risk of looking like a hypocrite, and his friends giving him room to become new.

It’s Jim refusing to compromise or apologize for or even explain their gender out loud, and everyone being fine with that.

It’s Olu and Jim loving each other, helping each other grow, and maybe realizing that just because a relationship doesn’t end with one of you dead doesn’t mean it was a waste of time.

It’s Stede and Mary realizing that, too.

It’s Black Pete being a cringey, annoying dork, and loving and being loved anyway because you don’t need to be perfect to deserve love in your life, actually.

It’s big, bearded Wee John in a dress. It’s big, bearded Fang crying and being comforted. It’s Archie grabbing onto the small moments of sweetness where and when she can, even if she doesn’t have any faith they’ll last.

It’s flawed, messy people choosing love, again and again. Flawed, messy love, love in all its gentle and brutal forms, but still love.

Whatever happens in the finale, I will be forever grateful to this show for reflecting so many of my mistakes, fears and hopes, and doing it gently. Doing it in a way that makes me feel loved.

One more week, everyone. See you on the other side.

[j-davis-illustration]

Poster inspired by the story of “St. George Slaying the Dragon” but make it GAY PIRATES 🏴‍☠️❤️

[oh-no-thank-u]

Eeeeeek

Source (x)

[arsoniswarm]

Izzy, tweeting at Blackbeard:

[killervampyr]

Ofmd fandom, how are we feeling after watching the newest episodes?

I feel totally normal and sane hahaha ha ha

[blackbonnetblog]

OK, let's talk for a moment about Stede and Ed's relationship and how it was left off, because I feel like there are some people who are completely ignoring some important context to Ed's insistence that they're taking things too fast and that their night spent together was a mistake.

So, quick re-cap.

Stede kills Ned and has a flashback to when he was a kid. Stede is not OK, but he is trying to be, because this is what being a man is SUPPOSED to be. (remember David Jenkins' constant refrain for this show - A lot of what we're taught about being a man is wrong)

Ed goes to check on Stede and he does so completely free of judgement. He didn't want Stede to kill Ned, but he has also been there. Ed has killed people and he knows the guilt and trauma that comes with it. His only concern is to make sure Stede is OK.

Then Surprise! Stede pulls him into his room and pushes him up against the wall in a very sexually charged moment.

Then Stede stops. He waits. He looks Ed in the eye and waits for Ed to show some sign of actually wanting to continue.

And Ed does. Ed pulls Stede into a kiss that is every bit as heated as the moment before.

Then they have sex.

Then we have the next morning, where Ed brings Stede breakfast in bed. This is the first time he has ever done this and he worries and frets about how he can make it absolutely perfect for Stede. And at the same time, he's feeling anxiety about continuing as a pirate. When he turned down the opportunity to kill Ned Low, he also acknowledged that he just doesn't want to be the pirate that he used to be. Not even just that he doesn't want to go back to his darkest days, but that he can't be a pirate at all. But he still wants to be with Stede.

Then they go on a date. Ed takes Stede to his favorite lunch spot and they talk about the love letters Stede wrote him and Ed looks absolutely smitten.

Then Ed mistakes the pirates as Blackbeard fans, only to have them reveal that they're actually Stede's fans. Any other show would have played up the jealousy vibe in this moment, but that's not what we get here and I absolutely love it! Ed looks so proud of Stede. He has a huge smile on his face. He's congratulating Stede, looking out for him, and giving him tips on how to handle being famous. Then something changes.

Ed talks to Jackie and she correctly points out that Ed's just trying to be a regular guy now, but he's dating the most famous pirate in the Republic. And something shifts.

Next he has his chat with Izzy, out on the docks. Izzy makes mention of Stede and Ed's last night and Ed still smiles fondly when he remembers it. Then he admits the same thing to Izzy that he told Jackie. He just wants to be a regular guy. He's watching the fishing boats and thinking about how good it felt to throw away his leathers and all the baggage that they carried, and Izzy affirms that feeling and that decision.

Then we get the conversation between Ed and Stede, which I'll get to in a second. But before we do, look back on everything we are shown. We know that Ed is feeling uneasy about being a pirate, but we also see him still absolutely loving his relationship with Stede. We have seen no signs that Ed actually regretted that night OR that he thought that it was too fast. In fact, the couple times people mention him sleeping with Stede, he actually smiles and looks very happy about it.

Now, that's not to say that Ed doesn't feel like things are going to fast by the end of the episode. He might honestly feel that way, or he may just be saying that to deflect his actual feelings and fears of rejection. Or it honestly could be both. The point is, it's new. It catches Stede off guard because up to that point, Stede has seen exactly what the audience has seen - a smitten Ed who seems perfectly happy and content with their relationship.

Then Ed tells him that they're moving too fast, that what happened between him is a mistake, that he's not ready to have this relationship with Stede and they need to back off a bit. And Stede looks honestly gutted by that confession, but he doesn't respond with anger or defensiveness. Instead, he offers an olive branch. He tells Ed that their relationship can be whatever they want it to be. He offers to slow things down, to have a conversation about what it is they both want. No expectations, just the two of them together.

Then Ed starts to get frustrated. I don't know who I am and you're famous now and here's a whole pile of excuses and fears, and Stede sees right through him. "Ed, you're panicking!" (side note - love that they also introduced the episode with a small mention of Ed panicking with the twine. A little Chekhov's panic there) And now Ed's defensive. "I'm not panicking. I'm leaving."

And here's the context that people are missing in that conversation. Ed has already made the decision to leave. He already got the job. He's whim prone, and he just went out and got a job on a fishing boat without talking to Stede. He talked to everyone else, but not the one person who actually matters, and now he is absolutely panicking, trying to figure out how to tell him.

And again, things might be going too fast for him. I'm not saying that they're not. I'm just saying that's not why this escalates into a fight.

Things were going so well, and now he needs to break it off and he needs an excuse. You're moving too fast! You're becoming too famous! I don't know who I am! You don't respect my dreams of becoming a fisherman! Ed throws every excuse he can think of at Stede, and again, Stede correctly calls him out on it. "You're just blowing this up." And he absolutely is. Ed doesn't know how to say goodbye, so he turns it into a fight. As much as I hate that he said it out loud, Stede is right that Ed is being a coward. He's too afraid to face the actual emotion of ending things with Stede, so he creates a fight about something that doesn't even matter. "It's everything about fishing!" he says, when literally one thing in their relationship is actually about fishing and it only came up after Ed decided to leave.

There's just so much more going on here and I need people to stop saying that this is all because they had sex too early.

[bookshelfdreams]

Once again, as it so often is with ofmd, it is about violence.

Ed is capable of violence and it makes him feel monstrous. Killing his father was a defining moment in his life, something that became a core memory: The darkest, scariest part of himself, but also one that has protected him and been immensely useful. No matter how much he hurts himself with it, how much it chips away at his soul, he's willing and able to do horrible things. This is the price we pay for violence: When you kill, you die as well.

When he met Stede, a man he thinks is fundamentally incapable of the kind of violence that's slowly destroying Ed, it gave him hope that he, too, could move beyond it. That a life full of comfortable and beautiful things was not only possible but attainable; if Stede can sail the seas with his ridiculous toy ship full of books and soft fabrics, have a positive culture of open communication and constructive feedback, then fuck it, why can't he?

To him, Stede's incapability for violence is a positive thing; it might be Stede's greatest strength. But what Ed doesn't realize is that Stede's life, too has been profoundly shaped by violence, how intimately he is acquainted with it - from the other side. Stede has only ever been a victim of violence. Where the moments that replay in Ed's head (the lovely little motage at the beginning of 02x06 for example) are moments where he enacts violence, the moments that define Stede are ones where violence is done to him. We see him splattered with blood, picking flowers: we know what follows is humiliation, verbal and physical abuse, that Stede was unable to protect himself from.

So of course, to Stede, his lack of talent for violence becomes a character flaw. Something that makes him weak, pathetic, cowardly. When he finally learns how to wield violence, how to use it to protect himself and others, it's empowering. He revels in it, the small moments (I did a punch!) and the bigger ones. For the first time in all his life, he's not a victim anymore.

Ed does not know this about Stede. To him, Stede is fragile, someone not yet tainted by violence the way he is. Ed feels protective of Stede, and it's that perceived innocence that I think is a big part of it. All he sees is Stede descending down a path of violence and piracy he has walked already and cannot go down again; the last time he did, it literally made him suicidal. He can't follow, and he can't watch Stede destroy himself the way Ed did, either.

So he leaves.

And Stede, who feels like he has finally grown into a better, more capable version of himself, someone who is able to see hurt and fight back against it for once, doesn't understand this at all.

Both these viewpoints are ones that ofmd wants to validate: Violence is a terrible beast that will eat you whole and spit out your bones AND Violence is sometimes necessary, and even good. It's a delicate balance to keep, and 02x07 doesn't quite manage to do so. But despite the awkwardness, the bones are still there; we end on Roach and Fang (two characters very capable of and good at violence!) having their cute little self-care spa day. This is the future ofmd wants us to believe in: a world where we can chose care and tenderness over battles.

[areyoudoingthis]

the fallout of the plank scene hasn't left my mind since thursday. i keep thinking about stede's actions and the way he's sitting alone in the cabin afterwards, the flashbacks to his childhood and the formative moment with the goose and the blood, the tears in his eyes as he pulls ed into the room.

i don't think the issue is whether or not stede likes violence. he's traumatized by it sometimes, giggles as he sets people on fire a few hours later. i believe what determines the difference between those two situations is how they relate to his childhood trauma. the violence isn't the issue, the issue is that he thinks the soft boy who wanted to pick flowers could never be anything other than a disappointment, and if that's all he is people will reject him. the crew won't respect him, ed will get bored and leave. he can tell ed likes the fancy things, but he doesn't think that could ever be enough for him.

it's less about being violent than it is about being strong, always in command, never allowing himself to fall apart. stede doesn't enjoy the violence itself, he enjoys the fame and recognition and acceptance he receives when he's performing the dread pirate bonnet. he also doesn't mind it, he'll set a man or a boat full of people on fire and laugh, no big deal. but when a famous pirate brings up his insecurities and throws racist digs at ed in front of him, it's less about being violent than it is about performing in a certain way, doing what he thinks is expected of him under the circumstances. it's about how violence is directly tied to the idea of the man he thinks he needs to become, and that's what triggers the childhood flashback.

and when ed tells him the next morning about the orange sparkly mermaid that saved his life, he appreciates it but he doesn't hear the message behind the words, the "I'm upset that you had to kill a man in cold blood, that's not what i need from you, that's not what i want for you, because I never wanted it for myself."

i think if stede ever told ed about his father and everything he went through as a kid, ed would understand him so much better, and be a lot less afraid that stede would leave him. because their trauma stems from the same core: they're both haunted by all the wrong things they were taught about being a man

[aha-my-villainous-thoughts]

I'm still on self-imposed pause while I let some injuries heal up, I couldn't miss celebrating Calypso's Birthday!! She deserves the WORLD!!

Something about the pure gender joy of this absolutely lights up my soul. Gender is somehow such a controversial issue right now - when it's really just about expression and celebration of the divine self! Seeing Wee Jon have this glorious moment, and knowing the sincerity Kristian Nairn brought to this character, is just elevated to something so personal and dear to me. This wasn't a punchline, this wasn't a throwaway little inside joke from a panel, this was Calypso's birth and I'm so fucking happy she's here.

[tabbystardust]

Attention, crew!

After those awesome first episodes of season 2 it's time to make sure we get the show renewed for season 3!! 🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️

Find out more about how you can participate:

👉 https://www.renewasacrew.com/

@renewasacrew

[bebx]

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

[akindplace]

You don't have to be considered special to deserve love, friendship, to be worthy of help or compassion. You don't have to exceptional. You can just be yourself, and that is good enough. You don't have to constantly perform at high levels to be worthy of being noticed and accepted. Your life is already valuable.